GK Message, March 2026

Hello Brother Knights

122 days left

This year has been busy for me and for the council, but honestly it has been flying past us. We are in March already. Unbelievable.

As you should already have been informed, the March meeting on its normal date would have fallen on the last night of the parish Lenten Retreat. So we elected to bump our general meeting down a week so there was no conflict and to show support for the faith building work of our parish leaders and Fr. Mathew. That is Knights of Columbus parish support 101 and we are doing it well. So our March meeting will be on the 10^th instead.

I want to thank Br Darren Allen for coordinating the Shrove Tuesday breakfast again this year. We don’t see a lot of Darren and Laurie anymore due to health concerns in the family, but they continue to have a positive impact on the world around them despite their restrictions. The entire Allen family, including David and Kim’s family, have always been pillars of the community and we are very blessed to have them with us when we can.

There are several things brewing for us that we should all be aware of.

1. Volunteer Ministry Training dates
   1. Adult and Youth Server training will be Saturday March 14 at 2pm
   1. Reader & Commentator training will be Monday March 16 at 6:30pm
   1. Eucharistic Minister training will be Monday March 16 at 7:15pm
   1. Usher and Greeter training will be Tuesday March 17 at 6:30pm

Everyone interested is welcome to attend and learn or get solid refresher training.

• Men of Integrity Conference in St. Albert will be March 6-7. It is always worth your time.
• There will be a ProLife guest speaker presentation at the parish March 26 at 7pm. I would suggest that anything you can do to better understand the issues and challenges, that it would be worth your time to take in. Michelle and Bruce work hard to find ways to present these things to our community and we should support that as best that we can.
• Holy week will be very busy again and we need to set up a schedule for usher/greeters for the Easter masses. Once again, Fr. has indicated that he would like to see ushers or greeters at every mass, not just the ones that we expect to be in need of services. I believe that as Knights, we do a service to the parish by filling this role, but we may need to open this up to other parishioners to help out if we are unable to fully engage as requested. Its my hope that we can prove we are capable and willing for this relatively small task each week.
• Extraordinary Ministers of Communion training will be hosted in Leduc on April 18. This is the specific training for anyone who would be interested in bringing Communion to our parishioner’s who are home bound or living in seniors homes and unable to get to mass on their own. This is required training if you want to fill that role, which is called the Pastoral Care Team. Currently Fr. Mathew is the only one filling this role on the weekends and would desperately like to have a few teams of two in place to take some of that off of his plate. If you have had the training in the past you likely need to refresh it now as some restrictions with AHS have changed as have the basic Safe Environments courses. Please register with the Archdiocese online. If you are able to help with the duties of the host parish, hospitality etc, then please also speak up. Its going to be a full house with people coming from all over to take the training.
• A Taste Of the Orient – Wetaskiwin Council fundraising dinner. April 18 6pm. We have been invited to attend this as well by our Wetaskiwin Brother Knights. The poster will be in the newsletter and on the council website.
• We are looking at putting a float into the Black Gold Days Parade again this year. It will be May 30. We are hoping to have the 4^th degree honor guard present, a Santa Maria float from our brothers in Beaumont, and then as many Knights, Spouses, families etc that we can. If you are interested in helping out with this, coordinating, decorating, communicating, or have a truck that we could pull the float with, please let us know. We have not yet determined who is going to be the main lead on this project but the ball is rolling regardless.
• The Nazareno Council that Br. Lito Reyes helped found and moved to from Leduc, is holding their 25^th Anniversary Dinner this June. Details will be posted and shared as soon as we have them, but Br. Lito has requested that the Leduc Council members be invited.

We are approaching the time of year that we need to start looking at who will be leading our council next year. There are several positions opening up, including the Deputy Grand Knight, who will serve with future GK Ed Gainer assuming all remains in tact for the elections. It is a very rewarding position to have and gives you a healthy respect for the council workings as you prepare to lead one day. It sounds scary but its really not, because there is a ton of support around you from other members who have done it, who work around that position and who care about the health of our council. You will not be on your own and there is really nothing to mess up. The biggest commitment is to be available for one extra meeting a month and to go to the convention to represent the council. So don’t be shy. If you are interested then its worth talking to Ed or myself or any of the executive members for more information.

Our council anniversary was on March 4^th. We will be (or are, depending on when you read this) 48 years old. That’s a tremendous accomplishment, but we do have that big 5-0 coming up in a couple of years. It was suggested at our executive meeting that we consider some sort of donation to the church in honor of that anniversary. We were talking in context of some sort of memorial, or statue or series of shrine statues such as a set representing the beatitudes. Maybe we can consider donating some artwork pieces. Who knows. But if we want to go down this path, the earlier the better for planning and budgeting. We also need to determine what we are wanting to do with the actual anniversary celebration. Is it just one dinner or is it a series of events all year. We have yet to set up any kind of committee or workshop on that topic. I hope you have all been thinking about what you would like to see happen so that we can start compiling it soon.

That’s all for now. Thank you all for staying committed and willing to lead as men in the parish.

Chris Carr
Grand Knight
Fr. Leduc Council 7061