What it means to be a K of C
Media
Part of The Cross
- Title
- What it means to be a K of C
- Creator
- Sison, Perfecto
- Language
- English
- Year
- 1971
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- exchange mail with their families, d) inspection of all prisoner facilities by an impartial body, and e) proper diet and medical care for all POWs. Baguio City INSTITUTION RITES The Saint Vincent Council, a new addition to the several K of C Councils in Baguio City was instituted last April 11 at the St. Vincent Parish Hall, this city. The institution rite was preceded by a Mass What It Means To Be a K of C By PERFECTO SISON WORTHY BROTHERS. FRIEXDS. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: IT IS INDEED « gnat ptirih <i< for m< to give some words of ndvici after tin- iitstullulion of the in w officers of this Caancii. A bmthei Knight once ask'd mi mid expn ssid his mis givings ns to why hi ten? a number of the knights of Columbus. H< caught nn by surprise bi cause I had known hint as a good member of the Order. He told- me he had been a- member of the Knights of Columbus for the last 8 yniis but up to noir, he docs not know and could not undi island why he is a member of the organ ization. Then I asked him if he had been properly ini tiated to the Order and promoted to higher degrees of the Order. I asked him further if he is reading the pub lication* of tin Knights of Columbus and whether he had been athiidiiiy lhe meetings regularly. He said, “Yes! hut there semis to be something lacking in me that I cannot understand—why / am a member of the Knights of Columbus.'' I asked him if he had been elected as officer of the Council where he belongs: if he had also been appointed to head certain committees or membership in the Sir-Ponit Program. Hi said he was only a mere member of some committees. The next question I asked him was whither he has been participating as active member in thisc committees. He said no because there have barn no incentives for him to do so. He further said he was not given any responsibility so he has never done any tangible thing to make him claim as his accom plishment. Then I asked him if he is proud to be a member of the Knights of Columbus. He replied that he was when he entered the organization, but later on, he does not know what is meant by belonging to the Knights of Columbus since he feels that he is not con tributing anything to the Order except the monetary contiibution and “I am glad,” he said, “to say that I am up-to-date with my dues.” He asked me whether that is all to be a member of the- Knights of Columbus. My Brothers, I am presenting this case to you because this seems to be one of the problems of several other members of our Order. They do not feel that they are benefiting from the membership in the Knights of Co lumbus. please don't misunderstand me. These few re marks 1 am making tonight are not directed to any par ticular council, much less your council. If I were to ask you this question, how would you solve this problem of this Brother Knight I In analyzing this problem of this Brother Knight, what can you give to make him realize that membership in the Knights of Columbus is a desirable one for a good Catholic and a pood citizen. Is this not a challenge to us officers and leaders of the-Order? How can you motivate your mem bets to make them feel that they belong and they are May-June, 1971 and Communion at St. Vincent Church and attend ed by the new members and guests. Former Am bassador Bro. Oscar Ledesma, President of the K of C Community Services, Inc., was the guest of honor. He was introduced by Bro. Moises P. Cating. The inaugural address was delivered by Bro. Anto nio S. Romero, Grand Knight. Rev. Paul Bollen, CICM, chaplain of the council, said that the new council will be a big boost to the social and Catholic action activities of the Parish. proud to belong to our Organization? Of course, every mt mln r knows that in the Knights of Columbus our actinHits i evolve around with the four cardinal principles of Charity, I'nity, Fraternity and Patriotism. I don't med to discuss in details about these four car dinal principles of our Order because you have had enough of these things when you were initiated in the Order and piomoted to the higher degrees. I wish to remind you that the Knights of Columbus is an organization of Catholic men whose aim is to develop Christian fraternity mid charity and to manifest in their lives their loyalty to God, to church and to our country. In what organization cun you find such a complete program of activities where a human being could involve himself? h; order to accomplish all these objectives of our Or ganization, there is a special feature in our Organization to carry out all these objectives and that is the Six-Point Program. You might ask why or what is the Six-Point Program? I should say that the first purpose of the Six-Point Program is to insure success of the Council's program of activities, not merely organization for organ ization sake or for regimentation. Second, is to enable lhe members to “put something into” council’s program of activities. It is this objective where each member’s sptcial inti rests or talents should be promoted and utilized. These interests and talents of the members must be recognized by the officers and members of the Council. The third is to establish the Council as an influential and important force in our community. Do we belong to am community as good citizens and as good Catholics? If you are contributing something good for your commu nity and our Church, there is no