Bishop William R. Johnson Council 9487

First off, I would like to thank all who have offered me their support in my role as Grand Knight. I sincerely appreciate your kindness and I am grateful to be the recipient of so much brotherly love. Next, this month’s newsletter contains articles by several brothers, more than our usual amount of contributors, and that is the kind of participation I am looking for from you brothers. Thank you so much to all who wrote pieces for this newsletter. It also pleases me to announce that our council has awarded the highest dollar amount in academic scholarships as well as the greatest amount per scholarship in recent history. The annual tuition for a Catholic school is averaging $20,000.00 and for a Catholic University $45,000.00 on up so it was a goal of mine to up the amount per scholarship that we award, and our council’s officers were very supportive of this. It will be one of my greatest honors to distribute these scholarship awards later this month.

Speaking of August activities, it is a fairly busy month for us. On Aug 4th we will have an Exemplification and welcome our new brothers. If you have not been to an Exemplification since 2020 it would be worth your time to witness the current ceremony. It is a very moving experience that reflects on the purpose and meaning of our fraternal organization. All brothers and families are welcome to attend. The 5th is our business meeting which will contain 2 important voting items, the 6th is the scholarship presentation, the 7th is First Friday Adoration, August 9th donut sales, the 11th is a blood drive, August 15th car wash, the 16th is the Past Grand Knight’s dinner, the 19th is the Officers, and Planning meeting, and the 30th is Corporate Communion. Once again I encourage all brothers to PARTICIPATE in our council activities.

I personally get much spiritual direction from Matthew Kelly’s writings. One of the topics he often writes about is Holy Moments. A Holy Moment is when we act in a way that is pleasing to God, when we do something that is what God intended for us to do. Or as St. Therese the little flower said, to do little things with great love. Let us each find a way to have a Holy Moment each day, it can be as simple as smiling at a stranger we encounter, telling our spouse we appreciate all that they do for our family… I am sure you do not need me to tell you what to do for a Holy Moment. I am just pointing out that you do not have to move a mountain for it to be a Holy Moment.

So, Brothers, may the rest of your summer be blessed, please wear your green shirts and/or your badge to Sunday Mass, say a daily rosary, and be kind to others.

Vivat Jesu!!