Archbishop Duke Council 6855

…to our newly elected Executive for Columbian Year 2015-2016, and thanks to everyone who came out to vote.

May the Good Lord inspire and empower you to mobilize our Council’s strengths for the good of our Parish and community!

Vivat Jesus!

Worthy Brothers All,

Just typing the schedule for this coming week is exhausting. Much going on this week as you can see below, but let me emphasize the following extra-special events:

Election time! Please be at our General Meeting this Monday and vote for those men who will lead our Council in the next Columbian Year.

Wednesday, we welcome a very important guest to our Parish: the pilgrim icon of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. The Marian Hour of Prayer starts at 7pm sharp. Please arrive a few minutes early so we can give her the welcome she deserves. You can read more about this program here.

MEMBERSHIP BLITZ – Can I capitalize that any further?! Thank you to the Brother Knights who will be stepping up to the pulpit to speak about our Order at each of the weekend Masses, and to Bro. Felix Tan for coordinating this effort. LET US ALL respond in matching generosity by hanging around in the foyer after the Mass we attend to help answer questions and to spot that one man or two whom we can sign up. Wear your badges, folks! If you’re hungry, then you can do it at the Pancake Breakfast. Let us all be able to say at the end of the Columbian year: yes, I recruited one new member to our Order this year! And they can be exemplified the Monday right after. Who knows? If we all do our part, we can double our membership just like that!

Finally, I have uploaded the Template for this January to March Activity Report. Please record all your Church, Council, etc. volunteer hours and send it back to me right away so I can summarize it for our Council’s report to the State due this April 15.

A busy week ahead, Brothers! Fortunately, it is a happy mix of prayer and action. May our prayers enlighten and empower our actions. God is good!

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:

April 13 Monday 7:30pm @ Room 1
General Meeting and Council Elections

April 14 Tuesday 8pm @ Silva Residence RSVP 604-278-8031
Family Rosary Night

April 15 Wednesday 7pm @ St. Paul Church
Marian Hour of Prayer

April 16 Thursday 7:30pm @ St. Joseph the Worker Parish Centre
Fourth Degree General Meeting

April 17 Friday 1pm-8pm @ Parish Centre Gym
Canadian Blood Services Blood Donor Clinic

April 17 Friday 8pm @ Parish Centre Room 1+2
Dancercise

April 18 Saturday 4pm @ Parish Centre
Setup for Pancake Breakfast

April 18-19 Saturday-Sunday after all Masses @ St. Paul Church
Membership Blitz

April 19 Sunday @ Parish Centre
Pancake Breakfast and Blood Pressure Check and Membership Blitz

COMING UP:

April 20 – First Degree Exemplification
April 22 – Setup for State Convention
April 23 – Fourth Degree Convention @ Sheraton Vancouver Airport
April 23-24 – Third Degree Convention @ Sheraton Vancouver Airport
April 24 – Food Bank Sunday
April 26 – Confirmation Mass @ St. Paul Church

Worthy Brothers All,

Christ is risen, Alleluia!

We are an Easter people, and we rise once again to the challenges and work ahead after the Holy Week respite, Brothers.

Calling on all Executives to come to our crucial meeting this Monday night to prepare for our Council elections, Membership Blitz, Marian Hour of Prayer, State Convention, Golf Tournament, … and many more.

The pilgrim icon of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception has crossed over into District 23, with stops at St. Monica Church and Canadian Martyrs Church before we become her host on April 15.

In preparation for our Membership Blitz on the weekend of April 18/19, I ask each of you to think of that one person (or two) who could benefit from being a Knight.  Is it a recent retiree who still has much more to give and is looking to give back in service?  Is it a young father whose family can benefit from one of the best insurance programs in North America?  How about someone like you or me who believes in the power of oneness to mobilize the great force for good that a Council of Catholic men can be?  Get those Form-100s ready so we can sign them up.

If you would like to be part of March for Life in Victoria, BC this May 14, let me know right away so we can coordinate the transportation.

And I have tickets to Canadian Martyrs Council’s Sing and Dine with the Knights (fine dining + karaoke) fundraiser for charity on April 18.  $38 per person.  Contact me if interested.

Let us draw deeply from the fountain of God’s mercy during the Hour of Divine Mercy next Sunday at St. Paul Church.

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:

April 6 Monday 7:30pm @ Room 4
Executive Meeting

April 8 Wednesday TBC @ Canadian Martyrs Church
Marian Hour of Prayer

April 11 Saturday 7:30pm @ St. Monica Church
St. Monica Council Retreat with Sr. Josephine de Leon, OSA

April 12 Sunday 2:45pm @ St. Paul Church
Divine Mercy Devotion

COMING UP:

April 13 – General Meeting + Election of Officers
April 14 – Family Rosary Night at Silva Residence RSVP 604-278-8031
April 15 – Marian Hour of Prayer @ St. Paul Church
April 16 – Fourth Degree General Meeting
April 17 – Dancercise
April 18 – Pancake Breakfast Setup
April 18/19 – Membership Blitz
April 19 – Pancake Breakfast and Blood Pressure Check
April 20 – First Degree Exemplification
April 22 – Setup for State Convention
April 23 – Fourth Degree Convention @ Sheraton Vancouver Airport
April 23-24 – Third Degree Convention @ Sheraton Vancouver Airport
April 24 – Food Bank Sunday
April 26 – Confirmation Mass @ St. Paul Church

The Euthanasia Seminar last Thursday was very enlightening, and scary.  Alex Schadenberg and Dr. Margaret Cottle pointed out that “safeguards” as played out in countries like Belgium and the Netherlands effectively protect the doctors, not the patient.  We need to write our Member of Parliament to voice our objection and ask them to invoke the notwithstanding clause.  And pray!

