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Chaplain’s Corner 2017 Q1

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Dear Brother Knights:

Happy New Year! “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” is a title given by Saint Pope John Paul II to one of his major literary works. Many Americans feel that there is reason to believe that just such a “threshold of hope” for our country and its citizens of faith may be reached and crossed in the year A.D. 2017. One reason for this hope is that the recent election was won by a presidential candidate who pledged to nominate to the Supreme Court only judges committed to interpreting the Constitution in accord with the intent of the Framers. Over a span of decades a gradual crossing of the lines of separation of powers between the judicial, legislative and executive branches has seriously compromised the effectiveness of the system of checks and balances with equally serious consequences. Added to the intrusion of the various branches into one another’s spheres of competence we’ve suffered an over extension and intrusion of Federal regulations and mandates into domains rightfully reserved by the Constitution to the states and local communities. Among the many consequences of this dysfunctional behavior of the three branches of federal government are government regulations imposed upon religious freedom as we have always known, understood and practiced it in America. America, one nation under God, has been given an opportunity to clean up its act in accord with God’s Commandments and the wise counsels of the founders of our nation and framers of its Constitution. So yes, we do have reason to have some hope in this new year. We may well be on the threshold of hope that springs eternal. Hoping to see you often during the coming year, and wishing you God’s blessing.

Msgr. Ed Surwilo, Council Chaplain

Chaplains Corner 2016 Q4

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Dear Brother Knights:

As I write this message to you, I’m keeping in mind that you likely will be reading it sometime in early Autumn, a season that compels us to savor the beauty of the maturation of Spring and Summer. It’s also a season, every four years, the time of presidential elections, when we are obliged to savor and assess the condition of the exceptional civic endeavor that is our national heritage. This endeavor, as we know, has been preserved at great cost and sacrifice for two hundred and forty years by many who preceded us and continues to be preserved and advanced by those who plant, nurture and bring to fruition the virtues needed to sustain it. It’s the present condition and progress of this endeavor we call America that we need to diagnose and assess prior to voting in every election. What do we see as the current state of soul of this nation that was established upon a claim to individual unalienable rights and personal freedom granted to us not by government, but by the Creator, God Himself? Are we still a people who trust in God? Do the laws and mores of our country continue to reflect the will of the Creator as expressed in the Commandments? Are we seeing and judging issues with the eyes of those who know that the perennial battle of battles, the Mother of all wars, the root of every conflict and war is the primeval battle between good and evil, God and Satan, truth and lies? Yes, let’s reflect upon and savor the season of Autumn with open eyes this time of year, but at the same time not fail to savor and assess the condition of our country in this election season as well. Vivat Jesus.

Msgr. Ed Surwilo, Council Chaplain

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS 2015

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SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS 2015 DEADLINE JUNE 30, 2015
Eligible applicants for a scholarship from St. Augustine Council #41 are as follows: a member in good standing, or the son or daughter of a member in good standing, or the son or daughter of a deceased member in good standing at the time of his death.
Applicants may apply for any year of college under-graduate study, or any year of a Catholic secondary school. The applicant who is awarded a college scholarship must enroll in a degree program for the following fall semester.

The Scholarship Committee reserves the right to interview any applicant.
The applicant must complete the application in full, submitting the documents and information as indicated. Applications which are incomplete will be declared invalid. The decision of the Committee will be final.
The winner(s) will be selected on the basis of scholarship and need.

Applications can be picked up at our K of C Center, and mailed to John A. Macari, PGK, 145 Westwood Road, Stamford, CT 06902.

The applicant must return this application, postmarked no later than June 30, 2015.
If there are any questions, please contact John Macari at (203) 921-1040, or e-mail macari44@optonline.net

Chaplain’s Corner April 2015

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Dear Brother Knights:

During these Easter weeks we should wish one another a deep and meaningful appreciation of what Easter has brought to humanity since the day Christ rose from the tomb outside Jerusalem.. Not only should we seek an understanding of how Easter changed things, but also an insight and appreciation of how we as Catholics and particularly as Knights of Columbus are ac-tually part of that change and transformation that began so long ago, and is still taking place. The Risen Lord, after all, is still here in our 21st century world. On Easter Sunday and all the weeks of Easter that coincide so beautifully with Springtime, we say “Alleluia” Christ is risen!” We don’t just say Christ “has risen” but “is risen” We are saying He is alive, risen and somehow here with us.

How is he here, right now with us? He is here doing his thing, his mission, his healing and redeeming through you and me who are living members of His Risen Body on earth – the Body we call the church. All the good that the Knights attempt to do, all the good each of us does as individual members of the Church is done with the power and motivation that comes from Jesus our Head. Make no mistake about it. In addition to the historical documentation: the testimony of the Apostles, the martyrs and hundreds of actual eyewitnesses of the Risen Lord we have present day proofs of Jesus’ resurrection and continued presence among us in the heroic contemporary efforts of those who reach out to the sick, the poor, the uneducated, the sorrow-ing, the lonely, the injured in body and heart, the confused and abused; and those who faithfully uphold the sacredness and inviolability of each human life, who defend marriage, and family, religious freedom rights, the natural law and Commandments and the noblest ideals of our own nation built upon those foundations.

All this is a clear demonstration of Jesus’ resurrection and His presence among us even now. “Behold,” He says, “I am with you all days, even to the end of time.”

Vivat Jesus! Rev. Msgr. Edward Surwilo, Chaplain