December 2020 Bulletin: Tree Lot, In-Person Meetings and More

Lead article from the December 2020 bulletin, online now.

Happy Advent and Merry Christmas to you and yours. The Knight’s tree lot is up and running. There was a great group of guys who showed up to set up the tree lot and unload the trees. Many thanks to all the guys who showed up to work on the tree lot on November 14. Special thanks to Don Legatt who is the brains and organizer behind the tree lot. Please consider helping out the Knights by working for a shift or two at the tree lot selling trees and purchasing your Christmas tree at the tee lot which is in the parking lot of the St. Michael Catholic school. As mentioned before the proceeds from the tree lot are going to be used to support a number of different areas including the youth group, churches, as well as other groups. With all the craziness going on this year and possibly into next year, the planned budget for the remaining Knights year is going to be revisited by the officers and adjusted based on current and anticipated conditions.

I spoke with Rita at St. Albert's and as of the writing of this article in-person council meetings at St. Albert’s parish hall are still planned for the first Thursdays of the month at 7:00 pm. We will space out to keep physical distance at the meeting. Please continue to pray for one another, our church and country. Remember to keep the faith!!!!

Merry Christmas and God bless,

Andy Sipple

Grand Knight

June 2020 Bulletin: Virtual Meeting, Officers and More

Lead article of the June 2020 bulletin, online now.

I hope this message finds you and your family and friends doing very well and enjoying the ability to hopefully go to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass soon. The Knight’s activities have been slowed down due to the Wuhan virus.

While following the stay-at-home order the officers met online and thankfully, we have the following gentlemen nominated for officers for the next council year starting in June/July: Recorder – Jeff Eull, Warden – Dave Miodus, Chancellor – Dan Lhotka, Deputy Grand Knight – Erich Kunzman and Grand Knight – Andy Sipple. We are working on getting a council meeting together for June – please stay tuned as it is thought that the meeting will be an online virtual meeting.

The Knights are a co-sponsor of the Albertville Friendly City Days fireworks. As Albertville Friendly City Days is cancelled this year and this event helps fund council activities the officers are going to be going over a proposed budget for next year that will decrease council expenditures.

Please remember to thank Fr. Richards for his service to our parishes. Fr. Richards will be moving on at the end of June and we will be welcoming Fr. Park in July. Looking forward to seeing you out and about.

Thank you for all you do. Keep the faith.

God bless, 

Andy Sipple

Grand Knight

April 2017 Bulletin: First Degree on Thursday, April 6

From the April 2017 bulletin, online now.

Why are you a Knight?

Do you remember why you joined the KCs?  When your annual dues statement shows up in the mail do you stop and think about why you are still a member?  Take a few minutes and think about those two questions.  Are your answers to each question different?  I joined because I was fresh off of a CRHP retreat and on fire to get engaged somewhere.  I really had no idea what the KCs did but I knew it was for Catholic men and that was enough for me to give it a shot.  That was six years ago this June.  

I'm still a KC because I love the cumulative power we have to help those in need.  I cherish the friendships I've made.  I really enjoy being a part of the 4th Degree Assembly.  I am honored when we show up in number to pray the Rosary for a deceased member.  I am humbled by each and every thank you I get because of something this council did.  

What is your reason?  Is it a particular activity you enjoy participating in each year, values we promote, things we do for the youth, the insurance program, or something else?  Is there someone else you think could benefit from that answer?  If so, consider inviting them to the First Degree at our next meeting. 

Joe Van Hoorik

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!

April 2015 Bulletin: Get Active, Stay Active!

Lead article from the April bulletin, online now.

Well, it’s that time of year again.  Time to get ready for the State Convention by preparing all those forms.

As I complete the forms and look back at the past year, I have noticed how many activities we do in our council.  We have a very active council and many different programs which we couldn’t do without you!  I would like to thank you all for your involvement; being active in parades and Albertville City Days in the summer, to the tree lot & toy drive in the winter.  You probably do not realize that in just about every month we have some sort of event going on.  We could not do all of these without your time and effort.  It is greatly appreciated and I look forward to your continued support of all our different activities.  April is our Senior Citizen Dinner.  Contact Cory Sommer  at sommerhome66@gmail.com to help out.

