October membership drive, an alternate approach

Good evening/morning

I am Ted Seeber.

My family and I have been members of St. Clare parish for 18 years.

Today I am speaking about the Knights of Columbus. I have been a Knight for 9 years.

The Knights is a Fraternal organization for practical Catholic men, 18 years and older.   There are over 15,000 Councils worldwide.

A joint Knight of Columbus Council was chartered in 2012 for St. Clare and St. John-Fisher parishes.  So we are a new Council.

We are asking you men to seriously consider membership.

I wish to make only three points in the brief time I have here today.

First;  the Knights of Columbus is FAMILY,

Second, the Knights of Columbus is PARISH,

Third, the Knights of Columbus is COMMUNITY.

FAMILY

The Knights was founded on family.  Our priest founder, a Father McGivney, in 1882, saw wives, mothers, and children suffering when their husbands and fathers were killed or died prematurely from accident or disease.    In time, insurance programs have evolved for all family members.  But insurance is not a requirement of membership.

Our families participate with us Knights when we take on various projects and activities.  And working together on various projects can also be as much fun as you make it.

Membership happens only with family.  If you do not believe this, turn to your spouse now and say:  ”What would you say if I joined the knights?”  And where would this discussion go?  And what further would you each need to know about the Knights?

PARISH

We are parish based and parish attached.  We support our pastors in whatever way we are able.  We support other parish organization as we can when asked.

To name a couple of our parish projects:  We do breakfast some Sundays at each parish.   We fired up the grill at the parish picnic.

Charity is a strong principle of the Knights so we donate to the parish St Vincent de Paul work as we can.

At our parish schools, the Knights have been sponsoring an annual Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest. Winners for our Parish are announced in November.

Membership in the Knights and volunteering with us now counts for school volunteering credit.

COMMUNITY

We also work beyond the immediate parish with charitable dollar donations and work hours on various projects as we able.

A small example is the baby bottle drive for the Mother and Child Education Center.

In conclusion, we invite you to a gathering to explore with some of us members what the Knights are all about and to give us an opportunity to share our story.

This will be held Sunday noon, October 9th, in the Parish Hall.

Come, give us a few minutes. We will tell you about our founder and more.

For sure, there are several reasons to not this.  On the other hand ? ?

Thank you for your time, attention and patience