Fr. Hennepin Province  

JURISDICTIONS OF MICHIGAN AND OHIO

Fourth Degree

Knights Of Columbus

PROVINCE GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING

Sterling Heights, Michigan

September 30, 2006

V.S.M. George L. Mallison called the meeting to order at 1:02 P.M.

Opening Ceremonies were conducted by the V.S.M. Mallison

Opening Prayer by  Father James Swiat  

Roll Call

Provincial Staff:

Minutes of Previous Meeting

          The minutes of the 2005 Provincial Business meeting were distributed to the Masters and published on the Provincial website.  A motion was made, seconded, and unanimously approved to accept the minutes.

RICHARD McCloy Sr., Regional Supreme Program Consultant 

1. Presentation on Goal Setting and Membership Recruiting.

 GEORGE L. MALLISON, Vice Supreme Master

1.          Sending Reports, etc.

a.     Please do not send reports, letters, etc. to the Supreme Master at his California address.  He has a dog that eats them.

b.     The correct address is 1 Columbus Plaza, New Haven, Conn.

2.          Al Hickey

a.     Al is no longer the VSM. Please send reports to George Mallison. His address is 11642 Sara Ann Drive, DeWitt, Mi. 48820-7795.

3.          What’s happening in your area?

a.     Keep VSM informed regarding things happening in your area.

b.     VSM would like to be aware of and attend as many as possible.

4.          Newsletters

a.     If you don’t have an Assembly newsletter you are missing one of the best forms for information transfer and communications.

5.          Vision of the 4^th degree-

a.     A part of and not apart from the Order.

b.     We wish to have one drill manual. Carl Anderson feels we should look the same in Poland, Mexico, or Detroit, Michigan.

c.      Uniforms should be updated, clean, and sharp.

d.     Uniforms need to be brought up to date.  

e.     One set of terminology, one uniform, one degree, and one drill manual..

6.          Membership is so important.

a.     You need to work on your goals.

b.     New assemblies represent new opportunities and create new enthusiasm. Do not look at it as a negative. If a member has tight relationships they do NOT have to move to the new assembly.

c.      Use the Charter member potential as an incentive to inspire the start of new assemblies.

d.     There are 50 new councils in our two states in the past year.  This represents an opportunity for new assemblies and new 4^th degree members.

7.          Resolutions

a.     MUST be directed through your District meetings.  Do not send directly to the Province or Supreme. From the Provincial meeting the resolution is forwarded to the Supreme meeting and if it is approved it goes to the Supreme board.

b.     Many times the same resolution is submitted by many assemblies.

c.      Most end up tabled or denied.

d.     Supreme Board gives final approval.

8.          Reports

a.     Reports are necessary. They are also necessary ON TIME.

b.     The officer roster is necessary for Supreme to forward your packages.

c.      The Navigator package is overdue to be sent to you.

d.     Civic Award is easy.  Just write in four activities.  Every assembly should get this award.  There is no reason for not having 100% representation.

e.     To Be A Patriot award is attainable but you must take the time to properly present it.  Take the time and put together a nice booklet presentation. This award runs a year late because what the VSM turns in this year will not be presented until next year at the Supreme Convention.

9.          The new form 4

a.     It has a new box for the proposer and proposer’s membership number.

b.      This will be used for 500 prize points from Supreme the same as new 1^st Degree member Rewards have been.

10.     Publication #4606-06

a.     You should order this new K of C publication on the Flag for your Assembly.

b.     Every Assembly should have a flag protocol officer.

11.     The Pledge of Allegiance

a.     It does not include “born & unborn” We are fighting to keep “under God” in our pledge.  The emphasis should be on this.

b.     “For All” means for all and we know that. 

c.      Our focus should be on keeping “Under God” in the pledge.  Don’t let left wing courts remove from our Pledge.

12.     New Revised Drill Manual

a.     The new revised drill manual is still down the road, hopefully not too far.

13.     4^th Degree Exemplification

a.     Do not add anything different to the 4^th degree exemplification.  It must be purely by the book.

FRANK PAWELAK, Provincial Membership and Special Advisor

1.         Program 1-1-16

a.     One Veteran’s Program

b.     One Assist Team in every Council

c.      Planning for a 16% increase in membership

d.     We have met the first two now we must focus on the last one 16% increase in membership.

e.     To reach the 16% membership goal we need 4028 new Sir Knights.

f.       Choose the best of your best to run your membership programs.

g.     Consider having a special exemplification for your clergy.  They are usually tied up on Saturdays and Sundays.

h.     Being a Sir Knight is more than a title, it is an honor.

2.         Veterans Affairs Volunteer Services, serving those who served.

a.     The VSM forwards all the releases on this program to your Masters.

b.     We should be working with the veterans and their families.

c.      November 11^th is Veterans day.  This is a day we should take stock in and do something patriotic.

d.     November 7^th is election day. Get all your Brother Sir Knights out to vote. We are becoming a complacent country.  Even Iraq has a bigger voter turnout percentage than the U.S.

e.     Remember that the greatest gift we can give our men and women in uniform is our prayers.

