State Deputy Message - July 2017

July 4, 2017

Brothers,

Thank you for all your efforts during the 2016-17 Fraternal year.  I trust that you completed the year with a feeling of fulfillment that you have served you Pastor, Parish, Community and membership in a manner that will make you proud.

As a State, we made a great effort in May and June to return Arizona to the Ranks of Circle of Honor. At this time, it looks like we came up 28 new members short of the Goal set by Supreme for Arizona of 950. Although coming so close was a big disappointment we can hold our heads up with the knowledge that we did a turn around and got back on track. Early in the year and at mid-year, finishing this well was a far-off dream. One of the pearls of Wisdom that members of the Supreme Membership staff reminds us is that States don’t make Circle of Honor the first 4 months of the year, but they can miss it if those months are not productive.

With that wisdom in mind we want to begin our 2017-2018 Fraternal Year with renewed energy, as we all work to grow our order to better serve our Bishops, Priests and Parish Communities. As we grow and move forward we need to also look at getting younger. If you look around you will notice that the brothers who you have been with for many years are no longer young like they once were. Not only did we age, but so did our friends.

Last year our State Theme was “Be the Leader of Your Domestic Church”. I asked each of you to fill the void that has been created over the years in our families and be the one that leads the faith and formation of your families.

This year our State Theme is “Supporting Life at Every Stage”. 

We need to remember that not only do we stand for the teachings of our Catholic Church and provide the voice for the unborn that are not able to speak for themselves; we also need to support those that are already alive. We need to continue to participate in 40 Days for Life campaigns, pray outside abortion facilities, and support our Church and Order as we fight for the rights of the unborn and new born.

As we support the family as the foundation of our society we will continue to promote and participate in the Building the Domestic Church programs begun by Supreme a few years ago. We need to work harder to offer programs and activities aimed at families and supporting the parents as they form our youth in the faith.

Finally, we cannot turn our backs on or not be there as our family, friends and neighbors move toward the end of our lives in this world. We will be introducing activities and provide information for
Councils to become involved in learning about and assisting those that begin to have physical and mental limitations.

We will be conducting our State Organizational meeting July 14-16 in Tucson. At this meeting, your District Deputies will get more detailed information about our Membership Incentive plans and goals, our Supreme and State Programs, and training to allow the DD’s to better assist you and your Council with meeting your Program and Membership Goals.

This year Supreme plans to send the Fraternal Leader Success Planner directly to the Councils. You can begin using this as soon as you receive your supply. You will not need to wait for your District Organization meeting or for a DD visit to get your copies. Use this as your planning tool as soon as it arrives to begin now to outline your Council Programs, Membership recruitment, and social events.

For those that have not received this yet, the July message from our Supreme Knight Carl Anderson is “Let us all as Knights redouble our efforts as men of faith – and men of action based on that faith”. The program spotlight is Bishop Olmsted’s Into the Breach. This apostolic exhortation was originally written as a message to the men of the Phoenix Diocese but Supreme has adopted this and it is now being sent Order wide and has been translated into most if not all the languages where we have Knights.

If your Council needs copies, do not order them from Supreme. As part of the agreement to use his work, Bishop Olmsted and the Phoenix Diocese received a shipment of many thousand copies. We have been asked to assist in getting these distributed to our Councils. They cannot ship for us but we can make appointments to pick these up ourselves in Phoenix.

Soon your District Deputies will be contacting you about your Admission Degree schedules for this year, or at least for the first 3 or 4 months. They are required to bring this information to the Organizational Meeting in a couple of weeks. Go ahead and schedule your degrees now, to the extent possible.

As we go forward with this new year I pray that you will experience the joy of service and be humbly grateful of the thanks we receive from our Pastors and Parish community for taking the lead as the Catholic, Family, Fraternal, Service organization that we are.

Vivat Jesus,

Sean E. Halpain

Arizona State Deputy

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St. Michael welcomes Ukrainian Patriarch

   Twelve Sir Knights, from seven Assemblies, attended Holy Liturgy at St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church to welcome His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuck, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc, the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the world, Saturday July 1 in Tucson. 

   His Beatitude and St. Michael's pastor, Fr. Andriy Chirovsky, are both Knights of Columbus. Fraternal Benefits Agent, Tony Lomonaco, has made great strides in establishing a KofC Council at St. Michael's.

 

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Knights in Action Photos - Tucson Knights lead Corpus Christi Procession

Here are the proposed captions

IMG_3209 Newly ordained Deacon Don Nagy (also a Knight of Columbus) was
cantor for the procession.

IMG_3220 Seminarian Richard Rivera (also a Knight of Columbus) was
Master of Ceremonies.

