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October 2002 VOLUME XXVII ISSUE 4
Contents . . .
Grand Knight's Message
Good Brother Knights,
October is an interesting month for the Knights of Columbus, we honor our namesake and we serve children with developmental disabilities through our Tootsie Roll drive. At first glance, this is an interesting dichotomy. We honor a hero of the Catholic faith and those who live with the most courage known to mankind.
As our namesake did in the early renaissance, let us show our strength and courage to strike out beyond ourselves and discover the faith and charity we have within.
Contact Brothers Mike Irvine and Al Bonan with your commitment to those children less fortunate than ourselves who face challenges we cannot imagine every day, with a courage that we cannot conceive. We need every Knight to do his part in serving these brave yet blessed children. Two hours to stand and accept donations for the Tootsie Roll drive is a small task compared to the challenging lives of these, our order’s adopted children.
As our namesake did we should strive to discover a new country, a country within ourselves, one that we don’t visit often, the country of our faith. Don’t be the Catholic behind the walls of dogma and comfort. Stand next to our priests, stand up for our faith, defend the causes of life, family, and a moral community.
Be proud to be a Roman Catholic, be proud to be a Knight of Columbus, do not hesitate to engage others in discussions of what we believe and present yourself as an example of our faith, our values and our ideals. Display the logo and wear the lapel pin of our order everyday.
We may not be perfect Catholics or Knights but we strive for the perfection expected by God our King, through the grace of his Holy Spirit and the sacrifice of our savior Jesus Christ.
In service to our Church, our order and our Council, Pax Christos et Salve Regina.
Rick Allison
Chaplain's Message
by Fr. LaHood
What is ‘heck’? It's where people go who don't believe in ‘gosh’. October ends with Halloween (All Hallow's Eve; the Eve of All Saints Day). We go from a day that reminds us of the evil in the world to a day that reminds us of the Heavenly Kingdom.
The anniversary of September 11 reminds us of the presence of evil in our world. As the days get drastically shorter in October, we are reminded of the end times. For us as Catholics, though, the end times are not times to fear or worry about. It is the time where all evil will be finally cast into Heck. The People of God on earth will then be liberated from the constant temptation to, and threat from, evil.
We as Knights carry on the struggle against evil. This is not separate from Christ's defeat of Satan, but is part of it. There are evils out there, other than terrorism. October 27th to November 3rd is pornography awareness week. We need to stay vigilant to keep this evil from creeping into our own lives and the lives of our children. Of course we always keep the evil of abortion and of other threats to life on our list of things to work against and to pray about.
As Knights we keep up the work and the witness for the sake of the Kingdom: where all the saints reign and where evil is banished.
Insurance Report
by Rick Morin, FICF/LUTCF---Your K of C Insurance Agent (301) 384-7627
Who Were You?
A speaker at a meeting of top business leaders asked each to write his or her own obituary. At first each wrote about their impressive business success, how much they had achieved. But then each threw that draft away. Then, they wrote about how they really wanted to be remembered: for being a loving husband or wife, for being a terrific parent, for how much they cared for their family and friends and finally for how fair and honest they were.
In fact, each of us is writing our own obituary every day . . . What we do now is what we will be remembered for. Material success won't count -- it's the kind of love we live. Being a good provider is important, but it is the kind of person we are that really matters. Just being a Knight shows we care about our Family, our Church and our Country. And you know, the more active we are . . . the more it shows.
How about what happens to your family after you are gone? You can't help wondering at the funeral if the family is going to have to struggle, or if the deceased left his family in good shape. Too many guys have some vague idea but don't make specific plans. And some think friends, relatives or the government will take care of their loved ones. And many depend on their big group term plans; forgetting that it expires after they retire.
As a brother knight, I am trained to be of service to you. Why not take a few minutes to review your financial and life insurance plan . . . so you will be remembered for the wonderful person you really are!
District Deputy Article
by Joe Feakes, District Deputy #1
By the time you receive this report we will have ended the first quarter of the fraternal year. From what I have seen, read, and heard, the councils in District 1 had some very interesting and successful programs. Thanks to all for putting forth the effort to support our church, community, councils, family, and youth.
On behalf of our District Warden, Yen Le, and our wives Nu and Lynn, I want to extend our sincere gratitude to everyone who made the installations in our district so outstanding. All of us truly appreciate the energy, hospitality, and cooperation that we received. May God bless you and bring you success in all that you do.
In keeping with our trend over the past few months, I would like to talk about my third priority for this fraternal year- family activities. There is a section in the installation of council officers that deals with a man’s devotion to his family. "It is well known that the extent of a man’s love of family and the loyalty of his family in his endeavors are strongly reflected in the influence he exerts upon his council as he discharges his responsibilities."
This statement doesn’t apply only to council officers, but to every member of the Knights of Columbus regardless of his position in his council. And "family" doesn’t mean just those people who might live with you or call you "Dad". You have a "community" family, a "work" family, and a "church" family. Let us all make an extra effort to include as many members of our "families" as possible in all our council functions.
