OFFICAL PUBLICATION OF THE MICHIGAN STATE COUNCIL KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
AN I B M U L O C MICHIGAN All. ne. In Service to In Service to O
Volume 65 No. 1 July 2013
From The State Deputy Michael J. Malinowski I read somewhere “We, the People of God, have been invited by our Holy Father to begin a Year of Faith, which began October 11, 2012. It is a journey designed to deepen our conversion to Christ and instill in us a fresh zeal to share the Gospel.” In talking with people recently they felt that the Year of Faith was from Pope Benedict XVI, and since he has retired, it really was not in effect. The Year of Faith will continue till the end on November 24, 2013. The Michigan State Council has put together a Year of Faith Pilgrimage, “Walking on Holy Ground”. The pilgrimage will include 4 Teachings, 4 Places, and 4 Encounters – All in one day. Busses will travel from Gaylord down I 75 thru Saginaw, from Grand Rapids across I 96 thru Lansing, and from Kalamazoo across I 94 thru Jackson and Ann Arbor. The bus, meals, presentations and more for $75 per person. Please see the enclosed article for more information. This pilgrimage is not just for the Knights of Columbus, but is for anyone who wishes to attend. Also in this edition of the paper you find enclosed a letter and a petition for all concerned Pro-Life citizens of Michigan. Please take time to read the letter. If you have already signed a petition at your local parish, use the enclosed petition for those who have not yet had the opportunity to sign one. State Membership Article William LeVeque My Brother Knights and Ladies, I would like to offer this prayer for you. I pray that your relationship with God continue to grow and that the works done by you are for his praise and glory, I pray this through Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. I want to let you know that I pray for you and for your intentions daily. I pray that our country continue to allow the free practice of religion. I pray that all Catholics have the right to choose to honor our beliefs. I pray that all Catholics find some venue to practice and strengthen their faith. The power of one. One member per council per month. One first degree per district per month. One star council per District per year. One new council per Diocese per year. By helping other catholic men have a venue to practice his faith and prayer life we can accomplish these goals. I found that for me being a member of the Knights is that venue I need and I hope you have too. We need to avail all men 18 years and older that venue. Visualize this: your council is a car moving in a direction. The destination should be a place where God wants you to be. The car engine is programs we do and should be based on the first principle of our order charity. We provide opportunities for ourselves and our families to do just that, charity. The Grand knight is the driver and helps guide us to our destination. The fuel in the tank is our membership. The question is how do we keep fuel in the tank? One way to obtain fuel is one on one recruiting that is like using a gas can to put fuel in our tank. Another way we fill up is by going to a gas station, which would be like running a properly done blitz. Having gas in the gas can or stopping at the gas station does no good if we don’t put it in the tank. Putting gas in the tank is done by having a first degree. If we don’t keep fuel in our tank pretty soon the engine, our programs can’t run and it is unlikely we can reach our destination. I would like to thank all of you for supporting our order by your works and deeds and ask that you continue with all your efforts. I would like to ask that you pray for our church and our order, that we continue to do what God wants us to do. The last thing I ask is that you pray for me, that God gives me the patience, knowledge and health to continue to serve him. God Bless.
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From The State Chaplain Rev. Scott A. Thibodeau
My dear Brother Knights and Ladies: Vivat Jesus! Allow me to extend my congratulations to all of our new Grand Knights and welcome back our current Grand Knights as we begin this new fraternal year. It is an exciting time for the Church as we are experiencing a renewal of faith guided by Pope Francis. Hopefully, all of our council leaders are experiencing renewed hope as we prepare to lead our brother knights to a fruitful life in Christ. Our order is about bringing men to a deeper relationship with Jesus so as to allow them to grow in His Love. Through our prayer and works of mercy we show support for our brothers, their families and the entire Church. With these thoughts in mind we will be encouraging more prayer events and greater visibility of our councils for the new fraternal year. Obviously, the Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney founded our order in a parish community and intended that we be active in and helpful to our parish communities. This requires us to take active roles in our parishes by being present and supportive of our Catholic communities. Through our prayerful support we can become known as men of faith willing to help our priests and our brothers and sisters in need. Therefore, we are asking all councils to renew their efforts in celebrating more Corporate Communions. Corporate Communions have many benefits and no deficiencies. By praying the Sunday Liturgy as a group in our parish communities we will certainly be more visible and be able to encourage more men to join our order by our very presence at Sunday Mass. We will also be participating in The New Evangelization as we invite our inactive members to attend council functions and these Corporate Communions. Nothing works as well as a personal invitation to reconnect and become active again. A simple phone call to inactive members may be just what our brother knights need to reignite their faith. It also gives us a clear direction as we attempt to bring life back to councils in desperate need or a simple shot in the arm to the active and growing. I am praying this fraternal year will be one of great renewal: a renewal that inspires deep faith among our brother knights and through them to the faithful everywhere. I am confident this is what Fr. McGivney had in mind when he founded the order at St. Mary’s. Therefore, we should all rejoice in the fact that we are called to share our faith in these ways and especially through our participation in the Knights of Columbus. It occurs to me that this is exactly what it means to be a Knight and a man of faith for others! Many blessings to our endeavors in the new fraternal year, MICHIGAN COLUMBIAN PUBLICATION SCHEDUL COPY DEADLINE MONTH MARCH 1st…………………………APRIL 2014 JUNE 1st…………………………. JULY 2014 SEPTEMBER 1st…………………...OCTOBER 2013 DECEMBER 1st…………………… JANUARY 2014 PLEASE SEND ALL COPY MATERIAL TO: GARY M. KOLBICZ 39373 DURAND DRIVE STERLING HEIGHTS, MI. 48310 RES./FAX: 586-939-3886 E-MAIL – g.kolbicz@mikofc.org
Michigan State Council Knights of Columbus Publisher
State Officers Michael J. Malinowski State Deputy
Rev. Scott A. Thibodeau State Chaplain
Robert W. Fox State Secretary
Kenneth B. Unterbrink State Treasurer
Antonio G. Vittorini State Advocate State Warden
Thomas A. Marcetti, Sr. Immediate Past State Deputy
Thomas M. Wegener, PSD Supreme Director
Michigan State Council Office 2184 Beech Daly Dearborn Hgts., MI 48127 Office Phone 313-274-3223 Fax 313-274-0704 Email: mikofc@sbcglobal.net Lawrence T. Grabowski Executive Secretary
Editorial Gary M. Kolbicz, Editor g.kolbicz@mikofc.org
Michigan Columbian Publication Schedule Copy Deadline
Month
March 1st……………April 2013 June 1st………………July 2013 September 1st……….October 2013 December 1st………..January 2013 Please Send All Copy Material To: Gary M. Kolbicz 39373 Durand Drive Sterling Heights, MI. 48310 Phone: 586-939-3886 Home Fax: 586-939-3886 Email – g.kolbicz@mikofc.org Moving? Notify your local council. Send your new address and mailing labet to: Knights of Columbus Membership Records PO Box 1670 New Haven, CT 06507-0901
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The Seat of Peter Thomas M. Wegener, PSD Supreme Director My Brother Knights and Ladies, At the end of May we completed a most successful convention. Our accomplishments were celebrated as each council was recognized in all the categories that help make us successful, both programming and membership. Only together, state council and local council, working as a team towards the goals set for us, can we be successful today and through the years to come. Integral to that success is the continuity of leadership for each council. Yet each year some of our councils have trouble presenting a full slate of officers for election. This past state convention we had a spirited campaign for one officer's position. Ask yourself when was the last time more than one person compete for an officer’s position in your council? After you ask yourself, ask others in your council why is that? Our councils are generally thought of in high regard by our priests, by our communities and by our own members. However, do you have officers repeating in their office year after year? Are your meetings attended by only a few non-officers and nondirectors? Is there a lack of communication from the officers to the council members? Are your members aware of the great things your council does? This disaffection towards participating in leadership probably took some time to develop, yet certainly it affects the successful operation of our councils. There is a lure to be an officer of a success council. There is a lure to be part of an organization that touches so many lives with our charitable works. There is a lure to be part of an organization that supports its Bishops and Priests, to be an integral part of the lay leadership for the New Evangelization. In order to increase and maintain that lure, which will ensure the continued success of our councils, I offer the following ideas that I call the three “Ts” which may help you create that lure and maintain that success. Teach The Order has provided for a corps of officers to lead the council. If, in 1882, the founding members thought councils could perform with one or two officers, then there would be only one or two officers. Wisely they knew that the successful operation of a council needed several elected and engaged officers. Each officer, with their specific duty, which when performed fully, assists with the successful operation of the council. We, as elected leaders, can teach the officers of the council their duties by first performing our duties well and then allow them to perform the duties of the office to which they were elected. Worthy Grand Knights, broaden the duties and responsibilities of the officers of the council to at least the duties in the Supreme Council By-Laws. Yes this can be messy at first, especially if they haven’t been performing the duties in the past. But if you want more and better qualified men to attain the peak of the pyramid, the base of the pyramid must be broad, strong and experienced. It is time to let the younger men, younger in age and/or experience, to help you help the Order. They bring new ideas, they bring an excitement to the office, they bring a commitment to the order. Together, not alone, will we grow the Order, for our council, our district, and our state; making it stronger in numbers to assist with our charitable works, stronger to join our Bishops and Priests to help in the challenges of today and the challenges of tomorrow that are as of yet un-named. Trust As elected leaders we owe it to our officers and members to perform our duties as our Supreme Knight, State Deputy, District Deputy and their appointees have directed. Their guidance and direction is for the good of the order. When we as local, state, and supreme council work with one goal we can accomplish great things. This starts with you and your officers. There are written and electronic communications from Supreme and State council that are meant to be transmitted from your council to your members. Often these contain messages of action for current issues of the day. They may contain new and important program offerings that a council officer or member may wish to undertake in the name of the council. They may contain progress reports for Supreme and State programs that would be of informational benefit to officers and members. It is important that these be relayed to your officers and members to fully inform them of the Order's actions. Your Council Members have entrusted you and your officers to fulfill the requirements given to you and promised by you at your installation. No member should be surprised by a lack of performance on our officers’ or directors’ part. The Order and its good works’ success rest on your complete and accurate performance of your duties. continued on page 27
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From The State Warden William Chasse’ First and foremost I would like to sincerely thank our committee for helping me get elected to State Office, without your hard work we could not have done this. We would also like to thank all of you who supported us in this new endeavor of our lives. I am the oldest of three boys and Marybeth is the youngest of five siblings and the only girl. Marybeth and I met at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids where we married and lived for 8 years until the birth of our son, Jacob. I worked for Gordon Food Service and she for Grand Rapids Public Schools. We moved to Lansing to be closer to our families while we started our own. I continued to commute to Brighton to work at the new warehouse for Gordon Food Service and she worked for Waverly Public Schools where she continues to do so. I stopped commuting shortly after the birth of our twin boys, Zack and Cody, and started my own business. Our boys attended St. Gerard and graduated from Waverly and Haslett High Schools. Jacob graduated from MSU and is gainfully employed as an electrician. Zack and Cody are presently attending college. Marybeth just finished her 26th year of teaching as a special education teacher and I continue to work in the flooring and construction business. We look forward to traveling around the state meeting and working with everyone to continue preserving the foundation for the future for the Knights of Columbus. Please know that I am here to help you reach your goals, let us know how we can help. I would like to wish you a successful and blessed year.
From The State Program Director David Bergeman As we start the new fraternal year two things come to mind, how did we do last year and what is ahead for the next year. Looking back over the last year we tried to simplify and improve. Simplify the way we do things and improve the results. Our goal was every council Supreme Star and every council to obtain Michigan Achievement. A lofty goal, but we felt that it was a possibility. At the time of convention we announced that 10 councils would quality for Supreme Double Star (qualify for Star Council status and doubled the membership quota), 38 councils qualified for Star Council, and 79 councils qualified for Michigan Achievement. Since then, there have been a few councils added to the list and there may be others as results are still rolling in. I am excited to see the final results. In a recent conversation with the Diocesan Program Directors many felt that many more councils could have qualified for awards because they are doing the programs, but they just are not completing the paperwork required to obtain the award. Now looking to this year, do we change the goals? “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps”, Confucius. This year I hope that each and every council creates a plan to reach the Star Council and Michigan Achievement awards. The MI-19 form will be due at the Tri-District Meetings. This form helps the Diocesan Program and Membership Directors understand the council’s action plan for the next six months. The Diocesan Directors can help a council fill in the missing requirements with ideas and direction for implementation when needed. As a firm believer in the Continuous Improvement Process for both my work and personal life, I know that adjustments need to be made all the time, everyday. The PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Adjust) cycle can be implemented in every council. If you are not familiar with the PDCA cycle, Plan the objective and process, Do implement the plan by executing the process, Check the results, Adjust the plan or process as needed to get the end result that you are trying to obtain. The same o’ same o’ way of thinking just will not get us where we need to go to best serve our church, family, council, and community. There are a couple of changes to the MI-1 Michigan Achievement worksheet this year. We have eliminated the Hour of Prayer requirement under Church Activities and replace it with both a Council Corporate Communion (two required) and a District Corporate Communion. The reason is to help get members into the church pews and get recognition from the parish community. For the Financial Secretaries that received training last year, please mark completion in the first quarter, if you are a new FS or did not receive training last year then you are required to complete training this year. All councils must be utilizing on-line Supreme Council’s Member Management by 2016. Schedules for training will be announced shortly. In closing, lets reach the Supreme and the States Goals this year and thank YOU for all that YOU do!
