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HONORING THE PAST ~ EMBRACING THE FUTURE
October 2004
VOLUME XXIX ISSUE 4
| Please Patronize Our Advertisers |
Contents . . .
GRAND KNIGHT’S MESSAGE
Dear Brother Knights and Ladies,
All the Councils in District 11 have had their installations including the Chapter of Grand Knights (Bishop McNamara). It is now time for us to work even harder to make our Council and our District a united family of Knights striving to meet the needs of our churches, our communities and our country. In the month of October we have the Tootsie Roll Campaign. As you know, the funds raised go to help mentally handicapped children. Please consider volunteering a few hours of your time to make a difference in a child’s life. Remember: IT IS IN GIVING THAT WE RECEIVE.
October 16th and 17th is the State Wide Membership Blitz – please call your membership chairman (Homer Chen, 301- 460-0580) to volunteer your time to recruit new members. There are so many activities in the month of October (please refer to the monthly calendar), all of them require your participation in order for us to meet our goals. We are counting on you!
FAITH AND POLITICS - Please register to vote if you have not already done so. “… Nothing surpasses the greatness or dignity of a human person. Human life is not just an idea or an abstraction. Human life is the concrete reality of a being that lives, that acts, that grows and develops. Human life is the concrete reality of a being that is capable of love and of service to humanity.” Pope John Paul II, Oct. 7, 1979.
VOTE, VOTE, VOTE ON NOVEMBER 2. Choices have consequences, remember the born and unborn – together we can make a difference.
Please pray the Rosary and pray for our troops.
Yours in Christ,
Innocent P. d’Almeida
Grand Knight
DISTRICT DEPUTY’S MESSAGE
In the first quarter of this fraternal year our Councils have been very busy and we are heavy into the car raffle and mentally handicapped program.
With Columbus Day we have the Columbus Day Ball at La Fountain Blue in Glen Burnie on October 9th and Shirley and I look forward to seeing you there. You can ask your Grand Knight for tickets, which are $35 per person. Don’t forget the Columbus Day Parade on the 10th starting in the inner harbor. I have gone to this parade several times and its great fun and a way to show your Council colors.
For those of you who are writing the activity reports for your Council, please remember I need them by no later then October 21st, so I can take them with me to the fall meeting.
The State Memorial Mass this year will be on November 14th at St. Mark’s Church with Mass starting at 2:00 PM. The awards presentations and dinner will take place at Patapsco Council #1060 following Mass. We would like to encourage each Council to invite your widows to this affair. More to follow in the next few weeks.
Please don’t forget the "Membership Blitz" it will be held state wide on October 16th and 17th. We request all members to get involved with this blitz. Every Knight and their Wife should carry a form 100 and remember, all you have to do is ask someone to join our order.
Please remember to pray your Rosary and pray for our troops,
Kevin L. Jeffords, District Deputy #11
MESSAGE FROM CARDINAL O’BOYLE ASSEMBLY
Worthy Grand Knights,
With the presidential election coming up in early November, and with the Nation facing a large number of public policy issues that have significant moral considerations, we are trying to inform our members of the responsibilities of a Catholic in voting. This is one of the charges to the Fourth Degree.
Toward that end, I have written the attached two-page article, which discusses the position of the Catholic Church on a number of moral issues and provides the positions of the two leading presidential candidates on key issues that already have come before the President and Congress. The article has been reviewed by the Worthy State Advocate for adherence with KofC policy.
Although your Council is now affiliated with the newly created Sullivan Brothers Assembly, the article still is appropriate for publication in your Council's newsletter. I have spoken to your Assembly's Faithful Navigator, SK Thomas Schneider, and he is in accord with my sending it to you. Our two Assemblies have a lot to offer in collaboration. May this be the first step in that direction.
Please include the article, perhaps as an insert, in the October issue of your Council's newsletter. If necessary, please change the font size to fit. I would appreciate knowing that you will publish it, and would be grateful to receive a copy of the newsletter.
Vivat Jesus!
Lawrence Grayson, Faithful Admiral, Cardinal Patrick A. O'Boyle Assembly
FR. PETER PAUL MAHER COUNCIL MEMORIAL MASS
This year’s Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Sunday, October 31 at St. Patrick’s Church, 4101 Norbeck Road, Rockville, Maryland. Our deceased brothers will be remembered during the 12:30 p.m. Mass. The celebrant will be our Chaplain, Fr. Fred Close. All council members and their families are encouraged to attend. We owe so much to the brothers and ladies we are honoring.
