KNIGHTS CORNER Knights Honor Their Own On Thursday June 18, 2015 the Bishop Cunningham Knights of Columbus Council 10904 located at Sacred Heart Church in Cicero celebrated the anniversary of their June 18, 1992 charter from the Supreme Knights of Columbus. The event was held at the Bella Domani Restaurant on Taft Road in North Syracuse with over 100 knights, their spouses and friends in attendance. The Most Reverend Robert J. Cunningham, Bishop of the Diocese of Syracuse and a member of this Council, was the main guest of honor and speaker. Awards were presented to members who exhibited outstanding commitment and results for Council activities - not only in the past year but also over many years. Al and Irene Quinlan were recognized as the Family of the Year. Al is a charter member of the Council and serves as director of the Finance committee. He has also served as a Council Chancellor, Advocate, and Trustee. In addition, he has been the Faithful Pilot for their Assembly #2663, also located at Sacred Heart Church. Irene has served on the Respect Life Ministry for the past 5 years. She is an active member of the Human Development committee and Anna s Pantry. Edward Szczesniak was recognized as the Knight of the Year for his dedication and leadership in the Council. A Knight of Columbus member since 1965, he was elected Deputy Grand Knight and then Grand Knight in 2012. He led his Council to achieve the Star award in 2013 and the Double Star Award for 2014 - an extraordinary accomplishment. He has also served in the Assembly as the inside guard, Faithful Pilot anf Faithful Captain. Ed has been a member of the Sacred Heart Church parish council, a Eucharistic Minister, and Lector. He has demonstrated that he knows the meaning of serving and giving of oneself and leading to get the job done well. Have articles for future Knights Corner issues? Notify Deputy GK Tony Mele anthonyelaine1@hotmail.com For Dates to remember, turn to page 13 http://www.kofc10904.org/ 1
Third Degree Exemplification On May 31, 2015 Council 10904 of the Knights of Columbus hosted a third degree at Sacred Heart in Cicero. Eleven of our 10904 brothers received their 3rd degree. In addition, another 10 brothers from other central New York councils received their third degree. Brothers receiving the third degree exemplification form Council 10904 included the following: Dave Begley, Bruce Blundell, Fred Galletti, Sal Giordano, Josh Giordano, Al Grzyvinsky, Dominick Leo, Ron Lukowski, Mike Marcely, Richard Peck and Amos Vryhof. Council 10904 provided up to 20 volunteers that assisted in the exemplification. Following the exemplification our council provided all 55 brothers in attendance with a complete dinner. Following the exemplification the Captain of the 3rd degree team expressed his thanks to our Council for doing a good job in putting on the 3rd degree. The first photo reflects all 21 of our new 3rd degree brothers. In addition the 2nd photo shows some of our volunteers that assisted in setup, exemplification, record keeping and kitchen staff. Special Olympics The Summer Games are the largest of three annual State Games with 5,246 competitive experiences held each year throughout New York. Over 2,000 athletes and coaches will travel to Brockport from around the state for the competition. Athletes must qualify at a local level to compete in the Summer Games. Special Olympics New http://www.kofc10904.org/ 2
York provides year-round sports training and competition in 22 Olympic-style sports to children and adults with intellectual disabilities at no cost to the athletes, their families or caregivers. More than 65,000 athletes train and compete in Special Olympics New York, the largest Special Olympics program in North America. Athletic competition has taken place Saturday, June 6 in eight Olympic-style sports: The winners have now advanced to The special Olympics in Los Angles The Knights of Columbus is a gold contributor to the special Olympics. During the local winter games our assembly, Assembly 2663, participated in the opening ceremonies at the On Center in Syracuse. Elections You are reminded that elections occurred in May for officers. See the leadership section of this paper for a listing of the new officers. New officers will assume their positions July 1. Assembly Activity The June Assembly BBQ was a great success. Knights brought various dishes to pass. All had a good time. Fourth degree Knights are reminded that there will be no meetings in July and August. On June 20th Assembly members visited the Veterans Administration Hospital to play bingo with the patients. We provided refreshments to all and prizes to the winners. Council members and family members are invited to attend these visits. We have been advised that Fort Drum will be sending a combat platoon overseas. It is planned that we will be adopting a platoon. In conjunction with the American Legion we will be sending needed items to the platoon. We will advise you when we get the assignment of a platoon. Fourth degree members can also be members of the color guard, if they so choose. The color guard attends confirmations, funerals and acts at the request of the Bishop. The Color Guard is voluntary. For our 3rd degree council members, you may want to consider obtaining the fourth degree. Like the http://www.kofc10904.org/ 3