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K of C LADIES “CORNER” Hello Ladies – Our hearts are filled with gratitude. The raffle on Mackinac Island was such a success; it took our collective breath away! With the many generous donations, endless prayers, clipping coupons, numerous hours of preparation, and the matching funds from both the Weingartz, Everything from Lawn to Snow and Eartlink.Com, the total raised for Holy Cross Children’s Services, was over $62,000.00! There is no error with the placement of the decimal point. We were astounded at the generosity of all the participants in the raffle, the wonderful donated items, the effort of the dedicated workforce headed by Sue Vittorini, wife of the State Advocate. Thank you from the children of Holy Cross. Their lives have been touched by angels – you are the angels touching their lives. We are privileged to serve you. The Summer Meeting at Boyne promises another opportunity for the generosity of the Order to shine. The bath baskets will be available for pick up by the wives of the District Deputies. We ask you fill the baskets with the requested shower items for the HCCS children and residents. The baskets will be collected at the Winter Meeting in December for Christmas distribution at all the facilities across the state. It is never too early to begin the quest for college themed sweatshirts for the Winter Meeting. These boxed and tagged sweatshirts are the only gift some of these children will receive for Christmas. We know you will be generous as always. Thank you for the opportunity to see and hear about all the many good works the Knights and their wives accomplish. All the good works accomplished in this great state of Michigan is truly astounding and most without a pat on the back. Consider this a rousing cheer and a standing ovation for all of you! Love and Gratitude, Maureen, Sandy, Ellie, Sue, Mary Beth and Arlene
Fr. Victor J Renaud Council 3292 By Andrew Cipolla
It has been nearly three years since the Knights of Columbus began to charter the Boy Scouts of Troop 743 out of Plymouth, MI and in that time a great partnership has begun to emerge. It has been nearly three years since the Knights of Columbus began to charter the Boy Scouts of Troop 743 out of Plymouth, MI and in that time a great partnership has begun to emerge. continued on page 26
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Knights of Columbus sets new record for charitable contributions More than $167 million and 70 million hours donated to charity in 2012 The Knights of Columbus set a new all-time record for charitable donations and service hours in 2012. The results of the K of C’s Annual Survey of Fraternal Activity for the year ending Dec. 31, 2012, indicate that record amounts of money and hours — more than $167.5 million and 70 million hours — were donated to charitable causes. The Knights financial contribution for the year grew by more than $9.4 million to $167,549,817. Contributions increased for the 13th consecutive year. The number of volunteer service hours also rose by nearly 64,000 hours from the 2011 total to 70,113,207 hours. At an average value of $22.14 per service hour as estimated by Independent Sector, the value of the Knights’ service hours last year exceeded $1.55 billion. Cumulative figures show that during the past decade the Knights of Columbus has donated $1.475 billion to charity and provided more than 673 million hours of volunteer service in support of charitable initiatives. Notable beneficiaries during the past year included Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics, victims of natural disasters, local food banks, the economically disadvantaged and physically and intellectually disabled persons. Scholarships and educational support, as well as a variety of church and community projects were also prominent among the many initiatives sponsored by local K of C councils. The survey found that there were more than 420,000 K of C blood donations during 2012. The Knights of Columbus was among the first groups to recruit blood donors, with formal efforts dating back to 1937. “Throughout its 131 years, the Knights of Columbus has always practiced charity as its first principle,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. “With so many people enduring great hardship, the Knights of Columbus is happy to help provide solutions to real people’s problems through this great outpouring of charity by our members over the past year.”
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Helping People with Intellectual Disabilities By:
Thomas A. Marcetti, Sr. IPSD State Director of MI Programs I would like to begin by thanking all of those who worked so hard to make the Tootsie roll drives a great success this past fraternal year. With a number of councils yet to report, it appears that we will break the 1.3 million dollar mark. Congratulations! The following councils have achieved special recognition: Most Money Collected St. Lawrence Council #2950 Joseph Lograsso Grand Knight $28,770 Archdiocese of Detroit Msgr. J. M. Steffes Council #853 Martin Nelson, Jr. Grand Knight $7,212.43 Gaylord Diocese Bishop Haas Council #4362 Dennis Zvirzdinis Grand Knight $12,198.55 Grand Rapids Diocese Niles Council #708 Mark Vande Vere Grand Knight $4,370.74 Kalamazoo Diocese Fenton Council #7418 James Gatti Grand Knight $19,752.90 Lansing Diocese Bishop Baraga Council #1585 Mark Bolander Grand Knight $4,522.59 Marquette Diocese Bay City Council #414 Duwayne Auger Grand Knight $18,500.00 Saginaw Diocese Most Money Collected Per Member Divine Mercy Parish Council #14883 Michael Zubalik Grand Knight$94.44 Archdiocese of Detroit Msgr. J. M. Steffes Council #853 Martin Nelson, Jr.Grand Knight $48.41 Gaylord Diocese St. Michael's Council #9909 Dave Reams Grand Knight $105.39 Grand Rapids Diocese Fr. Reynold G. Thelen Council #4055 Alan Nilson Grand Knight $33.60 Kalamazoo Diocese Clio Council # 13703 Phillip White Grand Knight $107.14 Lansing Diocese Iron River Council #2300 William Commenator Grand Knight $46.17 Cheboygan Council 791 Easter Sausage Sale Marquette Diocese The Cheboygan Knights fresh Easter Sausage Sale Shepherd Council #8554 Robert Wachowski Grand Knight $58.05 was a success; thanks to all who helped make the Saginaw Diocese sausage and to those who purchased the Easter sauGreatest Net Increase sage. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Council A special thank you goes out to our famous maker #7444 August LaRuffa Grand Knight107% Archdiocese of Detroit Jerry Nadlicki and his family's special sausage recipe. We made a total of 690 pounds of fresh Easter sau- Przeslawski Grand Knight 415.4% Alpena Council #529 Daniel sage and netted a profit of $1,634.03. Thank you all Gaylord Diocese again especially Jerry. Hope you enjoyed the sausage. St. Michael's Council #9909 Dave Reams Grand Knight 113.8% Grand Rapids Diocese Deacon Jerry Mix Council #2508 John Feyes Grand Knight 40.2% Kalamazoo Diocese Clio Council #13703 Phillip White Grand Knight 337.2% Lansing Diocese Mother Theresa Council #13634 Timothy Starzynski Grand Knight 347.3% Marquette Diocese St. Stephen's Council #4102 Scott DeWyse Grand Knight 84.7% Saginaw Diocese Now is the time to start planning for the Columbus Day drive which will be held this year on the week end of October 11, 12 & 13. If for some reason, your council will not be able to hold the drive on the scheduled week end, the state insurance will cover your council the week end before or after. In order to make sure your aprons and tootsie rolls will arrive in time for the drive, they need to be ordered by August 2, 2013. Current order forms are available on the state website at: MiKofC.org – Resources –council forms. These forms may be downloaded, filled out on your computer, and then printed out to be mailed in to the company to complete the order. Holy Spirit/Glorious Assumption Council 7891 Holy Spirit/Glorious Assumption Council 7891 had its second blood drive of the year on May 4. We were credited with 54 pints bringing our total for the year to 109. In the picture from L to R are GK Michael Radelt, Br Jim Mitchell, Shelia Love and Br. Franc Love and Camden, Br Tom DeNoyer, and Red Cross Coordinator and brother Knight Michael Lenninger. Our next drive is scheduled for July 20th.
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MICHIGAN’S STATE OF COLUMBIANISM STATE DEPUTY’S REPORT Michael J. Malinowski May 23, 2012 Your Excellencies; Most Reverend Bernard A. Hebda Bishop of Gaylord, Most Reverend Walter A. Hurley Administrator of Grand Rapids Diocese, Most Reverend Paul J. Bradley Bishop of Kalamazoo, Most Reverend Earl Boyea Bishop of Lansing, Most Reverend Joseph Cistone Bishop of Saginaw, Most Reverend Francis R. Reiss Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, Most Reverend Donald Hanchon Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, Reverend Father Francis Dobrzenski Administrator of Marquette Diocese, Worthy State Chaplain Reverend Father Scott Thibodeau, Worthy Diocesan Chaplains, Worthy Council Chaplains, Worthy State Father Prior, Reverend Monsignors, Reverend Fathers, President of Holy Cross Children’s Services Brother Francis Boylan, Deacons, and Religious, Worthy Supreme Directors, Worthy Former Supreme Director, Worthy Vice-Supreme Master, Worthy State Officers, Worthy Immediate Past State Deputy and Past State Deputies, Worthy Past Vice-Supreme Masters, Worthy District Deputies, Worthy Masters of the Fourth Degree, Worthy Supreme Council General Insurance Agents, Delegates and Guests, VIVAT JESUS. We gather on beautiful and historic Mackinac Island to conduct the important business of the 113th Annual Michigan State Council Convention. We have joined together also to celebrate this outstanding jurisdiction’s achievements of the past year, preparing us to return home to our councils and communities better prepared for a an even greater future as we live out the vision and the dream of our founder, the Venerable Servant of God Fr. Michael J. McGivney. I thank each of you for taking the time to join with us to be a part of the historic events of this weekend, and I ask that you take full participation in the work that lies before us. Our annual meeting opened earlier this day with the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with Most Reverend Francis R. Reiss, Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, presiding, joined by our bishops, diocesan chaplains, and many of our council chaplains. Each day of our convention will begin with the celebration of the Holy Mass at 7:30 a.m., petitioning our Lord for his blessings and guidance on all the convention events and in our decision making; I ask that you join us each morning and fill the theatre to an overfill as we did for the opening Mass. It is a great honor for me to preside over the meetings of the 113th Michigan State Convention. It is also a pleasure to be able to present this report on Columbianism in the great state of Michigan to you. Before I begin my report I wish to borrow some words from Past State Deputy John R. “Bob” Moody, “No one really likes change, except for a wet baby.” As I continue my report, this might make sense. I want to thank our bishops for their support throughout the year and for their presence here this weekend. I also want to take this opportunity to thank our bishops for appointing our state and diocesan chaplains to a two-year term. Rev. Scott Thibodeau, State Chaplain, Rev. J.J. Mech, Archdiocese of Detroit; Rev. Charles Donajkowski, Diocese of Gaylord: Rev. Ronald Hutchinson, Diocese of Grand Rapids; Rev. Robert Creagan, Diocese of Kalamazoo; Rev. William Turner, Diocese of Lansing; Rev. Benedetto Paris, Diocese of Marquette; Rev. James Bessert, Diocese of Saginaw; and our Squires Father Prior, Rev. Mark Prill. In October I received a communication from Bishop Hebda stating that due to an increase in his work load Fr. Donajkowski would be replaced by Rev. Donald Geyman as Chaplain for the Diocese of Gaylord. We welcome Fr. Geyman back as Diocesan Chaplain. In a very public way the entire State Council thanks Fr. Scott Thibodeau for his spiritual leadership. We are fortunate that he and his brother chaplains are able to devote their time to the order and make our gatherings more prayerful. And we would be remiss if we did not thank our council chaplains who serve our local councils with dedication. I ask when you see any of our chaplains that you thank them first for their vocation and then thank them for their dedication to the Knights of Columbus. The convention of May 2012 saw the election of a new State Deputy, State Secretary, State Treasurer, State Advocate, and State Warden. As the New Year began all of the state officers and our wives were adjusting to our new positions. Each day we have learned from one another; each one brings something special and unique to the board. We have grown with each other, and together we have united into a team devoted to the order’s progress in Michigan. In January of this year, State Warden Richard McCloy, Jr. had to send a letter of resignation to the state board due to a change in his work status At a board meeting the state officers accepted his resignation continued on page 8
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and voted to fill the unexpired term with Dean Combs. Rick McCloy, Jr. and his wife Beth will be missed; they brought
.excitement to the board. To State Secretary Robert Fox and Sandy, to State Treasurer Ken Unterbrink and Ellie, to State
Advocate Tony Vittorini and Sue, Maureen and I appreciate how much you do for the Knights of Columbus and we enjoy your company and working with you. To Dean Combs and Linda, we thank you for accepting the position of state warden these few months. It takes a special couple to do this, and both of you are special. A new board very quickly realizes the debt of gratitude that is owed to the past state deputies of Michigan. Their sacrifices over the years have left a solid foundation for this board to build upon. We appreciate the support given by attendance at meetings, your helpful suggestions and offers of help. Michigan is certainly fortunate to have a past state deputy, Thomas M. Wegener, representing our jurisdiction as a supreme director. Tom has taken the dedication, compassion, and sense of commitment that he demonstrated as state deputy to the next level and he represents the Michigan jurisdiction admirably. The Michigan State Council would also like to thank Past State Deputy Richard McCloy, Sr. for his many years of service to the Order. In February of this year Richard retired as a Supreme Membership and Program Consultant. The delegates here today should know that you were looked up to and well respected by your fellow Supreme Consultants. Your leadership and ideas are missed at the home office. You have made Michigan proud. After my election as state deputy, I began to prepare for my first year in office. Next up was the selection of 88 district deputies, to be presented to Supreme Knight Carl Anderson for his approval on their appointment along with 30 state directors, 16 regional directors, and 22 diocesan directors. To each of our appointed district deputies and directors, I express my gratitude for your commitment and service to our order and our state. Thank you for saying yes when asked. With the selection of the State Official Family completed, Maureen and I traveled in early June to New Haven, CT, the birth place of our order. There I was presented with the information to help prepare me for the awesome responsibility that I was about to undertake as your state deputy. The State Summer Leadership Conference for district deputies and all of our directors was conducted on July 4th weekend with a change in venue from Treetops Resorts in Gaylord to Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs. The leadership training was organized by State Membership Director Dan Waligoria, State Program Director David Bergeman, State Training Director William Leveque, and our Supreme Council Membership and Program Consultant PSD Richard McCloy. It was conducted with the help of our directors Doug Kokot and William Chasse and our Supreme Council General Insurance Agents. Our theme for the meeting was giving everyone the tools to be successful. Our goal was to have every council active (at least one new member before the end of September) and to have every council achieve star council award. Tomorrow you will see in the awards program at the banquet which councils were successful. Supreme Council asked us to recruit One Member Per Council Per Month. The rest of July included the state officers, membership and program directors traveling to each diocese in Michigan delivering the message and providing the local councils with the tools to assist them in reaching their goals and in having a successful year. Also in July was the passing of former Supreme Director and Past State Deputy Bernie Gerke. Bernie will be missed by the Michigan State Council. The first week of August brings the Supreme Convention. This year the 130th Annual Convention was held in Anaheim, California. Just prior to the start of the convention all of the delegates were able to participate in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Festival held in the Los Angles Colosseum. The Michigan jurisdiction won many program awards. St. Louis Guanella Council #3092 in Chelsea won first place in Youth Activities. Bishop Richter Council #7761 in Rockford won second place in Culture of Life Activities. Bishop Sheen Council #7487 in Jenison won third place for Family Service Activities. The family of Kenneth & Deborah Verkest, members of St. Hubert’s Council 11658 in Harrison Township, was selected as second runner-up as International Family of the Year. Also, a resolution approved at last year’s state convention was passed on to Supreme for consideration. The Supreme Board of Directors believed the resolution had merit, and as of January 1, 2013, newly established councils will have their first per capita billing waived. For each new board, the installation of state leadership is a moment that they cannot forget. August 18th brought to fulfillment several years of planning. The Mass was celebrated by the Most Reverend Francis R. Reiss, Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, in the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Chapel on the campus of Madonna University in Livonia. Bishop Reiss was assisted by State Chaplain Rev. Scott Thibodeau and our diocesan chaplains. Following Mass and the installation and oath of office by the state board, district deputies, and state, regional, and diocesan directors, the celebration banquet was held at the Burton Manor in Livonia. I extend my sincerest thanks and appreciation to my M&M Unity Committee and everyone who had a part in the well done, beautiful and memorable event. Of the many benefits of serving as a state officer, some of the most rewarding are the invitations to attend special liturgies as representatives of the Knights of Columbus. September of this year provided two of these opportunities. We had the pleasure to attend the installation of Monsignor Todd Lajiness, former State Chaplain, as the new rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary on September 9th. The following day, a good friend of the Knights of Columbus, Msgr. Jeffrey Monforton, former secretary to Cardinal Maida, was ordained and installed as the Bishop of Steubenville, Ohio.
