Our council sponsored a blood drive through the Indiana Blood Center on Sunday, July 11, 2010 from 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM in the SEAS Social Hall. Blood Center staff accepted 19 pint of whole blood and had one deferral.

The blood Center was in desperate need of all blood types and were completely depleted of O negative and B negative after the July 4th holiday. They were very appreciative of our efforts. A special thanks goes our to all donors and to those who volunteered to make this a success.

Gerry Neuner
Blood Drive Chairman
gfn921@sbcglobal.net

CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT
SEPTEMBER 9, 2010
The Council’s Annual Charity Golf Outing will be held on September 9, 2010 at the Bear Slide Golf Course in Cicero. While that date seems to be in the distant future, the committee has been meeting to plan for this most important fund raiser. The proceeds from this outing go to support the Gibault School for wayward children in Terre Haute and the Little Sisters of the Poor here in Indianapolis.

It is most important for all Knights of this Council to organize a foursome to play in this tournament. Sponsorships are also available. Entry forms can be obtained from committee members and will be available soon in the church.
So polish up your clubs, line up your group and put this important date on your calendar.

FROM THE NEW GRAND KNIGHT PLUS NEW OFFICERS
A Message from our newly elected Grand Knight, Gene Hollander………………
Brothers All,
Thank you for your support and confidence by unanimously electing a team of officers action ready and positive results oriented. Your officers are poised and ready to insure the best possible results from each activity, event and opportunity to the benefit of each member, the council and the parish community. We anticipate each member taking an active role and interest in the basic principles of Knighthood, along with the expansion of new membership, retention of present members, and with a positive and involved exposure of our council to our church and all community groups.
All praise and glory to God, Gene

New Officers
A Partial List of New Officers for 2010-11
Grand Knight-Gene Hollander
Deputy Grand Knight-Mike Gabrick
Treasurer-Tom Graham
Financial Secretary-John Hong
Advocate-Lou Schmitt
Recorder-Stephen Perry
Three Year Trustee-Jim Spitznogle
Two Year Trustee-Mark Peterson
One Year Trustee-Tom Chevalier
Chaplain-Father Ted Rothrock

TOOTSIE ROLL FUND RAISER
Sincere appreciation is extended to those members who worked the Tootsie Roll Fund Raiser to aid the mentally challenged of our community. Volunteers stood their posts on Sat, June 5 and after Mass on Sunday. Saturday was hot and muggy with off and on rain but ach Knight stood tall in front of Marsh and O’Malia food markets. Thanks to Tom Beck and his daughter, Mike Gabrick with his son and daughter,Keith Miller and others who worked a double shift.

RAFFLE – 1965 CORVETTE – AUGUST 28
Do you have your raffle ticket yet?
The campaign is called “Vette for Vocations” and it is designed to help support our Seminarians. The prize is a maroon 1965 Corvette Stingray and the cost for each ticket is $10. The car will be on display this summer at the several parishes in Central Indiana that support this project through their Kof C councils. The drawing will be held at Our Lady of Mt Carmel on Aug 28. Tickets at SEAS will be available at the Scripts table after each Mass.

THIS And THAT……
+Thanks to those who answered John Hong’s call to help with trimming and mulching of the grounds behind St Augustine.
+Thanks to those who passed out the carnations after Mass on Mothers Day
+Baby Bottles for Life-Get one and put your extra coins in.
+Congrats to the Council-we doubled our membership quota two years in a row
+Yellow Tee Shirts-10 bucks gets you a new one to help promote the Knights.
+Coming this fall-A program titled “Planning Before the Hour of Our Death”
Notice-This E-Mail Newsletter is intended for the sole use by the members of the Knights of Columbus,Bishop Fulcher Council 12387. Any information contained within, including recipients address information should be considered confidential and proprietary. The Council does not sharecontact information outside of this distribution.

Bob Bailey,Editor

-30-

Brother Knights,

1) Pancake Breakfast results –

Gross revenue………………………..$1,288

Expenses…………………………………….174

10% tithe to SEAS………………………..111

Net Profit………………………………..$1,003

2) World Day of Prayer for Vocations — this Sunday, May 3rd.   Eucharistic Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament will take place 2:30 – 3:30 pm in the Nave.    This event is supported by the Knights of Columbus (via Supreme) and is central to our role as Knights in supporting an increase in vocations.   Come pray with us on Sunday.

