May 2019 Bulletin: Easter Vigil

Lead article from the May 2019 bulletin, online now.

For the first forty-nine years of my life, the Easter Vigil meant nothing to me. That all changed at the Easter Vigil 2009 when Fr. Gregory Abbott and Fr. Michael Becker led me into the water as a Catechumen as I welcomed the light of Christ. I found myself immersed in the same baptismal font that my youngest daughter Anna was baptized in five years earlier. I had literally followed all three of my girls into the faith.

The occurrence would not have taken place without them. God set me on my path in February 1986 aged twenty six years. The journey was started as a result of my signature on a document that clearly explained my commitment to raise my future children in the Catholic faith. Father Joe at St. Gerard's Catholic church would not marry us without it. After all, I was being honest when I informed him of my agnostic beliefs. We hoped to have a bunch of kids, but they did not come.

The next 14 years were filled with infertility, doctors and frustration. As a Catholic, my wife Gina prayed on it. I also offered prayers that followed within my agnostic parameters, you know, "If you are up there please present us with children" type of prayer.

Those prayers were answered in 2001- 2003 when we journeyed to the Russian Republic on four occasions and gained our daughters through adoption. We moved to Albertville between daughters and set up shop. We were reminded of our commitment to raise our daughters Catholic and began to attend Mass on Sundays. Father Siebenaler then baptized Marina in 2003 and Father Michael Becker baptized Anna in the new church in 2005.

For the next five years I attended Mass with my family on a weekly basis. I behaved myself as a non-Catholic and stayed in my seat during communion while paying close attention to that which was going on around me. I asked Gina many questions about the Mass the stand- up-sit down stand-up sit-down, the doing of the dishes and such. What I witnessed also was a lot of men bringing their families to church, and leading them to faith filled lives.

This began to chip away at my uncertain position about Christ and God. I began to watch the EWTN network and studied Pope John Paul to some extent due to his huge cultural impact in the Christian world. My wife asked me if I was stalking the Catholic church. I guess I was, and we placed both girls on the list to attend the Catholic school and continued attending Mass. One day I found my way to Father Abbott's office discussing the RCIA program. I joined and spent the next year pouring over the Catechism.

The long, 49-year, meandering path then ended in 2009 at the Easter Vigil where Fr. Abbott and Fr. Becker led me into that same baptismal font that my daughter was led into five years earlier. The congregation that night could not have made me feel more welcome. I was bathed in Christ's light for the first time in my life. Delivered there in no small part due to my three girls.

So when you are thinking about which Easter service to attend, please consider the wonderful Easter Vigil. Where else can you witness a large group of people coming into the light of Jesus and embraced by his welcoming arms?

God bless, 

Gary Frandsen

Grand Knight

March 2019 Bulletin: Ice Cream

Lead article from the March 2019 bulletin, online now.

I tend to struggle with the Lenten tradition of giving up some perceived vice or indulgence in order to suffer to some extent as we consider the profound suffering of Christ in the time leading up to his passion. I will of course follow all the Lenten rules. I also have much admiration for those who give up significant habits and routines so as to draw them closer to our saviors suffering.

I have given up things in past Lenten seasons only to feel underwhelmed about my sacrifice as I resume them after Easter Sunday. Did I suffer much? Nope. Did it bring me closer to understanding his suffering? Not really. So what should I do?

I may have had some small revelation in this regard on our recent trip to Florida. We were Staying at a Daytona beach hotel. Hotel guests were venturing out to the beach to see the strange family who were swimming alone in 65 degree cloudy skies weather. They came wearing parkas and took our pictures and asked us where we came from that we would be swimming on this day. We told them and a look of "Oh, I get it now" came over their faces. We hit the hot tub for a bit then decided to walk downtown where we could see a boardwalk and amusement park waiting for our arrival.

There were some Hurricane "Irma" ravaged hotels along the beach as we made our way. A few lined with fence and under repair and others seemingly abandoned. We noticed that the homeless were taking up residence in some of the lower floors of the abandoned buildings. Makeshift homes consisting of wood, cardboard, worn mattresses and the like. A young couple caught our attention as they moved a mattress out of the chill drizzle that was falling at the time. They were in the middle of a heated obscenity laced exchange about some grievance between them. There were many homeless along our way. Their deeply lined faces spoke to the nature of the untold witness they held from us. We made it downtown and the homeless quickly slipped from our minds.

We had much fun looking at shops, walked the pier and listened to the Atlantic. We had a great meal and started back. My youngest noticed a Baskin Robins Ice Cream shop and grabbed my arm. We made progress across the street via skyway where a vagrant was taking some rest. As we approached our destination, a tall thin elderly homeless black man was speaking to each passerby with his head down. I grabbed my eldest daughter and shifted her to my left as we neared the tall man on my right. I could barely hear him speak as we passed. "Could you please buy me some food, good sir." We hustled our step as we passed him a glance.

My eldest told me that he looked hungry. I mentioned some nonsense about his life choices and we joined the line at Baskin-Robbins. We were waiting about a minute for our 1,000 calorie indulgence when the brick fell upon my head. I looked at Marina and told her that she was spot on. He did look hungry. We bolted out and found the same tall black homeless man making his way down the sidewalk. When the distance was made up my daughter ask him if he was hungry still. He affirmed this and we crossed the street to the Burger King restaurant.

Marina then bought him a meal with a $20 bill and gave him the change. We could barely hear him say as we left "God bless you". I think it's more likely that God dropped the brick on my head than bless me. What value was the cash to me? Very likely much less than it was to him. What did he give up for lent? What did the homeless couple moving the mattress out of the rain give up for lent? Unknowable. Here is what I am going to give up for this Lent. I am going to give up making assumptions about homeless folks. I am going to give up judging them. I am going to give up donating nothing to their empty pockets. Hopefully it will continue long past Easter. I will end by quoting our new homeless and hungry friend.

God Bless.

Gary Frandsen

Grand Knight

August 2018 Bulletin: Dryer Sheets and the Pro-Life Battle

Lead article from the August 2018 bulletin, online now.

