Meeting Minutes June 2026

Meeting Minutes

06/02/2026

Dining Room

MEETING CALLED TO ORDER at 7:30 P.M.

OPENING PRAYER:  by MARC EVANS

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:  by PAUL RYAN

OPENING ODE:  by ALL

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS: P=PRESENT, A=ABSENT, EX=EXCUSED

CHAPLAIN:  NONE                    

GRAND KNIGHT:  MARC EVANS:  P                        WARDEN: JESUS RADILLO: P

DEP GRAND KNIGHT:  PAUL RYAN:  P                 INSIDE GUARD: RUSSELL LEROY: EX

CHANCELLOR: EFRAIN OCHOA:  EX                      OUTSIDE GUARD: JOEL LOPEZ: P

FINANCIAL SECRETARY:  PETER PERTA:  P             ADVOCATE: RUSSELL GULLY ; P            

LECTURER:   JOEL LOPEZ: P                                   1^ST YR TRUSTEE:  JIM RUSSELL:  P

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

RECORDER: ROBERT NIETO: P                             3^RD YR TRUSTEE:  MIKE FITZGERALD: P

DISTRCT DEPUTY:  KEBRAN ALEXANDER

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

All persons who are not Knights (or honored guests) shall please retire form the chamber.  The doors shall now be closed and the guards assume their positions.

Family of the Month – by Family Director Jeff Miller

Family of the Month: Jim and Mary Russell -They met in 1972 and have been involved in parish activities since the founding of Holy Spirit parish. He stated they have been married 59 years!

Special Guest:  Kebran Alexander, District Deputy

Kebran presented the slate of officer nominations for the Fraternal Year 2026-2027. He also called out for any further nominations to these positions. No further names here added during this meeting. Nominations were closed.

Grand Knight -Marc Evans

Deputy Grand Knight-Paul Ryan

Chancellor -Roberto Nieto

Treasurer -James Smith

Recorder -Gonzalo Aillon

Advocate -Russell Gully

Warden – Jesse Radillo

Inside Guard -Jim Ouimet

Outside Guard -Jorge Caraveo

Three Year Trustee – Cesar Villareal (past Grand Knight of another Council and a current member with us)

Two Year Trustee -Mike Fitzgerald

One Year Trustee: Dan Murphy

 A motion was made to accept the unopposed nominations. The vote was unanimous and we elected the new slate of officers as stated above. Thank you, Kebran

Our District Deputy , Kebran Alexander, also made a special presentation and gave the following Awards to our Past Grand Knight, Mike Fitzgerald. Congratulations!

The Columbine Award 2023-2024

The Founder’s Award 2023-2024

The Father McGivney Award 2023-2024

The Lone Star Award for Excellence 2024-2025

Kebran announced that he will no longer be our District Deputy on July 1^st due to family commitments. He asked that the member support our officers. He also requested we check in out the widow of former Knight Wendell John-Pierre. He passed away during Covid.

He announced there will be a meeting on August 1, 2026 to plan activities for the upcoming year. The location and time to be determined.

Approve Minutes of the Prior Meeting – The minutes of our May 5th General Membership Meeting were posted on the Council’s website on May 20th. A motion was made to accept the minutes as posted. The motion was seconded and the minutes were approved as posted

Grand Knight’s Report

1. Officers absent with notification:Efrain Ochoa, James Smith
2. Special guest: District Deputy Kebran Alexander

New Knights who are attending their first General Membership Meeting

       Salvador Hernandez, he is married (wife is Connie); he is a veteran, and he is retired. He is happy to be joining us.

• Planning/Leading Eucharistic Procession -Feast of Corpus Christi – Dr. Nieto is coordinating
  • Sunday, June 7^th after the 5pm Mass
  • Sign-up sheet being passed around for set-up (tables and tents), the Procession itself (handing out water)  and tear down; we also need 2 people or more to serve a Hospitality to greet new parishioners at the Dinner
  • 4^th Degree ceremonial team planning to help with full regalia
  • There will a community dinner afterwards with organizations (like Knights) asked to provide food for 50 so we will provide lasagna.  Please plan to join us with your family

• Pentecost Sunday Holy Spirit Parish Picnic: Sunday, May 24 by Dan Murphy
  • The K of C provided burgers and hotdogs for about 550 people as part of the parish picnic; We purchase the food and spent about $1,000. We had a tip jar. We had several boxes of hot dogs and hamburgers left over from the event for future events.

• K of C Academic Scholarships – Jorge Ruiz

              A motion was made that we do the 2^nd vote on an extra $2,000 for Academic Scholarship awards for a total of 7 awards; the first  vote took place at our May meeting. The motion was seconded, and the motion passed. Jorge emphasized that going forward, we should limit the scholarships winners to 5 individuals per year.

