Officers Installation Address July 14, 2010

Transcription

1 Worthy Chaplain, District Deputy, Fellow Officers and Directors, Ladies and Gentlemen, Brothers All: I want to thank you my brothers for your support, inspiration and the brotherly love that you have given me. I m humbled and honored to serve as your Grand Knight this year. My Knights of Columbus journey began nearly three years ago in St. Alphonsus Church in Rome, Italy. During the Footsteps of St. Alphonsus pilgrimage, our tour bus entered the eternal city and our first stop was St. Alphonsus Church on the Esquiline hill between the basilicas of St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran. As we pilgrims enjoyed each morning, Father O Keeffe celebrated the holy sacrifice of the Mass. After Mass, I watched as six men from our group were all smiles, posing for a camera. They were standing up front in the middle of the sanctuary of the church with the original icon picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help hanging above them. These men were the Knights of Columbus. It was Father O Keeffe, Mike Weber, Tom Weintraut, Terry Spartz, Jim Baxter and John Martin. After the picture was taken, I think it was Tom that said to me; You could be in that picture. And I decided then and there that I wanted to be a knight. I think our Knights of Columbus council here at St. Alphonsus has the perfect name Our Lady of Perpetual Help. And following in the great traditions of the Order, we begin every council meeting with the recitation of the Holy Rosary of Our Lady. And I believe she has watched over our council over our eleven years of existence. Brothers, our council owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to a special group of dedicated men that have poured their heart and souls into serving our priests, parish and community. This group of men started our council, have built and grown its ministries and service projects every year and they all are still among the most active members in our council. These men are our Past Grand Knights. I would like to recognize them here tonight. Each one is a fourth degree Sir Knight and has honored Tim Shaw 1

2 our council with his leadership. In the order of his year of service, our Past Grand Knights are: Our charter year Grand Knight Sir Knight Tom Schemmel Sir Knight Hank Anderson Sir Knight Al Harris Sir Knight Randy Yurczyk Sir Knight Terry Spartz Sir Knight Eric Hynson Sir Knight Tom Weintraut Sir Knight Joe Cegala Sir Knight Ron Grammas Sir Knight David Ide Sir Knight Mike Weber These men embody all that is good in the great order of the Knights of Columbus. Thank you brothers for your service. Over the last year, I had the privilege and great pleasure of working closely with our most recent Past Grand Knight, Mike Weber. Mike presided over a tremendously successful year that included the award winning Planning Before the Hour of our Death seminar series and our incredibly successful first annual charity golf tournament. As Mike worked through all of the many council activities, requests for his time, questions and problems that come to the Grand Knight, I was impressed by the way Mike always responded with care and concern. When the issues were most difficult and required a considerable amount of discernment, Mike was at his best. I know one thing for sure Mike loves the Knights of Columbus and he truly loves the men of our council. That s what made Mike such a great Grand Knight and I appreciate all he taught me during the year. Thanks Mike. Last Sunday, Father O Keeffe preached on the gospel of love and having an individual philosophy of life that might be captured in a pithy motto or phrase. Tim Shaw 2

3 Well, there s a Christian song out that I really like called Hold us Together by Matt Maher. It was written last year during the downturn in the economy. When he wrote it he wondered how the church responds to people who lose everything they place value on. He thought, when that happens, you re presented with the love of God, which we all desperately need, but we don t know how to place a tangible value on it. He reasoned that what determines the worth of the love of God is the church and people of the church living it out. He said we can live it out in tangible ways by extending the mercy of God, by being our brother s keeper, and by making the love of God visible in the world. The lyrics to the refrain of the song are: Love will hold us together Make us a shelter to weather the storm And I'll be my brother's keeper So the whole world will know that we're not alone From the book of Genesis: Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" Brothers, the Knights of Columbus is all about fraternity and brotherly love. I think the Knights of Columbus stands with the church and our mission is to help the church make the love of God visible in the world. We are our brother s keeper. As we begin our council s twelfth year, I m aware the bar has been set high. But I know our council has grown in number and has a vibrant and active membership and I plan to capitalize on that and continue that momentum this year. I am thrilled about our leadership team of officers and directors for this year. We have a good mix of new men and men that have been there before. I look forward to working closely this year with my good friend and CRHP 13 brother, Deputy Grand Knight Ed Tim Shaw 3

