Remember the big collared, polyester shirts and elephant bell bottomed pants? Or, maybe the mirrored sunglasses? Well, the good news is that they are not in fashion anymore! But something is in fashion again and that is true manhood and masculinity. I know that all of you reading this are shaking your heads right now. Either to clear your minds of the visual reference of someone you know in bell bottomed jeans or, because you are saying: "I've always been masculine".

 

I was given the honor of ushering for Tony Rybski's funeral last month and being given yet another opportunity to hear Father Gerald talk about something near and dear to me personally: The art of Manhood. Or, what it means to be a real Man in today's society. Father used a term to describe the dilemma of today's men ..... "Stuck in perpetual adolescence". He went on to describe what that meant and mentioned many things that today's young, and not so young men are doing to "pass the time". Of course, video games and the Internet were at the top of the list. And then he spoke about a real man, and he used our deceased brother Tony Rybski as an example of a real man. Father told us what many had already known, Tony was a "Man of Prayer".

 

This Country, this World is in big trouble. Sure, financially we are all in deep trouble. But even worse, as Mother Theresa once stated in a speech that she gave, America is not the richest Country in the world as many believe. We are the poorest in comparison to even India. She said this because she was speaking in terms of spiritual poverty and not of financial poverty.

 

But we here in America are in poor shape nonetheless. And so, Knighthood is back in fashion in my opinion. There are so many reasons that I could give for a Catholic Man to not only join the Knights of Columbus, but to be an active Knight in the order as well. I confess that I have made some very poor choices in this life about my companions while in the military and at my place of work. My Mother used to tell us "Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are". I have written before about how "iron sharpens iron" and how fraternity is a gift that nourishes both the giver and recipient. The real men that I have met here at Old St. Patrick's are a gift and I would not dare mention them by name. For two reasons, I would forget someone due to the number of these real men, and also because real men don't really seek attention.

 

This is a new calendar year, I urge you to make a commitment to ask a friend to join our Council and our Order, to be more active yourself in our functions and to look forward and upward to your next Degree if one remains available to you. If you are a 4th Degree Knight, I urge you to get in contact with Gene Wierzgac and ask him how you can become a member of the Color Corps.

 

Men, this world is not going to stop moving forward until Christ returns. While secular men are chasing fantasies on the Internet, in the bars and at the end of a video game controller, there is some serious work to be done and prayers to be said. As your Grand Knight, I am calling you to get to work. 

  

In closing, I am proud to announce that the Knight of the Month for December 2010 is: Brother Jim Stephenson and that our Family for the Month of December 2010 is the Kummet family. At last Month's meeting, Dan Krebs was the winner of the book from the Grand Knight's book of the Month Guild. The book selection was written and personally autographed by Al Kresta and is titled  "Why are Catholics so concerned about sin?". I look forward to giving another book away this month at the General Meeting. I hope to see you there.

God Love You,

SK Frank Finch
Grand Knight
Council 10963
Old St. Patrick Parish
Whitmore Lake, MI
www.ospknights.com