1. Fr. Gregory Mercurio has been granted Senior Status by Cardinal Sean due to physical health. Although he had surgery last year for spinal stenosis, the procedure did not relieve the pain generated in his lower back which radiated into his legs.  He has been relieved of duties at Immaculate Conception. He is presently recuperating at his cottage in Wareham. If any Knights have cottages or boats near the Cape and can stop in to visit him on your way down or back, I am sure he would appreciate some company and good wishes about now.   I have a card ready for all to sign on Tuesday.

2.  Congratulations to our member Jay Kersting who recently obtained his EMT certification as a member of the Berlin Fire Department. He will also be working private duty ambulances covering Marlboro. We will send him a card of congratulations.

3.  August Officer’s Meeting – Tuesday, August 13, 2019 at 7:30, 277 Main Street.

We are not picky – if you are not an Officer, but have an interest in participating in any of the programs on the agenda – you are welcome to come and discuss!

Meeting Agenda

(a)  Nailing Down Our Faith In Action Programs for the upcoming year:

            Scheduled:   At our July meeting, we found support to propose to our initial meeting in September:

            Fr. Steven’s Block Party  –  Mike Cahill has volunteered to help coordinate.

            Coats for Kids  –  Dale Dolesh has volunteered to lead

            Free Throw Competition – Neil Cronin has volunteered to organize

           Special Olympics – Rich Pulice will find us an event and organize

          Spiritual Reflection – Rich Kearns has volunteered to organize an event, probably in conjunction with the Worcester Catholic Men’s Conference.

          RSVP – this is a program to adopt and support a seminarian for the year. The Grand Knight has volunteered to organize this program.

          On the Drawing Board:    We would like to find leadership for one or more of the following programs:

Literature Kiosk – Fr. Steven has asked for a member to keep the kiosk stocked with new Catholic literature. We think Fr. Ren in Hudson and Fr. Fran at St. Matthias might be interested too. This job would require keeping an inventory of the kiosk after Mass once a month, and keeping it re-supplied. Probably only about 10-20 hours of work for the whole year. Supreme Headquarters has many of the supplies, and you will need to coordinate closely with the pastor on publications from other sources to make sure they are approved. If you have an interest in helping out here, please come to the meeting or let us know in advance.

Rosary. Fr. Steven expressed an interest in scheduling a regular Rosary meeting, perhaps weekly or monthly. I think we could start off monthly and try to grow it. The Program Director would meet with Fr. Steven, coordinate dates and locations, publicize and promote (i.e., on our website, Parish Bulletin, etc.), greet participants, recruit prayer leaders, and select an intention each month. We can order Rosary Rings or Rosary Beads from Supreme to give out to participants at low cost and high visibility.  If you have an interest in helping out here, please come to the meeting or let us know in advance.

Family Week. Fr. Steven likes this program, too. We would organize an event each night for 5 or so nights and encourage families to come to church each night for a different event.  We could probably find initial support from the Confirmation classes and build from there.  This would probably be timed to coincide with the week before Holy Week or Christmas. One night could be a Rosary for a particular intention.  Another night could be a speaker on a timely topic. Etc. Supreme has lots of supplies and posters to promote this event. We could cross-purpose it to promote the “Keeping Christ in Christmas” campaign. We could also turn this into a multi-parish event, getting Fr. Ren to sponsor one night at St. Michael’s, Fr. Fran one night at St. Matthias, Fr. Steven one night at I.C.  This might interest lots of families to meet and mix with other Catholic families in the area for a common purpose. This will require close coordination with the pastors and probably lots of work, but it will provide high visibility. We could probably divvy up the work among three guys if each would coordinate at his parish. If you have an interest in helping out here, please come to the meeting or let us know in advance.

Food for Families.   Supreme encourages this as a mandatory program. The Faith In Action Handbook has details.  Click here if you don’t have the Faith in Action Handbook.   We could easily reach out to the Marlborough or Hudson Food Pantry, and provide volunteers. We are actually half-way there, since Dale Dolesh already volunteers loading and stocking donated food at the Marlborough Food Pantry one day a week.

(b)  Establishing our Program Personnel Roster

I have to submit our Program Personnel Report by September 1^st.  Based on the members stepping forward at the July meeting, I think we have several of the slots filled as set forth below. But we need a few others.  Here are the vacancies:

Overall Program Director:   This person coordinates and supports the individual program directors. This person will have to complete the Safe Environment Course which is a one-hour webinar.  Although this job appears higher up the on the hierarchy, it’s actually less work than the individual program directors.  They will do the heavy lifting, you just coordinate and support when needed.   Volunteer needed for this position.

Faith Director:                                 Rich Kearns  (running the Spiritual Reflection program)

Community Director:                     Dale Dolesh  (running the Coats for Kids Campaign)

Family Director:                              Neil Cronin  (running the Free Throw Competition)

Life Director:                                   Rich Pulice  (organizing the Special Olympics events)

Membership Director:                   Rich Kearns

Retention Chairman:                     Andy Tivnan

Recruitment Committee:

(1)          _volunteer needed_______________

(2)          _ volunteer needed ______________

(3)          _ volunteer needed_______________

4.    Upcoming Events — Mark your calendars

August 14:  Meeting with Fr. Ren.  On Thursday, Mike Wells and Mike Tremblay are meeting with Fr. Ren, the Pastor of St. Michael’s,  who has expressed an interest in building a closer relationship with the Knights.   Since St. Matthias and St. Michael’s have been merged into a collaborative, and the Hudson Council has been inactive for almost 20 years, it seems we should fill this void and it will offer an opportunity for us to grow.  If any members of St. Michael’s wish to attend, you are welcome to come, just email grandknight@kofcmarlboro.org and let us know you are coming.

August 25, 2019:  St. Michael’s Parish Picnic.  We have been invited to attend the St. Mike’s Parish Picnic.  Starts at noon at the  Hudson Elks Picnic Grounds, on Brigham Street.  We will staff a table in the Ministry Exhibition, display some recruitment literature, mill around, meet and greet, answer questions, etc.  Your benevolent Grand Knight will allow you to sneak away for a hamburger, etc.  There is a sign-up sheet here.

August 18:  A Knight at Fenway Park.  The State Council is organizing a Red Sox Game next Sunday, August 18.  It’s a nice Sunday afternoon 1:00 game against the Orioles.  Tickets are $44 each.  Contact state.office@masskofc.org  or call (781) 551-0628 to get tickets.

September 2nd:  Labor Day Parade.  We are signed up and have a berth in the parade.  Sign-up sheet available here, sign up if you plan to attend.  Dress is white or navy polo shirts and K of C baseball caps.  Navy jackets in case of rain.  Meet up around 10 a.m. around the intersection of Lincoln Street and Pleasant St.  Our exact time and rally point will be sent to you by email as long as you sign up on the sign-up sheet.

September 28th:  Friends of the Poor Walk. Saturday, Sept. 28^th. Meet at Meehan Hall at 7:30 a.m. St. Vincent DePaul is organizing this event. If you plan to participate, please meet up with other Knights at Meehan Hall and wear your white or navy Polo shirt or jacket. Register to Walk here, and solicit sponsors.  You should also sign up here to join in the Knight’s platoon.

October 11 and 12:  Tootsie Roll Drive. October 11 and 12, we have secured venues outside of St. Mary’s Credit Union.   Sign-up sheets will be up on our website as the event nears. Thanks to John Dedecko for arranging the venues.

Remember:  the Council event calendar is always available on the website, and if you use Google Calendar, you can pipe it right into your regular calendar and have it display on your desktop or phone!

See you Tuesday night!

Mike Tremblay
Grand Knight