IMG_3258 Father Pat Crino, pastor, (and our Worthy State Chaplain) led
the prayer at each of seven altars set up outside the church.

IMG_3284 Eight Sir Knights in regalia (all from the same council) led
the procession.

IMG_3291 Sister Claudia (Sister of Charity) awaits the procession at
her convent.

IMG_3371 Knights escort Father and the Blessed Sacrament back into
church for Benediction


Thanks

Rick

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Knights at the Ballpark 2017

Knights at the Ballpark
The Arizona Diamondbacks invite you to bring your family and friends to the 13th Annual Knights of Columbus Day at Chase Field.  Watch an exciting game of baseball as the D-backs take on the Miami Marlins.

For every ticket purchased through this offer, the D-backs will donate $2 to your local council and $2 to the Arizona Knights of Columbus and, in addition, $2 from every ticket will be donated to Special Olympics Arizona.  In 2016, over 450 tickets were purchased with over $2700 donated.  Let's increase this number for 2017!

ALL COUNCIL CHAIRMEN MUST FILL OUT THIS ORDER FORM AND SEND TO THE D-BACKS WITH FULL PAYMENT.

Order Form

Bus 

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Membership Message - IPSD

Brother,

It's been a while since I last sent a message on this very important topic of growing and strengthening the Order in Arizona. Once again, we find ourselves extremely close to meeting our goals for the end of another fraternal year. Councils are finding themselves extremely close to earning the Star Council Award. Districts are extremely close to earning the Star District Award. And, the state as a whole, is extremely close to earning the Circle of Honor. Not unlike the last fraternal year, we are having a "Nail Biter" close! State Deputy Sean Halpain and State Membership Director Kevin McCarthy have been working extremely hard to keep us focused to the finish line. I support their actions and hope to encourage you to be positive and finish on top.

As of today, June 12, we need 110 more new members in Arizona to reach the Circle of Honor. We are at 88.42% of our goal. We only need 8 new members per day until June 30 to make the goal!  Also, we are tracking very well to have many councils earn the Star Council Award. Remember, there is a huge Supreme and State financial incentive for a council who earns Star Council this fraternal year.

There is some work we need to do in these last 3 weeks of this fraternal year. Together, we can ALL win! Here a few things we ALL need to do so we ALL can do to finish the race in first place:

1. Remain positive and believe that you and your council or district can cross the finish line as a champion!!! If you don't believe you can do it, you won't.
2. By June 18^th:
   1. Review and submit your council's Columbian Award Application (Form SP-7) to Supreme via the on-line process. Every council, whether they met their membership and/or insurance quotas or not, needs to submit this application. Every council in Arizona should earn the Columbian Award. You did the work, you deserve the recognition. Earning this award shows your Pastor, Parish, and community that your council is active and alive. People want to be a part of and support an active council. Note: Supreme will not accept this application after June 30. Please get it in now to ensure you earn this award.
3. By June 25^th:
   1. Recruit at least 1 more new member.
   2. Call or "Door Knock" all the prospects who have already completed a Form 100 and have not gone through their Admissions or 1st Degree.
4. By June 27^th:
   1. Be sure to have all your candidates pass through the council's Admissions Committee and attends the Admissions or 1^st Degree.
   2. If there is no degree schedule in your council or area by this time, it is approved by Supreme and is absolutely proper to use the Admissions or 1st Degree on DVD or on-line version. You can always bring the new member to a live ceremony in July, if you like. This way he can still experience the degree in person.
5. No later than June 28^th:
   1. Submit the new member's scanned Form 100 to Supreme via email. This will ensure the new member posts to the council's roster before the end of the fraternal year.
6. Between now and June 28^th:
   1. Councils - Please let you District Deputy know what you are doing, how many new candidates/members you have and when their Form 100's where submitted to Supreme.
   2. District Deputies - Please let your ASO and State Membership Director Kevin McCarthy know what you and your councils are doing, how many new candidates/members you have and when their Form 100's where submitted to Supreme.

Arizona is a great jurisdiction! Arizona has some of the best and most talented men in the Order! We need to continue to grow and strengthening the Order in Arizona so we can remain as the strong arm of the Church. I am very proud to have served as a State Deputy for one of the best, if not the best, jurisdictions in the Order. We have overcome challenges in the past and have made it to the top before. We can do it again. But, we ALL need to do our small part to have a monumental reward at the finish. Please do everything  you can, and as soon as possible, to recruit at least one more person per council and submit the Columbian Award Application SP-7

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns.

May St. Michael the Archangel keep you under his protection.

Vivat Jesus!

