Seton notes. Official Publication of Mother Seton Council #5381, Knights of Columbus January 2018 Volume 55, Number 7

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1 Official Publication of Mother Seton Council #5381, Knights of Columbus January 2018 Volume 55, Number 7 Chaplain s Corner Reverend Jack Kennealy Chaplain Fr. Jack Kennealy Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as we start We start the New Year with the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God. A solemnity is a feast day of highest rank. Mary Mother of God is a solemnity of the 20 th Century, bringing together assorted feasts in the Church calendar including the Circumcision of Jesus, and the Maternity of Mary. The statement of Mary as the Mother of God goes back to the Council of Ephesus (in modern day Turkey) in 431 AD. Nestorius, the Bishop of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) stated that Mary was the Mother of the human Jesus, but not the divine Son of God. The Council determined that Mary gave birth to Jesus human and divine so that Mary is the Mother of God. It does not mean that Mary is coeternal or part of the Godhead, but, it does mean that Jesus was fully human and fully divine and you can t separate the two natures of Christ. In 1991, the US Catholic Bishops determined that when a solemnity occurs on a Saturday or Monday it is not a holy day of obligation (this excludes the Immaculate Conception). This year Mary Mother of God is not a holy day of obligation, but if you are available, it is a good day to start out the year right by giving thanks to God. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Feast Day Jan 4 INSIDE THIS EDITION Chaplain s Report....1 Program Reports..3-4 Sick & Distressed... 5 Supreme Council News 8 In Memoriam 4 Domestic Church Theme Papal Prayer Intention 9 State Council News.11 Calendar

2 Grand Knight Report Aneurin M Carthy amacarthee@gmail.com Best Wishes and God s Blessing s for 2018 District Deputy Report Romeo Paternoster, PGK romeopaternoster@yahoo.com Best wishes for a Happy New Year. Hotel reservation and registration for the 120 th convention opens online early this month. The convention will be May 4-6 in Ocean City; make plans to attend if you have never been there. The Holy Family Icon will be on display as a part of the monthly Marian devotion at Saint Matthias Church on Saturday, January 6 at 12 noon. Last but not least, we have less than 6 months to achieve our goals for the fraternal year. Let s kept our eye on the prize and finish strong. Vivat Jesus Message from the Financial Secretary Dues invoices for 2018 have been mailed or distributed. Please pay dues in a timely manner. New 2018 travel cards will be issued upon payment. Members who are not current by March 1, will not be allowed entry to Council meetings. Please contact Don Aitcheson if you have questions or concerns.. 2

3 Officers Chaplain Reverend Jack Kennealy Associate Chaplain Reverend Milton E. Jordan Grand Knight Aneurin M Carthy amacarthee@gmail.com Deputy Grand Knight Ferdinand Ibebuchi ibebuchi@aol.com Chancellor Jean-Marie Tcheffo chebih1@yahoo.com Warden Ephraim Eke ekefem@yahoo.com Recorder Emmanuel Thad Ereme thad.ereme@gmail.com Treasurer Joseph Corson, FDD, PGK JosCorson@aol.com Advocate Robert Worthington, FDD, PFN, PGK bobworth@hotmail.com Guard Inside Darren Watson dj1.watson@gmail.com Guard Outside Peter Nwaigwe pcnwaigwe@gmail.com Trustees Charles Briscoe (1Yr) charlesbriscoe4@gmail.com Emmanuel Ajayi, PGK (2Yr) sonyajayi@yahoo.com Dominic Forka, PGK (3Yr) dforka@yahoo.com Financial Secretary Donahue Aitcheson, PGK aitcheson@hotmail.com Family Activities Sylvester Ikpi, PGK, PFN or sylvester.ikpi@gmail.com Family of the Month Our family of the month for November 2017 is the family of Don and Rozanna Aitcheson. Don is a past grand knight, and he is also our financial secretary, and Newsletter editor. He is the church sacristan and currently chairman of the Pastoral Council. He is the person to go to if you have any question either about the church or the council. Don is a full time realtor by profession, after a 20+ year career as a Clinical Chemist/Laboratoty Director. His wife Rozanna, is also an active parishioner and a lector in the church. The couple has a grown daughter, Gabriella, a Saint Matthias graduate, who is a 4 th year medical student. 3 Church Activities James Agboli, PGK / jagboli@outlook.com We commemorate in the following feasts and saints this month of January: Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God(1), Basil & Gregory (2), Most Holy Name of Jesus (3), Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton(4),John Neumann(5),Epiphany of Our Lord(7), Baptism of the Lord (8), Anthony(17),Agnes(21),Day of Prayer for the Unborn Children(22),Francis de Sales(24), Conversion of St. Paul(25), Timothy & Titus(26), John Bosco(30) Fraternal Benefits Corner Stephen Clites stephen.clites@kofc.org recipient of our Council s Seton Award Please contact the benefits agent to discuss your needs. The consultation is free.