Following the Memorial Mass, the widows and family members will be the Council’s guests at a luncheon to be held at:
The Olney Community Room
Buffington-RE/MAX Building (next to Ricciuti's)
3300 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Suite 140
Olney, Maryland
If you are interested in attending the luncheon, please call E.J. Cummings at 301-260-2846 by October 22 for further details.
MARYLAND STATE COUNCIL MEMORIAL MASS
The annual Maryland State Council Memorial Mass will be celebrated at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 14, 2004 at St. Mark Roman Catholic Church, 27 Melvin Avenue, Catonsville, Maryland. Following the Memorial Mass, a reception will be held at Patapsco Council #1960 located at 1010 Frederick Road, Catonsville, Maryland. Tickets to the reception must be purchased by November 1. For more information, please contact E.J. Cummings at 301-260-2846.
COUNCIL HOSTS SECOND DEGREE
Fr. Peter Paul Maher Council, using the parish center at Our Lady of Grace, will host the exemplification of the Second Degree of the Order on Thursday, 21 October 2004. The District Second Degree Team will do the honors. Many members of the team are members of Fr. Peter Paul Maher Council # 6793.
This is not our normal meeting night, but members are encouraged to attend to support the Team and the new Second-Degree Candidates. Our Lady of Grace is located at the Norbeck Road entrance to Leisure World. Any First Degree member of the Council desiring to take the Second Degree should contact the Financial Secretary ASAP (Bro. Ed Ramos 301-924-1898). Only Second Degree or higher members will be admitted to the Degree.
Any questions contact PGK Bob Caron (301-774-6951).
Time is Running out!!
Our Council needs your support for the Dinner Dance Silent Auction
Benefiting the Community Support and Charitable Programs of
Fr. Peter Paul Maher Council 6793 Knights of Columbus
Saturday, November 13, 2004
From 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
McCarrick Hall-St. Andrew Kim Parish Center
(Corner of Old Baltimore Rd. & Rt. 108)
Buffet Dinner
Dancing and DJ
Silent Auction
Tickets are only $25 each
Invite your friends and fill a table for eight
To purchase tickets please contact Patricia Moore at 301 774 9260
Donations are still needed for the auction
Please contact Joe Feakes 301-774-0137
Gift Baskets, Collectibles, Services,
Gift Certificates, Get-Away Vacation Opportunities, etc.
For further information Contact
Jack Giacalone at 301-774-6338
Innocent d’Almeida at 301-871-6156
RETREATS HOSTED BY MARYLAND STATE COUNCIL
This fraternal year, the Maryland State Council will be hosting the Men’s Weekend Retreat at the Loyola Retreat House in Faulkner, Maryland. The retreat will be held from November 5 -7, 2004. The cost for the weekend is $150.
In addition to the Men’s Weekend Retreat, the Maryland State Council will be hosting three One-Day Retreats at The Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, Maryland. The cost of each retreat is $30 which includes lunch. The dates for these retreats are:
If you are interested in attending any of the retreats, please contact E.J. Cummings, Church Activities Director, at 301-260-2846 for more information.
We encourage you to support our advertisers.
Please place an ad for your business with us. We will accept hard copy, or reproduce your business card — no faxes please.
Electronic submission of your ad is preferred; however we will accept hard copy. Gerry Hemmingson will be happy to answer any of your questions or to place your ad.
Please note that the newsletter deadline is the 20th day of each month.
Please email your articles for submission to Newsletter e-mail only:
council6793@verizon.net
DISTRICT DEPUTY REPORT
Members of the Knights of Columbus serve in the Usher Ministry at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception located in Washington, D.C. The Ministry is responsible for having ushers in attendance at each of the seven weekend Masses and at some 75 special events each year. To fulfill these responsibilities, each usher in the ministry is assigned to one or two masses for one weekend of each month. Any Knight who is in good standing in the Third Degree, in good health and has not passed his 70th birthday may apply for the Usher Ministry. If you are interested in this special ministry, please contact E.J. Cummings, Church Activities Director, at 301-260-2846 for more information.
