Seton notes. Official Publication of Mother Seton Council #5381, Knights of Columbus. Chaplain s Corner Reverend Jack Kennealy

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1 Official Publication of Mother Seton Council #5381, Knights of Columbus Chaplain s Corner Reverend Jack Kennealy March 2018 Volume 55, Number 9 Chaplain Fr. Jack Kennealy This past Valentine s Day was Ash Wednesday. Easter is a moveable feast based on the cycles of the moon. In 325 the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox; thus, the date of Easter then determines Ash Wednesday. The earliest that Ash Wednesday can occur is February 4 th and the latest is March 10 th. It is relatively early this year. The Orthodox church which still uses the old Julian calendar for Church feasts can mean Orthodox Easter can occur close to our Easter or up to a month later than Catholic/Protestant Easter. Forty days is important in the Bible think of Moses being with God 40 days before receiving the 10 commandments, or Jesus being tempted in the desert for 40 days. In the early church in 2 nd century there was a discussion of Lent but shorter time period some had a 40 hour fast prior to Easter. Late in the 2 nd century, St. Irenaeus of Leon wrote to Pope Victor I about the disputes of practices between Rome and Constantinople in terms of numbers of days and practice. By Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, there was a full 40 day fast, which would have only one meal per day with no meat or fish. By the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great ( ) Lent excluded Sundays in fasting days. The Catholic Church currently requires fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday with only one full meal for those under age of 60 years old and abstinence from meat on Fridays. The Orthodox Church still requires strict fasting from meat, fish, and animal products (eggs, cheese and dairy) during the entirety of Lent. INSIDE THIS EDITION Chaplain s Report....1 Program Reports..3-4 Sick & Distressed... 5 Supreme Council News 6-7 Papal Prayer Intention 8 State Council News.9 Calendar

2 Grand Knight Report Aneurin M Carthy amacarthee@gmail.com District Deputy Report Romeo Paternoster, PGK romeopaternoster@yahoo.com A few more months to the end of the fraternal year, but, don't slow down on the recruiting of new brothers. March is recruitment month at our local churches. Put on your council jackets and help out to make it happen. The Maryland March for Life will be held on Monday March 12 in Annapolis starting with a youth rally at 4:30 pm, followed by a 5:15 mass at St. Mary's Church. The spring meeting is also this month. Once the district warden and I return from the Eastern Shore, we will have more information to finish out a good year. Easter is almost here, remember all those that have passed from our ranks and their families. Vivat Jesus Romeo... Message from the Financial Secretary Dues invoices for 2018 and reminders have been mailed or distributed. New 2018 travel cards will be issued upon payment. Members who have not made payment by March 1, will not be allowed entry to Council meetings. Please contact Don Aitcheson if you have questions or concerns. Nomination of Officers and Elections are scheduled for April and May respectively. Only members in good standing will be eligible to participate in the process.. 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 January 2018 is the family of Joseph and Stephanie Corson. Joe and Stephanie are longtime members of Saint Matthias of Parish. They attend church together Sundays and holy days of obligation. Joe is a Past Grand Knight and a Former District Deputy, and Stephanie is a member of Mother Seton s Ladies Auxiliary. Joe is also our council Treasurer. The couple participates in church and council s activities.stephanie also volunteers as a greeter and in the parish rectory as a front office receptionist.thank you, Joe and Stephanie, your services are greatly appreciated. 3 Church Activities James Agboli, PGK / jagboli@outlook.com We commemorate in the following feasts and saints this month of March: Katharine Drexel(3), Perpetua & Felicity (7), Patrick(17), Joseph (19), Palm Sunday(25), Holy Thursday(29),Good Friday(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 Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper was held on February 13 in Friendship Hall. Thank you to all those who attended and helped to make the event a success. 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 The annual basketball shootout competition is coming up. Stay tuned for details. The Annual School Essay competition for Saint Matthias 8 th graders is in its planning stage. Theme and deadline will be announced soon. 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. Prolife Activities Emmanuel Amanyeiwe or d_amans@yahoo.com 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. Congratulations to our newest member, Augustine Frazer who took his 1 st & 2 nd degrees on February 24 at Sacred Heart Council AND Gabriel Achemu who also did his 2 nd degree the same night. 4