reason why you are not proud to wear the emblem of the Knights of Columbus. The fourhl objective is to make our Organization a sound and efficient, businesi-like in its operation. ‘ If you will go over the coverage of the six-point pro gram of our organization, you will readily find that they embrace and cover a wide field—almost any activity is included where every member is assured of a place for his interests and talents. Now another question is how could we make a .council attain its success? One way I could offer is for the council to increase its membership. It is an important obligation for every member to make his Council grow. As followers of Christ, we must be fishers of men. This is to continually revitalize the membership of the council to inject new blood and new ideas. We should examine our “Council conscience” frequently to find possible reasons why a member loses interest in maintaining membership in our order and provide possible solutions to this problem. Naturally, we agree that there could be many varied rea sons. Let’s look at just three of them which, on the (Continued on page 23) Page 19 <7J/wn "<7/ie £)&sA PHILIPPINE DEPUTY WISDOM AND COURAGE Among the important events this month of June is the Constitutional Convention now being held in Manila. Since this Convention has the power to change or amend the basic law of the Republic, its importance can hard ly be exaggerated. And for this same reason, great wisdom and courage is demanded from the delegates who have been elected from every province in the Philippines. Therefore, Brother Knights, I beg that you and your families pray to the Holy Spirit to help our delegates with His allpowerful assistance. Come, 0 Holy Spirit Fill the hearts of Thy faithful And enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit And they shall be created And Thou shall renew the face of the earth. (), God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, Didst instinct the hearts of Thy faithful, Grant that in the same Spirit lie may be. truly wise And ever rejoice in His consolation, Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. During this month of June also, our Knights of Columbus councils will finish the Columbian year and elect their new officers for the twelve months beginning July 1. On this occasion, most sincerely we thank the out-going council officers and members for their apostolic activities and noble Christian living. We pray also that the new officers may continue or even increase the splendid work of their Dredecessors. WHAT IT MEANS. . . (Continued from page 19) surface, might seem trivial but are very common—and more serious—than you might think. First—are we wasting a member's time) Do we start our meetings and activities exactly at the time announced/ Or do we use ihe so-called “Filipino time"/ There is a saying, “If you want a job done, ask a busy man." A busy man can get the job done—true—but his time is valuable. You will find that busy, successful men in our council “budget" their time carefully. For exam ple, they will allow three or four hours of their time twice monthly for council meetings. This is based upon the announcements he received when he became a member that “the council attends mass and communion on the first Sunday of each month at 8:00 a.m. and followed by meeting. Or a meeting on the second Saturday of each month at 8:00 p.m. But whfn he arrives at the scheduled time he finds with dismay that the meeting doesn't get under way until forty-five or even more than one hour later. While he may overlook this the FIRST TIME, further repetitions will cause him to stop coming to meetings. Why? He simply won’t waste his time waiting for meetings to begin. If we resolve now—to start exactly on time—even if only a few are present, I 'am sure that others will learn ■to come on time. When the members begin to realise that you mean what you say and start on schedule you will be surprised at the big improvement in meeting at tendance. Second—are your members bored during the meeting/ Arc there fellows in YOUR council who just like to hear Themselves talk/ Are there discussions, arguments and long comments that could be better conducted at Committee meetings or AFTER the meeting? Hundreds of members leaving our ranks are undoubted ly intelligent, as well as busy men. It is an insult to that intelligence to force them to sit through a 40-minute dis cussion as to whether to move the council’s Bulletin Board from the entrance of the building to the meeting hall. .4 council that operates on a sound business basis brings satisfaction to both its officers and members. While the Grand Knight is primarily responsible for the successful conduct of his council, the cooperation of all the members is indispensable for the council to succeed. The third reason is—are your Council’s programs in teresting? If the members do not find any interest in your program, they will probably quit or not attend the meetings and its activities. Frequently, the new member is not told of the accomplishments of his council or the order. No one informs him of the many fine projects being planned. This knowledge would make him proud of his membership. Are the members, especially new ones, assigned to a committee? It is a good motivation; it is an incentive to assign every member to the committee of his choice. Make him feel welcome. Make his sponsor serve as a guide and friend to the hew member for at least a year or two. My brothers, I pray that your Council accomplish suc cessfully all your activities in the coming year and many more years to come. Thank you.