Knights in Action Newsletter September 2016 Volume 1, Issue 7 Knights of Columbus Pope John Paul the Great Council 13784 “LOVE GOD AND SERVE YOUR NEIGHBOR” EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS OUR PRINCIPLES

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, celebrated every year on September 14, recalls three historical events: the finding of the  Charity by Saint Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine; the dedication  Unity of churches built by Constantine on the site of the Holy Sepulchre and Mount Calvary; and the restoration of the True Cross to by the  Fraternity emperor II. But in a deeper sense, the feast also celebrates the  Patriotism Holy Cross as the instrument of our salvation. This instrument of torture, designed to degrade the worst of criminals, became the life-giving tree that reversed Adam's Original Sin when he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Council Officers 2 After the death and resurrection of Christ, both the Jewish and Roman Ex. of Holy Cross (cont.) 2 authorities in Jerusalem made efforts to obscure the Holy Sepulchre, Christ's tomb in the garden near the site of His crucifixion. The earth had Degree Schedule 2 been mounded up over the site, and pagan temples had been built on top Upcoming Council Events 3 of it. The Cross on which Christ had died had been hidden (tradition said) by the Jewish authorities somewhere in the vicinity. From the Dist. Deputy 3 Monthly Shinning Stars 3 According to tradition, first mentioned by Saint in 348, Saint Helena, nearing the end of her life, decided under divine inspiration From the Grand Knight 4 to travel to Jerusalem in 326 to excavate the Holy Sepulchre and attempt to locate the True Cross. A Jew by the name of Judas, aware of the Pics of Knights Night Out 5 tradition concerning the hiding of the Cross, led those excavating the Holy Catholic Trivia 5 Sepulchre to the spot in which it was hidden. Knight of the Year 6 Three crosses were found on the spot. According to one tradition, the Family of the Year 6 inscription Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum ("Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews") remained attached to the True Cross. According to a more Young Man of the Year 7 common tradition, however, the inscription was missing, and Saint Helena and Saint Macarius, the bishop of Jerusalem, assuming that one was the Young Woman of the Year7 True Cross and the other two belonged to the thieves crucified alongside Talents of Br. Knights 8 Christ, devised an experiment to determine which was the True Cross.

In one version of the latter tradition, the three crosses were taken to a MONTHLY MEETINGS woman who was near death; when she touched the True Cross, she was Council 13784 healed. In another, the body of a dead man was brought to the place where the three crosses were found, and laid upon each cross. The True First Wednesday Each Month Cross restored the dead man to life. 7:00pm - Rosary 7:30pm - Business Meeting In celebration of the discovery of the Holy Cross, Constantine ordered the Council Officer Meeting construction of churches at the site of the Holy Sepulchre and on Mount Third Wednesday Each Month Calvary. Those churches were dedicated on September 13 and 14, 7:00pm – Business Meeting Assembly 2588 (Continued on page 2) Last Tuesday Each Month 7:00pm - Rosary Website: https://www.kofcknights.org/CouncilSite/?CNO=137841 7:30pm - Business Meeting

COUNCIL OFFICERS EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS (continued from page 1) GRAND KNIGHT SK Norman R. Wood, Jr. 335, and shortly thereafter the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross began to be celebrated on the latter date. The feast slowly spread from DEPUTY GRAND KNIGHT Jerusalem to other churches, until, by the year 720, the celebration was Vacant universal.