5 Sick and Recovering Brothers Christopher Agboli, PGK Kevin Butler, PGK Al Craig, PGK Nicholas Kniska, HLM Al Porrazzo Pablo Rocha Relatives/Friends Ann Degraff Gwen King ( recuperating from surgery) Susan Oak (wife of Rodney Oak, PGK,PCP) 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 Supreme Council News A SPIRITUAL SPRINGTIME Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori THE LENTEN PRACTICES OF PRAYER, FASTING AND ALMSGIVING CAN RENEW OUR LIVES IN CHRIST THE MERE MENTION of Lent can sometimes seem dismal, like a long, dreary day. Lent consists, in fact, of 40 days and 40 nights of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Who can endure it? Yet the word Lent does not pertain to darkness or despair. Quite the opposite. The original meaning of the word actually has to do with springtime. When Lent begins, it s winter. But by the time Lent concludes, the days are growing longer and the forsythias are in bloom. Even if there is an unseasonal snow shower, we take heart knowing that winter is having its last gasp. Lent, then, represents a new springtime in our spiritual lives. It s a time when the darkness of sin gives way to a new light of grace. SEASON OF RENEWAL Three analogies might help us see Lent in terms of a spiritual springtime. First, just as we do spring cleaning, washing away the dirt and grime that accumulates during the winter months, so too Lent is a time for cleansing our souls and our hearts, making them a beautiful dwelling place for the Lord. Or to use another comparison, spring is the season when farmers clear the land of debris and till the soil, thus giving the seeds they plant every chance to germinate. So, too, in Lent we are to clear the soil of our hearts from the debris of sin and the deadwood of hatred; by spiritual discipline, we till and enrich the soil of our souls so that the seed of God s Word, planted in us at baptism, will germinate and grow. Finally, in winter, we sometimes feel poorly due to indoor pollutants that contaminate the air we breathe. When the weather grows warmer, we open windows to let in fresh air. Just the thought of getting out of the house and taking a walk makes us feel better. But isn t it true that we sometimes insulate our hearts? When we become self-centered, we close the windows of our soul to God s love and the needs of others. Then the spiritual air we breathe becomes stuffy, even polluted, with self-pity, impurity, anger, grudges and thoughts of revenge. Lent is a time to open the windows of our souls, to allow the fresh air of God s love to circulate anew in the depths of our hearts and to get ourselves moving outward toward our brothers and sisters who are in need. Once we look at the season of Lent as the herald of a new springtime in our spiritual lives, Lenten practices are no longer unwelcome intrusions into our comfort. Rather, they become harbingers of hope for a more Christ-centered way of life. These penitential practices are indicators and tools of God s mercy mercy that is always available to us. Divine Mercy has the power to transform our way of life. With this perspective in mind, let s briefly review the three principal Lenten practices, with our eyes fixed on the goal of renewed spiritual joy and greater holiness of life. THE PRACTICE OF FAITH Let s begin with prayer, or conversation with God. There are many ways to pray, but let s concentrate on one: silent, mental prayer, when we are alone with God and his voice echoes in our hearts. Such prayerful solitude requires us to turn off all our electronic devices, block out distractions and simply ask the Lord to let us see ourselves as he sees us. This is more than self-awareness. It is asking the Lord to help us measure our lives according to his standards, not our own. It is humbly asking the Lord for grace and strength to confront our overt sins as well as the hidden corruption that we often conceal from others and even from ourselves. 6