council's principles of charity, unity and fraternity, the assembly principle is patriotism. If you have any questions concerning the Assembly, it is suggested you contact the Faithful Navigator of the Assembly, Bruce Cooper. Phone 391-6646 or email coop2007@gmail.com July Knights BBQ We had over 50 people at our June 25, 2015 BBQ. We also celebrated the birthdays of Elaine Mele and Vann Dristle. Cicero Festival Parade and Knights participants http://www.kofc10904.org/ 4
Charity, The Principle of our Order The basic principle of our order is Charity...the greatest of all virtues. Therefore, to assist our council in keeping with the spirit of this principle, guidelines have been established and implemented consistently. Our Guidelines in part note: "IV. Special Requests: The charity committee will consider any Knight of Columbus member's request from inside or outside our council. A. Funds are to be used for specific items...not for general operations B. Member or Family member must be active in the program (minimum participation standards may be required) " If any brother has a charity request, the request must conform to our guidelines If you wish to review the guidelines, Gary Natali can provide you with a copy. Gary has the forms that must be filled out and presented to the Charity committee. This has been and very busy time of the year for the Knights charity endeavors. Some recent donations, within the last couple of months, as approved by the charity committee, are as follows. Father Bill's Scholarship Fund $500 Father Gehl's retirement $500 The Canteen $250 Bishop's Burse $1000 Seminarians, approved up to: $3000 Joseph House $1000 By Supreme, State and Albany Chapter $650,000 to Aurisville ( via, in part, by the sale of the C&B books) http://www.kofc10904.org/ 5
Brother Knights, As you know Fund Raising is very important to meeting our charity goals, helping those in need. We try to limit what we do to attain that goal to a few key fund raising programs so we can focus on doing very well. That being said I would like to outline the programs that our Council currently has in place. 1) Spring Raffle - This year headed up by Vann Dristle & John Roder who surpassed last year s total with a TV raffle. Thanks to their hard work and the help of our fellow Knights they raised over $1700 for our charity programs! Great work gentlemen! The winner of the TV was Michael Gabris of Camillus. The Second Prize, $100, went to our own Tony Mele. Third Prize, $50, went to Janet Smith. Fr. Gehl Picking the winning ticket Michael Gabris of Camillus, NY winner of 2015 Spring Raffle Grand Prize 2) C&B Raffle - This program is chaired by myself, Bruce Cooper, and is expected to do well I have a goal of $1500 net raised. That is roughly 200 books sold and we are well on our way with 53 so far turned in, including 41 sold at the Charter Dinner. Keep up the good work brothers and remember that there are several prizes awarded for this fundraiser for the sellers at the State and Council levels. The first State Early bird drawing will be held in July so get your books in soon!! http://www.kofc10904.org/ 6
3) Save Around - Chaired by Gary Natali, this program kicks off with the state fair and runs through Christmas. Last year we raised $7,542 for our charitable programs and we are hoping to break the $10,000 mark this year. Gary will need plenty of help with this one so any time you can spare to help will be appreciated. 4) Garage Sale - This is also a Gary Natali, and the program and is held at the end of September. Last year we raised $2,043 for our programs and had a great time wheeling and dealing with the patrons to get there. This is a big undertaking and as we know many hands make light work. We had many Brother Knights and family members help with this and had a lot of fun doing it. Gary will need some help with this as well so any time you can spare before or during the sale would be great. Also, keep in mind that we will take donations of goods for sale. If you have an idea for a new program or would like to help us in any way please do not hesitate to call or email me. That is all for now. Thank you to all those that have helped us in the past years and to those that will help us attain our goals in the future. Vivat Jesus! Bruce R Cooper Jr. Director of Fundraising coop2007@gmail.com (315) 391-6646 Blood Drive On June 4th Sacred Heart conducted a blood drive. Our Knights volunteered to register the donors. Some of our Knights gave Blood. George Metz and Nick Caputo donated double reds. Thank you to the Knights who participated in the Blood Drive. http://www.kofc10904.org/ 7