GEORGE L. MALLISON, Vice Supreme Master

1.         Changes for Color Corp during the mass ceremony

a.     During the consecration we have been asked to not go up the aisles and present swords. This is not a localized thing. Knights in regalia are to remain in their seats and not do any activities during consecration except follow the mass with the rest of the congregation.

b.     The new liturgy is going to have lots of changes.

c.      Look at these changes as opportunities.

d.     You are the window of the order.  Everything you do reflects on the Order.

e.     Please adhere to this request.

f.       Do not ask the priest if it is o.k. to do this. 

g.     If a priest asks you to NOT bring swords into church it is his prerogative.

Gary Eckstein/Ohio State Deputy

1.         You are here to make the 4^th degree better, stronger, greater.

2.         You are putting in an investment by being here this weekend. You should challenge yourself.

3.         Whatever the mind can conceive and believe……..you can accomplish.

4.         One Ohio council has 250 new 3^rd degree members and they have only been there for 2 years. They are going to have 60 new 4^th degree members this year.  That is over 30%.

5.         You have 113,000 third degree members sitting out there.  Just ask them to joing the 4^th.

6.         Ask your officers to bring in One new guy.

7.         Leave your assembly stronger than when you found it.

Tom Wegener/Michigan State Deputy

1.          Do things right.  The liturgy must be uniform in all churches.

2.          When we make our organizations uniform including our honor guard both in appearance and activity, we are doing things right.

3.          We do what we do for the love of country.

4.          Do everything with enthusiasm.

Jim Rich, Master Michigan District 3

1.          Membership………..quotas are minimums.

2.          We need to try new things. New paradigms.

3.          We need to hit 2-3 times our quota to be successful.

Walter Winkle Jr, Master Michigan District 1

1.          I am a new Master looking forward to working with the Navigators.

2.          I thank everyone for attending this Provincial meeting and welcome to District 1.

3.          First district meeting will be on October 14^th at St Ephram.

4.          First exempt on March 2-3 right here at the Sterling Inn.

5.          St Pats parade on March 10^th.

John Shutsa, Master Ohio District 1

1.          24 Assemblies if they meet their goals we will reach our goal of 281 sir knights.

2.          District meetings are all set check the Provincial website for dates.

Frank Iannaggi, Master Ohio District 3

1.         Purpose………Programs are necessary and our duty.

2.         We must be proactive especially on programs.

Bob Vandesteene, Master Michigan District 2

1.          My district has 2980 Sir Knights at this time.  We have over 19,139 total brother knights. This is 13.5%

2.          Last year we finished 92% of quota at 267 new sir knights.  However we only netted 107 new members with deaths and suspensions.  We have our work cut out for us.

3.          We are going to do some new things this year. The quota is only a starting point.

4.          This year it is District II’s turn to host the 4^th degree part of the State Convention.  I am requesting that everyone bring their regalia to make a good showing.

5.          District meeting will be held in Lansing on October 14^th.

Dave Hoffman, Master District Ohio 2

1.         Thanks to Former Master Richard Wysong for his many years of faithful service to the order.

2.         District meetings are scheduled.

Dennis Henderson, Provincial Secretary

1.         Our Memorial Mass of this morning was for our departed Sir Knights of the past Fraternal Year.  There were errors in the “In Memoriam” brochure.  There were misspellings, missing dates of death, and Sir Knights simply missing. I accept responsibility for this but next year I request that the forms be filled out legibly, completely, and on time.  If you do not have a computer or typewriter please ask someone who does to print the listings for you.

2.         E-mail prayer request program has been a learning experience for me during my first year. The feedback thanking us for our prayers has been very uplifting.

a.     Please take my e-mail address and send me your request if you would like to be included on this program.

b.     Please do not send me jokes and items of interest as I simply do not have the time to accommodate these. Our program is for prayer requests only.

c.      If you do receive a prayer request, please do say a prayer for our brother sir knight. Take 12 seconds to do this.

Father Doug Osborn, Michigan State Chaplain

1.         God Bless you all, your work, your efforts, the church needs you tremendously at this hour in the life of the church. Your faith and your example is exemplary, God Bless you all.

GEORGE L. MALLISON, Vice Supreme Master

1.         Next year, same time, same place.  See you here September 28^th, 29^th, and 30^th of 2007.

2.         A great idea is to present the book, A Parish Priest about Father Michael McGivney to all of our priests.

Rev. James Swiat, Provincial Friar

1.         I was very honored when George asked me to be the Provincial Friar.  I will do my very best.

2.         It is already a miracle to see so many Ohio and Michigan men together enjoying each other’s company.

3.         Closing Prayer

Meeting was adjourned by V.S.M. at  3:07 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted:

Dennis L. Henderson                                 George L. Mallison

Provincial Secretary                                    Vice Supreme Master

Hennepin Province                                     Hennepin Province

Fourth Degree

Knights Of Columbus

PROVINCIAL GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING