Meeting Minutes February 2025

MINUTES OF COUNCIL GENERAL MEETING

Dining Room

02/04/2025

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:  PETER PERTA:  P         ADVOCATE: RUSSELL GULLEY; P                            

LECTURER:   JAMES RUSSELL: P                                 1^ST YR TRUSTEE:  JORGE RUIZ: P

TREASURER:  JAMES SMITH:  P                                    2^ND YR TRUSTEE:  DAN MURPHY: P

RECORDER: ROBERT NIETO: P                                    3^RD YR TRUSTEE:  JIM RUSSELL: P

ARE ALL PRESENT IN POSSESSION OF A CURRENT MEMBERSHIP CARD:  per Outside Guard: Yes

Approve Minutes of the Prior Meeting – The minutes of our January 7^th  General Membership Meeting have not been posted on the Council’s website as of yet.  The minutes will be approved at the next meeting.

GRAND KNIGHT’S REPORT: by Mike Fitzgerald

We had three (3) new Knights who attending their first General Membership Meeting:  

Simon Leonides -lives in Desoto and he is very happy and honored to be a Knight.

Mario Prado, He lives in Duncanville -He too is very happy and honored to be a Knight.

Zack Cazares -He just retired from teaching yesterday! He served 10 years in the U.S.Marine Corps before becoming a public educator

By way of reminder, we opened last month’s meeting with a guest speaker:

Rick Self, the President of Catholic Brothers for Christ Ministry gave a presentation to the Council last month.  He provided a presentation at our January 7^th General Membership By way of reminder: the 2025 Catholic Brothers for Christ event will be held:

Saturday, March 1, 2025

St. Elizabeth Anne Seton Catholic Church

2016 Willis Lane

Keller, TX 76248

Begins at 8.a.m. with and the conference ends at 3 p.m.

Our Council’s contact is Paul Ryan. Please contact Paul if you have questions

There were a few items discussed and voted on during the January 21^st Officers and Director’s Meeting

1. Providing a celebratory and going away gift of $500 to Bishop Kelly (to be matched by Council 799) at the DDC Clergy Appreciation Dinner. 
2. Being a $500 sponsor to the Parish’s Casino Night event. The proceeds of this event will go toward the Capital Campaign Fund
3. Designating Council Breakfast donations to be given to the Parish’s Capital Campaign Fund.  The original proposal by our Community Director, David Ybarra, was to eliminate the donation jars and offer our breakfasts free of charge.  The suggestion was made to keep the donation jars but designate that any contribution be made to the Parish’s Capital Campaign Fund.   A motion was made, seconded and passed to designate Council Breakfast donations be given to the Parish and applied to the Capital Campaign Fund.   

DDC Clergy Appreciation Dinner of Friday, January 24^th. 

• Earlier today I called, Yvette Gonzales, the parish Business Manager, and shared with her that the Council voted to give to the Parish any refund for our Priests attending the DDC Clergy Appreciation dinner. 
• There was a check presentation made to Bishop Kelly at the DDC Dinner.  Bishop Kelly has been assigned as the new Bishop for the Diocese of Tyler.  Council 799 agreed to donate $1,000 toward Bishop Kelly’s going away gift and to match the first $5,000 of any gifts from other Councils in the Dallas Diocese.  The check presented to Bishop Kelly was for $8,700 which Bishop Kelly said would be used to support the seminarians in the Tyler Diocese. 
• Membership Appreciation Dinner, Saturday, March 8^th. Please RSVP if you plan to attend
• Saturday, January 25^th, Bible Study – Marc Evans reported about 5 men were in attendance and the bible study starts at 6 .m. In March, we will begin a new program.  Saturday, January 25^th,
• DDC quarterly Planning Meeting – Marc Evans reports there were a lot of dates discussed. The goal is to get all Safe Environment training up to compliance by May 1^st.  The Texas area Knights’ Convention will take place in late April in Corpus Christi. The DDC also has elected a new Chapter president. His name is Ben Oani.

