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Grand Knight’s Message
February
2004
by Norm Corriveau
“Be not afraid”.
Our Holy Father Pope John Paul II has been reminding us of this for 25
years. Our knighthood
requires this of us: to live our
faith with courage and to promote a strong culture of life in our society.
God has endowed each one of us with some special gift(s) to fulfill our
individual missions on our earthly journey.
Our
former Community Director, John Kilroy, has just moved his residence to Florida.
Fred
Pope has graciously volunteered to fill in this vacancy as Community Director
for the remainder of this fraternal year. Thanks,
Fred. Best wishes to John and
his family.
Peter
Pino, our Advocate, is chairing the committee for revising our Council’s
By-Laws, which were adopted on November 11, 1998. Anyone interested in joining this Revision Committee should
notify me as soon as possible, no later than February 11th.
On
Sunday, February 8th, there
will be a Third Degree Exemplification at the Middleboro K of C hall on Route
28. The candidates for this Degree
and their proposers should meet at the Parish Center by 12:45 PM.
We will car-pool to Middleboro.
Father
Bob is allowing Knights only to play basketball on Thursdays at 7:30 PM.
I will open the building at 7:00 PM only if there are at least 6 Knights
coming. Those interested in playing
should notify me at least 24 hours in advance, each week.
The
K of C Essay Contest for the graduating Seniors of Bishop Feehan High School is
started, thanks to Joe Daley. The
theme of the Knights of Columbus Essay Contest is:
“The Responsibility of the Catholic Citizen in a Free Society”.
We need judges for these essays, starting on March 25th.
Please let me know if you will help.
The winner will receive $400 in Savings Bonds.
All participants will receive certificates on the school’s Award Night.
PGK
Mark Bowditch and Fred Pope are running this year’s Annual State Raffle.
The raffle books have 15 tickets each for many monetary prizes.
Our Council 11690 keeps 40% of the sale of tickets.
Let us do a good job at selling these to help our State Council cover
their expenses.
Vivat Jesus,
Norm
Corriveau
Special Recognition
For December 2003
The
following were recognized at the January 14, 2004 business meeting for their
outstanding service:
Knight
of the Month
PGK Tom Castello
Family
of the Month
The Antonio Medeiros Family
It was great to see a good number of Knights (18)
present for our Council’s Free-Throw Contest on Sunday, January 11th.
Everything went smoothly. Thanks
for your time and effort.
We
thank PGK Tom Castello for engraving the trophies for the champs of each
division. We also thank Peggy
Levesque for her part in co-ordinating the divisions of participants and in
helping with the awards. Each
participant received a K of C patch and certificate.
January
11, 2004
Boys
Girls
10
yr-old
Peter J. Levesque
Shelbi Rushia
11
yr-old
Brenna Gonsalves
12
yr-old
Brian D. Feeney
Heather Castello
13
yr-old
Michael Umberger
14
yr-old
Ryan McAuliffe
Our District Deputy Tony Medeiros has requested our help
in running the District 38 Free-Throw Championship at the Parish Center on
Sunday, February 8, 2004, which will officially start at 5:00 PM.
We need 15 volunteers to make this event run smoothly.
Many
of those Knights who worked the Council’s F-T Championship on Jan. 11th
will be at the Third Degree Exemplification in Middleboro.
We would appreciate your help.
Robert St. Martin has made arrangements with the
Providence Bruins to obtain discount tickets for our group outing on Sunday,
February 22, 2004. The game of
P-Bruins against Worcester starts at 4:00 PM.
The cost per ticket is $10.
If
interested in joining us in this hockey game, please notify Bob @ 781-784-9799
or Norm Corriveau @ 508-285-3755, ASAP
before February 5th.
With Father Bob Oliveira’s support, the Knights of our
Council 11690 will put on a super appreciation dinner for all the volunteers
that serve in St. Mary’s Parish, whether it be in teaching a class of
religious education, in bringing the Holy Eucharist to the residents of nursing
homes, in serving as lector or cantor at the celebration of weekend Masses, in
working the Friday night Bingo, in being part of the choir, or in any other
parish activity.
The
Appreciation Dinner will be served at 6:30 PM on Saturday, February 28th
at the Parish Center.
Frank McLaughlin has a
great meal planned, featuring roast beef, baked stuffed chicken, and scrod,
served buffet-style. We need many
Knights to come forward as volunteers in the tasks of cooking, setting up,
serving the meal, and then cleaning up. Hope
you can join us in carrying out this charitable project.
The Fourth Degree is the most prestigious Degree in the
Knights of Columbus. Its members
are addressed as “Sir Knights”,
and they belong to an Assembly which is composed of about 9
neighboring Councils. Their leader
is called the Faithful Navigator. These
Sir Knights get to socialize with members of other Councils.
The
Sir Knights of our St. Mary’s Council 11690 belong to the Cardinal O’Connell
Assembly, which also includes Councils from Easton, Brockton, Bridgewater, Avon,
Holbrook, Randolph, Braintree, and Stoughton.
Currently,
our Council has 24 Sir Knights:
Jack
Camara
Norvel
Cason
PGK
Tom Castello
GK,
PFN Norm Corriveau
Joe
Daley
PGK
John Drane
Ralph
Foster
FN,
PGK Paul Grenier
Paul
Griffin
Tony
Ippoliti
PGK
Tom Jarbeau
PFN,
PGK John Killory
Frank
McLaughlin
Rev.
Arnold Medeiros
John
Meyer
Rev.
Robert Oliveira
Butch
Rich
Kevin
Schleicher
Leo
Schleicher
Paul
Schleicher
PFN
Maurice Soares, FDD
Donald
Spencer
Robert
St.Martin
Donald
Thibeault
The
Exemplification to the Fourth Degree will take place on Sunday, June 6, 2004.
