Monsignor James S. Conlan Council #5329 – Summer 2021 (June-September 2021) Activities Summary
St. Maximilian Kolbe once said: “The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us strive, therefore, to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers.”
As Knights of Columbus we try to do something about that “indifference” by putting our Catholic Faith into action and helping those who need it the most, as well as, looking for ways to support our Priests, our Church, and our Parish with its needs whether they be spiritual, volunteerism, or fiscal in nature. Much of our Summer has been spent in collective albeit at times seemingly silent operation working on things behind the scenes we believe accomplish the removal of indifference in our community through action and praise of God in little works of mercy and charity. Here is what our Council has been up to the past several months this summer between June and September 2021.
Knights Membership Drive – We started planning a recruitment drive for our Council back in June 2021 and the actual drive is happening right now in September 2021. We have a good number of Brother Knights who have put in many decades of service with our Council and we know that after many years of service we need to grow our membership so we can keep doing the work that needs to be done when our elder members are no longer able to do that work since much of it is of a physical nature. With this in mind our Council knew there had to be other like minded Catholic adult men in our Pine Bush Catholic community and our Parish of Infant Savior looking to help out. This past weekend on Saturday; September 18th and 19th we held our first recruiting drive during the weekend masses at Infant Saviour and Our Lady of the Valley. We had some gentlemen come forward and a few sign ups from that event already. We will be doing the recruiting drive again this coming weekend on September 25th and 26th again after weekend masses at the Church and Chapel. You can find out more here. If you are interested in joining the Knights you can sign up online here. Please keep our Council in your prayers as we continue to try to grow in numbers to better serve our community, Church, and God.
Pine Bush Central School District Law & Leadership Academy – Grand Knight Joe Ditizio was among the speakers and community organization guests of the Pine Bush Central School District’s (PBSCD) Law and Leadership Academy Community Service Day event held on July 5, 2021. The PBCSD Summer Academy programs allow high school students in the District to participate in extracurricular summer learning programs focused on specific career areas in order to gain insight and experience into possible career paths. The academies are held over the summer months and while they are not required, students do gain class credits for participating in the academy. The Law & Leadership Academy (L&LA) focuses on developing leadership skills in the students giving them exposure to law enforcement, first responder, military and civil/governmental leadership careers. The L&LA program has a specific day called Community Service Day where community organizations are brought in so students can be made aware of the many local organizations they can join either now or in their adult lives that give back to the community in service and support. The PBSCD invited our Council to participate as one of attendees and speakers. Though you must be a Catholic adult male to join the Knights, GK Ditizio noted that there are many organization in our community that have similar focuses of giving back and helping others no matter who you or what you believe religously. GK Ditizio also reinforced the importance of giving back to the community through service organizations and how being Catholic specifically implies the need to help others. For those who will one day be Catholic adult males in the near future, GK Ditizio reminded them that Knights Councils will be available in both college and the communities they one day work/live in wherever that might be worldwide. So when the time comes he encouraged them to step up, join and serve God, Church, and community through the Knights. We thank the administration and staff of the PBSCD for inviting GK Ditizio to attend the event. GK Ditizio got a chance to speak with many of the students and there was a real enthusiasm amongst them about giving back to their community– let us pray for these students to continue to grow in their desire to serve their community positively both now as students and in the future as adults!
Donation for Needy Family – In late July 2021, Deacon Jack Carr (the former Deacon at Infant Saviour and a Brother Knight working in Kingston where he currently serves as a Deacon at a Catholic Parish) made our Council aware of a family in need who was trying to move into a new home. The family is very destitute and need of help relocating to better housing. They also had family members who were very ill and those illnesses resulted in the inability to work. If all that was not enough to bear, the family suffered a tragedy with one of their younger children from an accident that resulted in the child becoming disabled. While the family was not living within our traditional service footprint they had previously lived several years back in the Pine Bush area and we had worked with them before. Deacon Jack wanted desperately to help the family out so they could get into safer housing (the current one had numerous code violations and issues) and he was having challenges in finding people to help make that happen. Our Council stepped up by donating $500 towards relocation assistance for the family. We are happy to report that in August 2021, the family was able to relocate into safer housing and that with the help of others Deacon Jack was able to find a moving company to do the work with the money he had pooled together. It is always a honor to work with Deacon Jack in his ministry of mercy work and we are grateful for his continued service to those in need no matter who they or where they are. Please keep this family in your prayers of healing and recovery as they continue to work towards getting back on their feet.
