Shop to Help Us Raise Charitable Funds!

In the interest of raising funds for our local charities, we are opening an online "mall" on our Council web site. We sincerely hope that you'll consider doing a little shopping with us, knowing that a % of all sales when you click to purchase, will come back to our Council.

Right now, we have 2 "shops" for your shopping and gift-giving pleasure . . . but watch for more in the weeks to come, as we further develop our mall! Take a look here:

http://www.knightsofcolumbusoratorycouncil.org/html/knights_of_columbus_charitable.html

Chaplain's Corner for April

Dear Brother Knights,

You are invited to renew and relive the greatest week of the year, Holy Week. Your presence is urgently requested as the Lord Himself is calling you.

On Palm Sunday we will walk with Jesus waving palm branches to hail Jesus as the saving Lord as He enters into the new Jesrusalem that is the church. Jesus willingly offers Himself for our redemption and we hail Him for such love and mercy.

On Holy Thursday we gather as the family of the Lord to make present Jesus of the Last Supper now really present again in the sacrifice of the Mass. Jesus teaches us the way of Christian service. Jesus ordains the first priests of the New Testament. Jesus then gives Himself to us in Holy Communion; He knits us together in the union of His very self.

Good Friday finds us at the feet of the crucified One as the story of total love, forgiveness, and mercy is poured out upon us. And we respond by kissing the cross after we have relived total self giving. Then we receive the Lord into a heart broken with sorrow for our lack of love.

We then wait and ought to spend some time in quiet contemplation. We wait for the cry of victory, the Easter Vigil as night falls upon the earth. Earth is wedded to heaven in the exultation that Jesus who once was dead is now risen gloriously. He has triumphed over sin and death and has redeemed each one of us.

You are invited to the holiest week of the year! The Lord is calling you!

Fr. William Pentis

Knights Life Insurance Program -- New Offering

Concerned about a comfortable and worry-free retirement? Now, in addition to our traditional Flexible Premium Annuity, the Knights of Columbus has introduced the VANTAGE Single Premium Deferred Annuity, and it may be part of the answer for you.

With a single deposit of $25,000 or more, the VANTAGE allows you to lock-in a guaranteed interest rate for 5 years. In addition, there are several attractive renewal options once the 5-year period has expired, including keeping the funds in another VANTAGE Annuity, placing them in a more traditional flexible premium annuity where the interest rate can be changed on a quarterly or more frequent basis or – in the 30-day period prior to the fifth and tenth policy anniversaries – withdrawing the funds without a surrender charge.

The VANTAGE Annuity, along with our Flexible Premium Annuity, both provide the guarantees that Knights of Columbus members have come to expect – guaranteed interest rates along with absolute safety of principal. In addition, we can easily accommodate rollovers and transfers free of charge.

I will be happy to meet with you at your convenience – in your home – to discuss with you in detail how the Knights of Columbus can help you to secure the comfortable, worry-free retirement you want and deserve.

I’m at 704-806-1760 or stephen.zito@kofc.org Call me – let’s talk.

Stephen C. Zito
Field Agent

Your Help is Needed to Stop FOCA!

At the request of our Chaplain, Fr. William, we are posting this information, published by the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, so all may be aware of "the most serious threat to pro-life policies ever -- the 'Freedom of Choice Act," or FOCA. This bill would create a right to abortion the government could not limit and bring about a national abortion policy far worse than the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision. For the first time, abortion would become an entitlement the government must fund and promote. Citizens would lose the freedom they now have to enact even modest regulation of the abortion industry. FOCA would:

• Eliminate regulations that protect women from unsafe clinics and unscrupulous abortionists


• Force American taxpayers to fund abortions


• Force every state to allow partial-birth abortions -- its sponsors have said a primary purpose of the bill is to ensure that killing partially born children will again be permitted nationwide


• Run roughshod over the conscience rights of physicians, nurses and hospitals that oppose abortion on religious, moral or ethical grounds


• Strip parents of their right and responsibility to be involved in their minor daughter's abortion decision

Simply put, if FOCA becomes law, it will put at risk all the widely-supported laws that for 35 years have promoted women's health, ensured informed consent, protected minors, ensured parental involvement, safe-guarded rights of conscience, and respected the desire of most citizens not to support abortion with their tax dollars.

