4th Degree Newsletter

F O U R T H D E G R E E P A T R I O T P U B L I S H E D M O N T H L Y B Y : B I S H O P A L B E R S A S S E M B L Y # 0 4 9 6

Volume #71 Issue #2

August 2021

Navigator Report 1

Catechism 2

Officers, Patrons 3

Prayers for the Sick 4

Honor Guard Info 4

Birthday & Anniversary 5

Of Interest 6

Activities 7

Next Meeting 8

Inside this Issue:

Special Points of

Interest:

Prayer List

Honor Guard

Birthdays and

Anniversaries

Much More...

Editor: SK Ken Watterson

aarrdy@sbcglobal.net

Bishop Albers Assembly 0496

Worthy Knights and Ladies. Well, I made it through my first meeting as Navigator. Fortunately, with the help of out Faithful Comptroller I did not make a complete fool of myself. The view is quite abet different from the podium than from the audience. I am

quite humbled by the honor the Assembly bestowed on me by making me Navigator. I look forward to your ongoing support. At the meeting the Assembly received a generous donation from the family of Horace Hull, a deceased member in thanksgiving for the chalice ceremony performed by the Honor Guard at his wake. This kind donation demonstrates how much these ceremonies, and the involvement of the Honor Guard are valued. Although the gift is unusual the appreciation and thanks it represents are not. The Honor Guard helps the grieving family and provides memorial to their loved one. At the meeting I suggested that as Knights we periodically hold a Rosary prior to our meetings. If you recall, when you became a First-

Degree member, you were given a Rosary and encouraged to pray it often. It is important that we do so. We are Knights of Columbus and what makes is different from other organizations is that we are a Catholic organization. One way we can demonstrate our Catholicism is by saying the Rosary as a group. Praying the Rosary publicly stands as witness to our faith. Therefore, I will propose that we arrive for the September meeting a half-hour earlier and use that time to say the Rosary together.

I hope you are enjoying the summer weather. Soon the cool nights of

August will portend the coming of Autumn, the start of a new school

year and the annual Vocations Night at Jackson Field (formerly Cooley

School Law School Stadium, formerly Oldsmobile Park). The event

takes place Friday August 13, 2021. The Honor Guard will present the

colors as usual. Honor Guard members, look out for reporting time

instructions. Hope to see you there!

Vivat Jesus,

FN Ron Pioch

Page 2

Catechism of the Catholic Church PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

III. CHRIST OFFERED HIMSELF TO HIS FATHER FOR OUR SINS

Jesus substitutes his obedience for our disobedience

Our participation in Christ's sacrifice

618 The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the "one mediator between God and men".452 But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, "the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery" is offered to all men.453 He calls his disciples to "take up [their] cross and follow (him)",454 for "Christ also suffered for (us), leaving (us) an example so that (we) should follow in his steps."455 In fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to be its first beneficiaries.456 This is achieved

supremely in the case of his mother, who was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of his redemptive suffering.457 Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.458 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1O.HTM

2021-2022

Newsletter

Patron List Appointed Positions Commander SK Ken Watterson Historian SK Glenn Barry Membership SK Dave Luedtke

2021/2022 Officers and Appointees

Committee Chairs

Wellness: vacant

Admissions: SK Pat Donlon 517-333-8985

Ron Pioch - Navigator - 517.231.0694 Dave Zerbe - Admiral– 517.282.4516 David Garlitz - Captain - 517.488.3005 Ken Watterson - Scribe -517-881-0812 Tim Perrone - Comptroller - 517.886.0627 Walter Ozanich - Purser - 517.321.2422 Pat Jacobs - Pilot - 517.927.9349

Edward Stoffer - Inside Sentinel Dan Bazela - Outside Sentinel 1 Year Trustee: John Book 2 Year Trustee: Pat Donlon 3 Year Trustee: Dave Myers

Page 3

Allen Barr Anonymous James Bollman Ronald Bruner William Chassé Francis Chiernawski Eric Clark Jay Corey Christopher Costigan Frank A. DeRose John DeRose Mario Diaz Clifford Farr Hilary Goerge Ronald Graber Gerald Holmes Horace Hull Allen Jensen Joseph Jong Thomas Kalchik Daniel Klodt Joseph Kobus Randall LaLonde David Luedtke Richard Maurer Richard F. McCloy Edmund McQuillan Bishop Carl Mengeling Msgr. Michael Murphy David Myers Thomas Pillar Bernard Pollack John Potoczny David Schertzing Donald Schmitz Lawrence Schrauben Williams Schwanneke Michael Shepard Eric Smith SK Deacon Dr. Richard M. Stanford Mark Stenske John Suckow Daniel Thelen Chris Wegener Eric Wegener Herbert Wegener Michael Wegener Thomas Wegener David Zerbe

