September 2002

Dear Brother Knights,

Welcome to another new Columbian year. Something that I am sure comes and goes for some of you like Alberta weather. But for me this year is very different and I hope that being in the position that you have all entrusted to me, that I can help our executive and program directors to make this year a very interesting and exciting one for all of you too.

Some of you may know that Nancy and I were asked to attend World Youth Day (WYD) in Toronto this summer as chaperones for a group of seven under eighteen year olds who were part of a larger group of around fifteen that were going. Our troupe consisted of people from Beaumont, Leduc, Devon, Calmar, and the Thorsby/Warburg area. I would like to thank the parish coordinators, Peter Oliver, Corry Blenke, and Ian Meaden, for doing the lion’s share of the work to get all of us there. World Youth Day was quite an experience and a lot of very cool things happened for us through the grace of God. For example one young fellow lost his wallet three times in two days, and all three times it was returned without having been emptied of its contents. Our group was fortunate enough to mostly gather up against the barricades that defined the road that the Pope traveled by on when he arrived to speak to us for the Saturday vigil. Most of them got lots of pictures of him riding by in the Pope-mobile, although Nancy’s pictures seem to have an awful lot of young policemen in them. She was interviewed by a reporter doing a documentary for the CBC on WYD and the Pope’s visit to Canada. I met other Knights from all over including a fellow from Florida who said that he was going to go back to his council and tell them about the young Grand Knight from Alberta that he spoke with.

I personally found that we did a little more chaperoning and a little less pilgrimage than I had expected to do, but none the less, it was quite the perspective and confidence building faith experience for us all. I think that it was also a gift from God that Nancy and I were chosen to go with them. So many things would normally have prevented it from happening. But for this to happen, all the peripheral things in our lives seemed to make way for us to follow through with it. I am very thankful for the opportunity and the experiences. But one of the things that I am most grateful for is the fact that while we were there, I had the chance to take a step back and look at the crowds. These crowds represented for us the global Catholic community of youth. The future of our church in no uncertain terms, resides in the thousands upon thousands of young leaders and faith bearers that were able to show up for this event from the four corners of the globe. Part of the treat for us was meeting some of these people. It was almost surreal to discover that even though we come from so very far apart, that we are all the same and have the same beliefs. When that tiny old man took the stage, the crowds were one. United in faith, untied in love, and one under God before his chosen representative, Pope John Paul II. Very cool. I highly recommend it if you can attend it. By the way the next WYD is in Germany in three years.

What astounds me even more than the numbers that were there to take part in this, are the sheer numbers that for one reason or another just could not make it. To witness the capacity of people is amazing enough, but by meeting your share of them, you know that it goes beyond quantity; you can add quality to it. One of our members who happens to be twice a WYD veteran, told me before we left that I would never find a crowd of that size anywhere that we would feel safer with. I didn’t understand it at the time, but he was right. Over the course of that week we experienced some physically difficult trials that seemed to wipe us all out, but the entire collection of pilgrims all faced their own difficulties as well, and not once did we find any animosity, belligerence, or just plain attitude from anyone. There were flags from countries that have faced each other in wars, some still do, some fight for independence, some face poverty like we have never known. But never have I felt safer, or more a welcome part of a huge crowd of people that virtually were strangers to me.

Then, in what seemed to be much too short of a time, it was over. But before we left and it ended, I was able to readjust my perspective again, and take in the youth that accompanied us in our own group. There is great value to all of us in our youth right here at home. I hold them all with high respect and great hope for their future as Catholics. Whether they contribute to our faith as parents, employees of the church, or even priests, deacons, or nuns, I know that God has great things in mind for them all, and I hope that we can all help to ensure this, through God’s own plans for each of us.

Now having shared this with you, maybe you can understand if it takes me a while to shift gears back into Knights of Columbus. Slowly I am coming back to the plans and meetings that we have been dealing with since the end of the last Columbian year. And now I will try to share with you some of the objectives that we have set out as of yet for the Fr. Leduc Council this year.

One of the things that I hope to accomplish for the council is to create some program establishment. What I mean by this is I would like to see all of the activities that we do annually as habit, documented and charted out so that every time a new chairman takes it over, they don’t have to start from scratch, based on peoples memories. By doing this I hope that things become a little more efficient and we can make room for new and more versatile programs. This year we see many new faces grace the executive board and the various program directorships. What we are looking for is a thriving set of activities that appeal to the broad spectrum of our membership and their families. But to further this goal, we are striving to make this appeal reach out into the general parish family as well. We always are asked to keep signing up new members, but for me it is far better to attract them to join, than it is to just keep asking and possibly twist an arm or two. There is a thing called recruitment and then there is a thing called retention. One must work with the other in order to create a cycle of council development and growth. One feeds the other and I like to refer to the effect caused by a successful recruitment/retention circle as the membership attraction effect. I like to say that because it makes me sound smart, but also because it means that we work towards making the council a group that those who are already members, really want to be a part of, and subsequently those who aren’t members yet, find their way into becoming so, because they want to, instead of us asking them to join a group that they are only vaguely aware of and are unsure of just what they may be getting into. The membership attraction effect. I think that I am going to say that a lot. It is right up there with the phrase “The Philadelphia Experiment.”