4 Council Activities Charles Briscoe The annual Christmas Party was postponed and will be held on Saturday, January 6 th. Donations for door prizes and the Bowie Pregnancy Clinic are encouraged. Community Activities George Edet GBrown7744@gmail.com We are still collection used eyeglasses. Leave in the Council office or designated receptacle in the Church. Youth Activities Darren Watson dj1.watson@gmail.com Prolife Activities Emmanuel Amanyeiwe or d_amans@yahoo.com 45 th Annual National March for Life will be on January 19, 2018 Visit for more details. Membership Corner Sylvester Ikpi, PGK sylvester.ikpi@gmail.com We are behind in our recruiting goal. Let s step up the pace. Make It Personal and Ask Set a personal goal to recruit 1 new member this year. In Memoriam Virginia S. Aquillino April 29, December 12, 2017 Wife of PGK Peter Aquillino (4 th GK of the Council ) Thank you to all the students who participated in the 2017 Keep Christ in Christmas poster contest and the Principal and Art teacher who coordinated the process.this year s winner is: Kevin Blake- Gr 6 th Eternal rest, grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace! Amen. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace! Amen. 4

5 Sick and Recovering Brothers Christopher Agboli, PGK Kevin Butler, PGK Al Craig, PGK Fr. Milt Jordan (recuperating from surgery) Nicholas Kniska, HLM Al Porrazzo Pablo Rocha Relatives/Friends Ann Degraff Gwen King ( recuperating from surgery) Lord, look upon me with eyes of mercy, may your healing hand rest upon me, may your life-giving powers flow into every cell of my body and into the depths of my soul, cleansing, purifying, restoring me to wholeness and strength for service in your Kingdom. Amen If you know a Brother Knight or a family member who is sick, recovering or recently deceased, please contact us so that we may pray for them. Your help is needed to manage this list (Editor: aitcheson@hotmail.com.) Father of goodness and love; hear our prayers for the sick members of our community and for all who are in need. Amid mental and physical suffering, may they find consolation in your healing presence. Show your mercy as you close wounds, cure illness, make broken bodies whole and free downcast spirits. May these special people find lasting health and deliverance, and so join us in thanking you for all your gifts. We ask this through the Lord Jesus who healed those who believed. Amen. 5

6 COUNCIL HISTORY Mother Seton Council #5381 was instituted on January 8, 1963 as the first new Council of the Order for the year Some 132 names were carried as Charter Members, 50 of which were new members while the other 50 was evenly distributed among transfers and restatements into the Council. The first installation of Mother Seton Council Officers was conducted on March 6, 1963 under the direction of the then State Deputy, Maurice J. Klein. Our Charter was officially presented to our first Grand Knight, Bernard Green, by Francis G. McFarland, State Deputy, Maryland State Council, at a Charter Dinner held at the Royal Arms, Hyattsville, on May 9, The Patroness of our Council is Blessed Elizabeth Ann Seton who was beatified on March 17, 1963, in the Vatica We constantly offered our prayers for the Canonization of Mother Seton who founded the Sisters of Charity in America, in 1809, and is also recognized as the founder of the Catholic School system in this country. Proud to b the name of Blessed Mother Seton, our Council members and their families made an annual pilgrimage to her h in Emmittsburg, Maryland, where Holy Mass is offered and a Spiritual Bouquet for her canonization was presen to the Superior of the Sisters of Charity, A trip to the Shrine followed by a family picnic conclude this wonderful annual event. Mother Seton Council primarily drew its members from St. Ambrose, Cheverly; St. Mary's, Landover Hills; St. Bernard's, Riverdale; St Joseph s in Landover, Holy Family in Mitchellville and St. Matthias, Lanham. Other parishes are also represented in our membership, which in less than two years, expanded to 213 members. The credit for the initial effort to institute Mother Seton Council goes to four dedicated Brother Knights. They are: Bert Parise, our first District Deputy; James Echols, our general insurance agent; Bernard Green, our first Grand Knight and Francis Knowlan, our first Financial Secretary. They did their work well. From the beginning the Council was very active. Within two months a monthly newsletter was started. The Council chose the name with the S at both ends capitalized because the word notes is the same as Seton reversed. The programs and activities of the Council continued to grow and before our 15th anniversary we had sent a Grand Knight to the State Convention to collect first place awards in all of the programs. At that time awards were given in six categories. The dream of a Council home was in consideration before the Council was a year old. The first income was created by the sale of bonds at a cost of $100 each. A total of 31 were sold and several members were buying them with payments such as $1, $5, $10 or whatever, some of which were never completed or refunded. The original bonds were purchased back for $150 many years later or totally donated to the building corporation. The Council has conducted many fund raising events over the years and both the Council and the Auxiliary transferred funds from time to time. The Building Corporation has also been the recipient of funds for wills. 6

