Knights of Columbus

Council 5776

Westerville, Ohio

Dear Brother Knights, Family Members, and Honored Clergy,

Summer is beginning to slip by and we are beginning to see shorter days as we close out August and begin once again another school year. I hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable summer. This August has been busy for our council and I would like to thank all of those that have participated in the following events: 1) RCIA Sponsorship, 2) Flying Horse Farms Rendezvous, and 3) our annual Parish Picnic.

We have at least four of our brothers sponsoring RCIA candidates/catechumens – this is a terrific response from our council. Please keep the people participating in the RCIA program as well as our fellow knights in prayer as they start on this journey to help those coming home to the Church.

The Flying Horse Farms Rendezvous was a successful event, held at the Church of the Resurrection in New Albany. There were over 100 cars in this show, including PGK Bruce Jackson’s car which won a People’s Choice Award. Congratulations Bruce! Our council, along with the New Albany knights, assisted in the cooking and serving of food for the car crowd. Thanks to the leadership of Russ Ballard, this event was well-coordinated.

During our Parish Picnic, we had a little rain, but it did not dampen our spirits as we fired up the grill polish off additional brats/burgers, and beer after the downpour subsided. No sense in letting all that good food go to waste. Thank you to Tom Foos for organizing the activities of our council volunteers and thank you to all that participated in the setup, food preparation, food cooking, and clean up. Excellent job guys!

I hope some of you have had a chance to view some of the video from the 130th Annual Supreme Knights Convention. It was very interesting to hear our Supreme Knight Carl Anderson speak at this event and to review all the great accomplishments that our organization has done over this past year. That is a lot of projects, man hours, and contribution monies provided to our local church communities by the Knights, not only in the United States, but in the Philippines, Mexico, Poland, and other countries. It was great to watch the opening mass and hear the Prayer of the Faithful said in four different languages, including a prayer for Blessed Father Michael J McGivney’s cannonization proclaimed in Tagalog. It was also the first time for me to see the beginning of the annual banquet with all the flags from the different states and countries processing in as the festivities started. Our organization is truly catholic, mirroring the church we represent and supports.

Our Supreme Knight Carl Anderson once again re-iterated the importance of working towards the repeal of the HHS Mandate and Our Supreme Chaplin Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, reminded us to keep up the faith and to stay connected to the current events as we continue to work to overturn this unjust law. Archbishop Lori has suggested us to continue to be engaged by implementing the text program as described in the USCCB web site – Text the word “Freedom” to 377377 from your cell phone.

The HHS Mandate is an important issue, without a doubt, as the inability for us to have this repealed will have grave consequences in other freedoms listed in the Bill of Rights. Upon closer examination of Obamacare, it is obvious that our rights will be circumvented and ignored when it is actually implemented. (More on this later). We can certainly continue to keep prayer and fasting in our faith regiment, and continue to press our elected officials for action such as an inclusion of conscience provisions in laws being considered for passage in Congress.

Are there other avenues of action? I will close this month’s message with a couple of items for your consideration. Firstly, for Obamacare implementation, each state will need to create a health care exchange. Four governors have already expressed their refusal to set up this exchange.

Another, a more powerful mechanism, being actively discussed in constitutional circles, is nullification. Our country is a Constitutional Republic and the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the law land, was ratified by the states on the premise that they have the right to not participate in any federal law that it considers unconstitutional. This idea of nullification is not new, it is the 10th Amendment of the Constitution in action. For example, states have already taken steps to nullify the NDDA (National Defense Detainment Act). Another example is in Texas – it is now a felony for any TSA agent to grope you at the airport. Two dozen states nullified the Real ID Act of 2005. More than a dozen states have successfully defied the federal government over medical marijuana. Other nullification initiatives involving cap and trade and the Second Amendment have appeared. Regarding Obamacare, six states have begun nullification procedures. In Ohio, the voters have previously voted against Obamacare. Governor Kasich, what are you waiting for?

These are just a couple of ideas to think and pray about. If this is the first time you have heard about the above two items, perhaps it is time to begin reading more about true American History, what the Constitution is all about and how it is supposed function. Watch for reading recommendations and future articles regarding our constitution in our council’s upcoming communications.

Vivat Jesus!
Sebastian Mauricio