June2011

September 2011 Mother Teresa Council 12202

Chaplain
Fr. Andrij Wasylinko 549-1327

Grand Knight
Bernie Lutes 545-9564
Deputy Grand Knight
Randy Piccini 558-5402
Financial Secretary
Steve Malerby 542-9579
Chancellor
Dale Hofer 938-3253
Recorder
Bert Niehaus 549-7437
Treasurer
Gerry Glasser 545-0577
Advocate
Jack McLaughlin 26.-1933
Warden
Myles Bukowsky 550-5795
Trustee 1 year
Art Moeller 542-8466
Trustee 2 year
Juan Ferrigno 545-2065
Trustee 3 year
Maurice Bouchard 549-2310
Inside Guard
Anton Schnieder 549-1789
Outside Guard
Ben Allen 550-6111
Lecturer
Ben Loewen 542-4342

Field Agent
Blaine Anhel 1-877-532-5632

Website is www.kofc12202.ca

Calendar of Events

Executive Meeting - 2nd Tuesday of the Month, 7pm
General Meeting - 4th Tuesday of the Month, 7pm

BBQ Season

Youth Retreat Winfield September 11th, 2011

Oktoberfest October 15th, 2011

Program Director	Randy Piccini	250-5585402
Church Director	Juan Ferrigno	250-545-2065
Community Director	Art Moeller	250-542-8466
Council Director	Gerry Glasser	250-545-0577
Family Director	Joe Bukoswky	250-545-8110
Youth Director	Dale Hofer	250-938-3253
Pro-Life Director	Clayton Bzdel	250-503-3069
Membership Director	TBA
Recruitment	TBA
Recruitment	TBA
Charity Appeal Chair	Gerry Glasser	250-545-0577
BBQ Director	Myles Bukowsky	250-550-5795

Grand Knight's Report

Brothers Welcome,

First, I would like to thank all of the present and past officers, directors and chairmen, and everyone else that contributed to the council during my term as Grand Knight. You made it a fun, successful, and rewarding ride for me. I feel we achieved a lot over the last three years. We managed to grow the membership by over 40%, we have earned a double star and two singles, and most importantly, helped a lot of charities in both service and in cash.

As I mentioned earlier, it was one heck of a ride. One of the greatest compliments I received for our council was from a lady at our first BBQ a few weeks ago. She said and I quote, "The Knights of Columbus are the hub to our parish", end quote. That is a powerful message. I believe this stems from us being extremely active and front and center of a lot of activities in our parish. This I believe has a direct correlation to the amount of members that have joined us in the past. Men and their families want to be part of it. I have listened and read many reports on activities of other councils. One of their first comments is that they have no or very little membership growth. When they go on to list their activities, there aren't any or very few. To attract families, you need something to attract them to.

If I can give any advice to our new GK and officers coming in, don't go stagnant. Be front and center. To do this requires the work of many, not the few or the one. We have 96 members to date, enough to do great things. The challenge is to get a lot of them involved. What I have found is that people do what they can. A lot may not show up at meetings, but will gladly help when asked to for or at specific events. We also have lots of Knights working behind the scenes doing RCIA, Bingo, FFC, School Council, Church Council, OCPCS, Hospice House, Church Ministries, and on and on. Thank you to them.

Personally, being Grand Knight has grown me spiritually. Nothing in my life (other than attending mass) has done that more than this. I feel my relationship with my Lord has got tight. I have never before believed in the power of prayer more than now. A good example was last Sunday for our children's festival. The weather started to look pretty bad. Any worse and the festival would not be successful. We started to look for a "Plan B". When none could be found, the 4 of us outside putting things together, Steve, Joe, Myles and I decided to pray. Guess what, we probably had the most successful Children's festival ever, thanks to our Lord. The power for prayer can not be underestimated.

I wish all the best to Brother Bernie and his team, and I again thank you all for your support over the past three years. Thank you for attending this evening. Thank you for your time. Always live, laugh and be happy, all while doing God’s work.

Dale Hofer

District Deputy Report

My Brothers All,

I cannot believe that we are almost at the end of this Fraternal year.

In this my last communication with you as your District Deputy, I just wanted to say Thank you! You are all to be commended on the job you do for our Fraternal Order.

Being a member of the Knights of Columbus is worthwhile and rewarding, and the members of District 11 have shown time and time again how much they believe in the Order and the work that we do for our church, our communities, our councils.