The Honor Guard provides Honor and Distinction at funerals of Clergy and fallen comrades. They also provide distinctive accent at many Catholic Church functions. You will find them serving as "Guardians of the Colors" by displaying and escorting our National Flag on ceremonial occasions at official Church, Civic, and Knights of Columbus functions.

"Say the Rosary

every day…

Pray, pray a lot and offer

sacrifices for sinners..

I Am Our Lady of the

Rosary.

Only I will be able

to help you.

...In the end My Immaculate

Heart will triumph. "

Our Lady at Fatima..

Friday August 13th, 6pm: Seminarian Night

Lugnut Stadium

When one of your brother Knights approaches you to join the Bishop Albers Assembly Honor Guard, please give the idea some prayerful thought. The rewards of being part of the Honor Guard are many and rich.

Prayer for the Sick Dear Jesus, Divine Physician and Healer of the sick, we turn to you in this time of illness. O dearest comforter of the troubled, alleviate our worry and sorrow with your gentle love, and grant us the grace and strength to accept this burden. Dear God, we place our worries in your hands. We place our sick under your care and humbly ask that you restore your servant to health again. Above all, grant us the grace to acknowledge your will and know that whatever you do, you do for the love of us. Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend your sick ones, O Lord Christ. Rest your weary ones. Bless your dying ones. Soothe your suffering ones. Pity your afflicted ones. Shield your joyous ones.

Bishop Albers Assembly

SK Horace Hull

Page 4 Prayer Lis t

0496 Honor Guard The new Honor Guard Uniform can be ordered at www.kofcuniform.com . Go to the link to order the Uniform, the price is $449.00 but we offer a $200.00 incentive to assist you with

your purchase, reducing your price to $249.00. Bring in your receipt after you have received it for reimbursement. There is an additional $125.00 incentive available to NEW Honor Guard members if you are purchasing a NEW Sword as well..

For the soul of Fr Maurice Hayes Fr Bill Lugger SK Charles Zimmerman SK Glenn Berry SK Ben King Lady Charlene King Lady Ann McCarthy SK John McCarthy Lady Kathy Stoffer DD Paul Kelsey SK Richard Maurer Dcn Andy Tardof Dan Bazela All Seminarians All Mothers and their unborn children All service members and their families All of the victims and the families of COVID19 All Health care workers All First Responders All government leaders of our Country. All souls in the deceased family of Assm 0496

August Birthdays & Anniversaries Members Birthdays

Page 5

Anniversaries

A Downloadable copy of the Assembly

Member Roster is available at:

https://assembly0496.org/members/

— the password is: bishopalbers

— click ‘Enter’