A great resource for you to find out about our activities is at our business meetings which we have the first Thursday of every month, 7:00 PM at the St Albert’s Parish Center in Albertville.  If you can’t make it to that, we have a monthly newsletter, web site (http://kc4174.org) and Facebook also.  I would really like to encourage you to come to a business meeting, that’s where you are going to hear the most about how the council is doing and keep you updated on upcoming events.  Our April lecture program is a Micro-Beer Tasting. This is an Open Meeting and spouses are welcome.

The past few months our meeting attendance has been down and I would really like to see some fresh faces show up to these important meetings.  If I need to change how the meetings are run or if I am the reason that the attendance is down, I need your feedback.  Don’t worry about hurting my feelings, I have big shoulders.  So please let me know if I should be doing something differently.

I know everyone is busy and it is hard to make every meeting but it would be great if you could make a few during the year.  You could even heckle me and let me know everything that I did wrong or right in the meeting!!  We do a pretty good job of keeping the meetings to an hour and then you are free to go or stay.  We have some food and drink and a lecture program after every meeting that you can listen to.  In past lectures, we have learned about new tax laws, what’s going on with housing in our area, and updates on the Catholic school.  Again I hope to see you at an upcoming meeting.

Have a great Easter and Lenten season

God Bless,
Jim Wiegers

December 2014 Bulletin: Christmas Fellowship

Lead article from the December 2014 bulletin, online now. 

Can you believe the fraternal year is half over already? Wow does time fly and our council has been very active yet again. We had a huge hand in building a new rectory for our priests, coat drive and we did a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for a fellow Knight. The youth had the soccer challenge, All Saints party and the St. Nicholas party is coming up. We did overnight adoration for the confirmation students retreat. We marched in 3 parades this summer, and made it through the storms during Albertville City Days. The trees are coming in for the tree lot and we are gearing up to start shortly, which will take us up till Christmas.

Let us not forget to keep Christ in Christmas; we need to help make sure the youth of our community don’t forget that it’s not all about just getting and receiving presents. I have to say our council does an excellent job of being active, visible and a positive influence on the youth of our community. Let us continue to be outspoken about our beliefs and support our faith.

Our next meeting will be an open meeting and we will be bringing back the wine tasting. So don’t forget to invite your spouse or significant other. We will have a shorter business meeting and get you to the sampling. It should be a good time and best of all you won’t have to listen to me fumble through a whole meeting!

Hope you all have a safe and joyful Christmas and a happy New Year!

God Bless,
Jim Wiegers
Grand Knight

August 2013 Bulletin: Here to Serve In Charity

Grand Knight's article from the August 2013 bulletin. 

I want to start off by congratulating past Grand Knight Mike Engel on a great year—but why did it have to go by so fast? These last few years it was an honor and a privelege to learn from past Grand Knights Steve House and Mike Engel. They are hard acts to follow and I pray that I, too, can leave a mark on this great council.

For this fraternal year I would like to continue to grow this council in fraternity, unity and charity. I have to admit I really don’t know many of the men in this council, and I’m sure many of you don’t know or haven’t heard of me. So here is a brief overview: I am married and have two children, Jake (age nine) and Sophia (five months old). We have been members of the St. Michael parish for just over four years, which is about when we moved to the area. I have been a Knight for four years and am a fourth-degree member. My main reason for joining the Knights was to have a way to give back to such a warm, welcoming community.

To try to accomplish this, we are going to do a couple things: first after some constructive feedback, we are going to revert back to the old format for meetings—we will start the business meeting at 7 p.m. and have a light meal or snack afterward for those who want to hang around. The other idea is to bring back the Knight of Columbus family of the month. All that would be needed is a short intro like I offered above and maybe a picture. I would appreciate any feedback on how to do this.

We all joined the Knights for one reason or another, but a huge part of being a Knight is charity. In this council we are fortunate enough to have many activities in which we can participate. So I encourage you all to volunteer to help out in at least one event and maybe even show up to a business meeting. Along with that we are in need of some men to fill open directorships or to help lead some of the upcoming events. If you are interested or know of someone who may be, feel free to contact me or one of the officers for more information.

As a last thought I will leave you with these words from Pope Francis on the Christian life:

In this period of crisis, today, it is important not to turn in on ourselves, burying our own talent, our spiritual, intellectual, and material riches, everything that the Lord has given us, but, rather to open ourselves, to be supportive, to be attentive to others. Set your stakes on great ideals, the ideals that enlarge the heart, the ideals of service that make your talents fruitful. Life is not given to us to be jealously guarded from ourselves, but is given to us so that we may give it in turn.