7 Supreme Council News THEME FAMILY PRAYER The Christian family needs to put first things first by cultivating a relationship with God together through prayer. Prayer is essential for families to develop Christian joy, faith, hope and love. Meditation From Pope John Paul II s Familiaris Consortio Family prayer has its own characteristic qualities. It is prayer offered in common, husband and wife together, parents and children together. Communion in prayer is both a consequence of and a requirement for the communion bestowed by the sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony. The words with which the Lord Jesus promises His presence can be applied to the members of the Christian family in a special way: Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Family prayer has for its very own object family life itself, which in all its varying circumstances is seen as a call from God and lived as a filial response to His call. Joys and sorrows, hopes and disappointments, births and birthday celebrations, wedding anniversaries of the parents, departures, separations and homecomings, important and far-reaching decisions, the death of those who are dear, etc. all of these mark God s loving intervention in the family s history. They should be seen as suitable moments for thanksgiving, for petition, for trusting abandonment of the family into the hands of their common Father in heaven. The dignity and responsibility of the Christian family as the domestic Church can be achieved only with God s unceasing aid, which will surely be granted if it is humbly and trustingly petitioned in prayer. Is prayer at the center of our family life? If not, why? How can we better build a rhythm of prayer into our family s life? In what way can we mark significant family moments throughout the year with prayer? What are our family members preferred ways of praying vocal, meditative or contemplative? Is there a way to incorporate each family member s preferred way of praying into family prayer? 7

8 Scripture Reading - Psalm 65:6-14 A prayer of gratitude for God s blessings You answer us with awesome deeds of justice, O God our savior, The hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off across the sea. You are robed in power, you set up the mountains by your might. You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples. Distant peoples stand in awe of your marvels; the places of morning and evening you make resound with joy. You visit the earth and water it, make it abundantly fertile. God s stream is filled with water; you supply their grain. Thus do you prepare it: you drench its plowed furrows, and level its ridges. With showers you keep it soft, blessing its young sprouts. You adorn the year with your bounty; your paths drip with fruitful rain. The meadows of the wilderness also drip; the hills are robed with joy. The pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys blanketed with grain; they cheer and sing for joy. Family Project The Catechism recommends that we find places favorable for prayer. One of the places it suggests is a prayer corner in the home. If you do not already have one, make a prayer corner in the home in order to facilitate prayer. This sacred space could be a simple table with a nice cloth over it, a Bible, religious images and statues, rosaries, candles, prayer cards, a family prayer intention book, a vase for flowers, etc. Make the corner unique to your family and have each family member contribute one religious item to the prayer corner. For further ideas, see the following resource: The Little Oratory: The Beginner s Guide to Praying in the Home by David Clayton and Leila Marie Lawler. Bringing Help and Support to Persecuted Christians Since the establishment of the Christian Refugee Relief Fund in 2014, the Knights of Columbus has collected more than $15.5 million, which has been used to provide food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care to persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Reprinted from 12/30/2017 8

9 Introducing: Go to to find out more about the launch of this global mission spearheaded by Fr. Canice Enyiaka Pope Francis' Prayer Intentions for January 2018 The Pope s Worldwide Prayer Network invites all to join in the Holy Father s January 2018 prayer intention: Evangelization: Religious Minorities in Asia That Christians, and other religious minorities in Asian countries, may be able to practise their faith in full freedom. Daily Offering Prayer God, our Father, I offer You my day. I offer You my prayers, thoughts, words, actions, joys, and sufferings in union with the Heart of Jesus, who continues to offer Himself in the Eucharist for the salvation of the world. May the Holy Spirit, Who guided Jesus, be my guide and my strength today so that I may witness to your love. With Mary, the mother of our Lord and the Church, I pray for all Apostles of Prayer and for the prayer intentions proposed by the Holy Father this month. Amen. 9

