Grand Knight's Report
Mike Byrne
Iron is sharpened by iron;
-Proverbs 27:17
one person sharpens another.
Brothers,
Our August activities: We kicked off the month with First Friday Adoration, and then on the 4th had a Scholarship Reception, where we gave out over $11,000 in scholarships to worthy children and grandchildren of Knights attending Catholic schools. August 10th we sponsored coffee and donuts for the parish. August 12th was Brother Jose Lopez’s last Red Cross Blood Drive as lead man, many thanks for his great stewardship as Director of the Blood Drive for all these years. On August 16th, PGK’s Tom Sixsmith and Mike Sofka attended a meeting at Chapter to receive the First Place plaque in the ID Drive for Council #9487! Also on the 16th, we had a “Campus Cleanup”, which achieved good results though only six brother Knights showed up. This is a great way to give back to the Church and enjoy fellowship with your brothers. I hope we can get at least triple this number at our next Campus Cleanup on October 18th.
Our Steak Dinner Fundraiser was a great time a big success, thank you to all pitched in to make it happen, and for PGK Dave Atkins for spearheading it. We will be finishing out the month with the Men’s Renewal Retreat and Corporate Communion.
As for September, we will be postponing our 9/6 Pasta Dinner, but please plan to help out with the Breakfast Burrito fundraiser on 9/14, the Car Wash on 9/20, and the Saturday Recycling on 9/27. We will be busy, as usual.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe
Our “Saint of the Month” for September is St. Maximilian Kolbe. Born in Poland in 1894 and ordained a priest (Franciscan Friar) in 1918. He took the name “Maria” in honor of Our Lady. Father Maximilian worked as a missionary throughout Asian before WWII, including founding a Franciscan monastery on the outskirts of Nagasaki which survived the atomic bomb. He returned to Poland and was there when his town was captured by the Nazis. He refused to sign the “Deutsche Volksliste”, even though he had German ancestry, which would have saved him from his eventual arrest by the Gestapo. He was sent to the dreaded Auschwitz, where he continued his priestly duties and was severely harassed for doing so. When the camp commander ordered ten random prisoners selected to be starved to death for a recent prison break, Father Maximilian was not one of them. However, he volunteered to take the place of a fellow prisoner, a Catholic man with a wife and family, and was martyred in his place. Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe, pray for us!
