Grand Knight's Message. Visiting Seminarian Addresses Council. Raffle Ticket Sales Summary. Grand Knight John O Donnell. Worthy Brothers All:

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1 KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS COUNCIL NEWS Monsignor Thomas M. Wells Council Volume 7, Issue 3 #13008 Silver Spring, MD September 2008 Grand Knight's Message Grand Knight John O Donnell Worthy Brothers All: Fall is here and we all now return from our vacations and to activities at home. As most of you know I spent the month of August with the scouts hiking the mountains of New Mexico. It is quite an experience to be disconnected from the world; no news and no idea of what day of the week it is. It helps to put things into perspective. Thanks to Prosper for holding down the fort while I was away. Prosper held the officers meeting and business meeting and attended the district activities (great job and many thanks). We also got our bulletin board up at entrance to the church a special thanks to Jim Lehr. Check the notices on the way into church. We ended the month with a great social meeting attended by the Knights and members of the parish. We wished our summer seminarian goodbye and good luck. Anthony Lickteig honored us with a talk on the North American College in Rome, and we surprised him by making him our new sponsored seminarian replacing Patrick Riffle, who was just ordained this summer. We are now sponsoring two seminarians; Charles Gallagher and Anthony. For September we have the following activities: Visiting Seminarian Addresses Council Members of the council and several parishioners were treated to an edifying and enjoyable talk by seminarian Anthony Licktig at the August social meeting. Anthony s talk gave some of the history of the Pontifical North American College in Rome where he currently studies. Additionally, Anthony provided some insight into the daily life and course of study of a seminarian as well as some of his personal vocation to the seminary. Grand Knight, John O Donnell, presented Anthony with a donation from the council in appreciation and recognition of his work.* -This Labor Day weekend we did our alternate monthly trash pickup on our Adopt-a-Road Arcola (special thanks to Chris Farrell for his work). Hope to see more students on our next pickup in November. -Sunday September 7th we are cooking for the parish picnic and selling car raffle tickets with the Choir s Raffle. -Wednesday the 10th is our business meeting. I want to encourage all of you to come, especially if it has been a while since you made a meeting. Please try to make either the September or October Meeting to hear about our activities to for the year. Raffle Ticket Sales Summary The State Incentive Raffle Sales were conducted at St. Andrew the Apostle on the weekends of 8/16-8/17 and 8/30-8/31. Thank you to all the Knights who participated. At last count 14 brothers sold tickets after Masses. The council will be sending 12 tickets toe each brother and we ask that you sell (or buy) the tickets. If you already purchased tickets, thank you! * Grand Knight s Message continued to page 2 Knights Of Columbus 1

2 Grand Knight Message continued from page 1 -Thursday Sept 11th is the day Pope Benedict has requested us to pray for peace. What better way to honor the 9/11 victims than through a vision of peace? St Andrews will not have a 9/11 mass this year. -The big activity of the month is the tootsie roll campaign. I need every brother to pick blocks of time totaling 4 hours to man the two stores and collect for the mentally handicapped. All funds collected go to help programs right in our community, and this is the one activity that all knights are expected to help with. If you are able to don an apron and pass out tootsie rolls while collecting donations for a very worthy cause, please return an to Werner.Moeller@ed.gov. Volunteering in 2-hour blocks from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm for service at the Kemp Mill Magruder s Sept. 12 & 14; Sept 19 & 21; Sept. 26 & 28 and Oct. 3 & 5. We will need at least two people in each time slot because the store has two doors. At the Plaza del Mercado store please sign up for only Saturdays and Sundays Sept. 13 & 14; Sept 20 & 21; Sept. 28 and Oct. 4 & 5. *(Note that Saturday September 27 is not available). You can also contact Werner via phone: (Home) & (Cell) We will also be doing tootsie rolls after the Masses on the 20th and 27th of September. I promised you that the social meeting will be that; a social meeting, and open to all adults. This will continue this month, September 24th, we have something special planned. We will start at 7:45. Watch the bulletin for details and bring a friend. Finally Friday September 26th all Knights are encouraged to come at 7 PM and spend an hour with Christ at the Friday