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The Knight's Shield - February 2020

Published on: Monday, January 27, 2020

As you visit church, the construction on our church continues. The classroom and pantry addition floor slab has been placed. Windows and the interior work have begun. The main entrance canopy is beginning to take shape. This results in the loss of use of our church social hall until further notice. So as a reminder, our General Meetings are scheduled to be held at the JFK Council Hall located on 33320 Kelly Road. We will not be able to have any Pancake Breakfast or Euchre events until after Easter. We have also canceled our fish fry events for Lent this year. Our Planning Meeting will remain in the conference room at SPOT.

We have had another Brother called home to the Lord. Ben Candela was called home on December 27. Ben first became a Knight in 1963. Ben was active in our council and our parish. Thank you to Phil Mularski for leading the rosary. Thank you also to George Loewen, Jeff Gapczynski, and Hank Leflere leading decades of the Rosary, and all who attended.

Please welcome the newest member to our council, Rob Amsler. Rob is our first Knight to go through the new degree ceremony. At the Winter Diocesan meeting, attended by our worthy DD, Deputy Grand Knight, Financial Secretary, Membership Director, Rob’s Sponsor, Ted Czarny and myself, we saw the new exemplification ceremony. All three degree’s in 30 minutes!

We have just scheduled our first council exemplification ceremony here at St. Paul of Tarsus. The first date is February 8. The exemplification is also open to the public and especially to family members of prospective Knights. The exemplification ceremony is a very solemn and spiritual event and is structured to be held in our church after the 4:00 pm and 11:30 am mass. The ceremony is open to all new candidates, and all current Knights who have not yet attained the third degree. Our second date is scheduled for Saturday, April 18 after the 4:00 pm mass. All new candidates and current Knights who have not yet attained the third degree are encouraged to attend one of these beautiful ceremonies with their family and friends. Thirty minutes with family and friends is a wonderful way to fully participate in this new exemplification into the Knights of Columbus. Please contact Phil Mularski or Mike Hartel to register for one of these exemplification ceremonies. Keep up the good work and continue the effort to ask your Catholic brothers to consider joining the Knights and help us with our charitable works and fraternity while strengthening your faith. We will have information packets available in the gathering space next to the Holy Family Statue binder.

To conduct the new exemplification ceremony we are forming a council degree team. Please see the sign-up sheet at the next meeting or contact the Membership Director or Grand Knight for more information.

As we begin to prepare for Lent, we will also have sign-up sheets for our upcoming MI (tootsie roll) Drive on Palm Sunday weekend. Please plan to help our council help those who cannot help themselves. This is one of the signature activities for the Knights of Columbus!

Due to the ongoing construction at church, we have rescheduled our annual pot luck from March to June. This may actually be a better time to hold our pot luck since June is the last month of our fraternal year and March is typically a very busy time for the council and church due to Lent. It is not too soon to begin planning for our spring officer elections. Please contact Tom or myself to dis-cuss your interests and we can also advise on some of the opportunities for leadership with YOUR council.

Please consider signing up to receive the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The list is very short. We need some more families to sign up. Most importantly, our prayers are needed to support voca-tions! Please note that this is open to all families of the parish. Mention that to the people you sit next to at church. The binder is located in the church gathering space. Thank you!

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Vivat Jesus,
Mike Hartel

The Knight's Shield - January 2020

Published on: Friday, December 20, 2019

As you visit church, the construction on our church continues. The classroom and pantry addition roof has been installed as the interior work begins. The main entrance canopy is beginning to take shape. This results in the loss of use of our church social hall until further notice. So as a reminder, our General Meetings are scheduled to be held at the JFK Council Hall located on 33320 Kelly Road. This means we will not be able to have any Pancake Breakfasts or Euchre events until after Easter. We will also have to cancel our fish fry events. Our Planning Meeting will remain in the conference room at SPOT.

As we enter a new decade, Karla and I would like to wish you and your family a Happy and Healthy New Year! Thank you for all you do!

At the end of November, we were helping our friends at St. John the Apostle Church with the annual MCREST event. Thank you Ray Coughlin for chairing this very worthy community event and all of you who volunteered to help those in our community who have fallen on hard times get back on their feet.