Spouse Birthdays

First Name Last Name Mem B-Day

Benjamin King 08 01

Harold Beaton 08 02

Thomas Weston 08 04

Joseph Papranec 08 05

Alessandro Bozzo 08 06

Michael Du Mont 08 06

Robert Fedewa 08 06

George Hanley 08 06

Anthony Cherniawski 08 09

Philip Mondro 08 10

James Gonzalez 08 11

Kenneth Mc Donald 08 15

John Rojeski 08 16

Brent Torgeson 08 19

Chris Dancisak 08 20

Manuel Delgado 08 23

Clyde Smith 08 26

William Lawson 08 28

First Name First Name Last Name Ann Date

Marie David Williams 08 02

Margaret Christopher Costigan 08 04

Janette Fred Hamilton 08 06

Mirla James Moses 08 08

Colleen Robert Spehar 08 10

Teresa Michael Hull 08 11

Tricia Eric Smith 08 14

Cassady Andrew Brege 08 16

Ginger John Book 08 16

Charlene Benjamin King 08 16

Carolyn Stephen Graszler 08 17

J. Carol Daniel Thelen 08 18

Jean Aubrey Merrill 08 22

Alison Joseph Walczak 08 22

Jacquelyn Robert Andretz 08 22

Dolores Mario Diaz 08 23

Colleen Emil Dehnke 08 23

Norma L. John De Rose 08 23

Deborah David Simon 08 24

Suzanne Anthony Cherniawski 08 26

Noelle Christopher Wegener 08 30

First Name Last Name Wife B-Day

Leona Brunette 08 01

Joan Alspaugh 08 03

J. Carol Thelen 08 04

Leigh Miller 08 09

Joann Potoczny 08 14

Ginger Book 08 18

Karen Shepard 08 19

Mary Benson 08 22

Suzanne Cherniawski 08 27

Cherie Leece 08 28

Dolores Diaz 08 30

Page 6

Captains Corner

Greetings Brother Sir Knights, This is my first article as Captain. I am honored you have trusted me to hold this position. I am not sure where this and my future articles will take us. I love my Catholic Faith. I love our country. So how do these two things go together? What roles have Catholic men and women

played in the history of our country? This is a subject I want to explore further. I recently bought a book, “They Lived the Faith: Great Lay Leaders of Modern Times.” It is a collection of short biographies of 13 Catholic lay leaders from around the world. One of them is an American, Orestes Brownson (September 16, 1803 – April 17, 1876.) When he became a Catholic convert in 1844, he was already a prolific writer. It was after his conversion that he really started to write the bulk of his work and became a formidable Catholic apologist. He wrote for many publishers on faith and the country. Publishers such as Boston Quarterly Review, U.S. Democratic Review, The Ave Maria, and The Catholic World. His last article was contributed to the American Catholic Quarterly Review. Brownson's contemporary, John Cardinal Newman of England, once told a visiting priest in Rome that Brownson had no equal. His Excellency, John "The Dagger" Hughes of New York City, who received Brownson into the Church, later remarked that Brownson, while yet a catechumen, knew more than himself. Great Britain’s Lord Acton wrote to a colleague,

“Intellectually, no American I have met comes near him.” The late Russell Kirk declared that “As a political thinker and a master of polemic, Brownson belongs in the first rank of American writers.” Much like us Knights of Columbus, Brownson had a devotion to the Blessed Mother, of whom he wrote about on several occasions. I believe that if he were alive today, he would undoubtedly be a Knight of Columbus, and most certainly a Fourth Degree member. He stood for our Country, and he stood for the Faith! Fraternally,

David J. Garlitz, Captain

Peter Salem is best known for his crucial contributions at the outset of the

Revolution. Born into slavery in Massachusetts in the mid-18th century, Salem joined the Patriots in the earliest battles of the war, participating as a “minute man” at Lexington and Concord. His owners supported this decision and freed him so that he could remain enlisted. Salem earned his place in history for his role in one the most important Revolutionary War fights, the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill. Although the British defeated the Continental Army in this encounter, it wasn’t a total loss for the Patriots: Their killing of many Redcoats encouraged them to keep up the fight. Many historians credit Salem with killing a key officer of the crown, Major John Pitcairn, just as he was scaling the top of the American redoubt and demanding that the Patriots surrender.

Salem’s role is believed to have been memorialized in John Trumbull’s painting The battle of Bunker's Hill.

