Wappingers Knights of Columbus
Council #1646
March 2010
My Brother Knights:
Those who have not paid their 2010 dues will soon get a second notice. All are reminded that members who have not paid dues by March 31 are not in good standing.
All dues paying members should receive a 2010 membership card. If you have paid your dues and have not received a card please contact me.
Honorary Life members who have 3rd degree noted on their card do not need a Council membership card. But I will issue one upon request.
Please remember with over 400 members some errors are bound to occur. Please inform me and I will correct them.
As always we do not wish to lose anyone who cannot pay dues because of financial hardship, illness or any distress. But you must let me or the Grand Knight know. All requests will remain confidential.
And all members should know that we are taxed by the Supreme and State Councils for all regular members (this excludes Honorary Life members). This amounts to @ $11 per member and the Council is charged whether a member pays his dues or not. For this reason we must go through a suspension procedure just to protect the Council’s financial interest. Suspension procedures, for nonpayment of dues, will commence after March 31, unless arrangements are made.
Tom Tompkins PGK, Financial Secretary.
462-1844
January 2010
From the Financial Secretary:
First and foremost I wish all my brother Knights and their families a belated Merry Christmas and Happy and joyous New Year.
By now you have received your annual dues notice and some explanation is in order. The annual dues for members of Wappingers Council No. 1646 has not changed in a number of years: Basically they are as follows:
Regular Members: $36.00 plus Culture of Life Assessment: $2.00 Total for 2010 $37.00
Regular Senior (age 65 and any length of service): $24.00 plus Culture of Life Assessment $2.00 Total for 2010 $26.00
Honorary (age 65 and 25 years of continuous service): $10.00 no Culture of Life assessment Total for 2010 $10.00
Honorary Life (age 70 and 25 years of continuous service)or(50 years of continuous service regardless of age) No culture of Life Assessment Total for 2010 $00.00
You should realize the Culture of Life Assessment was passed by the delegates at the last Supreme Council Convention and an explanation can be found below. Honorary and Honorary Life are exempt from this assessment. But Honorary and Honorary Life can contribute voluntarily on line at the Supreme website or forward to the Financial Secretary and he will send to Supreme Council.
The Supreme Council and the New York State Council charges a per capita for all members other than Honorary and Honorary Life. This year the combined will be $13.95 ($9 Supreme, $2 assessment, $2.95 State). In addition $6 of Regular and Regular Senior members’ dues is earmarked for a building fund (used for minor enhancements and repairs). As you do the math you can see why the successful operation of the Columbus Club, Council Activities and new member recruitment are vital to our Council as we approach our 100th anniversary in 2012.
In addition the Grand Knight has requested that all members return the 2009 form for Survey of Fraternal Activity which will be included with your dues notice and enclosed below.
We will be changing the key cards for entrance to the Council Hall. Please note on your dues return that you wish a key card and it will be sent with your 2010 KofC membership card.
As always we do not wish to suspend anyone for non payment of dues who is having financial difficulty. But you must inform the Grand Knight or Financial Secretary. Dues can also be paid in installments.
If you have any questions please contact the Grand Knight or myself.
Tom Tompkins Financial Secretary Wappingers Council No. 1646. 12 Monitor Rd, Poughkeepsie NY 12603
thomastompkins@verizon.net Home 845-462-1844 Cell 914-474-1583
NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL
ONE NATION, UNDER GOD, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, BORN AND UNBORN
40-27 235
th Street, DOUGLASTON, NEW YORK 11363 - (718) 225-3787Arthur J. Harris – State Deputy
Knights of Columbus
Arthur J. Harris State Deputy 230 Panorama Trail Rochester, NY 14625 HOME: 585-248-2607 FAX: 585-248-2607 E-Mail: aharris5@rochester.rr.com An open letter to the New York Knights of ColumbusSUBJECT: Culture of Life Fund
Delegates to the 127th annual Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus August 6th in
Phoenix, Arizona adopted a
resolution (Copy attached) that the Culture of Life Fund will besupported by an annual assessment of $2 per member; and that Supreme Council encourages every
member to make such additional voluntary contributions to the Fund as his personal resources may
permit.