3) First Degree ceremony — Monday, May 11th in the Day Chapel.   We have 3 or 4 men interested in joining our Council that evening and we encourage all Knights to come to the ceremony and stay for refreshments.    Candidates should arrive by 7:30 (meet by fireplace) and bring their initial dues payment of $36.   Dress is casual.    If you know of a prospective candidate please let me know by phone or email.    Knights should arrive by 7:30 or 7:45 with the ceremony beginning approximately 8:00pm.

SK Mark Peterson
Grand Knight
Bishop George A. Fulcher Council #12387

Religious freedom under attack in Connecticut

(March 10, 2009) – A First Amendment storm is brewing in the Constitution State.

Without any consultation with its bishops, a bill under consideration in Connecticut’s Judiciary Committee threatens to forcefully reorganize the Catholic Church, taking authority away from pastors and bishops and placing governing decisions in the hands of boards of directors from which clergy would be excluded.
The Judiciary Committee, co-chaired by State Senator Andrew McDonald and Assemblyman Michael Lawlor, will hear evidence on Raised Bill No. 1098 on Wednesday. The bill would revise current governance provisions applicable to the Catholic Church in Connecticut. If passed, it would strip a bishop of control of his diocese.
"I think that (this bill) would be very problematic under the First Amendment," Erwin Chemerinsky told Headline Bistro. Chemerinksy is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on First Amendment law and dean of the Law School at University of California Irvine.

Chemerinsky said the law is problematic "partly because it targets one religion and partly because it enmeshes the legislature in the workings of a particular religion."
Catholic reaction to the bill has been swift as well.

In the Archdiocese of Hartford and the Diocese of Bridgeport, statements were read from every pulpit last Sunday by Archbishop Henry Mansell and Bishop  William Lori respectively.
Calling the bill "irrational, unlawful and bigoted" and a blatant violation of the First Amendment, Bishop Lori’s statement hit back hard.

"This bill, moreover, is a thinly-veiled attempt to silence the Catholic Church on the important issues of the day," Lori said, pointing out that no other religious organization is targeted by the measure. "The State has no right to interfere in the internal affairs and structure of the Catholic Church."
Mansell called on each parish in his diocese to send a delegation to the bill’s public hearing in Hartford on Wednesday.

The laity has been equally appalled.

Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, founded and headquartered in New Haven, Conn., called the bill a throwback to the extreme anti-Catholicism that pervaded America’s early history. 

"Whatever their reasons for introducing this bill, there is no doubt that these Connecticut politicians find themselves not only on the wrong side of the First Amendment, but on the wrong side of history, as well," Anderson wrote in an op-ed in the Stamford Advocate Tuesday.

Background for the bill
The New Haven Register quoted Assemblyman and Judiciary Committee co-chair Mike Lawlor as saying he was approached by "very devout Catholic" constituents asking for greater transparency in terms of diocesan funds.
Misappropriation of parish funds is rare. But in 2007 a priest from the Diocese of Bridgeport pleaded guilty to defrauding his parish of over $1 million. That same year, a Greenwich priest resigned after an audit found $500,000 in unaccounted for spending.

The diocese responded by implementing safeguards and launching thorough investigations and financial audits.
"The pastors of our diocese are doing an exemplary job of sound stewardship and financial accountability, in full cooperation with their parishioners," Bridgeport Bishop Lori said in his statement. "For the State Legislature – which has not reversed a $1 billion deficit in this fiscal year – to try to manage the Catholic Church makes no sense." 
Doctrinal differences also seem to have a role in the current controversy as well. Reports from newspapers and blogs link the bill’s origins to a lay group with a history of challenging the Church’s structure.

The New Haven Register credits Connecticut attorney Thomas Gallagher as spearheading the bill, and an article by an officer of the dissident Catholic group Voice of the Faithful in the Diocese of Bridgeport stated that Gallagher had been in dialogue with legislators on this issue since 2007.

The article’s author, James O’Callaghan, encouraged the group’s members early on to "lend their support" to this effort of overhauling current regulations on religious corporations.

Among the stated purposes of Voice of the Faithful is to "shape structural change within the Catholic Church." 
In 2002, the same year the group was formed, Bishop Lori banned Voice of the Faithful from meeting on Church property in his diocese. While he has "consistently supported greater involvement of the laity in the activities of the Church," the bishop said he could not condone a movement that rejected core Catholic teachings on issues such as sexual morality, celibacy "and a view of conscience contrary to the traditions of the Church."

