Saint Cyril
Of Alexandria Church
153 Penn Boulevard,
East Lansdowne, Pa 19050
Click here for Knights of Columbus national web site
Click here for the State Council web site.
SANTA ANNA COUNCIL, No. 4461
E. Lansdowne, PA 19050
GRAND KNIGHTS MESSAGE FOR MAY 2010
To my Brother Knights and their families:
May is a month to celebrate new life; trees awakening, grass growing, plants blooming. We all look forward to the warm weather and the fun it brings; ball games, swimming, picnics, and vacation. Right now, we aren’t thinking about weeding, mowing, trimming or raking; but deep down we know this is coming, too.
We hope that someday everyone will be able to share a wonderful life like that of the USA. We must be pro-life and pray that others will choose life for all unborn children.
I look forward to seeing everyone at St. Cyril’s on May 20, 2010. Please note; this is not the second Thursday in May because of the Ascension Thursday holyday. A “welcome aboard” social for the 4th degree candidates will follow the meeting.
Yours in Christ,
Dennis Schaeffer, GK
AMAZING NEWS
THIS MAKES YOU PROUD TO BE A KNIGHT
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the words “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance “do not violate the Establishment Clause” of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
The Knights of Columbus led the campaign to add the words “under God” to the Pledge in the early 1950s, and the trial court agreed to allow the Knights of Columbus to join the present case as defendants when it was originally filed in 2005.
“This decision is a victory for common sense,” Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said. “It is also a welcome reversal of the 9th Circuit’s 2002 decision in a similar case that was ultimately thrown out by the Supreme Court on technical grounds. Today, the Court got it absolutely right: recitation of the Pledge is a patriotic exercise, not a religious prayer.
“Best of all, the Court said that the words ‘under God’ add a ‘note of importance which a Pledge to our Nation ought to have and which in our culture ceremonial references to God arouse.’ Every reasonable person knows that, and today’s decision is a breath of fresh air from a court system that has too often seemed to be almost allergic to public references to God. This is a very good day for America,” Anderson concluded.
In today’s ruling, the Court noted that, “Among the ‘self-evident truths’ the Framers believed was the concept that all people are entitled to certain inalienable rights given to them by the ‘Laws of Nature and Nature’s God’ and that the purpose of government should be to “secure those rights.’” Such beliefs provide the context in which the words of the Pledge must be understood, the Court said.
The Knights of Columbus and several individual Knights and their families were defendant-intervenors in the case, and the court’s 2-1 decision incorporates many of the arguments presented to the Court by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm that represented the Knights in the case. Oral arguments before the 9th Circuit panel had been heard in December 2007. Other defendants in the case included the United States government and a Sacramento-area school district.
4th DEGREE NEWS PA. EAST DISTRICT CALVERT PROVINCE
The 4th Degree Exemplification will be held on Sunday, May 30th at the Dolce Hotel in King of Prussia, Pa. For more info contact the editor at 610-543-5666. So far we have 3 candidates, Our Chaplain, Father Dominic, John Rush and Larry Katz.
The next meeting will be held at Mater Dei Council in Newtown Square, Pa. on Wednesday, May 19th. For more info contact Mark Troutman, President @ 610-544-5444
Our 30th annual Arc campaign will be held on the weekend of April 30th, May 1st and 2nd. This is a wonderful charity that helps individuals with mental disabilities. We will be collecting at the Acme in Clifton Heights on that weekend. Could you or someone in your family give a couple of hours to help out? Last year our little Council raised over $1500.00 for The Arc. Our goal is to raise $2000.00 this year. To volunteer or for more info contact the editor at 610-543-5666.
INFORMATION OF INTEREST
Anyone who wishes to share information, including pictures from your Parish or community and would like to place it in our newsletter contact the editor. Information should be in our hands by the 15th of the month
JOKE OF THE MONTH
A mom was trying hard to get the ketchup out of the bottle when the phone rang. She asked her 4 year old daughter to answer the phone. She heard her daughter’s voice saying to the person on the other end “Mommy can’t come to the phone right now, she’s hitting the bottle.”
MEN OF MALVERN
St. Joseph in the Hills is the largest Catholic Retreat House in America. Since it opened in 1912 over 1,000,000 men have made a retreat.
Retreats begin on most weekends at 6 p.m. on Friday and finish up around noon on Sunday.
Your weekend consists of Retreat Director conferences, Eucharistic liturgies, private adoration in one of our Oratories, Reconciliation, workshops, Q and A and quiet time. The retreat house is situated on 130 acres of beautiful grounds. Many men have been coming for 20, 30 50 years or more.
Congratulations to our own Bernie Mager who received a certificate in February for completing his 20th Retreat.
For more information contact the editor.
B.I.B.L.E. = BASIC INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE LEAVING EARTH
Click here for Knights of Columbus national web
site
Click here for the state council web site.