September 2001

The August newsletter had a piece about ‘what the K of C means to me’. I hope you read it. I hope you act on the invitation to be of service. Participation is the key to a successful organization. Thanks for your contribution Mark.

The church swim party, sponsored in conjunction with Family Week in August, was postponed due to weather. It was rescheduled for the following day and was a great success. Let’s do it again next year, and bring Parker an extra sandwich.

Thanks to all of you who have donated time to the Parish Center Restoration Project. So far we have contributed almost 70 hours labor to our parish. The painting is still in progress. Keep that in mind when you aren’t exactly busy on a rainy day.

It is official. Supreme Knight, Carl A. Anderson, has appointed Dr. Joe Supple Financial Secretary of our council. Other correspondence from Supreme advises us that our proposed council by-laws have been approved.

Our next night to cook for Total Youth Ministry is September 12^th. This job only takes a couple of men each month, contact Geoffrey Yoste to get on the schedule.

We need a large crew to set up booths for the Oktoberfest. Please come to the church and help on September 16^th beginning at 10:30. The Oktoberfest is from 4 to 8 on the 22^nd. Then we need all of you back on the 23^rd at 10:30 to help take booths down and put in storage.

The Tupelo Knights are sponsoring a weekend retreat for men. It will be on the 28th-30th at Cullman, AL. The cost is around $70 and includes accommodations and meals. They have planned for around 32 men and still have 5 slots open. Contact me soon if you are interested.

Our council will sponsor a 2^nd and 3^rd degree exemplification on 9/29. All knights should take note of it. 1^st degree knights plan to take part, and everyone else, plan to come witness the event.

Don’t wait for anyone else to ask you, Get Involved!

Paul

For providing altar servers and ushers, directing catechism classes, and organizing the church fair....

The Peter Lee Family, Family of the Month

For participating in TYM and FCA food preparation...

Gary Heleniak, Knight of the Month

In the U.S., women can legally abort their unborn child at any time throughout their entire pregnancy… for any reason…

Please pray that the abortion-minded women of our area will find this ministry to get complete information, and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The K of C Insurance program is a non-profit organization and doesn’t pay dividends to shareholders, but does provide proceeds to allow the Knights of Columbus to…

Completely underwrite the renovation of the entire facade of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the most famous church in the world, the statues of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter’s Square, and the historic Rooms of the Architects in the Basilica proper.

Won’t you consider being a part of this program?

In last month’s newsletter I noted that our membership goal for the new Fraternal Year was set at eight new members. Eight new members is not a difficult number to achieve if . . . if . . . if every member in our council actively participates in developing new members. But if only a few of our brother Knights actively recruits new members, eight can be a tough number to reach.

You probably also remember in last month’s newsletter, as well as in the past, I have said that, "Each Knight has a responsibility, taken at the time he became a Knight, to participate with the Council and his brother Knights to help meet the goals of the Council each year. Membership is one of these goals."

The above paragraph tells a lot about the membership development of any Council and our Council is no different than any others.

But we don’t have to be like other Councils when it comes to recruiting new members.

The Knights of Columbus is a brotherhood and one of its goals is to spread the opportunity for membership to every Catholic man eligible to become a Knight. Those men at St. John’s deserve the opportunity to become members of the Knights of Columbus, but they may never get that opportunity if one of our brother Knights doesn’t ask each one of them to consider becoming a Knight of Columbus. Would any of us brother Knights consider, if for only a moment, to deny those Catholic men that opportunity? I don’t believe so, but only you, as a brother Knight, as a member of St. John’s Council 10901, in Oxford, Mississippi, can make that decision. Only you can decide whether you will or you won’t "ask another man to become a Knight of Columbus."

A First Degree is planned for our next monthly meeting on September 13^th. We currently have one new candidate, with the possibility of a second. Come and join your brother Knights and welcome a new brother to our Council.

A second reminder — our Council will be the host Council for a Second and Third Degree Exemplification in Oxford on Saturday, September 29^th. All First Degree Knights should plan on attending on that date.

Remember, "Ask a man to become a Knight of Columbus."

Bob Hudson, Membership Director

Every year in America student are forced? invited? cajoled? to memorize the opening lines of the Canterbury Tales. So much attention is given to that "weird" English and to the spiciness of some of the stories that we forget the significance of the setting. The storytellers were on their way to a great church in order to pray at the tomb of a martyr. This journey was lengthy and hard. The difficulties of the journey would be offered as a sacrifice to God for themselves or for knowledge they had been made whole by God’s forgiving grace and that grace had been showered on others as well. Along the way, in addition to the prayers of the pilgrimage, they "entertained" themselves by telling stories, stories that revealed as much about the teller as about the event.