The Knights of Columbus is indeed a Family and I am proud to be apart of your family and work side by side with you. Don’t forget to offer that same opportunity to the catholic man sitting beside you at mass, or the catholic man that you happen to meet at a pancake breakfast, garage sale or perhaps even the one you sell a horse blanket to. Our membership is strong but it can always be stronger…and that my Brothers is up to you! Each and everyone of you is the membership director for your Council, cease the opportunity to bring more members into the order…….extend the invitation!!

I would like to introduce you to your new District Deputy. Brother Dale Hofer, the present Grand Knight of Council 12202, will assume that role on July 1st. Dale is very capable of fulfilling the role and I am sure you will offer he and his wife Dianne all the hospitality that you did Deb and I.

It is my plan to visit with each Council before the end of June, but on behalf of Deb and myself, we wish to thank you for a great year, have a wonderful summer.

I look forward to working side by side with all of you in my new role as State Warden.

God Bless you and your family

Fraternally,

Michael

Chaplain's Report

Glory be to Jesus Christ,

Dear Brother Knights,

I wonder if you read an article in last Sunday’s issue of “The Morning Star”. The title of the article was “Many people view Christians with disdain” and was written by Rev. Yme Woensdregt, the incumbent at Christ Church Anglican in Cranbook.

The author shares how a very negative perception of Christians is held by young people, ages 16-29. A study conducted by David Kinnaman of the Barna Group was published in 2007 in the publication ‘unChristian’. The results say that Christians are perceived to be ‘antihomosexual (91%), judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%). Mr. Kinnaman comments in his study that this kind of perception of Christians is based on young people’s real experience with today’s followers of Christ.

Mr. Kinnaman findings really saddened me, and I was also surprised by Rev. Woensdregt’s comments on this issue. According to him, we as the Church are failing in our mission of being loving, compassionate, accepting. He mentions the work of the early Church writer Tertullian, entitled “Apology”, where the outsiders, the pagans, would say in reference to Christians: “Look how they love one another... and how they are ready to die for each other..” Then Rev. Yme continues to describe that many social works were carried out by Christians, ending by saying, “the church was attractive because they engaged in concrete actions which gave honour and dignity to every person. They did what Jesus did, embracing the outcast and lifting up the poor and powerless.”

I would agree that we as individual Christians do not always live up to the high call of following Christ, however, our Catholic Church’s teaching in her treatment of each human being has the highest possible treatment as its goal. But the problem the young people experience is that the Church, according to them, should accept the social changes which took place in this country in regards to sexuality. It appears that Rev. Yme agrees with them because he does not object to this. However, we know different. We as the Church are called to follow the revealed truth, not what society decides or is forced to accept as a modern way of life. I would like to end with a meditation by Fr. Anthony Coniaris dealing with the issue of ‘truth’ and ‘opinion’.

“Truth is not an opinion or a fad. Sometimes we worship opinions rather than truth. We would rather pay attention to 99 opinions because they are held by famous or great people than to the one thing we know is truth. Yet opinions are only opinions. They change. Truth is truth. It never changes. It was true yesterday; it is true today; it will be true tomorrow. I would rather rest my life on one thing I know to be the truth than on 99 opinions, however great the people who hold them.

Truth is not opinions or fads but neither is it what the majority decides. Because everybody’s doing something does not mean it is right. Truth is not determined by Gallup Polls. The ought is not derived from the is.

I recall a story about children playing with a doll in a nursery. One child asked if the doll was male or female. Some thought it was male; others thought it was female. They began to disagree violently until one child raised his hand and said, “Teacher, I know how we can find out.” “How?” asked the teacher. The child replied, “Let’s vote!” Well, truth is never voted into existence. Truth is reality. It is there. Whether we accept it or reject it, it is still truth.”

I wish you all a blessed, healthy and safe summer.

God bless you all.

Fr. Andrij.

Major Degree Here in Vernon

On Saturday June 11th, we had a major degree (2nd/3rd) here in Vernon. What a great event! Our Worthy State Deputy Michael Yeo was here to partake in the event. 29 candidates from around the district received the honour of the 2nd and 3rd degree. 9 of those were from our council. Congratulations to Gord Higginson, Clayton Bzdel, Art Moeller, Josh Verhage, Andrew Pfannschmidt, Bill Walker, Cliff Vico, Gerry Goudge, and Trevor Jordan for partaking in this event. Thank You also to all those that made it happen. 4949 hosted the event with many volunteers. A thank you to them. Our DD Michael Gernat for quarterbacking the event. A huge thank you him. And also from our council, Gerry Glasser, Ben Allen and Jack McLaughlin for setup, takedown and guard duties. This all made it a wonderful success. Thank you again to all.