Father Bills Crazy Money Giveaway Knights attended Father Bill's Crazy Money Giveaway Fund Raiser at Sacred Heart Church on May 29, 2015. The Knights of Columbus contributed $500 to the Scholarship Fund. We have been advised that this was the last fundraiser for the Scholarship Fund since the goal of $100,000 has been reached. Interest derived from the principle will be used to give scholarships. Father Gehl's Retirement Party A good time was had at Father Gehl's Retirement Party. Good food and good friends. Many Knights attended. On behalf of the Knights, Deputy Grand Knight Tony Mele presented a check to Father Gehl for $500. Birthright Carnation Sale On Saturday June 20th and Sunday June 21st the Council conducted a Birthright carnation sale. For one dollar our parishioners could buy a carnation. We anticipated the sale of 300 carnations. By the end of the 9:30 Mass we had exhausted our supply of flowers. We were able to turn over $382 to Birthright. Under Birthright by-laws Birthright is not allowed to align themselves with any political or religious http://www.kofc10904.org/ 8
organization. Their main function is to help woman give birth to healthy babies and get them off to a good start. Birthright also supplies mothers-to-be with gently used and new clothing for themselves and the new babies. Thank you to all the volunteer Knights who sold the carnations and to the parishioners who bought and/or donated to Birthright at he doors of the Church. Brother Knights, Currently there is pending legislation in both the NYS and US legislatures that deal with pro-life issues. It is important that we, as Brother Knights and Catholics, keep informed and up to date on these issues and pending legislation. It is also important that we let our legislators know where we stand on these issues and let them know that there are more of their constituents than they think that are pro-life. As I have previously mentioned there are several websites available that will help us stay informed of pro-life issues and provide a means of easily contacting our elected officials to let them know where we stand. Once registered with these websites you will receive updates of pending issues and legislation with explanations of the issues and/or pending legislation. The websites provide a quick and automated vehicle through which you can send pre-formatted emails to your legislators or other elected officials. All you need to do is enter your name, adress, zip code, email address, and sometimes a phone number. The system allows you to personalize the message if you desire. This is not a partisan Republican vs. Democrat issue, it is promoting our moral beliefs as Catholics! Below are websites that I urge you to visit and to register with. www.nyscatholic.org This website deals with mainly NYS legislation. Currently there is bill pending that will expand abortion rights to allow abortion well into the 3rd trimester for reasons other protecting the life of the mother or cases of rape and incest. This would include partial birth abortion. It would also allow non physicians to begin perform abortions as there fewer physicians willing to perform abortions. There is also pending legislation legalize physician assisted suicide in NYS. www.nchla.org This website will keep you informed on legislation and issues before the US Legislature. Currently there are two bills pending. The Pain Capable Unborn Child Act recognizes that unborn babies are cable of feeling pain and would ban abortions after 20 weeks except in cases of protecting life of the mother and cases of rape and/or incest. This bill has passed the House and is pending in the Senate. There is also the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Full http://www.kofc10904.org/ 9
Disclosure Act. This would expand the Hyde Amendment that prohibited public funding of abortion to include the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) that is trying to circumvent Hyde Amendment limitations. This bill has also been passed by the House and awaits a Senate vote. George Metz Culture of Life Chair Father Zachery Miller Congratulations to Father Zachery Miller who was ordained to the Priesthood, at the Cathedral in Syracuse, on June 6, 2015. Thank you to the color guard members of Assembly 2663 for attending the ordination. We pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire Father Miller in his life long journey through the Priesthood. The Knights of Columbus continue to support Seminarians while they strive to the Priesthood. It remains the intention of Council 10904 to continue to assist up to three seminarians this Columbian Year in their expenses associated with their obtaining priesthood. We have allocated up to $3000 for this purpose. Father Gehl's Move On June 23, 2015 our council provided 9 Knights to assist to Father Gehl in his move from his camp and from Sacred Heart to his new home at the Nottingham. A Holy Name representative also assisted. This was also a good opportunity to strengthen our relationship with other church organizations. Father Gehl was very appreciative for our assistance. http://www.kofc10904.org/ 10