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The Michigan State Council wishes them both well in their new positions. The Father Louis Hennepin Province, Knights of Columbus, Fourth Degree held their annual provincial meeting at the Sterling Inn in Sterling Heights the weekend of October 5th thru 7th. The Hennepin Province of the Fourth Degree under the leadership of Vice Supreme Master George Dann, PSD, has once again exceeded their yearly goal of collecting funds for the Military Chaplains Scholarship fund. I would also like to thank all the Masters of Michigan: Master Clifford Wasmund, of District #1; Master George Walrath and Former Master Dennis Henderson of District #2; Master Vern Miron, of District #3; and Master Robert Krauseneck of District #4. Your presence along with the Sir Knights of the color corps at the living rosary this weekend and at state functions is greatly appreciated. You will always foster patriotism within our church and country. The Fourth Degree of Hennepin Province has truly made themselves the visible arm of the Knights of Columbus in Michigan. The State Council was deeply saddened with the deaths of two of our retired bishops this fraternal year: the Most Reverend Patrick Cooney, retired Bishop of the Gaylord Diocese, and the Most Reverend Moses Anderson, retired Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit. In November Maureen and I along with State Chaplain Fr. Scott and our Supreme Director Thomas Wegener and his wife, Joyce, traveled to Dallas for the State Deputies’ winter meeting. The majority of the conference was devoted to workshops on growing our order in the second half of the fraternal year. We were also present to watch Past Supreme Knight Virgil Dechant receive the Order’s highest honor, the Gaudium et Spes Award. The winter District Deputies’ meeting was scheduled for the first weekend in December. It was held at the Lansing Lexington Hotel. The winter meeting is the time for the great sweatshirt collection. District deputies deliver these gifts from their councils to be presented to Brother Francis Boylan, executive director of Holy Cross Children’s Services. The thousands of sweatshirts along with bath baskets for the girls and also gift cards are sorted and stored until the large truck donated by Steelcase and driven by Gary Merritt is loaded to take these gifts to the Clinton Campus. The gifts that you gave were the only gifts that some of these children will receive for Christmas. The winter meeting was an opportunity for us to look back at the first six months of progress of the programs outlined at the beginning of our fraternal year. It was a time for our state membership director and state program director to review with the district deputies the goals for the second half of the year. Under the direction and organizational skills of State Respect Life Chair Couple Paul and Sue Thorn, the State Board and our wives joined on January 23rd a busload of Michigan Knights and journeyed to Washington D.C. for the sixth annual Michigan March for Life Bus Tour. What an honor to be part of the statement made by Michigan Knights that we are a people “Of Life and For Life”. Paul and Sue, you serve us well and do us proud not only in this event but in your arrangement of annual Right to Life Banquet, the Baby Bottle Program, and all your pro-life involvement in local organizations that promote our values. The State Tribute Banquet honoring our State Chaplain Rev. Scott Thibodeau was held on February 10th. A crowd of more the 400 people were in attendance. A scroll containing a total of over 1200 new members recruited is his honor was presented to Fr. Scott. We were also able to recognize the grand knights of councils that had attained the Quick Start and Fast Start Awards. This year we also introduced the Supreme Council Field Agents that had 100 per cent of their insurance quotas. The State Raffle this year was held on March 16th, the day before St. Patrick’s Day. Our co-chairmen Peter Bersch and Steve LaMachia tried to revamp the ramp the raffle this year. They only did one mailing of tickets and gave out more prizes, all of them cash. They will give their report later in this meeting. I wish to thank them for all of their hard work this year. A little over a year ago, with the permission of then State Deputy Thomas A. Marcetti, Sr., I asked Dan Waligoria and David Bergeman to be the State Membership and State Program Directors respectively. We began to put together a plan that we thought would help the councils grow, not only in membership, but in the type and quality of programs that the local councils could achieve. In regard to membership, I asked a team of men to help: William Leveque to be New Council Development along with Doug Kokot, and Steve Jacek as Membership Retention. In October, Dan Waligoria learned that the company he worked for was merging with another company. Dan was offered a large promotion from regional director to corporate director in North America. Dan had to resign as state membership director. That same evening, at a membership committee meeting, I asked William Leveque if he would please take over as state membership director. He agreed to do so the next day. Changes had to be made. Doug Kokot became new council director, and we added Richard Lambrix as a regional director of new council development. I asked Leo Backes if he would return as council retention director. I would like to thank these men. William Leveque, Doug Kokot, Steve Jacek, Richard Lambrix, and Leo Backes for all of your help and dedication this year. A special thank you to Dan Waligoria, who worked so hard to put together this membership campaign. With these changes in place, Bill Leveque and I were called in to Hartford, Connecticut, in January to meet with
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the supreme officers and the other state deputies and membership directors in Division One to discuss membership goals for the remaining months of the fraternal year. Supreme Council informed us of the membership ad placement for our April blitz and the $9.00 per capita rebate for new members recruited the remaining fraternal year. New council development is certainly important to membership growth. Doug Kokot and Richard Lambrix are working closely with district deputies and our Supreme Council Insurance General Agents and Field Agents to start new councils. As of this meeting we have three new councils added to our family and another three in the works who should receive their council number before July 1st. Council Retention is also working on restarting three councils also. Thank you to all those men involved in this area; your efforts in establishing these new councils will allow them to flourish and serve their parishes in years to come. Perhaps the most difficult and trying position of any appointments is that of the state membership retention director. Steve Jacek spends countless hours on the phone in contact with members facing potential suspension and with the financial secretaries and district deputies making every effort to save members from leaving our order. In these trying economic times, with many men out of work and not able to pay their dues or leaving our state in search of employment, perhaps there has never been a more challenging time to serve in this position, Steve has tirelessly tried to save each potential suspension and has succeeded in saving many; thank you, Steve, for all your efforts. Thanks to Roundtable Director Dan Remeika for once again accepting this position. His background, leadership, and experience have provided us with much success in providing a Knights of Columbus presence in every possible parish. Also, a thank you to Dan for creating the district deputies and grand knights talking points each month. Our state ceremonials director, Past State Deputy Kenneth Grembowski, is doing an excellent job in coordinating all of our ceremonials. It has taken all of us awhile to adjust to the newly revised third degree ceremonial. I wish to thank all members of the ceremonial teams in Michigan. Whether it is a first, second, or third degree team, we need you to teach the lessons of Charity, Unity, and Fraternity. Thank you for all your hard work in teaching these lessons. Under the leadership of State Membership Director Bill Leveque and with the help of all of our diocesan membership directors, membership has shown a slight increase each month. This is because of the efforts of these directors working with district deputies, grand knights, and local council membership directors. This is not an easy job, and I thank you for all of the time you spend trying increase the membership in Michigan so that all of our council can survive. When I first started meeting with our State Program Director David Bergeman, he said to me, “Men do not join the Knights of Columbus to pay dues and go to meetings. They join because of our programs.” How true is that statement? Michigan is blessed to have an outstanding group of program directors. I wish to thank State Church Director Thomas Schmidt and his wife Suzanne for all of their hard work and efforts in this important position. Tom and Sue always arrive early to make sure all the preparations are ready and the vestments are pressed for all of our liturgies here at the convention as well as other state functions. Tom is also finishing up the traveling schedule for the Our Lady of Guadalupe Icon and the statewide travel schedule for the Silver Rose as it travels thru Michigan before it is passed to Indiana on its journey back to Mexico. Newly appointed State Vocations Director Ed Strach is no stranger to the State Council, having served two years as state program director. Ed has been working with councils wishing to start up desert meals as a way to help offset the cost of their going to the Holy Land. He is trying to set up a vocations committee in each of our dioceses just like the one in the Archdiocese of Detroit. I wish to congratulate the Detroit Archdiocesan Vocations League in having another sold-out fall golf outing and for their hosting the annual memorial Mass at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. The monies they raise will help the RSVP Program. This year the Michigan Jurisdiction ranks second in the order in support of providing seminarians’ and postulants’ education funds. The Knights of the Lansing Diocese held their annual Vocations Night at the Lansing Lug Nuts baseball game in August. This game not only raises monies for vocations but also gives the knights a chance to treat the seminarians and postulants to a baseball game. I wish to thank Ed for all of his hard work this year. The State Mentally Impaired Program got a new State Director this year in the likes of Immediate Past State Deputy Thomas Marcetti, Sr. The Tootsie Roll Drive has now grown into a semiannual drive: once in October and the other on Palm Sunday weekend. More councils are now conducting the drive twice a year. We were able to finally have a meeting with the Kroger Corporation in response to our not being able to solicit monies on their property. The outcome was not good as they are limiting the groups allowed to collect at their stores. We are working with Special Olympics of Michigan to try a different approach. State Director Marcetti has everything in order and we are now doing a turnaround of checks in about two weeks. Thank you, Worthy Past State Deputy, for your help on this project. Speaking of Special Olympics of Michigan, I have asked another man who is no stranger to the state council, Walter Winkle, Jr. to be the new State Director of Special Olympics. I have asked Walter to not only have councils give monies but also their time to the Special Olympics. I have asked that councils have more of an involvement with the Olympics rather than just to write a check. With Walter’s help, Michigan has once again topped all other state jurisdictions in the order with time and money donated to Special Olympics. Tomorrow we will be able to present Special Olympics of
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Michigan the first-place check. Thank you, Walter, for all your many hours working on this program. My special thanks to Past State Deputy William Walsh who served us well as a state deputy and continues to serve us as the state director of Michigan charities. Bill is relentless in his pursuit of “Take Five Dollars” from our members and councils to help fund our many Charity requests. Thanks, Bill; you do a great job and it is a pleasure to have you help. Another special thanks to Past State Deputy John R. “Bob” Moody, who is the state director of the McGivney Chair of Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. Through the hard work of Past State Deputy Moody, the State Council is able to give the seminary $100,000 dollars every year to fund this Chair held by Doctor Janet Smith. Thank you, Bob, for all of the time and energy that goes into this program. State Director of Special Projects and Athletics, Mark Gaworecki, has a wide variety of projects to take care of. From High School projects like the Prep Bowl, the Statewide Catholic High School Cross Country meet, the Detroit Catholic Schools track and field meet to the Detroit Tigers K of C day, the Westside and Eastside golf outings, and the State Council Bowling tournament. Thank you, Mark, for your many years of dedication to the state council. State Council Activities Director David Riley has again revitalized the KC the Teddy Bear program this year with many councils again purchasing these bears (and without wearing the bear costume). This program brings comfort to many. Dave also keeps track of the Knight of the Month program. Thank you, David, for the professional way you handle all the council activity programs. Michael Wegener, our state community activities director, continues to promote the Adopt-A-Highway program, Habitat for Humanity, council-sponsored blood drives, and many other activities for our communities. Thank you, Michael, for the skills and ability that you bring to your directorship. Family Life Director Michael Metiva reports that this year we had an increase of councils reporting families of month and also a larger number of councils’ candidates for Family of the Year. Thanks, Mike, for your service. This year State Youth Activities Director Christopher Kolomjec found out that youth activities go on all year long: starting with the soccer challenge, then the spelling bee, free throw contest, poster contest, and essay contest. Being a major in the USMC helped Chris keep all of these activities focused and on-point. This year we had and international winner in the soccer challenge. It was in the 14-year-old boys’ division. The winner was Kaveon Dux from council #13419 from Detroit. Thank you, Chris, for all your hard work this year. Earlier in this report I mentioned Paul and Sue Thorn our State Pro-Life Couple. Not only do they handle the Right to Life March in Washington DC, but they coordinate the Ultrasound Machine Program. Michigan is second again to Texas in the number of machines purchased. We have 25 machines currently in pregnancy centers and