I remember well the time in my life when I discovered the dryer sheet. I believe these important little wonders are underappreciated. My clothes would sometimes linger in the machine much too long after the last cycle had spun. The result of this was a slight mildew/rot-like smell that would remain even after they were sent to the dryer. I had no idea these little gems existed until one day I extracted a small box of them from our mailbox. They were sent to me free from the manufacturer. How did they know that I would always pass through the laundry aisle indifferent to any of the products there. 

I then began to receive breakfast cereals, snack products, laundry detergent products and more. It was like mailbox magic. I would grab them and quickly look around as if I was getting away with something, then scurry home to try them. These free gifts were delightful.

Flash forward many years....The other day I came upon another freebee in my mailbox. It was a certificate for birth control pills without a prescription. (See above.)The offer was disguised as a pill study and open to all ages. It would also include a special deal to compensate participants for their time. 

Wow! We've come a long, long way since free dryer sheets and Coco Puffs. As a Catholic pro-life advocate, I suddenly felt that the pro-life movement had taken a major hit. As if a World War II "Missouri" class battleship had just emptied nine 16-inch shells from its massive gun turret directly into the home of the pro-life base. 

 How can you fight this? Free birth control pills and free cash as a reward for preventing life. What's next? Free morning-after pills? Abortion vouchers? Who on earth knows? 

The certificate that found its way into my mailbox was offered to any age participant. The picture on the certificate showed a healthy and eager group of young girls grinning happily. I am pretty sure most reading this are engaged in the pro-life struggle. If not, this sheet of paper that may or may not have arrived in your mailbox hopefully will have given you a nudge to join the battle. 

God bless,

Gary Frandsen

Grand Knight

April 2018 Bulletin: Easter Vigil

Lead article from the April 2018 bulletin, online now.

For the first forty-nine years of my life, the Easter Vigil meant nothing to me. That all changed at the Easter Vigil 2009 when Fr. Gregory Abbott and Fr. Michael Becker led me into the water as a Catechumen as I welcomed the light of Christ. I found myself immersed in the same baptismal font that my youngest daughter Anna was baptized in five years earlier. I had literally followed all three of my girls into the faith. The occurrence would not have taken place without them.

God set me on my path in February 1986 aged twenty six years. The journey was started as a result of my signature on a document that clearly explained my commitment to raise my future children in the Catholic faith. Father Joe at St. Gerard's Catholic church would not marry us without it. After all, I was being honest when I informed him of my agnostic beliefs. We hoped to have a bunch of kids, but they did not come.

The next 14 years were filled with infertility, doctors and frustration. As a Catholic, my wife Gina prayed on it. I also offered prayers that followed within my agnostic parameters, you know, "If you are up there please present us with children" type of prayer. Those prayers were answered in 2001- 2003 when we journeyed to the Russian Republic on four occasions and gained our daughters through adoption. We moved to Albertville between daughters and set up shop. We were reminded of our commitment to raise our daughters Catholic and began to attend Mass on Sundays. Father Siebenaler then baptized Marina in 2003 and Father Michael Becker baptized Anna in the new church in 2005.

For the next five years I attended Mass with my family on a weekly basis. I behaved myself as a non-Catholic and stayed in my seat during communion while paying close attention to that which was going on around me. I asked Gina many questions about the Mass: the stand-up-sit-down-stand-up-sit-down, the doing of the dishes, and such. 

What I witnessed also was a lot of men bringing their families to church, and leading them to faith filled lives. This began to chip away at my uncertain position about Christ and God. I began to watch the EWTN network and studied Pope John Paul to some extent due to his huge cultural impact in the Christian world. My wife asked me if I was stalking the Catholic church. I guess I was and we placed both girls on the list to attend the Catholic school and continued attending Mass.

One day I found my way to Father Abbott's office discussing the RCIA program. I joined and spent the next year pouring over the Catechism. The long, 49-year, meandering path then ended in 2009 at the Easter Vigil where Fr. Abbott and Fr. Becker led me into that same baptismal font that my daughter was led into five years earlier. The congregation that night could not have made me feel more welcome. I was bathed in Christ's light for the first time in my life, delivered there in no small part due to my three girls. 

So when you are thinking about which Easter service to attend, please consider the wonderful Easter Vigil. Where else can you witness a large group of people coming into the light of Jesus and embraced by his welcoming arms?

God bless,

Gary Frandsen

Grand Knight

March 2018 Bulletin: Ice Cream

Lead article from the March 2018 bulletin, online now.

I tend to struggle with the Lenten tradition of giving up some perceived vice or indulgence in order to suffer to some extent as we consider the profound suffering of Christ in the time leading up to His passion. I will of course follow all the Lenten rules. I also have much admiration for those who give up significant habits and routines so as to draw them closer to our Savior's suffering.

I have given up things in past Lenten seasons only to feel underwhelmed about my sacrifice as I resume them after Easter Sunday.  Did I suffer much?  Nope.  Did it bring me closer to understanding His suffering? Not really. So what should I do?

I may have had some small revelation in this regard on our recent trip to Florida. We were staying at a Daytona beach hotel.  Hotel guests were venturing out to the beach to see the strange family who were swimming alone in 65-degree cloudy-skies weather.  They came wearing parkas and took our pictures and asked us where we came from that we would be swimming on this day.  We told them and a look of "Oh, I get it now" came over their faces.  We hit the hot tub for a bit then decided to walk downtown where we could see a boardwalk and amusement park waiting for our arrival.

There were some Hurricane Irma-ravaged hotels along the beach as we made our way, a few lined with fence and under repair and others seemingly abandoned. We noticed that the homeless were taking up residence in some of the lower floors of the abandoned buildings. Makeshift homes consisting of wood, cardboard, worn mattresses and the like. A young couple caught our attention as they moved a mattress out of the chill drizzle that was falling at the time. They were in the middle of a heated, obscenity-laced exchange about some grievance between them. There were many homeless along our way. Their deeply lined faces spoke to the nature of the untold witness they held from us. We made it downtown, and the homeless quickly slipped from our minds.

