Project Gabriel Baby Bottle Campaign. Grand Knight's Message. Pew Cleaning Service Project. Grand Knight Prosper A. Youm

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1 KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS COUNCIL NEWS Monsignor Thomas M. Wells Council Volume 8, Issue 4 #13008 Silver Spring, MD October 2009 Grand Knight's Message Grand Knight Prosper A. Youm Reverend fathers, reverend deacons, brother Knights, ladies and parishioners of Saint Andrew the Apostle Church: I should start with a thank you note to all brother Knights who answered the call of duty to serve at our Parish picnic last month. We are also very thankful to our Maryland State Council Program Director, Dan Ward, for making time in his very busy schedule to come and speak to our Council at its September Social meeting. I challenge my fellow officers and Council activity directors to be inspired by brother Dan s lessons. We are doing great! In the coming months, our Lecturer will work with activity directors to develop programs that will be both instructive and entertaining for our council members and our parish community. I am sure I can count on him to support the vitality and enthusiasm of our members. Let us endeavor to do more to serve our church, our bother Knights and their families, serve our parish community and our neighborhood. Speaking of our neighborhood I would like to congratulate and say a special thank you to our brother Chris Farrell for his dedication in keeping our commitment to clean the road we have adopted. Chris, please accept the honor of being the September 2009 Knight of the month of Msgr. Wells Council. I want to call on all to participate in one of the most valuable community activities, "adopt a road" activity! Please let us not leave Chris alone! Please come and help ensure that at least the one road our council has adopted is kept clean! In the coming weeks, we will have many opportunities to serve: Our baby bottles campaign has started: Take a bottle home; fill it with change the money collected will be put to good use. It will help mothers in need and their babies. This activity provides us with the opportunity to support the Knights of Columbus campaign for Life, which has been elevated to a full-fledged program activity. Project Gabriel Baby Bottle Campaign Starting September 27th the Msgr. Wells Council/Knights of Columbus began its fall Gabriel Network Big Baby Bottle Campaign This is the Knight s October Respect for Life month activity. Parishioners pick up a baby bottle to fill with spare change after the Masses. When they have filled it they place in the tub in the rear of the church during the month of October. These funds will assist pregnant mothers and their families with food, diapers, car seats, clothing, bottles, furniture, and other essential infant and child care needs. Contact Deacon Mike Bond for further information Last spring the Council helped raise over $2,000 in donations for The Gabriel Network. * Pew Cleaning Service Project On Sept 20th after the 11:30 Mass teens gathered to perform some badly needed work in the church lead by Barbara Girolami, and Theresa Comer the teens cleaned the pews removing much of the 10 years of dirt that had built up on the pew surface. It was hard work with the prime ingredient being a lot of elbow grease. Knights Paul Girolami and Chris Farrell stopped in to lend a hand. This project sponsored by the Knights of Columbus is interesting in that the Knights offered money to a group to perform the work. The teens volunteered to do the work and then donated the profits of the project to the St Andrews Senior Program. Thanks to all who worked on this project. The Pews Look great.* Knights Of Columbus 1

2 Grand Knight Message continued from page 1 In November, our Council will launch the Keep Christ in Christmas campaign. This year, we are offering new items. Orders can be placed and our council members will offer cards and other items after Sunday Masses. In this year of the priest, our Council would also like to increase the number of seminarians it supports. Please join us in future activities to raise funds to support vocations. Stay tuned for our upcoming fundraiser at Five Guys Aspen Hill. Parishioners, please feel free to come to us after Mass and ask about the Knights of Columbus and suggest activities you would be interested in being a part of. Know that that the Knights of Columbus stand always ready to serve our Parish community God bless you all.