Brother Knights,

This newsletter is one of the more important ones of the year as I will highlight some of the major themes from the Idaho State Convention that was held last weekend in Post Falls as well as go over some of the events coming up in May. Our next business meeting will be Thursday, 3 May and will include election of officers for the coming fraternal year. I encourage maximum attendance for our May meeting!

State Convention:

Brother Mike Straight and I represented Council 10581 at the convention. Delegates and wives saw a video from Supreme Knight Carl Anderson on Friday. He told of the good works the Knights of Columbus did over the past year, urged each of us to evangelize with the Catholic message, and to recruit new members into our order. Bishop Mike was the guest speaker at dinner and he thanked the Knights for our support to the diocese.

Saturday was filled with reports and speeches. The Supreme representative at our convention, who happens to be the Director of Fraternal Services, spoke of Father McGivney's goal of a council in every parish, that we should offer membership to every eligible Catholic gentleman, and of our theme for this year, "Lift High the Cross." The State Deputy reported that we have 3401 members in 40 councils across the state, including two new Spanish-speaking councils. He mentioned two Idaho bills that will become law on 1 July, partly due to efforts of the Knights--House Bill 309 prohibits the use of tax dollars for abortions and House Bill 340 altered the parental consent requirements for abortions--both bills are viewed as favorable to the Respect Life cause. The acting State Chaplain reminded us that, as Catholics, we are to respect life from conception to death. The Church position is obviously against abortion and euthanasia, and he reminded us that we are also against the death penalty, which is seems to be more controversial for Catholics than the other two issues. Our State Advocate gave an excellent speech on family values and our roles as Knights in the world today. He urges us to take a stand on the issues and to set good examples in our daily lives as fathers, husbands, and Christians. He reminded us of our 1st Degree charge that, "by example and by word must we contend against the foes of Church and State." The District Master stressed patriotism and evangelization and suggests all Knights should join the 4th Degree. Saturday afternoon we had a memorial mass at St. George's Church dedicated to the 51 Knights from Idaho who passed away last year.

Sunday morning was for voting on officers and other issues. The State Council voted to send $1000 from the 'Pennies from Heaven' fund to Father Robb Keller, our State Chaplain, who is recovering from lung replacement surgery in Denver. Father Robb sent a letter thanking us for the work we do as Knights and the prayers we have said for him. State election results for fraternal year 2001-2002 are as follows: State Deputy, Dan Anthony; State Secretary, Al Millhouse; State Treasurer, Richard Durante; State Advocate, Chuck Davlin; State Warden, Jim Herman; Delegates to Supreme Convention, Dan Anthony, Rudolph Wilson, and Roger Graefe; Alternates are Al Millhouse, Ray Sabrowski, and Bill Shamian. Next year's State Convention will be held April 19-21 at The Grove in Boise.

Past events: We had a 1st Degree exemplification on 22 March. Please welcome Mathew Malamakal and Denis Ramsey to our council. On 1 April, Mathew and Kevin Terhaar joined a group of over 30 Knights who went through the 2nd and 3rd Degrees in Caldwell. Thanks to the Knights who helped out with the Easter masses and to Brother Walt for organizing the Easter Egg hunt. Once again we were blessed with good weather, plenty of eggs, and a great turnout of kids. For your information, Marty jinxed us for next year by mentioning how good the weather has been for the past 5 or 6 years. We are in for a downpour next year--thanks Marty!

Upcoming events: Our business meeting is Thursday, 3 May and will be busy with discussions of the following issues. We will hold election of officers for the next fraternal year. I encourage maximum attendance for the election of officers. May 6th is World Vocations Day and we will do the cooking for the BBQ to honor our parishioners who devote so much of their time to religious education. Mother's Day is the 13th and we will discuss whether or not we will do anything special, as Knights, to honor the mothers of our parish on that day. Our next pancake breakfast is scheduled for Sunday, 20 May and our annual Red Cross blood drive will be Thursday, 31 May, 2-7 PM in the parish annex. There will be a 4th Degree exemplification in Meridian on Saturday, 16 June. All 3rd Degree members, who have been a Knight for at least one year, are eligible to become Sir Knights by completing the Patriotic Degree.

Gentlemen, this will be my last newsletter for awhile since I will be leaving next month for a couple of months of training in Memphis and I will not be able to serve another term as your Grand Knight. I leave you in the capable hands of Brother Walt Donovan, Deputy Grand Knight, who will take the reins of the council until the new officers take over in July.

I will close by saying it has been an honor for me to serve as your Grand Knight for the past year. One of the benifits of attending the state convention is an opportunity to talk to other Grand Knights from across the state and compare notes on how our council is doing. I came away from the convention with a great deal of pride in Our Lady of the Rosary Council 10581. Men, you have been very active this year in service to our Church, our Community, and our Families--thank you. We are also blessed to have a strong supporter of the Knights of Columbus in our Worthy Chaplain, Father Dennis. As I found out, not all councils are as lucky as we are. I am looking forward to working with our next Grand Knight in the coming year and watching our council grow and do even more good works in service to our Lord.

Fraternally yours,
Larry Connell, Grand Knight