Any member who would like to aspire to new heights in joining the Fourth
Degree should get more info from FN Paul Grenier @ 508-222-4770 or from PFN Norm
Corriveau @ 508-285-3755.
The ruling by our state’s highest court that granted
same-sex couples the right to “marry” is a clear indication that our society
and its culture is actually straying from the values taught by Christ some two
thousand years ago.
On
Sunday, December 28, 2003, our Holy Father Pope John Paul II called for a
greater defense of the institution of Marriage by Christ, between a man
and a woman. He stressed the fact
that Marriage is a “human and divine” gift that should be defended by
society, because it is the basis of good family life.
As
Knights, we have that moral responsibility to defend and uphold the
values that Christ taught us. We
need to make our voices heard, especially to our legislators, many of whom pay
more attention to the louder voices.
We
also need to show Christ to our world, especially in promoting God’s precious
gift of life. Human life is not a
choice; it is a gift. The
“right” to be born should be our most important “right”.
Human life is sacred. Let
us get involved and remember that our prayers are powerful if we really trust in
God’s omnipotence.
Senator
Jo Ann Sprague
State House,
Room 206
Boston, MA 02133-1053
617-722-1222
Representative
Philip Travis
State House,
Room 236
Boston, MA 02133
617-722-2430
Representative
Michael J. Coppola
State House,
Room 542
Boston, MA 02133
617-722-2488
Representative
Elizabeth Poirier
State House,
Room 541
Boston, MA 02133
617-722-2305
We
are grateful to all those who attended the Pro-Life Mass on Sunday, Jan. 25th.
We are also grateful to the Sir Knights of the Cardinal O’Connell
Assembly who formed the K. of C. Honor Guard during this Mass:
Commander Chris Gilday, PFN
Skip Graziano, PFN Norm Corriveau, SK
John Drane, SK Fred Kippenhan,
SK Mike O’Leary, and SK Donald Thibeault.
We have two new members who have joined our Council
11690: Jim Coulter of Walker St in
Norton, and Matthew Tatarczuk of
Plain St in Norton.
On
Tuesday, January 27th, DD
& PGK Tony Medeiros, GK Norm Corriveau, Frank McLaughlin, and Jean Paul
Sirois accompanied our two candidates to Middleboro for their exemplification to
knighthood. The First Degree had a
class of 28 candidates; the Second
Degree had a class of 32 candidates. It
was certainly gratifying to see so many entering our Order of Knights.
We
extend our congratulations and warm welcome to both new Knights and their
families. Jim Coulter was proposed
by Kevin Weber; and Matthew
Tatarczuk by Norm Corriveau.
After each Mass on the weekend of February 14-15th,
we have been allowed by Pastor, Father George Bellenoit
to offer information on the Knights of Columbus.
We will hand out fliers and answer questions at the main entrance of the
church. Any Knight who is willing
to help promote membership in our Order for the parishioners of St. Mary’s in
Mansfield should call GK Norm Corriveau @ 508-285-3755 for either one or more
Masses.
Their
Mass schedule is :
Sat:-
4:00 PM, and 5:30 PM
Sun:-
7:30, 9:00,
10:30, noon, and 5:00 PM
Fourth
Degree News
It’s not too late to join the 4th degree
lottery of the Cardinal O’Connell Assembly.
The cost of the lottery is $50 and can be paid in full by check or $5
monthly payments for 10 months. For
all those who would like to join or have any questions, please see Norm
Corriveau or Paul Grenier.
On
February 1st, the Assembly will celebrate its 713th Monthly Corporate
Mass at 9:00 AM, at St. Michael’s Church, route 28 in Avon.
The breakfast will follow at the Breakfast Connection in Randolph, also
on route 28.
It’s
never too early to consider joining the Cardinal O’Connell Assembly.
The Assembly concentrates on its Corporate Monthly Masses, Honor Guards
at Masses, Wakes, and Patriotic events. For
all those who would like to join or have any questions, please see Norm
Corriveau or Paul Grenier. The
exemplification of the Fourth Degree will be held on June 6th
in Chicopee, MA.
Sir
Knight, John Drane will be passing out letters to all councils, as we begin the
process of our annual Monsignor Pitaro Scholarship Award.
This award will be presented at our June breakfast, following our Monthly
Corporate Mass in Middleboro.
The
Master of the Fourth Degree, Anthony V. Manzelli, will be having by pass surgery
in the very near future, so lets keep him in our prayers.
The
winners of the January lottery are as follows:
#
62 John Perrotta
#
69 Mrs. Joseph Semensi
By
Our Holy Father Pope John Paul II
“Human life is precious because it is the gift of a God
whose love is infinite. And, when
God gives life, it is forever.
Life
is also precious because it is the expression and the fruit of love.
This is why life should spring up within the setting of marriage, and why
marriage and the parents’ love for one another should be marked by generosity
in self-giving.
The
great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are
pleasure, comfort, and independence, lies in the fact that people close their
hearts and become selfish.”
Calendar
Wed, Feb 4
—
Activities-Planning Mtg, 8
PM
Sun, Feb 8
—
Third Degree Exemplification (meet at Parish Center, 12:45 PM)
Sun, Feb 8
—
District Free-Throw Championship
5 PM, Parish Center
Wed, Feb 11
—
Business Meeting, 7:30 PM
Sun, Feb 22
—
P-Bruins Hockey Game, 4 PM
Sat, Feb 28
—
Appreciation Dinner, 6:30 PM
Wed, Mar 3
—
Activities-Planning Mtg, 8
PM
Wed, Mar 10
—
Business Meeting, 7:30 PM