MINUTES OF COUNCIL GENERAL MEETING
Dining Room
08/06/2024
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER at 7:30 P.M.
- OPENING PRAYER: by MIKE FITZGERALD
- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: by PAUL RYAN
- OPENING ODE: by MIKE FITZGERALD
ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS: P=PRESENT, A=ABSENT, EX=EXCUSED
CHAPLAIN: VACANT
GRAND KNIGHT: MIKE FITZGERALD: P WARDEN: ADAN LUNA: P
DEP GRAND KNIGHT: MARC EVANS: P INSIDE GUARD: GAMALIEL HERNANDEZ: P
CHANCELLOR: PAUL RYAN: P OUTSIDE GUARD: RUSSELL LEROY: P
FINANCIAL SECRETARY: PETE PERTA: P LECTURER: JAMES RUSSELL: P
TREASURER: JAMES SMITH: P 1ST YR TRUSTEE: JACK RAMSDEN: P
RECORDER: ROBERT NIETO: P 2ND YR TRUSTEE: DAVID DYBALA: EX
ADVOCATE: RUSSELL GULLY: P 3RD YR TRUSTEE: TOM GRECO: P
DISTRICT DEPUTY KEBRAN ALEXANDER -EX
ARE ALL PRESENT IN POSSESSION OF A CURRENT MEMBERSHIP CARD: per Outside Guard: Yes
Approve Minutes of the Prior Meeting – The minutes of our July 5th General Membership Meeting have been post on the Council’s website. The minutes were approved.
GRAND KNIGHT’S REPORT: by Mike Fitzgerald
New Knights who are attending their first General Membership Meeting:
- Jesus Aguirre
- José Garcia
Russell Leroy reported that the Dallas Diocese Chapter of the Knights of Columbus has been working diligently on the Safe Environment Program for about one year. There will be changes coming very soon.
Jorge Ruiz provided a PowerPoint presentation and a recap of the Diocesan meeting. The Diocesan policy for Safe Environment training for specific parish ministries has been very clear. This has been a result of clear messaging and wording from the Diocese. The Knights of Columbus has been working with the Diocese to provide Safe Environment Training for the Knights. This training will be separate and monitored entirely by the Knights and will be done at the Chapter level. The leadership team of the Knights is working to develop the necessary training tools and the database for our members to comply with Safe Environment Training. This will allow the Safe Environment coordinators, like Russell Leroy, to monitor compliance and participation at the Council level. The requirements will consist of training through webinars and live events and will include a background check. Jorge brought a booklet that has all the policies regarding Safe Environment Training for the Diocese.
The program is already starting in a limited scope. The Knights of Columbus Dallas Diocese Safe Environment Director, Mike Hemphill, is piloting this new program already in McKinney, Irving, and a section of Dallas.
This new program is scheduled to roll out to all Dallas Diocese Councils on October 12, 2024. That means that any Knight that participates in any Knight sponsored event on church or Diocesan property MUST BE SAFE ENVIRONMENT TRAINED.
If you are already Safe Environment trained through the parish, you do not need to be trained again through the Knights. We have 54 Knights that are already Safe Environment trained and Russell Leroy has the list.
Training will be available in English and Spanish. The Knights will be given a link to do the training. A background check will be done every two (2) years. There will be reciprocity in this program. That means that any Knight who has been trained through the Knights will not need to do parish training going forward. The parish sees the Knight sponsored Safe Environment Training as valid and equal training. This is because the training materials and the requirements for the Knights and specific parishioners in ministries are the same.
The cost of a criminal background check is $15 and each Knight will be required to be criminally background checked every two (2) years. The Dallas Diocese Church and Knights of Columbus Chapter will use the same agency to perform all criminal background checks, The goal is to have one hundred (100%) percent compliance with the new policy. We may not achieve that, but that is our goal.
The four (4) Knights that require Safe Environment training from Supreme’s designated provider, Presidium Academy, are the Grand Knight, Family Director, Program Director and the Community Director. This Presidium training will suffice to meet the requirements for the Catholic Diocese. A background check is also required for the Family Director and Community director. Jorge advised; the other two (2) officers do not need a background check from the Knights.