Adoration. This is the K of C designated night. If you are one of the many brothers who can not make the meeting please take few minutes and send me a note to let me know which programs you can help with (odonnelljohnh@hotmail.com ). Next month, October we will have the membership blitz at the community Sunday and the Soccer shootout on Columbus Day. We will have our church wide service project. Hope to talk with each of you personally soon at some church activity. I leave you with the Philmont Grace till next month; For Food, For Raiment, For Life, For Opportunity, For Friendship and Fellowship We thank thee O Lord. (Kind of sounds like the Knights of Columbus, doesn t it?) Vivat Jesus* Chaplain's Message Assoc Chaplain Rev. Mr. Kevin Mukri Renew Our Commitment to Support Life (Reprint from January 20006) The Knights of Columbus, including our council, have been extremely active in ending the sin of abortion that is so prevalent in our country. The number of abortions in our land often leads to some odd political debate. For example, the same politicians who are the most vocal supporters of laws that permit abortions are the same ones who complain that the social security system can not pay for itself due to the lack of numbers of young people to pay taxes. We concentrate on ending abortion in the United States and well we should. However, we can often forget what is happening throughout the world. Here the numbers of abortions are staggering. According to data published by the World Health Organization in 2002, there are an unbelievable 46 million abortions every year, or about 87 a minute. In Italy, a Catholic country where economists are worried about the country s economic future because of its negative birthrate, there was a 3.4 percent increase in abortions in In Spain, another predominantly Catholic country, the number of abortions has doubled over the past nine years. In Australia, according to data published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, young women ages have more than one abortion for every two live births. We can get lost in the numbers. But each one of these numbers represents a real individual person. Pope Benedict XVI emphasized this point during his homily on Christmas Eve Midnight Mass when he said that on every child shines something of the splendor of that first Christmas night. The Holy Father said that the splendor shines on every child, even on those still unborn. Which one of us is not moved to a sense of joy when we see a young baby in the arms of his mother of father? It is the joy of new life and the joy of knowing that we are loved and cared for by Almighty God just as the baby is by his parents. Each abortion robs us of this vision and each abortion robs the world of the potential for great good that each life can produce. Pray and work to end the sin of abortion. We can reduce these great numbers of worldwide abortions by working to save one life at a time.* 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 Membership Director Vocations Chairman Recruitment Chairman Retention Chairman Tootsie Roll Chairman Pro-Life Couple Health Services Public Relations Chairman Newsletter Editor Webmaster Msgr. Michael Mellone Rev. Joseph Kennedy Deacon Kevin Mukri John O Donnell Prosper Youm William Taylor Harold Tarver Werner Moeller Paul Sanneman David Keefe Thomas Murphy Deacon Michael Bond Sean Hardman Thomas Devlin III David Czarnecki, PGK Wayne Miller, PGK William Bolin, PGK Prosper Youm Deacon Michael Bond Harold Tarver David Keefe Nicholas Luketic William Taylor Wayne Miller, PGK William Taylor William Bolin, PGK John O Donnell Harold Tarver 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 Teachers' Lounge of the school. 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. July Meetings Sept 03 Officer s meeting 7:30 PM Sept 10 Business meeting 7:45 PM Sept 24 Social meeting 7:45 PM August Knight of the Month The Knight of the Month for July is Health Services Chairman Tony Gentilcore. Tony s work often prevents him from showing up for many meetings, but he is often there to lend a hand to support Council and other Church projects. * August Family of the Month Tony, Laverne and Denise can be seen at most council events and often they are there early and/or late to help in the set up and clean up. We want to thank the Gatti family for their ever present enthusiasm to assist.* September Birthdays Brothers Yves Sainteus and Richard Wanat on the 7 th ; Brother Nicholas Dhanaraj on the 10 th ; Trustee PGK Dave Czarnecki on the 12 th ; Brother Donald Walter on the 13 th ; Brother Joseph Barrett on the 15 th ; and, Brother Philip Tolentino on the 19 th. Also, Christina, wife of Brother Jay Dhanaraj on the 17 th ; and, Ana, wife of Brother Al Tagliaferro on the 24 th.* September Anniversaries It was still too hot for Knights to get married in September.* Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions For September VATICAN CITY, 1 SEP 2008 (VIS) - Pope Benedict XVI's general prayer intention for September is: "That those who, because of wars or oppressive regimes, are forced to leave their homes and country may be supported by Christians in the defense and protection of their rights." His mission intention is: "That, faithful to the sacrament of matrimony, every Christian family may cultivate the values of love and communion in order to be a small evangelizing community, sensitive and open to the material and spiritual needs of its brothers."* Knights Of Columbus 3