another three in the works. A very special recognition goes to our State Columbian Squires Circle. Two years ago under the leadership of State Chief Squire Josh Drouillard and State Squires Director Steve Drouillard, the state board of the squires approached thenState Deputy Marcetti with a request to fund an ultrasound machine. The state deputy gave them permission but with one stipulation: they must raise the monies themselves and not solicit any money from local councils. They accepted the challenge and selected the Blue Water Pregnancy Center in Port Huron. They worked hard to raise the $12,500 dollars they thought was needed for the machine to be matched by the Supreme Council. Only then did they find out the machine selected would cost $39,000 dollars. They were $7,000 dollars short. They went back to work, and in January of this year a new ultrasound machine was placed in the Blue Water Pregnancy Center. The motto for the Squire is ESTO DIGNUS (Be Worthy). These young men truly are the leaders of tomorrow. Congratulations to Josh and Steve Drouillard along with the current State Directors of the Squires, Tom Turek and William Corey, and the entire State Board of Squire Officers. Holy Cross Children’s Services has been our special charity for 65 years. I wish to thank our regional directors of HCCS: Michael Brennan, Thomas Arehart, Michael Stanchina, and Karl Knittel; because of all of your hard work we are able to care for over 1,000 young people every day through out the State of Michigan. Every state deputy needs a group of men with special talents. I wish to thank the following group of gentlemen: Fred Boncher, State Legal Advisor; Don Chadwick, State Auditor; Joseph Yekulis, State Public Relations Director; Dane Jurkovic, State Web Master; Russ Long, State Tech Support Director; William Gorny, State Deputy’s Assistant in charge of forms. All these men with their special talents make the job of state deputy easier. Thank you to all of you gentlemen. The state office is the heartbeat of the State Council. We are very fortunate to have two very dedicated men running that office: Executive Secretary Larry Grabowski and long-time friend Lionel “Rad” Radofski. The beginning of this year Rad had some health issues and had to go on a medical leave, so we extend a special thank you to Gary Kolbicz. We all know that no one man can replace Rad, but thank you, Gary, for all the time and energy you have put in at the office during Rad’s illness. To the Grand Knights, council officers and general membership, I salute you and thank you for all your achievements during this past year and for your service to our church, your communities and the order. Every success that was included in this report was the direct result of council action; you and your councils are what is important, you make the difference,
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and I am confident also that you know that are work is not yet done. I thank you also for the support you have given to me and the state leadership during this past year. I have prepared this report to be as concise, as accurate and complete as possible, with the emphasis on being concise. In so doing, if I have missed anyone or anything, I apologize. In conclusion, based on the report I have submitted, it is my opinion as your State Deputy that “The State of Columbianism” in the Michigan Jurisdiction is alive and well with a great promise for the future. Thank you, Bill, Dave, and Dan Venerable Servant of God, Fr. Michael J. McGivney, Pray for Us. Vivat Jesus!
KNIGHTS SUPPORT THE MISSION OF GUEST HOUSE—FAITHFULLY! From the lectern, Father Ed looked over the congregation of his Michigan parish. Beginning slowly, he explained to them that he would be "going away" for a while. "As many of you know so well, I have had a struggle with my drinking and, finally, I am going to get the help I need to bring it under control. With our Bishop's approval and encouragement, this week I will be entering the Guest House treatment center." Father was surprised—then moved to tears—by the congregation's reaction: they applauded his decision and many called out, "God bless you Father!" This is a true story and it is not the first of its kind. And a big part of this story is that it directly involves the Knights of Columbus of Michigan. Since the 1950’s, Knights of Columbus Councils and Assemblies have been supporting the special and critically-important work of Guest House. The Michigan-based Guest House rehabilitates up to 125 Catholic priests and men and women religious each year at its two centers and returns the vast majority to their ministries. Over more than five decades, Guest House has cared for 8,000 priests and men and women religious. The majority of its clients are priests. The Knights' support of this mission has been truly generous. In fact, last year alone, Michigan Knights provided enough support to help Guest House return no less than three priests to the altar and other important ministries for our Church. This kind of support from the Knights has saved the lives and vocations of thousands of priests since the founding year of Guest House in 1956. Opened in Lake Orion, Guest House was the dream of a recovering alcoholic layman named Austin Ripley. In AA in the 1940's, Ripley perceived correctly that Catholic priests needed a special place for their inpatient recovery, a place where only priests and religious brothers went. In 1969, Guest House opened a second center in Rochester, Minnesota. In 1994, after having transferred its men's program completely to its Rochester center, Guest House began addiction treatment services for sisters and women in formation at its Lake Orion Center. In the year 2000, Guest House opened a “Recovery Residence” in Lake Orion for priests needing a longer term setting to obtain a quality recovery. In Michigan alone—and thanks in large part to Michigan Knights’ support through the decades—there are currently more than 100 Guest House graduates in vital ministries. Like other graduates of this place of hope and healing, the vast majority will have lifetimes in recovery and, on average, will remain in active ministry 20+ years after their treatment. How did the Knights become involved with Guest House? “Austin Ripley himself spoke personally with Knights leadership in the early years of Guest House,” said J. Gerard O'Connor, Guest House’s Director of Mission Outreach. In the early years, the waiting list at Guest House was so long that many families, including those with Knights members, actually hosted priests in their own homes until a bed was freed up. Around the world today, there are nearly 2,000 Guest House alumni who the Knights, along with other faithful benefactors of Guest House, have helped to make well. “Nationally, scores of Knights Councils and Assemblies support Guest House but, clearly, the largest amount of funding comes from Knights right here in Michigan,” O'Connor points out. He adds: “The Michigan State Council has been especially generous and supportive of our work, too, particularly through its involvement in our annual Golf Classic and The Detroit Bishop's Dinner." At this year's Bishop's Dinner on Tuesday, October 22, the Michigan State Council will receive the "Bishop Kevin M. Britt Award" in recognition of its compassionate support for clergy and religious in need of rehabilitative care. The event will take place at the Detroit Athletic Club. continued on page 27
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Michigan State Council Knights of Columbus Annual State Convention, Mackinac Island May 25, 2013 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE GOOD OF THE ORDER Daniel Remeika, Committee Chair Worthy State Chaplin, Reverend Clergy, Worthy State Deputy, Worthy Supreme Secretary, Worthy Supreme Director, Worthy Vice Supreme Master, and My Brother Knights, Vivat Jesus. The Good of the Order committee offers a sincere thank you to you, to our delegates, your families and guests for being part of this annual meeting. The time that you give to help conduct official business for the good of our Order is awesome and inspiring. We encourage you to take your experiences and contributions here back to your home councils to help grow and enhance our Order. The committee offers special thanks to the clergy, both here and away, for your service. We truly appreciate and love you for giving so much for our good and the good of the communion of our Church. We ask God to continue to bless and keep you. The committee urges you to continue in your pastoral care and to guide our local councils to ever increasing commitment to evangelical charity. May every Catholic man see in the Knights of Columbus a place to deepen his faith and draw closer to God. With the election of Pope Francis, we Knights are entering a new era in our continuing mission to evangelize. Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson recently said on Supreme’s website that we are called to practice faithinspired charity in solidarity with Pope Francis and everyone in need. We Knights, working together with you our priests, need to focus on mercy, bring compassion, and perform charitable actions that will lift the sorrow and suffering among the poor and marginalized in our communities. The committee recommends that councils pray for religious vocations at every membership meeting. In this great work of evangelization in so many areas, our committee commends and thanks all of our brother Knights and their families for their efforts – their love of God, their support of vocations to the priesthood, their loyalty to family, and their commitment to protecting life. We should be extremely proud of the accomplishments of the Knights of Columbus in Michigan and equally proud and excited about where we are headed. The committee urges each local council to provide major support for one or more parishes, provide outstanding community service, and provide activities for the spiritual fulfillment of individual members and their families. As Knights we aspire to devote our lives to God and the Church. This is why we joined this noble Order. We heard in the State Deputy’s opening remarks that we did not join to pay dues or go to meetings. We act out our ideals as Knights by following the Commandments of God and the precepts of the Church. We are called as Knights to live the Gospel in our actions. This is our priority. This is the Good of the Order. Thus, the committee strongly recommends that each and every local council regularly discuss the issues facing our Church with our chaplains and pastors and engage in program activities that strengthen our faith and serve our communities. At the start of this convention, our State Deputy Michael J. Malinowski indicated the importance of our programs to our membership. Our Jurisdiction is made up of great people and great programs, both encouraged from our leadership and generated from the local councils. We commend State Program Director David Bergeman and his leaders for their continuance of initiatives that promote service, such as, faithful support to Holy Cross Children’s Services, the Michigan Charities Raffle, Take Five program for Michigan Charities, Food for Families, Coats for Kids, Casey the Bear program, American Wheelchair Mission, blood drives, the Columbus Day and Palm Sunday drives for the mentally impaired, 40-Days-for-Life Campaign, Ultrasound Machine Program for pregnancy care centers, McGivney Chair in Life Ethics, support to seminarians and religious vocations, the Living Rosary and ICON prayer services, and locally inspired programs. The committee further recognizes that our fraternal benefits program sets our Order apart by providing sound life insurance products with the protection of widows and orphans a priority. In fact, 2012 marked the 12th consecutive year of growth in many categories, chief among them $8.1 billion of coverage issued. Our professional field agents are dedicated to serving our members and their families according to the vision of Father Michael J. McGivney. As fraternal leaders, we ask you to remember our benefits program whenever you discuss our Order. Recognizing a need for even more agents in the field, the committee asks you to work with your general agents to promote careers in this service where needed. We commend the efforts of State Membership Director William Leveque Sr. in promoting new member, reactivation, and reinstatement actions. Momentum needs to continue into the new fraternal year. Promote our programs in entertaining ways. Make it widely known that the Knights extend a warm welcome to all Catholic gentlemen to join our cause. Our Order’s goal, the dream of Father Michael J. McGivney, is a Knights of Columbus presence in every parish. To better continued on page 16
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Pope clears the way for the canonizations of John Paul II, John XXIII VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis signed a decree clearing the way for the canonization of Blessed John Paul II and has decided also to ask the world's cardinals to vote on the canonization of Blessed John XXIII, even in the absence of a miracle. After Pope Francis met July 5 with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, the Vatican published a list of decrees the pope approved related to Blessed John Paul's canonization and 11 other sainthood causes. Publishing the decrees, the Vatican also said, "The supreme pontiff approved the favorable votes of the ordinary session of the cardinal- and bishop-fathers regarding the canonization of Blessed John XXIII (Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli) and has decided to convoke a consistory that will also involve the canonization of Blessed John Paul II." Normally, after a pope signs a decree recognizing the miracle needed for a canonization, the pope consults with cardinals around the world and calls a consistory -- a gathering attended by any cardinal who wants and is able to attend -- where those present voice their support for the pope's decision to proclaim a new saint. A date for a canonization ceremony is announced formally only during or immediately after the consistory. The cardinals and archbishops who are members of the saints' congregation met at the Vatican July 2 and voted in favor of the pope recognizing as a miracle the healing of Floribeth Mora Diaz, a Costa Rican who was suffering from a brain aneurysm and recovered after prayers through the intercession of Blessed John Paul. The congregation members, according to news reports, also looked at the cause of Blessed John and voted to ask Pope Francis to canonize him without requiring a miracle. According to church rules -- established by the pope and subject to changes by him -- a miracle is needed after beatification to make a candidate eligible for canonization. Jesuit Father Paolo Molinari, the longtime head of the College of Postulators -- or promoters of sainthood causes -- has explained that in the sainthood process, miracles are "the confirmation by God of a judgment made by human beings" that the candidate really is in heaven. But, Father Molinari also has said that for decades theologians have explored the possibility that such a confirmation could come by means other than someone experiencing a physical healing. For instance, Blessed John Paul beatified Victoire Rasoamanarivo in Madagascar in 1989 after accepting as a miracle the case of a wind-swept brush fire stopping at the edge of a village whose inhabitants invoked her intercession. Announcing the decision about Blessed John's cause, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the discussions about the need for miracles and what can be defined as an acceptable miracle continue. However, he said, the movement in the late pope's cause does not indicate a general change in church policy. The members of the Congregation for Saints' Causes "have expressed their hope, and the Holy Father has accepted it," Father Lombardi said. If Pope Francis "had any doubts, we wouldn't be here" announcing the consistory to approve Blessed John's canonization. "As we all know very well, John XXIII is a person beloved in the church. We are in the 50th anniversary year of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, which he convoked. And I think none of us has any doubts about John XXIII's virtues," the spokesman said. "So, the Holy Father is looking toward his canonization." Father Lombardi also noted that no date for a canonization ceremony was announced, but it is likely that the two popes will be canonized together, possibly "by the end of the year." The other decrees approved by Pope Francis July 5 recognized: -- The miracle needed for beatification of Spanish Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, who in 1975 succeeded St. Jose Maria Escriva as head of Opus Dei. Bishop del Portillo died in 1994. -- The miracle needed for the beatification of Maria Josefa Alhama Valera, also known as Mother Esperanza, the Spanish founder of the Handmaids of Merciful Love and the Sons of Merciful Love. She died in Italy in 1983. -- The martyrdom of four groups of priests and nuns killed during the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939. -- The heroic virtues of three founders of religious orders; an Italian priest; and an Italian layman.
