State Deputy Message - January 2017

Brothers,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I hope you had a great and rewarding Advent season, this year the longest time period for Advent.  Next year will be the shortest Advent Season with Christmas just one day after the 4^th Sunday of Advent.  For the Christmas season I get many strange looks when I am asked if I had a good Christmas and I answered it only began Christmas Eve and won’t be over until the Baptism of the Lord on January 9^th.  Yes, my coworkers and friends know that I am Catholic. 

We now have completed one half of our Fraternal Year.  Have you and your Councils achieved ½ of your Program and Membership goals?  As a State we have not, and honestly we are behind where we should be in both Programs and Membership.  

Do you have plans in place or are you already working on the Domestic Church programs?  Remember you will need to conduct 4 of these this year to qualify for Star Council and Columbian Awards.  It is not too late to look at Supreme’s website under Domestic Church, pick a few, and put them into Action.  Remember to complete and submit any reports they request.

Now is a good time to make plans for your March Membership Drives and order you Church Drive Kits.  Don’t wait until the last minute as it could take as long as 6 weeks to receive these.  As you do this you can also order any needed items to conduct the various Domestic Church activities. 

A takeaway from our Mid Year meeting were requests to receive more communication and information from the State Council.  To this end we will begin to post more short messages on the State Website, www.azknightsofcolumbus.org, along with messages from our State Membership Chairman.  Other Chairman will post messages as well. 

During the Mid Year meeting we asked the District Deputies what areas of training beyond the Supreme Webinars, they believe is needed in the State.  They will also be asking you for your thoughts and sending these to us so we can craft some additional training sessions statewide during the second half of this Fraternal Year.

The February 4^th Phoenix Men’s Conference is SOLD OUT!  The State Council was able to obtain some tickets, very close to Front and Center, to use as Incentive for Council Membership recruitment.  Our State Membership Director Kevin McCarthy recently sent out information on this incentive. 

Finally, please plan to join many of your Brother Knights in Tucson on Saturday January 21^st as we celebrate Mass with Bishop Kicanas and then march to a local Cemetery for a Memorial Service to the Unborn.  If you can’t make it to Tucson join Bishop Olmsted in Phoenix for Mass or events in your local communities.

Vivat Jesus,

Sean Halpain

State Deputy