Larry Becker

Immediate Past State Deputy, Arizona State Council

President, Arizona Knights of Columbus Charity, Inc.

Cell: 480.760.5122

azlarry@cox.net

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Arizona Rosary Celebration

Worthy Grand Knight,
For over 41 years Arizona has been blessed to have an annual Rosary celebration. It originated in the Phoenix Diocese and spread six years ago to the Tucson Diocese. Formerly Rosary Sunday, it is now known as the Arizona Rosary Celebration (ARC). Last year, this tradition spread to Yuma and other locales where similar Rosary events were held during the same weekend as the ARC was conducted in Tucson and Phoenix. The ARC is sponsored primarily by the Arizona Knights of Columbus and is the largest continuous annual gathering of Catholics in the state with attendance of nearly 8,000 of the faithful each year.

The success of the ARC relies on Parish Representatives appointed by the pastors. These Parish Representatives are indispensable to help provide timely information about the ARC to the parish and has proven to be an effective means in distributing information to the various ministries within the parish and to parishioners in general.

The Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix and The Most Reverend Gerald F. Kicanas, Bishop of Tucson have sent letters to the pastors asking them to support ARC. Often, the Pastor has a parishioner he would like to be the parish representative. If not, we ask that you meet with your Pastor and offer your council's services to represent the parish on his behalf or to assist whom he has chosen. Many times, the pastors will happily accept the offer for a Knight to be his representative.

For those parishes without a representative, all correspondence concerning ARC will be sent to the Grand Knight of the associated council for distribution within the parish. If a Council or a Knight is asked to represent the parish, we ask that they attend the parish representative meetings organized by the ARC planning committees in Tucson and Phoenix. The ARC website (www.azrosary.com) will be an invaluable tool to the Council and parish representatives. This year the ARC will be held October 21-22, 2017; mark your calendars.

The two celebrations are expensive and are supported solely by donations and advertising in the program book. We ask that every Council consider taking out at least a half page advertisement and encourage the parish to do the same. As Knights we must be pro-active in service, prayer and monetary donations for the event's success.

Thank you for all your support toward ensuring another memorable Arizona Rosary Celebration in honor of Our Blessed Mother under her title of Our Lady of Mercy. If you need more information concerning the ARC, send an e-mail to the ARC executive committee at azrosary@yahoo.com.

Vivat Jesus!
Sean E. Halpain
State Deputy

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State Deputy Membership Message

Worthy Grand Knights,

As the Memorial Day weekend draws to a close I hope that each of you had an enjoyable time with family and friends.  I want to thank all of you that have sent me messages and well wishes about our State Convention last weekend.  There is a great deal of work that goes into preparing for and presenting a State Convention, not only for a State Deputy but for the entire State Council leadership team and the Host Committee.  Many people put in long hours of dedication to have an event that was worth your time to attend. 

For myself I took the last few days off from Knights work to spend time with my family.  My younger son came from Portland to spend a few days with us and he was able to meet his new nephew, born a month ago. 

Like many of you I completed my Memorial Day celebrations by attending Mass at one of our Catholic Cemeteries as part of a 4^th Degree Color Corps.  Not only do we honor those men and women who served and sacrificed for our freedoms but we also were there to honor those who served but were able to return home and continue their lives after their service.  Many of the brothers we honor each year as we read the Necrology at the Memorial Mass are now buried at our Catholic Cemeteries.

Just as those who served have and returned have moved on it is now time for us to do the same as we approach the end of our Fraternal Year. 

At the State Convection our State Membership Director Kevin McCarthy presented the Road to Stardom spreadsheet.  Many of you picked up a copy from your DD at the meeting.  Your District Deputies have been receiving an update of this tracking on a regular basis since the Convention.  I wanted you to have an updated version yourself. Some of you have noticed that Supreme might have not received a form that you had submitted. 

Please look for your Council and see where you are at in relation to earning Star Council status.  Also look at the section about forms.  If there is a NO next to your Council it means that Supreme does not have a record of you sending in that form.  If they don’t have it, then just send it again and copy both your District Deputy and me.  We will work to get you credit for the submission.

Don’t wait until the end of June to submit your SP-7 Columbian Award Application.  If you submit as soon as possible and Supreme does not accept one of your programs you will still have time to get another event done and resubmit the form.  It is very sad when a Council brings in New Members, gains in Insured Members, and fails to get the Star Council award because a SP-7 was either not submitted on time or was not accepted.  Remember, this is the one form that does not have a grace period.  I has to be received at Supreme on or before June 30, 2017.

