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.

Former Chaplain Speaks on Catholic Social Teaching Tomorrow!

Fr. Meyers

Brothers: Please don't forget the June Council Meeting tomorrow, Thursday, June 6, at the St. Albert Parish Center. Our former chaplain, Fr. Nathaniel Meyers (now at Our Lady of Grace in Edina), and our Past Grand Knight Steve House will be speaking on Catholic social teaching.

A light supper begins at 6:30, with the presentation beginning around 7 and the monthly business meeting to follow. Join us!

June 2013 Bulletin: Tremendous Pro-Life Message

The pro-life message for the June 2013 bulletin was written for Mother’s Day by a parishioner of St. Michael Catholic Church, who agreed we could share it . Please pray for her, her unborn babies, and her family. — Pro-Life Director Jim Shovelain 

PRO-LIFE. Hey, guess what? Ever since I was very, very young, my mom taught me about something a child should never know, but it was real despite the atrocity, and we had to know about it in order to fight it. Abortion.

We fought by quietly praying. We fought by getting together every year to make Mother’s Day flowers/corsages to sell to raise money and awareness. We fought to...teach others who may not have known, or who may have been too scared to learn the TRUTH of what was happening when they were “terminating.” We spoke of it as it was: killing a baby. We fought to provide support for those who learned too late. We prayed for all of them. For the babies, the MILLIONS of babies and for the mothers who suffer in silence, in many cases.

And then, I grew up and had children of my own. And it shocked me that in this day and age still a mother, a MOTHER, could kill her own child. So I continued to fight and pray. And then one day, a few months ago, I learned that my two babies were in the same amniotic sac. And then another day I learned that one of my baby girls was missing a majority of her brain.

“Incompatible with LIFE,” they said. In other words, “your baby girl with anencephaly WILL ABSOLUTELY DIE and what’s more, uniquely, very uniquely, her being in there with her sister MAY KILL HER SISTER via cord entanglement.”

So they gave me options:

1. “Terminate” your baby to give the other baby a better chance but no guarantee. 
2.  Risk allowing them to continue to grow to term and deliver both, then kiss one goodbye shortly after she is born. 

Immediately I spoke of these “options” as:

• KILL my baby, or 
• Not kill my baby. 

I had no patience or tolerance for anything but the truth of what would take place. As you can see, there really was only one option, as my sister pointed out.

I saw them today, moving around like crazy, holding hands, playing, kicking the @#$% out of each other. It is HARD. HORRIBLE. EXCRUCIATING seeing them together knowing that they will never ever be together on Earth, save perhaps a few moments.

But guess what isn’t hard? Seeing her worth, seeing her value, understanding that she is a living human being who is apparently unaware that that her condition is incompatible with life. She is, for now, living. Just like millions of babies who right at this moment are being sent to slaughter for no “reason” at all.

This Mother’s Day, please join me in praying for an end to this evil. Pray that hearts and minds are changed. Pray for the babies and for God to forgive what we have become or have allowed to happen. Pray that others are strong enough to continue the fight.