CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR

 Brothers. It's time for a little Christmas fraternity, food and drink. The Annual Christmas Social is taking place on Wednesday, December 12/18. calendar 

There will be a Rosary at 6:30 PM and Swiss Chalet will be served at 7:00 PM. 

We need to know who is coming to facilitate our chicken order. 

Please RSVP by December 10th.

Confirmation of your attendance can be forwarded to our Grand Knight at gerry@puddister.ca

FIVE NEW MEMBERS IN NOVEMBER

St. Paul's welcomed five new members into our ranks recently.

Grand Knight Gerry Puddister and Brian Kennedy a used the new on-line degree exemplification offered by the Knights of Columbus.  They wish to thank PGK Donald Mackey and Financial Secretary Albert Croke for the assistance in navigating the technical challenges.

By all accounts the ceremony, which was carried out in GK Puddister's living room went very well. Both the organizers and the candidates spoke very highly of this new approach.

Our Grand Knight said, "I am very impressed by the first degree ceremony video from Supreme. To be addressed by Carl Anderson on the conclusion after the first degree was very impressive."

It should be pointed out that St. Paul's Council still has an active 1st Degree Team. The new online exemplification is another tool to ensure that men who want to join our order have speedy access without delays.

Brother Marcello is a transfer and attended our last general meeting.

On behalf of our council, lets offer a warm welcome to our latest Knights:

Ray Carrier
William (Bill) Jeffery
Marcello Lima
Jeff Seitz
Aidan Peter Whittle

Thanks to the efforts of Father Michael J. McGivney, assistant pastor of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven and some of his parishioners, the Connecticut state legislature on March 29, 1882, officially chartered the Knights of Columbus as a fraternal benefit society. The Order is still true to its founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity.

The Knights was formed to render financial aid to members and their families. Mutual aid and assistance are offered to sick, disabled and needy members and their families. Social and intellectual fellowship is promoted among members and their families through educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war relief and public relief works.

The history of the Order shows how the foresight of Father Michael J. McGivney, whose cause for sainthood is being investigated by the Vatican, brought about what has become the world's foremost Catholic fraternal benefit society. The Order has helped families obtain economic security and stability through its life insurance, annuity and long-term care programs, and has contributed time and energy worldwide to service in communities.

The Knights of Columbus has grown from several members in one council to more than 15,100 councils and 1.9 million members throughout the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Poland, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Cuba, Guatemala, Guam, Saipan, Lithuania, Ukraine, and South Korea.

ADVENT CALENDAR

In 2018, Advent is 23 days long. 

• First Sunday of Advent (Sunday, December 2, 2018)
• Feast of Saint Nicholas (Thursday, December 6, 2018)
• Immaculate Conception (Saturday, December 8, 2018)
• Second Sunday of Advent (Sunday, December 9, 2018)
• Our Lady of Guadalupe (Wednesday, December 12, 2018)
• Feast of Saint Lucy (Thursday, December 13, 2018)
• Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) (Sunday, December 16, 2018)
• Fourth Sunday of Advent (Sunday, December 23, 2018)
• Christmas Eve (Monday, December 24, 2018)
• Christmas (Tuesday, December 25, 2018)

St. PAUL'S CHRISTMAS CAROLING SERVICE

The Parish and choir of St. Paul's will be holding the second annual Christmas Caroling Service in memory of loved ones on December 9th at 7:00.

All knights and family members are asked to join with our parishioners for this great family event.

The organizers have asked in the KOC can assist with set-up and tear down. If you have a little time on Sunday, December the 9th your help would be greatly appreciated, This would include removing the chairs from the area where the sanctuary is and putting three tables in a row for the food and two tables against the wall for the tea and coffee and soft drinks.

RED WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 21

Icon Our Lady Help of Persecuted Christians

FYI Father Clem Flaherty our parish priest asked me yesterday at Mass if we could have as many knights as possible attend this Red Wednesday prayer session at St Pius X church on Wednesday November 21/18 at 7 PM as this event is very much supported by all Knights world wide. Please see below the history on this sent to me by Monsignor Puddister.

 

Monsignor Puddister and Father Earl Smith too would like to see as many knights in attendance as possible. We will have a knight in our council do one of the readings at this prayer session. All knights are asked to wear their baldrics so parishioners from our zone recognize our knights.