Next Copy Deadline September 1, 2013
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Michigan State Council Knights of Columbus Annual State Convention, Mackinac Island May 25, 2013 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE GOOD OF THE ORDER Daniel Remeika, Committee Chair incorporate the various Catholic populations, Supreme Council expanded this dream to include colleges and universities, cultural parishes and Eastern Rite churches. Our round table program can assist in accomplishing that goal if it is determined that a council within the parish itself is not yet ready to be developed. The committee recognizes that retention within each council should always be a leading thrust. To this end, the committee recommends that every council maintain an outreach program to every member and his family who do not always go to membership meetings or attend council social events. Keep track of absent members and assign men to report and follow up on their welfare. Our children will bring new growth and possibility for the Jurisdiction. Thus the committee recommends continued emphasis on youth programs, such as, the Columbian Squires, the Knights Daughters, Catholic Youth League Championships, Catholic Track and Field Championships, spelling bee, free throw contest, essay contest, soccer challenge, poster contest, and local support to Catholic boys and girls camps. Since our youth are our future, they need us Knights to serve as counselors and advisers. This committee recommends that councils sponsor leadership training to assist in the development and support of counselors. Our Supreme Knight once said that we are the spiritual sons of Fr. McGivney, our founder. Look around you today to see men of faith, men of strength, and men of great potential. Indeed, our Order has been blessed with great leadership and strong dedication. We are the volunteers who continue to be held accountable in our respective positions. We take responsibility for what we say. The work of the Order is important enough to have high standards and expected outcomes for the Good of the Order. The needs and cries of the world challenge us to renew our commitment, to offer membership to every eligible Catholic gentleman, and to bring a renewed Knights of Columbus presence to every Catholic parish and community. We also owe our gratitude to the men and women who serve and have served our country in uniform. Let us always remember and pray for them. We are inspired by the dedication of these noble men and women. The committee encourages every council to actively encourage its members to advance to the Fourth Degree and participate fully in patriotic activities. We are the largest Catholic, family, fraternal, service organization in the world. We are committed to God, our faith, families, our brother Knights, and our communities. We help widows, orphans, and others in need. The committee recommends these as the priorities of each local Council. Brothers, it has been my privilege to present this report on behalf of the members assigned to this committee. I express my appreciation to them at this time and ask the committee members to stand and be recognized. [The committee members are District Deputies Randall Dieter and Charles McNamara, Jr., Diocesan Program Directors Horst Lehrer and Duane Pinkleman, and Grand Knights James Hendricks, Mark Ivon, Kevin Sherman, and Robert Crocker. I am Round Table Director Daniel Remeika, Committee Chair.] The Good of the Order Committee thanks our State Deputy Michael J. Malinowski for the honor to address the 113th State Convention of the Knights of Columbus on Mackinac Island and to present this report to our distinguished brother Knights. Worthy State Deputy, we ask that the Good of the Order Report be incorporated into the proceedings of this meeting. Cheboygan Council 791 Easter Sausage Sale The Cheboygan Knights fresh Easter Sausage Sale was a success; thanks to all who helped make the sausage and to those who purchased the Easter sausage. A special thank you goes out to our famous maker Jerry Nadlicki and his family's special sausage recipe. We made a total of 690 pounds of fresh Easter sausage and netted a profit of $1,634.03. Thank you all again especially Jerry. Hope you enjoyed the sausage.
One Member per Council per Month 0ne Star Council per District One New Council per Diocese, per Jurisdiction, per Year One First Degree per Council (or per District), per Month
SNINING ARMOR AWARD
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Special Olympics Walter K. Winkle, Jr. Those of us that were involved in Special Olympics this last year have been part of history. Each and every year the athletes accomplish new goals, meet new friends and compete with their challenges like any other Olympian on this earth. I have been around the state observing many different events and helping out in any way I can. From cooking over 700 hotdogs on the grill with my son Willy at the State Soccer Tournament, to assisting with the local Honor Guard in posting the colors during opening ceremonies. During the Regional Basketball Tournament in Bay City, I spent some time with the KC Clowns from Council #414 while they handed out gifts and took pictures with the Athletes, watched some exciting basketball games and handed out medals to the winners that were advancing to the State Basketball games in Rockford. I spent four days with my family attending the Winter Olympics. The State Board received a warm welcome during the opening ceremonies lead by the 4th Degree Honor Guard as they gave a check to the Special Olympics. The rest of the week was spent near Schuss Village at Shanty Creek Resort where the downhill, slalom, snowboarding and cross country skiing took place. We all did our best cheering and giving the encouragement to help them complete the difficult terrain to the finish line. I even braved the freezing waters of the Pine River in St. Clair with my wife Karen and son Willy, to raise money for Special Olympics by participating in our First Polar Plunge. We received an award for the most money raised as a team. While attending these events, there were several athletes, coaches and parents who introduced themselves as Knights of Columbus. There are several events hosted by Knights all year long. Let me know what your councils are doing to help. Each and every event held by Special Olympics across the State allows you the same opportunity that my family and I had this year. Consider taking your first step in getting involved with this program. When you’re courageous enough to meet those challenges and join the over 200 other Councils in the state and be a true Knight in shining armor, then give me a call or send me an e-mail and I will set you on an adventure that you and your council members will never forget. You will only regret that you did not start sooner. At the Special Olympics Summer Games this year, the State Board, several State and Diocesan Directors attended the opening ceremonies in Mt. Pleasant. Several Sir Knights from around the state, dressed in their regalia, added that special touch of class to the event. This year the editor of the Columbia magazine sent a photographer and writer to do a report on what the Michigan Knights do for Special Olympics during the Summer Games. It should be in one of the coming issues soon. Throughout the year I hosted several meetings across the state to discuss what you have accomplished with the Special Olympics program. We have discussed past activities and shared other ideas with the rest of the members in the state. I would like to thank those members who attended these meetings, along with the Grand Knights who allowed us to use their facilities, especially GK Pete Wilhelm Council 3797 and GK Larry Pitruzzello Council 14213 who hosted meetings every month in the Detroit area. I would like to thank Brother Jim Taylor for all of his help this year. I wish him success in his new job. Jim Adams will be working closer with us in the future. You can visit their web site at www.SOMI.org to see everything that is going on around the state and in your area. I would like to thank all of the Councils that completed the Form 4584. Because of your support and dedication to the Special Olympics we are, for the second year in a row, 1st in the Order! New York was only 3 points behind us (boy, are they bummed). Supreme has asked if I have any suggestions about the forms for next year. So, if you have any ideas, or have had any problems that I do not already know about, please let me know soon so that I can pass them on. Thanks for all that you do! Servant of Charity To habitually anticipate the needs of others is a sign of true Christian charity. To spend one's life alleviating the sufferings of others and bringing joy to one's neighbor brings witness to the reality of Christ's love in one's mind and heart. This is the pattern of service and ministry we discover in Father McGivney as we plot the events of his daily life. Father McGivney seems to have never failed in his interest and concern for others, even at the expense of his own health and well being. We can rejoice in the example he provides of remaining united to Christ in the Mass, prayer and sacrifice without removing himself from the realities of life that so preoccupied the members of his flock. continued on page
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Families of the Month Port Huron Council 521 James & Sandi Turpin, G.K. Alpena Council 529 Myrl & Pauline Prevo James & Kathy Cathers Keego Harbor Council 600 Nicholas & Barb Murray Leo & Alice Gleeson Marine City Council 856 Bob & Joyce Thompson Lenny & Joyce Schwartz Big Rapids Council 1300 J.B. & Cecilia Watters Ludington Council 1492 Gordon & Michelle Anderson Bad Axe Council 1546 Claytgon & Rachel Prrrish, Jr. Phil & Diane Peyerk Lapeer Council 1987 John & Darlene Truman Leslie & Mary Jo Daum James & Jean Kent, Sr. Portland Council 2168 James & Carol Wlodarczak *cfy Michael & Sue Fox
Howell Council 2659 Ronald & Kristie Bergman Standish Council 2724 Gene & Karen Viola Larry & Louise Cameron Joe & Dorothy Drzewiecki Gerald & Lori Reno, *cfy James & Aggie Somerfield *cfy Westphalia Council 2890 Daniel & Jennifer Pohl David & Sheri Wohlfert Paul & Beth Smith Grand Haven Council 2975 Timothy & Linda MacGraw James & Barbara Burke
Pinconning Council 2986 Jeffery & Annette Szyperski Richard & Jane Maida Fred & Betty Koth Caro Council 3224
