Hello Brother Knights
We have 147 days left in this Columbian year. That’s 5 months. So essentially if you don’t include the summer months, this is halfway to the end of this term. Some of you may be thanking God that its almost over finally. No more long letters from me. In fact, by the time you finish reading this, we might only have 145 days left this term.
MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM UPDATE
I’ve talked about it before, so forgive me for talking about it again here. I have been decidedly against doing loud fluffy membership drives. I haven’t been a fan of the fruits of that labour, and I apparently am not alone in that. Instead of doing membership drives, we elected to try and do programs that would attract new members out of quality vs simple quantity. I’m not gonna lie, in my head that made sense and I really truly hoped it would work out that way. But honestly, I had no idea if it would. It was a little bit just going for it, and a little bit just being ready to take the hit if it didn’t work out.
I’m happy to report that for the time being it seems to have worked out well enough. We had some numbers drop from transfers, deaths, and suspensions in the last few years. I think we dropped two overall for this year, which added to the membership quota target and brought it up to 12 instead of just 10 new members.
But we happen to have a rare snapshot of life and growth in the parish that has had several people cross our paths in a way that at least sparked an interest in the Knights of Columbus. I don’t know if it’s just dumb luck or if there is an actual thing happening. So far this year we have recovered and initiated enough to be at a net gain of 7. Not too shabby for not doing any actual recruitment drives eh. The added bonus of the specific members that we are adding, for the most part I think we are introducing people who are actually interested in what the KC is all about and more accurately, getting connected to our larger group to find a wider community of Catholic men and families. So people that want to be members, not so much those who have been pressured into it.
I think the clear difference here vs. some of the more random recruitment from the large parish drives has been the personal engagement. The ability to meet and learn about these folks and their families, and to be so privileged as to welcome them into such a large and diverse group. So, I am excited about that. I hope this is a trend that we see continue over the next few years, because it would prove the concept that quality still matters more. But by that same logic, it’s not realistic to hold that as a tool to hit targets and walk away. The membership quota is at best a measurement of healthy growth. Hitting a target number is nice and it triggers some recognition, but the danger of that is to focus more on the target and recognition than the quality of effort. Some years we may be short of the target, some years we may far surpass it. In my opinion, it’s not something to dwell on. Growth is growth. Membership grows and shrinks over time. The real impact is going to be whether we can engage with members or not. Can we support those who need help? Can we encourage and uplift each other in the work we do. Is what we are doing worth someone’s spare time in such a busy world? Is it possible to meet everyone? Are there any of us who are alone and lonely that we can connect with. Do we remember the stories and characters that got us to where we are now? We currently stand on the shoulders of giants. Do we recognize that in a meaningful way? Can we share that legacy with new members? Can we be actual brothers in a world that digitally disconnects us from each other so easily? These are the things that really establish the foundation of finding good programs and events to build our community up. It’s important in life and in the KC, to remember that we are servants not masters. Everything we do should be in service, meaning it’s always a form of sacrifice for the good of others. These are the things that will attract new members over time. Something worthwhile to be part of and proud of, not something to simply belong to.
I just wanted to share with you how I see the fruits of our labours over the last couple of years. And likely still riding the wave of the previous year’s efforts during the tough years and recovery years. Lot’s of guys have worked hard to get here, not just our current executive. So credit goes to years of leaders. I believe we are seeing the signs of our labours come to harvest in positive ways. Well done Fr. Leduc Council. Now let’s make sure we properly welcome our new members when we meet them. Let’s make sure they know they are important and worth our time to get to know and interact with.
- Chibuzo Agu – May 2025
- Jonathan Domingo – Apr 2022
- Ethan Fish – Oct 2025
- Tim Holtby – May 2025
- Fabrice Kabore – July 2023
- Josh Lazowski May 2025
- Paschal Okeke – Oct 2025
- Stephen Sebasitan – Feb 2023
- Renz Tolentino – May 2025
- Roderick Tulayba – Apr 2022
- Zakhary Vandal – Mar 2022
- Warren Vizconde – Jan 2023
- Austin Coward – Jan 2026
- Kurt Guhle – Jan 2026
- Jerome Jacobe – Jan 2026
- Rane Marshall – Jan 2026
- Victor Okon – Jan 2026
- Kevin Arvay – trf to Leduc Jan 2026
A LOOK FORWARD
Having gone over that, it’s important to look at what we are involved with now, what is coming down the calendar, and what we can look forward to in preparation for end of the year in June and starting the new year in July.
