Holy Spirit Council No. 11661

11300 W 103RD ST OVERLAND PARK KS 66214

Website: http://kofc11661.com/

Meeting Minutes of February 9, 2023

Call to Order: Grand Knight, Jim Easterday, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

Warden’s Report: The meeting was held in the Mary and Martha room at Holy Spirit Catholic Church.

Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance: The Grand Knight, Jim Easterday, led the Council in pray and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Roll Call: The Officers missing at the meeting were the absent Chancellor, Advocate and Warden. The Chaplain was excused. Thirty-three (33) members were present and duly recognized.

Attendance: Present: 33 Total Membership: 319

Approval of Minutes: A motion was made to adopt the January 12, 2023, minutes which were previously e-mailed to all of the members. The motion was seconded and passed.

Grand Knight’s Report

Prior to providing his report, the Grand Knight introduced and welcomed two of the new Council members present to the Council. They were:

Both received a round of applause from the Council.

The Grand Knight reported the other new Knights are Tom Joerger, Anderson Goth, and Andrew Stanley

Grand Knight, Jim Easterday, gave his report as follows:

Deputy Grand Knight

The Deputy Grand Knight, Don Watson, was present. There was no report.

Chaplain’s Report

Fr. Andrew was excused. There was no report.

Financial Reports

Financial Secretary Report

Tom Gaume, the Financial Secretary, was present. Tom read the eight (8) bills that needed to be paid tonight. They were:

TOTAL            $682.23

Upon a motion duly made and seconded the Council approved paying the above bills.

Tom indicated there were ninety-two (92) delinquent Knights regarding their dues. He said the first mailing to delinquent Knights would take place February 12. He indicated he would follow the mail notice up with an e-mail notice on February 15.

Treasurer’s Reports

Tom Spencer, the Treasurer, was present and gave his report:

Bank Balance on hand:            $30,642.80

  Less Funds Earmarked:

  Coats for Kids          - $11,157.95

  Seminarians             - $ 3,725.00

  Life Savers Donation        - $ 1,751.94

  50/50 Rollover          - $ 29.00______

Remainder: $12,147.08

Lector’s Address

The Lector, Greg Brown, was present and provided a program entitled “The Eucharist and the Super Bowl.” This was followed by a Council prayer blessing Greg Brown’s and his fiancée’s upcoming Saturday wedding followed by the Council reciting the prayer for the canonization of Blessed Fr. Michael McGivney, our Founder.

Membership Director

  Chad Eickholt, the Membership Director, was present. He gave a report on the exemplification held January 22, and recited the names of our newest members again. He indicated the Council is about 40% complete in meeting its membership goal of 15 new members. He said he’d like to have two more exemplifications this year.

  Next Bill Ramsey gave a report on the results of “Sporting Knight.” He said 21 individuals attended the event to watch the KU vs. KS basketball game. He indicated he would like to put-on one more event in the spring. He envisioned an event watching Royal baseball.

Faith Director

  Everett Fritz, the Faith Director, was present and read an article entitled “Catholic Voice Makes Essential Contribution to Public Square” that appeared in The Leaven paper January 6, 2023, to the Council in the event they missed it.

Family Director

  John Weber, the Family Director, was present. He reported there were 73 attendees at the January Corporate Communion breakfast that included six (6) children and five (5) widows of deceased Knights. The next Corporate Communion event will be in April.

Vocation Director

  Bob Roennigke, our Vocation Director was absent. However, the Grand Knight reported the vocation school coloring contest was underway in the school.

Life Director

Dave Boone was present. He said the “Life Savers Program” collected $1,751.94. He extended a thank you to everyone who participated in making the event successful.

Dave informed the Council it would be participating in the “40 Days for Life” Program coming up. However, he said he did not have a date for it as yet.

YOUTH DIRECTOR

Don Watson, the Youth Director, was present. Don reported the District “Free Throw Contest” was held February 5 and he said Holy Spirit had two (2) winners going to the Regional Competition. Further, he reported Holy Trinity had five (5) and Ascension had five (5) going to the Regional Competition.

Regional Competition will be held on February 19, 2023.

Community Director

Mike Bergkamp, the Community Director, was absent. There was no report.

WEBMASTER REPORT

Bob Long, the Webmaster, was present. He informed the Council he had put the program “Venmo” application on the webpage. Anyone interested can pay their dues by going to the Knight Webpage and activating the application

.

EXEMPLIFICATION REPORT

Trinidad Molina was present. He asked for possible dates the Council would like for the two additional Exemplification discussed. Proposed dates were April 23, and June 11. Trinidad said he would check with the Office as to whether those dates were available.

Unfinished Business

  With the Directors’ reports concluded the Grand Knight moved onto unfinished business.

