Knights Of Columbus
Saint Elizabeth Council 10743
Elizabethton TN / May, 2012
http://www.kofc10743.org
The Council business meeting was held on May 2. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 6 following the 6:30PM Mass.
The Lenten Food Drive was a great success. See details below on the delivery to ARM.
Also below are some pictures from the Founder’s Day Social and Dinner held on April 15.
Tom Manning attended the State Convention on April 27-29. Our Council was recognized for exceeding our membership goals and GK Dean Batchelder was named to the Circle of Honor. Tom was selected to replace Bill Wicke on the MR Board of Directors.
Our Council will be recognizing all mothers by distributing carnations at all masses on Mother’s Day weekend.
We will also be celebrating Vocation Weekend be passing out literature at the masses on May 19 and 20.
Congratulations to the following who were awarded Family of the Month honors:
- June: Brian & Beverley Paley
- May: Jim & Mary Stapleton
- April: Gary & Mary Ann Laun
- March: Ed & Linda Yarwood
- February: Matt & Cathleen Grubb
- January: Mike & Delores King
- December: Leroy & Agnes Policky
- November: Dr. Rick & Norma Martin
- October: James & Pat Dobes
- September: Dr. Daniel & Barbara Paul
For their outstanding contributions over the past Fraternal Year, Tom & Wanda Manning were named Family of the Year.
Upcoming Events:
- May 5 7AM-Noon: Yard Sale in the church parking lot.
- May 16, 7PM: Round Table in Unicoi at the Apple Town Bagel Restaurant, 105 Rock Creek Rd., Erwin.
- May 19 (Saturday), 11AM: Third Degree Exemplification in Jefferson City. (Any Second Degree Brothers wanting to become Third Degree please contact Tom Manning (phone 423-926-8016 or e-mail and provide your full name (exp. If you go by Bob and your correct name is Robert I need to know, you may also include nick names. I will also need your membership number, phone number, address and e-mail address so I can pass it on to our District Deputy (Dist 20) Tony Fitton. Tony will pass all the names officially to the District Deputy of District 19, which is holding the exemplification. The information I’m asking for is a state requirement).
- May 21-25 The Our Lady of Guadeloupe icon will be at St. Elizabeth
- June 6 7PM Council business meeting
- June 9 (Saturday), 11AM: Fourth Degree Exemplification in Morristown (Any Third Degree Brother, including those who will take the Third Degree on May 19, wanting to become Fourth Degree please contact Tom Manning (phone 423-926-8016 or e-mail ). You must fill out a Form 4 and be approve for membership by the Fr. John Aiken Assembly 1840. Our council and I have the forms. The joining fee is $70, which includes banquet ticket, social baldric, fourth degree pin and certificate. Additional banquet tickets are $25 each. Candidates must be in a black tux. More information will be provided in a general e-mail.
- June 22 Honor Guard is requested for Relay for Life.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray for: Bernie & Beryl Cowan, Kathy Watson, James Batchelder, Shirley Batchelder, Mary Anne Lynch, Roger Winters, and Agnes Policky.
May Birthdays - Happy Birthday to:
Fr. Steve Smith May 7th
Gerard Tummers May 24th
Founders Day Social and Dinner
Our Council celebrated Founders Day on April 15 instead of March 29 this year. We moved the celebration to after Easter this year so that we could also celebrate a successful Lenten Food Drive (see the following article for details). The event was held at the Lone Star Restaurant. We had a good turnout of Knights and wives. Fr Dennis, our chaplain, said the blessing. Fr Tom Charters and members of our Round Table serving the Catholic Community of Unicoi County also attended. A good time was had by all in attendance. We owe Mike Hupko a big thank you for arranging this social and dinner. Below are several pictures of event.
Lenten Food Drive
Our Lenten Food Drive was an overwhelming success. Between our Council and our Roundtable efforts and those of the parishioners of St Elizabeth and the Catholic Community of Unicoi County we collected almost 2,000 pounds of food for local food banks. The Roundtable gave its collected food to the food bank in Unicoi County. We split the food we collected at St Elizabeth. About a half of what we collected was given to the food bank administered by St. Anthony of Padua Church in Mountain City and the rest given to ARM in Elizabethton. In addition we also received $180 in cash donations. At our meeting on May 2nd, we added $20 to the cash donations and voted to give all $200 to ARM. Below are some pictures of the food delivery to ARM on Friday April 20th.
Marsha Hupko opening Mike’s pickup loaded with food at Arm Marsha Hupko and ARM workers begin unloading
GK Dean Batchelder, Mike Hupko unloading food at ARM ARM workers begin counting cans of food we delivered to them
Very Essence of Religious Liberty
Supreme Knight’s Message to U.S. State Conventions Addresses HHS Mandate
Responding to a recent threat to the essence of religious liberty in the United States that also directly affects the future of the Knights of Columbus, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson focused his annual video address for U.S. state conventions on the federal health insurance mandate. He prepared a second video address on the state of the Order as a whole for Canada, Mexico and Poland state conventions.