The January Rosary campaign has concluded by the time this message is published. I don’t currently know what our 2026 totals were, but it’s been nice to see the engagement from members, families and the community. I suspect we will land somewhere between 1100-1500 this year. So still shy of the 3000 target but that gives us something to shoot for next year again, assuming we continue the program next year. Thanks to everyone who sent in their prayer numbers. It’s fun to tackle a pledge type of challenge like this. When you read about the impact of praying the Rosary, any time you can add even one more to the total, reported or not, month of January or not, it always matters. It always helps.
The donations collected at the last pancake breakfast for the Marion Centre have been delivered by Brother Caleb Lazowski. They were well received and I think Caleb had a pretty good day that day. Thank you to Caleb for leading this effort, to the Knights who worked the breakfast and collected for the donation, and to everyone who personally donated to the program. I know some guys delivered their donations in person.
The 33rd Anniversary celebration of Fr. Mathew’s ordination was held on Jan 27 and was a huge hit. There were 14 visiting priests that came to celebrate with us, and video messages from his family and friends back home. It was a well-attended night. The hall was elbow room only and the food, prepared by community members and Patrick who did the samosa’s, was tremendous. The processions at mass were amazing and touching. Well done to the office staff, the organizing committee and to everyone who pitched in to help out. And HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FR. MATHEW. We are blessed to have you with us.
February will bring us into the Lenten season in preparation for Easter. We will have another Usher training session in there for anyone who is willing to pitch in and help out so that the same guys are not stuck doing it all the time. We will also have training for readers, Eucharistic Ministers, Adult Servers, and now the PowerPoint presentation folks who will be managing the messages on the new screens. This will all happen in preparation for Easter so that we have as many hands as possible ready to roll for the busy masses.
The Men of Integrity Conference is fast approaching. If anyone would like to go but might need a little financial help to purchase a registration, let me know. We might be able to help out with that for some of you. I have already registered and I believe Dale Mudryk will also be there because he never misses them. There will be information in the rest of the newsletter about it if you are interested.
Our Faith Formation programs are still going. Some stronger than others, but that’s largely due to my own lack of available time to invest in them all equally.
- Finding the Holy Spirit – men’s scripture discussion group – 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7pm. Lots happening there, including a coffee group now on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month at 10am in the food court of the Outlet Mall.
- Shameless Catholicism – 2nd Friday of the month at 7pm in the council chambers. This has been on hiatus until I can reformat it as more of an apologetics style gathering. It was always meant to try and answer some of the questions about our faith. Not everyone knows what it’s all about, what papal infallibility means, or what the Immaculate Conception actually means. There is so much about our faith that isn’t super obvious or common. There are things that never come up until you are challenged by someone who wants to debate their way out of the obligation of belief. Why do you worship Mary? Why do you hate gay people? Why does the Pope wear those red shoes and what are they really made of because I heard something about that? Why do we keep changing the Bible and adding things? Do you have those questions? Have you been asked those questions? Do you already know those answers? These are what I had intended Shameless Catholicism to be. It would be handy if we had some really smart guys to help with that as well. Apparently, apologetics can be difficult. Who knew.
- Revive – Young Adults Group – Meets formally the 3rd Friday of each month. This is for young people from about 18-30 approximately. They are trying to build a solid community to bond with. Once a month we meet to go over faith foundations and then they try to get together outside of that for other things like dances, corn mazes, games nights, etc. It’s slowly growing and takes very little sponsorship from the Knights to support. We have a super solid core group that is just on fire in their faith and for their community building. It’s wonderful to witness. They will also be supporting the 4th degree by working the kitchen and serving the year end dinner.
- Our parish games night is on hold for the time being. That was set to be first Fridays. It may come back eventually, but life has a way of getting busy, so it’s hard to say for sure.
