Blog

May 5, 2020

Hello Brother Knights,

In loving memory, let us remember our departed Brother Knight John Heinz. In April we lost a dear Brother Knight who was a member of our council for 29 years. The Knights plaque will be presented to John’s family at his Memorial Service in the future. Also, his name has been added to the Deceased Knights Plaque. Eternal rest grant unto John and let perpetual light shine upon him.  May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in Peace.  Amen.”

A special memorial was established by Heinz family to the Knights of Columbus council 9273. Special thanks to the family and John & Marie Loreto Wille, Bruce & Lonnie Morris, Harriet Heinz, Joan & David Bruns, Michael & Joan Feinstein and Jeff & Judy Huinker and Wanda & Steve Tyner for their special cash donations to council 9273. Thank you, cards were sent to the family and their friends for their gracious donations. We will contact the family and ask if the money could be used for the wheelchair fund.

Let us give a special thanks and appreciation to Monsignor Makarewicz for being able to streamline the masses every day except for Monday. This continues to bond us all together as a Parish community. I often wonder what he must be feeling to give mass and see an empty church. We are all so blessed to have his leadership in our Parish community. Please continue to prayer for our Bishops, Monsignors, Priests, Deacons and Seminarians. We should all give a special thanks to our office staff and Choir Director Steve Jannetti for their ongoing support during difficult this time. Also special thanks to George and Colleen Parise for their special act of Charity, delivering food to Hope House each week during this critical time and shopping for others. There has been many other Knights and Lady Knights helping other by making food and delivering food to the homebound or sick, calling and checking on others, providing food for hope House and Blessing bags. Thank each of you for your acts of Charity, Unity and Fraternity.

Our Council has received two different thank you card from our Seminarian Derek Hooper for our continued prayers and ongoing support. He will receive his Order of Diaconate Saturday May 30, 2020. Best wishes can be sent to Mr. Derek Hooper Office of Vocations Diocese of Jefferson City, MO.  65110-4900.

Knights of Columbus country breakfast for May 3, 2020 and May 24^th has been cancelled.

Our Council Officers have hosted our monthly planning meetings “virtually” online by using the Zoom app, and it has worked well. We used the app for our April 6^th and May 4^th meetings to discuss monthly and yearly requirements. 

The Election of Officers is scheduled for May 19^th. If we are unable to have a council meeting in May, we will use the online acclamation process for elections of Officers and Directors. A letter will be sent to each of you identifying the candidates for each position. The acclamation process allows for automatic approval of this slate of officers and therefore, if you agree, you do not need to reply to this election notice. However, should you not agree with this slate of officers, please submit your objection to us by email reply within 5 days of this election notice. Installation of Officers is scheduled for June 16^th.

After completion of the election our council will submit the new online report 185 and send to Supreme and State to let them know of those elected. The report is due in May. If anyone is interested in holding a position, please let us know ASAP.

Supreme has been talking about ways to Leave No Neighbor Behind. Currently our Parish and Council members donate food and time to Hope House in Miller County. They are currently asking for food or additional donations. Monsignor will soon be sending something out on this. If you would like to make a monetary donation please send to Hope House Miller County P.O. Box 2381 Lake Ozark, MO. 65049 or you can also donate to the Funds to the Knights of Columbus International Effort Knights of Columbus Charities, Inc. P.O. Box 382154, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-8154. Our council will have to report our activities with the Leave No Neighbor Behind Survey at www.kofc.org/neighbor

The 119^th Annual State Convention of the Missouri Knights of Columbus was conducted using a “virtual” meeting on April 25, 2020. Gary Chaput and David Hotop were delegates for the convention for Council 9273. The format was held by telephone (For State Election of Officer’s and Resolution voting, press 1 for “Yes” and Press 2 for “No’). There was a total of 188 delegates voting from the many state councils. The meeting lasted about one hour. The Elections of State Officer’s was voted on and 12 different resolutions. 10 resolutions were approved and 2 disapproved.  

The guest speaker was Supreme Knight Carl Anderson who thanked all our members for the great support to the Leave No Neighbor Behind Program.  Many councils are doing food drives, blood drives and calling members and neighbors to ensure they are doing alright. He stated that the Knights of Columbus has created a 100-million-dollar fund to help the Church Dioceses during this critical time and that the Knights funded Pope Francis Holy week that was televised nationally. The Knights of Columbus continues to remain strong financially because of our members working together with its true values of Charity, Unity and Fraternity. Currently we are two million members strong.  Last year the Knights donated 185 million dollars, 176 million hours, and provide coats for kids to 117 thousand children. Supreme Knight stated that this year over 60,000 children were saved from abortion because of the 1,000 ultrasound machines donation by the Knights to the different centers.

Knights of Columbus Parish Web Site will very soon be up and running. The way it will work is to go to the Parish website and click on Parish Life than click on Organizations and that will take you to Knights of Columbus website, just click on it. Special thanks to Charles Cassmeyer and Mary Wagemann for all their hard work to make this possible.

Knights of Columbus first online Exemplification of Charity, Unity and Fraternity was held by Supreme on the 16^th of April. The first online 40-minute exemplification was a huge success with 2,138 men admitted to the order and 7,009 others advanced to the third degree. Because of the great success eight more exemplifications were scheduled on April 23, (2 sessions) April 30 (2 sessions) and for May 7^th (4 sessions) are scheduled. Our Council had a total of 3 members who signed up for the 30^th of April. They are Deacon Jim Hankins, John Brumstark and Shawn Fowler. Congratulations to each of you as a new third-degree Knight of Columbus.

Our Fourth Degree Assembly is exploring the possibility of conducting a Virtual Exemplification of the 4th Degree via Zoom conference.  The Degree team would be located at one site (at appropriate social distancing) and present the Degree to the candidates.  This could be a great opportunity to bring in candidates who have talked about joining the 4th degree but cannot seem to be able to make it to a specific Exemplification, or for areas that have difficulty hosting Exemplifications.  We currently have three Knights who have signed up for the Exemplification, they are Steve Jannetti, Jonathan Mudd and Nathan Otto.

The Ladies Auxiliary Card Party 13^th of May 2020, in Bestgen Hall is currently On Hold. It will be rescheduled for a later date.

The next Council Officers Planning Meeting will be on the 4 June 1, 2020 at 7 PM possibly using Zoom.

The Installation of Officers is currently schedule for June 16^th with an installation dinner. This may have to be rescheduled.

Please continue to pray for our Country, Monsignor, Parish Community, Families and all those who are in   the Medical Profession, and First Responders. Also pray for your Brother Knights, our Faithful departed Brother Knights, Lady Knights, and all our sick members. (Monsignor Wilber’s, John Weidler, Gary Kelly, Jack Callahan, Darren Donley, Frank Medved, Louis Noland, John Akscin, Gary Littrell, Arnold Sandbothe, Larry Bayliss, Clark and Judy Gruninger and Karen Pither, Lucille Needham and any other members that I have failed to mention).

Thanks for what you do for our Parish and our Community. Peace be with all and God Bless.

Gary Chaput
Grand Knight