Every Council will need to appoint a Safety Director. For our Council, our Director is Russell Leroy. Every Council will need to have a Safety Committee to meet these new requirements. We will also need to assemble a Response Team in the event something happens. They are there to lend support to either party. The Committee can be made up of our Safety Director, our Chaplin, and other members.
The Dallas Diocese is taking a lead role in safety training and compliance. Bill Dover commented, “As Dallas goes, so goes Texas.” And Jorge added “As Texas goes, so goes the Order.” In the past, many activities that started in Dallas are then adopted on a national level. Jorge passed around a list of 54 Knights that are already complaint with required training. All other Knights will receive a link and will receive notification for permission to do a background check. The agency used by the Diocese (and will be used by the Knights) is called Accutrack. Each Knights of Columbus Council will not receive any details on the background check of it individual members. The Council will only receive three options on the background check:
- clear,
- not clear, or
- disqualified.
This will be stored in our data basis. Confidentiality will be maintained. No fingerprinting will be done.
Jorge proposed doing a PowerPoint presentation at the next meeting. What is the proper response to an incident. First, if it requires immediate attention, call 911. Second, notify the Diocese. Third, notify Supreme.
Jorge attended the Knights of Columbus Dallas Diocese Organizational Meeting on July 20th. The Knight of the Year was Ben Alani from Prince of Peace Council; the Chaplain of the Year and other awards were presented. The Council of the Year was Council 5052 in Farmer’s Branch. The next meeting is October 12th and Knights come from all over the Diocese.
Hispanic Initiative Meeting -Jorge invited all Spanish speaking Knights to attend the Hispanic Initiative Meeting on August 17th in Plano at Council 6065 from 9-11 a.m. Information about Knight activities at the Diocesan level will be discussed. This is also an opportunity to meet other Spanish speaking Knights from all over the Diocese.
Mike Fitzgerald attended the District 109 “Planning Your Council’s Success Meeting” led by our District Deputy, Kebran Alexander, held on Saturday, August 3rd at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Dallas. It was a good meeting which was well attended by several Knights from St. Elizabeth. We were encouraged by the DD to be mindful of not scheduling events during Advent, Lent and other religious Holidays. The DD also suggested being mindful of the dates and times of the Dallas Cowboys scheduled games.
Rummage Sale
Mike Fitzgerald visited with Yvette Gonzales recently. Yvette said that initially there was a concern that they would not have enough sales items. It has gone from a concern about not enough donations to; how are we going to find room to display all the items. In addition to needing help with sorting, sizing and pricing items, some items are quite heavy and some lifting manpower would be very much appreciated. They are also in need of additional volunteers to man the sales table during the two (2) Rummage Sale weekends. Please call Michelle Hernandez at 214-864-2566 if you wish to volunteer.
Men’s Bible Study
Father Uche is very supportive of a Bible Study for the Knights and men of the parish. He would like to have a Deacon involved, and he gave clearance to start this Fall. Fr. Uche recommended visiting with the Adult Formation leader, Marcela. Fr Uche recommended a video program followed by a small group discussion. There may be breakout groups in English and Spanish.
Financial Secretary’s Report
Presented by Peter Perta:
Membership currently stands at 240
Loss of Knight: Rey Estrella
New Members: Jesus Medina, José Garcia, Donovan Gradiz, Jesus Aguirre
Dues Collected YTD: 70%
Star Council Quota/Goal is fourteen (14) – The Fraternal Year started July 1st; we have added four (4) new members against our goal of fourteen (14)
Family of the Month Form for June has been submitted
The Knight in Need Fund stands at $1,250
Peter Perta also presented the proposed budget for the July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025
He did a PowerPoint presentation on the budget
Peter states that in the past 3 years, we have spent about sixty (60%) percent of our proposed budget.
Some highlights of the budget line items
- Gift to Holy Spirit Catholic Church Ministries $3,500 – we specify in the accompanying cover letter which ministries are to receive funds and the amount for each ministry.
