Thanks to all our veterans and thanks for your sacrifice!

 

The Knight Shield - November 2024

    This past October was a productive and fun month for our Council as we continue to grow our membership.

    The Canal Road clean-up was done on a very busy day at the end of September. Our hearty little group got the job done quickly; fortunately, there was not as much trash as usual. Thanks to Greg Csernai and the team.

    An Exemplification of the 1st thru 3rd degrees was held prior to our October General Meeting. We welcomed (5) new members to our Council and (2) new Knights joined from our neighbor St Peter Council. Robert Joyce, Joseph DiBella, Don Kosnik, Roy Wohlsheid, Waleed Emmanuel: Congratulations Gentlemen! Looking forward to working with you. Thanks again to our exemplification team led by Tom Gray. And thanks to Father Jim who assisted as well.

    Our Worthy membership director Phil Mularski recommended we attempt a Living Rosary for the Fall Fatima Rosary back at our August general meeting. I initially thought that it would be difficult to pull off in a short period of time. But our Church Director Tom Pardo got on board and of course our District 1 color guard came to our assistance. With further direction form Deacon Marc, the planning got done quickly. At that point, the task was getting the word out. We needed 60+ volunteers to form the Living Rosary and campaign we did. JFK council came in to fill our Audio need, Wally Papciak brought the equipment and set it up on the lawn allowing all to hear each individual speak up. The good Lord smiled on us with a beautiful morning and lo and behold, 70+ people showed up to show our Catholic faith to all the cars and bikers that rode by.

    Honestly, we trusted that the Holy Spirit would guide us, and we started promptly after the noon bell toll. With Phil laid up from his surgery, our Council chaplain, Paul Parker, stepped up to lead us in the Rosary. Passing the microphone from person to person was humbling. All did a fantastic job of praying the Rosary. The group bonded as each decade passed and each mystery was recited. The culmination of the Rosary with Hail Holy Queen and the St Michael’s Prayer (thanks to Celeste and Guy) was a great way to offer up our prayers to those in need. Thanks to Father Jim for an unsolicited, final blessing on the group. Gino Gittari said it best when he exclaimed that this was the best group Rosary he had ever been a part of. Amen !

    The October Pancake breakfast proceeds have been dedicated to the McCrest organization taking care of homeless men and women with children in our local area. In the past, our chairman Ray Coughlin organized direct interaction with the group providing food and helping to serve it. This year was a little more of a hands-off approach but the Council decided to continue our financial support of this important program. Kurt Buhlinger did a wonderful job of organizing the kitchen team, food and servers. And our Council came out in force to support the entire morning of preparation, cooking the food and serving breakfast to our Parish. Clean up went well as all chipped in. It was a fun morning of fellowship and breakfast tasted awesome. I’m happy to report that the Pancake breakfast was a huge success. We served 190 customers, a total of $1,340 in profit comprised of $1,090 from the breakfast (including donations of $220 in donations) and $250 from the 50/50. All of the proceeds go directly to the McCrest program. A big thank you to the team of Kurt, Ray and Jerry Hund. 

    We learned this month that Father Joe Hund, our current Chaplain, received his new missionary assignment at an Indian reservation in Arizona. Congratulations! The council officers have provided Father Joe with a check to assist him with his travel needs. It’s been great having Father Joe participate in our meetings and activities (I won’t soon forget the outdoor Mass at the Buhlinger’s farm). We send prayers to Father Joe for safe travels and good for- tune in his new assignment.

    This newsletter is going out just before the Council’s Trunk or Treat event on Sunday, October 27th . We typically have close to 100 children come out for this safe and fun event. We are expecting a terrific turn out again this year and will put some photos in next month’s newsletter. Always remember to check out “spotknights.com” for the latest in events and news for our Council (courtesy of our webmaster Ken Dudley).

God bless our Council and God Bless the Knights of Columbus

Vivat Jesus! 

Vincent Ursini