Program Director Report

The success of any council comes from the success of its programs. Successful programing brings in new members. Without these two, a Council begins to fail. If we don’t do the programs that our members are looking for, they will go somewhere else and become a drop. If a council does not plan, schedule, promote and communicate with the members on what the council is doing, then the members will not know what is going on or when to help.

As we enter this new fraternal year, a council needs to assess where their council stands. What programs worked, which ones didn’t, what were the council’s strengths and weaknesses, and finally, what opportunities does the council have to grow. The 2021-2022 Fraternal Planner has all these “Do To Lists” and evaluations to help plan out the fraternal year. I encourage all council leader’s to sit down and get your plans written down so all members will know what is going on and when to help.

One program I would encourage all councils to get involved in is the Family of the Month program. Texas did not do well in this area with only about 20 councils statewide participating in this program. This year, for every quarter, I will be sending out a small Holy Family Icon to all councils who submitted a Family of the Month (Form 10784) each month for that quarter. This form must be submitted by the 15^th of each month for the previous month. As a reminder, every council that does submit a Family of the Month to Supreme, Supreme will draw one of those entries and send that family a Holy Family statue. I announce those winners each month in my End of the Month Program email.

Supreme just announced the Pilgrim Icon Prayer Program with the icon being St. Joseph. The Dioceses will be receiving the Icon soon and I encourage councils to coordinate this with their pastors. The Icon and prayer program should also be made available to all the catholic schools and seminaries. Prayer books will also accompany the Icon. More information on this will be coming out soon.

The Silver Rose is going on now or will be coming soon. The Silver Rose schedule is posted on the State website. If you want to have the Silver Rose, please check with your Silver Rose coordinator from your Diocese.

Some other key programs that you need to start preparing for now will be the Catholic Citizenship Essay, Keep Christ in Christmas Poster contest (we had two Supreme winners last year), and the Soccer Challenge. If your council plans to participate in any of these programs, kits need to be ordered now.

Finally, do not forget your Seminarians. They are going back to school. Let’s show our support for them and participate in the RSVP program. ALL seminarians from every diocese should be supported by at least one council. RSVP Chairman Alfred Moreno will be happy to help you with this program.

Remember, the Program Team is here to help answer questions and provide suggestions in order for your council to achieve the ultimate goal – STAR COUNCIL.