4 DeWitt. We ve met the officers this evening and I thank you all for volunteering your service to the council this year and congratulations. In addition to the officers, our directors are an extremely important part of our leadership team. In fact, I think our directors will be the key to our success this year. This year our Program Director, with overall responsibility for all service programs, is Michael Starks. Our Church Director is Mark DeCarlo. Our Community Director is Rich Arroyo. Our Council Director is Steve Hanson. Our Family Director is James Stiles. Our Pro-Life Director is Mike Green. And our Youth Director is Mike Heneghan. Gentlemen, thank you for your commitment. My overall approach this year is to improve our communication and to push responsibility throughout the membership. I want to continue creating enthusiasm and excitement about what we are doing and what we all can do together. I want to foster a sense of urgency about the needs of the church and community. We have already begun our service program planning efforts that will guide our projects and activities this year. Council projects are already underway. Sir Knight Tony Kaufmann is again our point man for our Habitat for Humanity program, a truly heroic community service project. Many brothers worked in the sweltering heat last week and we have another work week scheduled in August. Tomorrow Faithful Commander Al Harris will lead the fourth degree Honor Guard as we will have the great blessing to serve at Bishop Timothy Doherty s ordination Mass. Preparations are in the works to run the food and beverage tent at the parish festival coming up next week. The committee is already meeting for our newest project, an Oktoberfest this fall. We will have the details of our service program completed by the end of this month, but I d like to briefly share some of the top priorities of this year s council service program. To improve communication, support fraternity and to foster extended member involvement, we are going to overhaul our council website to be a hub of information for the membership. In conjunction with this goal, we also have a goal to improve our public Tim Shaw 4

5 relations to the parish and the community. Through timely and frequent communications, in the form of newsletters, bulletins, press releases, etc., our objective is to let people know what the Knights of Columbus is doing at St. Alphonsus. With our new Fund Raising Chairman, our Chancellor, Jack Evans, we have already begun to reap the benefits of his talents and hard work and fund raising will continue to be a priority. Our council will again be in good position this year to have the funds to operate our service projects and to donate money to charity. I d like to challenge our council to strive to maximize our charitable contributions this year and for the future. Another top priority for the council year is to fervently support our Pro-Life service area. Last year, the supreme council of the Knights of Columbus recognized the role that the Knights of Columbus could play in the serious fight against the growing culture of death in our society. So, the Knights of Columbus established a new service area of Pro-Life. This year, brothers with your help, we must have a sense of urgency in this fight and stand together for a culture of life. The Knights of Columbus was founded to protect the poor and the least among us. Has there ever been a more fitting area of service for the Catholic men of the Knights of Columbus than to stand up for human dignity? Gentlemen, the time is now. Please stand with me for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. Under Mike Green s leadership, our Pro-Life director, our goal is to have the Knights of Columbus standing in vigil at the Planned Parenthood clinic every day during the 40 Days for Life this fall and every day during the 40 Days for Life next spring. I m also excited to announce our goal for at least ten knights, along with wives and family members that can go, to go to our nation s capital for the March for Life. Brothers, let s get into the fray and stand up and be counted for life. Tim Shaw 5

6 In closing, I want to thank my family for all of your love and support. Thank you Dad for your guidance and Mom in heaven for your prayers. I d like to thank my wife, Patti, especially for all of your encouragement, love and prayers. Men, we are our brother s keeper. Let s make the love of God visible in Zionsville, Indiana. God Bless the Knights of Columbus. Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us. Tim Shaw 6