 

Our general meeting as you have probably figured out is on the same night. Father Flaherty acknowledged this and told me that the prayer session ends at 7:45 PM. So I said how about we substitute our normal rosary with the prayer session and start our general meeting at 8 PM and social at 9 PM. Father Clem was delighted and appreciated this compromise as he would like to attend both.

 

I spoke with some of our fellow knights this morning asking if the St Pius X Parish Hall is available we could go right from the church into St Pius X parish Hall for our general meeting as it would be more convenient. Also convenient for our padre Father Bill Browne who lives at the residence for St Pius X parish. All said yes by all means. I called father Earl Smith. He checked it out and said it is available and he also said he was delighted to have our knights attend the prayer session and avail of St Pius X parish Hall. So a great spirit of partnerships in our zone!!

 

I will have Peter Whittle get this email message out to all of our members via email and also as advised by some of our fellow Knights this morning put a sign up on the door at St Paul’s church Wednesday evening letting anyone who misses the email to go to St Pius X Church for prayer session at 7 PM and general meeting at 8 PM in St Pius X parish Hall and social to follow at 9 PM. I also ask all knights to call your brother knights to make sure they know the schedule for this coming Wednesday and the change in venue for our general meeting and social. 

 

Peter will also email out the minutes of the last general meeting in October prior to Wednesday.

 

Please see the following from Monsignor Puddister: 

Red Wednesday is observed on the third Wednesday of November as a day of prayer for persecuted Christians. 

The Christian faith has been present in the Near and Middle East since the second third centuries. In most places there, they are a minority group. In recent years, Christians have been persecuted and murdered because of their religion by Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS in Iraq, Syria and Libya. Also, churches have been attacked, vandalized and burned in Pakistan. Christians in Egypt have experienced discrimination. 

The Knights of Columbus is actively engaged in calling attention in western countries to this persecution, and has lobbied the United States government to address this issue with countries where such persecution is occurring. This issue was the subject of a cover story in COLUMBIA about a year ago.

It would be appropriate for Knights to attend the prayer service for persecuted Christians at St. Pius X church this Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. This event is sponsored by the St. John’s East area parishes: St. Francis of Assisi, St. Paul’s, Mary Queen of Peace and St. Pius X. 

Thank you all.

Look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday November 21/18 at 7 PM at St Pius X Church and then Parish Hall after prayer session.

Cheers!

Gerry

WGK 

MEN WHO DEFEND

ST. PAULS "KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS" SPEECH CONTEST

The first annual St. Pauls Knights if Columbus "Keep Christ In Christmas" took place yesterday St. Bonaventure College. All speeches were very well done and each made great points about the importance of Keeping Christ in Christmas.

Special thanks to Assistant Principal David Martino, Krista Cardwell and all of the contestants for participating and organizing the event. Special thanks to our Grand Knight Gerry Puddister, Brothers Peter Whittle and Bern Madden for judging.

First place winner  : Elizabeth Ormsby "The Season Of Getting"

Our three winners - R-L Elizabeth Ormsby, 

Ashlyn Miller and Cecilia Martino

The Junior High Participants 

JOURNEYING WITH ST. LUKE

Journeying with St. Luke (with Dr. Gerard Whitty, D.Min.)

Starting in Advent we will be proclaiming Luke’s Gospel every Sunday throughout the liturgical year, in Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time. We invite you to come together and take a journey with Luke as he paints a picture of Jesus for his context and culture. Using various dynamics we will explore what Luke underlines as important facets of Jesus’ life and ministry like the importance of contemplative prayer, of being a welcoming community, the role of women in his ministry, the meals Jesus shared, the importance of forgiveness and many more. Our first meeting will be in the Conference Room at the Basilica on Thursday, November 29th at 7:00 pm. We ask you to use the parking lot behind the Basilica which is accessible through the arch or behind St. Bon’s. From there we can enter the Basilica through the parish room and proceed upstairs to the conference room. Please call the parish office (754-2170) to register.​​​​​​​​

SAD NEWS

I regret to pass along some sad news. 

Brother Bern Madden's sister Philomena passed away yesterday morning. Grand Knight Puddister has offered the condolences and prayers of his fellow Knight’s at St. Paul’s

I also just learned that Father Flaherty's brother Jerome passed away late last week. The funeral was earlier today. Donations accepted to ALS Society. Grand Knight Puddister offers his sincerest condolences to Father Flaherty.

Peter Whittle