Scott W. Schutte
State Deputy
StateDeputy@IndianaKofC.org
Home Council : 16305 - SAINTS FRANCIS AND CLARE GREENWOOD, IN
Home Assemby : 245 - BISHOP CHATARD INDIANAPOLIS, IN
My Worthy Bother Knights,
Welcome to the Holiday season. I hope you all are planning to get together with your family. I know I am looking forward to being with mine. This year we have a new face with the birth of our granddaughter Penelope. Let us all be looking for some new faces this season as we welcome new members into the Knights of Columbus family.
Membership
The first week of November, I was in Denver to attend the annual midyear membership meeting of the State Deputies. This is our chance to review our progress and to look for new ways to encourage membership growth in our Jurisdictions. From that meeting I sent out several challenges to the Councils. First, I ask that all Councils that have not yet invited a new member to do so. Please check your emails for details on incentives. Secondly, I asked everyone, all 33,000 Indiana members, to invite just one new member. If we all asked one new potential member and 10 percent received a yes that would be 3,300 new members. Double our goal for the year. Great opportunity for Indiana.
More importantly, we as a Jurisdiction need to get to the 50% mark by the end of December. We are a little behind due to our slow start this year, but we can accomplish this goal. Why, so that we can see a five percent reduction in our goal. That is a reduction of 60 members. That gets us back to our goal of last year. We exceeded that goal.
NCYC
SO, I was able to attend on the last day of this event which comes to Indiana every other year. I sent others to the Thursday and Friday sessions. We had a nice booth, and we sponsored the food packing. If your Council has not yet donated to that cause, please submit it before the end of the year. Just as importantly, I invited six new members to the Order with two from Indiana. I also go names from young men who will soon be turning 18 so that we can invite them when they get to their birthday. Our Regional Growth Director joined me on that day, and he brought in another 4 members. Not bad for about 4 ours of speaking with young men about what we do. This gives me a lot of hope for the youth roundtable idea that we are trying.
Donations
As Knights we spend a bit of time providing for the needs of others with our fund raising. This year is no different than in the past, except that we do not seem to be providing as much in the way of funding as we have in the past. So, let’s look at some areas to focus on.
Gibault
Our annual fall appeal was a success and the repairs and improvements at the new Campagna facility will be proceeding. But we still need items to make sure these children have a great Christmas. I hope all Councils are looking for ways to assist Gibault with providing gifts for these children. I was able to attend the Santa visit to the kids last year. They truly appreciate what they receive. It was a little sad to hear some of the children say that this was their first Christmas gift. Can you imagine. Let’s show Christ love by making sure they receive a gift this year.
Women’s Care Center Endowment / ASAP
The Supreme ASAP program is alive and well. We need to take advantage of the matching gifts through this Supreme program. We set a goal of $10,000,000 in the endowment within 10 years. We need to put forth our best efforts this year to make that amount a realization. Abortion remains, and we still need to make sure that those we encourage to support life, have the support they need to make it a good life for the children they bring into this world. Let’s keep up the great work and make this endowment pay it forward for years to come.
Ultrasounds
As I noted above abortions aren’t going away and those that support death, and the sacrifice of children are fighting hard to push their agenda onto everyone else. Sadly, the Ohio constitution was the latest casualty. We have just finished purchasing six new ultrasounds in Indiana. That’s a good start, but Mike has been busy and has several more lined up. What do we need to finish this job, more funds. We have enough currently to provide one or two more, but the need is great. $5 per member could make this an incredible year for life in Indiana.
Special Olympics
Every year we work to raise funds for this organization that provides athletic opportunities to people with special needs. We generally raise over $100,000 each year. This goes a long way, but we would like to do more. We are looking to sponsor the Winter Games going forward. That of course costs money. We have two options. First, we can raise more money and give it to Special Olympics. Or we can raise more money and put part of that into an Endowment from the Knights. Endowments grow the money through thoughtful investments and provide future money from the dividends of that investment. The result is that we can provide increased funding without increasing effort year after year. Which would you choose? Let’s get out there and make a difference in these lives.
Eucharistic Congress
I am hoping to have the list of volunteer opportunities this month. Please watch for the e-mails. I have spoken with the pilgrimage coordinator, and we are discussing opportunities for Councils along the pilgrimage routes. Safety, food, and drink are the top on the list. For next summer, I know we ware looking for eucharistic ministers, safety, information/ hospitality, and procession leaders for the Eucharistic procession on Saturday. It’s going to be a great event. I hope many of you attend, volunteer or in some fashion participate.
Closing Thoughts
Brothers, our goal is to be First in Faith and Charity. This month I have focused on Charity. We need to be first in Faith as well. I encourage you to be part of our new COR initiative. We can only evangelize if we know what our faith requires. Learning about our faith is the way to be prepared for those that want to tear down our Faith and Church. We need to be prepared to help our Church grow.
Let’s keep inviting those new members. We have some huge projects and fund raising to accomplish, the Eucharistic Congress is coming up and we will need lots of volunteers to accomplish our goals. Plus, we want our fellow Catholics to keep the faith, COR Initiative. Merry Christmas to you all and Happy New Year. I look forward to speaking with you all on January 6th at our next Quarterly Video conference. Keep dreaming big and be ready to Evangelize Through Our Works.
Scott Schutte
Indiana State Council - Knights of Columbus
State Deputy
statedeputy@indianakofc.org
webpage HERE
Vivat Jesus