“I am sure that by now you have heard about the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ health insurance mandate that will force Catholic organizations to provide health insurance plans for their employees that will provide sterilization, contraception and abortifacient drugs,” the supreme knight said. This mandate is compulsory for every Catholic organization and institution, and is also mandatory for the Knights of Columbus, he noted.
Under the mandate, the Knights of Columbus will be forced to use membership dues and the
money generated through insurance sales to fund a health care plan for employees that would provide drugs and procedures that violate Catholic moral teaching on the transmission and sanctity of human life, he continued, adding that constitutional scholars have described the mandate as “unconstitutional” and “illegal.”
The supreme knight described the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fight against the bill and the call for Congress to pass legislation to protect the religious liberty rights of all Americans.
“Our own Supreme Chaplain, Bishop William Lori, has been chosen by our nation’s bishops to lead a newly established special committee of bishops on religious liberty,” Anderson said. “as Knights, we can be proud that Bishop Lori has courageously helped to rally so many against this assault on religious freedom.”
The supreme knight said that this is not only a Catholic issue, and that thousands of Protestant ministers have publicly opposed the mandate.
In addition, he described the recently proposed “accommodation” to religious organizations as entirely inadequate and unacceptable. “The fact remains that the Knights of Columbus and other Catholic organizations will be forced to purchase health insurance plans for their employees and those plans will provide services that violate our moral beliefs,” he said, referring to the plan for health insurance companies, rather than religious employers, to pay for the objectionable services.
“Though we have never before faced such an assault on our religious liberty, the Knights of Columbus has successfully defended religious liberty before in our country,” Anderson said. As examples, he cited the 2009 debate in which the Knights of Columbus worked with the Church in Connecticut to defeat a state bill that would have taken financial control of parishes away from the Church, and the more recent case in Montana in which Knights invoked First amendment protections to defend the public display of a World War II memorial that includes a statue of Christ.
In response to the HHS mandate, the supreme knight asked state and local councils, and all Knights and their families, to do the following:
1. Pass a resolution at the state convention in support of religious liberty.
2. At each council meeting, recite the prayer for religious liberty that the bishops have asked
all Catholics to pray.
3. Contact elected officials and urge them to pass legislation supported by the bishops to
protect religious liberty.
“We now face a difficult time of great challenge,” said Supreme Knight Anderson “a standard has been raised and we have been summoned. Generations of faithful brother Knights before us have sacrificed greatly to defend our Church. The cause is freedom. Now it is our turn.”
Knights of Columbus Insurance: Your Shield for Life.
Always Say Welcome Thomas P. Smith Jr.
Chief Insurance Officer
When I joined the Knights of Columbus in 1974, I did so with two of my buddies. We joined a local council that had a nice building that served multiple parishes in the same town. It was going to be a place to go, meet people, and make new friends. That was pretty much the whole story.
In the ensuing decades, I’ve met thousands and thousands of members of the Order, most of them active members, because I’ve met them at conventions and activities that are usually conducted by and for men who have taken an interest in the Order and express that interest by becoming involved. Along the way, I’ve heard hundreds of stories about how and why membership was brought to their attention and what appealed to them about becoming a K of C member.
Many were like me … invited, no real reason to say no, and joined. Others had a father or grandfathers bring them in — ‘invite’ would perhaps not fit here because the conversation usually went this way: “You’re 18, and you’re joining the Knights of Columbus.” Some wanted to play softball. A large percentage saw an opportunity to better serve their parish, and through the parish, the Church. Our community involvement and charitable outreach attracted many more. My point is that men over the years have joined the Knights of Columbus for many, many different reasons. It is safe to say that most of us did not join the Order with the intention of becoming a leader in our council, district, or state/province.
I recently thought back on all of these men, all of these years, and all of these conversations when I was told what was overheard at a K of C meeting: We don’t want guys who just join the Knights of Columbus to buy insurance.
Why not?
If a Catholic man wants to protect his family with the best products on the market today, and he sees that opportunity through membership in his local council, we would say no? If a man comes to us and says he would be happy to join, but he can’t make council meetings, do we say no? If a man says he wants to join to play second base on the championship softball team, do we say no? If a man says he wants to join just because his dad told him to, do we say no? Then why say no to the man who says, “I trust my agent, I love the protection I can buy, so where do I sign?”
Our insured members, just by the nature of the premiums they pay which support the work of the Order, make valuable contributions to our organization. We should never say no …we should always say welcome! Once a member, he just might be a future grand knight.
For more information on our Orders insurance programs contact General Agent, Daniel Schachle at: Office: 615-441-8588 Cell: 423-991-2044 Fax 615-446-7299; E-mail ; Mail PO Box 1348 Dickson, TN 37056. Don’t delay!
THOUGHTS:
CHARITY is sharing the Good News with others. (Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. ~ Luke 11:28)
UNITY is building a temple. (So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the LORD; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. ~ Ephesians 2:19-22)
FRATERNITY is joining forces with the Church. (Instead, seek his kingdom, and these other things will be give you besides ~ Luke 12:31)
PATRIOTISM is praying for our nation. (If my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land. ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14)
Vivat Jesus,
Brian Paley, Recorder
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