One of our new members, Bro. David Allen has taken the helm of the Family Program in our council and in his short time as of yet he has proven on more than one occasion to be plenty capable of this task. His fresh and innovative outlook on the program will come through for us in the council and I believe him to be only one of many new members who can each help us make this a council to again reach out to all the membership and the parish in ways now forgotten. Family is one of the fundamentals of the order and we aim to put some focus on that this year. For example one of the ideas that has surfaced is choosing a family of the month not by outstanding effort, but by finding a new member or one that has been quiet for a while, and highlighting them as the Knight/Family of the month. We would ask that all the knights and their families make an extra special effort to introduce yourselves, shake their hands, and invite this family of the month to our activities every time we see them. Look for our new display stand to be put up at the pancake breakfasts with a picture and bio of this new family to meet. Also they will be mentioned in the newsletters and at the meetings. There are of course difficulties in applying this as a family activity, but that is what I spoke of earlier when I asked for help in finding solutions instead of dropping a good idea. I also have set my sights on the entire parish as being a part of our family. So whenever possible invite parishioners to use our room for meetings and attend our activities. There are a few things of course that are members only, but I think that you will see both chamber doors wide open more often than not. So please help us find solutions to our concerns regarding this type of thing.

Bro. Brian Cronk, who did an absolutely bang-up job as our Council Program director last year, is going to be back at it again this year. If you were able to attend the golf tournament we hosted early in the summer last year you saw first hand how well organized he was, and this flowed through all the activities he planned and brought about. Another fine example was the highly attended and successful Ladies Night Out last year. We all owe him thanks for his past work in all areas of our council, and I think that we can look forward to even more from him and the Council Program this year.

Another new member who also hosts our web site as well as sits on the executive as our new council Recorder has taken on our Youth Program. Bro. Troy Yoner has stepped up to the plate as the Youth Director and as you can imagine, he faces a bit of an uncharted territory. Our youth program has been tagging along with us the past few years and there aren’t a whole lot of existing activities to draw from. This is both challenging and exciting. I have heard some of his plans and ideas and I can tell you all that he will have no trouble in this program. His extensive computer background has definitely flavored his plans for the youth and it has been my experience that today’s youth flocks to this type of thing. I think that his biggest concern is getting help to make this whole program healthy and vibrant. I feel that he is in a unique position as far as rounding up the help he may need. The youth definitely spans a huge and complex age and interest dynamic, but the one thing that he has going for him in that respect is the fact that they all have parents or grandparents who can be recruited to help out at various activities. But we both feel that it would be an even bigger help if he could get a couple of volunteers to act as aides to him through the year in planning and organizing. So those of us with children that are looking forward to this might think about offering our help to him if possible.

I am pleased to announce to you all that yet another new member of our council, Craig Keller, has become our new Church Director. This is a great source of joy for me personally as I have only known Craig and his wife Corinne, a short time now, but I can assure you that this is the right man for the job. I actually would like to say that it is the right “team” for the job as I am sure that Corinne will become involved in all the things that Craig plans out. This pair is quite outstanding and I think that when you meet them, if you haven’t already, that you will agree with me. I had a couple of things that I wanted to ask him to accomplish as this director if possible, but before I could even start on it he was saying that he wanted to accomplish certain things that he felt would serve the council, the church, all the respective programs and activities we do, and most of all God. The ideas and things that he listed off were all of what I had in mind and much more. So again keep your eyes peeled for a new wave of information and activities from the Church Program and Craig and Corinne Keller.

We are going to attempt to post and advertise our council’s activities long in advance as well this year. I hope that we can post a tentative calendar of events in this newsletter or maybe the next, for you all to see how the year is going to lay out. Our goal is that this will also be updated in the newsletter and on our bulletin boards by the program directors each month as well. I would like for us all to have as much notice as possible for the things that we are invited to take part in. And if you are so inclined, maybe you could find something that interests you enough to volunteer your help with. So please watch for new postings on any and all of our available advertising outlets (bulletin boards, chambers, newsletter, web site, etc). The current web site for our council is at www.yoner.com/KofC/ and we intend to add much to the site. Possibly in the future we will change the address, but there will always be a pointer left behind to direct you to the new address. As with any web site, it takes a lot of time to go through it and make additions, but I hope that those of you who use the internet will find it useful to go there and browse through it.

We are currently short two members of the directorship team. Our Community Program, which was headed by Bro Dan Denman last year, is currently open. As you may well know, Bro Dan is our new council Treasurer and will be quite busy enough doing this that he can’t also take on an entire program as well. But as with many of our membership, you can count on his advice and help with the program if you were to take it over for the council.

