DON QUIXOTE the ultimate Knight!

Have you watched the musical or movie or listened to the music of Don Quixote lately? Do you remember the tune and the words? One of my favorite songs from the musical is “Impossible Dream (The Quest)”.

As we have progressed through the year this song keeps popping in my head. I cannot help but think of this song and how it relates to the Knights of Columbus and how all Knights fight for what we believe, our own “Impossible Dream”. But as the Grand Knight I have one single “Impossible Dream” – To give every Catholic Gentleman an opportunity to be a Knight.

It is the mission of each true knight...
His duty... nay, his privilege!
To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go;
To right the unrightable wrong.

At times I feel I am Don Quixote and this song represents Council 8600’s goal for recruiting and retention. Each Knight must understand that our dream is not only the activities, events, and charity donations we make. But it is every Knight’s “duty…nay, privilege: to ensure each Knight extends the opportunity to be a Knight to each Catholic Gentlemen.

To love, pure and chaste, from afar,
To try, when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star!

Knights cannot let their Brother “love from afar” they must taste the fruit, they must become active, they must be challenged to participate. Just because we “hook” a Catholic Gentlemen, it is not finished until we land him and he reaches full Knighthood. Sponsors cannot leave after the deal is sealed and the form 100 is filled out. They must hang around long enough to ensure our new members reach the unreachable start and achieve full Knighthood and are actively engaged in the Council and that the Council is meeting our new members’ needs. How many Brothers do we know who have not moved beyond their first degree, who have do not participate in our events, who “never” attended a meeting much less participate in one of our events, but worst yet who just “fall to the arms of the windmill” and disappear? The Council cannot rest on our laurels once a Catholic Gentleman completes the form 100; we must actively engage them to complete their degree exemplifications and participate in our activities. Recruiting alone will not growing the Order!

It was announced at the Mid-Year Meeting that Council 8600 is less than 43% to its 2011-2012 goal and with each Knight that leaves the Council it makes that much harder to reach our goal. Our recruiting goal for the year was 31 new Knights, as of this point, we have lost six, so that means we need to recruit 37 new members, well we only have recruited 18. This means we have a long way to go to reach our goal. Each Knight must support our Chancellor Brother Fidel Rodriguez and support our March Membership Blitz. While continue to strive to meet our membership goals and concurrently engage all of our Brother Knights to participate in the Order’s activities and events.

This is my Quest to follow that star,
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far,
To fight for the right
Without question or pause,
To be willing to march into hell
For a heavenly cause!

First, we must make my Quest to get every Knight to fully participation their quest as well to follow the star and make our members aware of upcoming events. The Mariner, our website, and email correspondence form the information triad that the council uses. I implore all Brother Knights ensure the council has your current email address, phone number, and mailing address. Every Knight must use all information opportunities to find out the important information about our Council and its activities. Our Website www.kofc8600.org every Knight’s should be your first stop for past, present, and future Council activity information.

Second, we must personally invite members to attend events and meetings. We can’t be satisfied with the results from the number of names in the sign-in book. As a rule, most people respond positively to a personal invitation. The next time you go to Mass, look around the room if you see a Knight wearing a nametag and you do not know his name, stop him and introduce yourself and invite him to join you for a cup of coffee, a donut or a pancake. When we take the time to talk with our Brothers, we develop a sense of camaraderie that fosters fraternity and eases the task of retention.

Last, we must give our feedback and opinions on events. Regardless of whether you loved or despised an event, your opinion can only help the Council improve itself. When your Brother Knights works as hard as is required to host an event, feedback is the least we can do. However, if you do not feel you want to communicate directly with your Brother Knight, I will take any comments, good or bad, and pass them on anonymously.

And I know, if I'll only be true

To this glorious Quest,

That my heart will lie peaceful and calm

When I'm laid to my rest.

And the world will be better for this,

That one man, scorned and covered with scars,

Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,

To reach the unreachable stars!

In closing, our “unreachable stars” are those gentlemen that ignore our invitation, scorn our pulpit talks, listen and take a form but never turn it in causing us to expend valuable resources when is already knows he will ignore us. But we cannot give up! We will win, we will achieve our goal, we will reach our “Impossible Dream” of every Catholic Gentlemen being a Knight. But all Knights must remember that recruitment is only the beginning. We must keep all our members actively engaged in Council events. We must continue to trying to reach for our Impossible Dream until we are laid to rest. We accomplish this goal by staying informed, by personally inviting fellow Brothers and their families to all open events and by providing feedback following an event. Retention is easy when we are all actively engaged in the fraternal aspects of the Knights of Columbus. I will not give up on this “