We had much fun looking at shops, walked the pier and listened to the Atlantic. We had a great meal and started back. My youngest noticed a Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream shop and grabbed my arm. We made progress across the street via skyway where a vagrant was taking some rest.  As we approached our destination, a tall, thin, elderly, homeless black man was speaking to each passerby with his head down. I grabbed my eldest daughter and shifted her to my left as we neared the tall man on my right.  I could barely hear him speak as we passed: "Could you please buy me some food, good sir?"  We hustled our step as we passed him a glance.

My eldest told me that he looked hungry. I mentioned some nonsense about his life choices, and we joined the line at Baskin-Robbins. We were waiting about a minute for our 1,000-calorie indulgence when the brick fell upon my head. I looked at Marina and told her that she was spot on. He did look hungry. We bolted out and found the same tall black homeless man making his way down the sidewalk. When the distance was made up my daughter ask him if he was hungry still.  He affirmed this, and we crossed the street to the Burger King restaurant.

Marina then bought him a meal with a $20 bill and gave him the change. We could barely hear him say as we left, "God bless you." I think it's more likely that God dropped the brick on my head than blessed me. What value was the cash to me? Very likely much less than it was to him. What did he give up for Lent? What did the homeless couple moving the mattress out of the rain give up for Lent?  Unknowable. Here is what I am going to give up for this Lent.  I am going to give up making assumptions about homeless folks.  I am going to give up judging them.  I am going to give up donating nothing to their empty pockets.  Hopefully it will continue long past Easter.

I will end by quoting our new homeless and hungry friend: God Bless.

Gary Frandsen
Grand Knight

December 2017 Bulletin: Merry Christmas

Lead article from the December 2017 bulletin, online now.

We have Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's all within the final five weeks of the year. It is a wonderful  opportunity to bring our families together and experience the blessings of the season.

First there is Thanksgiving, a day to get together, bond and give thanks for all we have.  It is relatively stress-free, and you can eat great food and watch football all day.  It sets the table, if you will, for Christmas inasmuch as it refocuses us on the most profound and influential things in our lives: our faith and our families.

Try as it may, the secular world, filled with its hyper-consumerism, glam and outright indifference to Christ, can never diminish our Savior from the season. We spend many stressful hours shopping, preparing, running, planning and worrying. When Christmas finally comes we find ourselves giving it up to Christ at Mass. Millions of Americans in countless communities fill our churches. God refocuses us and sets our year's end on His terms.

Even unbelievers in the secular world are compelled to take stock in their disbelief. Does Christ not cross the minds of doubters as they lay awake just having watched their children at their most happy? They know what the day is about. Does the plastic nativity scene made in China that a stressed-out father struggling in his faith plugs in the day after Thanksgiving not give him pause? What about those factory workers in China seeing them roll by the assembly line? How many of them have explored Jesus as a result of this?

These are not just rhetorical questions. I truly have not a clue, but surely God has countless ways to plant Himself in our conscience.

Every year we watch A Christmas Carol in its many incarnations. A miraculous allegory written by Charles Dickens, a self proclaimed Christian who never mentions Christ in the novelette, but for his final entry when Tiny Tim proclaims, "May God bless us, everyone."  The story itself glistens with biblical references and values.  Many must have been moved by this story and many others during the holiday season.  I wish all Knights and their families a very merry and blessed Christmas.

Gary Frandsen
Grand Knight

November 2017 Bulletin: God’s Not Dead! He Is Surely Alive!

Lead article from the November 2017 bulletin, online now. Reminder: The November council meeting is moved to Thursday, Nov. 9!

OK, so in 1990 I ventured out of my indifference to embrace my higher power that was and is God almighty.  I left behind my irreligious, if not atheist, upbringing that stood at odds with that which was all around me.  I was no longer an agnostic; I was officially a believer.  What then to do?  It was much easier just to believe in God than to sort through all the organized manifestations of worship.

Because the beauty of my natural surroundings brought me to where I was, pantheism seemed the place where I stood.  I saw God everywhere!  Nature was God, and it left me underwhelmed.  It gave me little passion.  I could never bring myself to hug a tree.  Nature was awesome!  But God created nature.  I was much more likely to cut it down and have a fire.  My kids then came, and I remembered a commitment.  My wife Gina was Catholic, and Father Joe at St. Gerard's would only marry us if we agreed to raise our kids in the Catholic faith.

We started going to Mass and enrolled them in the parish school.  I found passion as I observed the way fathers and husbands led their families to Mass and conducted themselves.  I then realized and embraced the truth of Jesus Christ.  I went thru RCIA and was led into the water by Fr. Gregory Abbott at the Easter Vigil 2009, the same baptismal font my daughter Anna was baptized in five years earlier.  I then went through CRHP and joined the KCs. I became hyperactive with all things Catholic.  And then one day I was told it was my job to get my family to heaven.  What?!  Great, I was pretty sure I would not be allowed safe passage considering some things I left out of the introduction I just wrote.   Now I was faced with a heavy task, like three tons laid on my shoulders.  Just do good works, go to Mass and enroll them in the parish school? That was all I needed do, right?

All of a sudden it all seemed insufficient.  I worked 60 hours a week and only saw my wife and kids on weekends, which were also filled with doing "good works" and such.  Was I doing too much?  Was it getting in the way of my task?  It looked as if the train was going to derail.  Flash forward eight years or so, and I am now retired with two teenage girls and a wife who still needed me to help get them to heaven.

I now have more time. I also have much more to do.  I thought I could get it all in if I did not work.  What was I thinking?  I found myself losing ground to contemporary culture (they wanted to go to a movie about a homicidal clown bent on murdering kids) rather than a Christian one: smart phones, social media apps, pop song lyrics and teenage drama to beat the band!  The train is still clearly in danger of coming off the rails.  I sometimes search and long for signs of progress.  Some evidence that my duty is not left undone.  They are only going to be with us for five or six more years.  I spend much time worrying about it, praying on it, thinking about it and trying to unwrap its mysteries.

Recently, following some significant turbulence there was a time of peace and enjoyment on a family three-day outing in Rochester, where these signs came in at a pace I was not prepared for.  My daughters both made me aware upon arrival that we would need to plan for Mass.  We toured the city on foot, ate at expensive restaurants, laughed and had the most fun we have had in a long time.  Marina asked me if she could go with her friend to a Catholic youth retreat called Steubenville next summer.  Anna wanted to listen to Christian pop music the whole time there.  We walked our dogs in the park in between showing them in competition, and the girls worked together at the dog show.  It seemed too good to be true, but it was true.  An answer to my prayers?

