Love Faith

Family
Vol. 55 Issue 6

Empire State Bulletin Official Publication

of the New York State Council
Knights of Columbus
December 2016
Organized February 3, 1896

A Message From Your State Deputy, Robert D. Weitzman

To My Columbian Family,
This is a great time of the year! Christmas trees, lights, decorations and gifts. A time when
Santa Clause and his Elves are hard at work making toys for boys and girls. A time for families to
gather together to exchange gifts, and conversation.
What truly makes Christmas a great time is the celebration of the birth of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. It is the day that we celebrate Gods gift of His Son to the world. We are
now in the time of Advent. A time to prepare and remember the real meaning of Christmas which
is the birth of our Savior and His message of love, hope, and peace.
We, the Knights of Columbus family, have chosen as one of our missions to Keep Christ
in Christmas. It is a time to outwardly display what happened on this day over 2000 years ago.
There are many ways we can do this. We can place a nativity scene in front of our home and in
the public square. We can use many forms of communication such as radio, internet, newspapers,
and television to remind all the true meaning of Christmas, or we can just say, have a blessed
Christmas.
We, the Columbian family, should also use this time to continue to build the Domestic
Church, the family fully alive. We can reflect as a family what it means to be a Catholic and how
Gods love is always with us.
We should also remember and provide for those who may be homeless, in hospitals, nursing
facilities, veteran homes, military members who will be spending Christmas
overseas or a neighbor living alone to name a few. Bringing joy and hope
into the lives of others is what our Lord has commissioned us to do.
Let us as Knights of Columbus and Catholics bring joy, love and hope
to our fellow man.
My wife Connie, my children Rob, Mari, Chris and I wish you and
your families a Blessed Christmas and New Year.
May the Light of Christ shine on you always.
Vivat Jesu!
Bob Weitzman, State Deputy

Prayer for the Canonization of Father Michael J. McGivney

God, our Father, protector of the poor and defender of the widow and orphan, you called your priest,
Father Michael J. McGivney, to be an apostle of Christian family life and to lead the young to the
generous service of their neighbor. Through the example of his life and virtue may we follow your Son,
Jesus Christ, more closely, fulfilling his commandment of charity and building up his Body which is the
Church. Let the inspiration of your servant prompt us to greater confidence in your love so that we may
continue his work of caring for the needy and the outcast. We humbly ask that you glorify your servant Father Michael
J. McGivney on earth according to the design of your holy will. Through his intercession, grant the favor I now
present (make your request here). Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

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Highlighted In This Issue

Message from your State Deputy

Table of Index

Weve Moved

State Programs and Reports

4 - 14

Around the State

15 - 21

Merry Christmas

22

Respect Life Corner

23

God Bless America

24

Staff of the New York State Council

Contact the Editor

25

Find us on Facebook
New York State
Knights of
Columbus

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We have moved the

New York State Council

Knights of Columbus
Executive Office
Our new address is
201 Portion Road, Suite A, 2nd floor
Lake Ronkonkoma, New York 11779
Same phone numbers:
631-366-3787 631-366-3788
Fax 631-366-3786
Same Email Address:
nyskofc@aol.com

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Family of the Year Program

Brothers,
There is no better way to show appreciation to those that work so hard to make your Council
successful than to select a FAMILY OF THE YEAR.
As Knights of Columbus, we have always been interested in the development of strong vibrant
families. In support of this philosophy and to create an even greater awareness of our many fine
Knights of Columbus families, the Supreme Council instituted the Family of the Year program.
By participating in the Family of the Year program, your Council honors families who
exemplify the values taught by our church and order.
Base your Councils recognition of a family on the following questions:
Does the family pray and attend Mass together?
Has the family made significant contributions to the church, parish, community and council?
Does the family enjoy one anothers company?
Does the family communicate openly and honestly?
Does the family spend time together?
To participate in the Family of the Year program, choose a family that gives great contributions to our
church, parish, community and council. It is extremely important to show great recognition to those
members and families that keep our order strong.
The application should tell the story of their participation and what they do to make them stand out in
your council. Describe the contributions and factors on why they should be considered a nominee for
Family of the Year. Last year, in all of New York State there was only twelve applications that were
submitted. As a fellow Knight, I have confidence that there are many more families that are worthy
of such a prestigious honor.
Please have all applications mailed to me by February 15, 2017 so the committee can review and
select a family of the year winner to be presented at the New York State Convention held in
April 2017.
The winner will be eligible for an entry into the International Family of the Year contest held at the
Supreme Convention 2017.
If I can be of any further assistance to your Council with this program feel free to contact me!!
Lamondo Spicer
New York State Chairman
Family of the Year
197 Sheridan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11208
Email: Mondo702@aol.com
Cell number: 646-267-8656