Financial Secretary’s Report – Peter Perta:

Membership: 245

Unfortunately, we had 2 Knights pass away: David Scholl and Wilton ?Joe

Dues Collected YTD

Current on all form submissions

We paid our website fee and our liability insurance fee

We have spent 51% of our projected budget, and our fiscal year ends at the end of June 2025

During the last meeting, our District Deputy Kebran Alexander won the 50/50 drawing. After the meeting, he donated his winnings back to our Council.

Knight in Need Fund stands at: $6,300

Treasurer’s Report  –  Worthy Treasurer, Sir Knight James Smith, advised the Council of last month’s ending balance, the overall deposits made this month, the overall expenditures for this month and the resulting ending balance. He said the food truck will be at Holy Spirit tomorrow and volunteers are needed

4^th Degree –  SK James Smith –  No report

Knight Hands – S/K Allen Reitmeier  Several projects have been completed. The baptismal font project has been completed. Father Uche was pleased. The new font will be installed after the old font is removed. The Pro-Life Gabriel Mothers Project highlighted three (3) single moms needing help, and Knight Hands delivered diapers and other essentials to these three (3) mothers.

Baseball Concessions  – S/K Allen Reitmeier  -No report

Church Activities – SK David Ybarra  –  The first pancake breakfast in 2025 is scheduled for Sunday, March 16^th . The breakfast will start serving after the 7:30 a.m. Mass and wrap up by 12 noon. Any donations received for this event will go to Holy Spirit’s Capital Campaign Fund. There will be 2 more breakfasts scheduled later in the Spring.

Program & Committee Reports

Programs

Faith –  Marc Evans – Bible study -reported earlier in the meeting.

Family – José Montoya – Condolences go to Ray Rivera who lost his mother recently. Two recent

Knights have died: Wilton Joe was a 4^th degree Knight and his funeral was at the National Cemetery in Dallas. David Scholl was a Knight since age 17 and he died at the age of 77. He transferred membership to our Council four (4) years after moving from California to Texas. He too was buried at the National Cemetery in Dallas. Fr. Uche and José was able to attend.  David Ybarra was able to donate a handmade cross to the spouses. José mentioned that in both instances, the Knights were cremated. One spouse reported to José that she did not have the funds for a casket. Most flower arrangements cost $100. José suggested that in lieu of providing flowers, we might want to consider providing a surviving spouse with a check for $200 that she can use for funeral expenses or toward living expenses.

Community  – Dan Murphy

Casino Night –takes place on Saturday, February 15^th with food prep and setup beginning at 9:00 a.m. with Dan Murphy and John Espree; would welcome and appreciate anyone who would like to volunteer.

Fish Fries -Start on Friday, March 7^th. Set up for the Fish Fries start around 2:30 p.m. and the fish is cooked out back. The Fish Fries will take place for 6 weeks. The fish fry meal service will be from 5-7 p.m. We plan to wrap up around 8:30 p.m. This year’s per meal will be $10.

St. Joseph’s Residence in Dallas – On April 26^th, we will be serving lunch to the residents at this assisted living facility. We will cook hot dogs and hamburgers.  We meet at 9:30 a.m. at Holy Spirit, load up the equipment and wrap up around 2  p.m. Last year, some of the wives came along and those who speak Spanish were able to visit with some of the Spanish speaking residents

Life  –  S/K Mike Moloughney was not able to attend the meeting.  Mike Fitzgerald led us in praying 3 Hail Marys to end abortion

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 Russell Gully – No report.

Awareness Committee – Vacant

Council Activities –  Vacant

Health Director –  Dr. Robert Nieto – No health report;.  Robert provided an update on preparations for Casino Night on Saturday, February 15^th from 6-10 p.m.  Tickets are available for sale after the meeting or you can purchase tickets after the Masses this weekend.

Recruitment  – SK Jim Kowalski Special Olympics -Out of the sixty (60) Councils in the Dallas Diocese, there were fifteen (15) Councils that participated in the bowling, basketball, and swimming tournaments. Those fifteen (15) Councils donated five hundred and ninety-four (594) volunteer hours. There were more than two thousand (2,000) athletes who participated in the three (3) events. Of all the Councils in  the Dallas Diocese, our Council was the third largest contributor of men and man hours

Special Presentation: How to Do an Invitation to the Knights by Adan Luna

Jorge Ruiz provided the English translation

Adan puts emphasis on his appearance and dresses in his Sunday best for Mass.