- RSVP -This program sponsors 5 seminarians per year; we provide $500 per seminarian for an emergency fund for travel, etc.
- Raffle Tickets for Catholic Pro-Life Community (CPLC)
- Knights of Columbus Scholarship Program
- Diocese of Dallas Clergy Appreciation Dinner
- Sacramental Gifts
- Parish Picnic
- Fall Festival
- Youth DC Trip
- Vacation Bible School
- St. Joseph’s Cookout
- Knight Hands
- Knight’s Degree Program
Treasurer’s Report – by Worthy Treasurer, Sir Knight James Smith. He advised the Council of last month’s ending balance, the deposits overall made this month, the overall expenditures for the month, and the resulting ending balance.
4th Degree – SK James Smith -Officer installation will take place on August 8th.
Church Activities – SK David Ybarra
Snow Cone Fridays are ongoing; Number of people served the past three (3) Fridays were ten (10), eighteen (18), and forty (40). There are two (2) more Fridays remain: August 9th and August 16th; the Snow Cone sales take place from 3-5 p.m.
Knight’s Fellowship Breakfast -The first one is for August 25th, 8:30 p.m. until 12 noon; we need some volunteers to get there by 7 a.m. to help with set-up. Additional dates are September 29th, October 20th, and December 1, 2024. Please contact David Ybarra if you can help.
Rummage Sale: David Ybarra recognized fellow Knight, Jeff Traub, for his outstanding help as a volunteer for the Rummage Sale; he has donated many hours to this important parish event!
Program & Committee Reports
Programs
Faith – See report in the earlier part of the minutes
Family – José Montoya
Community – Dan Murphy –on vacation; No Report
Life – Sir Knight Mike Moloughney -absent; Mike Fitzgerald led us in praying three (3) Hail Marys to end abortions.
- The First Hail Mary – for the Unborn
- The Second Hail Mary – for the moms of those unborn babies – that they allow their babies to be born.
- The Third Hail Mary – for those in the abortion industry that they turn away from evil and seek the face of God.
Admissions Committee – S/K Jim Russell -The committee met with one candidate, Antonio Verdusco. He is a principal for a middle school at DISD. He is married and has children and has been a parishioner for 20 years. His sponsor is Adan Luna. He was interviewed by the Admissions Committee and the committee recommends he be accepted by the Council. A motion was made and seconded to accept Antonio; the motion passed. The exemplification ceremony will take place next Sunday after the 1 p.m. Spanish Mass.
Awareness Committee – Vacant
Council Activities – Vacant
Health Director – by Dr. Robert Nieto – He gave thanks to all who participated in the June 23rd Carter Blood Drive, there were twenty-one (21) people who donated. Many thanks to all the Knights who showed up to donated blood. Another blood drive is planned for this Fall.
Knight Hands – David Dybala – absent; no report
Recruitment – SK Jim Kowalski -absent; no report
Retention – SK Paul Ryan -no report
Safe Environment – see notes in the earlier part of the minutes
Unfinished Business
Wheelchair Drive -Bill Weber states that we raised $10,486 in the last Fraternal Year (2023/2024) and this for this Fraternal Year(2024/2025), we have received donations of $1,500 to date
New Business
Jorge Ruiz recommended that we consider setting up a process to deal with the death of a Knight. He states 3-4 Knights have died in the past few months.
Good of the Order: by Paul Ryan and José Montoya
Knight of the Month – Pedro Zuniga
Family of the Month – Lou and Therese Lemons
Prayer Requests – We passed a sympathy card around the dining room for Knights to sign; which will be sent to the wife of Rey Estrella; Susan Goza made it home and has been building her strength; Judy Smith is doing better; Russell Gulley’s father passed away recently. We had numerous other prayer requests
Closing Prayer
Closing Ode
50/50 Meeting Drawing – #7018 Moises Martinez $47
Membership Drawing: John Rizo, who was not present.
Meeting adjourned: 8:50 p.m.
Council Meeting Schedule
