Please note that the April Business Meeting which would otherwise take place on Thursday, April 13 has been moved due to it falling on Holy Thursday. Instead, the April Business Meeting will be held on Thursday, April 6, which is the first Thursday of the month. Dinner will be served as usual prior to the meeting. A brief officers’ meeting will take place beforehand.
Category Archives: Council
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Grand Knight’s Message, February 2017
Dear Brother Knights:
The Council continues to thrive, but there is no doubt that we need more Knights. January was a busy month for the Council, highlighted by a fantastic dinner followed by the longest business meeting of my tenure as Grand Knight. Two weeks later we had an outstanding crab feed, put on by Al Picardo and his lovely wife Peggy. The highlight of the night was the thrilling wins by George Mills and Kevin Riley during the raffle. I’m sure the crab feed will be another financial triumph for the Council but we can’t simply raise funds and consider ourselves successful. We also must be impactful with our charity, and our community outreach.
Brother Dale Edwards reported at the Officers meeting that over 175 children at St. Mary’s school participated in the annual free throw contest, with another large group of children participating at Sacred Heart. These are fabulous numbers which represent one of our most impactful community outreach programs that we participate in as a Council. In addition to these, we have our largest charitable donations slated to be disbursed over the next three months. Scholarships for students at Christo Rey, stipends for seminarians, money to help support Pro-Life groups and children trying to visit their parents in prison. These incredible causes are worthy of our support, and I look forward to seeing these checks written and disbursed by our Financial Secretary.
But to grow our ranks, and thus provide more energy, manpower and enthusiasm to increase our charitable giving, we must create more opportunities to volunteer and be present at the parishes we represent. We must develop stronger relationships with the priests that fall under our Council and reach out to them to see how we can be of assistance. It would be my goal, and my wish, to see us help out at least once during this Columbian year at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, and Immaculate Conception parish. We know that the Bishop has put an extra layer of bureaucracy on our Order, to insure the safety of our young people by requiring finger printing and training classes, but we are going to cross that hurdle next month. I have scheduled in person training and finger printing to take place at our March business meeting so that any Knight who wishes to volunteer, will be able to fulfill the Bishop’s wishes with very little inconvenience. By being present at the Parishes we represent, and volunteering there, we give ourselves a chance to recruit more Brother Knights to our Order.
So, in the spirit of our Brother Dale Edwards, let’s reach out to our parishes and create an opportunity over the next four months to be present and helpful at our local parishes. St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, The Cathedral. St. Francis, Immaculate Conception, St. George, Holy Spirit, and St. Andrew’s are all waiting for their Knights to make an appearance. Let’s see if we can find our way to perform a little outreach and show our potential Brothers what we are all about.
Most Sincerely,
Bryan McKrell
Grand Knight, Council 953
Grand Knight’s Message, January 2017
Dear Brother Knights:
One of the things I have enjoyed the most over the last few years is my participation on the First Degree Team for our council. Not only has it given me a chance to be a “fake” Grand Knight and appear important, it has provided me with an opportunity to observe and learn from one of our most charming ceremonials. It is probably not appropriate to discuss certain aspects of our ceremonial in this setting, but lately I have continually contemplated in my mind one of the most important lessons from its script. “Time Flies, Remember Death.” The last few months have brought about far too many
instances of tragic death, or the fear of the possibility. If the two eternal truths are death and taxes, I am still at a loss of what I am so scared about, especially in light of what I consider to be a
fairly strong degree of faith and a stellar record of paying the IRS. But regardless of these, I still cringe at the stories from my very own parish of people with young children and fruitful lives being diagnosed with cancer, cancer, and more cancer. I feel terrible when I read about our members passing, or their family members
falling into eternal rest. Just last week I started to get worried about one of our brothers, until I received word that all went well with his surgery and the doctor was impressed with his strength and stamina. I sometimes forget that some people are simply blessed (and really lucky). It occurred to me that all of us should grow giant
mustaches as a show of solidarity, but I wanted to make sure the doctor’s didn’t shave off brother Alex’s signature feature.
If you are looking to make a New Year’s resolution this year, maybe simply start with, “Promise to Enjoy Yourself, just a little bit more.” Make an agreement to take your wife out on a date, see a funny movie, buy a better cup of coffee, or spend that extra night on a trip. If you own a time share or have been planning a vacation, follow through this year and make it happen. Need a new recliner, a bigger television, or maybe you want to volunteer more time doing charitable work – whatever it is that will make your life just a little bit more rewarding, or simply a little bit more enjoyable 2017 looks promising. Plus if you don’t follow through on your resolution you can just chalk it up to being “practical.”
I would never be naive enough to tell you to not fear death, or not to worry about it because of its inevitability, because I frankly am not looking forward to it one bit. The only positive there might be my death is my life insurance paying off which is good for somebody, other than myself. And I think that a big part of being Catholic is always thinking about the welfare of others.
Most Sincerely,
Bryan McKrell
Grand Knight, Council 953
365 Club
Brothers, you are all encouraged to consider a donation to the 365 Club when you pay your dues. For those who are unfamiliar with the 365 Club, the council asks all its members to make a voluntary donation of, at least, $3.65 (a penny a day) added to their dues. The money collected is turned over to the Columbian Charities, a state council organization, that provides monetary relief to members and their families who have found themselves in severe financial circumstances and who are in immediate need of assistance for food, shelter and other necessities of life. While the basic requested donation is $3.65, please feel free to contribute any amount more than the basic donation if you can. It is an excellent program and has helped a great many of our brother Knights throughout the state and within our own council who have found themselves and their
families in dire need. Thank you for your generosity.
Grand Knight’s Message, December 2016
Dear Brother Knights:
Merry Christmas. We have a lot to be thankful for this year. Al Piccardo delivered big time on another fabulous Giant Shrimp Dinner. Our Toy Drive was a big success and brother Dominic Ielati delivered a trunk full of toys and a check to the Mustard Seed School. I’m personally looking forward to a large turnout for our annual
Christmas Potluck on the 15th of December, where hopefully Santa Claus will make a special appearance. And we added four new members to our ranks including two priests at the same 1st degree, which may be a possible first for our Council.
Looking forward we still have a crab feed, Pasta For Life, and a Greek Night which all promise to provide a wonderful social calendar in the first half of 2017. I am truly honored to be serving as the Grand Knight this year and it is definitely providing a greater meaning for my Christmas celebration in 2016. Thanks to all of you for everything you do. And if there is anything I can do for my brother Knight’s, please do not hesitate to call or write.
Most Sincerely,
Bryan McKrell
Grand Knight, Council 953
Resolutions Presented to Longtime Members
At the November business meeting, several of our longtime members of Council 953 were presented resolutions honoring their many years of service to the Knights of Columbus. These resolutions were prepared by our PGK Lewis Munoz, presented at the 2016 State Convention, and recognized by the Supreme Council.