Grand Knight's Blog
2020/03/25
April Message
Dear Brother Knights,
As I write my April message we as not only as a Faith Community, a Province, a City, a Country, a Catholic Men's Family Fraternal Organization and a World are in a Health Crisis with the novel coronavirus Covid-19 Pandemic. We are asked to follow the guidelines and protocols that have been put in place for us to follow. We butneed to follow these guidelines and protocols if we are to fight through this virus.
I am saying this because after a lot of prayer and reflection I have come to the decision that we as a Council postpone all activities and meetings until further notice. Let me be clear that I would like to make sure that all of you my Brother Knights are kept well informed of what is happening with our Council's well-being.
That many of our activities are being put on hold for the short term. I understand that some may be having questions and concerns regarding what our plans as a Council has in place. I am going to admit that I do not know for sure what these plans are but together we will answer these questions and concerns and we will make sure you my Brother Knights are well informed either through email updates, by mail notices or by phone. I want to make sure that we all are understanding that we are doing this to make all less anxious of what is happening to our Council. These are times when we as a Catholic Men's Family Fraternal Organization we are at our best. It is times like these that we pull together and we offer our basic principles of our Order Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism to not only our members but also to our Family, Church, Community and Country. We are all leaders and we need to lead through Prayer, Action and Faith that we all can get through this tough time.
I have thought about what would our Councils forefathers have done back in the early years of our Council's beginnings with the Influenza outbreak and I just could imagine the fear that they must have had and then their thoughts of how to help their fellow family member, parishioner, neighbor get through that time. We have the same chance to make a difference even if it is only through Prayer and keeping Social Distancing as our "sword and shield" in our battle against this virus.
I am suggesting that we postpone our Executive and General Meetings for the month of April. I am also hoping that if Orest and Johannes are in agreement that we continue to publish "The Word" because this is one way of keeping you informed of what is happening in our Council. Therefore I would like the Executive and the Trustees to work together in getting a new Executive for the Next Columbian Year for the May Meeting. I have also asked Henry our Financial Secretary to have the 2019-2020 Budgets updated and sent to the Executive and Trustees for their thoughts on what needs to be changed for next year's budget.
Finally, we need to keep all of our Council's members and their families in mind during this time of global uncertainty by keeping them and all mankind in our thoughts and prayers.
To all, please keep safe and healthy during this time.
Another Humble Servant,
Jeff Krasowski - Grand Knight
To all, please keep safe and healthy during this time.
Another Humble Servant,
Jeff Krasowski - Grand Knight
2020/03/02
March Message
My Brother Knights,
As we begin this Season of Lent, we as Knights of Columbus members are called to be a cornerstone of the Catholic Church. We often think that we need to give up something or to sacrifice something during this special time in our Liturgical calendar.
There are many things that I can think of that we as brother Knights have far too often take for granted that we might accidentally lose our focus on what makes us a Fraternal Catholic Men’s Family Organization. That is right I wrote Fraternal Catholic Men’s Fraternal Organization. To me, we are a big family. We like to help our brother knights who cannot do things that they once did. We enjoy talking to our fellow brother knights asking how their families are doing and when asked we like to talk about our families and mention how well they are doing. This is great but what happens when we know that a member is sick or in distress and we figure that someone else will mention it at a meeting before “The Good of the Order” part? We stay quiet.
I mention this because we all know of someone who is sick or in distress in our Council or Parish. We often, myself included, stay silent not mentioning someone that is not feeling well or are alone when we can be taking a moment to think about them and their families and say a prayer. We, can also if we want we could visit them and see how they are doing even if it is only for a few minutes. We are all charitable especially during this time of year trying to help make our world a better place, let us not forget our fellow brother knight’s who need our support and prayers for their families who may need our help in Carrying their Cross and be there for them at their time of need.
We are the cornerstone of the Church, our Parish community, our families and our community.
Another Humble Servant,
Jeff Krasowski - G.K.
Jeff Krasowski - G.K.
2020/02/01
February Message
My Brother Knights,
I hope that you and your families are staying warm during this up and down winter temperatures. I would like to thank all brother knights and their families for the many volunteer hours that you have spent this past year for the Good of our Order and Council. Whether you have helped out at the World Curling Tour Bonspiel held in tow, helped work at bingos, in the Church, visited the sick, or even volunteered in the city, we appreciate your generosity of your time and talents.
I hope that all have received the new edition of the Council Roster. I know that I accidentally missed a few members who are holding very important chairmanships on our various committees for missing you and your committee was an oversight on my part and I am truly sorry that I forgot you.
Another Humble Servant,
Jeff Krasowski - G.K.
I hope that you and your families are staying warm during this up and down winter temperatures. I would like to thank all brother knights and their families for the many volunteer hours that you have spent this past year for the Good of our Order and Council. Whether you have helped out at the World Curling Tour Bonspiel held in tow, helped work at bingos, in the Church, visited the sick, or even volunteered in the city, we appreciate your generosity of your time and talents.
I hope that all have received the new edition of the Council Roster. I know that I accidentally missed a few members who are holding very important chairmanships on our various committees for missing you and your committee was an oversight on my part and I am truly sorry that I forgot you.
Another Humble Servant,
Jeff Krasowski - G.K.
2020/01/05
January Message
As we prepare for a new decade in this 21st century; we begin to look back and take stock of what we have not only as individuals but also as a Council of our achievements. We look back at our accomplishments for these past ten years and we can see what we could do better in these accomplishments.