Family activities are a tremendous opportunity to recruit new members. We want to show men who are not Knights that it is not our intention to separate them from their families, but, rather, to offer them more ways to bring their families closer to each other and closer to their faith.
Remember October is "Tootsie Roll" month. I’ll see you out there.
Vivat Jesus
Update: Inwood House Halloween Festival
(would you like to help?)
The committee met and plans are set for one of our Community Service activities. The Halloween Festival for the residents will be held at Inwood House in Wheaton on Saturday, October 26, 2002.
In the past we have served 110 guests and hope to do the same this year. The Committee would appreciate donations suitable for door prizes and awards.(e.g. Giant or Safeway grocery certificates; Wheaton Plaza gift certificates, or other certificates from the Wheaton area, some of the residents would have trouble getting to other areas due to wheelchairs or other transportation problems). Perhaps you have a "new" unused item at your house you would like to donate?
To donate or participate in the function please call JIM PADAMS at 301-570-5213 or PAUL McFARLANE at 301-570-5508.
Membership News
by Homer Chen
Let’s extend our sincere congratulations and warm welcome to Deacon James Nalls, Gregory S. Tang and Thomas A. Russo who joined our Council by taking the first degree on Monday, September 23rd during our membership meeting.
As of the end of September, our Council has a total of 4 new members. That is a good start for our membership recruitment drive! Let’s continue our effort and try harder to invite our friends, family members, fellow parishioners and co-workers to join us. For membership information and application forms, please call Bill Ketter at 301-570-8959 or Homer Chen at 301-460-0580.
The Council Family Picnic
by John Devine
On Sunday, September 8th the Council held its annual picnic on St. Patrick’s church grounds attended by over one hundred members and their families. Special thanks to Monsignor Kane who attended the picnic and allowed us to hold this family activity on the wonderful St. Patrick’s Parish grounds.
Special thanks also to Deputy Grand Knight Innocent d’Almeida and his merry band of cooks: Rick Allison, Sumi Arima, Jim Bonnano, John Devine, Paul McFarlane and Dominick Memoli. Thanks are also in order for Bob McHale, Ann Ketter and Barbara Mazonkey for organizing activities and games for the children, a demanding (but fun) task. Special thanks go to Bob McHale and his family for purchasing our food - a tough job to stand in the checkout lines.
Of course, no list of thanks is complete, until we thank the people who really made this event a success, our wives, especially Donna Simms d’Almeida, Ann Memoli and the entire committee for their hard word in making this a wonderful family day for all those who were able to attend. Finally, my apologies to any hard workers whose names I forgot. Please come back and work again next year.
It's Not Too Early to Start Thinking About Christmas!!!
by Innocent d\'Almeida
Our annual Christmas Party this year will be held at St. Peter’s Parish Hall on Sunday, December 22nd from 3 PM to 6 PM (no Mass). Every Council family is invited to come and help celebrate the spirit of Christmas, which is HOPE and JOY. We are planning to have loads of fun with activities for both children and adults, but we need your suggestions and assistance.
Please call Donna or me at 301-871-6156 with your ideas and/or commitment to serve on the Christmas Planning Committee. More details on the party will provided in next month’s newsletter. Hope to see you on December 22nd!
Family Communion Breakfast a Surprise Success
by Bill Gulban, Director of Church Activities
With only one and half weeks prior to the communion breakfast event at St. Patrick’s Church, there were only 25 signed up to attend. Then after many personal phone calls and the last ticket sales in-between Masses on the week before the event the number of reservations increased to the estimated number of 100 reservations. Finally, when the call-in to the caterer deadline appeared, 25 more reservations zipped in and the count totaled a happy get-together of 125 parishioners and KC member families. Even though when the caterer who was preparing the breakfast in the kitchen reported that the electric power was out for cooking and the coffee urns were cutoff, then there was a bit of hustling to find the power source and separate the coffee pots to the class rooms for perking the coffee and the breakfast menu was cooking again. The main menu was served by the Grand Marquis Café. Grace was led by Chaplain, Fr. LaHood.
The program included an announcement by Merrily Ansell, president of Books, Bears, & Bonnets, Inc, who talked about caring gifts to children of cancer disease at NIH. Msgr. Kane gave a brief greeting to the crowd. As a small token Msgr. Kane was presented a gift of a packet of car wash coupons at Fletchers car service. Afterwards, a raffle drawing for the attendees included coupons for car washes, and dinner gift certificates. One surprise was the gifts presented to all children age 3 to 11, ---twenty-three brown teddy bears made them happy. The Council special table, manned by Bill Ketter, reported sales of 6 Entertainment Books, and 6 sets of Christmas Cards.
With the slight trauma of power outage during this event great thanks go to Brother Knights, Gabe Francis, and team of helpers in correcting the power problem. For the Knights who helped making this event successful my thanks go to tickets and reservation helpers, Homer Chen, John Devine, Ben Santaiti, Bill Hammond, Innocent d’Almeida, and Harry Bushar. Many other helpers came to the rescue including Chuck and Mary Cozad, Donna d’Almeida, and Jim Bonanno, at the entrance table, and servers Bill and Roberta Homick. Undoubtedly, I am missing some other great helpers like Mike Irvine, and some others, so thanks again for making our Communion Breakfast a great success.