Page 7

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted June 17 to advance the cause of canonization for 1st Lt. Father Joseph Verbis Lafleur, a World War II military chaplain, prisoner of war and a Knight of Columbus whose courageous witness in the Pacific theater of the war brought many souls to Christ. Stationed in the Philippines, Father Lafleur was offered a chance to escape when the Japanese invaded in 1941. When he found out his unit, the 19th Bombardment Group, would not be leaving too, he replied firmly, “Then I shall stay here. My place is with the men.” Father Lafleur would spend more than two years as a prisoner of war; he died in 1944 helping his fellow POWs evacuate a torpedoed Japanese prison boat. For his service throughout the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. COURAGEOUS WITNESS Joseph Verbis Lafleur was ordained a priest April 2, 1938, at 26 years old, and in 1941, he answered the call to join the military as a chaplain. While stationed in Albuquerque, N.M., Father Lafleur’s commander noticed his exceptional performance. The young chaplain’s next posting was to Clark Field, a U.S. Army airfield in the Philippines. Eight hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese planes bombed Clark Field, destroying almost every American plane parked wingtip-to-wingtip on the strip. Ninety-three men were killed and 143 wounded. Father Lafleur ministered to the wounded and dying, exposing himself to bullets and shrapnel to give absolution and help doctors administer medical care. Col. E.L. Eubank of the Army Air Force witnessed Father LaFleur’s actions and recommended him to receive the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest military honor. The citation reads, “First Lieutenant LaFleur's intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 5th Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces.” The 19th Bombardment Group was later attacked by Japanese planes while evacuating to another island by ship. Father Lafleur crawled through a hail of bullets to rescue a wounded officer on deck. He was the last man on the boat after assisting with the evacuation of the other soldiers. After U.S. and Philippine forces surrendered to the Japanese following the Battle of Bataan, Father Lafleur and the rest of the 19th Bombardment Group were captured. The military chaplain spent the rest of his life as a POW. A SAINT IN PRISON Father Lafleur bounced from prison camp to prison camp until arriving at the Davao Penal Colony in October 1942, where he worked beside his fellow POWs in the rice fields and helped them in any way he could. He sneaked into the compound hospital to tend to sick prisoners. He shared his food with the sick and wounded, and even traded his watch and eyeglasses for food and medicine. He refused medicine for himself, even during bouts with malaria, saying someone else needed it more. Even more important, Father Lafleur continued to be a spiritual leader. He personally constructed a chapel out of bamboo and wood named The Chapel of St. Peter in Chains and celebrated Mass each morning before the men headed out to work. One soldier recalled that Father Lafleur conserved the wine for consecration by using a medicine dropper. Father Lafleur’s witness had a tremendous impact: Nearly 200 American prisoners converted to Catholicism because of his influence. Bill Lowe was one of the men who converted. His interest in Catholicism began after Father Lafleur helped evacuate others into lifeboats before the American-Philippine surrender. He saw in the military chaplain “something that I wished I had,” adding that “his demeanor was so convincing that this led me to pursue to become a Catholic.” “If there ever was a saint, Father Lafleur was one,” Lowe would later write. ‘I WILL BE WITH YOU’ Father Lafleur’s sense of duty led him to volunteer to take the place of a POW bound for a Japanese airstrip in Lasang, Philippines. He did this despite being physically weak due to lack of food. Before he left for Lasang in March 1944, Father Lafleur wrote a final message to his family on the label of a can of milk. It read in part, “I do not have to go, but if I didn’t and something would happen, I would never go back to the States as I could never face any of you again. I would feel as though I had not done my duty.” While at Lasang, Father Lafleur continued to inspire the prisoners with his acts of courage. In one instance, Japanese guards with bayonets surrounded Father Lafleur and other POWs during his daily rosary service. A guard kept the bayonet at the military chaplain’s stomach. Father Lafleur didn’t move except to make the sign of the cross. Eventually, tensions subsided and the guards left. As American forces advanced, the Japanese decided to move the prisoners to mainland Japan. Father Lafleur and hundreds of POWs were loaded into a ship — the Shinyo Maru — which had no white flag to denote it was carrying prisoners. Without that signal, it became a target for Allied forces. On Sept. 7, 1944, the Shinyo Maru was torpedoed by the USS Paddle. During the attack, Father Lafleur led his fellow prisoners in the ship’s hold in praying the rosary. Suddenly, the hatch was opened. Father Lafleur began evacuating the prisoners as the Japanese threw grenades into the hold. Other prisoners were shot on deck as they tried to dive into the water. Only 82 prisoners out of hundreds survived. Father Lafleur was not one of them. He was last seen standing near the ladder trying to help others escape.

As he wrote in his final message, “If I am not [here], I will be with you anyway and I will have a reserve seat up in Heaven. I am sure Our

Lord will let me roll back just one little cloud so I can look down. And from up there I will have a more beautiful view and a more perfect

understanding of what is going on.”

Father Lafleur, a member of Council 2281 in Abbeville, La., is one of many Knights who are either canonized or on the path to sainthood.

Military Chaplain’s Cause for Sainthood Advances

Non-Profit

Organization

U.S. Postage

Paid

Grand

Ledge, MI

Bishop Albers Assembly # 0496 Knights of Columbus 5300 N. Grand River Lansing, MI 48906 http://www.assembly0496.org

This Newsletter is published to our Website at www.assembly0496.org by the 1st week of the Month. Please contact SK Ken Watterson at aarrdy@sbcglobal.net if you have any problems.

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Our next Assembly Meeting will be at

Columbus Hall. Tuesday, August 17th

>> 7:00 pm <<

— If you know a Brother Knight who is NOT getting this Newsletter or does NOT have access to email —-

Contact: Ken Watterson @ 517.881.0812 or Dave Myers @ 517.281.1092.