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April 2013
The Dixon Council 690 Newsletter is a monthly publication of 12 consecutive issues by the
Knights of Columbus. 506 W. 3rd Street, Dixon, IL61021
Website:
Issue #4
GRAND KNIGHT’S MESSAGE:
Brother Knights & Families,
I hope and pray that everyone had a Blessed and Happy Easter. This Easter we were able to remember our Lords sacrifice for us by celebrating his gift to us of a new spiritual leader. This past month he gave us Pope Francis to lead his church through these troubled times. We should pray daily that the Lord will guide Pope Francis with a loving, but firm hand, and to keep him healthy throughout his papacy and safe wherever he goes to spread Gods word and love.
Just like last year, I would like to express my sincere “Thanks” to any and all who helped in any way to make the St. Pats’ Day celebration at the KC hall a huge success. The parade, the meal, and entertainment were all outstanding. The generosity of all who donated to the food pantries was greatly appreciated by those in need during these difficult economic times. Another big Thank You goes out to all who helped cook the sausage for the breakfast at Ken Nelson Auto Group on March 23rd. As always, I would like to extend my sincere “Thank You”, to all Brother Knights, families, and friends, who show our communities what the “Knights of Columbus” are all about.
I would like to remind all Brother Knights to join in our next corporate communion on March 31st. We will gather to celebrate the Eucharist at St. Patrick’s Church at 8:00 AM. There will be no organized social afterward since it is Easter Sunday.
For these and all other events “Please come join us and bring a Brother Knight with you”.
Remember, our website is an excellent source for up to date council news, so “Please check the K of C website often for information on these and other events, as well as other interesting links”. Also, if you wish to receive your newsletter by email, please go to the website and let the webmaster know and he will be glad to accommodate you.
Thank you and God Bless,
Vivat Jesus!
Tom Burkardt Grand Knight
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Church Corner with Fr. Mike
Our real wealth…
During World War II, Britain was desperate to find a way to keep track of the resources necessary to fight the war. Economists developed a method whereby they could record and combine the value of all goods and services bought and sold each year, and use this figure to calculate the overall wealth of the nation.
With the war finally over, the newly formed United Nations decided the British model would be a useful tool for understanding and comparing the relative wealth of the nations of the world. If the number of goods and services bought and sold increased, it would indicate a solid, robust economy. If they found there was a decrease in manufacture, production, and sale of goods, it would indicate the strength of the nation was in decline. An expanding economy was seen as a good and necessary thing for the healthy survival of the country; a declining economy was an alarming indicator that the nation’s well being was in danger. The U.N. urged its members to adopt this method as the worldwide standard, and today, all countries use this measurement-called the Gross Domestic Product-to calculate their nation’s wealth.
At first glance, this simple accounting method seems a useful, reasonable, and relatively neutral tool. However, it can also be myopic and dangerous in its application. For when wealth is measured only in terms of goods and services bought and sold, only those actions involving money are seen as good and useful. Anything done in time is seen as useless.
Consider a woman in a third world country who rises early in the morning to walk three miles to the nearest well to get water for her family, returns to feed her children and ready them for school, spends the rest of the day working in the garden and tending her sick neighbors, then in the evening cooks for her family and helps her children with their homework. As measured by the G.D.P., this woman has no value. She is useless; a drain on the nation’s wealth.
Now let us look at her cousin who was lucky enough to go to military school and become a soldier. He is a pilot who is ordered to bomb a mountain enclave deemed apathetic to some rebel cause. In this case, a great deal of money must be spent to bury all the dead, rebuild the area, pay the soldiers involved to police the area, fly in emergency personnel, recruit foreign aid, not to mention the money for the airplanes, bombs and fuel. This activity is seen as a boost to the economy. At the end of the day, it is the pilot, not the mother, who will get the medal for service to the nation.
What is the true measure of the wealth of a people? As Catholics, what is the true measure of our wealth as a people-and not just any people, but as God’s people? We need to often take a deeper measure of our true wealth. If we do not, we will only become more impoverished than we will ever know.
