Home of the Knights of Columbus #11730

What a beautiful event! It was special to have our new Bishop join our council to celebrate our 25th anniversary at Our Lady of the Pines. There was certainly a spirit of fraternity on our special evening. We like to especially express our gratitude to Father Brad and all of the parish staff. There were so many positive comments shared amongst our brother knights. You have the heartfelt thanks for the extraordinary effort that you all showed at making our 25th anniversary celebration such an amazing success. Please see the smiling faces in the pictures below. They help visualize the extent of our appreciation.

Congratulations to our latest award winners!

Knight of the Month: Charlie Walker

This Catholic Gentleman during the last month worked on 3 different projects. He led the way on the memorial paver project by single handedly cutting down the area, removing the weed barrier fabric, reducing the level to accommodate the sand, base and memorial bricks. He then led the mitigation project on the parish grounds west of the church. He coordinated the knights and ladies that chipped in to help and got a lot done on the removal of dead fall and pine needles including cutting down several dead trees as well. This was all done on the day before the parish picnic. The very next day at the picnic he led the cooking crew. But first he arrived about 3 or 4 hours before the picnic to completely clean and power wash the grill. And then again cleaned the grill after the picnic. For this and many other reasons Charlie Walker is our knight of the month!

Family of the Month: Jerry and Peggy Grant
I have known this Catholic Gentleman and his wife going back somewhere around 30 years. But this couple also works tirelessly for the parish. Not only were they both lending a hand at the mitigation project, but then, again the next day at the picnic they were seen pitching in wherever any work was needed. Over the years they have always helped out whenever and wherever it was needed and they have been active in the parish in numerous projects as well. It is my pleasure to award Jerry & Peggy Grant as our family of the month.

Knight of the Year: Prior Grand Knight Pierre Gaudreault

July Family of the Month: Pierre & Michelle Gaudreault

August Knight of the Month: Brother Ted Hanchett

A special thanks to Pierre for all he has done for our council and continues to do!

Worthy Grand Knight Joe Graff presents a $1500 check to Jennifer Brummel and the OLP Youth Program for this year’s NCYC conference.

You are cordially invited to attend a Special Mass honoring Blessed Father Michael Givney and celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Our Lady of the Pines Knights of Columbus Council 11730.
Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church
Thursday, September 16th, 6:30 PM

We are blessed to have Bishop James Golka of the Diocese of Colorado Springs as the main celebrant.
Several Priests and State Officers will be in attendance.
Hors d’oeuvres, refreshments, and dinner will be served.
Parish Hall after mass. RSVPs are required.
Please RSVP to Cynthia at CynthiaS@OurLadyOfThePines.org or call 719-495-2351 x225.

It would be great if you would consider these questions and come to Thursday’s general meeting with your ideas.
1. Ideas on how to increase our membership? Some ideas so far include:
a. Recruit men that are involved in TMIY
b. Adding a sign on the knight’s kiosk in the foyer with a “Interested in the Knights” “forms are found here”,
c. Getting more exposure in the parish by announcing some of our activities ahead of time and inviting the parish men to join us.
d. Periodic pulpit talks by the GK to explain some of our activities to the parish? Fr. Brad has already approved presenting our check to the youth ministry at the end of mass in a few weeks which will give us a chance to explain to the parish that all the delicious burritos that they buy go back to helping the parish.
2. How can we make our membership meetings more interesting/fun or other ways to increase attendance? Some ideas presented so far include:
a. Coordinating with the youth ministry teams and getting the older youth involved in some of our activities like burritos, fish fry/soup dinner, etc. (This will require safe environment training from everyone that is involved however).
b. Offer more social time at meetings. (Making meetings more concise so it will allow for more social time after the meeting with snacks, drinks etc.)
c. Adding a guest speaker to our meetings on a unique topic of interest such as, grilling/cooking/smoking meat, knight’s benefits (not just insurance but financial planning etc.),
3. Do we want to create an exemplification team?
4. Starting a Monthly zoom rosary with another council?
5. Would it be helpful to receive a Monthly letter to the council members from GK?
6. We would like to add a business directory to the council web site.
7. Finalize a date for a September evening anniversary dinner. September 9th or 10th are our target dates depending on which is available for the facility. Will be starting with a mass in honor of Fr. McGivney and the invite list will include state officers and our new Bishop, Bishop Golka.
8. Father Brad’s priorities: several projects are still in need around the parish. These include:
a. continued pine needle cleanup and some mitigation in the treed areas around the church. Trips to the slash will be needed as well.
b. Some of the memorial pavers are ready to be installed.
c. Lenten Friday evening events (fish fry or simple soup and bread dinner) are also approved.
9. Summer picnic is scheduled for August 1st and we need to plan to prepare food for the event (hamburgers/hot dogs) that will be supplied by the church.
10. Fr Brad has also agreed to allow us to have a Pig roast on a separate date and we would like to target September or October.
11. We would also like to bring back our Taco nights on Saturday after the 4:30pm mass.
12. Burritos are scheduled for Sunday July 25th, but we need more volunteers to help in preparation early Sunday morning? We have also tentatively scheduled August 29th for burritos as well.
We also will have a couple of ‘old business’ items to discuss at the meeting as well. Rod McNeil will update us on the information concerning the new Chesterton Academy at St Gabriel’s. We need to officially approve the May 2021 meeting minutes. And finally, we need someone in the council to prayerfully consider stepping up to fill our Worthy Recorder position. If you have interest in helping the council, please reach out to me or any of the officers and let us know.

Knight of the Month: Kerry White: Brother Kerry has continued to serve our parish and our council in many ways during his membership in our parish. He is currently serving as a lector for the church. He’s done many duties for the Knights, including Grand Knight. Just recently, Kerry led a team of Knights to install about 250 flags on the church grounds to commemorate the many fallen heroes for the Memorial Day weekend.
Godspeed with your new parish. They will be lucky to have both of you as parishioners, Kerry and Rebecca.

Family of the Month: Mark and Jill Russell: This couple has been serving the parish and the Knights and the Ladies ever since they came to the parish. They’ve participated with their grandchildren in the youth programs. When it became apparent that churches needed to make their environments safer, Mark stepped up and led the Life Safety Team. Jill also led the Ladies Aux., and as a couple they led past fish fries. Mark participated in a few council positions as an officer, and most recently guided our council to a deal with the church to improve our facilities. Thank you, Mark and Jill, for all you do. I’m sure you will do great things in your new parish.

Below are the results of the elections. Still looking for a recorder.

Grand Knight: Joe Graff
Advocate: Greg Sullivan
Dep GK: Mack McGuire
Warden: Charlie Walker
Chancellor: Pierre Gaudreault
Inside Guard: Zavier Morales
Recorder: —–
Inside Guard: Rod Balak
Treasurer: Jack Perroni
FS: Victor Villhard
Outside Guard: Gary Munda
Trustee (3 Yr.): Steve Reed
Trustee (2 Yr.): Rod McNeill
Trustee (1 Yr.): John O’Rourke

Brother Knights,
I regret to inform you that Fr. Paul Wicker passed to the Lord this morning at about 7 a.m. Many in the Diocese knew Fr. Paul and he was beloved by all. Please say a prayer and keep in tune for the Funeral Mass announcement.

This month our council is recognizing Worthy Guard Gary Munda. Gary works as a hospitality minister at Saturday 4:30 Masses. In doing this he promotes the Knights and our council by wearing our council long sleeved green shirt. Gary is very cordial to all who enter the church building, making a good impression for himself, our council, and the Knights of Columbus. Gary also readily helps and is highly visible when serving with the OLP Life Safety Team and performing Sacristan duties.