As the first order of business the Grand Knight took up the issue of who would be the recipient(s) of the “Life Savers” collected funds. He reported to the Council he had been contacted by the Parish Respect Life Committee and informed their committee had no parish budget, but would like to consider approximately $1,000 in future expenditures. A discussion followed.

Upon motion duly made and seconded it was moved that one-half (1/2) of the $1,751.94 of the “Life Saver” funds collected would go to Advice and Aid and one-half (1/2) would go to the Parish Respect Life Committee to begin their promotions at Church. Motion passed.

Next, Rick Trudell stood and was recognized. Rick promoted to the Council the upcoming “Journey New Life in Christ” to be held at Holy Spirit Church the weekend of March 25-26. This is a retreat for men and there is no cost to participate.

Next, Everett Fritz stood and was recognized. Everett read into the record the results of the Catholic Charities food drive on behalf of Gregg Miller who was absent. The food drive netted 1,281 lbs of food and $1,486 in donations.

  Next, Trinidad Molina stood and was recognized. Trinidad updated the Council on the distribution of rosaries purchased from the $250 allocated at the December 2022 Council meeting. He informed the Council he is regularly restocking the “Rosary Tree” in the Adoration Chapel as they are being taken by worshipers as intended.

Finally, Rich Triola stood and was recognized. Rich announced to the Council the need for Officers and Directors for the upcoming 2023 – 2024 Council Fiscal Year. He circulated a flow chart to the members present laying out the organization structure of the Council. Thereafter, he informed the Council there is a need for a Chancellor and Deputy Grand Knight for the upcoming fiscal year. He asked the members of the Council to contact him with names of qualified candidates for these two positions as well as candidate names for Directorship positions. He informed the members he’d contact the person whose name was provided.

New Business

  With “Unfinished Business” concluded the Grand Knight took up New Business.

  The Grand Knight called upon Deacon Dan Mauro, one of our newest members, to address the Council. Deacon Dan informed the Council he was a sixth year Deacon whose current assignment with the Church was at Holy Sacrament Church and School in Kansas City, Kansas. He informed the Council that in that position he was called upon to be an instructor at the School when a contracted teacher notified the School they were withdrawing from the undertaking seven days before school was to begin. In that capacity he was recently called upon to spontaneously organize a school activity to take a bus load of students to the Right to Life Rally in Topeka this past January incurring a debt of $1,200 in which the school had no allocated funds. He was calling upon the Council for help in covering this expense.

  A motion was made and seconded to cover $600 of this expense and help in contacting the Christ the King Council in Kansas City, Kansas for the other half. After a discussion, the motion passed.  

Fourth Degree Report

Greg Davis, the Faithful Navigator, was present. Greg encouraged the 3rd Degree members of the Council to join the Assembly. He reported what a great time about twenty (20) Sir Knights had at the pot luck dinner this past February 7. He said he has set a personal target of 10 new members as his goal. He encouraged 3rd Degree members to talk to Sir Knights regarding the fun experienced in joining the 4th Degree.

He informed the Council there would be a 4th Degree Exemplification in Topeka on April 14, 2023. The dead line for receiving applications and fees by the James W. Gibbons Assembly who’s hosting the event is April 1. Please see him, if you are interested in becoming a 4th Degree.

The next Assembly meeting will be March 7, 2023, at 7:15 p.m. It will be preceded with a pot luck dinner in the Martha and Mary room starting at 6:30 p.m.

KNIGHT AND FAMILY OF THE MONTH

The Grand Knight reported the Knight and Family of the Month were as follows:

Knight of the Month:    Jerry Gerstberger

Family of the Month:   Bud and Linda Maskill

District Deputy Comments

John Weber, the District Deputy, was present. He had no report for the Council. He did inform the Council that the Holy Trinity Council has met its membership requirement of 15 for Star Council and that the Ascension Council has reached about 40% of its goal as our Council has.

Insurance Agent Report

We still do not have a new Field Agent. The Council was informed if anyone had an insurance question to contact Ray Garrison by e-mail. Ray will be acting as our temporary Field Agent. Ray’s e-mail address is ray.garrison@kofc.org.

For the Good of the Order

Prayers Requested

  Before closing the meeting the Grand Knight asked whether any Brother Knight wished to request prayers for the sick and distressed. In response, came the following:

;

Adoration

Jerry Gerstberger was present. He said 10 Knights were at adoration this past Wednesday.

50 / 50 DRAWING

There was a 50/50 drawing at the meeting. John Sanem won $25.

ACCUMULATION DRAWING

Joe Doyle’s name was drawn. He was not present. He would have won $54.00. The prize money now is $54.00.

After the drawings, the Grand Knight led the Council in prayer; the meeting closed at 8:45 P.M.

Next meeting is March 9, 2023. The next Officers’ Meeting is February 23, 2023.

Respectfully submitted,

Everett Fritz, II, Recorder