Bishop William R. Johnson Council 9487

As we begin our new Columbian year I would first like to acknowledge our PGK Mike Byrne, his officers and trustees from the last Columbian year who all worked to ensure that our council continued to uphold our values of Charity, Unity, Fraternity, and Patriotism. Job well done Brothers!

Next I want to note that the passing of our Brother Stewart Imagawa has left each of us with a tremendous loss. Brother Stewart exemplified all that we are called to be as knights. He is no longer suffering and is surely in the presence of our Lord in heaven. Jesus wept when his friend Lazurus died so our feelings of sadness and loss are to be expected but I would also like to propose that instead of focusing on our loss let us try and be joyful of the fact that we have a brother in heaven to intercede for us.

Your Grand Knight, officers, and trustees are at work to make this another good year for our council. First I am continuing with the dedication of our council works to Our Blessed Lady of Guadalupe that PGK Mike Bryne instituted last year. Next you will see that I am referencing James 2: 24 & 26. In this Bible passage it is written that we do not obtain eternal salvation through faith alone. Rather we must also do works of love as Jesus demonstrated during his public life. May all of our council activities be conducted as works of charity with love in our hearts. I am requesting that all brothers of council 9487 participate in our activities. In the past our council has had a core group of around 20 brothers who do over 90% of the work our council takes on. We need all of our brothers to more fully participate in our activities. The more that you give of yourself the more fulfillment you will experience in being a Knight of Columbus.

That being said in July we have First Friday 24 hour Adoration, the City of Lake Forest 4th of July Parade, monthly business meeting, officers planning meeting and a Sunday Breakfast Burrito sales day scheduled as of now. Recognizing that many brothers will be spending time with their families taking summer vacations we purposely kept the schedule of activities light this month. There are, however, things that we can all continuously do like donating our glass, aluminum, and plastic containers to our recycling program, wearing our green shirts, or at least our badges to Church when we attend Sunday Mass, saying a daily rosary, and being kind and loving to our neighbor.

Finally, a few closing thoughts as your Grand Knight. Last month I shared a good deal about myself in my June newsletter column. Now I will offer a few thoughts about my time as a Knight with our council. I joined the Knights with the intention to be a good worker bee and looked for opportunities to help out. I started by working the food drive on Saturday mornings that we used to have. I really did not know any brothers but by working this event I got to know about 7 brothers and felt like these are good men who I have several things in common with. There was a call for brothers to join the exemplification team and I volunteered and became the presenter on Unity. Each exemplification ceremony provided me with a greater appreciation for this wonderful organization. My first year as a Knight I helped in our food booth at the church festival, grilling corn for 6 hours. I wised up after that experience and now help at the festival in the beer garden serving adult beverages. I was then approached by GK Mike Sofka and Brother Ricardo Teano to take on the officer position of Advocate because the Advocate at the time could not continue with the duties of the office. I was our council Advocate for 3 years. I began helping out at more functions like the spaghetti dinners, burger bashes, ID drives, distributing living faith books and car washes. I also began contributing to our monthly newsletter. In the process I have gotten to know many of the members of this council and I truly love this council. When Brother Mike Byrne asked me to be his Deputy Knight I told him he could do much better than me and gave him a few reasons why I thought I was not right for the job. I promised I would think about it and asked for a week to discern about it. As you know I did become the DGK and now am your GK. So much for being a worker bee. The best of plans…

I promise I will not be so long winded in future columns, please pray that I may be given the wisdom from the Holy Spirit needed to guide this council and thank you in advance for stepping up your participation in our council activities.