We arrived home and my wife was at work and the kids were in school while I was chasing dust balls and dog hair bunnies with my "Shark" vacuum. When going by my little Anna's room I sent skidding across the room a piece of art that had been taped to her door and fallen.  It had been there since the third grade. The artwork read, "Gods Not Dead He Surely A Live," and it was a drawing of Anna, God, God's people, the sun and a roaring male lion, maybe representing  fathers trying to get their kids to heaven.

Was it a sign that the weekend had not been a fluke, that indeed the train to heaven was not derailed?  Had God himself caused the bonds to be loosed?  It was progress in my task to help get them where we all long to be.  God can do anything.  He can surely borrow a third-grader's illustration to bring his point home to a struggling servant on Earth.

God Bless.

Gary Frandsen

Grand Knight

August 2017 Bulletin: How Far Can One Reach By Choosing Life?

Lead article from the August 2017 bulletin, online now.

On September 11th, 2001, at three locations in our United States, nineteen human beings chose death, desolation and darkness.  As a result, two towers filled with life crumbled to the ground on a beautiful New York morning, three airliners smashed into iconic landmarks and one plummeted to the earth as a few passengers fought to their last for precious life. Some 2,996 died and 6,000 were injured.  The victims came from every continent on the earth.  Most looked on in horror.  Those who chose death reached out and touched every corner of civilization. 

At the same time in the city of Stavropol, in Stavropol Krai in Russia, not far from where Osama-Bin-Laden received his initial terrorist training by Russian Chechen separatists, a pregnant divorcing mother by the name of Natalia could think of little other than the child growing in her womb.  She had already made the life choice.  At only 21 years of age, she chose life knowing of her impending divorce.  She had made this choice under very stressful circumstances.  She chose life knowing she could never give her infant the life she longed to give it.  She chose life as she climbed up the stairs and walked thru the front door to Maternity Hospital Of Stavropol.  She had been carrying the baby for over 9 months.  Then, a few weeks after the events of 9/11, Natalia gave birth to life.  Her next choice was to give her baby girl a beautiful name.  I could never presume to understand the emotions that tore through her as she made her final heart-wrenching choice the next day and climbed down those same stairs away from the hospital without the precious baby girl she had named Marina.  Little did she know how far her choice would stretch. Little did she know the profound effect her choice would have on two people thousands of miles away.  Two people who had prayed for the gift of life for a very long time.  A married couple who had exhausted their natural birth options.  One Catholic, one a lukewarm believer.

We had been working with an adoption agency in Anoka for about a year and that by means of planes, trains, automobiles, translators, lawyers and Russian judges finally delivered us thousands of miles directly East along the 45th degree latitudinal line to an orphanage in Stavropol, Russia.  The beautiful Caucasus Mountains served as a background in this region of Russia where we were to realize our hopes and prayers. At that point, baby Marina had been there for some 8 months along with dozens of other babies whose mothers chose life.  They all ate at the same time.  They were all given human attention during the day at around the same time.  They were all carried to the potty at the same time.  Many Russian orphanage babies are potty trained before they reach the age of one due to strict orphanage routines.  We were struck by the quiet in the baby room where the cribs were lined up in neat rows filled with quiet babies looking up at a stark white ceiling. 

We later discovered that their cries quickly diminish as they go unanswered, eventually stopping altogether.  Apparently, they stop when they realized no one would respond.  This is due to lack of staffing and nothing to do with neglect by orphanage volunteers who were truly caring and who delivered attention when they could. 

After a quick tour they ushered us into an empty room where we sat for some time finally succumbing to exhaustion after 28 plus hours of travel with little sleep.  We awoke as Andrew, our fun and animated Russian interpreter excitedly burst into the room with a beautiful baby girl named Marina whom he placed in my wife's arms.  For the first time in Marina's life, she felt the warmth of a mothers embrace.  The sound of crying that then filled the room came not from any baby, but from my wife.  When we finally arrived home with Marina some six weeks later, we positioned a recliner next to her crib so she would not be alone on her first night.  For that night and for some months to come, our baby girl would reach out from the crib every hour or so, her little fingers searching in the dark until satisfied she was not alone. 

One year later we found our way back in Russia arriving via railway to a station in Voronezh, Russia to meet another baby girl. She was in a communal play area at the orphanage in a walker chasing and harassing others in her play area.  Her birth name was Anaya; the orphanage staff called her "Annitchka;" we named her Anna.  Her mother and father had been deprived of their parental rights. She had been neglected and was undersized suffering from failure to thrive.  We were told she was likely raised in an abusive environment and that she was not fed much in her first year.  Her five siblings were placed in orphanages all over the Republic of Russia and she would likely never see them again.  Anna had serious burns on the back of her leg that required skin grafts aged only seven months.  We were told that her weak and undersized body failed to produce hormone at the proper rate and she required HGH. To this date she injects hormone from a needle into herself every night before bedtime.

Within a few weeks of arriving home, she acquired the chicken pox and RSV and spent five days at the Monticello Hospital in an oxygen tent.  Anna developed self soothing techniques in the orphanage to cope with the stresses of her early experiences.  She has also been diagnosed with severe dyslexia. Anna has overcome all of this by drawing from her sheer joy for life, optimism and an energy that never fails to astound me.  These character traits have served our family well.

Having related all of this, I must also point out that Anna's mother chose life.  I have no clue the trials that she as a mother and her family went thru. I do know that she chose life in spite of her circumstances.  She too reached thousands of miles to us as a result of her choosing life.  Her decision reached out to me and pointed me in no small way to Christ.  Insomuch as my girls, in a very real sense, are the reason I am now Catholic.  They took me by their little hands and led me to RCIA.  Only then, having become Catholic could I see clearly the path God had chosen for my family.  He calls all fathers and Knights to lead their families to heaven.  My two girls are the strongest people I have ever known, and no one comes close.  They are survivors.  It matters not what happens to them, they just get up, brush it off and move on.  They have no fear.