Yesterday’s 4^th Degree Exemplification was impressive with the sheer number of candidates and the well-orchestrated ceremony and banquet.  Congratulations to the new Sir Knights!  And kudos all around to Faithful Navigator (and 6855 PGK) Edgar Ursua, the Assembly 2485 Executive and their wives, and to the inaugural Fourth Degree Team, many of whom hail from our Council.

The call for volunteers for the State Convention this April 23 to 26 has gone out.  They need a lot of help setting up the banners on Wednesday April 22 starting at 6pm, and at the Registration Desk on:

Thursday April 23 from 8:30am to 1pm
Friday April 24 from 10:45am to 3:15pm
Saturday April 25 from 7:30am to 11:45am

If you can make yourselves available for the times above, please email me and I will submit your names.  It is a great opportunity to meet Knights from all over BC and Yukon.  Venue is the Sheraton Vancouver Airport on Westminster Highway.

This being Holy Week, we take a break from our bustles in order to prayerfully remember our Lord’s Passion and celebrate His glorious Resurrection.

I wish you and your loved ones a blessed Holy Week and joyous Easter!

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:

March 30-31 Monday and Tuesday 7 to 9pm @ St. Paul Church
Confession

April 1 Wednesday 5pm @ Holy Rosary Cathedral
Chrism Mass

April 2 Holy Thursday 7:30pm @ St. Paul Church
Mass of the Lord’s Supper

April 3 Good Friday 2pm and 5pm @ St. Paul Church
Celebration of the Lord’s Passion

April 4 Holy Saturday 8:30pm @ St. Paul Church
Easter Vigil

COMING UP:

April 6 – Executive Meeting
April 8 – Marian Hour of Prayer @ Canadian Martyrs Church
April 11 – St. Monica Council Retreat with Sr. Josephine de Leon, OSA
April 13 – General Meeting + Election of Officers
April 14 – Family Rosary Night at Silva Residence RSVP 604-278-8031
April 15 – Marian Hour of Prayer @ St. Paul Church
April 16 – Fourth Degree General Meeting
April 17 – Dancercise
April 18 – Pancake Breakfast Setup
April 18/19 – Membership Blitz
April 19 – Pancake Breakfast and Blood Pressure Check

“The humble donkey, pressed into service, is a model of discipleship. Our purpose in life is not to draw attention to ourselves, to have a brilliant career, to aggrandize our egos; rather our purpose is to serve the Master’s need, to cooperate, as he sees fit, with his work.” — Fr. Robert Barron

Champs again!  I should have been there to witness this.  As Bro. Tony Banting reports back, our 6855 team nearly swept the LifeTeens at last Sunday’s March Madness Volleyball Challenge.  We did have a secret weapon in the formidable Fr. Nick Meisl himself.  Thank goodness he’s a Knight!  Thanks to everyone who came out for this exciting… okay, maybe it was not as exciting if we so dominated the match… Congrats to Team 6855!

We open the week with our First Degree Exemplification.  Bring your candidates, folks.

And we close the week with the Fourth Degree Exemplification.  Our Faithful Navigator and PGK Bro. Edgar Ursua, along with the new Fourth Degree Exemplification team, has been diligently working toward this.

This Sunday is Food Bank Sunday, as well as Founder’s Day.  Let’s salute the founding spirit of our Order by being extra generous with our food donations for the Richmond Food Bank.  Easter is just around the corner.  Sharing our bounty this Sunday will ensure that everyone has an extra special meal to celebrate our Lord’s glorious Resurrection. Drop off items in the church foyer collection box as you go to Mass.

If anyone is interested in carpooling to the Euthanasia Seminar this Friday, do give me a call.

This Wednesday March 25th being the Feast of the Incarnation, let us join our other Council brothers at St. Monica Church for their Marian Hour of Prayer. Rosary precedes the Mass at 7pm followed by the Novena to Our Lady.

Have a blessed week!

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:

March 23 Monday 7:15pm @ Parish Centre Room 1+2
First Degree Exemplification

March 23 Monday 7:30pm @ Canadian Martyrs Church
JC Golf Tournament Planning Meeting

March 25 Wednesday @ St. Monica Church
Marian Hour of Prayer

March 27 Friday 7:00pm @ Pope John Paul II Pastoral Centre
Euthanasia Seminar

March 28 Saturday 12:30pm @ St. Monica Church
Fourth Degree Exemplification; Banquet starts at 6:15pm after the 5pm Mass

March 29 Sunday @ St. Paul Church
Food Bank Sunday; Founder’s Day

COMING UP:

April 6 – Executive Meeting
April 7 – Knights Night:  A Family Affair
April 8 – Marian Hour of Prayer @ Canadian Martyrs Church
April 11 – St. Monica Council Retreat with Sr. Josephine de Leon, OSA (everyone welcome, $12 includes lunch)
April 13 – General Meeting + Election of Officers
April 14 – Family Rosary Night at Silva Residence RSVP 604-278-8031
April 15 – Marian Hour of Prayer @ St. Paul Church
April 16 – Fourth Degree General Meeting
April 17 – Dancercise
April 18 – Pancake Breakfast Setup
April 18/19 – Membership Blitz
April 19 – Pancake Breakfast and Blood Pressure Check