Aurisville Shrine Mr. Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight for the international Knights of Columbus has presented a check for $500,000 to the shrine during a mass of thanksgiving on Saturday, June 13th at 2 pm, at the Aurisville Shrine. The gift of love by Mr. Anderson and the international Knights is in addition to the $100,000 donation by the New York State Knights of Columbus and a $50,000 donation by the Capital district Knights of Columbus. In total, the entire $650,000 will go to the 2015 shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs building fund drive for major repairs and upgrades to the shrine s campus. The donation by Mr. Anderson and the Knights of Columbus is the largest donation ever given by the Knights in New York State. There was an unannouced visit (to the shrine) by The Most Rev. Carlo Vigano, Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana (highest ranking Pontifical Ecclesiastical diplomatic representative of the Roman Pontiff and Papal Monarch of the universal church of Rome, Pope Francis) could be a sign of interest or signal for a future visit by Pope Francis to the holy grounds of the shrine of Our Lady Of Martyrs. Pope Francis is expected to visit the United States this fall with stops in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York City, and Cuba. According to Joey Caruso, (fund raising chair) the 1st invite to the Pope was denied due to lack of Apostolic Organization on the part of the shrine; but the 2nd invite could be hosted by the international Knights of Columbus if the interest and invite is accepted. http://www.kofc10904.org/ 11
BENEFITS CORNER Only Having Insurance Through Work Doesn t Work Do you know anyone whose life or career has drastically changed during these years of economic downturn? It s very likely that someone in your immediate or extended family or group of friends is facing financial uncertainty. Maybe there s a possibility that you (or your spouse) could lose your job or change employers. Too many people have often relied on group term life insurance as their only safety net. Often, this insurance is an employee benefit provided at low or no cost. The existence of this coverage might convince someone that personally-owned life insurance is not necessary. But only having through work insurance can leave you and your family vulnerable. Most group life insurance policies are limited in amount, which may be tied to salary or some other benchmark. These numbers are often capped, and this cap may be dangerously low when compared to your family s actual needs. In fact, a detailed needs analysis that evaluates your specific situation, will likely show that any employer-provided coverage falls short. In addition, the amount of group insurance offered is almost always reduced, sometimes dramatically, when you retire. You could one day find yourself without coverage, and if your health has changed (which it will as you age), you might also find yourself unable to secure individual protection. At the very least, it will definitely be more expensive. While group life insurance can help, it does not replace the need for individually owned life insurance. I ll be happy to meet with you and provide a no-cost needs analysis, so you ll know exactly where you stand. Richard Nestor (410) 218-5578 Richard.Nestor@KofC.org http://www.kofc10904.org/ 12
Dates To Remember July Wed 1 st New Columbian year / Sustaining Club begins Sat 4 th Independence Day Sat/Sun 11/12 th Recruiting Drive after all Masses in SHC Lobby Thu 16 th Officer s Meeting 6 PM Trustee Audits 7 PM Sun 19 th C & B Raffle Quick Start seller bonus drawing Thu 23 rd Council BBQ in Pavilion 6 PM (Officer Installation w/dd 6:45 PM) Sat 25 th 1st Degree exemplification @ SHC 9:30 AM Sun 26 th Memorial Mass for Deceased Members @ 11 AM August Sat 1 st VAMC Bingo @ 1PM Thu 20 th Officer s/council Business Meeting 6 PM Thu 27 th Council BBQ in Pavilion 6 PM Fri 28 th Save Around Discount Books Sale NYS Fair 10 AM- 10 PM September Wed 2 nd Assembly Dinner 6 PM Meeting 7 PM Mon 7 th Labor Day Sat/Sun 12/13 th Recruitment Drive at SHC Lobby Thu 17 th Officers Meeting 6PM Sat 19 th K of C Soccer Challenge Plank Rd. Field 1 PM Thu 24 th Council Dinner 6PM Meeting 6:45 PM Sat 26 th Garage Sale 9 AM- 2 PM in SHC rear Parking Lot Sat/Sun 26/27 th Voter Registration Drive after all masses Sun 27 th NYS C & B Raffle Early Bird seller drawing http://www.kofc10904.org/ 13
Meetings Council Officer Meeting Meets the third Thursday of each month. All members are welcome. Council Business Meeting Meets the fourth Thursday of each month. All members are welcome. Assembly Business Meeting Meets the first Wednesday of each month. All fourth degree members are welcome. Not a fourth degree member yet? Contact Deputy Grand Knight Tony Mele (manthonyelaine1@hotmail.com) or Assembly Faithful Navigator Robert Zollo (bobbyz1833@aol.com). Grand Knight Chaplain 2015-2016 Council Leadership Deputy Grand Knight Chancellor Recorder Treasurer Advocate Inside Guard Outside Guard Financial Secretary Lecturer Tony Mele To be determined John Roder Peter Riley Don Di Benedetto William George Metz Jr. Tim Parkhurst Jim Corl Amos Vryhof Nick Caputo Ed Szczesniak Trustee 1 Year Chuck Hawks Membership Director Program Director Fund Raising Director 2 Year Bob Zollo 3 Year Mark Monica vacant John Roder Bruce R. Cooper Jr. Finance Comm Director Allen Quinlan District Deputy Insurance Agent Ed Smith Rick Nester http://www.kofc10904.org/ 14