COUNCIL STEPS UP IN BIG WAY

St. Philips Knights of Columbus Council 9884 stepped up with a $250,000.00 donation to the St. Philips parish building project. The parish is in the midst of a major new building development at a beautiful new, 40 acre location in Flower Mound, Texas.

Dan Jacobs, current Grand Knight of the local 320 member Catholic Fraternal Family Service organization, stated “It was the proper action for the organization to do. We need to aid the church in its rapid growth in the Lewisville, Flower Mound area.” Father Raymond McDaniel accepted the donation on behalf of St. Philip’s parish parishioners stating, “It was a major show of commitment to the parish by the Knights of Columbus.”

The Knights of Columbus is a national, international organization founded in 1882 for the purpose of aiding widows and orphans in families where the main provider is deceased or unable to work. The organization today is just under 2 million members. It is headed up by the Supreme Knight and Council that among other things provides guidance to the local organizations. Their emphasis in recent years has been to ally the local councils more closely to their parish vs building and maintaining separate facilities away from the parish. With this new direction the St. Philip’s Council voted to join with their parish and donate funds originally raised with a council home in mind. This fully cements their future with the parish and its future growth and development.

Council 9884 was founded in 1987. Its growth was strong and soon became a size that was an aid to parish activities. From the beginning the goal was to obtain a council home to hold functions for the membership and to raise money for good works. Some of their activities included running a concession stand at the Texas Ranger Ball Park, holding spaghetti dinners, monthly pancake breakfasts, running the gate at regional cheerleading competition, providing DJ functions at weddings, church and civic activities. Finally a casino operation is the crown jewel in generating funds. To accomplish successful functions involved many members. The ball park operation required 30 volunteers, the spaghetti dinners approximately 20, the casino took up to 30 to operate a successful function. The necessary equipment was built by the council. It consisted of two portable Crap tables and 25 Black Jack tables. Current efforts are building and selling yard ornaments, “Keep Christ in Christmas” and supplementing the project with car magnets reminding people of the presence of God in our lives.

St. Philip’s grew as a mission parish from St. Francis Catholic Church in Grapevine, Texas in 1968. Mass was first held in an elementary school in Lewisville, Texas then a Quonset building on a parishioner’s property, to the first church built in 1977. The current facility was built in 1997. Strong Catholic growth in the area has dictated this steady expansion. The first church building held 400 parishioners, the second 800 and the new facility will be at 1600.

Receiving the $250,000 check from fundraising activities of the St. Philip’s Knights of Columbus is the Reverend Raymond McDaniel, Pastor of St. Philip’s Parish. In the background is Deacon Joe Stanridge and Seminarian Kevin Hathaway. Holding the check is Lawrence W. (Pete) Keeley and Bill Miller, Past Grand Knights of the Lewisville Council.