Greetings brother Knights May 2026 GK Message
56 Days left in this Columbian year. Not a lot of time left to work with.
We recently hosted another exemplification and welcomed two more brother knights to our council. Welcome to Haji and Jacques. By my last check with Richard, that brings us to one short of the membership quota for our council. Not that I have lost one hour of sleep over hitting quota’s, but thats pretty darn good for a year we lost several members to various circumstances, and had to make up those numbers in addition. And we didn’t even do any membership drives. To me that is still a total win for Leduc Council. Well done guys. People are wanting to join because they see you in action and thats enough for them to want to be a part of it. Good job guys.
We have the Black Gold Parade later this month, led by our 4th Degree Assembly and welcoming any families or children who want to ride along to come with them. Thanks to everyone who is taking part in this.
Over the Holy Week, we staffed ushers for the special masses. However we missed staffing one. There was an 11am mass on Good Friday that we didn’t have names listed and no one took the reigns at that mass to be ushers. It resulted in no collection being taken up that mass as well. As good as we are, and supportive as we have been, this is a pretty big swing and miss for an easy task asked of us as Leduc Knights of Columbus.
I will take 100% blame for this miss though. I did not push hard to get names on each mass because I have always felt confident that ‘someone will be there and it will be taken care of’. That mistake is on me as the leader and coordinator of that task. We did have members at that mass, but since they did not really know we were missing help that mass they didn’t think to step in and take a role. That is a reasonable assumption we all make. There is also some confusion at times about which masses take up collections and which ones don’t. A handful of us know for sure which ones do or don’t, but it is completely understandable that there might be confusion to those who don’t fully know that schedule.
I’ve been thinking about the ushering program for a couple of years now. I am seeing a definite lack of desire from many of the Knights to take part in it. Especially for masses that we don’t typically think of as needing someone to assist seating people. Some masses regularly never hit overflow or capacity, and so the thought is that we are not needed for ushering at those masses, as long as someone takes up collection. I believe this to be flawed logic though. Ushering is complimentary with Greeting. And every single mass could benefit from someone greeting people. Our parish community benefits from someone performing that duty. And so if ushers took that role upon themselves also, then there is a need at every mass. I personally love to see the men of the parish standing at the door greeting everyone on the way in.
Beyond the traditional role of KC doing ushering at masses, we have another concern of leaving it to the same 4 or 5 guys all the time. I know these guys are dedicated and we are all thankful for that from them. However we should be spelling them off so they aren’t feeling the weight of that workload alone and exclusively. I’m sure they would like to have some masses when they can just sit with their families too. And if we lean on the same guys all of the time, then when one of them is not around or not available anymore, we have no back up help lined up. I am going to suggest that if you arrive to mass and someone is already ushering, maybe suggest now and then that you can take a turn and they can sit. Or do the work as a group. It never hurts to have more help.
We don’t always have to wear the purple jackets. If we have any KC crested shirts or jackets, that helps to maybe identify us a little. But we also have the white/yellow sashes to help single you out if need be. The idea is just to give people something to look for when asking questions or directions.
I would like to suggest to our membership that we look at our role as men of the parish, Knights of Columbus members, and apply it as a support role for all masses. Many of us are already doing readings, commentating, communion, alter serving and ushering. But it might be helpful for us as men to take a leadership style tactic when we arrive to mass, and look at the list posted on the wall outside of the vestibule to see if there are any blanks for that mass. Is there anywhere that we can fill in and perform our active support at masses. If 160 Leduc Knights did that for every weekend, we would be hard pressed to find any mass that scrambles for someone to step in and fill a role.
In an effort to avoid making a degrading suggestion to those Knights who already are stepping in and filling in roles regularly, I hope here to specifically inspire those members who don’t often contribute at mass (myself included) or those who have not seriously considered doing that yet. This would not be an effort to bring any glory to our council or the order. Instead this is just a mechanism for our group to encourage our parishioners that are members to participate and ensure we always have more than enough support for each mass. I know a guy who can get you trained and certified to do any of the roles.
I love that the Knights do what they already do for the parish. I just think as a group we can probably do it a little better with not much additional effort. And I think we are needed.
Pentecost is coming up later in May, signaling the end of the Easter celebrations for 2026. This is a time where we watch the Apostles witness the ascension of Jesus to Heaven, and then are all blessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit to go out into the world and spread the good news, using all kinds of special blessings and authorities. It is a time for us to look upon ourselves as disciples of Christ to also take up that mantle and spread the Good News. It is never an easy time to do that in the world. I think we can look back and recognize that times were different, maybe less complicated than they are now, but we will always be able to look back and say that same thing, even as we look back on today. So if it’s never going to be easy, never going to be a good time to do that, then we need to accept that and do it when it’s not easy and not a good time. In fact, Jesus tells the Apostles that they will be hated and reviled and even killed for doing it. Can we honestly say we have it worse than them? So lead a holy life as examples to others, share the message when you are asked to, and find ways to inspire others to get themselves right with God. He will provide you the opportunities. And as Dallas Jenkins, director, writer and producer of The Chosen often says, all we need to do is bring the loaves and fish. Let God work the miracles.
Thank you brother Knights. Talk to you next month.
Chris Carr
Grand Knight
Fr. Leduc Council 7061