FAMILY ACTIVITIES CORNER
ANNUAL PICNIC
On Sunday, September 12, 2004, Father Peter Paul Maher Council #6793 held its annual picnic on the grounds of St. Patrick’s church in Rockville Maryland. Each family was responsible for bringing either a salad or dessert to share. The Council furnished all the meats and drinks, which included hot dogs, hamburgers and barbecue chicken. The picnic started with the blessing of the food by our Chaplain Fr. Fred. An outstanding sense of friendship and fellowship prevailed among the Priests, the brother Knights, their wives and children, our widows and friends. There were a variety of games for both adults and children, which included football, Frisbee, face painting and concluded with a game searching for a piece of chewing gum at the bottom of a plate of whipped cream. Everyone had a great time, and we are already excited about next year.
Thanks go to all of those who made the day so successful; Innocent and Donna d’Almeida, Jack and Phyllis Giacalone, Johnny and Tina Moore, John and Pat Moore, Rick and Nancy Allison, Harry and Grace Bushar, Bill Gulban, Mark Lentz, Steve Goldhammer, and special thanks to Ann Marie Ketter who headed up the children’s activities. Special thanks also to Monsignor Kane for letting us use the parish ground in spite of all the construction going on for the parish’s new school. Msgr. Kane attended the picnic and said that he had a wonderful time. Another special thanks to all who attended this year.
Submitted by John Moore, "Jr."
CAR RAFFLE TICKET SALES
by William E. Ketter, PGK
The Council has received the sales of only 1,585 raffle tickets by 106 members or widows. This is rather a small amount when you think that we sent out over 6,000 raffle ticket to over 400 member and widows. If you happen to be one of those people that set that request aside and said I will send that in later, please look up that request and send them in. You must send them in to arrive at least by October 8th so the Council can take them to the Columbus Day Ball where the drawing will occur on Saturday night, October 9, 2004. The Council was hoping that the response would be better and the Council would realize a profit of at least $1,200.00. With our sales to date the Council would realize income of about $950.00. The Council need the extra income in order to carry out its many charitable activities!
PATRON ADS
by William E. Ketter, PGK
The Council received requests for 80 Patron Ads on the Council's Columbus Day Ball Program Ad. This is three less than we received in 2003. The Council wishes to take this opportunity to thank every member that placed a patron ad and indicating 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 the November Newsletter.
CHAPLAIN’S MESSAGE
The early fall is traditionally a time of new beginnings. Our Council has just installed our new officers, and our neighbors include those commencing a new school year, and our elder brothers and sisters in faith, now celebrating the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement. Every new beginning has both continuity with the past and openness to the future. The continuity is based on God’s mercy and faithfulness, and its openness on the conviction that God, who has begun this good work in us, will bring it to completion.
This year we begin again the fraternal works of charity and solidarity which are ours as Knights, as Catholic Gentlemen. This is our continuity with the vision of Fr. McGivney. We begin again in a world that has benefited from the witness of Knights in the past, and which needs that witness even more to meet the challenges of today. As we continue our journey of faith, confident in God’s call and provision, let us support each other in prayer.
Fraternally Yours,
Fr. Fred
VOTING AND A CATHOLIC’S RESPONSIBILITIES
On November 2, we will have an opportunity to vote for the next President of the United States and for others who will represent us in Congress, at the State and local levels. As all such elections, this is a very important event and one that we should not take lightly. There are several issues – including abortion, homosexual marriage, and stem cell research – that we are dealing with as a nation that have significant moral aspects. Our votes, yours and mine, are critical to assuring that our Nation continues to form its policies in line with the precepts of our God.
As Catholics and as members of the Knights of Columbus, we have an obligation to be informed about the Church’s teachings on moral issues. Our actions should be consistent with the Magisterium. When voting, we should not cast a ballot for a program, law, or candidate whose positions contradict the fundamental content of our Faith and morals.
There are several issues that are inherently evil and of such moral enormity that by themselves they render a candidate for office whose views are in opposition to the Church’s position unacceptable, regardless of the candidate’s stand on other matters. The issues of abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, fetal stem cell research, and homosexual marriage are of this nature. They are unalterably immoral. Any candidate who promotes or makes it possible for others to act in opposition to the Church’s position on these matters commits a moral evil. If we vote for such a candidate, we become an accomplice in that evil.