* Chaplain's Message Chaplain Msgr. Michael Mellone In Pope Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) we are challenged to develop our full potential as individuals and as humanity as a whole. October is Right to life month; we are called to reflect upon and promote the dignity of each person. One of the foundations of our faith is the recognition and the living out of the reality that all people are the created sons and daughters of God. We are created in His image and likeness. This reality is so basic that it is often overlooked. Pope Paul VI wrote in his encyclical Populorum Progressio, that one of the causes of underdevelopment is, the lack of brotherhood among individuals and peoples. We may see one another as neighbors but we are truly brothers and sisters. This is a deeper bond and calls for a deeper love than that which we owe our neighbor. In not seeing one another as brother or sister, we are willing to treat others with less concern, less justice, and less love. The right to life not only means the right to be born, which is fundamental, but also to have the necessary means to sustain life in an appropriate and dignified manner. All of this is built upon the love that God has for us, and the grace, He gives us to love one another. Caritas in Veritate explores the issues of immigration, the sharing of resources, the bearing of burdens, environment and economics as well as many other issues. It is well worth our reading and study. Maybe, this can be the task of each Knight of Columbus during the month of October. May the Mother of Jesus teach us to love one another as children of God.* District Deputy's Message District Deputy Dr. Celso Barrientos, PGK. PFN Worthy Grand Knights of District 11 and Dear Brothers: We are in full swing for this fraternal year. All the councils installations of officers have been done. I want to thank the five grand knights in my district for taking their immense responsibilities of leadership. I appreciate the first ladies of the councils for standing with their men. We will only be successful with the ladies support. The activities reports for the first quarter are due to the State Council on October 15, We need all the councils to be active and submit the activities reports. We can only achieve the honor (Star status) if we submit our activities reports. The grand knights are responsible for submitting the reports to the State Program Directors. Hence, I need to see your reports way ahead of the deadline, sign them, return them to you and then you do the submission. Note also, that there is a sixth activity report, Pro-Life, that has been added by the Supreme Council beginning this quarter. This month is the biggest social event of the year for the Order - the Columbus Day Ball on Saturday, October 10, I urge everybody to support the Ball. It is an elegant, formal, and classy affair; gentlemen in their tuxedos and ladies in their finest evening wear. And, it is indeed a lot of fun to be with your brother knights. I hope the councils lend their support by buying advertisements in the Souvenir program for the ball. The car raffle tickets for the 2010 Mustang will be drawn during the Ball. Continue to sell the tickets to earn money for your council. I will be glad to coordinate with you to bring your car raffle returns on the day of the Ball. Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the Washington Archdiocese will celebrate a Mass to honor the Knights of Columbus in the Archdiocese. It will be at the 5:15 PM Mass on Saturday, October 3, 2009 at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. If you read this piece before the event, please attend with your families. District Deputy Message continued to page 4 Knights Of Columbus 2

3 C O U N C I L #13008 OFFICERS: Chaplain Chaplain Emeritus Associate Chaplain Grand Knight Deputy Grand Knight Chancellor Warden Recorder Financial Secretary Treasurer Advocate Lecturer Inside Guard Outside Guard Trustee(3) Trustee(2) Trustee(1) CHAIRMAN: Program Director Church Activities Dir. Community Activity Dir Council Activities Dir Family Activities Dir Youth Activities Dir Vocations Chairman Membership Director Recruitment Committee Retention Chairman Tootsie Roll Chairman Pro-Life Couple Health Services Newsletter Editor Webmaster Msgr. Michael Mellone Rev. Joseph Kennedy Deacon Michael Bond Prosper Youm Deacon Kevin Mukri William Taylor William Bolin, PGK Paul Sanneman David Keefe Marc Ramsey Michael Caruso Werner Moeller Marvin Schuttloffel John O Donnell, PGK David Czarnecki, PGK Wayne Miller, PGK Deacon Kevin Mukri John O Donnell, PGK Nicholas Luketic William Bolin William Taylor Deacon Michael Bond Wayne Miller, PGK William Bolin, PGK Wayne Miller, PGK Paul Sanneman John O Donnell Stephen & Beth Nichols Tony Gentilcore Dave Czarnecki David Keefe M E M B E R S H I P M E E T I N G S All council meetings are held in the KoC Meeting Room in the old convent. Officer s meetings are held at 7:30 on the first Wednesday of the month. Business meetings are held at 7:45 on the second Wednesday of the month. Social meetings are held at 7:45 on the fourth Wednesday of the month. October Meetings Oct 07 Officer s meeting 7:30 PM Oct 14 Business meeting 7:45 PM Oct 28 Social meeting 7:45 PM September Knight of the Month Christopher Farrell.