100th Anniversary Celebration!

June 11th - What a wonderful banquet to Celebrate 100th Anniversary of Knights of Columbus in BC/Yukon Jurisdiction. Approximately 125 people attended a four Course Dinner at Schubert Centre. There was plenty of socializing, toasting, presentations and fun. Guests of honour included our Worthy State Deputy Michael Yeo, Past State Deputy and Former Supreme Director Germain Fortier, His Worship Mayor of Vernon Wayne Lippert and his wife Carol, our Worthy District Deputy Michael Gernat and his wife Deb, and Fathers Dale Normandeau and Tony Ackerman. Our council also gave out The Knight of the Year and Family of the Year Awards. Knight of the Year went to Brother Joe Bukowsky and Family of the Year went to Gord and Cathy Higginson and Family. Congratulations to them all.

Childrens Festival

Our Children's festival chaired by brother Joe Bukowsky was probably our most successful one to date. The weather looked a little scary for a bit, but it ended up to be a beautiful afternoon for the event. Approximately 235 plates were served, plus all the popcorn, and cotton candy. More enjoyment for the kids was a big bouncy, little horse bouncies, fish pond, and face painting. Thank You brother Joe and all your crew for a job well done.

Ecumenical Picnic

Another great success. Thank you to brother Myles Bukowsky and his team for organizing and running the food services for the event. This years numbers greatly surpassed last years numbers. About 250 plates were served at the event.

July/August/September Birthdays

Joe Monteyne	July 5th	Roger Savoie	July 6th
Bill Harper	July 10th	Bert Niehaus	July 14th
Joe Bukowsky	July 15th	Ben Moore	July 17th
Phillip Allen	July 17th	Joel Allen	July 19th
Juan Ferrigno	July 25th	Joshua Verhage	July 26th
Randy Piccini	August 2nd	Joe Dueling	August 17
John Arsenault	August 26th	Ken Wright	August 27th
Brian Lees	September 3rd	Clair Methot	September 19th
Justin Loewen	September 21st	Marc Fortier	September 22nd
John Johnston	September 25th	Brian Monaghan	September 26th
Bill Walker	September 28th

Pro-Life Sunday

Cross Display

On Sunday May 5th, we held a Pro-Life Awareness Day. The first part Brother Clayton Bzdel, and his team of Gerry Glasser, and Anton Schneider made over 300 crosses representing all the abortions that happen over a period of a year in Vernon. Thank you for the very somber visual.

Living Rosary

The Second part to the event was brother Bert Niehaus leading a group in a Living Rosary. Various colored Roses were placed in vases for each Our Father and Hail Mary. Thank you brother Bert for this part of the event. Thank you also to Lavington Roses for supplying all the roses.

Knight of the Quarter

Brother Gerry Goudge is our Knight of the Quarter. His work actually spans well over a year as our Bingo Director. This can be a taxing responsibility. First he needed to find someone to work every Sunday evening. Then if this person cancelled at some point, it meant finding a replacement. Once it was 6pm on Sunday, you prayed that the designee would not forget about his commitment. If he did, Gerry would be getting a call and would either have to locate someone very quick or go down himself to do Bingo. Making plans for Sunday nights was never really an option. Thank You Brother Gerry for your commitment and excellent work during your term as Bingo director.

As a side note, as of the end of this month, Bingo has now been cancelled due to lack of Bingo players. You can now answer the phone when you see Gerry's number on the call display.

The Funny Bone ....

WHAT CAUSES ARTHRITIS?

A drunk man who smelled like beer sat down on a subway next to a priest.

The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, anda half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading. After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, 'Say Father, what causes arthritis?'

The priest replies, 'My Son, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of a bath.'

The drunk muttered in response, 'Well, I'll be damned, ' Then returned to his paper.

The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. 'I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?'

The drunk answered, 'I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does.'

MORAL: Make sure you understand the question

1981 & 2005 - Two Interesting Years

Interesting Year 1981
1. Prince Charles got married.
2. Liverpool crowned soccer Champions of Europe.
3. Australia lost the Ashes.
4. The Pope died.

Interesting Year 2005
1. Prince Charles got married.
2. Liverpool crowned soccer Champions of Europe.
3. Australia lost the Ashes.
4. The Pope died.

Lesson to be learned:
The next time Charles gets married, someone should warn the Pope.