CHAPLAIN In the early seventh century, the Persians conquered Jerusalem, and the SK Rev Rodrigo C Mingollo Persian king Khosrau II captured the True Cross and took it back to Persia. After Khosrau's defeat by Emperor Heraclius II, Khosrau's own son had him WARDEN assassinated in 628 and returned the True Cross to Heraclius. In 629, SK Christian Brousseau Heraclius, having initially taken the True Cross to , decided to restore it to Jerusalem. Tradition says that he carried the Cross on his CHANCELLOR own back, but when he attempted to enter the church on Mount Calvary, a strange force stopped him. Patriarch Zacharias of Jerusalem, seeing the SK Stephen Kondzella emperor struggling, advised him to take off his royal robes and crown and

to dress in a penitential robe instead. As soon as Heraclius took Zacharias' FINANCIAL SECRETARY advice, he was able to carry the True Cross into the church. SK Art Fritz

RECORDER For some centuries, a second feast, the Invention of the Cross, was celebrated on May 3 in the Roman and Gallican churches, following a SK John Burke tradition that marked that date as the day on which Saint Helena discovered the True Cross. In Jerusalem, however, the finding of the Cross TREASURER was celebrated from the beginning on September 14. SK Salvadore Costa

INSIDE GUARD It's easy to understand that the Cross is special because Christ used it as the instrument of our salvation. But after His Resurrection, why would SK Basil Orciga Christians continue to look to the Cross?

OUTSIDE GUARD Robert A. Wood, Sr. Christ Himself offered us the answer: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23). 3 YEAR TRUSTEE The point of taking up our own cross is not simply self-sacrifice; in doing so, we unite ourselves to the sacrifice of Christ on His Cross. SK Ivol Sexton

2 YEAR TRUSTEE When we participate in the Mass, the Cross is there, too. The "unbloody SK Kenn White sacrifice" offered on the altar is the re-presentation of Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross. When we receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we do not simply unite ourselves to Christ; we nail ourselves to the Cross, dying with 1 YEAR TRUSTEE Christ so that we might rise with Him. Albino M De Castro

"For the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we DEGREE SCHEDULE FOR preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness . . . " (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). Today, more than DISTRICT 3 ever, non-Christians see the Cross as foolishness. What kind of Savior triumphs through death? September 8th – 10804 September 21st – 13784 For Christians, however, the Cross is the crossroads of history and the Tree of Life. Christianity without the Cross is meaningless: Only by uniting ourselves to Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross can we enter into eternal life. November 16th - 4632

th October 15 – 13467 If you would like something posted in future newsletters, please contact Grand Knight th November 5 - Richmond Norm Wood at [email protected]

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UPCOMING SEPTEMBER COUNCIL EVENTS

Krispy Kreme Donut Sale – September 18th at All Masses st Admissions Degree – September 21 at 7:30pm (show time – 7:00pm) rd Knights Night Out – September 23 at 6:30pm (Olive Garden) Fall Bazaar – Saturday, October 15th ($25.00 per spot) FROM THE DISTRICT DEPUTY My Brothers, Thanks to Worthy Grand Knight Woody for inviting me to contribute to your newsletter. For those I haven’t met yet, I am deeply honored to have been asked to be Virginia District 3 Deputy this year. I look forward to working with your Council to continue the great reputation our District has in Virginia. There are a couple key District events over the next two months – a Formation (Second) Degree on Tuesday, September 27th and then a Knighthood (Third) Degree on Saturday morning, October 15th, both at Council 13467. This is an excellent opportunity for First Degree Brothers to achieve both exemplifications and obtain full Knighthood! These are both District events – I encourage Brothers from all of our Councils to participate. The Knights of Columbus have made some important changes over the past year. Most of those changes are related to the Building the Domestic Church initiative. Please take a few minutes to visit the Supreme website https://www.kofc.org/un/en/domestic-church/index.html to learn more about what this initiative means to our Order, your council, your Parish, and you. I also encourage all to read State Deputy Mike Gasper’s August message at http://www.vakofc.org/sd-message.html. SD Gasper provides some tremendous statistics from the 134th Supreme Convention that show just what a powerful force our Order is. As your District Deputy, my primary purpose to help all the Councils succeed. If you have an idea to make the District or Order better, I’ll be happy to take any suggestions. Keep up your great work supporting St. Luke Parish and all those who need our help. Vivat Jesus! Jim Henry District Deputy 3 757-641-2354 [email protected]