7 I don t know about you, but when I pray in this way, I find I m well short of the mark. Such prayer leads me to seek the Lord s mercy and to make an unburdening confession of my sins. Lent is preeminently the time to grow in prayer and to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. This is a first and essential step in spiritual housecleaning. A second Lenten practice is fasting or some other form of self-denial. This isn t the same as dieting. Rather, depriving ourselves of food is connected with the arduous process of emptying ourselves of everything that obstructs the grace of God from working in us and through us. Fasting has a way of helping us uproot our deep-seated habits of sin and our endless desire for comfort, convenience, power and esteem. The discipline of foregoing food or other comforts is a way of tilling the soil of our souls, making them receptive to God s Word. A final Lenten practice is almsgiving, which includes giving of ourselves and our resources to those who are in need. The practice of charity is how we open the windows of our souls to God s love, forgetting our own wants and needs and concentrating instead on the needs of others, especially the poor and vulnerable. When we open our hearts in love to those in need, the stale air of self-centeredness dissipates as the fresh air of Jesus self-giving love circulates through our inmost being, and we are thus spiritually reinvigorated. For us as Knights, this practice of charity should be second nature. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are, in fact, inseparable. As St. Peter Chrysologus (+450) taught: Fasting is the soul of prayer, almsgiving is the lifeblood of fasting. When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you want mercy, show mercy. In this way, may our Lenten observance lead us to experience a renewed life in Christ and joy in the Holy Spirit. Reprinted from 2/1/2018 K OF C NAMED ONE OF WORLD'S MOST ETHICAL COMPANIES THIS IS THE FIFTH TIME THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS EARNED THIS RECOGNITION BY ETHISPHERE INSTITUTE. The Knights of Columbus has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as one of the 2018 World s Most Ethical Companies. The Knights of Columbus has won the distinction for five consecutive years and is one of only three companies in the life insurance category, underscoring the Knights commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices. We are grateful for this honor because it recognizes that our commitment to corporate ethics and integrity is part of our founding mission and continues to be our highest priority, said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson. Based on Catholic values, this commitment extends to every aspect of our work, our corporate governance, our professional agency force, our investments, and our day-to-day business operations. The needs of widows and orphans led Father Michael J. McGivney to respond in 1882 by founding the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal benefit society that has grown into a worldwide financial and charitable organization. The 135 honorees for 2018 span 23 countries and 57 industries. The honorees had record levels of involvement with their stakeholders and communities around the world. Measuring and improving culture; leading authentically; and committing to transparency, diversity and inclusion were all priorities for honorees. While the discourse around the world changed profoundly in 2017, a stronger voice emerged. Global corporations operating with a common rule of law are now society s strongest force to improve the human condition, said Ethisphere CEO Timothy Erblich. This year we saw companies increasingly finding their voice. The World s Most Ethical Companies in particular continued to show exemplary leadership. I congratulate everyone at the Knights of Columbus for being recognized as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. Reprinted from 2/12/2018 7

8 Introducing: Go to to find out more about the launch of this global mission spearheaded by Fr. Canice Enyiaka Catholic Corner Pope Francis' Prayer Intentions for March 2018 The Pope s Worldwide Prayer Network invites all to join in the Holy Father s March 2018 prayer intention: That the Church may appreciate the urgency of formation in spiritual discernment, both on the personal and communitarian levels. 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. 8

9 Maryland State Council News State Deputy Stephen M. Cohen 120 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 registration is now available. Registration is now open. Register online at: Or call John Trainor at For more details, go to 9

10 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 March 12 7PM (new start time) 49 th AWD Exemplification of the Fourth Degree will be held on April 7, Good Counsel High School in Olney, MD. ADW Website ( Official Flag Days in the USA March -None- Bishop McNamara Chapter of Grand Knights Maryland State Council Celebrating its 55 th Year Upcoming Chapter Meetings March 21, 2018 April 18, 2018 Saint Mary s Council 1470 Fr. Peter Paul Maher Council 6793 Chapter Meeting 8PM 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. 10

11 Birthdays for March Council 1 Edward Kin, PGK 2 Martin Kwapinski 3 Donald B. Wilson, Jr 6 Divine Attipoe 8 Kevin Butler, PGK 9 Emmanuel Amanyeiwe 10 Patrick Bonsu Tchamnda Mbatchu 14 Rev. Casimir Nyaki 15 Edwin Udenkwo 18 Christopher Okorie 19 Darren Watson 20 Patrick Yohe 22 Edwin Onyeiwu 25 Gabriel Achemu Joseph Trimble 26 Anthony Onuaku 27 Timothy Hankins 30 Brian Nwadije Ladies Auxiliary 24 Reba Waple 28 Nancy Matias 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 11

12 Knights of Columbus Mother Seton Council # Annapolis Road Lanham, MD Upcoming Council Events Calendar March 6 March 20 March 25 March 29 April 1 April 3 April 17 May 4-6 Council Business Meeting 8PM Council Social Meeting 8PM Palm Sunday Good Friday Easter Sunday Council Business Meeting 8PM ( Nomination of Officers) Council Social Meeting 8PM 120 th Annual Maryland State Convention Ocean City, MD 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) 12