As
everyone should be aware by now, the 3rd Degree
of our Order has been revised significantly. During the new
degree each candidate is given a “Medallion” to signify his standing as
a 3rd Degree member of the Order.
Please note that each council is responsible to purchase
these medallions from Supreme Council (catalog # 30630, cost $5.00) and
to provide them for their candidates.
If you have any questions, please contact Pennsylvania State Council’s
Ceremonial Chairman, PSD Aaron Cubbage,
at roncubbage@hotmail.com.
STATE
DEPUTY REMARKS
At the District
Deputy organizational meeting I spoke about the importance of the
relationship
between Programs and Membership using a song from the 50’s and ‘The
Parable of
the Sower” as references. I believe this subject is worth revisiting.
During my
remarks I
mentioned that I equate programs and membership to the old Sammy Cahn
song from
the 50’s that was also the theme song for a mid 80’s and 90’s TV sitcom. You may remember the
opening verse:
Love and
marriage, love and marriage
Go together like a
horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You can’t have one without the other
So let me tell
you my brothers, the same is true of programs and
membership. Believe me; you can’t run successful programs without a
strong,
healthy, and growing membership and you will not be able to attract and
retain
members without strong, healthy and vibrant programs. Like the song
says, “You can’t have one without the
other”.
Therefore, it becomes most important that we, the leadership and
members of our
great Order, assure that each and every council is actively recruiting
members
and constantly running effective programs. It is the only way we will
grow, the
only way we can continue to do the good works of the Order, and the
only way
that our Order will survive.
The Sunday
before the District Deputy meeting the Gospel was Matthew’s
Gospel that contains “The Parable of the Sower”.
We have all heard this parable many times;
it’s the parable where
Jesus preaches about the sower that went out to sow seed. In the
parable Jesus
says that some seed fell on the road and was eaten by birds, some seed
fell on
rocky ground with little soil and sprouted quickly, but without roots
it was
scorched by the sun, some seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew
and choked
it, and finally, some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit a
hundred, or
sixty, or thirtyfold.
I have heard
and thought about this parable many times and in many
different ways. However,
on this
particular Sunday, probably because I had been preparing for the
upcoming District
Deputy organizational meeting, the parable struck me in a completely
different
manner.
I started to
think about the councils in our great jurisdiction and what
is need to sustain or Order and make it grow so that we can best serve
our
Church, our communities, the unborn, the less fortunate, our families,
and last
but not least ourselves. The answer was easy, it jumped right out at
me, and
the Gospel was telling all of us what is needed.
Our councils, each and every one of them need
to be the rich soil.
They need to be the
places where new member and old members alike, along with their wives
and
children, find a place to satisfy their inter hunger to do good works
and a
place for good family social events. All new council starts out as this
place,
this rich soil,
but somewhere
along the line many councils lose their direction.
So I challenge
you, my brother knights, to please revisit you council’s
approach to membership and programs.
If
you are not already the rich soil,
change plans and restructure your council to be an organization that
aggressively recruits new members and one with rich
soil that allows its members to grow, its council
to
grow, and its programs to grow to better serve our Church, our
communities, the
unborn, the less fortunate, our families, and our members.
Vivat Jesus