Gina and I wanted a large family.  He had other plans for us.  How far can one reach by choosing life?  The answer is different for everyone.  For me it is simple.  It reached across oceans.  It stretched the length of a baby's arm as she sought comfort in the night. The choice of life gave me my two girls who every day reach deep into my heart.  As a husband, the choice of  life has given us a more meaningful marriage.  As a Catholic, the choice of life has given me purpose, direction and comfort in Christ.  And as a Knight of Columbus, the choice of life has given me a way to make a direct impact and give back to my community.  As a family, we are subject to life's vagaries and trials as any other family.  Some of the time I forget my role and fall hard.  Most of the time I forget my girls are adopted.  They are all American and ours in every way.  I will however never forget the far reaching effects of the two mothers in Russia who chose life.  Who chose life no matter the raw realities in which they lived.  For this I will be forever grateful.  I pray that they have found peace and comfort in their lives.

God bless.

Gary Frandsen

Grand Knight

June 2017 Bulletin: Don't Wait; Step Up!

Lead article from the June 2017 bulletin, online now.

I sit here looking at my one week old son Micah thinking “Is this really such a good time to be taking on the role of Grand Knight?”  This is how I started the first article I wrote as Grand Knight. Micah is almost two now and I have another one-week-old son name Declan at home.  Instead of sitting on the couch holding him I am outside at my son's baseball game writing so my wife can be at home with the little ones. 

The point of that first article was that we always shy away from commitments because we convince ourselves that we do not have enough time.  Well I have less time to do this now then I did when I started so I'm glad I didn't convince myself to delay.  I wouldn't hesitate to do it again and look forward to serving the council as a regular member once again.  It's been an honor to serve in this role for the last two years and I want to thank everyone for making this council so great.  I especially want to thank all of the officers and directors that do so much outside of the regular meetings to keep the council operating smoothly. 

I encourage everyone to think about volunteering for one of the leadership roles at some point.  It really gives you an appreciation for how much this council does and how well it is run. There are many leadership positions that do not require much of a time commitment so don't let that scare you away.

Please join us at the June meeting as we celebrate the year with a great meal and social.

Joe VanHoorik

Grand Knight

March Bulletin: Father-Son/Father Daughter Events Successful!

From the March 2017 bulletin, online now.

Everyone had a great time at the Father-Son event and the Father-Daughter dance.  We had 60+ in attendance at the Father-Son day at the Monticello community center, swimming, rock climbing, shooting hoops and eating pizza.

It was wonderful watching 225+ handsome fathers and their beautiful daughters dancing and "bustin' some moves" at the Father-Daughter Dance at St Albert's Parish Center.  DJ Bill Lage spun the disks, and Michelle LeMonds snapped some great photos.  Donald Duck made an appearance and the well=dressed dancers snacked on goodies provided by the KCs. Special thanks to my wife Gina, and the Patton, Kunzman, and VanHoorik families for their help making these fantastic events happen.

God bless,

Gary Frandsen

Deputy Grand Knight

January 2017 Bulletin: The Value of Memories

Lead article from the January 2017 bulletin, online now!

This month our family drove down to Orlando for a week. Sandwiched in between 50-some hours of driving was a week filled with Disney World, swimming in the ocean, and maybe a few hours of actual vacation. We had been talking about taking this trip for years and knew that with our oldest leaving the house next year we needed to pull the trigger.

For those that have been there recently you know how expensive of a vacation this can be and it is really hard to justify spending that much money on a trip. We always think of the things we need (or think we need) and how that money could cover a remodel project we've been putting off too long or a down payment on a new vehicle or any number of other things on our list.

It's hard to quantify a trip because when you're home you don't have anything to show for it except some pictures and souvenirs. What we fail to quantify are the memories. When your kids are grown up and come home for Christmas you will probably not be talking about that basement remodel that's now ready to be refreshed or that rusty truck in the garage that is far from new. What you will talk about is that trip you took to Florida in 2016. You will talk about how miserable it was sitting in a van with 9 people hour after hour or the never-ending spectacle that is Disney.

As much as it seemed like a lot of work and stress for my wife and me, it's amazing how much the kids actually got out of it and so many things that they will never forget.  As 2016 winds down and you are spending the holidays with your family think about the memories you made this year and make a resolution to make some great ones next year.

God Bless, 

JoeVanhoorik

Grand Knight

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THIS MONTH'S MEETING MOVED TO THU 1/12!

Open meeting with wine, beer, and cheese tasting -- bring your spouses!

November 2016 Bulletin: Faith-Based Friendships

Lead article from the November 2016 bulletin, online now.

I’ve watched as my daughter has grown up and how some of her very best friends as a little girl have disappeared completely from her social circle.  It’s interesting because, with some, I could see the conflicting personalities at a young age while there are others who came as a surprise.  As she gets closer to leaving our home and venturing out on her own, my wife and I have some very interesting conversations on what advice we can still give to her.  The topic of friends came up recently, and it really got me thinking about the role they play in our lives.

As a kid your friendships are built around what you did in the past and what you are doing now.  You met your friend because you had something in common (you lived close, were in the same class, your parents knew each other, etc.).  These friendships can last for a long time but eventually if you don’t have the same outlook for the future those friendships start to dwindle.  When you start thinking about the person you want to be, we find that certain friends no longer have so much in common with us.  Personally I find it hard to maintain many of the friendships from my life prior to becoming a faithful man.  It’s nice to reconnect with an old friend and reminisce about the past, but it quickly becomes obvious that our friendship is only tied to the past, and we are more different then we are alike.  Those friendships never go away, but they aren’t the ones that drive you to be a better person.  The friendships you truly value are those that share the same values as you and help you be the person you want to be.  Those friends for me are the ones I’ve developed through the church.  We have different pasts and do different things in the present but we share the same ultimate goal in life.  That goal is to get ourselves and our families into Heaven.  These are friends I can ask for advice on anything and know that if I ever needed them they would be there to support me.  If life sent us to different ends of the world I know that those friendships would not go away.

So my advice to my daughter is to always maintain faith-based friendships no matter where life takes you.  Other friends are great and very important but those friendships created around your faith will always hold you up and never let you forget about your true goal in life.

