Knights of Columbus lanching the Year of the Volunteer program; visit kofc.org for more information
Cumulative figures show that during the past decade, the Knights of Columbus has donated nearly $1.28 billion to charity, and provided in excess of 612 million hours of volunteer service in support of charitable causes.
Supreme Knight Calls for Increase in Volunteerism Throughout United States
Browsing Posts published in January, 2009
Received the following email from our Wisconsin State Program Director concerning UW Madison Hospital, specifically the Madison Surgery Center consideration of a policy change that would lead to performance of second trimester abortions in their facility.
Subject: (d) Community – Pro Life – Important Decision Being Made This Coming Week
Worthy State Officers and Brothers of Wisconsin,
Please read the letter received below from one of our Lutheran brethren. What is about to take place at the US Madison Hospital transcends all moral Catholic teaching and needs our full attention.
There is no room for mincing words here; as this hospital considers doing abortions in the 2nd trimester, embryonic stem cell research has now begun under the Obama administration as expected and as reported on the national news. Brothers this requires a full court press. I have sent the following message separately to the Meriter Hospital CEO and suggest that each of you do a similar thing:
Mr. Jim Woodward
Life is precious in all its stages to Catholics, Christians and in particular the Knights of Columbus. Hospitals like Meriter, must share in this belief of preserving life or else there is no credibility in their existence.
As thinking, rational human beings, we Knights ask: What is it that you don’t understand about “doing no harm” in the medical profession? Does greed control your ability to make moral judgments? Is it easy for you to silence forever the silent innocents for personal gain?
The Knights of Columbus pray for your conversion.
This man’s e-mail address is jwoodward@meriter.com
Please act now, follow the directionsin the letter below of Pastor Schultz. Take a stand for the “Culture of Life” and make a statement!
Vivat Jesus
Robert Halaska
Wisconsin State Program Director. Knights of Columbus rhalaska@wikofc.com
—-Letter extract from Pastor Schultz:
The Madison Surgery Center is considering a policy change that would lead to the performance of second trimester abortions in their facility (This would include infants who have been growing in their mothers’ wombs for up to 6 months). If this change goes into effect, it can also effectively pave the way for our UW system to offer expanded abortion services.
We need to act TODAY to stop this policy change from happening. A vote by the UW Hospital Board will be taken this coming Wednesday, January 28.
To sign an electronic petition against their policy change, go to the Wisconsin Right to Life website at http://www.wrtl.org/petition2/. It’s a simple process. I completed the form in about one minute!
You can also call Jim Woodward, President and CEO of Meriter Hospital at 608-417-6000 to voice your opposition.
Petitions will be hand delivered on Tuesday morning, so please act today, and share with the people you know.
UPDATE -
University of Wisconsin Clinic to Begin 2nd-Trimester Abortions
By Kathleen Gilbert
MADISON, Wisconsin, February 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After three hours of emotional debate, the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority Board voted 11-3 Wednesday to offer 2nd-trimester abortions at a clinic owned by the University of Wisconsin (UW).
The decision to open the Madison Surgery Center to the abortions came amid a sizeable pro-life protest, with counter-protesters gathering outside the building in the bitter cold. A rally of 2,000 had also gathered last Saturday at the UW campus, and marched to the surgery clinic to condemn the proposal.
Read the entire artical here: LifeSiteNews.com
From PR Newswire: Supreme Knight Carl Anderson in a speech at Fairfield University announced the KofC is sponsoring a summit on volunteerism.
Read the entire artical here:
From the Assoicated Press:
VATICAN CITY (AP) – The Vatican is launching its own YouTube channel to engage more with the digital generation and better control Pope Benedict XVI’s online image.
Officials from Vatican Television and Google announced the channel Friday.
Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, who heads the Vatican’s social communications office, siad the pope explicity approved of the channel. He said Benedict was “a man of dialogue” who wanted to engage with people wherever they are.
Celli said the Vatican is launching the channel in part to have some control over the pontiff’s image, which he said is already being used on sites respectful of the papacy and not.
The Vatican plans to update the site daily, with its messages available in Italian, German, English and Spanish.
On the net:
- Vatican site: http://www.youtube.com/vatican
Several State Directors were very instrumental conducting workshops right after the State Convention. State personnel, District Deputies, Grand Knights, Deputy Grand Knights and council members were encouraged to attend one of the scheduled meetings in their areas.
Since June of 2008, Dave Catalano, the Green Bay Diocesan Coordinator, has put together three workshops of instruction for the benefit of the Grand Knights and Deputy Grand Knights. Additionally, in the Milwaukee Archdiocese there have been two workshops given by Dick Taddy and MarkWagner. The approximately two hour meetings emphasized Grand Knight training which was well received. The long term benefit from these workshops cannot be over stated. Based on the early returns from our successes in Green Bay, and Milwaukee, Dave Catalano is now buoyed to expand the training in late 2009, to include a session for Financial Secretaries and Trustees.
Dave Catalano has agreed to set up a program to “Train the Trainers” that is scheduled at St. Mary Magdalene in Waupaca on February 7, 2009. The tentative agenda is to meet at 11:00 AM for a lunch that State Program Director Robert Halaska and Lady Betsy will provide. The workshop will run from 12:00 to 3:00 PM with refreshments available throughout the workshop. Our hope is to have a minimum of two trainers from each diocese attend and of course everyone is welcome, only please let Program Director Robert Halaska know you are coming so that there will be adequate preparations. By June of 2009 the goal is to have Diocesan Teams scheduling training sessions in each of the 5 Dioceses to instruct both seasoned and new Grand Knights and Deputy Grand Knights. When the mystery is taken out of the job the job becomes easier and the results greater.