FOCA also explicity encourages challenges in court against any law or regulation that protects unborn children and their mothers and families in the abortion context, promising a virtual cottage industry of lawsuits.

And FOCA's tentacles would reach beyond federal policies to every state and local law or regulation having to do with abortion.

FOCA is without doubt the most radical abortion legislation ever considered in the United States.

Abortion supporters have been trying to pass FOCA since 1989 -- and now we have a Congress more disposed than any in recent years to pass the bill, and a new President who has said he will sign the measure into law.

YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER! At this time of serious national challenges, Americans should unite to serve the good of all, born and unborn -- not single out the most defenseless human beings for an expanded attack on their lives.

Please urge your federal elected officials to oppose FOCA or any similar measure, and to retain laws against the federal funding and promotion of abortion.
FOCA embodies the public policy goals of pro-abortion groups. These groups will promote the bills passage directly, and advance its agenda by working to reverse pro-life laws one at a time.

?? What You Can Do ??

• Sign a postcard (these are available from Fr. William at The Oratory)
• Write a thoughtful letter (a sample letter is available by clicking here: http://www.knightsofcolumbusoratorycouncil.org/FOCA_opposition_sample_letter.pdf)
• Make a phone call
• Send an e-mail message
• Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper
• Call a radio talk show
• Speak at a public event
• Meet with your Representative and Senators
• Place an ad in a local paper. See www.usccb.org/prolife/media/docs/foca.pdf

Where to Call

• U.S. Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. Ask for the offices of your Representative and two Senators (here in York County, SC that would be Sen. Jim DeMint, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Rep. John Spratt)
• The White House (202) 456-1111

Where to Write

• Fill in the appropriate names:

1. The Honorable ______________

United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

2. The Honorable ______________

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

3. The President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20500

Send an Email

Email messages reinforce communications sent through postcards, letters, phone calls, and personal meetings. To send emails to Capitol Hill or the White House, please visit the special email action page at http://nchla.org/

For more information, please visit http://nchla.org/ and http://usccb.org/prolife/issues/FOCA

YOUR HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED! PLEASE TAKE ACTION TODAY!

SOMEONE'S LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!

The Chaplain's Corner

We have a new spiritual leader for the Diocese of Charleston. He is Bishop-elect, Msgr. Robert E. Guglielmone, a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Center, NY. He was ordained a priest on April 8, 1978. Up to his appointment by Pope Benedict, he was the rector of St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Center, NY.

Before entering the seminary, he taught high school for five years. Scouting has been an important part of ministry in his priesthood. Let us praise and thank God, and pray for Robert.

Now is the time to look forward to March 25, 2009 when Msgr. Robert Guglielmone will be ordained Bishop and installed at the thirteenth ordinary of the Diocese of Charleston. The 7:00 p.m. ceremony will take place in Charleston. March 25th is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, the day Jesus took on a human nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We will be in the fourth week of Lent, but the feast is of a higher rank than the Lenten day.

This is a great time to talk to your children and grandchildren about how the bishop of a diocese, the ordinary, is the spiritual leader for all in the diocese, both cleric and lay. He is the chief shepherd of the flock of South Carolina as he teaches, sanctifies, and rules in the Name of Our Savior Jesus Christ under and selected by Pope Benedict.

Things that have been on hold can now get moving for the honor and glory of God and the good of the People of God.

Thank you Lord Jesus Christ!

Fr. William Pentis

Chaplain's Corner . . . an Invitation

You are invited to Oratory Prayer at its church on Charlotte Avenue from 4 to 5 PM this Sunday January 25th. It will be made up of prayer for Christian Unity and Benediction with the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Everyone is welcome.

Father William