Official Publication of the New Jersey State Council Knights of Columbus

Official Publication of the New Jersey State Council Knights of Columbus

Bruce DeMolli

State Deputy

Inside This Issue: 1 ~ State Deputy's message 2 ~ From the Editor's Desk 3 ~ Program of the Month 4 ~ Program Corner 5 - General Agents Report 6~ Membership Corner 7~ Special Programs 8~ Culture of Life 9 ~ Patriotic Corner 10 ~ Upcoming Degrees 10 ~ Council Anniversaries 11 ~ From the Webmaster 12 ~ Calendar

My Brother Knights We are now entering the last quarter of the fraternal year.

Councils and District Deputies are urged to review and update their SP 7 forms. Remember this form may be sent to Supreme as early as May provided that all areas are filled out completely and that you will be completing the programs in May and June. Do not wait to send this form into Supreme on June 30. It's too late. Also make sure you are specific and give ample information for each program that you completed. If necessary, use a second or third page. More information is better than not enough. Many councils are disqualified for awards because they do not provide enough information or do not complete the form correctly.

We also wish to remind all councils that the state council will give $10.00 to every council per new or re activated member, less suspensions (net number). This amount will be credited to the council's state per capita mailed out in the fall of 2016. We encourage all councils to continue to recruit and make star council.

The State convention is only weeks away. Our Deputy Supreme Knight, Logan Ludwig has advised that he will be at our convention. Please make every effort to attend. We need all councils to register and participate. Our committee is working very hard to insure another successful convention. The Supreme Convention this year will be held in Toronto, Canada on Aug, 2, 3, 4th. More information will be available shortly.

Due to the continued reporting, posting and communication by the Regional aides, District Deputies and councils, our membership continues to grow. As of this writing, New Jersey has brought in 1509 new members. More degrees are now being held and posted on our web site.

Thank you very much for your dedication and commitment to our order. We hope to see you at our state convention in Wildwood on May 13-14.

God Bless. Bruce De Molli KSG State Deputy

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THE CRUSADER

APRIL 2016

View previous Issues of Our State

E-Newsletters

Official Publication of the

New Jersey State Council Knights of Columbus

Published Monthly EXECUTIVE OFFICE

172 Main Street West Orange, NJ 07052-5605

Executive Secretary John W. Connell, FDD

EDITORIAL BOARD

Publisher Bruce DeMolli State Deputy

Editor John A. Gazis, FDD

Circulation Bernard J. Ernst, FDD

Brothers, As April begins, we are getting closer to the State

Convention in Wildwood, May 13 and 14. You have, undoubtedly, been receiving emails and postal mail pertaining to the upcoming Convention. Please consider coming down to Wildwood for the weekend and spending time not only at the hotels with your Brother Knights, but come to the meetings. If you have never been to a convention before, now is the time to come see what it's all about. Learn what your State Council has been doing, and also learn what the local Councils have done the past year. You might go back to your Council with something that has never been attempted in your Parish or even your County. The convention team has been working hard, as they do every year, putting together an informative and entertaining convention and convention dinner. The schedule of events will appear in the May Crusader. Bring the family to Wildwood for the weekend.

Recently, a member transferred into my Council and passed away shortly afterward. This isn't the first time it has happened, and I am sure it has happened in your Council at least once since you joined. I found out which Council he transferred in from and contacted them to let them know that Kevin had passed away I figured he was a member of that Council, someone there would know him so I let them know when my Council was doing our prayer service, figuring if anyone wanted to come down, they would not only get to pay their respects to the family, but they could also join us in the prayer service. This is something I have done in the past and not surprisingly, the family was touched by the members of the old Council coming to town for the viewing. This is a great display of the 3 virtues of the 3rd Degree, Charity, Unity and Fraternity. Just something for you to consider.

Another project to consider is to help out your neighbor. With the improving weather, everyone starts to wander, men to the Final Four, and spring training ending and women tend to think about those home improvements on the "honey-do" list that we never got around to this past winter. Well, we may have forgotten about the list, but they didn't. It might be a nice gesture to ask your neighbor if they would like some little things done at their houses.

I am hoping we'll have a happy, healthy and productive Spring. Good luck gentlemen.

John A Gazis, FDD Editor

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THE CRUSADER

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THE CRUSADER

APRIL 2016

Brothers, Happy Easter to you and your family! It is hard to believe that 40 days of Lent has gone by

and we have celebrated Easter. This is a great time to be a Catholic and Knight of Columbus. Men who are eager to join seem to be easier to find, especially with our Church's newest Catholics who have just completed RCIA. All you need to do is ask them!

