November Newsletter from Grand Knight Tom Doyle

 

My dear brother Knights, we are now well into our fraternal year and, as you know, I have taken on the responsibility of the Grand Knight for our council. I have already been part of a few meetings since taking over however it’ll take a few more before I am comfortable with this position.  I ask you all for your understanding while I learn the ropes. I’m not sure that I was the best person to have taken on the Grand Knight responsibilities but I promise all of you that I will do my best to continue the great work done by Brother Dan and the other past Grand Knights, officers and members in the past.  I look forward to serving as your council for the next couple of years.

 

Firstly, I would like to thank Brother Dan O’Connor for leading our council as Grand Knight for the past six years. Dan did a great job during his three terms and has left me big shoes to fill! I don’t know all members as well as Dan does but I’m hoping that over the next few months I will come to know all of you much better.

 

Secondly, a special thank you to Brother Jeff Foster for accepting the role of Deputy Grand Knight. I will surely need his support over the next couple of years. I am also grateful to him for taking the initiative and time to put together this newsletter.

 

Another important note of thanks goes out to the rest of the officers who have stepped forward to take on the responsibilities of the various positions.   We have a great group of men on the executive this year and I look forward to working with all of you.

 

I understand that we all have busy lives and can’t attend every meeting. However I ask that each member of our council get involved with at least one initiative a year.  There are many to choose from:  breakfasts, working on committees to plan Christmas.

and St. Patrick’s Day events, or one of the other activities our council is involved in. It is important that we all do our part to ensure the success of our council.  I also encourage you to get your families involved in any of our activities.  Cathy, my wife, has already started helping with the breakfasts.  Also, if you have teenage children please invite them to work alongside you while carrying out the good works of the Knights.  I want our council to be a family oriented group.  Maybe your teenage sons will see that we can have fun while helping others and be more likely to join us when they are of age.

 

My goal over my term as Grand Knight is to work hard to meeting the Principles of our Order: Charity, Unity and Fraternity.  We can’t accomplish any one of these without the others.  Our first principle is Charity however we can’t accomplish that unless we are united in what we are doing without Fraternity neither of these are possible.  I found the following definition of fraternity:  “a group of people sharing a common profession or interest;  the state or feeling of friendship and mutual support within a group; a group of men who share a bond of brotherhood.”  As with blood brothers we may not always agree with each other however since we all share the common goals of our Order we will be successful.

 

Please contact me if you have any questions or comments.  My phone number is 519-494-5251 and my email is kofcgk.9607@gmail.com.