Donovan Gradiz  -University of North Texas

Gisselle Lopez  -University of Texas-Arlington

Elena Miller  -Tarleton State University

Jocelyn Ramirez -Stephen F Austin University

Madeleine Ballinger -University of Oklahoma -Norman, OK

Isabel Via -Texas State University

Chloe Wallace  -Clark Atlanta University -Atlanta, GA

The awards will be presented during the Knight’s Annual Dinner on Saturday, June 27th

• K of C Council 8157 Officer Installation
  • June 27, Saturday 5 pm Mass/Corporate Communion followed by Dinner with Officer Installation and Academic Scholarship Award recognition. We will process in together for the 5 p.m. Mass, and then have several activities including the installation of our officers, awarding of our academic scholarships, and then the dinner. Please RSVP when you receive the e-mail. Spouses are invited as well. We will also announce the Knight of the Year. During the meeting, the previous awardees for the Knight of the Year were presented.
  • Family of the Year – This year, we will begin a new process for electing the Family of the Year. We will do a look back and select a family based on the previous 12 months. We will submit a report to Supreme describing why the family was selected. Supreme has guidelines. The family essentially serves as a model for other families. They will receive of a Letter of Congratulations and a Holy Family gift. Jeff Miller serves as the Family Program Director. As always, the Retention Committee will continue to vote on the Knight of the Month. The Council will also be selecting a Knight Family of the Year. You must be a Knight to qualify as Knight Family of the Year. The name of the family and supporting documents will be sent to the Texas State Council in April for consideration for Knight Family of the Year. The Knight Family of the Year is announced at the State Convention in late April.
• Donation of Parish -Tonight, we did a 2^nd vote to approve an additional $1,500 to the parish in addition to the usual $3,500 given yearly for a total of $5,000. A motion was made, the motion was seconded, and the motion passed. The money has been given to the parish, and the additional funds went to repair the ice machine in the kitchen.

Financial Secretary’s Report – by Financial Secretary, Peter Perta

Membership 235

4 new members have joined us:

Joe Simecek

Kevin Carkin

Manny Martinez

Salvador Hernandez

Dues: 51%

Jorge will be refurbishing the website for the purposes of paying dues

Star Council:

Membership Quota 13

Year to date 17 (7/1/25 to 6/30/26)

Progress 100%

Knight in Need Fund: $3,916

Recent RSVP refund from Supreme $500

Knight Hands $850

Council Taxes Submitted:

04/01/2026

Supreme Funding for Food for Families:

              We donated $1,000 and

Supreme will give us a check for $200

Treasurer’s Report  by Sir Knight James Smith

James provided our beginning balance, monies received, expenditures. We also received the balance of our CD fund

When our CD became mature, the bank rolled our CD account to a CD low interest 0.1% rate. We were displeased by this event. The signatories on our bank account are currently Mike Fitzgerald, Jorge Ruiz, and James Smith. Mike Fitzgerald is no longer the Grand Knight.

A motion was made to update the signatories on our Council bank account. The motion was seconded, and the motion passed.

The correct and updated signatories on our Council bank account should be the following:

Marc Evans, Grand Knight

James Smith, Treasurer

 Mike Fitzgerald, Trustee

4^th Degree –  PGK Jim Russell report there will be an upcoming flag retirement ceremony soon. Date and location to be announced at a later time.  Jim mentioned that one of the duties of the Honor Corps is to represent the K of C at various events including funerals. We received a Thank You note from widow, Sylvia Thompson as the Honor Guard participated in the former Knight’s funeral.  PGK Jim Russell said if you have any interest in becoming a 4^th Degree Knight, please let him know.

Knight Hands – by Allen Reitmeier

Knight Hands completed 4 projects in May 2026. We disposed medical equipment for Sylvia Thompson, including a hospital bed. The bed was donated to Mission Arlington. We did landscape work for Gabby Harden. Thank you, Dan Murphy, Russell Gully, and  Hector Rubio. We replaced indoor and outdoor carpeting and changed out some burnt out electrical wiring. Thank you, Hector Rubio. This last project marks the 600^th project for Knight Hands!

Baseball Concessions – SK Allen Reitmeier  

The Little League season is over. We completed 248 games with a revenue of over $31,000 with a net profit of $17,000. We average about $128 in revenue per game with a profit of around 56%. Last weekend, we had a 22-game memorial tournament for a beloved Cedar Hill Coach, Glen Goodrick, who died suddenly. Thank you, Juan Gomez, Peter Perta, John Espree, Mike Fitzgerald, Barry Barksdale, Jim Ouimet, Mark Evans, Joe Cuellar, Manny Urias, and Allen Reimeier. Thank you, Lupe Hernandez and Joe Eubank, for purchasing the food and supplies and stocking for the concession stand.