Health for K of C Membership Longetivity
by Bill Gulban
Many thanks for your comments of appreciating my health articles. It gives me inspiration to cover even more ground about keeping us all well to provide God’s work. This month let us turn to advice and information from the world leader in coronary care and research entitled "New Guidelines for Unstable Angina". What you and your doctor need to know when chest pain worsens. The ink was barely dry two years ago on a set guidelines for treating the most serious cases of chest pain before a flurry of new studies led doctors to begin crossing out and replacing some key recommendations.
The resulting revisions, released recently, mean more aggressive treatment and greater safety for many patients with unstable angina, a dangerous form of chest pain that should trigger a prompt call for medical help. Stable angina is pain that doesn’t change in frequency, severity or character. Its discomfort follows a stable or predictable pattern: Some patients suffer from it for many years. Unstable angina is the worsening of a previously stable angina condition - the pain is more easily provoked, more severe, and more frequent.
The recommendations also cover treatment of heart attack patients with an electrocardiogram pattern suggesting a partial closure - not complete blockage - in a coronary artery. This condition, called non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), is the most common type of heart attack, often heralded by the development of unstable angina. Stable and unstable angina is caused by arterial disease preventing oxygen-bearing blood from reaching heart tissues.
Dr. Eugene Braunwald, MD, of the Harvard Medical School, who chaired the committee of American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association reported that research found out more in the past year about unstable angina and NSTEMI than was known in the previous 20 years. About 1.5 million people are hospitalized each year with unstable angina, and probably a similar number are never hospitalized but are treated as outpatients or never seek medical care. "But it’s risky to ignore the pain", he says. About 10% of people with unstable angina will have a heart attack or die in the first several weeks after they notice the symptoms.
Perform early angiography. Patients with high-risk characteristics should undergo a heart catheterization within 48 hours of hospitalization. A physician inserts a catheter into the groin, threads it to the heart’s arteries and injects a dye enabling an X-ray examination to identify blockages. In about 40% of "cath lab" cases, doctors will only need to prescribe medications to treat the arterial disease they find. Approximately a third of patients will immediately receive angioplasty: a balloon-tipped catheter advanced into the blockage and expanded to reopen the vessel. On average, another third will require bypass surgery.
Use a blood thinner. Most patients with coronary artery disease are already taking aspirin. The guidelines suggest that many should also be taking another anticoagulant, such as clopidogrel (Plavix). Like aspirin, clopidogrel reduces the stickiness of platelets, clotting cells whose clumping can raise the risk of heart attack. "The guidelines now recommend that most patients receive it for at least one month, and some patients take it for nine months."
Prescribe statins. As patients are discharged, their doctors should start or continue them on the cholesterol-lowering drugs. Statins reduce the danger that cholesterol will contribute to the buildup of plaque on the artery wall. There’s evidence that statins, like aspirin, reduce inflammation, a defensive response of vessels, following injury that can also heighten risk. Those who comply with the prescription, and continue to respond to angina’s distress call, are more likely to avoid future heart attacks, strokes and surgery. -- This article is supported by The Cleveland Clinic Heart Advisor.
Still Need Cooks and Cashiers for Red Ribbon Safety Saturday October 12
Brother Paul McFarlane needs 6 more (total 8) Knights to assist with a fun and worthwhile fundraiser for our Council on Saturday, October 12, 2002. Our Council has been asked to provide, cook, and serve hamburgers and hotdogs at Cashell Elementary School for participants in the Red Ribbon Safety Saturday event.
This event is designed to educate elementary school children about health and safety around home and school. Participants learn about fire safety, bike, roller blade and skate board safety, and how to avoid drug and alcohol use. Local fire department personnel promote fire awareness and emergency medical services. The event will be well advertised throughout the community to reach as many school children and their families as possible. Our Council will receive 50 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the hotdogs and hamburgers.
Paul still needs 2 cooks, 2 cashiers and 2 servers! Please call Paul on 301-570-5508 to lend a hand.
Patron Ads
by William E. Ketter, PGK
The Council received requests for 69 Patron Ads on the Council's Columbus Day Ball Program Ad. Several requests arrived after the deadline so will be unable to be on the Ad. The Council wishes to take this opportunity to thank every member that placed a patron ad and thus showed their pride in being members of Father Peter Paul Maher Council No. 6793. The generosity of the members participating this year was exceptional and will allow the Council to pay for the two-page Ad and to place ads in other programs. The two page Ad will be reprinted in a future Newsletter.
The Council sent the request for Patron Ads rather late. Although the money coming in was very good the number of Council members buying Patrons Ads is down, we will not be submitting any ads until probably in the middle of January when we will have to submit the Ad for the Fourth Degree Exemplification program. The Council is asking the members who have not submitted any Patron Ads, to look up the information and send in your patron ads as soon as possible. Don’t wait, as soon as you have read this newsletter go and locate the information and send it in. "Don’t wait--do it now!"