As individuals each of us have had something or many things that were gratifying to us. We also as individuals have had times where we wish we could have wished that we could have had a do over and turn back the clock a did something or somethings differently.
As a Council the same can be said about our past 100 years. There has been a lot of change for the better and the not so great. When many of us joined the Knights of Columbus the new programming was called Surge in Service in which there were 5 service program categories, Church, Family, Youth, Council, and Community. Each of these had sub-committees under each of them to help get more members involved with the programming of our Council. We had leaders great leaders for each of these programs and there were programs that we all enjoyed and when we were asked to help out with a particular activity we were happy to take on the challenge. The programs at the time were done very well but if we could tweek them up a bit then that much better the outfit might be. Today, we are in the second year of Faith In Action and many programs have changed some for the better and some need some more fine-tuning.
We all can appreciate what new challenges can bring to us as individuals and as a Council. It brings out the best in our abilities and attributes to make things better. It brings new ideas to the forefront and maybe some ideas that we have not really given a chance to reach their goals. As in the decades past, new members bring in new ideas and as a Council I believe that we are listening to these new ideas and are trying to adapt them in to our programming to try and help make a difference to this changing world that we live in.
Yes, we have different criteria we must do for these new positions in our programming but these are not as challenging as them may seem and we make them out to be. With today’s world, we need to be more prepared and adaptable to protect ourselves and also the Seniors and Youth with whom are becoming more vulernable . With this in mind we to be diligent in how we approach seniors and youth with even more sensitivity than in the past. I write this as a little reminder that we need help in filling in some of our Program Chairmanships, Community.
Finally, our new roster will be out shorty in the next month even if we have not filled these positions. I know that an updated roster will help all to see our members that are still in our Council.
Another humble servant,
Jeff Krasowski - G.K.
As individuals each of us have had something or many things that were gratifying to us. We also as individuals have had times where we wish we could have wished that we could have had a do over and turn back the clock a did something or somethings differently.
As a Council the same can be said about our past 100 years. There has been a lot of change for the better and the not so great. When many of us joined the Knights of Columbus the new programming was called Surge in Service in which there were 5 service program categories, Church, Family, Youth, Council, and Community. Each of these had sub-committees under each of them to help get more members involved with the programming of our Council. We had leaders great leaders for each of these programs and there were programs that we all enjoyed and when we were asked to help out with a particular activity we were happy to take on the challenge. The programs at the time were done very well but if we could tweek them up a bit then that much better the outfit might be. Today, we are in the second year of Faith In Action and many programs have changed some for the better and some need some more fine-tuning.
We all can appreciate what new challenges can bring to us as individuals and as a Council. It brings out the best in our abilities and attributes to make things better. It brings new ideas to the forefront and maybe some ideas that we have not really given a chance to reach their goals. As in the decades past, new members bring in new ideas and as a Council I believe that we are listening to these new ideas and are trying to adapt them in to our programming to try and help make a difference to this changing world that we live in.
Yes, we have different criteria we must do for these new positions in our programming but these are not as challenging as them may seem and we make them out to be. With today’s world, we need to be more prepared and adaptable to protect ourselves and also the Seniors and Youth with whom are becoming more vulernable . With this in mind we to be diligent in how we approach seniors and youth with even more sensitivity than in the past. I write this as a little reminder that we need help in filling in some of our Program Chairmanships, Community.
Finally, our new roster will be out shorty in the next month even if we have not filled these positions. I know that an updated roster will help all to see our members that are still in our Council.
Another humble servant,
Jeff Krasowski - G.K.
2019/11/28
December Message
As we enter this Advent Season, we as a Council have been asked to help out in our Parish.
In the middle of November Our Worthy Deputy Grand Knight Rejean, Program Director John Curry,
Our Faith Chairman Rick Dubois and I had a meeting with our Council Chaplain Fr. Louis and
also, Parish Pastoral Council Chairperson Ernie Bobowski.
This meeting was a chance for us as a Council to ask Fr Louis what he and the Parish are planning and if we can get some Faith Programs that we’re mentioned by John at previous meetings. If there were any plans for Retreats, Masses, etc. Fr. Louis and Ernie mentioned that there is a Lenten Retreat or Mission that the Parish has been booked for March 19-22, 2020 and they would be needing our help in not only participating but we would be helping in other ways in organizing either ushers or in the Choir or helping where we are needed.
Another project Fr. Louis mentioned is the Advent Mini-Retreat on Saturday December 14 2019 at 7:00pm after the 5:00pm Mass. He would like the Knights to be involved in some way. There is a Men’s Choir being organized by Brother Knight Fran Deters so if you are interested see Fran after mass on Sunday. In short, we had very good meeting with Fr. Louis and we do have the lines of communication with Father open.
We have a busy month of December so make sure if you are able to avail yourself for the help that will be needed this month. Our Executive and General Meeting will on the first Wednesday December 4th at 7:00 pm if there is Mass on in the evening, we will start at 7:30pm.
Our Christmas Social is upstairs in the hall as our Chambers is getting crowded. Our fearless Chef Wayne will be needing some help the weekend before so if you can help call him at 306-783-7380. We are also putting together the roster for our Council and want it to be ready for printing by the middle of this Month so that we can distribute it out with our January Word. So if you have a change in address or a change in phone number please let Henry or Orest know as soon as possible.
Congratulations to our new 1st and 3rd Degree members welcome to the Knights of Columbus.
On behalf of my lovely wife Tamara and myself, have a safe Christmas. Remember to Keep Christ in Christmas.
Jeff Krasowski- G.K.
