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| Capt. Guy Gruters |
March 11, 2017
Worthy Grand Knight:
If the Men of the diocese are in good spiritual shape, the
family is renewed. If the family is
renewed, the parish is renewed and so is the diocese. The men must be spiritual leaders in their
families. The men must step up and be
the pillars of the parish.......not only the women. The men must put Christ into the marketplace
and in their jobs. Set the men on fire and we renew,
the parish, the diocese and ultimately the Country, thus transforming
Society.
That's what we're trying to accomplish with the
Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal and it very much coincides with the mission of the Knights of
Columbus.......the spiritual formation of our men and to strengthen
families. However, marketing is crucial to
the success of the Men’s Conference and that's where the Knights of Columbus
can follow their tradition in being there when help is badly needed.
In the spirit of service of the Knights of Columbus, a
couple of other 4th Degree Knights and I are on the Steering
Committee and we'd like to ask for your help in two big ways.
Number
one and the most important.......as the Grand Knight, please help us to
promote the Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal.
You and the leaders of your council would be invaluable in helping us to
mobilize the men of your Council and the parish to attend the Men's
Conference. It will be on Saturday
March 18 at St. Stephen’s Church in Caldwell (9 am to 3:30 pm) off of
Exit 25 of I-77 a half hour north of Marietta. One on one personal selling is ideal. Word of mouth by those who have gone
previously would be the best form of advertising. The help of the district deputies in their
contacts with their grand knights and councils would be indispensable.
To complement the Mass presided by Bishop Monforton and
Penance Service the featured speaker is Capt. Guy Gruters (USAF). After graduation from the Air Force Academy
with a B.S. in Engineering Science, Capt. Gruters flew more than 400 combat
missions in Vietnam and received over 30 combat medals and awards. He was shot down twice and captured the
second time in 1967. After leaving the
Air Force, he captained DC-9s and Boeing 727s for Eastern Airlines until
retiring in 1991. Later Capt. Gruters
was an account rep. for IBM and President of PC Software Systems.
In his morning talk Guy Gruters
will reveal how his faith and trust in God carried him through the ordeal as a
Prisoner of War in the notorious “Hanoi Hilton” and other camps for five
years. Since bitterness is
self-destructing, he will share in the afternoon talk how he learned to show
mercy and forgive his brutal captors who tortured him and deal with people in a
business environment. The participants
will discover how they can apply the lessons learned by Capt. Gruters to their
daily lives. He is a 4th Degree member
of the Knights of Columbus.
Drawing from his diverse experience and being a father of
seven children, he will also touch on “Leadership and Teamwork in the Family,
Church, and the Community”. An excellent
and dynamic speaker, Mr. Gruters gives talks all over the country and is the
author of the book, “Locked Up With God”.
This
background puts Capt. Gruters in a position to speak on the theme of this
year’s Diocese of Steubenville Men’s Conference, “Mercy and Forgiveness, Faith and
Trust……..Means of Developing Strength
and Holiness in Difficult Times” and apply it to our daily
lives. That is through the power of
faith rise up to be the spiritual leaders of their families, to do their part
in renewing their parishes, be servant leaders in the community, and to make a
difference for Christ by applying the social teachings of the Church to their
professions.
Attached
is a brochure, Additional Information, Functions of the Parish Rep or Knight,
and Registration Form. The men may bring
their teen age sons, godsons, relatives, and friends. Thus the Conference can also be a
father and son event, a shared experience. After all, the Kof C is all about
family.
Caldwell
is a good distance for some councils.
But that's what Lent is all about.
It's sacrifice. Organizing the
men to go together in a van pool or even a bus for a two or three hour trip
would be great fellowship and give it a pilgrimage flavor, especially if
there's a rosary and discussion about the day's events along the way. It's a great opportunity as well. It can solidify the parish and the Council as
the men get to know each other better, especially if the pastor accompanies
them. We will need confessors.
It's also an opportunity
for your KofC Council because you'll have a captive audience for up to four
hours each way and that's great for recruiting.
Another option is to stay at the Microtel behind the Sunoco Gas Station
off of the I-77 exit and make a retreat out of it. Less than two miles from the St. Stephen’s
Church which has a parish program of Stations of the Cross (Mass at Immaculate
Conception Church nearby) on Friday at 7 pm preceded and followed by
Eucharistic Adoration. Wives could come
along and spend the day in Marietta, shopping and sightseeing. Pittsburgh is two hours away.
Our Conference Blog, “Becoming
a True Man of God” at http://diosteubmen.blogspot.com
(just click on it) has greater detail and resources for promoting the
Conference beginning with Blog #111. It
also has articles on men’s spiritually to help the men in their quest to become
true men of God. You may also be
interested in my own blog, “A Little Bit for God and His People”
at http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com.
Also
very important is a little financial help from your Council, whatever you
can afford, in underwriting the Conference so that we can charge the men an
affordable price. My council has given
$100 each year since 2010. It costs over
$5000 to put this on and we need a reserve for next year to bring in the best
speakers.
The men may register
individually or the parish representative may collect the registration forms
with payment and send them as a package to Roger Huck; %Men’s Day of Renewal,
P.O. Box 54; Beverly, OH 45715 or give it. Or send him an e-mail (“Roger Huck”
<huck4816@roadrunner.com>),
saying how many men are coming
and then give the registration forms and total owed to the men at the door. This would save time waiting at the door and
facilitate planning. Checks for the
Registration cost of $25.00 per person are to be made payable to the Diocese of
Steubenville with “Men's Day of Renewal” written on the memo line of the check.
Even if you are no longer the grand knight of your council,
please forward this e-mail to the current grand knight and/or bring this letter to the attention of the membership at your
next council meeting. If your next
meeting is after the Conference date, please do what you can with the promotion
by word of mouth or forward this e-mail to all the members of your council and
quickly mobilize the men by phone to go together in a car or van pool. Such a collaboration with the local diocese
could be an example for other councils all over the country.
The
Knights have been invaluable in the past and we need your help again. Thank you so much for your past promotional
and financial help and for anything you can do this year. The paid ads of different KofC councils in
our program booklet are a big help. I
apologize for not sending you this material sooner, but there’s still time to
send at least a few men to the Conference.
For the men who are drifting spiritually or are not faithful to the
Sunday Mass obligation, this is evangelization at its best.......something that
every Catholic is called to do. God
bless.
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