Given the $3 assessment last year, I, along with the State Officers and Staff of the New York State
Council felt that each member is due further explanation behind the resolution and its cause.
The main reason for this
membership funded, Culture of Life Fund was to give the members asense of ownership in the programs, which the Culture of Life initiative was involved in at
the individual state level.
This money is being used to provide the foundation for moving publicopinion toward respecting the dignity of the human person and the fundamental right to life.
From the annual report of the Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson: “The new fund has enabled the
Knights of Columbus significant impact in many areas, both in providing additional resource for
groups like the Sisters of Life, Birthright International, Project Rachel, the National Life Center and
the National Catholic Bioethics Center, as well as projects closely associated with the bishops of the
United States and Canada, including the U.S. Bishops’ Pro-Life Secretariat and the Catholic
Organization for Life and Family in Canada.
The Culture of Life Fund has also enabled us to get new projects off the ground quickly, like the
Ultrasound Initiative, in which the Supreme Council matches state and local council contributions for
ultrasound machines for crisis pregnancy centers.” The first ultrasound machines were donated to
facilities in seven different states and Supreme Council is working to have at least one Ultrasound
machine in every jurisdiction by the end of the year. Our Supreme Knight continued in his report,
“The Ultrasound Project saves lives.
Up to 90% of women considering abortion choose tohave their baby after seeing an ultrasound image.
They hear their baby’s heartbeat; they seetheir baby’s head and fingers. They know that it is a child, not a “choice.” And here’s the best part:
you can’t change that decision for life by an executive order. It can’t be reversed by a court
decision. Once the baby is born, mother and her baby have won. The Culture of Life has won. All of
us have won.”
Additional monies from the fund were used for the assisted suicide initiative in Washington State
and the Embryonic Stem Cell initiative in Michigan. All matters of our Christian hearts. Marist polls
were funded by the Knights and published on the Supreme Council Website, which confirmed a
dramatic shift in public attitudes on abortion. Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson: “Late last year, we
discovered that 84% of Americans would significantly limit abortion and that only 15% of those
calling themselves “pro-choice” favored abortion at any time during a pregnancy. In fact, 71% of
pro-choice respondents said they would significantly restrict abortions.”
Right here in New York, as well as many other states, money from the fund was provided to theBishops to “fight our fight” against same sex marriage and win the fight for protection of Christian
marriages and families.
The membership funded, Culture of Life Fund, supports, protects and reaches out to core values of
who we are as Knights of Columbus. The money assessed each member to this point is well worth
the life of one unborn baby saved by our sacrifice or the union of man and woman in matrimony.
The New York State Council supports this initiative by Supreme Council and felt that this further
understanding of the fund to the New York membership was warranted.
Vivat Jesus,
Arthur J Harris State Deputy
Building a Culture of Life
http://www.kofc.org/un/eb/en/convention_2009/resolutions/life.html
Resolution on Building a Culture of Life adopted by the 127th Supreme Convention
on Aug. 6, 2009.
WHEREAS, in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II called upon Catholics to become the“people of life and a people for life” to dedicate themselves to building a new culture of life; and
WHEREAS, contemporary threats to protecting human life from conception to natural death are the result
of attitudes toward human life that have developed over many decades; and
WHEREAS, restoring a common respect for the sanctity of human life and the dignity of every human
person will require much more than laws that ban or limit abortion, embryonic stem-cell research,
euthanasia and similar threats against human life; and
WHEREAS, an effort to change the hearts and minds of millions of people will be much more demanding
than enacting individual pieces of legislation; and
WHEREAS, the Culture of Life Fund established at our 126th annual meeting provides the foundation for
pursuing a much larger goal of moving public opinion toward respecting the dignity of the human person
and the fundamental right to life;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we commit ourselves to a long-term goal of building the culture
of life that Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have so strongly urged, and regard the establishment
of the Knights of Columbus Culture of Life Fund as a significant step toward this goal; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Fund will be supported by an annual assessment of $2 per member; that
the Fund will be administered by the Board of Directors at its discretion; and that we encourage every
member to make such additional voluntary contributions to the Fund as his personal resources may
permit.