Montgomery NY Knights Celebrate 100 Years – The Father Richard Joyce #2270 Council in Montgomery, NY is celebrating its hundredth year of service this year. To commemorate the event their Council held a celebration over summer that included a mass at their Parish (Holy Name of Mary Church in Montgomery, NY). We donated $50 in August 2021 towards an ad to congratulate them in the event’s commemorative program. The ad support donations from local brother Councils and businesses allows their Council to offset the cost of printing the event program for the 100 year celebration mass and it is a nice way to let our Brother Knights know we support their continued work in their community. Congratulations to the Montgomery 2270 Council on their hundredth year of service! Please keep their Council and their Parish in your prayers so that they may continue to serve Montgomery with the same level of compassion and charity they have shown for the past hundred years for another hundred years to come!
Knights Founders Day – On Friday; August 13, 2021 we took time during our Monthly Council Meeting to commemorate the Feast Day of Blessed Father Michael McGivney. Financial Secretary Chris Welch led our Council in the Prayer for Canonization for Blessed Fr. McGivney. Fr. McGivney was the founder of the Knights of Columbus and he was recently named as Blessed by Catholic Church. This is part of the path towards Sainthood and our hope is that one day he will be made a Saint if God so wills it. We continue to pray for his consideration for Sainthood by the Church and you can join us by saying the Prayer for his Canonization as a Saint with us. You can find the prayer here. You can find more about Fr. McGivney here.
Congratulations to Former District Deputy Paul Plate’ – Our Council’s former District Deputy, Paul Plate’, was elected to the office of Knights Hudson Valley Conference Chairman and also to the office of Knights Hudson Valley Chapter Vice President during the most recent Fraternal Year Elections that took place in July 2021. With that election Paul handed his District Deputy duties over so he can focus on our larger Hudson Valley Chapter and Conference goals. A District Deputy is a local Council’s interface with the State and National level Knights organizations. The Chapter and Conference are the next level up organizationally from the Council and Assembly level that is the most local. The Chapter and Conference report up to the State and the State to Supreme (that runs the national and international level of Knights). Paul has been a wonderful District Deputy (DD for short) over the past decade and really helped our Council navigate whatever initiative or questions we had. We are grateful for his leadership, mentorship, and wish him all the best in his new role within the Knights– congratulations Paul! Keep Paul in your prayers as he continues to lead our Chapter and Conference to serve all those who need us and to serve the one Lord who we owe everything to, Jesus Christ.
Monsignor James S. Conlan Council #5329 – Looking Ahead
Coin Drop Fundraiser – Our Council is planning a coin drop fundraiser for early October 2021. We will let you know where we will be be and when in the coming week as we finalize approval with the Town of Crawford Board that is needed to run the charity event within the Town. The tentative plan is to do the coin drop on Ted Drive in Pine Bush, NY. Again we will let you know where you can find us and when the event will be once the Town gives us the go ahead for the event. We appreciate your support and any donation you can make whether it be big or small. We cannot accomplish the things we do above without your continued support and prayers nor can we do them at all without the Lord. Thank you in advance for your support.
Altar Server Appreciation – Once again we will be looking into honoring our Altar Servers at the Church of the Infant Saviour in Pine Bush, NY. This past year we had three new young people step up and start serving in the role. Our Council will be looking for a special way to thank them for their service to our Parish, Church, and Lord. More info will be announced as this program is formalized for this year.
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