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I would like to take this

time out to wish everyone
and their families a Blessed
and Merry Christmas.
Thank you for all your efforts in making this
program a great success.
Remember to fill out your Food for Families
form and mail the original form to the Supreme
Council Department of Fraternal Service with a
copy to the State Program Director.
For every $500.00 or 1,000 pounds of food,
the council or assembly is eligible for a refund of
$100.00 up to a maximum of $500.00 for the
fraternal year.
Please take this opportunity to get involved
and help others.
Merry Christmas!
Fraternally yours,
Mike Griffin
Food for Families State Chairman
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FRATERNAL SURVEY FORM 1728

My Brothers Knights,
The Fraternal Survey Form 1728 is due on or before January 31, 2017.
This form is very important and is necessary to make Star Council. You are now
able to fill it out online. In the monetary sections, do not use a decimal point. In
other words only use whole dollars and no cents. As an example: $50.51 would
be $51.00. Consider and include, in your totals, the value of items that are
donated such as used clothing donations and used goods.
The volunteer service section you should include the amount of volunteer
time or number of man hours donated. For example, if your council is sponsoring
a blood drive all hours worked to prepare for the event, the hours for the event
itself and clean up hours all count. All who participated in this event count
because it is a Knights of Columbus sponsored event. So, lets say you had 10
Knights, 8 of their family members and 2 parishioners who volunteered and they
spent 10 hours on this event. How many total hours were volunteered?
10+8+2=20 X 10= 200 hours. You also had 20 people donate blood and it took
them and hour each so you have 20X1=20 hours. So, for this one event you can
submit 220 hours.
Using the same example but the event is sponsored by the Church, the
hours that would count are for the 10 Knights at ten hours each totaling 100
hours. 10X10=100 hours.
Supreme has a form 1728a that is to be distributed to all your members.
This will be helpful to have a clear vision of the monetary donations as well as
volunteer work they may be doing on their own. They are still Knights donating
their time and money for those in need. This is eligible for the 1728 form.
Example, one of your members volunteer on their own for Habitat for Humanity.
He volunteers for 5 days at 8 hours a day. His total volunteer hours are 40.
If your members are Church Ushers, Lectors, or Eucharistic Ministers this
time counts as well.
It is preferred that you fill this form out online. If you have to use a hard
copy and mail it in, please make sure the 1728 form is not dated prior to 2014.
Please keep in mind that this form is for the calendar year, January 1, 2016
- December 31, 2016.
Every council should submit this form.
Thank you.

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New York State

Knights of Columbus
Pro-Life Mass

Saint Patrick Cathedral

January 22,2017
10:15 am
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Thank you so much for all you have done and all you are
currently doing to bring in new members to our great Order! We are
planning to visit each minor Conference and be of as much help as
we possibly can be! Thank you to our entire membership team. We
have just left the mid-year meeting and are collecting and examining
very important information provided to us from our District Deputies.
We look forward to a very strong membership effort during this last
7 months of this fraternal year.
Please see the next two pages for the new state membership
incentive program and a copy of the Church Drive Kit request form.
This Church Drive kit provides all you would need to complete a
successful Church drive includingMembership Recruitment and
Retention Manual, Member Benefit Flyer, Prospect Cards, Form 100s,
Suggested Pulpit Announcements, Flyer -24 Hours Can Change Your
Life & Why You Should Become a Knight and 10 Keys to Membership
Recruiting Success. Kits are free and shipping is also free for 1 kit
per Council. Additional kits are also free but Council would be
charged for shipping

Vivat Jesus !
Blessed Christmas to all!
Thank you for all you do!
Vivat Jesus,
Rick Ditrio

"One Member,
Per Council,
Per Month"

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Page 13

There are no
Conference Membership Incentives
for this Columbian year.

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St. Anastasia Knights of Columbus of Douglaston, held our annual

Christmas Party at LaGrotta Restaurant in Little Neck, on Friday,
December 9th. Members were asked to bring gift cards to help the
needy. They were donated to St. Aloysius in Great Neck who run an
outreach program that helps the poor. The amount given was $200.00
worth of gift cards. We also donated three turkeys to Our Sisters of the
Poor in Queens Village.
Our Officers in attendance are pictured below.
From left to right front row: Michael Proto [Co-Chairman of the
event], Frederick R. Bedell Jr. [Grand Knight].
From left to right back row: Joseph Stock, Giuseppe Petruso
[co-chairman of the event ], Ralph DiScala, and Marin Aversa.