4 Monsignor Wells Message [From the Pastor s Desk, Spiritual Reflections by Msgr, Thomas M. Wells] Need for Others August 27, 1995 As can be easily imagined, one studying to be a priest gives some little bit of thought to the subject of celibacy. Especially for me, this was the case in the months before I was ordained a sub-deacon when, in those days, a man made the promise to remain celibate. The funny thing is that I can remember thinking during those decision-making sessions, "Well, I think I would enjoy being a priest. Now, if I just pray hard enough, I'm sure that God will help me to make it on my own. He'll help me not to need anyone. Well, two out of three is not all bad, I guess. Indeed, I do love being a priest and for sure, I believe as strongly as ever in the need for prayer. However, one thing the good Lord has not done is to help me not to need people. Indeed, while I have come to understand that celibacy certainly means not having that one person with whom life can be shared; I have also come to see that celibacy is given so that one can be more involved with God's people. My seminary meditations where I thought the ideal was to be the great independent who can operate in a splendid isolation was, however, not too far from much in contemporary relationships. I apologize, but again I go back to the example I mentioned a few weeks ago where the large number of one of our second grade classes, when I asked them in a class last year, had eaten the dinner the previous night by themselves in front of a television. I even saw an ad the other day for some kind of microwave dessert "perfect for the busy family who must grab dinner on their own." Maybe it sounds corny, but how many husbands and wives would list their spouses as best even one of their best friends? As a priest, I worry that many seem not to take their relationship with God seriously enough; I suspect that as good a question is how seriously we take our relationships with those around us. These thoughts are not written as some sort of first venture into "pop psychology." Marriages, families and larger communities increasingly are disaster zones. Could it be that we do not take each other seriously enough? The Bible says that we are made in the image and likeness of God; that means, first of all, that each of us reflects the Mystery who is God and cannot be taken for granted. It also means that, like God, each of us is endlessly fascinating and lovable. We need each other, much as we need God Himself. The interdependence between God, self and others gives lie to the notion that, "I can make it on my own."* District Deputy's Message District Deputy Dr. Celso Barrientos, PGK. PFN Worthy Grand Knights of District 11 and Dear Brothers: I was privilege to be able to attend the 126th Supreme Convention held in Quebec City, Canada during the first week of August. My experience was extremely edifying and I like to share with you my pride of being a Knight of Columbus. We should all be proud of being a part of this great family fraternal service organization. I address my message to all the members and their families. We should all be recruiters for the Order. More members bring new ideas and new blood. Hence, we can have more and better program activities. Remember that membership is not only recruitment. Equally important to maintain a strong council is retention. Let s involve every member on the things that we do. Get the members involved in an activity or two, and you will be developing a committed member. Next month is Columbus month. We will be having the most significant social event of the year. --- Columbus Day Ball, Saturday, October 11. I hope more of you will attend the Ball. There are two other opportunities to celebrate Columbus Day. On Sunday, October 12, there will be a Columbus Day Parade in Baltimore. On Monday, August 13, there is a very nice Columbus Day Program at the Columbus Statue in front of the Union Station in Washington, DC. Please avail yourselves of these events and show that we are truly Knights of Columbus. There are two State Council s programs that are very much worthy of our support --- The Tootsie Roll and the Incentive Car Raffle programs. Please volunteer and contribute to these programs as much as you can. When a chairman or an officer calls on you, please be generous and answer the call. Remember, We Are Called To Serve Jesus We Trust in You! * Chefs in Action The council assisted at the parish Fall Picnic on Sunday, September 7 after the 11:30 AM Mass, with set up, cooking, take down and raffle ticket. Grand Knight John O Donnell along with Bill Taylor and Werner Moeller flipped the burgers while Sean Hardman, and Tony Gatti and family sold raffle tickets.* Knights Of Columbus 4