May 2013 Grand Knight's Message: Council Social and Awards Dinner on June 19

Grand Knight's article from the May 2013 bulletin.

Brother Knights,

Our council has had another busy and successful year carrying out programs, and I want to personally thank you all for your hard work!

Council Social and Awards Dinner
Council 4174 cordially invites you and your spouse to our second annual council social and awards dinner. We hope you all will consider attending. It’s a great opportunity for our new members and veteran Knights to meet each other.

• When: Wednesday June 19, at 6:30 p.m. 
• Where: St. Albert’s Parish Hall 
• What: Food, fellowship and recognition 
• Dress Code: Casual 
• Cost: Free 

Please RSVP to me at mengel6672@hotmail.com as soon as possible to help us plan for food and drinks. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Council Funds
As outlined in our updated council bylaws, funding requests larger than $500 are to be published in the monthly newsletter for your consideration. At our next council meeting, the council will vote on the approval of the following requests (going forward, these will appear in the Financial Secretary’s column):

•  Three funding requests in support of Albertville Friendly City: $1,200 for liquor liability insurance, $12,000 for liquor expenses, and $1,500 for a general donation to AFCD committee.
• A budget request of up to $7,500 for the purchase of the trees for the 2013 Christmas Tree Lot.
• A funding request in the amount of $1,500 for the Council 4174 Over-50 fishing trip to Mille Lacs Lake.
• A funding request for $925 to the State Student Loan Fund
• A budget request of up to $600 for All in God’s Plan 

A Few Thoughts 
Brother Jim Thorp has written an article this month about the role of directors in the council. I encourage each of you to consider new ways you can help support the council’s mission. Also, please join us at our last two council meetings of the fraternal year for an evening meal and our guest lecturer speakers. On Thursday, May 2, Brother Knight Matthew Christoff, one of the founders of Catholic Man Night, will speak to us. And on Thursday, June 6, Fr. Nathaniel Meyers will address our council. As is typical, an informal dinner and fraternity will begin at 6:30 p.m., with our speakers beginning at 6:50 p.m. Our business meeting will start promptly at 7:30 p.m.

Finally, our country continues to endure tragic events, and our witness and prayers are needed greatly. Please hold in your hearts everyone affected by the Boston Marathon tragedy and accidental explosion in Texas.

Sincerely in Christ, 

Mike Engel 

Grand Knight

Council 4174 Welcomes Seven New Members!

Seven new Knights were welcomed to the First Degree before the March council meeting. Pictured (left to right) are new members Jeff Madore, Andrew Bromenshenkel, Kurt Anderson, Joe Kulas, Toby Frelich, J.P. Gillach and Erich Kunzman. Please welcome them when you see them!

February 2013 Grand Knight's Message: Continuing the Work of Father Michael McGivney

Grand Knight's article from the February 2013 bulletin:

As I look back on the past half year, it is hard to believe I am working on my February article already! Like most fraternal years, we have seen many great things take place this year within the council, including:

• the support of Cornerstone Women’s Center, which now is in the final stages of renovation and preparing to open;
• the German dinner, family rosary and picnic, toy drive, coat drive, blood drives, prolife events, All Saints Party, St. Nicholas Party, and chili football classic; and 
• numerous men’s evangelization events, including Catholic Man Nights, men’s prayer breakfasts, and the recent event and speaker on Our Greatest Struggle.

Yes, our council continues to be active, supporting our parishes and tackling important issues we must deal with in our society. As we look at things done year to date, it is great to see the things we have accomplished, yet my hope for our council is to continue to grow in fraternal brotherhood. We have witnessed many encouraging things that our council continues to do to grow closer as Catholic men. As I sat at last month’s dinner before our business meeting, men of all ages and backgrounds sat together, enjoying each other’s company. I couldn’t help but feel as if we are growing in fraternity. I believe this is an essential aspect of our council — collectively we are growing united together, and united with Christ, for love of neighbor and love of God is essential to our mission.  And so, I ask those of you who have not attended a monthly business meeting held on the first Thursday of the month to please consider attending.  Our new meeting format begins with dinner from 6:30 to 7 p.m.  From 7 to 7:20 p.m. we have our lecturer’s series, which incorporates opportunities to deepen our faith.  Then, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. we hold our business meeting.  We hope to see more men attend, as the discussion and action at our council meeting is the foundation for council activities.

