Grand Knight Ed Mechmann was this year’s honoree at the annual Guild of Catholic Lawyers reception on Thursday, Oct. 6th.  Pictured here is Ed and his wife Peggy with the Charles Carroll Award presented at the Union League Club.  Prior to the reception, a Red Mass was celebrated by Fr. William Rutler, pastor of Our Saviour Church.

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My Brother Knights --

I would like to notify you of several upcoming events in the next few weeks:

1.  Our regular first meeting of the month, on Thursday evening, April 7, will be held at the Family Life Office at the Catholic Center (1011 First Avenue, 7th Floor, in Manhattan, between 55th and 56th Streets).  In our Good of the Order, will continue our discussion of our Lenten journey, with insights from Pope Benedict's book, Jesus of Nazareth Part Two. 

2.  Our second meeting of the month will take place on Tuesday evening, April 19th, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in the Bronx (627 East 187th Street).

3.  The monthly All Night Eucharistic Vigil in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary will be celebrated Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April 2, at the Holy Innocents CHurch in Manhattan (128 West 37th Street, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue).  The Vigil will begin and conclude with Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, there will also be Stations of the Cross, Solemn Vespers and Compline, communal recitation of the Rosary, a Eucharistic procession, and Confessions.

4.  Saturday morning, April 2, will be the monthly Witness for Life at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral (263 Mulberry Street, Manhattan).  Mass will be celebrated at 8:00 a.m., followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, then a Rosary Procession and prayer vigil at the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.  Benediction and a social will conclude the event.

5.  There will be two Lenten Evenings of Recollection this month at Holy Innocents Church (128 West 37th Street, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue).  The first will be presented by Fr. John Perricone  on Wednesday,  April 6th, sponsored by our Council. The evening begins with a Missa Cantata at 6 PM, includes two reflections, the Rosary, and concludes with Benediction.  Confessions will be heard during recitation of the Rosary.

6.  The second Evening of Recollection at Holy Innocents will be presented by Fr. James Miara  on Wednesday,  April 13th.  Sponsored by our brothers in the newly reinstituted Regina Coeli Council (#423), the evening begins with a Missa Cantata at 6 PM, will also include two reflections, the Rosary, and conclude with Benediction.  Confessions will be heard during recitation of the Rosary.

7.  Please consider attending the Family Life Conference, which is being held on Saturday, April 9th, at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers.  There will be excellent speakers on issues such as moral alternatives to in vitro fertilization, end-of-life decisions, and prayerful pro-life witness.  Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Dolan.  More details can be found at http://flrl.org/RL_FLConference.htm.

8.  Looking ahead to May, please make plans to join us on Tuesday, May 10, for the annual Knights of Columbus Prayer Rally in Albany.  Our Council and the New York Chapter will be sponsoring a bus to the rally that day (more details will be sent out when they are finalized).  The rally will come at a critical time, since the Legislature may be considering a bill to legalize same-sex "marriage" and another that would expand abortion rights.  Please join us!

9.  Our 2011 dues are still being collected.  Please pay your dues ($30).  Our dues the primary source of income for our Council and supports all our charitable and spiritual works..  You can do so by sending a check to Dan Marengo, or you can do it at our website through PayPal (the total cost through the website is $33, which includes PayPal's fee): http://www.traditionalknight.com/Dues_and_Donations.html.

Information about other special events will be posted on our Council website, www.traditionalknight.com.

May you have a blessed conclusion to Lent, and a blessed Easter!

Vivat Jesus!

--
Edward Mechmann, GK

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My Brother Knights --

As we begin a new year for our Council, and I begin my service to you as your Grand Knight, I would like to share with you my vision for the Council.

Our Council's Mission Statement says that we are dedicated "to know, love and serve Our Lord Jesus Christ through the promotion of Traditional Catholic Worship and Devotion, through Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy, and service to our Priests and Parishes."  In all of these things, our focus and source of strength is in the Holy Eucharist.

My goal as Grand Knight is to provide opportunities for all our members to grow spiritually as individuals and as a group, through the fellowship of like-minded Catholic men, by promoting traditional forms of worship (particularly the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite), through pro-life activism, and by the promotion and support of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Our Council has historically done each of these things, through such projects as the monthly Eucharistic Vigil, regular Days of Recollection and Retreats, special Masses (e.g., for the Solemnity of the Incarnation/Annunciation), charitable assistance to mothers in crisis, financial support of seminarians, and participation in the annual March for Life and the Prayer Rally.  We would like to encourage more of our members to participate in these and other good works, and we will shortly be re-organizing our service committees to make that easier.

I would also like to make our meetings more accessible to our members, and to offer social and enrichment elements during the meetings to help us grow closer to Our Lord (e.g., lectures, spiritual reflections, etc.).  We would love to see more of our brothers at our meetings, to share in this.

One way in which we are hoping to foster more participation in our meetings is by returning to Manhattan once per month.  To begin, we will be getting together at the Family Life Office in the Chancery building (1011 First Avenue).  The meeting space there is limited, so if we have a very good turn-out we will -- happily -- be forced to seek a larger meeting space.  Keep an eye out for future emails with the times and dates of the meetings. 

Our first meeting in Manhattan will be on August 3, at 7 p.m., at 1011 First Avenue.  Please join us!

The founders of our Council, and my predecessors as Grand Knight, have always seen our group of Catholic gentlemen as a seed for renewal in our beloved Church.  We are a team of re-builders, rooted in the ancient traditions and worship of our faith, firm in our fidelity to the teachings of our Holy Father and bishops, and willing to rise to the call of our Church to fight to transform our culture and to defend human life.  We are proud to be Knights of Columbus, and we are ready to serve God and His Church.  Our Holy Father has said that “the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men.”  We gladly join in that mission.

I look forward to serving you over the next year, and to working together with you.  Please remember me in your prayers, as I will remember you in mine.

Vivat Jesus!