5 Reflections Lawrence P. Grayson The Four Horsemen In the Book of Revelation, St. John writes in symbolic terms of the struggle between good and evil, of the conflict between the worldly Babylon and the divinity-seeking Jerusalem, of the difficulties we must contend with on earth to gain our reward of an eternity with God. In our earthly existence, Satan tempts us with alluring idols, false prophets, and sensuous pleasures so that we will turn away from God, attracted by the material present, forgetting why we were created. One of the metaphors St. John uses is of four men astride horses of different colors, who were released bringing devastation to the world. In a sense, America -- and indeed the West -- is faced with four apocalyptic horsemen today. The first, riding a white steed, is materialism, which holds forth the image of greater and greater happiness to be attained through things of this world. This is an alluring, but false promise. In striving for material advancement, we put total faith in our reason, ignoring higher-order, and spiritual truths. Science and technology become dominant tools, as man plays god, trying to remake the world and himself. The result is a famine of the transcendent. We have a superabundance of consumer goods, but do not know why we were created. We are concerned about accumulating as much money, power, prestige and status as we can, but ignore the soul. We establish laws that protect the environment, animals, and the goods we have amassed, but disregard the value of human life. Materialism has warped the meaning of our existence. The second, mounted on a red stallion, is secularism, which prompts people to wage war against God. The campaign occurs gradually, incrementally, consistently in efforts to prohibit any public expression of faith and in attempts to force people to act in opposition to their consciences. There are movements to ban the display of the Ten Commandments in courthouses, to forbid non-sectarian prayers in public schools, to force pharmacists to dispense abortifacient medications, to require Catholic hospitals to perform abortions, to compel the Boy Scouts to accept homosexual men as scout leaders, to take the words under God out of the Pledge of Allegiance, to deny board certification to physicians who refuse to provide abortion and sterilization services, to redefine the meaning of marriage, to mandate that Catholic social service agencies allow same-sex couples to adopt children. Religion is presented in the major media in the form of controversies and scandals, while moral issues are often represented as a clash between secular views that promote tolerance and pluralism and religious views that are narrow and dogmatic. The clash, however, is not between religious and the secular views which can coexist as demonstrated by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution -- but between those who believe in a higher moral law and those who reject any infringement on their desire to live as they please. It is a conflict between religious faith and a secular ideology. The third, astride a black horse, is hedonism, which is concerned only about pleasure as the ultimate good. Sensuality does violence to morality, and results in a famine of grace in the soul. It creates an environment of religious indifference. Many people call themselves Catholic, but live as if God does not exist. Their focus is on me and what gives me pleasure. The individual assumes no responsibility for others, and does not have a deep commitment to family, community or country. The result is that divorce is commonplace, abortions are rampant, pornography is rife, and marriage is treated as a breakable contract rather than a lifelong covenant. Hedonism exists because there is a denial sometimes overt but more often tacit -- of God and of the existence of an immortal soul. The Catholic author, Flannery O'Connor, insightfully wrote that people are so busy reducing everything to human proportions that in time they lose even the sense of the human itself. The fourth, atop a pale-green steed, is relativism, which brings pestilence, decay and death to the dominant culture. It maintains that every manner of living and every culture are equally good. Relativism is deceptive. It promotes tolerance and openness to other views and