State Fraternal Mission ProgramStrengthening Our Parish Home
As Knights we are all called to serve God our Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Mother Church and our parish homes. Today we must also turn our attention toward the challenges facing our Church and address them head on. As Knights we must unite to defend the faith and help grow the Church by providing her with our full support.
For over 136 years the charitable works of our Order have been seen and felt around world. But even with our past achievements we are burdened by a growing apathy among Catholics regarding their faith. Today less than 25% of Catholics attend Mass and far fewer Catholics actively participate in the living works of Christ found in discipleship and charitable action. Additionally, we are living on the edge of disaster as new religious vocations continue to struggle and our priests are stretched ever thinner to deliver sacramental salvation to those who seek it.
As an Order we must unite with our bishops and priests to help bring the lost flock home to our Lord Jesus Christ and remove all toxic indifference from our pews. It has never been more important that we align our KofC events and activities to help strengthen the front lines of our parish homes. Every Council in Tennessee must work throughout the upcoming fraternal year to implement programs and promote activities that will increase parish vitality and lighten the burden carried by our pastors. Let us all work to strengthen our parish homes by accomplishing our fraternal mission and by following these steps:
SERVE GOD BY PARTNERING WITH YOUR PASTOR
Meet with your pastor and align your council's agenda with his plans and needs
LEADERSHIP TIP
Be prepared! Don’t waste your time or your pastor’s time. Use an agenda and share your plan for a successfull fraternal year. Remember running the council is your job not his. You are seeking his guidence and should work to ensure your goals are aligned with his pastoral plans for the parish. Remember to listen!
ANCHOR YOUR COUNCIL AND PARISH IN THE SACAMENTS
Implement programs that teach and promote the sustaining gift of God’s sacraments
LEADERSHIP TIP
Don’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to educational materials on the sacraments. Utilize materials already available through Supreme, Word on Fire, Symbolon, your Parish DRE and your diocese faith formation department. Above all, always review your programs with your Pastor before implementing them!
EMBRACE OUR COMMON PRIESTHOOD
Implement programs that teach and promote our common priesthood
LEADERSHIP TIP
Ask Father to help explain the common priesthood to your council and how through their baptism and confirmation we are called to serve the Lord as priest, prophet and king. Remember to help your council embrace their vocations!
HELP FOSTER A POSITIVE IMAGE OF OUR PRIESTS
Promote a positive image of our priests in the parish, in the home and in the community
LEADERSHIP TIP
Visible demonstrations of respect for our priests is a long-standing tradition of our Order. Don’t be lax when it comes to showing your council’s respect for your priests and Chaplain. Stand up for your priests, physically stand when they enter the room and defend them verbally when others speak poorly them.
TURN TO GOD FOR HIS HELP THROUGH PRAYER
Commit yourself and your Council to pray for our priest and for new vocations
LEADERSHIP TIP
Lead by example and with prayer in your Council, parish and home. Remember prayer and worship is vital to our exisitence on earth as it is in heaven! As the prayerful voice of our Order grows so too will the number of new vocations and sanctified priests around the world.
With Help From Our Sisters and from Heaven Above!
Let us not forget the words of Saint John Paul II. “There is no Church without the Eucharist and there is no Eucharist without the Priest.”
We are not alone in our commitment to protect and serve our priests around the world. Here in Tennessee, we are fortunate to be home to The Handmaids of the Precious Blood, a community of cloistered contemplative nuns. The Handmaids’ founding charism is directed primarily toward strengthening priests in their sublime but demanding vocation.
Giving themselves totally to Almighty God and to his Church forever, these amazing prayer warriors ask our Lord through Eucharistic Adoration, prayer and sacrifice to extend his grace and protection for our priests. The Sisters have organized through their international prayer associations over 30,000 individuals to pray and sacrifice daily for a particularly designated priest, and the number of committed coworkers continues to increase.
Aware of the respected ability of the Knights of Columbus to promote a growing awareness of the laity’s role of cooperation with their priests for the new evangelization and development of the domestic church, the Handmaids will join with us through prayer for the Knights as we strive to protect and serve Christ in his priests. We encourage you to learn more about our unified mission with the Handmaids by visiting www.WePrayforPriests.com
Supreme Mission ProgramFaith In Action
Knights around the world know that the chance to roll up our sleeves and demonstrate our faith through service is as powerful as it is rewarding. That said, the demands of life today make it difficult to find time to live out the calling of our faith and our desire to serve. Our always-on smartphone means that work follows us home where we also juggle household chores and frenetic kids’ activities. Free time is precious and dedicated to family. The Faith in Action program model recognizes this new reality and invites men to lead their family in faith and service – not leave their family for service.
In the coming 2018-2019 fraternal year, Faith in Action will be the new program model for the Knights of Columbus, replacing Surge…with Service. The new model seeks to balance all of our priorities as an Order — Faith, Family, Community and Life — and offer Knights meaningful opportunities to serve people in need in our parishes and communities. Faith in Action fully integrates Building the Domestic Church programs, limits the number of requirements for Columbian Award, and most importantly, allows councils to concentrate on implementing faith-filled family programs. Our goal? Quality – not quantity.
Make an impact bigger than yourself – and build bonds of friendship and fraternity that last a lifetime.