Article and photo submitted by Frederick R. Bedell Jr.,

Grand Knight

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The Suffolk Board of District Deputies is proud to announce 100%

attendance at the New York State Council Mid Year meeting from
December 2nd thru December 4th at the Villa Roma
in support of current and future State Deputy.

Article and photos submitted by Carmine E. Soldano,

DD 8th NY District, Chairman of the Board
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8th New York District K of C Completes Nativity Project

Requested by Monsignor James Vlaun
The 8th New York District Knights of Columbus recently added the Three Wise
Men and the Gloria Angel to the Nativity Scene they purchased for Belmont
Lake State Park last year. The Nativity project is now completed. The 8thdistrict
is comprised of, Our Lady of the Rosary Council #4228 in Deer Park, Our Lady
of the Miraculous Medal Council #6556 in Wyandanch, Our Lady of Grace
Council #11968 in West Babylon, and Joseph the Carpenter Council #14771 in
Babylon. The Nativity was a joint effort of all four councils and NYS Parks
Department officials. The Nativity was blessed during a brief ceremony by
Fr. William Brisotti, Pastor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish in
Wyandanch on December 14th at 4:30pm. Fr. Brisotti blessed the Nativity with
Holy Water, spoke about the meaning of the Nativity and led the Knights and
Park Staff in a verse of Silent Night.
Pictured Left to Right: Brian Foley, Assistant Director, NYS Office of Parks-LI
Region, William Klein, Past Grand Knight, Council #6556, Anthony Ippolito,
NYS C&B Director, Wayne R. Horsley, Director, NYS Office of Parks-LI
Region, Fr. William Brisotti, Pastor, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish,
Wyandanch, Ricardo Rivera, Grand Knight, Council #6556, Carmine E. Soldano,
District Deputy, 8th District, Chairman of the Board of District Deputies. Thomas
R. Humel, Grand Knight, Council #11968, Dominick J. Giusto, Grand Knight
Council #14771,Gene Bartalini, Council #4428, Paul Coppola, Past Grand
Knight, Council #4428, Lawrence DellErba, Deputy Grand Knight, Council
#14771, and Matthew G. Cola, Past Grand Knight, Council #14771.

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Article and photos submitted by

Carmine E. Soldano,
DD 8th NY District,
Chairman of the Board

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Monsignor Francis J. Dillon Council #5872 members

collected over 750 lbs. of food for pantries on Saturday,
11/5/2016. Additionally, these members collected $300 in
donations to purchase additional food for families to be donated
to the pantries. They also collected an additional $350 to
purchase turkeys for the families.
This is the second year both Monsignor Dillon Council #5872
and St. Ambrose Council #1463 are working on
the Turkey Program together.
Article and photo submitted by Ralph M. Cefalo

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Knights Donate Coats for Kids

MONROE The Knights of Columbus Monroe Council 2079 recently donated two dozen
brand new winter coats for boys and girls to the Pallottine Sisters Outreach of Hispanic
Ministry.
This is an annual nationwide program run by the Supreme Council Knights of Columbus headquarters in New Haven, Conn., in which local councils are able to purchase cases of
coats and donate them to those in need within their own communities.
2016 is the fourth year that the Monroe Council has participated in the program.
The Pallotine Sisters Outreach is based out of the Queen of Apostles Center on Harriman Heights Road and works with the Spanish community of St. Anastasia Parish in Harriman, Sacred Heart Parish in Monroe and St. Patrick's Parish in Highland Mills.
The order was founded in Rome by St. Vincent Pallotti in 1835. The order expanded to the
United States in 1889 to work with the Italian immigrants.
As recent as September 2006 as the demographics have changed, the order shifted to
serving the Hispanic community.
The payment for the coats were made possible through the efforts of our fund-raising
Chairman, Frank "Uncle Buck" Pileggi and the community at large that have participated
throughout the year in our many charity events and campaigns.
Sister Michele Ruggiero, CSAC, expressed gratitude for the coats that are in such demand and were delivered just prior Thanksgiving when we experienced the first cold snap of
the season.
Anyone interested in donating their time or financially to the Hispanic Ministry may
contact Sr. Michele at 845-774-5020.
Future Kof C-Monroe donations to the community are made possible through member
and local generosity at our events throughout the year. The Monroe Knights of Columbus can
be reached at 845-782-2179.
The Knights of Columbus Monroe
Council 2079 recently donated
two dozen brand new winter
coats for boys and girls to the
Pallotine Sisters Outreach of
Hispanic Ministry. Pictured from
left to right are Deputy Grand
Knight Justin La March, Grand
Knight John Mc Elroy, Sr.
Teresa, Sr. Michele and Frank
"Uncle Buck" Pileggi .