John & Janell Merz Carl & Lisa Bednarski Trenton Council 3615 John & Christine Zelasko Anthony & Annette Nappo Stanley & Bonnie Dyl, Sr. Allen Park Council 3774 Mark & June Conner Robert & Dianne Ray William & Shirley Gamble Berkley Council 3830 Terrence & Pamela Mack Saginaw Council 4232 Paul & Diana Yelle, *cfy Sandusky Council 4693 Mark & Patty Roberts Taylor Council 4872 Patrick & Susan Dingman Clarkston Council 5436 Scott & Pauline Mallory, cfy Livonia Council 5492 Mark & Marianne Rodemeyer Portage Council 6980 Charles & Jan Curry Brian & Margaret Kaluzny Romeo Council 7018 John & Betty Cassidy, Jr. Laercio & Cida Foltran Algonac Council 7227 John & Sandy Yandora Grand Ledge Council 7311 Brian & Mary Beth Thelen Aubrey & Jean Merrill Mio Council 7329 Silvio & Celeste Marchesi Milford Council 7444 Peter & Kelly Essenmacher South Lyon Council 7586 Craig & Heidi Lukomski *cfy Hale Council 7623 Allen& Brenda McDonald Remus Council 7869 Edward & Doris Goulet
Hamburg Council 7891 Gary & Deanna Rooke, cfy Gary 7Yvonne Link Durand Council 7955 Robert & Peggy Lewis Dennis & Kathy Schmidt Brad & Rene Walters Mark & Julie Dudzik Pewamo Council 8071 Jerry & Theresa Fedewa Sanford Council 8043 Greg & Sally Whitmer Donald & Connie Fortier Canton Council 8284 Andrew & Kim Emmert David & Nola Lengal Lake City Council 8556 Kevin & Trina Scott Ada Council 8564 Ron & Rose Thomet Danny & Jean Fitzpatrick Fowlerville Council 8605 Matt & Angela Lawson Rick & Karen Spanke Mason Council 9182 David St. Amant family Theodore & Alison Burch Jackson Council 9301 Don & Barb Parker Reese Council 9305 James & Mary Stockmeyer, Sr. Jeffery & Jranne Bender Richard & Kathie Lenhard Tecumseh Council 9937 Patrick & Donna Lawrence Kalamazoo Council 9962 Bernard & Patricia Westrick Okemos Council 10006 Ronald & Joan Lenz Burton Council 10170 Gary & Diane Baker Alan & Beth Clark Edward & Loraine Witucki Steve & Joan Clark
Philip & Deborah LaGuire David & Patricia Pillen Allan Karl family Jim & Leta Gonsler Fr. Steve & Cindy Anderson Lansing Council 11099 Richard & Kathy Schafer James & Piper Fountain Harrison Twp. Council 11658
Anthony & Diane Forlini Frank & Lee Mierzwinski Thomas & Cindy Maday Joseph & Jan Hofer Clinton Twp. Council 11689 Jerome & Sue Hund Joseph & Catherine Bono Port Huron Council 11756 Edward & Mary Taylor Robert & Marilyn Kovach Brighton Council 12295 Devon & Erin Wolfe Rodney Simon family Steve & Mary Potrykus Muskegon Council 13035 Jimmie & Sue Peterson Deacon David & Loretta Kasprzyk
Kenneth & Jeanne Parker White Lake Council 13319 William & Jeanie Kinderman Howell Council 13450 Bernard & Kathy Diamond Troy Council 13453 Gerald & Linda Spranger Grand Rapids Council 13499 Robert & Alexandra Wasinski James & Lori Edelyn Rochester Hills Council 13950
Paul & Susan Thorn Kenneth & Laura Corrion Clement & Debra Valot Roseville Council 14213 Paul & Denise Wentland Lou & Cathy Carver
The McGivney Prayer God, our Father, protector of the poor and defender of the widow and orphan, you called your priest, Father Michael J. McGivney, to be an apostle of Christian family life and to lead the young to the generous service of their neighbor. Through the example of his life and virtue may we follow your Son, Jesus Christ, more closely, fulfilling his commandment of charity and building up his Body which is the Church. Let the inspiration of your servant prompt us to greater confidence in your love so that we may continue his work of caring for the needy and the outcast. We humbly ask that you glorify your venerable servant Father Michael J. McGivney on earth according to the design of your holy will. Through his intercession, grant the favor I now present (here make your request). Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
SHINING ARMOR AWARD
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Third Generation Knights – The Spencers Arthur Christopher and Bob
On May 4, 2013, Christopher became the third generation Spencer to receive his third degree at all Saints Council in Taylor in a class of 23 candidates. He and his father Arthur belong to St. Edith Council in Livonia. Art is the Recorder for his council. and former Supreme Insurance Rep. Chris’s grandfather Bob is a 52-year member and PGK of All Saints Council. As a former District Deputy, he was permitted to assist in the knighting ceremony with Chris being first on his list. Bob is also a PFN of Pope John Paul II Assembly and a former Archdiocesan Program and Membership Director. Congratulations to all.
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THE PIT CREW
The Michigan Special Olympics Summer Games were held at the Central Phil O'Shaughnessy, George RouMichigan Campus in Mt. Pleasant from maya, Jay Hughes, Chris Scanlan, Bill May 30th to June 1st. The winners of the Wilson, and Chuck Quinn are the Pit event will move on to the Nationals in Crew from Pope John XXIII AssemNew Jersey later this summer. Our picbly. The assisted the Plymouth ture is showing State Deputy Michael American Legion Post #391 and the Malinowski presenting a check in the Plymouth Elks Lodge #1780 to help amount of $ 260,000.00 to the Special serve 100 veterans who served God Olympics. and country. They work together twice a year to serve a steak lunch for veterans from the Detroit VA hospital, the VA Domiciliary for homeless veterans, Ann Arbor VA hospital and the Michigan Veterans Foundation Homeless Shelter. Msgr. John P. Eppenbrock Council #3615 Habemus Papam
Cadillac Council # 1224 & Assembly # 1946
Cadillac Council # 1224 together with Assembly # 1946 Color Guard participated in the Cadillac Memorial Parade. Following the Colors and Banner were two trailers with council members passing out “tootsie Rolls” Bay Council 15135 in Suttons Bay hosted a charity breakfast to benefit a local boy who has brain cancer. The event, which saw nearly 100 guests, raised more than $1,500 to support the boy and his family.
The Blessed John Paul II Shrine in Washington The Msgr. John P. Eppenbrock CounD.C., opened cil #3615 held the "Third Annual Dea new exhibit, sert Meal Dinner" on Sunday April 14, “Habemus 2013. We had (4) seminarians from Papam: The SHMS make presentations about their Journey from upcoming pilgrimage to the holy sites Conclave to in Europe and Rome, and to inform us Pope,” which on how they came to believe they had a highlights Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, call to the priesthood. The seminarians now Pope Francis, and the process were: Tim Horst, Jose Haro Gomez, which elected him the 266th pope. Jernej Sustar and Andrew Raczkowski. The council sent $2,900.00 to the seminary. Our chapNEXT COPY lain Fr. Bradley Forintos is in the picDEADLINE ture with the seminarians.
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Collecting M/I donations family affair at Flint parish Photo by George Jaksa Alaina Skellett receives a donation to the Michigan Knights of Columbus drive for the mentally impaired from Roy and Cheryl Charmoli on Palm Sunday outside St. Matthew Church in downtown Flint. Three generations of Skelletts pitch in each year at the church to collect funds for the program in exchange of Tootsie Roll candies.
By George Jaksa FLINT - A phone call to PGK/PFN Tom Skellett is all it takes to cover all three Masses at St. Matthew Church in downtown Flint for the Palm Sunday weekend drive to assist Michigan's mentally impaired citizens. For years, PGK Skellett has been rounding up children and grandchildren to station themselves at the four entrances of the parish to collect funds for Msgr. Dunigan Council 695. This year he had so much help that Skellett could join the Fourth Degree Honor Guard for a Corporate Communion on Palm Sunday at a nearby parish while family fulfilled the Tootsie Roll drive commitment. Among the 10 volunteers were four Knights and children as young as seven. Three of the knights were PGKSkellett's sons, Pat, Tom and Jim and grandson, Nick Skellett, all members of Council 695. The grandchildren were Jim Skellett's children, Alaina, 14; Tom, 11; Jim, 10; and Sophie, 7. They were joined by Jim's wife, Mary, and Qingya liu, 19, a foreign exchange student from Shenyang, China, who is staying with the Skellett family while she attends Mercy High School in Farmington Hills, where Jim teaches. It's always fun to be out here with our family, even though it seems to be cold every year,"said Alaina, as she stood outside St. Matthew Church with Qingya taking donations before the 8:30 a.m. Palm Sunday Mass. All the Skellett grandchildren started young. Alaina said she has been collecting since age five while Sophie said she started at age four when her M/I apron reached to her toes. “It connects our witness of the K of Cwith the parish," said Jim Skellett. Grandpa Tom Skellett, 83, said he has been working the entrances to St. Matthew, the Skellett home parish, since the drive started in Michigan in 1975 under the leadership of then State Deputy John Matthews of Manistique. His family started helping about 30 years ago and now has taken over the entire collection process. This year, collections at St. Matthew Parish totaled $374, part of the $5,026 gathered by the council which solicits at four parishes and an exit from 1-75 freeway outside the city. When all the collections are tallied, PSDTom Marcetti, Sr., expects the statewide total to reach $1.2 million, compared with $1.1 million in 2012. Local councils get 80 percent of the funds for area allocations while the state council retains 20 percent for administrative and audit purposes while distributing the rest to area, regional, diocesan and state programs that assist the mentally impaired.
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Supreme Knight Announces New Marian Prayer Program
Continuing a decadeslong tradition, the Knights of Columbus will launch their fifteenth international prayer program this August. The new program, centering on the Immaculate Conception, was announced by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson at the Organizational Meeting of State Deputies in New Haven, Conn. Since the first prayer program began in 1979, more than 16 million faithful have participated in the Knights’ sponsored holy hours. This year’s program marks the second time the Order will hold a program consecrated to the Immaculate Conception. The first program was held from 1981-1982. The Order will commission nearly 100 icons of the Immaculate Conception using an image from Notre-Dame de Quebec, in Quebec City at their international convention in San Antonio this August. The icons will travel throughout the world, under the organization of local Knights’ councils who will present prayer programs with the icon for their parishes and communities. The current program, dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, will conclude this August. It has been the most successful prayer program in the Order’s history, Anderson said.