ways of life, which can be a virtue, but does so to an extreme. It does not recognize anything as absolute, and leaves the ultimate choice to the individual. As a result, a culture of death is accepted as compassionate, but a culture of life is rejected as dogmatic. Relativism breeds a sense of religious mediocrity through an underdeveloped faith. Too many Catholics are embarrassed to speak about their beliefs, and studiously avoid discussions about religion. The result is that America and the West are becoming value-free, nihilistic, anything goes societies. The vision St. John presents is not without hope, and neither is the challenge to revitalize the culture of our nation. As St. John tells us, Salvation comes from our God, who is seated Reflections continued to page 5 Knights Of Columbus 5

6 Reflections continued from page 4 on the throne, and from the Lamb. Our hope is in the Lord. Pope Benedict XVI has stated that Catholics in the United States must develop a clear Catholic identity and a strong sense of belonging, of being part of a community. The foundation for this is a new evangelization. We must develop once again a sense of the Divine, a knowledge of our faith and we must practice it in our daily lives. As Knights of Columbus, we can be in the vanguard of this evangelization. Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, at the Supreme Convention last month, exhorted the Order to be co-workers in the revival of the Church that our great Pope is leading. Building a new civilization, he continued, will not be easy. But it is our mission, our vocation, our solemn duty. We can begin by educating ourselves and our members about what it means to be a Catholic. There are many resources to do so that the Order provides through its Catholic Information Service. Then make prayer a natural part of our lives. Begin by having your Council recite the Rosary before each meeting. These are small, but forward steps. To paraphrase a popular church hymn: Let us evangelize the nation, and let it begin with me. Vivat Jesus! * Insurance Agent's Message Bob Callaway, LUTCF, FICF Knights of Columbus investment portfolio has very strong credit quality. For the 16th consecutive year, the Knights of Columbus insurance program has earned Standard & Poor s highest rating: AAA (Extremely Strong). With more than 140 years experience, S&P is the financial industry s foremost independent rating bureau, providing investment, credit, and risk analyses of financial institutions around the world. K of C is achieving its primary objective of providing members and their families with high-quality, low-cost insurance products, the 2008 S&P rating report said. The Knights of Columbus insurance program has a stable outlook, and in addition, its capitalization is expected to remain extremely strong, and liquidity is expected to remain extremely strong also. Fraternally, Bob Callaway, LUTCF, FICF rjcalla@aol.com * Tootsie Roll Announcement Our Tootsie Roll Chairman, Harold Tarver is out of the country but before he left he contacted the managers of the two stores we went to in past years for donations. The Kemp Mill Giant has been converted to a Magruder s but the manager welcomes our solicitations. He also suggested that Saturday traffic is quite light and suggests that we may be more successful coming out on Fridays between 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Since most of our brothers work on Monday through Friday this could be a challenge but perhaps some of our retired members could step forward and help out. If you are able to don an apron and pass out tootsie rolls while collecting donations for a very worthy cause, please return an to this address volunteering in 2-hour blocks from 11:00 until 6:00 for service at the Kemp Mill Magruder s Sept. 12 & 14; Sept 19 & 21; Sept. 26 & 28 and Oct. 3 & 5. We will need at least two people in each time slot because the store has two doors. At the Plaza del Mercado store please sign up for only Saturdays and Sundays Sept. 13 & 14; Sept 20 & 21; Sept. 28 and Oct. 4 & 5. Note that Saturday September 27 is not an option. Werner (Home) (Cell) wmoeller48@gmail.com Knights Of Columbus 6

7 September 2008 Monsignor Thomas M. Wells Council #13008 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Officers Meeting 7:30PM Adopt a Road Pick up 9:30 AM 7 Parish Picnic 11:30 3:00PM Business Meeting 7:45PM 11 Day of Prayer for Peace Tootsie Roll After Mass 14 Tootsie Roll After Masses 21 Tootsie 28 Tootsie Tootsie Social Meeting 7:45PM (Oct) Officers Meeting 7:30PM Knights with Christ Adoration 7:00PM If you have and address, please send it to the editor at: david@czarnecki.com 27 Tootsie Council Newsletter Msgr. Thomas M. Wells Council # Claybrook Drive Silver Spring, MD Change Service Requested ««AddressBlock»» Zip code not valid! Knights Of Columbus 7