ALL ARE WELCOME -- K OF C CHRISMAS PARTY

 

The Knight Shield - December 2024

    The Trunk or Treat Halloween event was fun for all. Again this year, the Council hosted over 100 kids in the North Parking lot of St Paul of Tarsus. Hot dogs and chips were served, hayrides, games and of course lots of trunks. It was great to see Knights embrace the season and go for it with some terrific outfits ! Lot’s more trunks this year as well. Thanks to Art and Mike for organizing the event. Thanks to Kurt, Ray and Ken for preparing and serving the food. Thanks to our Webmaster Ken Dudley for the photos and postings on “spotknights.com.” A special thanks to Ron Marrese who came back to drive the hay wagon. And of course, to all that partook in preparing the “Trunks,” you make it special for the children of our Parish !

    A Memorial Mass for Fallen Knights was held on Nov 3rd at Sacred Heart Seminary. Our Council honored the contributions of Ken Gonko and Tom Murray and provided plaques. Families of both Knights were there to share in the Mass and subsequent breakfast. Thanks to Gary Skarb, our Deputy Grand Knight, for his work coordinating these efforts.

    Ladies of the Knights delivered 42 coats to Erie Elementary School for the annual Coats for Kids program. Katie Lefever at Erie was very thankful for the donation. The kids were excited exclaiming, “That’s amazing,” “So Comfy, “It’s so pretty,” “Thank you.” Thanks to Andrea Ursini and Christine Krause for supporting that activity.

    Sir Knight Phil Kwasny collected exactly 100 retired flags over Veteran’s Weekend for proper disposal. Phil was at every Mass and is one of our Council’s veterans. Thanks to Phil and all our Veterans for your service! 

    Our 4th quarter Corporate Communion this year was a bit earlier than usual. But, thanks to a terrific turn out by our District 1 Color guard, was very memorable. Eight color guards turned out including the District Master, Gene Suchyta and our very own District Marshal Bob Greening. Thank you gentlemen!

    The Respect Life Ministry put on a Baby bottle drive for Compassion Pregnancy center in Clinton Township. This organization provides free of charge medical support including ultrasound screening, infant supplies, counseling and after birth support in our local community. With the generosity of St Paul of Tarsus congregation, the group was able to raise over $12,000 for the organization with the support of our Council Treasurer and spouse, Ray & Lori Coughlin. Thanks also to Ted and Sheri Czarny for support in counting and packaging coins (there were a lot of them)! Congratulations to RLM for such a successful drive!

    The Council is off to a great start with the Charity Poker event at the new venue, Paradise Restaurant and Banquet center in the Target strip mall. Our Council does this Charity Poker support twice a year and is one of our larger fund raisers of the year. Looking forward to a great report on the charity raise for what started out as a strong week. This gaming revenue will be used for various charity activities during the year including; Coats for Kids, Gleaners, For gotten Harvest, Disaster Relief, Right to Life, Cantana Choir.

    The Men’s Group is putting on their 8th annual “Cookies with Santa” program on December 8th this year. Please join in Christmas magic, coloring, prizes and caroling. Bring your children / grandchildren to this fun filled event. And, get your family picture taken with Santa!

    With the holiday’s coming up expect to see the Holiday Meat sales starting up in the Gathering space before Masses in the next few weeks. This is another important fundraiser and one that accumulates substantially over the years to support our local charities.

    It’s been an awesome year of Charity, Unity and Fraternity for our Council. My family will be travelling so that we can all be together for both holidays coming up. There is no better time of the year. On behalf of the Council Officers, I personally would like to wish each one of you a bountiful Thanksgiving and wonderful Christmas season.

God bless our Council and God Bless the Knights of Columbus 

Vivat Jesus! 

Vincent Ursini 

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