We have had another Brother called home to the Lord. Neil Norat was called home on November 25. Thank you Phil Mularski for leading the rosary and Tom Pardo who also attended.

On Monday December 9, we had a candidate go through the Admission Degree before our general meeting at JFK. Please welcome to our council: Brian Wills, Mike Hartel sponsor. This was a rather significant Degree Ceremony, since our worthy District Deputy announced after the degree was completed, there will be a new Degree Ceremony starting in 2020.

We are just beginning to receive the details on the new ceremony. This is a short explanation of the new ceremony. The ceremony will no longer be held behind closed doors. They are open to the family and general public. All three degrees will be provided at the same ceremony. The ceremony will take an hour or less to complete. The individual council will perform the ceremony. It has been suggested that the ceremony be held after a Mass at church. So, stay tuned, more information will be given as we receive more of the details. Keep up the good work and continue the effort to ask your Catholic brothers to consider joining the Knights and help us with our charitable works and fraternity while strengthening your faith.

Thank you for helping our chairmen Jerry Hund, Ted Czarny and Ray Coughlin and supporting our annual Christmas Ham and Kielbasa council fundraiser.

Our Worthy Financial Secretary has mailed out our 2020 renewal notices. Please consider supporting Vocations with a voluntary $6 contribution to the Endowed Scholarship Fund when renewing your membership. You will need your 2020 card to attend any meetings. Thank you!

Looking ahead to January has our annual casino trip to Soaring Eagle and Little River on MLK weekend. Jeff Gapczynski has reported the bus is full! Thank you! Proceeds from the trip support Casey the Teddy Bear which are the stuffed animals we provide Henry Ford Hospital for kids who need surgery.

Please note that a District Corporate Communion will be hosted by St. Thecla on January 19 at the 11:00am Mass. A Holy Rosary is scheduled at 10:30am before Mass. Please show support for our sister council in our new district by attending.

Please consider signing up to receive the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The list is very short. We need some more families to sign up. Most importantly, our prayers are needed to support voca-tions! Please note that this is open to all families of the parish. Mention that to the people you sit next to at church. The binder is located in the church gathering space. Thank you!

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Vivat Jesus,
Mike Hartel

The Knight's Shield - December 2019

Published on: Monday, December 2, 2019

The construction on our church continues. The classroom and pantry addition roof is being installed. An asphalt base course has been placed for the west parking lot and the main entrance canopy is beginning to take shape. This results in the loss of use of our church social hall until further notice. So as a reminder, our General Meetings are scheduled to be held at the JFK Council Hall located on 33320 Kelly Road. This means we will not be able to have any Pancake Breakfasts or Euchre events until after Easter. We will probably also have to cancel our fish fry events. Our Planning Meeting will remain in the conference room at SPOT.

As the holiday season is upon us and we give thanks, let us remember to Keep Christ in Christmas! Karla and I would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Since our November newsletter was released, we held our seventh annual trunk or treat on Sunday October 27. The weather cleared just in time as we had over 100 kids with 23 Trunks handing out candy, haunted hay rides, costume contests, hotdogs and games for the kids. Thank you for all the help given to our chairman Art Krygowski, Steve Kargenian (loaned us the hay ride wagon), Phil Mularski (pulling the hay ride), Janice Krygowski and the confirmation kids helping with the games, Ray and Lori Coughlin (food and gift cards), those who had trunks, participated and attended! Well done everyone!

Carol, Hank, Karla and I attended the Memorial Mass at Sacred Heart on Sunday 11/10 to honor our Brothers who have been called home by the Lord. This annual event is always a great opportunity to attend Mass at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

Our council handed out coats at Erie in our annual ‘Coats for Kids’ event. Thank you to Phil Mularski, Hank Leflere and Karla who helped the Erie Social worker Katie and I distribute coats to the children at Erie Elementary School on Thursday November 14.

We hosted our first, District One Corporate Communion, on Sunday 11/17 at 11:30 Mass. We had a number of Brother Knights attend from the other councils in our district. Thank you to George Loewen for being an acolyte, Rick Okerhjelm and Phil Mularski for being lectors and all who attended. Please make a note on your calendar when our Corporate Communion Mass is scheduled and try to attend. If you are at the Mass, please celebrate Mass together and sit with your Brother Knight’s and their families! You do not have to have a coat and tie or your K of C shirt to celebrate Mass together!