Fr. Mike
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
Sunday March 31st- Council 690 Corporate Communion- Easter –The Mass will be at St. Patrick’s at 8 AM. There will be pews reserved. Please come and celebrate Easter Mass and Corporate Communion together with your fellow Knights. There will not be a social get together afterward because of it being Easter Sunday.
Monday April 1st- Council 690 Business Meeting- Doors open at 6:30 with meeting at 7:30. Please bring another Brother Knight with you.
Monday April 8th- Home Association Meeting- Doors open at 6:30 with meeting at 7:30. Come and see what projects we are working on now.
Monday April 15th- Council 690 Business Meeting- Doors open at 6:30 with meeting at 7:30. Come down and see how the Ken Nelson event went and see how much money we made. Bring another Knight with you.
Saturday April 20th- Bonanza and 3rd Saturday Steak Fry- Doors open at 5pm. Meal from 5-7:30 pm. For just $12 you will get a 12 oz. steak, baked potato, vegetable, dinner roll and dessert. This month we will also offer a chicken breast dinner for $8. Going forward, we will be offering a 2nd choice each month to better serve all our guests. Bring your friends and neighbors.
The $500 drawing will be at 8 pm.
News and Views:
*The Bonanza drawing winner for March was Julie Coy. Ticket was sold by Mary Lou Joyce. The door prize went to Kenyon Knack. Please remember to keep those tickets in your pocket and sell, sell, sell them. We continue to need salesmen or women for these tickets. They are not hard to sell. They are only a dollar. Selling tickets is the only way to get the sold by bonus each month.
* Bruce Kleinmaier has taken over the Knight and Family of the Month programs. He announced the February Knight of the Month as Dick Hermes. The February Family of the Month went to Luke Dixon Family. Congrats to all.
*We would like to welcome our 2 new Knights. They are Tim Sullivan and Joshua Wittenauer. It is a pleasure to have you in our group. Please try to come to meetings and be as active as you can.
* Tory Koehler would like to thank all his helpers for the St. Patrick’s Day Dinner. He had many helpers over the 2 days of preparation and dinner. After all the expenses, it looks like we made an $850 profit on the meal. Thank you!
* Please pray for Pope Francis, Larry Murray and family,JosieGeorge Whaley Sr., Ralph Contreras, Leo McGinnis, Austin & Betty Sensenig, Mary & Walt Fassler, Ken Clausen, Pat & Michael Schrauth, Jean Scarboro,Larry Drew,Laura Mahan & Barbara Boos, Ron Quirin, Kathy Cook,Mary Ann Koenig,Joe Wolf, Adam Devine,Tom & Chuck Burkardt,Annie Norton, Bernie Sexton, Jerry Farley, Donna Sharkey, Sarah Schnake, Pam Drane, Brian Dearmitt, Andy Brooks,Charles Becker,Fr. John Gow, Bishop Doran, Bishop O’Neil, Bishop Malloy & all we may have not mentioned. Please also pray forrepose of the Souls ofall the deceased Knights of Columbus & their widows
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April Birthdays
Keith Adams Thomas Chapman Thomas Cleary
Jason Cook Rick Curia David Dempsey
Brian Fane Herbert Fordham James Grot
Ron Heiderscheit Msgr. Robert Jones Robert Kipping
Thomas Kitson Michael Magnafici Dan Mahan
Craig Miller Ross Monk Stephen Moore
Donald Newman Matthew Sandschafer Stephen Terranova
Charles Tumleson- Missed March Birthday- John Author Burkardt
April Anniversaries
Robert & Donna Wolf Larry & Gloria Contreras
Jim & Pat Heintzelman Mike & Abby Longtin
James & Mary Fritts James & Janice McCoy
Terry & Amanda Fuger Jr. Joe & Carol Rock
Ron & Elaine Heiderscheit Ed & Patti Vondra
Mike & Leslie Wilcox Pat & Paulette Venier
George & Josie Whaley Tim & Linda Higgs
If we have missed your birthday or anniversary date, or if it is incorrect, please contact us with the correction.