The Easter season is also a great time to participate in your Parishes. Youth coloring books are a great way to help propagate our faith as a youth activity in your Parish. Additionally, do not overlook the communion sets. There is great satisfaction in knowing it was the Knights who helped these young children celebrate their special day on their first Communion.

This is also the time of seasonal change where we move from winter to spring and you can feel a change in the air. Most of us will begin doing those outdoor chores that will be a little easier to get done with the warmth this season provides. Along with your personal outdoor activities there will be Knights activities as well that occur every April. Remember to rally your Councils for the Drive for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities. What a great way for your Council to generate fraternity, than pairing up brothers to go out and collect funds for those who need our help. Please take the time to get your Council out there collecting and report your results.

Now that we are in the last quarter of the Columbian year, it is time to take stock in all that you have accomplished and all that you might still need to accomplish to achieve Star Council. Make sure your council is on target to achieve this award, Double Star, or even the newest award, Triple Star Council!

Let us not forget our upcoming State Convention in Wildwood. Put together a committee and submit a resolution for the convention. Get your delegates registration signed and submitted. Make your council's voice and opinion known. Make a plan to attend and stay a night or two, and join in the fraternal fellowship! Be there to pick up your achievement awards in person. I look forward to shaking your hands and saying thank you in person for all that you do!

April Program Considerations: My First Holy Communion sets ? order minimum of two weeks prior Various Coloring books ? order NOW! Drive for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities - April

Early May programs to be considered and acted upon: Wireless Amber Alert report form --due to State Chairman 05/01

Do not forget it is never too late to contribute to the scholarship award funds!

I hope to see you all at the Convention. Let us, together, do our best to develop a calendar of programs with the tools supplied by our State Council and Supreme. Remember to have fun and work together to Protect God's Kingdom. Keep the Faith, Jim Sweeney, FDD NJ State Program Director

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THE CRUSADER

APRIL 2016

His Holiness Pope Francis, has declared this a year of Mercy (and forgiveness). Scripture tells us that it is in forgiving that we are forgiven, so not only should we seek forgiveness for what we have done wrong, but we also need to forgive those who have wronged us. In society today, both of those tasks are not in vogue, but they are necessary and in many ways they also add to how we are defined as Catholic.

Pope Emeritus Benedict recently wrote, "The encounter with God means also, at the same time, that I myself become open, torn from my closed solitude and received into the living community of the Church". We have to be open to change and open to forgiving others, and at the same time we have to be part of this big amalgamation that is "the Church".

Okay, by now you are thinking what does this have to do with Knights of Columbus insurance??? Well, it is about being Catholic, being part of the community, that is the Church, and supporting the community which is the Church. Being a Knight, being part of a living community where we stand for and with the Church.

Everything we do either brings us closer to God or further away. Everything we do as Knights helps bring ourselves and others closer to God. While we each have individual relationships with God, we are also the Church. You, me, your kids, the guy who sits two rows in front of you in Church every week who sings off key, the two ladies who get upset if someone sits in "their seats" and of course our religious, Priests, Bishops and the Pope are The Church.

The Church, in this context, is not a building, not even the Vatican. The Church is ALL of us......... I'll let that one sink in for a minute, because each of us is so consumed with our "stuff", that sometimes we need to sit back and take a second look at how we all fit in God's plan.

Fr. McGivney started our Order as a fraternal benefit society because he believed that Catholics have to take care of our own. That we have to stand together and through our joint efforts we can build the Order and the Church. Now more than ever, his vision, and the mission he has left to us, needs all of us to work together. Profits from our insurance department fund around a third of our charity handed out each year, (and over $70 million is used for fraternal activities). We have paid out billions in benefits to our members and their families, insuring that those Catholic families remained intact and while they mourned the loss of a loved one, they did not end up destitute.

That's what our insurance department does for each of us who support the program and what it also does for "the Church".

While we take the year to forgive and ask to be forgiven, to get ourselves right with God, we also need to remember that we need to take care of those we are responsible for. That's where your Field Agent and General Agent can help. This spring while you are trying to get right with God, get yourself a meeting with your Agent to make sure that you and your family are in a good place, now and in the future.

Protecting Catholic families since 1882, your Knights of Columbus Insurance department.

Charles Miraglia, General Agent, Northern New Jersey Protecting Catholic Families Since 1882.

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