Council No. 10901
July 2001
From the desk of the Grand Knight...........
District Deputy, James Leatherwood and Warden Dennis Louis of Corinth, installed our newly elected council officers. We were pleased to have them and their wives visit us in Oxford. Your officers from now until next July are: Paul Patak - Grand Knight, Fr. Joe Dyer – Chaplain, Mike Mitchell - Deputy Grand Knight, Joe Tull – Chancellor, Jeff Hooper – Recorder, Eddie Metrejean – Treasurer, Jacob Eftink – Advocate, Walt Turnbull – Warden, Jeya Suppiah – Inside Guard, Joe Supple Jr. – Outside Guard, Tony Grant – Trustee, one year, James Reid – Trustee, two year, Duane Andrews – Trustee, three year. Ron Rychalk was appointed Lecturer. Chairmen for committees were appointed: Jacob Eftink – Church; George Davis – Community; Jeff Hooper – Council; Mark Shows – Family; Geoffrey Yoste – Youth.
Bob Hudson submitted a letter of resignation for the Financial Secretary position. I want to thank Bob for his diligent service to our Council in this position for the past nine years. As a point of order, I am announcing that applications are currently being accepted for the Financial Secretary position. Nominations for this position are made by the Grand Knight and Trustees, and the FS is appointed by Supreme Knight Anderson. Our current applicant is Dr. Joe Supple.
Also let me pass on Supreme Knight Anderson’s approval of Dennis Louis as our new District Deputy #1. I look forward to working with him and all the new officers and chairmen. Thank you for accepting these challenges.
After the officer installation we had a potluck dinner. Paul Cowart and Jeff Hooper did a great job preparing the meats. Mike, Gillian, and David Mitchell were honored as “Family of the Year”, and Duane Andrews was honored as “Knight of the Year”. Fr. Joe was presented a $2000.00 donation from our council for the Building Fund.
Our moving project went well. Diana was moved a bit earlier than scheduled. If you showed up on time, you were late- sorry.
Our painting project was not as complete. Turn out was too light to finish painting on the two Saturdays. Thanks to those who did donate time. We will have to continue this restoration effort until complete. Whenever you can work on it, stop by and spend an hour or two. There is still painting and the carpets need to be removed. If you plan to be there after hours, contact me or Jack Wollaston.
James is doing a great job with the web page. Check out current information at www.oocities.org/oxfordkoc. Come welcome Pick Noble as our insurance field agent. He will be attending our business meeting on 7/12.
I ask that all officers and chairmen try to make the school of Columbianism on 7/14. We will carpool from the church to Grenada, leaving at 11:40 and returning around 5:00.
July 29th is the other day to put on your calendar. We have a Corporate Communion scheduled for the 9:00 Mass. Between masses we will have a pancake breakfast to honor Fr. Joe, Sr. Mary, Deacon Ted, Debbie Shows, and our altar servers. Please help make our appreciation of their services to our church known. The best way to do that is come help make, and serve breakfast. If you can’t help, just come eat.
Check the coming events calendar.
May God bless our work, Paul
July Family of the Month – The Duane Andrews family
July Knight of theMonth – Jeff Hooper
From your Membership Director.........
Our Fraternal Year ended on June 30th. Overall, we had a reasonably successful year as far as new members. We added twelve new Knights, but we also lost a total of nineteen members during the same period through relocations and suspensions. I am sure you can see how important it is, to any council, to continually add new members to their roster.
The July 2001 issue of the Columbia magazine included a great article about our new Supreme Knight, Carl A. Anderson. He covers a lot of areas relative to the Knights of Columbus, but I was especially interested in his comments about membership. I have quoted some of his comments below:
“I have said many times since becoming Supreme Knight last October that we have a moral obligation to realistically offer the opportunity of membership in the Knights of Columbus to every eligible Catholic man. While today we are rightly proud that we have more than 1.6 million members, that is really only a small part of our true potential.
Every brother Knight has a responsibility to be membership conscious, and every council has the responsibility to be membership active. What would we think of a parish in which there were no baptisms, no first Communions and no confirmations in a given year? The same holds true for those councils that are not actively recruiting new members. Unless we actively recruit new members, we are not being true to our great principle of fraternity.
This is one of the most exciting times to be a Catholic and to be a Knight of Columbus. The Knights of Columbus has never been stronger, never had greater resources and never had more men actively engaged in its work. No wonder so many brother Knights agree with me when I say, the best is yet to come.”
Please read his entire article because it will give you great insight into how our new Supreme Knight views the role the Knights of Columbus plays in the Catholic Church, the lives of our brother Knights and their families, our fellow parishioners and our community.
Ask another man to become a Knight of Columbus.
Vivat Jesus, Bob Hudson
What being a Knight of Columbus means to me.......
When I was a youngster growing up and attending church in Chicago, there were two Catholic men’s organizations that were particularly respected and venerated. One was the Holy Name Society and the other, The Knights of Columbus. As I observed their members carry themselves with a conspicuous aura of spirituality and dignity, I knew that someday enrolling in one of these organizations would represent a personal fulfillment. This was at a time when people put on their Sunday best clothes to attend services in God’s house, and I was always impressed as the men wore their suits and fedoras in winter and sport jackets and straw hats in spring and summer.
As the years progressed, there was always some excuse for not taking the initiative and applying for membership. First came college and athletic competition. The service was next (which included more athletic competition), and after that, teaching, graduate school, and more athletic competition. After a severe head injury, my days of athletic competition ended and I went into coaching, with teaching full-time, coaching six days a week for most of the year, doing household maintenance chores....there seemed little time for anything else....but I never stopped aspiring to become a Knight of Columbus or a member of the Holy Name Society.
When I retired in 1989 and moved, first to the Nashville area and then to Oxford, there were no longer any excuses for not joining one of these organizations. One day in 1995, my neighbor, Richard Meyers, asked if I was interested in becoming a Knight. I did not hesitate to give my assent. It was a decision that I have never once regretted. When I advanced to the Fourth Degree, it represented one of my proudest moments.
While I certainly admire the charity and service functions of our organization, it is on a personal level that the Knights has become very dear to me. In my struggle against cancer, my brother Knights have been constantly at my side, praying, helping me through the many operations, driving me to and from the hospital, visiting to help keep my spirits up, calling to check on my health, assisting in putting up a fence (and doing most of the work), mowing my yard, and, in essence, always being there for me. This has sustained and inspired me to persevere through some rather troubled moments.
I wish that I were articulate enough to convey the deep sense of gratitude that resides inside of me for what the Knights have done to strengthen me through my times of trouble and distress. With Knightly brothers such as Dennis Ott and Duane Andrews, and the rest of our Council, along with my wife, God, and the Holy Mother, I have every confidence that whatever future adversity I may have to face, I will never walk alone. Sam DeJohn
COMING EVENTS
7/14 - School of Columbianism at Grenada
7/29 - Corp Communion 9:00 Mass
Pancake breakfast to honor religious between masses
7/31 - Aug Planning Meeting
8/9 - Aug Business Meeting
8/16 - Insurance night
9/4 - Sept Planning Meeting
9/9 - 2nd & 3rd Degree @ Vicksburg
9/13 - Sept Business Meeting
9/15 - Car parking – Vanderbilt
9/16 - Booth Set-up
9/22 - OKTOBERFEST
9/23 - Booth take down
9/29 - 2nd & 3rd Degree @ Oxford
1/5/02 – Mid Winter Meeting @ Oxford
2/2/02 – 4th Degree @ Vicksburg