First Amendment scholars take exception
In addition to Chemerinksy, many other Constitutional law experts have expressed shock at the proposed law.
In a letter to Connecticut’s Judiciary Committee, Philip Lacovara, who has taught law at Columbia and Georgetown and is now senior counsel at the law firm of Mayer Brown, wrote that even his first year law students would have "little difficulty seeing why the bill goes well beyond the powers that the Constitution allows the States to exercise in dealing with organized churches."

Kevin Hasson, president of the interfaith Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, likewise issued a stinging statement against the bill, which he called "truly a monstrosity."

"It would be unconstitutional under the First Amendment even if it applied to all churches," he said. "But the fact that it applies to only one church – the Catholic Church – makes it unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment besides."

Legislators have also expressed shock at the bill.

Republican State Senator Michael McLachlan was outspoken in his blog.

"I pray fervently that we can dispense with this brutal attack on the Roman Catholic Church very quickly," he wrote. "Catholics don’t deserve this attack and the proponents of this bill will hopefully hear this message loud and clear."

Trusteeism
The Church has been the target of such laws before – albeit over 150 years ago.

The concept of lay "trusteeism" was a persistent problem for the Church in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as some American Catholics – influenced by Protestant congregationalism and aided by groups like the "Know-Nothings" – tried to take control of Church structure. 

The Know-Nothing party specifically tried to lessen the influence of the Church using "trusteeism." They actually succeeded at times – passing the Putnam Bill in New York, for example, in 1855. Overtly anti-Catholic in its purpose, that bill – similar in content to the bill being considered in Connecticut – remained on the books until the need for Union Army recruits from the Catholic population forced New York legislators to think better of it in 1863.
At its worst, trusteeism caused
riots and sent some parishes into schism, as trustees asserted their authority over a parish’s temporal matters – often with implications for spiritual matters as well.

Experts warn the religious consequences would be profound today as well.

"Make no mistake, the effect of such a law – if enforced – would be the balkanization of the Catholic Church. Our one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church would no longer be apostolic, with bishops losing the say in the administration of their dioceses," Anderson wrote in his op-ed.

"Rather than ‘one’ and ‘catholic’ our Church could become many and inconsistent as trustees forced their version of theology on a parish under the very real threat of confiscation if their ideology were resisted," he added.
Msgr. Francis Weber holds a PhD in Church History and serves as archivist for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. 
He told Headline Bistro that the trusteeism being proposed in Connecticut is "even worse than the normal kind" because it totally excludes priests and bishops from even voting. Historically, Weber said, "the Church has had all kinds of trouble" with the trustee system.

In terms of the current law under consideration, Weber was clear: "This is a takeover," he said.

Both Bishop Lori and Archbishop Mansell noted in their statements that the bill is "contrary to the Apostolic nature" of the Church by disconnecting parishes from their priests and bishop. Bishops provide the unifying charter of an apostolic church, and assure doctrinal consistency.

Unlike some Protestant denominations where congregations influence doctrine, "Ours is a doctrinal Church," Weber said. "We don’t have doctrine up for grabs."

(This article appears in today’s edition of Headline Bistro, the Knights of Columbus news service for anyone who wants to be well-informed on daily news of special importance to Catholics.)

(Additional information on this issue can be found at the Supreme Council website.)

Fellow Knights,

WOW…week two of our fish fry saw us serve 515 meals.  Outstanding effort by all the volunteers that helped us this past Friday.  Your efforts help to make it another successful Friday night.

As week three approaches, we are still looking for a few more volunteers to help us on Friday, March 13th.  We could use some help breading fish at 3:00 pm as well as from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.  Additional assistance could be used as runners, seconds table and clean up beginning at 7:30 pm.

Please contact Gerry Neuner

See you Friday night!

Jim Bagnoli

Brother Knights,

Our Scholarship Fund continues to grow — we had another great pancake breakfast on Sunday.   Here are the numbers:

Gross receipts……………………………$1,541.00

Expenses……………………………………….187.16

                                                         $1,353.84

10% tithe to Seton………………………….135.00

Net profit……………………………………$1,218.84

Net profit from 9/28/08………………$1,137.42

The September breakfast was a record for us and we just broke it again.    Thanks to all of you who volunteered and for those of you who came and supported the breakfast.

Mostly, I want to thank Brian McDermott and Nicole Wright from The Original Pancake House who are so generous in their support of our breakfasts.    All of us need to thank Brian and Nicole by regularly dining at their restaurants — in Fishers on 116th Street and at 86th & Ditch Road.  