“CONGRATULATIONS” TO OUR You can help our Council raise funds to help support our Parish. It is easy and doesn’t cost you anything. If you are a Amazon.com user, then we would MONTHLY SHINNING STARS FOR ask that you access Amazon.com via our Council Website at JULY 2016 https://www.kofcknights.org/CouncilSite/?CNO=13784. Once at our

website, you will find this logo . Just click KNIGHT OF THE MONTH on the logo and you will be taken to another screen which will provide another link in the center of the page, click that link and it will take you to SK JOHN BURKE Amazon’s Home Page. All you have to do is shop (including Prime Members) and our Council makes money (10% on each purchase). Every FAMILY OF THE MONTH time you buy from Amazon.com using this logo on our Council website, SK FRANCIS LANSANGAN & FAMILY Amazon pays the Council. The money Amazon pays us, comes from Amazon’s funds and has no bearing on the price you pay for the items you order. Please help us raise funds through the FREE way provided by Amazon.com. Thank you for your support!

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FROM THE GRAND KNIGHT

“They lift their own chair.” That’s an expression my father-in-law used to have, which he used when referring to show-offs and the conceded. Of course the first time I heard it, I had no clue what it meant, but my wife explained it to me, and said it was one of many expressions that her father had.

But, that’s not what this writing is about. It is about another expression though. One that we Catholics hear so often, but really don’t understand what it means. That expression is, “Carry Your Own Cross” or similar expressions having to do with carrying the cross. The actual words as written by St. Luke (9:23) are, “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

Unfortunately, many Catholics misinterpret those words. It doesn’t mean that you will literally carry a cross, or, like in some countries such as the Philippines, crucify yourself during Lent, or suffer through something like a job that you hate, a relationship gone bad, or anything that is not nice but you feel you have to do it as some sort of penance. No, what Jesus meant was, if you were to be a disciple of His you had to abandon your earthly things - family, friends, goods, money, etc., and follow Him, even to death.

Many of us are not willing or ready to do that, but there are many who have. Many of us are not prepared to do that because we just couldn’t image leaving our loved ones or just walking away from our homes and jobs, even though that is really what Jesus meant. So, in the absence of, “Take up your cross and follow Me” how can we still live the life Jesus would want us to live even though not as His disciple?

I think the first thing we need to do is look at others in modern times who have carried the cross and followed Jesus – people like Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Jim Elliot and Gladys Aylward just to name a few, and try to do some of the things they did. When was the last time you did something for someone without looking for recognition? Or willingly gave to the needy, not in money but in your time and hard work? We always profess how we are good Catholics, but are we really? Are we doing all we can for others, without looking or asking for credit? There are so many people in the world who need us, but yet we don’t reach out to them. Why not? I think we become a better person when we do for others, without being asked or looking for recognition.

Have you looked around your neighborhood lately to see if there is someone close by that needs help? Someone elderly. Maybe someone right across the street whose grass is long and you haven’t seen anyone coming or going from the home lately – why not go knock on the door and see if they are okay – or just go cut their grass. When was the last time you reached out to the poor? Since we are not willing to take up our cross and follow Jesus, I think Jesus would want us to be more giving. More giving in our time to those who need it. More giving in our efforts to be a better person. More giving in being a better Catholic, truly dedicated to our religious beliefs. I truly believe that is what Jesus wants us to do. The time to reach out is now. Don’t wait!

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KNIGHTS NIGHT OUT – AUGUST 2016 – JOSE TEQUILA

A great time was had by all, and we had some new faces attend.

CATHOLIC TRIVIA How well do you know Jesus?