As well, this year we do not have a Membership Director. Bro Darren Allen did a fantastic job at this last year and has now moved on to become our Deputy Grand Knight. Darren and I have learned quickly to feed off of each other’s enthusiasm and character, so I am afraid that I just can’t share him with the Membership Program as a result. There are plans to create this into an actual Membership team, but we still would need one person to chair and coordinate it. If you are interested at all in doing this, you will find it to be quite rewarding, especially this year as we work towards the membership attraction effect instead of simply recruitment.

Our council is going to be turning 25 years old this year. A major activity that I have high hopes for is having a council family reunion over a weekend in August 2003. I have spoken to many of you about it, and about helping out with planning it. So far the plans include a Friday night registration and social, Saturday to include possibly a golf tournament, fishing derby, and tons of activities for families and kids to take part in, followed by a large barbeque and another social. Sunday will hopefully see an on site mass, but I have found that the priests are all busy that day already. Go figure. The reunion should close around 2 or 3PM Sunday afternoon. Nothing is written in stone of course, because we have yet to hammer out a committee on this project, but plans for this must be worked out this month or we risk losing attendance to the last minute gremlins. We will be sending out a survey on this and the other program activities to help us gain a better understanding of what would attract and interest you all. Please take the time to go through them and return them to us. We hope to adjust and create things accordingly within the council based upon the results of these things.

At our wind up dinner in June I had tried to say something to you all that did not make it out of the gates properly, and I fear, ended up sounding somewhat selfish and insulting. I wanted to talk about how much help we all get from each other and how important it would be for us all to pitch in and help bring the “good ideas” that we all have to fruition. I have met scores of people in life that are plenty satisfied to criticize a program, a policy, or simply an event and it’s organization. A lot of these people will say things like “Well I think that they should have done this or that.” I have found that many of their ideas and comments could be of great value to the item of their discussion, however they never even see the light of day, because the person who is most passionate about it (usually the speaker) will refrain from either acting upon it as a volunteer to the cause, or worse yet, they just prefer to mention it after the fact and leave it there with no thought of the next time around for that program. My intention here is to absolutely invite these kinds of suggestions to our planning and structures within the next few years, with only one request. I would hope that none of you could resist the invitation to act on your good idea and help refine some of our works. That is in fact one of the great resources of a large group of people (members AND wives AND dependants), is it not?

When I stumbled through an attempt to say “a good idea is usually only worth the effort that you are willing to put into it yourself because the rest of us may also be too busy to pick it up and run with it” what I should have added is the fact that I try very hard to look at an issue that faces us for the potential that it carries, and not so much for the hurdles it represents us. I never hear an idea or suggestion that gets written off by me. I love to see how it can work for us, maybe by molding it to fit as well as molding the activity that it is getting applied too. Yes there are times that it just doesn’t work out well, but I believe that a comment wouldn’t have been made if there were no need for it. So with that in mind, I hope that we can pull together as a common group and find far more solutions to any problem than mere flat, black and white rebuttals of yes’s or no’s. That is my request of all of you.

Another stellar example of me not getting the message through properly is with Marc Bouchard, the head insurance agent for the Alberta/NWT State. I emailed him to find out about the status of our new field agent, who by the way is still a little way off. I meant to stress to him how important it would be for him to get someone going in our area again as I hate talking about insurance myself. Somehow he got the wrong idea from me and now I’m sure that he thinks that I am some kind of Knights of Columbus communist or something like that based on his response. My point here is to assure those of you with insurance concerns that there is an agent covering our area and that we can certainly deal with him if we need to get something sorted out. Sometime in the next few months we may get a new agent to take over our territory, but we are not on our own currently.

I would very much like to mention and thank all the membership that have helped me personally over the last few years to prepare for this term, and for anything else that has come along as well. To speak of each one would not only take too long, but I am afraid that I would forget to include some of you, so suffice to say that I don’t look at this position that I hold as a position of authority. I feel much more that it is a position of learning and potential because I get to be involved with all of you and all the things we do, in a big way. I hope to be far more prepared to be something called the Grand Knight, when my time comes to an end, than I am or even will be in the course of my turn at bat.

So in closing I would again like to thank you all for the confidence and support that you have shown me already, and possibly ask you in advance for your patience and understanding regarding the next year. You will never know what you have brought out in me by asking me to join your council and showing me the Catholic encouragement that you all have, but I know that I can do my best to show you and hopefully return the favour to someone as new as I was.

So HELLO AGAIN to the long time members, WELCOME to all of our new members, THANK YOU to the church and all of our families, and PLEASE COME IN to all those who are curious and wish to join. Now lets get this party started!

Dwelling in the love of God and realizing it too,
Chris Carr, Grand Knight, Fr. Leduc Council #7061
Vivat Jesus!

TOP