God Bless, 

Joe VanHoorik

Grand Knight

March 2016 Bulletin: Marriage and Parenting

Lead article from the March 2016 bulletin, online now.

This month my wife an I have been hosting the Marriage in Christ seminar. Its been a great time for us to reconnect as a couple and put a focus back on our marriage. Too often I find myself looking at my wife as the mother of my children and not the person that I joined into the holy sacrament of marriage with. Our kids are young so it's easy to make being a parent the top priority in our relationship. What we forget is that our commitment to each other goes much deeper than being parents. Eventually our children will grow up, leave the house, and start families of their own. Where does that leave us as a couple when this happens? If we can't find time to grow our relationship we will find that we lost each other somewhere along the journey of parenting. In my case (assuming my youngest leaves the house at 18) our parenting journey will last 33 years. That sounds like a long time (and it is), but the reality is we will still be in our early 50s when we find ourselves back where we started, one man and one woman. That leaves a lot of life left to live together if we forget how to enjoy each others company without parenting being the main focus.

My wife can send me into an angry tailspin faster than anything else in this world. But...she can also pull me out of one just as quick. She knows me and all the idiosyncrasies that come with me, and I hers. The ability to tap right into someone's emotions is dangerously powerful and doesn't just happen overnight. Its shows how ingrained the two of you have become as a couple. Don't let this be a bad thing, embrace the fact that you are one body in God's eyes. Men, your responsibilities in life are (in this order): God, Marriage, Children, and then somewhere further down the line, Career. When things get difficult: step back, assess your priorities, and put them back in order.

When did you fall in love with your spouse? What is it about her that made you know she was the woman you wanted to spend the rest of your life with? I challenge you to tell her the answers to these two questions this month and see where that conversation leads you.

God Bless,

Joe

Joe Van Hoorik
Grand Knight

January 2016 Bulletin: Little Sponges

Lead article from the January 2016 bulletin, online now.

As a father sometimes I wonder if my kids pay attention when I speak.  As much as I try to teach them how to be good people and strong Catholics, most of the time I feel like my words just go right past them without slowing down.  It's always reassuring when they surprise me by doing or saying something that supports my teachings.  I bring this up because there were a couple examples this month where my kids surprised me and it makes me think about how many other things I do and say (good and bad) are being absorbed by them without my knowledge.

One of my biggest challenges and frustrations is trying to get my kids to sit still and pay attention during mass.  Most times I just accept the fact that I cannot make them listen and just try to keep them upright and in the same pew.  But every once in a while when you least expect it they surprise you.  I went to mass with Avril this month and it was just the two of us.  Fr. Ellis was giving his homily and I noticed that she was looking down at her feet fidgeting not seeming to be paying attention at all.  Later that evening she was playing on the laptop and came up to show me a picture.  It was the photo “Burst of Joy”, which Fr Ellis had talked about during his homily.  It really surprised me because I thought she was completely disconnected while he was talking.

This month we also began working through the Jeff Cavins Gen2Rev program.  This is a new book that the Church is piloting with the 4th grade students.  It's basically a bible timeline for kids that is meant to get fathers to read the bible to their children for 10 min every day.  I committed to doing the 6 month program with Avril.  My plan was to try to get at least her and Owen (2nd Grade) to do this with me.  Honestly I was expecting some whining and complaining especially after the first couple times.  Not only have they not complained but they ask questions and really enjoy those 10 minutes of faith education.  It isn't just Avril and Owen that have come to enjoy that time, their older siblings have not missed an evening if they were home.  I am truly surprised how much these kids are interested in their faith.

Regardless of what they communicate back to us, these children are little sponges.  They pick up on things we say and do even when we don't think they are paying attention.  That is why it is our responsibility to lead by example as strong Catholic men.  How do you expect your children to be serious about their faith if you are not?  Remember, God is not the only one watching everything you do.

God Bless,
Joe VanHoorik
Grand Knight

November 2015 Bulletin: Pro-Life and the Unsung Heroes

Lead article from the November 2015 bulletin, online now.

With October being Respect Life Month there have been plenty of opportunities to reflect on this topic. As a father of 7 it would seem obvious that I am pro-life, but that wasn't always the case.  Of course when someone finds out how many kids I have I get the standard “you must be Catholic” or “you know how that happens right?” or some other comment that drives me crazy.  Why must I be Catholic to have a big family?  The fact is that we were expecting our 4th child before we went through RCIA, so technically we had a big family before fully joining the Church.  But even after having children I still cannot say I was pro-life.  I remember having a very serious conversation with my wife between child 3 and 4 about getting a vasectomy at 26.  We “knew” that we were done having kids after a miscarriage left a bad scar on our marriage.  Thankfully, my procrastination meant that I never got around to making that appointment.  Now, 4 children later, we still seem to have the conversation about being done having kids quite often but permanent prevention is absolutely never an option.  If I have learned anything, its that how I feel today does not mean that I will feel that way in the future.  Life will always give you plenty of opportunities to regret permanent decisions.  I've talked to too many men, especially in our own parish, that have horrible regrets after getting sterilized earlier in their lives.  Fr. Joah put it best in one of his homilies, “being Catholic does not mean having a dozen kids, it means always being open to life and not putting up any barriers to prevent life.”  We as responsible adults are expected to make decisions based on our situation in life and whether we have the resources to raise more children.  The Church doesn't tell us to carelessly have as many children as we can.  We need to be able to provide for those children both financially and emotionally.  There are ways to manage family size without forcing barriers into our bodies.  Don't live your life with regrets, nobody ever regrets another child but they will always regret not having the option to have one more child.

Now let me jump to another, very important side of this issue.  For those of you blessed with biological children ask yourself this question: Would you be the same parent if your children were adopted?  That's a hard question for me to think about because as much as I want to say yes I honestly don't know.  We have been fortunate that we have never had issues conceiving.  I've heard so many heartbreaking stories from men in this community on the struggles of not being able to conceive or bring a pregnancy to full term.  These men and women put everything on the line for that opportunity to be a parent.  Its not until many years pass, lots of tears are shed, and outrageous expenses incurred that many of them finally decide to adopt.  That is if their marriage is still intact after everything they went through.  It's at this point they are faced with yet another daunting challenge in their journey to become parents: more time, more money, and more tears.