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NOTE : FOR GRAND KNIGHTS AND COUNCIL PR CHAIRMAN In each issue of the Michigan Columbian we print the Current Knights and Families of the Month as designated by the local councils in the State. These men deserve State wide recognition. . We appreciate your help in keeping this information Current. The names of the Family of the Month and those of the deceased members, need to be sent direct to: Gary M. Kolbicz 39373 Durand Drive, Sterling Heights, MI 48310. The Names of the Knight of the Month Need to be sent direct to:
David A. Riley State Council Activities Director 3202 Strickland Rd., Battle Creek, MI 49017-8739
Knights of the Month Grand Rapids Council 389 Lawrence Wilson Bay City Council 414 Charles Bauer Port Huron Council 521 Steve Eilertson Alpena Council 529 James Ritzler, Larry Belanger Battle Creek Council 575 David Thome Baltazar Martinez Keego Harbor Council 600 Thomas Phipps, Leo Gleeson Jackson Council 609 Josh Thomas, Jerry Kennedy Flint Council 695 Tony Zochowski, Jim George Bob Stoutenburg Marine City Council 856 Jim Santer, Dave Rose Cadillac Council 1224 Steve Piwowarski Maurice Schopleray Ludington Council 1492 Chad Stewart Rev. Wayne Wheeler, Jr. Grayling Council 1982 Edward Martella William O’Mara Lapeer Council 1987 Wil Gepfrey, James Breza Vincent Klusek Portland Council 2168 Robert Fox Howell Council 2659 Robert Chvala, Mark Fraser Daniel Travis Standish Council 2774 Barry Baba, Larry Cameron, Fr Christopher Coman *cky Gerald Brown Westphalia Council 2890 Kurt Schafer, Aloysius Hafner Vernon Pung, Francis Martin Chesaning Council 2943 Eli Hinojosa, Robert Bishop James Harris Pinconning Council 2986 Jerry Courier, Larry Revord Eastpointe Council 3042 Tony Mannino
Caro Council 3224 Charles Frick Trenton Council 3615 William Taurence Allen Park Council 3774 Felice Lalli Berkley Council 3830 Eric Riedy, keith smith Three Rivers Council 4141 Joe Makowski, Arthur Miles Clawson Council 4188 Don Rogowski, Greg Nadlicki Saginaw Council 4232 Shannon McCoy, Thomas Ott James Malott Farmington Hills Council 4401
George Curran III, John Collins Sandusky Council 4693 Mike Leen, Mark Roberts Kim Zdrojewski Taylor Council 4872 Paul Pesta Livonia Council 5492 Charles Licata, Paul Szymanski Donald Anderson Boyne City Council 6314 Ed Hennessey Rev. Duane Wachowiak Eaton Rapids Council 6534 Tim Oliver, Michael Mills Michigan Center Council 6687
Keith Smith, *cky Austin LaRocque, Gary Stutler Rodney Dickinson Portage Council 6980 Deacon Edward Feltes Romeo Council 7018 Cecil Schoenherr Dale Jenuwine Charles Pillivant Mitchell Lenczewski Algonac Council 7227 Ronald Gutt, Ronald Smith Madison Hgts. Council 7239 Kenneth Pasternak Erie Council 7413 Jeff Benore Harrison Council 7571 Larry Fuhrhop East Lansing Council 7816 Bradley Bertsch
Tom Menacher, Daniel Phillips Remus Council 7869 Joseph Lynch, Edward Goulet Rickey Denslow, John Nowak Hamburg Council 7891 Kurt Hoover Durand Council 7955 Rick Marsich, Thomas Gomos Barry Krembs, Leon Letter Sanford Council 8043 Ken Lancaster Pewamo Council 8071 Pat Fedewa Canton Council 8284 Eugene Borieo, Daniel Vaseau Hans Hansen, Joseph Nader Ada Council 8564 Bill Crothers, Hugh Casgrove Joseph Keller Fowlerville Council 8605 Fr. Louis Ekka, Rod Forman Tony Blascovich Auburn Hills Council 8659 Dr. Stanley Sczechowski Matt Fuhrmann, Mike Mueller Montrose Council 8669 Quinn Burnett, Austin Lamb Saginaw Council 8808 Greg Becker, Darrell DuPius Mike Jarabek Cass City Council 8892 Fr. Paul Bala, Ron Rutkoski Mason Council 9182 James Marshall Anthony Bergeon Christopher Lott Jackson Council 9301 Mike Stevens Reese Council 9305 John Elbers Lansing Council 9711 Christopher Eagle, Ron Fox Cassian Hardie, James Mowry Vito Cicinelli Coopersville Council 9909 Dave Reames Tecumseh Council 9937 Michael & Theresa Watkins Okemos Council 10006 John Walters, Michael Siminski Memphis Council 10501
Craig Carlson Steve Strecansky Lansing Council 11099 Abraham Earley Edward Zaremba Harrison Twp. Council 11658 Dennis Balow, Bob Long Michael Nelson Florent Muylaret Clinton Twp. Council 11689 Thomas Pardo, Karl Sziisz Phillip Kwasny Natalino Difalco Gary Gozdzieilski Raymond Ignatowski Port Huron Council 11756 John Derer, Gary Wayne Valery Kraft Pinckney Council 11761 Deacon Randy Coefelt Dave Esser, Bob Barba Bill Kangas, Phil Meilak Rick Meyer, Bill Klametta Dave Brockett Shelby Twp. Council 11772 George Fischer Deacon Michael Houghton Shelby Twp. Council 11957 Raul Pizzini, Carl Czupinski Frank Rossio Elk Rapids Council 12294 Mike Hamilton Brighton Council 12295 Charles Flynn, David Alfanos John Yanok Ubly Council 12850 Ron Iwankovitsch, Ed Sweeney Dan Creguer Muskegon Council 13035 Raymond Reinhold *cky Fred Drzewicki, Floyd Kuehnl Rev. Anthony Britto White Lake 13319 Frank Gaca, Bruce Mcintyre Bannister Council 13449 Dennis Smalec, Warren Sibilla Howell Council 13450 Bill Lezotte, Peter Bruder Troy Council 13453 Joseph D’Anna
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Knights of the Month Grand Rapids Council 13499 Stino Lacopelli Augusta Council 13633 Mark Gentilia, Jim Baski Clio Council 13703 George Harburn
White Cloud 13939 Jordon Heflin, Virgil Houle Roseville Council 14213 Robert Genord Robert Greening Denny Wasmund
New Buffalo Council 14366 Dan Cortese Lake Odessa Council 14404 Jerry Tomandl Davisburg Council 14883 Norm Mills, Robert Kwapisz
Thomas Mockeridge Msgr. John Budde Westland Council 15204 Edward Duff
Council donation helps parish repair its boiler By George Jaksa
Photo by Jack Tylus, Council 695 grand knight There were smiles all around as Msgr. Dunigan Council 695 presented checks totaling $1,600 to St. Mary Church in Flint on March 15. A check for $1,500 was presented to pay for a new motor for the church's heating system and another $100 for the parish food pantry. From left are JimGeorge, Council 695 trustee and St. Mary parishioner; Mary Howell of the parish food pantry; Father Arockiyasamy Santhiyagu, St. Mary pastor; Kathy Tomczyk, parish secretary and bookkeeper; and Paul Drevon, Council 695 financial secretary, who presented the checks.
FLlNT--The pastor and parish secretary had warm words for members of Msgr. Dunigan Council 695 after the council donated $1,500 toward repair of the boiler at St. Mary Church on Flint's struggling East Side. "May the blessings of the Risen Lord be with you in all your works of kindness and love, especially your kindness in supporting St. Mary parish in difficult time," wrote Father Arockiyasamy Santhiyagu, MSFS, pastor, in a thank-you note to Council 695. "The leadership of St. Mary parish thanks you so much. You are in our prayers." "It was unreal, we were so blessed," commented Kathy Tomczyk, longtime parish secretary, after a delegation of knights from Council 695 showed up at the parish in an economically depressed section of the city with a check for $1,500 along with another for $100 for the parish food pantry. "It was absolutely wonderful that you guys could do this for us," she added. Council 695's Building Company reached into its reserves on recommendation of the council membership after learning that the parish was having difficulty paying a bill of almost $3,000 for a new motor to power the boiler in the 600-seat church, which had been updated by Consumers Energy. The council's donation added to $1,000 from the St. Mary parish Altar Society to put the bill within reach, Tomczyk, also parish bookkeeper, said. A parishioner donated $500 to meet the cost. St. Mary parish ran into problems when the old boiler motor couldn't operate the heating system after Consumers replaced 44 steam traps in the boiler that served the building since the church was completed in 1953. "After the new steam traps were installed, the motor couldn't take it," Tomczyk explained. "It ran for one day and then the motor froze." She said Consumers replaced the 44 steam traps at $145 each as an energy rebate to the parish since it qualified as a commercial building.
Servant of Charity There was in Father McGivney a balance between the human and divine. His ability to mourn with those in sorrow and to spread joy and support to those in need of joy and encouragement, typified his priestly disposition. Every one of us, cleric or lay, married or single, needs to achieve such a balance and intergrate it into our own lives. God hears our prayers for help, and he listens to the powerful intercession of his friends, the saints. Let us learn to invoke the intercession of this holy, humble and very human parish priest for our conversion and growth in spiritual life.
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INSURANCE CORNER Dennis Palm General Agent “Memorial Day has passed. School is almost over for another year. Vacations are being planned. Summer is here. Is this the best time to see my Knights of Columbus agent? “We have more time for the family. No more rushing the kids to this program or off to that sporting event. Guess you never end all of them, but they seem to be slowing down. Our agent has been calling us and we want to answer, but we were being pulled in so many different directions, family, work, school and the council, like points on a compass being sent to opposite ends of our world trying to be the best parents that we could be. “We have always had good meetings with our agent in the past, but finding the time lately seems to be impossible. He says that he wants to meet with us at least once a year to go over the family service record and update things that have changed since we have seen him last. Give him one hour of our time is what he says. The information that he brings is always eye opening to at least one of us and we may end up going over that time by an extra half hour or so. One thing that he asked us last time was do we trust our financial planner enough so that all of us could meet together. Hmmm? “What could have changed in a year? Seems like yesterday that he was last here; could it have been a year already? We talk about what we have, what our goals are and where we want to be in the future. He has whole life and term insurance, disability income, retirement annuities and long term care insurance. All things that we may need while we are alive, into retirement and when nobody is here to take care of either one of us and when we die. “From birth to the grave, they have what we need when we need it. That is what other members of the Knights have told us. Why would we not want to see him? He is a brother Knight and he has our best interest at heart. Never to harm us, only make things better for us. We have called to ask him questions and if he did not know the answer, he found out and called us back. He can see us when we want to see him and we don’t have to take time off work for a meeting. Make that appointment next week or next month, our agent can adjust his schedule to ours. We should give him a call and make that appointment while we have the time.” Does this sound similar to your experience with your agent? It should. Do you use your agent as an asset or maybe you did not know that you could? We are here to help. Never be afraid to talk to your agent. He is here because he wants to find a way to help you now, or your family when they need it. No time is better than right now to do your annual review.
Nurturing Vocations Irish immigrant families of the mid-19th century wove a reverence for the priesthood and religious vocations into the fabric of daily life. They considered a priestly or religious vocation a great blessing. Therefore, Patrick and Mary McGivney were probably not surprised when their eldest son Michael announced his desire to become a priest. Father McGivney encouraged priestly and religious vocations among his parishioners. Of the seven letters written by Father McGivney that have been preserved, three deal with candidates for the priesthood and religious life. The McGivney home provided a seedbed for priestly vocations; Michael and his brothers Patrick and John were all ordained for the Diocese of Hartford. The McGivney brothers, in turn, formed a strong family unit that nurtured the early growth of the Knights of Columbus. Today, in much the same way, the Knights of Columbus nurtures new vocations. Under the Order's Refund Support Vocations Program (RSVP), local units "adopt" seminarians and postulants, who are often either council members or the children of council members. Knights correspond and exchange visits with their seminarians and postulants. They also offer financial assistance, typically $500, with $100 being reimbursed by the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council. More than 2,700 local units of the Knights of Columbus support individuals studying for religious life, contributing more than $2.8 million in support. In addition to these local contributions, state-level jurisdictions conduct scores of other programs continued on page 29
May They Rest In Peace Bay City Council 414 Fr. Albrecht, Chaplain West Branch Council 2022 Fr. Richard Seifferly Detroit Council 2739 Bill Mucha, Lawrence Merchel
Jerome Kuras Beal City Council 3651 Jeffrey Weber, Howard Wood Taylor Council Council 4872 John Kaus, John Schmitchen
Beal City Council 3651 Howard Wood Romeo Council 7018 James Szewczyk Milford Council 74444 Mike Foster, George Varilone
Edward Martins, Dick Maynard Bill McGrath, Theodore Rohig Fr John Howard Council 8500 Fr Leo Lulko
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The Seat of Peter Thomas M. Wegener, PSD Supreme Director Likewise it is important that council members attend council meetings to take an active part in the life of your council. Our officers deserve our attendance. Your council deserves your attendance. Your input, verbal or by attendance, is of great benefit to your council. You will learn of the activities of the council, thereby being a true participant of the council. While we each cannot be at every meeting, certainly we can make a few throughout the year to lend our voice and our vote to the issues that face our council. Transparency An adjunct to Trust is Transparency. As trustees of our council’s welfare, each and every transaction, fraternal or financial, is a part of the life and history of our council. As elected leaders it is our duty to treat each action with the due diligence they deserve, to then carry out the wishes of the council, to record the wishes of the council for the true history of the council. As council members we must be offered and we must expect this information in full, clear and accurate language. Given this information makes us better educated in the life of our council members. Minutes, program reports, budgets, audits, etc. are the milestones in the life of the council. They are the markers that list our achievements, our successes. They let us know of our condition and how we are doing. They also tell us if certain and/or immediate action needs to be taken. It is with these three “Ts” that foundational strength can be achieved. A strong local council complements its parish and community. A strong state council is made up of its strong local councils, working together to advance the Order throughout the state. It is this teamwork that leads to a strong order. Again it starts with you in your local council. Let this be the last year we have an opening in our offices, let this be the last year we do not function as a real team of officers, let this be the last year we aren't in solidarity with our state and supreme council. Let this be the first year, of many to come, that our council's growth is complete with members, programs and leadership. Nurturing Vocations fostering vocations.
Founding the Knights of Columbus was an expression of Father McGivney's vocation as an "Alter Christus," another Christ. He wanted to help Catholic men draw closer to Jesus and Mary. His fraternal Order was to be an instrument for spiritual growth in Christian faith and charity–and so it remains.
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KNIGHTS SUPPORT THE MISSION OF GUEST HOUSE—FAITHFULLY! The Knights of Columbus Supreme Council in Connecticut has also been extraordinarily supportive through the years of an important lay ministry: The National Catholic Council on Addictions (NCCA), which became a service of Guest House in 2009. The Supreme Council provides a generous grant each year toward the prevention, advocacy and awareness operations of NCCA. These include parish and diocesan drug addiction workshops, a prisoner ministry program, a regularly-published newsletter and website, and inspirational/recovery-oriented printed materials. “We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with the Knights of Columbus," O'Connor states. “Together with other benefactors of Guest House, the Knights can help us to extend and expand our services to all Catholic clergy and religious in need of rehabilitative services for addictions, such as alcoholism." For more information about the work of Guest House, including its comprehensive educational offerings to Church leadership and its new on-line "e-learning" offerings, visit www.guesthouse.org . Information about the National Catholic Council on Addictions (NCCA), can be obtained at www.nccatoday.org . Knights in Action for the Cause The Knights of Columbus provide an established structure for making Father McGivney’s spirituality well known. Since he is the Knight's virtuous founder, it is not surprising that as his cause for canonization advances, Knights increasingly turn to him as an intercessor. Each March 29, thousands of Knights of Columbus and their family members take part in Founder’s Day Masses and services acknowledging Father McGivney as the source of their active lay fraternity. In August, at Masses held in conjunction with Knights of Columbus Family Day, they remember his death at age 38 on Aug. 14, 1890. At all of their regular business meetings, Knights say the Prayer for Canonization of Father McGivney. They also make up a majority of the more than 140,000 members of the Father McGivney Guild, which serves as the official clearinghouse for information about Father McGivney.
