Let You Light Shine, Be an active Recruiter

My Brother Knights all. I would like you to take a moment to think back upon why you joined the Knights of Columbus. In most cases someone you knew and respected asked you to become a knight. They worked with you to fill out the application for membership and they saw to it that you made your 1st Degree. I also hoped they were there to witness you advance into the 2nd & 3rd degree.

Something about the Knights of Columbus should make you want to share our Order with another Catholic man.

Let me share my history with the Knights. My grandfather, my uncle, my great uncle and 2 cousins were all Knights. The Catholic side of my family was my Mother’s family. My Father was a Baptist. All the men I grew up with in my parish were friends of the men of our family and they were all Knights. I grew up at and around the Knights of Columbus hall through events and the Boy Scouts. When I got married and became a Catholic adult no one, not even family members asked me to become a Knight. I asked my great uncle on two different occasions about joining and he gave me a Form 100. I looked it over and set it aside because I had questions about the application.

Finally when I was 29 I got a call from a member of the Knights of Columbus who asked if he come by my place of work to visit with me. Thirty minutes later he left with a completed Form 100 and my entry fees.

After he left I called our local Pastor and went by to visit him on the decision I had just made. Two weeks later I was a 3rd Degree Knight!!!

I now have 31 years of great rewards being a Knight. I have worked with my Brothers to help the poor, feed the hungry, repair housing to shelter the poor, raised money and used it to give wheelchairs for the disabled.

My biggest reward is being privileged to stand with the Honor Guard for deceased Brothers and helping their families after they have passed on.

Standing Honor on Veterans’ and Memorial Days highlights my commitment to the Patriotic Degree of our Order.

I have enjoyed this so much that I have shared it with over a hundred other Catholic men by recruiting them to become a Brother Knight.

Is this not our calling from Fr. McGivney? To share his vision of what a Catholic man should stand for? Should we not grow our Order by sharing what we stand for? We can only do this by being an active recruiter. Our parishes needs new Knights, our community needs the Knights, and our families need new Knights for the future of our kids.

Will you join me and the other members of the Membership Team? Take a few minutes stop a Catholic man leaving church, shake his hand, look him in the eye and tell him-“I am a member of the Knights of Columbus and would like YOU to join us.” This simple act will help his family, his church and his community. It can be done but we need your help. We all must do our part to share the vision of Fr. Michael J. McGivney, the Venable Servant of God.

Things happen when we all make it happen. Let your Light Shine upon another.