After all this they finally get to become parents.  These are people that made sacrifices most couldn't, just to put all that love into raising a child.  How can we deny them that opportunity by not being pro-life?  If these young women only knew what these people go through for the opportunity to adopt their child and the wonderful life they will provide them I think we would see a change of heart.  This is why its so important for us to support pro-life women's centers like Cornerstone.  Places that can get the right information and support to these women.  Never forget these unsung heroes because they are the critical piece of this respect life war we are fighting and they don't get the appreciation they deserve.  Go out and thank an adoptive parent for being the ultimate example of how precious life is and the love that is out there just waiting to embrace these children.

God Bless,

Joe VanHoorik

Grand Knight

November 2014 Bulletin: Work, Pray, Love

Lead article from the November 2014 bulletin, online now. 

So this month I took the easy way out and found an article that I thought was appropriate with the elections coming up and  with what has happened the last few years in society.

Work, Pray, Love: Archbishop Chaput's advice for modern Christians

“Religious believers should acknowledge that they are now 'strangers' in U.S. society, in part because of their own failures, but should nevertheless work for renewal and worship God with joy”, said Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput.

“Our job is to be the healthy cells in a society.  We need to work as long as we can, as hard as we can, to nourish the good that remains in our country – and there’s a deep well of good that does remain – and to encourage the seeds of a renewal that can only come from our young people.”

Archbishop Chaput’s comments came in his Oct. 20 Erasmus Lecture, a webcast event sponsored by First Things Magazine and the Institute on Religion in Public Life.

“We should hope because God loves us.  And that’s more than an empty piety,” the archbishop said.  “The proof of it is sitting right next to you in the friends who believe, as you do, in the goodness that still resides in American life, and who want to fight for it.  In Christian belief, God’s Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The world changed.”

“Our job is to echo his Word by helping our witness become flesh in the structures, moral imagination and bloodstream of the world around us,” he added.  “If that happens, the world will change again.”

The archbishop reflected on the many changes in American society.  The title of his speech, “Strangers in a Strange Land,” alluded to the estrangement of religious believers who “once felt rooted in their communities” but now feel “like strangers, out of place and out of sync in the land of their birth.”

He said “the biggest failure, the biggest sadness, of so many people of my generation, including parents, educators and leaders in the Church, is our failure to pass along our faith in a compelling way to the generation now taking our place.”

“If we want to change the culture of a nation, we need to begin by taking a hard look at the thing we call our own faith.  If we don’t radiate the love of God with passion and courage in the example of our daily lives, nobody else will – least of all the young people who see us most clearly and know us most intimately.”

“But the real problem in America in 2014 isn’t that we believers are foreigners.  It’s that our children and grandchildren aren’t.”

Archbishop Chaput stressed the importance of worship and the adoration of God as more important than action.

“We are a people of worship first, and action second,” he said.  There is no real political action or social service “unless it flows out of the adoration of God.”

“Adoration grounds our whole being in the real reality: the fact that God is God, and man is his creation,” he said.

Christians forget at their peril that they are “in the world but not of the world,” he continued.

Citing the French writer Henri De Lubac, the archbishop said that “when the world worms its way into the life of the Church, the Church becomes not just a caricature of the world, but even worse than the world in her mediocrity and ugliness.”

Archbishop Chaput criticized several other trends in the U.S., where he said freedom is “more and more” constrained.

Freedom has been defined as the maximization of personal choice, especially through modern technology.  Democracy and government has also become an expression of consumer preference, with “very little space for common meaning, classic virtue or shared purpose.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Oct. 6 refusal to hear state appeals defending marriage amendments “creates a tipping point in American public discourse,” he said.  “The dismemberment of any privileged voice that biblical belief once had in our public square is just about complete.”

The archbishop said that the “most disturbing” aspect of the marriage debate was “the destruction of public reason that it accomplished.”

“Emotion and sloganeering drove the argument,” he said.  “People who uphold a traditional moral architecture for sexuality, marriage and family have gone in the space of just 20 years from mainstream conviction to the media equivalent of racists and bigots.”

“This is impressive. It’s also profoundly dishonest and evil, but we need to acknowledge the professional excellence of the marketing that made it happen.”

Hope you enjoyed the article, and God bless,

Jim Wiegers
Grand Knight

May 2014 Bulletin: Courageous

Lead article from the May 2014 bulletin, online now.

The other night I couldn’t sleep so I was flipping through the channels before I finally came across something decent to watch. I ended up stopping on the movie Courageous, which I had seen before and enjoyed the first time I watched it. It was getting late, but I couldn’t stop watching. The movie had me hooked.

When the movie was over and time for bed I still couldn’t sleep. Some lines in the movie stuck with me and kept running through my head. The first line that was on my mind was when one of the male characters was talking about fatherhood and how he didn’t want to just be a good enough father anymore; he wanted to be the best father he could be. That got me thinking. Am I settling for just being a good-enough father or am I being the best father I can be? After examining my conscious, I found that I have some room for improvement and that I need to make some changes in how I am parenting. Why put off that dance with your daughter or shooting hoops with your son? You may not get another chance to enjoy them, and in a blink of an eye they could be gone.

The other line that stuck with me that I really struggled with went something like this: I will be the spiritual leader in my home. So again I thought through that statement, and lo and behold, I didn’t like the conclusion I came back with. I don’t walk the walk as to being the spiritual leader in my household. I found that I don’t always follow through and pray with my family. I pray and read scripture, and I know that my wife also does, but why don’t we find the time to do this together? My children need to see us praying, not just before meals or while at Mass, but together as a family.

How could I have let this happen? If I don’t take the time to show and teach them, who will? It is up to me to show them and to guide them to the best life possible. Below is part of the resolution from the movie:

I DO solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children. I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home. I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honor her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me. I WILL bless my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength.

I hope that you will also examine your life; maybe there is room for improvement for you as well. If you have never seen the movie Courageous I would highly recommend you do. Maybe some parts of the movie will stick with you also.