A candidate’s positions on other issues of an economic, social, diplomatic or religious nature, no matter how beneficial to society-at-large, cannot outweigh his or her stand for an intrinsic evil. This is true even if the candidate supports quality of life concerns, such as health care for all, adequate housing and food for the needy, alleviating the effects of unemployment, promoting job opportunities, or stabilizing social security. All of these are morally subordinate to issues such as abortion.
All moral issues are not of equal weight. Abortion and capital punishment, for example, are morally distinct, even though both involve taking a life. Abortion, which involves the killing of an innocent person, is an intrinsic evil that can never be justified for any purpose under any circumstance. Capital punishment, in contrast, which has been warranted because of a person’s illicit actions, can be justified in certain situations, especially when society has no other reasonable alternative. The Church states that while those circumstances are rare and civil authorities must justify the necessity for imposing the death penalty, capital punishment can be morally allowed.
No doubt, a politician who is Catholic faces difficult decisions in dealing with today’s issues. He must balance his adherence to the Church’s teachings with the interests of his constituents who reflect a secular society. On non-negotiable moral issues, however, he can have only one position. A Catholic politician who is true to the Faith cannot be opposed personally to a matter that is intrinsically evil, but support it politically for those who think otherwise. The candidate who professes these contradictory views is either in self-delusion and fooling himself or is lying and trying to fool us. Too many such candidates claim to be Catholic, but act in opposition to basic Catholic moral teachings. A candidate who is wrong on even one issue that deals with an unalterable moral matter should not receive our support.
For those who wish to explore this topic further, two excellent pamphlets are available – Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics, published by Catholic Answers, and A Brief Catechism for Catholic Voters, by Father Stephen E. Torraco and published by Leaflet Missal Company. They can be obtained from many Catholic bookstores, including The Catholic Information Center, in Washington, DC.
The accompanying table provides the positions of the two leading candidates for President of the United States on a number of issues that have come before the President and Congress. It does not endorse either candidate or party and is meant for informational purposes only. You can explore these and related issues further at www.priestsforlife.org, the web site of Priests for Life.
As you prepare for the forthcoming elections, strengthen your understanding of the Church’s views on moral issues, learn the positions of the various candidates on these matters, and cast your ballot accordingly.
POSITIONS OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
| George W. Bush | Issue | John Kerry |
| Instituted by President Reagan, and repealed by President Clinton, President Bush reinstated it the day he was inaugurated. | Mexico City Policy requires nongovernmental organizations to agree as a condition of their receipt of Federal funds that they will neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations | Stated that his first Executive Order would be to repeal the policy. |
| Supports | Establish a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman | Opposes |
|
Signed the Act on |
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act | Voted against it four times from 1997 to 2003 |
|
Signed the Act on |
Born-Alive Infant Protection Act ensures that every infant born alive, including those who survive an abortion procedure, is considered a person under federal law | Act passed by Unanimous Consent |
| Supports a ban on all human cloning | Human cloning ban | Co-sponsor of a bill to ban cloning for human reproduction, but allow it for medical research |
| Supports |
Terri’s Law passed in |
No position |
|
Signed the Act on |
Unborn Victims of Violence Act provides that any person who causes death or injury to a child in the womb shall be charged with a separate offense, in addition to any charges relating to the mother. | Voted against the Act |
| Opposes, but allows research on existing lines and on adult stem cells | Fetal stem cell research on new lines | Supports |
| Opposes | Abortion in military medical facilities | Voted to fund it five times from 1997 to 2002 |
| Opposes | Allow out-of-closet gays to serve in the military | Supports |
| Signed an Executive Order permitting it | Allow faith-based community programs to compete with non-faith-based programs for federal funding | Opposes |
| Opposes | Health insurance plans for government employees to include contraceptive coverage | Supports |
| Supports | Abortion Non-Discrimination Act would protect health care professionals and organizations from being compelled or discriminated against by the Federal government, or by any State or local government receiving Federal financial assistance, because they oppose supporting or participating in abortions or abortion training. | No stated position |
|
Denied funding since |
Funding of the United Nations Population Fund, which is the largest international supporter of population and reproductive health programs | Would restore funding |
Lawrence P. Grayson, PGK, PFN
Faithful Admiral
Cardinal Patrick A. O.Boyle Assembly