We held our fall membership drive during the first two weekends in October. To date, we have received six new applications. On Wednesday November 20 we had five candidates go through the Admission Degree at St. Peter’s in Mt. Clemens. Please welcome to our council: George Adamski, Joe Kish sponsor; Michael Burke, Phil Mularski sponsor; James Harla, Rick Okerhjelm sponsor; Tom Loria, Rob Tusset sponsor; and Gordon Wesley, Phil Mularski sponsor. Our sixth candidate is scheduled to attend the Admission Degree at our next council meeting at JFK. If you have not attended a degree ceremony recently, it is a great opportunity to experience the updated nicely done and relatively short ceremony. Keep up the good work and continue the effort to ask your Catholic brothers to consider joining the Knights and help us with our charitable works and fraternity while strengthening your faith.

The MCREST event, where we help our friends at St. John the Apostle Church, is scheduled for November 24 through December 1. You can still check with Ray Coughlin if you have not signed up to help. For all of you who have volunteered to help, thank you for this very worthy cause which helps those in our community who have fallen on hard times get back on their feet.

Our annual Christmas Ham and Kielbasa sale is here. Please check for the order form in the bulletin and place your order. Christmas will be here soon! Thank you in advance for helping Chairmen Jerry Hund and Ray Coughlin with this council fundraiser.

Looking ahead to January has our annual casino trip to Soaring Eagle and Little River on MLK weekend. It is a fun event with proceeds supporting Casey the Teddy Bear which are the stuffed animals we provide Henry Ford Hospital for kids who need surgery. See flyer for more information.

Our Worthy Financial Secretary will be mailing out our 2020 renewal notices soon. Please consider supporting Vocations with a voluntary $6 contribution to the Endowed Scholarship Fund when renewing your member-ship. Thank you!

Please consider signing up to receive the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The list is very short. We need some more families to sign up. Most importantly, our prayers are needed to support vocations! Please note that this is open to all families of the parish. Mention that to the people you sit next to at church. The binder is located in the church gathering space. Thank you!

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Vivat Jesus,
Mike Hartel

The Knight's Shield - November 2019

Published on: Saturday, October 26, 2019

The construction on our church continues. The classroom and pantry addition walls have been constructed. The structural steel has arrived for the canopy and west addition also. This results in the loss of use of our church social hall until further notice. So as a reminder, our General Meetings are scheduled to be held at the JFK Council Hall located on 33320 Kelly Road. This means we will not be able to have any Pancake Breakfasts or Euchre events until after Easter. We will probably also have to cancel our fish fry events. Our Planning Meeting will remain in the conference room at SPOT.

Hopefully you will be receiving this newsletter just before our seventh annual trunk or treat on Sunday October 27. Please plan to participate with a trunk, help out or just attend! Set up at 1pm with a 2pm start. See the newsletter article for more information.

We had our Fall Road Clean-up on October 2. We had nine knights show up to help. Thank you to Greg Csernai for organizing this event, Kevin Kennedy (brought doughnuts!), Ray Coughlin, Tom Gray, Ralph Pullis, Chuck Lybeer, Vince Ursini, Gary Skarb and Mike Hartel for helping. Would be nice to have some more help next time.

The council helped move many boxes of books with some vets returning home at the Fall Book Sale Set Up on October 8 at the Main Branch of the Clinton-Macomb Library across from church organized by Ken Krause. Helping Ken were Bruce and Claudia Arnold, Chuck Twig, Hank Leflere and Mike Hartel. The Friends of Macomb Library fed everyone lunch and presented our council a nice appreciation check for our help.

We held our fall membership drive during the first two weekends in October. To date, we have received five new applications. Well done Brothers. Keep up the good work and continue the effort to ask your Catholic brothers to consider joining the Knights.

We had two of our Brother Knights attend the Formation (Second) and Knighthood (Third) Degree ceremonies at St. Clement of Rome. Congratulations to Nick Mazza and Ken Gonko!

The council just received notice that our Family of the Month for September, Tom and Clara Loria, have been selected for National Family of the month honors! They will be awarded a Holy Family gift to their home within 4 -6 weeks. Congratulations!

