Grand Knight's Report
MIKE BYRNE
Iron is sharpened by iron;
-Proverbs 27:17
one person sharpens another.
EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS
Brothers,
Greetings and may God Bless all of you and your families as we approach the end of the Columbian year and my term as your Grand Knight. It has been an honor and a privilege.
May was another very busy month for the Knights of Council #9487. Some of our May activities:
May 2,3: Book Sale, clearing out our parish library and raising money for Let’s Build a Church, the Avocado Sale raising money for Diocesan retired priests, and a Breakfast Burrito Fundraiser, also raising money for Let’s Build a Church.
May 9: Another successful Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser. Thank you to DGK Mark Angel and PGK John Blaney and all brother Knights who helped out. Brother Mark’s Italian ancestry was evidenced by the excellent spaghetti sauce!
May 10: Coffee & Donuts, and a very successful Mother’s Day Roses Fundraiser for pro-life charities.
May 14, 16: State Convention. Brothers DGK Mark Angel and PGK John Ruelas joined me in Visalia.
May 16: Horizon Pregnancy Clinic Walk for Life. Thanks to our Life Director Nick Thomo who spearheaded this new and very worthwhile event.
May 23: Car Wash Fundraiser. Thank you brothers for the great turnout to help out, and thank you to Cori Matsumiya for turning out the youth volunteers. I want to recognize our car wash MVP as Emily Chacaliaza, Brother Carlos’s daughter. This was our best staffed car wash I can remember!
May 23,24: ID Drive collecting after all Masses, Led by our ID Drive Director Nick Thomo, man I’m hearing his name a lot! Thanks to our ID Drive MVP Kayden Thomo for helping his dad and our brother Knights.
May 26: Our Red Cross Blood Drive was very successful as usual, thank you Bro. Carlos Chacaliaza.
May 30: Council Field Trip to St. Michael’s Abbey was another wonderful event with brothers and their families exploring a beautiful showpiece of our faith.
May 31: Breakfast Burrito Fundraiser (yes, again!), spearheaded by, of all people, Nick Thomo.
Our June activities:
June 3: Council Meeting, 7:20 Rosary, 7:30 Meeting, Room A
June 5: First Friday Adoration
June 13: New Officer’s Installation 11:00am on the Pavilion
Knight’s Appreciation Luncheon, Noon, KOTY, FOTY awarded on the Pavilion
OC Chapter Poker Tournament, 6:00pm, Parish Hall
June 14: Coffee & Donuts. Gazebo
June 16: Brizio’s Fundraiser, 11:00am – 8:00pm
June 17: Officer’s Meeting, 7:00pm, Room B.
June 21: Father’s Day Bake Sale Fundraiser, after first 3 Sunday Masses. Welcome Center Gazebo.
Our “Saint of the Month” for June is, and you may have guessed it, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. It is truly amazing what a humble parish priest from an impoverished Irish immigrant family could accomplish in the short 38 years of life Our Lord bestowed on him.
While in seminary, he and other seminarians formed a baseball team and he was a star player. He had to leave the seminary when his father died unexpectedly, but he later returned and was ordained a priest in December of 1877. From personal experience Fr. McGivney saw the devastating effect on immigrant families if they suddenly lose the breadwinner, in that era nearly always the father. He wanted to protect and families from this devastation, and founded the Knights of Columbus as a mutual aid society, which evolved into the fraternal organization that it is today: 2.2 million members in 17,000 councils around the world.
Blessed Father Michael J McGivney
The miracle that pushed Fr. McGivney from Venerable to Blessed was investigated by the Vatican in May of 2015 and approved in May of 2020. Dan and Michelle Schachle were pregnant with their thirteenth child. They were told during an ultrasound that their unborn child had Down syndrome and fetal hydrops, giving him a 0% chance of survival. They refused to terminate the pregnancy and placed their trust in God, praying for a miracle through the intercession of Father McGivney, Dan promised he’d name the baby Michael in his honor if he survived the pregnancy.
Michael McGivney Schachle was born at 2:23 p.m. on May 15, 2015, more than two months premature, weighing 3 pounds 4 ounces. He is now a happy and thriving 11 year old boy.
Now back to baseball It was game Fr. McGivney loved, and the Knights of Columbus was big on promoting it because the game helped Catholic immigrants assimilate into the United States. With Blessed Michael McGivey God-willing approaching sainthood, and a baseball-loving Pope Leo XIV as the Bishop of Rome, there’s been speculation that we may have the first “Patron Saint of Baseball”. Let’s hope so!
My driving purpose as your Grand Knight was to bring you men in our council closer to Jesus Christ and His Church. First, by dedicating my term to the patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There is no more powerful intercessor on our behalf to her Son Jesus than the Blessed Virgin Mary. Second, by starting every Grand Knight report with the bible passage from Proverbs: our faith is strengthened when we are unified as brothers, iron sharpens iron, men sharpen men. By instituting The Saint of the Month: brothers, the saints are alive, in heaven, and have the Beatific Vision. They see God face to face, can hear our prayers, and pray to God on our behalf. This is a truth that is sadly rejected by our protestant brothers and sisters. Organizing council field trips to beautiful examples of our faith, past and present. Lastly, I titled this, my last Grand Knight Report, with the truth. A heavy truth, yes, but one we must all realize: There is no salvation outside the Church.
Blessed Father McGivney & Baseball