Article and photo

submitted by
Greg Soboleski,
PGK, PFN
Program Chairman
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Kof C Distributes Coats for Kids

The Knights of Columbus Saranac Lake Council 599 recently purchased
48 new winter coats for distribution at local schools. This is the fourth
consecutive year the Saranac Lake Council has participated in the Coats for
Kids Program. Since the inception of the program in 2009, Knights of
Columbus Councils have distributed over 310,000 coats throughout the U.S.
and Canada to children in need!

From left, Council 599 Financial Secretary Greg Peck, Grand Knight Stuart Darrah and
Program Chairman Dan McLean.

Article and photo submitted by

Bill McIntyre
District Deputy
NY 94

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Marys Dream ~~ Author Unknown

I had a dream Joseph. I do not understand it, not really, but I think it was
about a birthday celebration for our Son. I think that was what it was all about.
The people had been preparing for it for about six weeks. They had
decorated the house and bought new gifts. It was peculiar, though, because the
presents werent for our Son. They wrapped them in beautiful paper and tied them
with lovely bows and stacked them under a tree. Yes, a tree, Joseph, right in their
house.
They decorated the tree, also. The branches were full of glowing balls and
sparkling ornaments. There was a figure on the top of the tree. It looked like an
angel might look. Oh, it was beautiful. Everyone was laughing and happy. They
were all excited about the gifts.
They gave the gifts to each other, Joseph, not to our Son. I dont think they
even knew Him. They never mentioned His name. Doesnt it seem odd for people
to go to all that trouble to celebrate someones birthday if they dont know Him?
I had the strangest feeling that if our Son had gone to
this celebration, He would have been intruding.
Everything was so beautiful, Joseph, and everyone
so full of cheer, but it made me want to cry. How sad
for Jesus . . . not to be wanted at His own birthday
celebration.
Im glad it was only a dream. How terrible,
Joseph, if it had been real.

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Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life,
And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters.
I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion,
Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the Resurrection of Your Son.
I am ready to do my part in ending abortion.
Today I commit myself Never to be silent,
Never to be passive, Never to be forgetful of the unborn.
I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement,
And never to stop defending life
Until all my brothers and sisters are protected,
And our nation once again becomes
A nation with liberty and justice
Not just for some, but for all.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen!

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EMPIRE STATE BULLETIN

Knights of Columbus
New York State Council
201 Portion Road, Suite A, 2nd Floor
Lake Ronkonkoma, NY 11779

Delivered
via e-mail
Register Now!

STAFF OF THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL

Honorary State Chaplain........His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan
State Chaplain......Most Rev. Robert Cunningham
Senior Associate State Chaplain..Rev. Father Brian McWeeney
Associate State Chaplain.............Rev. Msgr. James Cox
Associate State Chaplain....Rev. Fr. Donald Bourgeois
Associate State Chaplain...Rev. Fr. Robert Dwyer
Associate State Chaplain...Rev. Fr. Darr Schoenhofen
State Father Prior of Youth.Rev. Father Dennis Nikolic
State Deputy........Robert D. Weitzman
State Secretary....Kenneth Latham, Jr.
State Treasurer..Edward Kennedy
State Advocate......Gary Leonardo
State Warden..........Edward Ciulla
Chief of Staff.......Edward OToole
Secretary to State Deputy..John G. Joseph
Warden to State Deputy..Thomas Boslet
Admin. Assistant to State Deputy.............Frank Bagley
Admin. Assistant to State Deputy..............Jerry Connelly
Events Coordinator......Anthony Sonny Mangone
Counsel to the State Deputy....Carmine Musumeci, Esq. PSD
Counsel to the State Deputy....Joseph Lupia, Esq.
State Membership Director..Rick Ditrio
Assistant Membership Director...Rich Elias
Training Director.....Robert Graziano
State Program Director.......Michael Flanagan
State Youth Director........ Michael Hearney
State C&B Director.....Anthony Ippolito
Assistant State C&B Director....Hank Theiling
State Ceremonials Chairman....James. A. Foy, PSD
Admin. State Coord. Ext. Fund Raising.....Rocco DErasmo
ESB Editor....John G. Joseph
Web Master.........Brian Ennis
State Logistics Chairman..Deacon Charles Esposito
Insurance Liaison........Eric Izzo

A message from
the Editor:
We want to share the good
work of our Order with
everyone! Kindly submit
your article to me by the
15th of each month
and it will be in the next
Empire State Bulletin.
Please send articles to
esb.staff1@gmail.com.
I look forward to
hearing from you.
John G. Joseph,
PGK, FDD, FST
Secretary to the State Deputy
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