Make a note on the Calendar for the Memorial Mass at Sacred Heart on Sunday November 10 at 10am. Seven of our council Brothers who have been called home by the Lord in the past year will be honored at the Mass.

Our first District One Corporate Communion is November 17 at 11:30 Mass. Plan to wear a coat and tie with your name badges.

The MCREST event, where we help at the St. John the Apostle Church, is scheduled for November 24 through December 1. Please sign up to help! See the newsletter article for more information.

Please consider signing up to receive the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The list is very short. We need some more families to sign up. Most importantly, our prayers are needed to support vocations! Please note that this is open to all families of the parish. Mention that to the people you sit next to at church. The binder is located in the church gathering space. Thank you!

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Vivat Jesus,
Mike Hartel

The Knight's Shield - October 2019

Published on: Friday, September 27, 2019

As you visit church, the construction is in high gear. The building pad, foundations, underground utilities and the canopy extension work have all started. This results in the loss of use of our church social hall for about six months. The pantry is using about one-third of the hall. Another third will be for items from the storage room. The remainder is needed for construction of the new building addition. So as a reminder, our General Meetings are scheduled to be held at the JFK Council Hall located on 33320 Kelly Road starting with the October meeting. This means we will not be able to have any Pancake Breakfast or Euchre events until after Easter. We will probably also have to cancel our fish fry events. Our Planning Meeting will remain in the conference room at SPOT.

We recently helped out MCREST on Saturday September 7. The council received an urgent request to help MCREST just before our Labor Day weekend. Enough council members at our planning meeting stepped up to help so we didn’t send out a notice to the entire membership. We served dinner to about 60 men, women and children at St. Malachy. Thank you Ken Krause, Ron Marreese, Deacon Marc, Kevin and Tina Kennedy and especially Tom Gray for organizing and picking up most of the food and supplies.

The council participated in our Fall charity poker event at Ciccarelli’s. Thank you to Hank Leflere for again chairing this event, Bruce Arnold for handling the paperwork and Ray Coughlin for the financial support. Also for everyone who helped, especially George Loewen, Bruce Arnold, William Hill (2 days), Ted Czarny , Ralph Pullis, Dan Steele, Ken Krause, Kevin Kennedy, Hank (3 days) at Ciccarelli’s!

We had an excellent turnout for our Corporate Communion in September at the 9:30 Mass on September 15. We filled up all three reserved pews! Thank you to the five color corps members including Ken Grobbel and Vince Cusumano from our council, George Loewen & Rick Okerhjelm for lecturing, Gary Skarb & Geno Pirrami for being Acolytes and everyone who attended to celebrate Mass together with our Council Chaplain Father Jerry, Brother Deacon Marc and the rest of our parish family!

Please welcome our newest council members. Joseph Bohn, who transferred to our council at our September meeting. Nick Mazza attended the Admissions Degree on September 11 at St. Thecla with Ted Czarny as his sponsor.

Our Fall Road Clean-up has been scheduled for October 5. Meet in the church parking lot by 8am. Thank you Greg Csernai for organizing this event! See the newsletter article for more information.

There is also a Fall Book Sale Set Up on October 8 at the Main Branch of the Clinton Macomb Library across from church. See the article from Ken Krause in the newsletter for more information.

We will be having a membership drive during the first two weekends in October. Stay tuned for more details. Please renew your efforts to ask your Catholic brothers to consider joining the Knights. There is a Major Degree scheduled for Saturday morning on October 19. Our council has been awarded the Columbian/ Founder’s Combination Award for the 2018 -19 fraternal year. Let us reach our membership and insurance goals this fraternal year to make Star Council!

Please note that we still plan to have our annual Trunk or Treat on October 27. Set up at 1pm with a 2pm start. See the newsletter article for more information.

Make a note on the Calendar for the Memorial Mass at Sacred Heart on Sunday, November 10 at 10am. We have 7 of our council Brothers who have been called home by the Lord in the past year. (Will be ordering plaques and inviting their families to the Mass which is followed by a breakfast).

Please consider signing up to receive the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The list is very short. We need some more families to sign up. Most importantly, our prayers are needed to support vocations! Please note that this is open to all families of the parish. Mention that to the people you sit next to at church. The binder is located in the church gathering space. Thank you!