- Our Pro-Life representatives (Michelle and Bruce Lamer) are constantly active and presenting events or opportunities to engage with the Pro-Life message. Very thankful for their work and communication. I drop the ball way more than they do.
- We may look at hosting a bible study in the parish that follows the TV series The Chosen. I’m toying with the idea of doing an 8 week block after Alpha next year. It would be to watch an episode of a season (seasons are only 8 episodes), once a week and then go over the biblical roots and sources for it. It’s a really great way to get a visual context and perspective on the life and times of Jesus and his Apostles. If anyone wants to help with that I’m open to that for sure.
COUNCIL 50th ANNIVERSARY
I still think we should look way waay ahead and try to start at least making some plans for our council 50th Anniversary in 2028. The sooner we start that the better that celebration will be. Idea’s have been kicked around but some things would be better served if a committee was started up and led the charge. If we want to have history books, or presentations, or multiple events such as golf, curling, campout/barbeque, dinner, maybe a pig roast event, etc. Maybe we could host the State Convention (uugh I think I threw up a little there). But it’s an option we could consider. We could find ways to celebrate in multiple ways and/or multiple dates or events. It really is a big deal to celebrate that 50th year milestone. But things don’t happen for free. So, anything we do either must support itself or be budgeted for. We should try to start putting funds away each year in anticipation of that event, so we aren’t scrambling at the last minute to slap something together on a shoestring budget. If anyone has interest in working on a committee with me on this planning, let me know. The sooner the better.
COUNCIL WEBSITE www.leduckc.ca
I still have lots of work to do on the council website. Lots of archiving of awards, certificates, past executives, memorial pages, etc. We have to work on getting Matthew’s store page opened up. I would like to connect with Instagram and find a way for people to send in their KC pictures to be shared through Instagram and connected to the website. There are member pages that we need to figure out and get in place properly, including the links to the insurance agents. If anyone is so inclined to help with any of that, I’ll be looking in the next few months for a few days to workshop some of that in the chambers and start documenting or digitizing things for this. It would not hurt my feelings at all to have someone additional working on the website, so things don’t just move at the pace of “me” all the time.
COUNCIL ELECTIONS THIS JUNE
Our council elections will be held in June as usual. It’s a little early to start canvasing for nominations, however its likely we will be seeking several folks to step into key roles for the coming Columbian year. Ed will be stepping into the Grand Knight (GK) role, and he will need someone to take on the Deputy Grand Knight (DGK) position, with the intention of moving into the GK role after his terms are completed. I suspect there might be one or two more openings on the executive to fill after this year also. So, let’s start talking about that. Experience is not required and you can’t actually mess anything up. You just need to be open to learning and taking things as you go. The GK and DGK might have a little more commitment of time than some of the others, but it really isn’t an insane amount of effort if we have lots of hands to help. We have been blessed with the right amount of help the last few years, thanks to those who worked so hard ahead of us.
The list of executive positions is on the council website (leduckc.ca) and information can be found for each of them on the Supreme website (kofc.org). If you have questions or just want to find out more, let me or any of the executives know. I promise that no one will make you sign anything or commit you to something just for asking about it. No one will believe that because that’s how we normally did these things in the past. But it won’t be the case now. We always need our members to find ways to engage, and we will ask you to try if you are able, but if you cannot, then you cannot. No one will lose any sleep over that.
The other thing you need to know is that you don’t have to fill in and do the same things or set the same standards as those who came before you. You can do your own thing. If it’s more, fine. If it appears to be less, no worries. We do what we can with the time and skills we have. And that’s all that can be asked for. Don’t compare yourself to any others who have done these things before. None of that matters. We are all just thankful for someone to take charge of any given role.
THANK YOU ALL
It was a pretty large update for you all this month and I most certainly have missed some items that matter. We have so much going on and so many irons in the fire that we really should be proud of how lively our council is after all this time. Look around and pat yourselves on the back for service well done. It’s not difficult to be proud to be a Knight here in Leduc.
Thank you all
Chris Carr
Grand Knight
Fr. Leduc Council 7061