The many letters received by the Father Michael J. McGivney Guild concerning prayer petitions and answered prayers, attest to the popular devotion that K of C families ascribe to their Order’s founder. An example of typical fraternal devotion is a letter from the wife of a Knight from Tulsa, Okla., who invoked Father McGivney’s intercession. She prayed daily for the intention that her husband would find a job requiring less travel. Her prayers were answered. She later gave her reason for invoking Father McGivney’s intercession, saying, “Father McGivney has had an impact on people who want their employment to strengthen their life as a Christian family, for fathers wanting to spend more time with their children.”
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Vocations Are Everybody’s Business LEAST WE FORGET OUR DEPARTED A beautiful and lasting remembrance is to have your loved ones enrolled in the Knights of Columbus Vocations Committee Memorial Society Plaque, which now hangs in the chapel of Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit. For a tax deductible gift of $100.00 (a 4-line nameplate or a $25.00 gift (a one-line plate) will be placed on the plaque. Also those enrolled will share in the daily masses, prayers and good works of the Priests and Seminarians of the Seminary. Proceeds from this ongoing fund-raiser go to aid religious students in need of financial help.
SPRING INTO KNIGHTHOOD
In Memory of Gift of
Date of Death Requested by
Phone
Address City, State Zip Make checks payable to: Michigan State Council K of C Mail to: Robert J. Garstka State Vocations Director 47120 Savannah Dr. Macomb, MI. 48044
Rec’d
Casey Teddy Bear Order Form Council No. _____ Council Name ________________________ Order Qty. _____
Total Order (Number of Bears x $10) ______________
Ship To: Name ____________________________ Address _______________________________ City _______________________ State _____ Zip Code __________ Checks Payable to: Michigan State Council Knights of Columbus Memo: Casey Teddy Bears Send to: David A. Riley State Council Activities Director 3202 Strickland Rd., Battle Creek, MI 49017-8739
YES I wish to enroll in the Guild and to receive the newsletter. Name Address City/State/Country Please list below the names and addresses of any family or friend who might be interested in the Guild’s work. Name Address City/State/Country
Name Address City/State/Country
MONTHLY MASS FOR GUILD MEMBERS Please remember these specific intentions at the monthly Mass for Guild Member. 1. If you wish to make a tax-deductible contribution to support the mission of the Guild, checks should be made payable to The Father McGivney Guild, 1 Columbus Plaza, New Haven, Ct 06510-3326 GK 4046 10/03
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COUNCIL FUND RAISER
Columbia Magazine
Here is a fund raiser your council can handle. It is a win, win situation. Every year the Michigan K of C Bowling Association holds their Annual Tournament. The Association officers and directors do all of the work in keeping the scores, record keeping and prize money. Every year the tournament is held in a different part of our State. The host council makes their profit from holding activities during the bowling tournament at their council. Other fund raising activities include selling Tee Shirts, bowling jackpots, selling 50/50 tickets, and etc. All that is needed is the required licenses along with your workers. A good suggestion is to inquire with councils who in the past hosted this tournament. The Association, at their Annual meeting selects the host council from those who bid on this project. For more information go to the State K of C Web Site and follow the link for the Bowling Association or check with your financial secretary for the Associations contacts in his K of C State Directory. Gene Gross Association Publicist
Columbia magazine is now available as a paid subscription on the Amazon Kindle Did you receive an Amazon Kindle device for Christmas? If so, you now have the opportunity to experience Columbia magazine in a new and exciting way. Columbia on the Kindle lets you access the official magazine of the Knights of Columbus whenever and wherever you are. You can even read Columbia when you're not connected to a wireless network since the magazine is downloaded completely onto your Kindle device. Columbia is available for $1.99 per issue when you sign up for a monthly subscription or $5.99 for individual issues purchased without a subscription.
MICHIGAN COLUMBIAN PUBLICATION SCHEDULE COPY DEADLINE MONTH MARCH 1st…………………………… APRIL 2013 JUNE 1st…………………………. ……. JULY 2013 SEPTEMBER 1st…………………...OCTOBER 2013 DECEMBER 1st…………………… JANUARY 2013 PLEASE SEND ALL COPY MATERIAL TO: GARY M. KOLBICZ 39373 DURAND DRIVE STERLING HEIGHTS, MI. 48310 RES./FAX: 586-939-3886
Update Contact Information If you are currently a member and your address has changed, or you are in the process of moving go to www.kofc.org, on the home page click on for members in the upper right hand corner of the page, when the for members page pop’s-up scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see the Update Contact Information box, follow the instructions, it’s easy and simple .
NEWS WITH A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE YES I wish to enroll in the Guild and to receive the newsletter. Name Address City/State/Country Please list below the names and addresses of any family or friend who might be interested in the Guild’s work. Name Name Address Address City/State/Country City/State/ Country MONTHLY MASS FOR GUILD MEMBERS Please remember these specific intentions at the monthly Mass for Guild Member. 1. If you wish to make a tax-deductible contribution to support the mission of the Guild, checks should be made payable to The Father McGivney Guild, 1 Columbus Plaza, New Haven, Ct 065103326
HeadlineBistro.com, the Orders news website is now CatholicPulse.com. Catholic Pulse brings news from around the world together with commentary from the best Catholic minds, analyzing today’s most important issues. It’s a site where you don’t just get the news, you get the Catholic perspective as well. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. --Aristotle
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Next Copy Deadline March 1, 2013
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For More Information Contact: John Rogers @ (248) 714 5353 8
In Service to one. In service to all
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For 38th consecutive year, A.M. Best reaffirms top A++ rating for Knights of Columbus
No North American insurer more highly rated For the 38th consecutive year, the Knights of Columbus has earned A.M. Best’s highest financial strength rating, A++ (Superior). Established in 1882 as a fraternal benefit society, the Knights of Columbus has worked since its inception to help members protect their families’ financial futures. What began as a “pass-the-hat” benefit program has grown into one of the nation’s premier insurers. The K of C now offers a diverse portfolio of permanent and term life insurance, disability income insurance, annuities, and long -term care programs to members and their immediate families. In addition to the Knights of Columbus’ strong market presence in Catholic communities in the United States and Canada, A.M. Best, a global leader in the rating and analysis of insurance companies, also cited the Order’s large network of local councils and “consistently positive statutory ratings, excellent persistency and a solid level of risk-adjusted capitalizations” as positive ratings factors. The report also observed that the Knights of Columbus’ continued growth in membership reflects its wide geographic coverage, expanding network of local councils, and variety of fraternal benefits. “Earning A.M. Best’s top rating again this year underscores the strength of our sustainable business model, despite the slow recovery and continued economic uncertainty,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. “We have continued to outpace the industry, reflecting a growing flight to quality.” He added: “A.M. Best’s top rating for almost four decades is a testament to our commitment to our mission of protecting Catholic families, our excellent sales force made up exclusively of members of the Knights of Columbus, and the fact that we view our members as part of our family.” In just over a decade, under Supreme Knight Anderson’s leadership, the Knights of Columbus insurance in force has doubled to more than $90 billion, with more than $19.8 billion in assets under management. Knights of Columbus tops $90 billion of life insurance in force The Knights of Columbus insurance program passed a major milestone when total insurance in force exceeded $90 billion in June. The amount of life insurance in force has more than doubled from $40 billion since Supreme Knight Carl Anderson took office in 2000. Established in 1882 as a Catholic fraternal benefit society, the Knights of Columbus has worked to enable members to protect their families’ financial futures from the very beginning. What began as a “pass-the-hat” benefit program has grown into one of the nation’s premier insurers. The K of C now offers a diverse portfolio of permanent and term life insurance, disability income insurance, annuities, and long-term care programs to members and their immediate families. “Protecting the financial viability of Catholic families has been important to the Knights since our founding, and the milestone of $90 billion in coverage means that we are meeting the needs of more families than ever,” said Supreme Knight Anderson. “Our members come to us and stay with us for their insurance needs because they know they will be treated like family and will receive excellent value and products from their agent who is a brother Knight, backed by an organization whose rating for financial strength is second to none in North America.” The Knights of Columbus has more than $19.8 billion in assets under management and ranks among the Fortune 1000 list of America’s largest companies. Every year since 1975, the Knights has earned the top rating of A++ (Superior) from A.M. Best, a global leader in the rating and credit analysis of insurance companies. There is no insurer in North America with a higher rating. As a fraternal benefit society, the Knights of Columbus uses much of the proceeds from its insurance program to directly fund charitable projects and to provide support for the charitable work of its approximately 15,000 local councils. One of the most active charitable groups in the United States, Knights of Columbus members last year set records despite the weak economy by providing nearly 70 million hours of charitable service and more than $167 million in donations to charitable causes. During the past decade, the Knights of Columbus has donated more than $1.44 billion to charity and provided nearly 673 million hours of volunteer service in support of charitable initiatives.
JUST ASK HIM TO JOIN US
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38th Annual
Fr. Victor J Renaud Council 3292 On Friday, April 26, 19 scouts and seven adults departed from the Knights of Columbus Fr. Victor J. Renaud Council #3292 via charter bus for the Fr. O’Hanlon Council #4678 in State College, PA in a true display of the four core principles: charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism. This act of support by the Knights in PA was instrumental to the success of the scouts four day trip to attend the 51st Annual West Point Camporee. The Grand Knight at Fr. O’Hanlon, Edward Hughes and Scout Master for Troop 83, Rodney Sepich were eager to support the scouts and their trip when the idea to use their council hall as a stopping point came to mind in early planning. After asking for their assistance, a number of surprising coincidences were discovered as the GK Hughes had attended the West Point Camporee twice with Troop 83, graduated from West Point and grew up in Livonia, MI just miles from the Fr. Victor J. Renaud Council. This support from the Knights really demonstrated a partnership that such long standing organizations can only benefit from. The annual camporee is orchestrated by the Cadet Scoutmasters’ Council and is held at Lake Frederick in New York. This year approximately 5,000 scouts attended from more than 200 different Boy and Girl Scout troops to participate in demonstrations, water challenges, outdoor skills and other events to test their skills. Upon arrival, the Scouts of Troop 743 assembled for the opening demonstration, which featured a helicopter and a military drill with blanks being fired. The scouts thoroughly enjoyed this demonstration and it set a clear tone for the rest of the weekend. In other events, the scouts maintained the highest enthusiasm, especially when dealing with long lines between activities. The scouts were among the only ones to take turns waiting in line so that the other troop members could throw around a Frisbee or participate in another event. After leaving West Point the troop made their final stop at Niagara Falls and went for a ride on the Maid of the Mist tour before ending their journey back at the Fr. Victor J Renaud Council. The outcome of this event has clearly strengthened the union between Troop 743 and their chartering Knights of Columbus. Since returning, the scouts have felt more at home in the council hall and with Eagle Projects being completed and started the mutual benefits will only continue to grow. Dave and Judi Pearce State Family of the Year
Dave is the lecturer of his council. He volunteers for and co-chairs the wood cutting and sales project where wood is cut and stored on his property and then sold to raise money for the council or given to someone in need. He also co-chairs the beer tasting fundraiser and the auto show fundraiser which is a two week event. Dave is on the high school scholarship committee and helps with St. Anne's youth group. Dave is a fourth degree member. Dave and Judi help run the food bank in their parish. Dave and Judi are eucharistic ministers, lectors, ushers, and are on the finance committee. They are also part of "Changing Lives Together" and the capital campaign committee. Dave and Judi own and operates "Hawks Nest Ranch" which houses Amazing Wings. Amazing Wings is a non-profit venture which provides therapeutic riding of horses for children and some adults with physical or mental impairments or are emotionally challenged. Congratulations to the State Council's Family of the Year, Dave and Judi Pearce from council 6824 in Ortonville.
Knights in Action for the Cause McGivney has had an impact on people who want their employment to strengthen their life as a Christian family, for fathers wanting to spend more time with their children.”
VIP AWARD STAR COUNCIL AWARD SHINING ARMOR AWARD