10 Catholic Corner National Shrine of Elizabeth Ann Seton Emmitsburg, Maryland Prayer to Mother Seton Lord God, You blessed Elizabeth Seton with gifts of grace As wife and mother, educator and foundress, So that she might spend her life in service to your people. Through her example and prayers May we learn to express our love for you In love for our fellow men and women. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. Amen. 10

11 Maryland State Council News State Deputy Stephen M. Cohen Maryland State Council High School Scholarship Programs The Maryland State Council of the Knights of Columbus is the sponsor of several High School scholarships for its members and for Catholic Students in general. Below is the complete information on these scholarships and information regarding eligibility for scholarship awards. Awards may be applied to tuition payments only. Application period is from October 1, 2017 to February 1, All applications must be received in their entirety by the Scholarship Committee no later than February 1, Scholarship information and application information is included below (preferred) or write to: Maryland State Council, Knights of Columbus Scholarship Committee, PO Box 165, Westminster, MD th Annual Maryland State Convention Knights of Columbus May 4-6, 2018 Princess Royale Oceanfront Resort 91st Street, Ocean City, Maryland The 120th Annual Convention of the Maryland State Council, Knights of Columbus, will be held at the Princess Royale Oceanfront Resort, Ocean City, Maryland, May 4, 5 & 6, Registration for both the convention and the hotel are simplified through the online process described below. The online registrations will be available beginning Monday, January 8, Registration is now open. Register online at: Or call John Trainor at For more details, go to 11

12 Fourth Degree Report Bishop James E. Walsh Assembly No Meets on the 2 nd Monday, 8:00 pm at Saint Pius X Council, Sarto Hall, 3611 Stewart Road; Forestville, MD (301) Next scheduled meeting is January 8 7PM (new start time) ADW Website ( Official Flag Days in the USA January 1 - New Year s Day 15 Martin Luther King Day Bishop McNamara Chapter of Grand Knights Maryland State Council Celebrating its 55 th Year Upcoming Chapter Meetings January 17, 2018 St. Mary of the Assumption Council 9302 Chapter Meeting 8PM Come hear about all the exciting events and activities that are planned for the year. The Chapter encourages not only Grand Knights to attend, but also Deputy Grand Knights and Council Program Directors. The Chapter meets the third Wednesday of each month except for December. The location varies. 12

13 Birthdays for January Council 1 James Kalshoven Olin Malone, III 2 Richard Atemnkeng Sakwe Macdonald Bongo Edwin Williams 5 Jamil Abunassar Joseph Ngu 6 Sylvester Ndi 8 John Murray, Jr. Joseph Navalaney 9 Innocent Nwadue John Urban 11 Robert Rau 13 Augustine Chijioke 17 Reverend Blaise Attachie 25 Chukwuemeka Ihenachor 30 Reverend Jeffrey Defayette Ladies Auxiliary 3 Juanita Pielmeier McGinn 7 Gailian Gay Magruder HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!. Editor s Pen If there is a special request for a copy of the by mail, let us know. Please send all newsletter related issues to Don Aitcheson at aitcheson@hotmail.com ( ). The deadline for article submission is the 20 th of each month. The edition will be sent on or about the 1 st of each month. Please feel free to give us feedback.. Copies are available in the pamphlet rack of Saint Matthias Church and on the website at 13

14 Knights of Columbus Mother Seton Council # Annapolis Road Lanham, MD Upcoming Council Events Calendar January 1 January 2 January 4 January 6 January 8 January 16 February 1 February 6 Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God Council Business Meeting 8PM Feast Day St. Elizabeth Ann Seton ( 8:30AM) Marian Devotion ( 1 st Saturday) 12 noon Display of the Holy Family Icon Council Christmas Party 6PM 9PM ( RSVP required) Founder s Day Mother Seton Council (55 th Anniversary) Council Social Meeting 8PM State Scholarship Deadline Council Business Meeting 8PM Council meetings are held 1 st and 3 rd Tuesday of every month unless otherwise posted. Council meetings are currently held in the Father Hughes Center. Note: Regular dress code for meetings is in effect (Jacket and Tie) 14