But the key to earning Star Council, which helps your District Deputy qualify for Star District and the State for Circle of Honor, is to recruit new members.  Supreme will reward you for making Star Council by giving you a $4.50 credit on a future Supreme Per Capita billing for every billable member on your roster.  The State Council is offering to pay the next State Per capita billing for every new member you recruit in May and June. 

Don’t delay.  Round up those guys you have been talking to and get them to an Admissions Degree as soon as possible.  If there is not a Degree scheduled near you in the next two weeks, present the degree yourselves by reading the parts or presenting the DVD.  We owe it to these men to bring them into our Order quickly so they can begin to enjoy the benefits of Membership and Build the Domestic Church for our Bishops and Priests. 

Thank you in advance for your continued efforts to make the Arizona Knights of Columbus even stronger.

Vivat Jesus.

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2017 Raffle Winners

Here is a list of the 2017 Charity Raffle Winners - all have been contacted. 

$10,000  Ed LeRoy                       Council 3136

$7,000   Dylan Phillips                  Council 13779

$5,000   Rosemarie Scherb          Council12696

$3,000  Frank Kobylarczyk            Council 14185

$2,000  Charles A. Wright            Council 10441

$1,000  Majorie A. Eisenhauer     Council12345

$500     Audrie Ouilette                Council 7904

$500    Michael Raul                    Council 6933

$500    Jim Csuy                          Council12144

$500    Karen Fuller                     Council 9482

A great thank you to all of the councils that participated in this years charity raffle event.  Your hard work on behalf of charity achieved the state goal with 100.44% of goal.  $337,486 in sales versus a goal of $336,000 - this is also tentative until a complete, 100% review of all data is completed - hopefully by Wed 5/24th.

Vivat Jesus,

Dennis Sullivan and Richard Armanini

AZ State Charity Raffle.

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State Deputy Message

May 22, 2017

Brothers,

If you were able to attend this year's 110^th Annual State Convention this past weekend in Scottsdale I hope you had a great time. 

We tried something new this year with the Friday Award Dinner.  I had asked the host Council, #10062 from Phoenix, if they were willing to try an idea that has worked well in some other states.  They were up to the task and decided to have a Western Theme dinner and dance.  One of the highlights of the evening were the selection of the best dressed man, woman and couple.  Congratulations to the winners. 

Based on the large number of positive comments we received we plan to do this again next year when Council 8077 hosts our State Convention at the Tucson El Conquistador Resort.  They will work with me to pick a theme for next year. We don't know yet what it will be except that it will be different than the Western Theme used this year.

For those not able to attend I need to share with you exciting news.  At the start of the meeting on Friday we were only 1 new member behind in recruiting than we were at the start of the Convention last year.  Why I mention this is to remind us that we all pitched in the last 6 weeks of last Fraternal Year and went out and recruited new members and retained current members during the same six weeks in numbers we had not seen before in Arizona. 

As a young man growing up my parents would remind me that doing something the first time was always the hardest.  Once you succeeded you knew you could do it and the next time would be easier.

I don't claim that to make the same push this year will be easier, but I truly believe that together we can repeat history.  Arizona has not had back to back Circle of Honor years since Stan Schroeder was State Deputy from 2007-2009.  Even though most of us live in the desert, that is a long dry spell for a State Council that has the long and rich history that the Arizona Knights of Columbus have.   Remember that the Arizona State Council is 4 years older than the State of Arizona and some of our Councils are even older than that.

Just as IPSD Larry Becker did last year I am again coming to you and asking for your efforts to recruit and bring into our Order new members.  If each delegate that represented you and your Council recruited just 1 new member each before June 30^th we would return to the Circle of Honor. 

This push will also help many Council reach Star Council status.  Supreme has renewed their program to rebate $4.50 per billable member to each Council that achieves Star Council.  For our average Council size of 120 members that is over $500 of free money just for doing what we are committed to do by our pledges to grow the Order and support our Bishops and Priests.

I thank you in advance for your efforts and commitment to serve our Bishops, Parishes, Communities with a strong and active army of Catholic Gentlemen.

Vivat Jesus,

Sean Halpain

State Deputy

sean.azkofc@yahoo.com

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Squire James Winston

 

Jimmy is a member of Circle 5000. His older brother is Charles Winston (former member of C 5000) who is a Midshipman at the US Naval Academy.

 

From left to right:
James Winston, winner of the Marine Option NROTC Scholarship, Sergeant Eric Garcia, USMC, and Captain Kenneth Jackson, USMC.

The Marine Option Scholarship is a unique
military scholarship in two ways: First, it is the only scholarship that is awarded based almost solely off of leadership potential. Second, it is the only Military Scholarship that guarantees a commission in the Marine Corps.

Congratulations, Jimmy!

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