* June Family of the Month The family of Brother Bill Taylor.* October Birthdays Brother James Touhey on the 1 st ; Brother Jim Boicourt on the 7 th ; Brother John Kominski on the 8 th ; Brother William Mathews on the 13 th ; Inside Guard Werner Moeller on the 24 th ; Brother Donald Reed on the 28 th ; and, Brother Gery Brownholtz on the 31 st. Also, Diane, wife of Brother Joseph Zagami on the 12 th ; Eleanor, wife of Brother Jim Lehr, and Margaret, wife of Inside Guard Werner Moeller on the 19 th ; and, Fatima Kanu, wife of Brother Albert Janneh on the 28 th.* October Anniversaries Financial Secretary Paul Sanneman and his wife Connie celebrate their Twenty-first on the 3 rd ; and, Recorder PGK Bill Bolin and his wife Anne celebrate their seventeenth on the 10 th.* Maryland State Council Program Director, brother Dan Ward, speaking at the September Social meeting. Knights Of Columbus 3

4 Monsignor Wells Message [From the Pastor s Desk, Spiritual Reflections by Msgr, Thomas M. Wells] Bumper-To-Bumper Holy Rosary Oct 11, 1998 October is the month of the Holy Rosary where the Church reminds us of the value of this beautiful method of prayer. I know that I find the rosary an ever greater gift in my life: not because I pray so well, but because I pray so poorly. Some historians speculate that the origins of the rosary go back to efforts, even before the Middle Ages, to help illiterate lay brothers in monasteries and laity in the fields to pray. The monks could pray the psalms and read the Gospels and in them, find fruit for prayer, but those who could not read had little on which to fall back for spiritual inspiration. (Incidentally, the stained glass windows in the great cathedrals served the same purpose. They could be read by the illiterate in such a way that the truths the windows depicted were taught to those who could not read.) At first, apparently, the people were encouraged to pray, for example, fifty Our Fathers. Interestingly, the Hail Mary, as we know it today, was not known before about the twelfth century. Incidentally, the repetition of prayers, which we sometimes find difficult, is a practice known throughout world religions. Strangely enough, the repetition can free the mind from having to find things to say to God and allow the person to hear what God might be saying. Beads strung together to help in the counting of prayers is also a very ancient practice. The development of the decades of ten Hail Mary s separated by the Our Father and the meditation on particular mysteries of the life of Christ and Our Lady gradually came about as more effort was given to teaching the laity to pray. The rosary is such a gift for our day because, while we have the ability to read, and thus use Scripture or other spiritual aids in trying to pray, many feel they have not the time. The rosary solves the problem. I know people who pray the rosary on the subway, who say it while commuting, or while going through the torture of running for exercise. Probably they will never become mystics in their prayer, but at least they give time to the Lord each day and ask the prayers of His Mother on behalf of themselves and those they love. Every car should have a rosary in it. There should never be a long ride in the car with the family without the family rosary being said. It should become habit that when there is a stretch of free time, at least some of that time should be given to God in this wonderful exercise of prayer. No matter when we say it, whether alone or with others, whether in the quiet of the evening or in the chaos of the Beltway, let us use this month of the Rosary to join countless millions who have gone before us in this prayer with Our Lady to the glory of God.* District Deputy Message continued from page 2 Another major program on Columbus Day is the celebration in front of the Union Station in Washington, DC, at the Columbus statue. It will be held on Monday, October 12, 2009 at 10:00 AM. The highlight of the celebration is the wreath-laying by different organizations and the presence of about 150 Fourth Degree Color Corps members in full regalia. I hope all the councils are ready for our annual tootsie roll drive to support the mentally handicapped in our community. I hope you have sent the letters requesting the establishments to be able to solicit in their facilities. Get your volunteers and go out there to solicit for this very worthy cause. If you have any question, District Warden Yen Le and I are here to