1. Where was Jesus mostly raised as a child? 2. Who was promised by the Holy Spirit that he wouldn’t die until he saw the Messiah? 3. What event brought Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem once a year? 4. How old was Jesus when His parents lost Him in Jerusalem? 5. How long was Jesus in Jerusalem before His parents found him? 6. What was Jesus doing when His parents found Him? 7. What was the name of Jesus’ earthly brother? 8. How was John the Baptist related to Jesus? 9. In what trade did Jesus work as a young man?

See next month’s newsletter for the answers and more questions about the Catholic faith.

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OUR SHINING STARS FOR FRATERNAL YEAR 2015-2016

KNIGHT OF THE YEAR SK Christian Brousseau

Our Knight of the Year exemplifies what a Knight should be. He is a dedicated Catholic gentleman. Young men his age are normally involved with other less desirable things like drinking, drugs, etc., but our Knight of the Year is matured beyond the normal 19-year old and generates enthusiasm within the Council and within any group he is associated with. He is eager to gain more knowledge and is always volunteering for whatever comes up and normally ends up taking charge. SK Christian is certainly deserving of the title as Council 13784 Knight of the Year!

FAMILY OF THE YEAR The Fritz Family

The Fritz family is our Family of the Year based on their holistic dedication to the Church, the Knights and the community. They selfishly give day in and day out and never run out of energy. Both, Art and Hazel, are Extra-Ordinary Eucharistic Ministers for the Church and Hazel is actually the coordinator for this Ministry. She is also President of the Ladies Auxiliary as well as a Life Teen Core Team Member. Art is an active member of the Knights of Columbus and has served as Treasurer, Grand Knight, Trustee and recently stepped up as the Financial Secretary due to the Council’s Financial Secretary stepping down un-expectantly. Their grandson, Christian, is also a very active member of the Knights and became a Sir Knight within 14 months of joining the Council, a huge accomplishment. Christian is as active as his grandparents as he is one of the leaders of the Church Youth Group, Life Teen Core Team Member and is the Warden in our Council. This family is active in the community as well as the Special Olympics. As the Grand Knight last year, Art’s leadership lead the Council to reach Star Council (which is an achievement not reached by many Councils). Truly a stand-out family, well deserving of recognition as Family of the Year!

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OUR SHINING STARS FOR FRATERNAL YEAR 2015-2016

YOUNG MAN OF THE YEAR Nestor Guardado

Our Young Man of the Year is a very active member of St. Luke’s Church, his school and the community. He serves as a Lecturer, cleans the Church, is a Life Teen Core Member and fills in where asked for other Church activities, including the food and clothing drive for the migrant workers on the Eastern Shore, and teaches religious class for children. He assists the homeless and helps at the Judao-Christian Outreach Center to feed the hungry. He volunteers wherever he can because it is his desire to improve the lives of others. He plays soccer in his off-time and maintains a 3.0 average at school. Truly an active and mature young man well deserving of the title Young Man of the Year!

YOUNG WOMAN OF THE YEAR Maria Meza

Our Young Woman of the Year manages her time very well, even though she maintains a full schedule of activities. She teaches children’s religious classes, serves as an Altar Server, Life Teen Member, and helps with the cleaning of the Church. She is a volunteer at the city Aquarium, attended the 2016 Mount 2000 Retreat, as well as traveled to Pennsylvania during Pope Frances’ visit to the United States. She participates at her school in the Spanish Club, Math Club, Haiti, Latin and French Clubs as well as the Prom Committee. She has been recognized by receiving the Sheriff’s Award, Attendance Award, Star Student as well as recognition from Father Rod for her activities at St. Luke’s Church. She provided face-painting during the Parish Picnic, takes part in feeding the hungry and participated in the Salud Campaign. A busy young woman who places others above herself and strives to live God’s teachings.

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THE MANY TALENTS OF BROTHER KNIGHTS (Need a real estate agent, plumber, photographer – a Brother Knight may be what you need) This page is reserved for free advertising for any Knights of Columbus who owns a business. The Knights of Columbus only provide these business card as a favor to our Brother Knights, we do not endorse their business, but support their endeavors.

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