Peace,

SK Mark Peterson
Grand Knight
Bishop George A. Fulcher Council #12387

Brother Knights,

All Knights need to pray that the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) does not become law.   This piece of legislation is the most evil thing that could happen to our pro-life efforts.     If enacted FOCA would abolish all restrictions and limitations on women in the US to have an abortion prior to fetal viability, whether at the state or federal level.   Barack Obama has pledged to Planned Parenthood that "the first thing I’d do, as president, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act".     Here are the consequences:

1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals would be required to perform abortions upon request. If this were to happen, some U.S.Bishops have indicated they would consider closing down Catholic hospitals – more then 30% of all hospitals in the United States are Catholic – rather than perform abortions.

2) Partial birth abortions would be legal and have no limitations.
3) All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions.

4) Parental notification will no longer be required.
5) The number of abortions could increase by as much as 100,000 annually.

Perhaps most importantly the government will now have control in the issue of abortion. This could result in a future amendment that would force women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape, down syndrome babies, etc) and could even regulate how many children a woman is allowed to have.

Needless to say this information is disturbing, but sadly true. As Catholics, as Christians, as Knights of Columbus, as anyone who is against the needless killing of innocent children, we must stand as one. We must stop this horrific act before it becomes a law.

I’m attaching an article from Wikipedia if you’d like more information on this act.    Also, call your Congressman and Senators and let them know how you feel about this.   

Congressman Dan Burton        Against      317-848-0201    Indianapolis Office (Donna)

Senator Richard Lugar             Against      317-226-5555    Indianapolis Office

Senator Evan Bayh                 Unknown    202-224-5623    Washington DC Office (referred from Indianapolis)

Thank You and God Bless,

SK Mark Peterson
Grand Knight

Have you ever been told to “go jump in a lake”?

Do you have that special level of crazy in you?

If you’ve answered yes to either question…I NEED YOU!

In conjunction with Councils across the State of Indiana, our Council has formed its own team to participate in the Special Olympics Indiana 2009 Polar Plunge.

Our team name is “Frozen Over Knight” and each “plunger” will need to collect at least $75 in donations, to be able to be “Freezin for a Reason”.

We’ll be plunging into the waters of Eagle Creek Reservoir on February 28^th, 2009.

If you are at all interested, please contact me.  We’ll need the following types of volunteers:

· Support Staff – people to hold clothes and support the plungers (no, you don’t have to get wet for this)

· Base Camp Staff – we’d like to have our own tailgate tent, with a changing station, refreshments, and any other form of Fraternity

· PLUNGERS! – If you’re that “special kind of crazy” join me in “Freezin for a Reason”.  I’ll help you register, set up a donations website, and get started on collecting donations.  And seriously, it’s NOT THAT COLD!!

Last year was a serious amount of fun and, per the State Council, we need to step up that fun! 

You can visit my site to see more: http://www.firstgiving.com/kofc12387

** please note that donations on this site are credited to my fundraising.  If you are interested in supporting another plunger, you will need to visit their website or submit a check directly to them!

Lets get a big team and a bunch of supporters out there and turn a cold February day into a warm day of fun!

Thanks,

Scott Cunningham

317-374-5072

317-582-0670

SKCunningham@indy.rr.com

Brother Knights,

1) Business meeting this Wed, 12/3 @ 7:30 in the Upper Room.   Rosary at 7:00 in the Day Chapel.

– Bring your Baby Banks and we’ll start sending in the monies we’ve collected so far. 

— If your By-Laws booklet fell out of your newsletter, you can come to the meeting and get one. 

2) Family Christmas Party — Wed 12/17   6:30 p.m. in the Upper Room

       — Pizza for you and your whole family — bring the wife and kids!

       — Prizes for the kids!

       — Optional gift exchange for adults — bring a gift, get a gift ($10-$15 unisex gift)

       — Snacks, cookies, beverages too!

3) Christmas Eve parking   3:00 to 4:30 p.m.

   We Knights traditionally help park cars for the two afternoon Masses, which are extremely busy.   We’ll need 12-14 Knights to help.      Stay tuned for further details.    

4) Gibault Christmas Party — 11:00 a.m.   Terre Haute campus

    We’ve always had at least a carload of Knights from our Council attend.   A great time to visit Gibault.     

SK Mark Peterson
Grand Knight

Brother Knights,

Our December business meeting will be next Wednesday, Dec 3rd at 7:30 p.m. in the Upper Room.   All Knights are encouraged to attend.   

Rosary at 7:00 p.m. in the Day Chapel preceding the meeting.  

Happy Thanksgiving,

SK Mark Peterson
Grand Knight