There will be a pitch hit and run tournament at Valley Ridge Park on June 20^th. More information to follow. No games will be played in Cedar Hill as part of the World Series. These games will be played in other cities.

Awareness -Thank you, Jeff Miller, for joining the Awareness Committee, and he will be writing stories on the Family of the Month and event stories.

Church Activities – Vacant need a new leader here, but David Ybarra and James Smith will train/support

Program & Committee Reports

• Programs
  • Faith –  Marc Evans – Core/Men’s Spirituality/Bible study

                             These sessions are held 2^nd and 4^th Saturdays of the month at 6 am in the Room 214. Marc  

                             showed a brief video as part of the Into the Breach series.  The session will focus on the

                             Vocation of Work. We have coffee, a light breakfast and good fellowship.

• Family – Jeff Miller

James Smith is doing PT at home. Efrain Ochoa has completed PT and is healing at home

• Community  – by John Owen

On May 26^th, John Owen and Dan Murphy went to visit Don Thompson at St. Joseph’s Residence. He is very supportive of us going to grill burgers and hot dogs for residents and staff in July 2026.  

• Life  –  Mike Mouloughney -absent; GK Marc Evans led us in prayer

Stand and Pray 3 Hail Marys to end abortions.

1. First Hail Mary – for the Unborn
   1. Second Hail Mary – for the moms of those unborn babies – that they allow their babies to be born.
      1. Third Hail Mary – for those in the abortion industry that they turn away from evil and seek the face of God.
   1. Admissions Committee – PGK Russell Gully
      1. The Admissions Committee has one candidate, named Rodolfo Castro; his proposer is Adan Luna. He works on industrial radiators in the oil industry. He is single and has a daughter who is medical school in Mexico. Russell proposed that we accept this candidate into our Council. A motion was made to accept these candidates, the motion was seconded, and the motion passed. The next Exemplification Ceremony will take place on Sunday after the 1 p.m. Spanish Mass.

• Awareness Committee – SK Allen Reitmeier
  • Come to the website and read about our Council activities

• Council Activities –  Jorge Ruiz -no report
  • Health Director –  Dr. Robert Nieto – The next Carter Blood Drive will take place on Sunday, June 14^th from 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.
  • Retention – SK Paul Ryan –no report

However, he did announce that the Knight in Need committee did award 2 Knights with some funds who are experiencing financial hardship. One was due to a job loss. His background is personnel management. Let us know if you have any leads on work.

• Knight of the Year -There was discussion on how this takes place; the Council is presented with a list of previous recipients (who are not eligible). The Nominating Committee can present a list of potential candidates and then the floor can be open for additional names to be added to the list.  

• Safe Environment – SK Russel Leroy -no report

                             Once you have completed your training, e-mail a copy of your certificate to Russell Leroy at

                             leroyruss@icloud.com

• Insurance Agent – SK Eben Fernandez -absent
  • Diocese of Dallas Chapter -Jorge announced the next meeting is Saturday, July 11^th. The new Diocesan District Deputy is Ray Fontineau. We also have several 7 new District Deputies being installed.

Lecturer – SK Joel Lopez

                     He shared a prayer for all Knights

New Business 

The parish office is asking if we are planning any fundraisers. We are still looking at different events

Snow Cone Fridays -This is a tradition where snow cones are served on Friday afternoon for 4 weeks in July and 2 weeks in August. No one volunteered to man this so we will forgo this event. Marc will notify the church office.

The Good of the Order:

• Knight of the Month  –  Jesus Medina

Prayer Intentions

Pope Leo’s intentions for June

• He “invites Catholics to pray ‘for the values of sports,’ that all sport may promote peace, fraternity and communion.”  Thank the Lord for “the gift of sport, for those who glorify God through the exercise of their bodies, for the friendships born on the field, and the joy of playing as a team.”  Pope Leo continues that the Lord teaches us “that in life, as in the game, no one is saved alone,” the Holy Father insists we “need others to grow, to learn respect, to overcome our limits, and to celebrate together the victories we achieve.” “May those who play, train or cheer,” the Pope said, “discover in sport a universal language that brings cultures together, unites peoples, and sows respect, solidarity, and personal growth.”
• Bishop Burn’s intention
  • For the Dallas Synod, fostering a vibrant, growing Church, with key priorities including nurturing priestly vocations, promoting the sanctity of life, increasing catechesis, strengthening families, and deepening missionary discipleship,
• Efrain Ochoa, back surgery
• James Smith, hip surgery
• Larry Balagna, Sheila’s cancer treatment
• District Deputy – Kebran Alexander’s family elder care

Closing Ode

Closing Prayer – Canonization of Blessed Fr. McGivney

50/50 Meeting Drawing  – 7256 Alex Sabo

50/50 Membership Drawing –  James Smith

Meeting adjourned 8:50 p.m.