help. Please send your check for the support of the Leukemia drive. District Warden Yen has the list of pledges. Give the check to Yen and he will send them to Community Activities Director Sam Orlando. I hope you have received the Charity Fund envelopes. Please send the envelopes back to Pat Corcoran. Do not put the car raffle tickets in them. If you want to support the Charity Fund through United Way and the Combined Federal Campaign, please ask Pat Corcoran for the Charity number for the Maryland State Council donation. I will close with the usual refrain membership. I appreciate the councils initiatives to support the membership blitz this month. Most of the churches have been scheduled. Keep me informed of the progress of the blitz. Next month is the Memorial month to remember our departed brothers and wives. Each council should submit their necrology list to the State Council and to the McNamara Chapter of the Grand Knights. The names will be listed in the program and will be read during the Memorial Masses.* Knights Of Columbus 4

5 Reflections Lawrence P. Grayson What Can We Not Achieve? The Knights of Columbus is devoted to the Rosary. Every member is given a Rosary upon entering the Order, and asked to say it as often as he can. Many it should be all councils recite it before their meetings. But have you ever thought: What is the Rosary? How did it come into existence? Why is it special? The Rosary consists principally of three prayers, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory be. These prayers have their origins in the earliest days of the Faith, even preceding the establishment of the Church. The Our Father is the Lord s own prayer, taught by Jesus to His disciples when they asked Him how they should pray. As St. Louis de Montfort wrote, this prayer contains all the duties we owe to God, the acts of all the virtues and the petitions for all our spiritual and corporal needs. The Hail Mary, often referred to as the Angelic Salutation, is composed of two parts, one of praise, the other of petition. It begins, Hail [Mary], full of grace, the Lord is with thee. This is the greeting the Archangel Gabriel used when asking Mary to be the Mother of Our Lord. It is followed by the words, Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, said by Elizabeth, a few weeks later, when Mary came to visit her. Imagine, every time you say the Hail Mary, you repeat the words of God s personal angelic messenger and of the divinely-inspired mother of John the Baptist, of whom Jesus said, among those born of women, no one is greater than John. As the prayer evolved, the couplet of praise was joined to a statement of recognition and petition. At the beginning of the fifth century, Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, taught that Mary was the mother only of Christ s human nature and not His divine. The Council of Ephesus, in 431, held this to be erroneous, declared that Mary was Theotokos, the Mother of God, and decreed that Catholics should say the prayer, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. As devotion to the Blessed Mother grew in the eleventh century, the Angelic Salutation was prayed repetitively, often 50, 100 or 150 times, with a genuflection after each utterance. When any prayer or reverential act is repeated frequently, a physical means for keeping count is easier than a mental one. Hence, people began using pebbles, knots on a cord, notches in wood, and even discs of bone strung together to keep count. Thus, the bead system used today began to emerge. In the early stages of monastic development, the monks often said the entire 150 psalms of David for their deceased brethren. The short prayer Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which appears to have originated in the fourth century, was said at the end of each psalm to Christianize it. The words As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end were added in stages, until the prayer assumed its current form in the seventh century. Tradition attributes the present form of the Rosary to St. Dominic. The Church at the time was being split by the heretical doctrines of the Albegensians, who held that two opposing principles or forces existed in the world, one was the source of the spiritual and all good, the other of the material and all evil. St. Dominic was preaching against the heresy, but with little effect. Then, in 1214, according to Blessed Alan de la Roche, Our Lady appeared and said, Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world? When Dominic had no answer, she continued, [I]n this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter, that is, the Rosary. Dominic began to preach about and say the Rosary and had great success. He also established the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary to encourage others to say it. The fervor of the people for the Rosary, however, waned with time. Then, Our Lady asked Alan de la Roche, a Dominican Friar and eminent theologian and preacher, to revive the Confraternity, a work he undertook in When he died fifteen years later, Blessed Alan had enrolled over 100,000 people into the Confraternity. The Creed, which was added to the Rosary in the early 17th century, is a summary of the principal Christian truths. It begins with the words I believe in God. This act of faith Reflections continued to page 5 Knights Of Columbus 5