We have re-named the Roof fund as Building Improvement fund. We still have a few projects we would like to do. A few would be: Re-decorate bathrooms, ceiling tiles in Bar room, Paint and finish siding ends on grill area, purchase of new dishwasher, painting outside of building, fence between dollar store and Hall, to name a few. If you would like to donate, please send to Knights of Columbus, PO. Box 90, Dixon Il. 61021. The fund is still open to donations. Thanks to all for the donations to date.
Thank our sponsors for support: Jones Funeral Home, Love’s Floor Covering, Sauk Valley Vendors, Oliver’s Food Pride, Loop Barber Shop, DMS Autobody, Drifter’s Saloon, Farley’s Appliances, Burke’s Irish Realty, Burkardt Gas, Slim n’ Hank’s Body Shop, Hammitt State Farm Insurance and Flowers Etc.
Council 690 Memorial Day Draw Down- Tickets are $50 each. We are asking for all members to purchase & or sell 1 ticket. If we did this no one person would have to sell more than one. This is a great fund raiser for Council 690. We are asking to sell these tickets early, so we are not trying to sell a lot at the last minute. Please call the hall at 288-1821 and leave a message. You can also call Gary at 994-1368 or Tim at 288-2984 for tickets or questions. Thank you for your help making this fund raiser successful.
* It was brought up before 1 of the last meetings about the possibility of having an Oyster and Chili dinner. If you are interested in putting this together, please call Bill Burkardt at 815-632-7706. Thank you!
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Council 690 Essay Contest Winner- 2nd Place winner was Brett Riley
The Responsibility of the Catholic Citizen in a Free Society
We became Jesus’ disciples when we were baptized and we should spread the message of God’s love everywhere we go. When we live like Jesus did, we bring God’s love to others. It is up to us to learn about Jesus and to understand our Catholic faith so that we understand what our responsibilities are.
My Parents chose to baptize me when I was a baby and they were the first ones to teach me about my faith. They taught me my prayers and showed me how to pray the rosary. We pray as a family every day. They decided to send me to CatholicSchool so that I could learn more about my faith. I have learned many things.
We have a great responsibility to go to Mass every week. We must listen to the Gospels and use them in our daily life. It is important to receive Christ in Communion frequently. My parents have taught me we all make up the Body of Christ- those of us on Earth, those in purgatory, and the souls in Heaven. So, when we receive Jesus’ Body in Communion we are meeting each other there in a special way. This is how I can be close to me brother that died last year.
We are called to help the poor. This can be done in many ways, like donating food and money to a food pantry or homeless shelter. We can also help the elderly by getting things off top shelves where they can’t reach anymore. We can invite a poor person into our home for a meal, or offer to wash their clothes or buy them some extra groceries. We can offer to pay their heating bill so they can stay warm in the winter.
We need to practice our faith. We can do this by praying together as a family, even in public restaurants when others may look at us funny. When we are sad we should remember to turn to God for help and comfort. When we are happy we should remember to thank God for our happiness. We also need to receive the sacraments, like the sacrament of penance. We should ask for forgiveness for our sins and learn to forgive those who hurt us.
Standing up for our Catholic religion is important. If we don’t act towards something we believe in we can’t judge the outcomes that we don’t like. We have the right to assemble and pray publicly to end abortion even if it means being made fun of. My school has Pro-Life masses and the parish has Life- Chains in the main part of town to show our support for the end of abortions. Our principle tells my mom and dad where to write letters to our Senators and Representatives so that we can keep things that are important to Catholics.
Catholics who take their responsibilities seriously have many ways to help spread the message of God in our society. I think it is important to be a disciple of Jesus and help others to know who Jesus is.
By: Brett Riley
Great job Brett! We should all be proud of our students and the Teachers who instruct the children. Thank you!
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