To continue the good works of the council, we must also support council growth. We must all treat membership as a personal mission.  It is no secret that the work of the council must be carried out by good Catholic men. Our “Men in Blue” campaign, in which we simply give out the new blue Knights shirts to active members and have them wear them to events we host, has gone a long way in showing prospective members the good we do. It creates a sense of fraternity, and men feel drawn to the service we provide. This simple aspect has changed many perceptions of what our council does to support the Church, yet this alone is not enough. Along with joyful service, each of our active members is our most effective membership advocate.  I challenge each of you this month to help carry on the work of the Knights of Columbus.  I challenge each of you to help personally talk to prospective members about considering joining the Knights, and letting them truly know what it means to be a Knight of Columbus.

This February and March, our council will conduct our membership blitz. It will take each of you to help make it a success.  First of all, on Saturday, Feb. 2, there is a first-, second-, and third-degree we want to invite men to attend at St. Vincent DePaul in Brooklyn Center.  The first-degree begins at 9 a.m. If you want to bring men to this degree, we can arrange to meet in the parking lot of St. Michael Catholic School at 7:30 a.m. and carpool down to the degree. The weekend of Feb.16 and 17, we have been given time at the end of the weekend Masses to briefly invite men to consider the Knights of Columbus. This year, we are trying a new approach, in which we will invite men to attend an informal meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 19, beginning at 7:20 p.m. and running until around 9 p.m. This meeting will be a straightforward opportunity to share who we are as an order and answer any questions that men might have.  We want to make sure men understand what we are about, as well as directly address any concerns they may have. We will have several officers in attendance to then walk men through the Form 100 and discuss what of involvement we hope new members will ideally commit to.  Because we want give men as much flexibility as possible to attend this meeting, there is no set beginning time of a formal presentation. That means if you have a prospective member who can only make it after 8:30 p.m., please have him show up.

Finally, our next first-degree held in our council will take place on March 7 at our council meeting.  New candidates should arrive by 6:45 p.m. so we can complete any Form 100 work that is required. The first degree will begin approximately at 7:15 p.m.  This is our best opportunity to successfully bring new men into the council. To support and grow the programs of the council, we need new, committed men willing to give 15 to 20 hours a year to the service of the council.  The future success of the council depends on each of us taking this mission seriously.

Our council achieves and succeeds on the planning and work of our officers and directors. Along with support of our membership blitz, I must ask you to consider a position as an officer or director. Over the past several years, we have been blessed to have many of the same officers and directors in place.  This collectively has led to well-executed activities in the council. However, this collective leadership has also come with some cost. To a certain extent, knowing that the officers and directors will make the programs happen has led to these men carrying a heavy weight.  As the Grand Knight, I also am concerned that we are burning out our officers and directors.  In short, we need to bring new men into leadership roles to balance the “burn-out” factor.  I ask you to consider if you can step into a leadership role in our council.  I would be more than happy to discuss what this looks like in various leadership roles.  To continue the work Father McGivney started, please consider how you can impact our council’s planning and leading this coming year.

Finally, for our order to grow not only do we need to lead our faith community in service, but we must lead men in faith formation.  This year we will continue to support and grow our men’s evangelization events.  I challenge you to attend at least one of these events this year.   Make a commitment to each other and to Christ.  Together when we grow in fraternity and in love of Christ, our order grows.  Please consider supporting the council through membership, time, and spiritual development.  Our council depends on it!

Sincerely in Christ,

Mike Engel

Grand Knight

Enjoy Our Christmas Social!

Brother Knights! You and your spouse are invited to join Council 4174 for a Christmas Social, Thursday, Dec. 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the St. Albert's Parish Hall.

Please come to enjoy a catered dinner, beer and other beverages, and Christmas fellowship and good cheer. Unlike recent years, there is no program for the evening, except a very short (20 min) business meeting beginning at 7. Our wives can continue to enjoy the evening while we attend to a few quick action items.

Please join us, and encourage new Knights to do the same. And if you have time, please let us know you are coming -- comment here or contact Jim Moore or Mike Engel.

Merry Christmas!