For more information contact Dave Catalano (smily2@sbcglobal.net) or Robert Halaska (rhalaska@wikofc.com)
Email from our Worthy State Program Director:
Worthy State Deputy Roland, State Officers and Brothers Knights of Wisconsin,
I would ask you all to read this assessment and request with humility, honesty, dedication and responsibility toward the future of our beloved Order.
Brothers, let us start by being humbly honest with ourselves. In some councils, negativity reigns. Standing, State Programs are not accomplished, Membership Drives yield little fruit or are non-existent and Council positions stagnate while chairmanships go unmanned. Many of us have the preconceived idea that this is typical of voluntarism in the US and that there is little or nothing that we can do to change this attitude. Thus the mudslide continues.
The Knights of Columbus will always have an ambivalent element and a dedicated, responsible group of brothers as well. This letter is directed to those responsible brothers who recognize the need and are willing to rededicate and redirect their efforts, in an organized and logical way, to stop the tide of negativism and reinvigorate our Order once again.
There is no need to scratch our heads and shrug our shoulders wondering how to make our Councils vibrant again. After 126 years of existence, methods are well developed and answers are very clear as to how to make our councils function better. Training, mentoring, socializing are tools that we have had in the past and are missing today. All we have to do is recapture the knowledge of successfully running our councils and what was once viewed as a burden will be seen, rather, as the thrill of accomplishment along with the honor of offering faith filled service.
Now is the time for a change of attitude so I ask each of you to search your heart for the right answer. The right answer is: We all share responsibility for our Order. The right answer is: Dedication without leadership is time wasted. The right answer is: A plan of action is better than no plan at all. The right answer is: Knowledge takes away fear and empowers.
Here is the plan; The Order has extensive training materials available and has recommended training at all levels starting with our very Exemplifications! Over the past 6 months several dedicated brothers have taken up the huge task of developing a plan to reintroduce training on a continuous state program basis. Diocesan Coordinators will be in charge of setting up times and places for training in their dioceses in the months immediately preceding the installation of new council officers. Training emphasis, at the onset, will be placed on the Grand Knights, Deputy Grand Knights, Financial Secretaries and Advocates but logically should expand to all officers. Grand Knights will be asked to allow District Deputies the courtesy of 10 to 15 minutes of council business meeting time for the sole purpose of instruction. This time should initially be spent in training the Service Personnel.
Where do we start? We need to “Train the Trainers” first.
Who: All Dedicated, Responsible, brothers who are not afraid to teach and train.
What: “Train the Trainers” seminar conducted by Green Bay Diocesan Program Coordinator Dave Catalano to last 4 hours with snacks and lunch prepared by the dynamic duo of Bob & Betsy Halaska
Where: St. Mary Magdalene Parish, Waupaca (the Corner of State Highways 22 and 10 in the heart of the state)
When: February 7th at 10:00 AM
How: RSVP to me so that I will know how much food to prepare
Why: Our Order is depending on those brothers who are responsible “Knowledge Vendors”. If you possess this wonderful capability and do not use it for our order at this time you will be banished to the fires of he– well maybe this is going a little too far but a little passion never hurt did it?
Brothers, search your souls and make the right decision. We need lots of help here. We need as many brothers to be experts in job function as there are positions in the Knights of Columbus and then multiply this by the number of Diocese and Districts in our State. As a testimonial to success, I can state with certainty that when you train you empower, when empowered programs succeed when programs succeed membership increases, when membership increases we all get the opportunity to grow in our Catholic Faith. Remember: Morality is taught, immorality grows out of ignorance.
I anxiously await your right decisions.
Vivat Jesus brothers
Bob
Below links and news provided from LifesiteNews.com NewsBytes for January 9, 2009
* Disclaimer: The links below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of Fort Howard Knights of Columbus. They are presented only for your information.
What FOCA Really Does
http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/16948/Hyde’s 4 Rules for Pro-Lifers
1. Don’t compromise on the right to life. Ever.
2. Respect, and work with, your opposition.
3. Support other pro-lifers.
4. Never give up
http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/16952/Pro-lifers anxious over Obama inauguration
http://www.osv.com
Wonderful witness, sometimes it takes others to see what our potential might be. Fr. Batulica had other plans and becoming a priest wasn’t what he thought he would become. Only through the encouragement of others during his long journey that he ultimatelycame to the realization that God was in fact calling him to the priesthood.
Despite these plans, something resonated with the Rev. Bartulica when a fellow Knights of Columbus member happened to ask him if he’d ever thought of being a priest.
This uncertainty caused him to turn back twice — once after his first semester of seminary, as he questioned his ability to live a celibate life, and another time after he’d graduated and was serving a pastoral internship. The first time, he spent a year teaching at a parish school. The second, he worked at a bar in Kansas City’s Westport district and then decided to go to law school, after all, but didn’t find a strong sense of purpose in it.
Read the entire article here. Sometimes all it takes is someone asking the question “Would you consider . . . ” and let God do the rest.
Prayer for Vocations
Lord, You told us that “The harvest indeed is great but the laborers are few. Pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest.” We ask You to strengthen us as we follow the vocation to which You have called us. We pray particularly for those called to serve as priests, sisters, brothers and deacons:
Those whom You have called,
Those You are calling now,
Those You will call in the future.
May they be open and responsive to the call of serving Your people. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