God bless,

Jim

For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ. 

Philippians 1:20

Don't Miss Catholic Man Night at St. Michael Historic Church!

Fr. Peter Richards, Fr. Nathan LaLiberte and the Knights of Columbus Council 4174 invite fathers and sons to a special Catholic Man Night event:

Fr. Michael Skluzacek

“The Emotions of Jesus Christ”

Friday, Aug. 23, 2013, 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Historic St. Michael Catholic Church 

14 Main Street North in St. Michael

This great father-son event includes adoration, confession, Fr. Skluzacek’s reflections and discussion, a man-feast, fellowship, and a raffle!

Please download and share our online flyer with Catholic men you know in the area. Information about upcoming monthly Catholic Man Night events and catechesis about about Jesus Christ can be found at CatholicManNight.com.

March 2013 Grand Knight's Message: To Imitate Christ

Grand Knight's article from the March 2013 bulletin:

“And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry.”

— Matthew 4:3

I wish I could say that my understanding of fatherhood with my   first child—Katelyn, now almost 13—was the same as when our youngest child, Peter, was born nearly two years ago. Maybe at the age of 40, I understand truly how fast they grow up. Certainly, faith has changed in our lives, and I am more grateful for the gift of my children. In either case, I am more aware of my role as father to help shape the lives of my children.  To a 22-month-old boy, I have come to see, Daddy is the king of the universe. Every action I do is carefully examined and repeated by son. Every household choir involving a hammer, screw gun, or tape measure is met with tiny hands trying to hammer, screw, or measure. For to my son, he shows his love and admiration for his father through this imitation of what I do.

I watch in amazement every time he grabs my hand and walks me over to his tractor to play “fixit” with him or drive little tractors across the carpet. His response to love is to imitate the one he loves. His love is expressed back to me through his imitation of what I do. In much the same way, we witness to God’s love in our imitation of the one who loves us perfectly.

I recently witnessed an awkward exchange between coworkers: one Catholic and one Lutheran. It was that all too frequent exchange in which my Lutheran coworker jokingly stated how thankful she was to be Lutheran so she didn’t have to do any of that fasting or giving up of meat. Like all too many Catholics, my good friend the Catholic had no real response, and ended up trying to make a joke out of it.

Christ is THE example for us to imitate. Matthew 4:3 is just one verse that clearly states Christ fasted. Christ went into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights and fasted. This alone is all the reason we need to  truly embrace our Lenten journey. Scripture states it, and Christ did it.  We need no more reason to deny self and to confidently proclaim that  to others. When we enter Lent in a disposition to deny ourselves in    response to Christ love, we are saying to God, you are worth the inconvenience.  We are showing God our love for him as my son Peter shows his love for me.

Christ is also THE supreme teacher. Before his public ministry began, Christ entered the desert. He teaches us through his word, and his actions. We can thus have confidence that this time of self-denial will bring about spiritual growth within us. It will help prepare us to   witness to the world as Christ witnessed to the world.  For in Matthew 4:3, the ending of the verse states “and afterward he was hungry.”

What could Christ be hunger for? Well, clearly he would have been physically hungry. Two thousand years ago, fasting would not have meant leaving the fries out of the Happy Meal. However, scripture is speaking to a deeper hunger. Christ hungered and thirsted for the souls of others. Christ does nothing that he doesn’t want us to follow. He wants us to hunger and thirst for souls. As his perfect love was and is the very essence of total self-denial, we to can learn to love more perfectly when our love becomes self-sacrificing. Before we can give totally, we must learn to die to self in little ways. Study the lives of the saints; they all learned to die to self. Lent is essential for our spiritual growth, so we can become what God envisions us to be.

Lent has not always been my favorite of liturgical seasons. I spent many years as a Catholic not embracing the opportunity to grow in virtue and imitate the one we should love above all.  Like many Catholics, Lent was a time I grudgingly kind of followed the “silly tradition” us Catholics do. Not surprisingly, I cannot say Lent brought about any kind of spiritual growth in my life.  Lent was a waste of 40 days and nights in my life       because I did not want to unify myself with Christ’s   suffering, and thus denied myself God’s graces. There is a reason Mother Church invites us to a season of self-denial. She wants us to grow in holiness. She wants us to grow closer to God, and she knows sometimes the very best way to show love is through imitation of the ones we love.

I ask you to consider your Lenten resolution. Do you see the rest of Lent as one of the very best opportunities to show your love for Christ and to grow closer to Him?  Have you set any type of Lenten resolutions that really take some self-denial?  Have you stopped ordering the super-sized extra value meal for the regular-sized one or have you decided to go hungry just a little?  If your answer is no, then I invite you to reconsider. I pray the rest of your Lenten journey brings you closer to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Sincerely in Christ,

Mike Engel

Grand Knight

January 2013 Grand Knight's Article: Pray For All Who Need Our Prayers

Grand Knight's message from the January 2013 bulletin:

On Monday, Dec. 10, I was heading into the office late in the morning, after digging us out from the first snow storm of the season. Then I received the most unfortunate call from the office. It was a coworker who was calling, and who informed me that a long-time college mentor and friend had suddenly passed away the day before while snowblowing his driveway. Scott Eskola had, for some reason, taken me under his wing and helped me grow professionally in the industry in which I work. His untimely death at the age of 55 has turned the world of his 19 -year-old and 22-year-old daughters upside-down, I am sure. His ability to make anyone around him laugh instantly will be missed.

 On my way home from his funeral I turned on the radio to listen to Christmas music, only to find out the horrific news of the latest school shooting in which 26 were killed (20 of them young children). I do not pretend to have insight as to what must be going on in the minds of the families of this tragedy. I certainly don’t have the qualifications to try and offer to you words on the meaning of times of such loss.

I simply ask you, in the time you would normal spending reading this article, to put down the bulletin and pray for the families in Connecticut whose world has been turned upside down. Pray for Scotty and his wife and young daughters who lost their father too soon. Take a minute to remember the ways in which God has blessed you and to pray for those who need prayers.

These are the only thoughts that come to mind for me as I consider what it must be like for parents sending their beautiful first- or second-graders off to school, only to discover that young child will never come home again.