6 Reflections continued from page 4 is the first and essential step in leading a Christian life. Once we believe, we can strive to know God, to love Him, and to trust in Him, so that we can gain the reward of an eternity in the kingdom of heaven. The Apostles Creed has its origin in the early days of the Church, perhaps as one tradition holds, being composed by the Apostles themselves on the first Pentecost. In 1917, when Our Lady appeared at Fatima, she asked that after each mystery people add the words, O Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of your mercy. The Rosary incorporates two types of prayer, vocal and mental. The vocal prayer is the repetition of the Hail Mary, divided into groups of ten, each preceded by the Our Father and ended with a Glory be. The mental portion is the contemplation on the life and glory of Our Lord and His Mother. The original 15 decades, in which the 150 Hail Marys paralleled the 150 psalms, focused on Our Lord s birth, childhood, passion, death and resurrection. They were expanded by Pope John Paul II to 20 decades to include more of Our Lord s public life. What a beautiful set of prayers is the Rosary, prayers that date back to the first days of our Faith given to us in the words of our Lord, the Archangel Gabriel, early ascetics and bishops, possibly the Apostles under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Mother herself. If we say it devoutly and often, how can our heavenly Mother and her Son not respond to our petitions. Insurance Agent's Message Bob Callaway, LUTCF, FICF Knights of Columbus insurance: once again, highest ratings, stable outlook Two top financial research and analysis companies recently reaffirmed their highest ratings for the Knights of Columbus insurance program. Both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor s concluded that the 127-year-old Catholic fraternal order s financial strength and stability remains strong despite a weak economy. This marks the 34th consecutive year in which the Knights of Columbus has earned A.M. Best s A++ (Superior) rating, and the 17th successive year the Order has earned the AAA (Extremely Strong) rating from S&P. Over the past decade, the amount of Knights of Columbus insurance in force has more than doubled, to $72 billion. The Knights of Columbus is also certified by the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA) for ethical and honest business practices. It is one of only four U.S. insurers with both IMSA certification and top ratings from S&P and A.M. Best, and the only insurance company in Canada to do so. Click this link to Supreme website for further details Fraternally, Bob Callaway, LUTCF, FICF rjcalla@aol.com * Vivat Jesus!* Knights Mobilize to Help Philippine Flood Victims The Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus has sent an emergency donation of $50,000 to the Philippines to help in efforts to recover from record flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana (known locally as Typhoon Ondoy). At least 140 people died in flooding in the capital of Manila, where more than 80 percent of the city was under water at the height of the storm. * Two more happy customers receiving Raffle tickets from Marc Ramsey hoping for a chance at that new Ford Mustang.. Knights Of Columbus 6

7 October 2009 Monsignor Thomas M. Wells Council #13008 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Tootsie Roll Campaign, Giant Store & Church 4 Tootsie Roll Campaign, Giant Store & Church 11 Membership Blitz Community Sunday Tootsie Roll - Church 18 Tootsie Roll Campaign, Church Officers Meeting (Dinner) 7:30PM 12Columbus Day Soccer Shoot-out: 3:00PM Columbus Day Mass at Holy Rosary Church Business Meeting 7:45PM 8 9 Adoration, Adoration, Adoration, 10 Membership Blitz Tootsie Roll Plaza Del Marcado Giant 17 Tootsie Roll Campaign, Church Social Meeting 7:45PM Adoration, 31 If you have and address, please send it to the editor at: david@czarnecki.com Council Newsletter Msgr. Thomas M. Wells Council # Claybrook Drive Silver Spring, MD Change Service Requested ««AddressBlock»» Zip code not valid! Knights Of Columbus 7