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Vivat Jesus,
Mike Hartel

The Knight's Shield - September 2019

Published on: Friday, August 30, 2019

I am writing this report as the Labor Day weekend approaches, the schools are starting their fall classes and a new football season begins.

The council remained busy in August. We had our second annual council camping trip. This year was at Algonac State Park. There were more campers than last year. We had excellent weather and was nice to see the freighters plying the St. Clair River. The ladies rolled out their new ‘Ladies of the Knights’ shirts. Please contact Renee Gray to place your order. We had an excellent pot luck meal after attending Mass at St. Catherine’s. In the evening around the campfire, everyone seemed to take a turn with the bug zapper racquets! Consensus seemed to favor trying Lakeport next summer. Look for photos on our website.

Our Council Summer Picnic was on Saturday August 17 at Kurt B’s property in Clay Township. I was not able to attend the picnic, but I heard there was good weather and a very nice turnout. Thank you Steve Kargenian and Kurt Buhlinger for re-starting this event!

Be sure to review the calendar for upcoming fall events such as Corporate Communion and the DAVL Golf Outing in September with Trunk or Treat in October. There is also a Fall Book Sale Set Up on October 8 at the Main Branch of the Clinton-Macomb Library across from church. See article from Ken Krause in the newsletter for more information.

We will be having a membership drive in October. We were so close last fraternal year (July to June) to obtaining Star council. Renew your efforts to ask your Catholic brothers to consider joining the Knights. There is a Major Degree scheduled for Saturday morning on October 19.

Please note that due to construction at church starting up, the social hall will not be available until further notice. This means we will not be able to have any Pancake Breakfast or Euchre events until after Easter. We will probably also have to cancel our fish fry events. Our General Meetings are going to be relocated to the JFK Council Hall at 33320 Kelly Road, beginning with the October meeting. Our Planning Meeting will remain in the conference room at SPOT.

Please consider signing up to receive the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The list is very short. We need some more families to sign up. The binder is located in the church gathering space. Thank you!

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Vivat Jesus,
Mike Hartel

The Knight's Shield - August 2019

Published on: Sunday, July 21, 2019

The council Ice cream social for the parish is scheduled (as I am writing my Grand Knight’s Report) this weekend with a heat wave in the weather forecast! Will make it easier to dip the ice cream! Thank you, Rick Okerhjelm, for chairing this event and everyone who helped setting up and taking down the tent, tables, chairs, serving and attending!

Phil Mularski and I attended the Summer Diocesan Meeting. The State is offering Quick Start Incentives for new council members: $10 July, $7.50 August, $5 September. The RTL petition drive is starting, need 400,000 signatures in 180 days and E-Membership was emphasized.

Tom Gray, Hank Leflere and I attended our first District 1 meeting which was a pretty good kick off for us. We discovered that District 1 does not have as many district wide events as District 24. Officer installation is a council event. Maybe next year we can make it a district event. So our council officer installation plans still need to be worked out. I will be working with the DD and the other Grand Knights to see if we can get District Corporate Communion scheduled for this fiscal year. Stay tuned!

One of our Council Brothers, George Trapp II, was called home to the Lord on July 14, 2019. Please remember George and his family in your prayers.

Here are some of our upcoming August events to place on your calendar:

There are still some sites available, so it is not too late to make your council camping trip reservations for 8/2 & 3 at Algonac State Park. Don’t have a camper. No problem, plan to join us for a pot luck dinner on Saturday August 3. See the flyer for more information.

Our Council Summer Picnic is on Saturday August 17 at Kurt Buhlinger’s property in Clay Township. Please see the flyer in the newsletter for more information. Thank you Steve Kargenian and Kurt Buhlinger for re -starting this event!

Be sure to review the calendar for upcoming Fall events such as Charity Poker, Corporate Communion, DAVL Golf Outing and Euchre Party in September.

If you need to take Protecting God’s Children, There is a class scheduled at St. Paul of Tarsus in October. You need to have taken this class to help with most of our council events.

Please consider signing up to receive the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The list is very short. We need some more families to sign up. The binder is located in the church gathering space. Thank you!

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Vivat Jesus,
Mike Hartel