When the Mass starts, he tries to pick out a person that he regularly sees at Mass who is someone who Adan thinks will be a good participating Knight.

Once he picks out a person to approach, he knows and he is willing to run the risk that he will be turned down.

He finds where they sit as they tend to sit in the same spot in most cases; I will talk to them after the Mass in the Narthex.

Some people may be surprised or taken aback when he speaks to them about the Knights

Hello, how are you? Can I speak with you for a moment. I am Adan Luna. What is your name? Have you heard about the Knights of Columbus? I tell them this is an international organization.

If you know someone who needs a wheelchair, we can provide them with a wheelchair, free of charge; we also provide up to five (5) scholarships per year to high school seniors.

What do I need to do? I tell them to follow me and then I have them fill out a Form 100 that I have ready in the Narthex

Thank you, Adan and Jorge, for this presentation!

Retention – SK Paul Ryan -No report

Safe Environment (SE) – SK Russell Leroy and Jorge Ruiz -He encouraged all Knights that need Safe Environment Training to go online to do their training. Several Knight such as Jesse Zuniga and Efrain Ochoa have logged in and done the required registration and training. The deadline to complete the training is May 1, 2025. There are three (3) training sessions coming up on 02/27/25, 03/27/25, and one in April. You can sign up for the class on the K of C Council 8157 website. Our SE director, Russell Leroy, receives a monthly update of those who receive training through the parish (this is a requirement for several parish ministries like Hospitality Ministry, Youth Ministry, etc. The programs will be offered in Spanish.

Unfinished Business  – We need a second vote on the motion to contribute $1,500 towards the Capital Campaign Fund as a one-time gift.  A motion was made, seconded, and approved.

New Business  –

Degrees in Knighthood by Jim Russell -There are three degrees:/principles of our Order; Charity, Fraternity, and Unity. In 1900, the 4^th degree was added: Patriotism; The concept of patriotism is that the Knight avails himself to his community and his country. He recognized two (2) brother Knights for their  outstanding service to Holy Spirit and the community. These awards of merit are not enough to recognize all the years of service they have provided and continue to provide for their community.

On behalf of Assembly of the 4th Degree 2799: a Certificate of Merit  was presented to:  S/K Jack Ramsden.

Jim Russell advised the Council the other Certificate of Merit recipient was S/K Larry Balanga

Congratulations to these two (2) outstanding men! If you are interested in the 4^th Degree, please contact Jim Russell or one of the 4^th degree Knights for more information.

Alex Sabo -He has been Holy Spirit Parrish’s Catholic Pro-Life Coalition (CPLC) volunteered selling CPLC raffle tickets for many years. The funds raised by the raffle help fund the 9 ministries that are supported by the CPLC i.e., Gabriel’s Angels that provided diapers and baby supplies to single moms. Sadly, not all parishes in the Dallas Diocese support the CPLC.  Holy Spirit has been very supportive of the CPLC. The raffle will take place April 5, 2025. Alex will have a table in the Narthex after all Masses.  In each of the last four, Alex has sold one (1) of the winning tickets. Of those winning tickets, two (2) have been Grand Prize winning tickets!

He also will be selling tickets during the Fish Fries

District Deputy – SK Kebran Alexander -not present

Field Agent –  Eben Fernandez not present

Good of the Order:

                  Knight of the Month  –  Marc Evans

         Family of the Month  –  Russell and Patricia Gulley (February)

                                                       Barry and Lilibeth Barksdale (January)

Prayer Requests –  Let’s pray for  David Ybarra, Irma de la Fuente, Ray Rivera’s mother, David Scholl, and Wilton Joe

Closing Prayer

Closing Ode

50/50 Meeting Drawing  – #6510  Doug Karpan

50/50 Membership Drawing –  Gonzalo Allion (present)

Doug Karpan donated all of his winnings ($52.00) to the Knights in Need Fund and Gonzalo donated $150.00 of his winnings to the Knight in Need Fund, thank you Knights!

Meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.