Monroe Council #1266 was happy to host the 2026 Fr Hennepin Provincial Meetings on October 23 and 24 in Monroe, Michigan. This was the first Provincial meeting since 2018.
The event was well attended and a great success, thanks to the hard work of Vice Supreme Master Walter Winkle and his fellow 4th Degree officers. Valuable training was made available to 4th Degree officers and Color Corps members.
More than 75 members of the Color Corps took part in the procession before Mass at St Mary Catholic Church in Monroe, Michigan.
Thank you to the Brother Knights of Monroe Council #1266 and to all the Sir Knights who made the 2026 Fr Hennepin Provincial Meetings a success! To learn more about the council, visit www.kofcmonroe1266.com.
Submitted by Jeffrey Couturier, Grand Knight, Monroe Council #1266
Michigan Knights and Ladies have new holiday membership incentives from State Deputy Charles E. McCuen III. The Michigan Recruit and Earn Rewards effort invites families to welcome new members, support councils and start Christmas programs with fresh energy.
Ladies Recruitment Contest
From November 1 through December 20, 2026, invite new members and celebrate the opportunity to earn a reward. The women who recruit the most new members will receive first place $500 cash, second place $250 cash and third place $100 cash.
How to qualify: use your husband's membership number as the proposer on each new member form. Report each new member's name to the State Membership Director at [email protected] by December 20, 2026, to be entered. December 20, 2026, is the final entry deadline.
Council Cash-Prize Drawing, November 1 to 30
Give your council a chance to win. Recruit an additional 15 percent of your council's membership quota during November to qualify for the drawing. All prize money goes to the council. Example: if your council is at 10 percent of its membership quota on November 1, reaching 25 percent or above by November 30 qualifies your council for the drawing. First place $500, second place $250 and third place $100. What a great way to kick-start your council's Christmas programs.
Watch parties and welcoming open houses
We encourage each diocese to host one or more watch parties and invite families to enjoy the gathering with Father. At halftime, hold a welcoming open house and invite nonmembers to join the Knights of Columbus online. It is a great opportunity to bring families together and welcome new members.
Keep Christ in Christmas by putting Faith in Action through the State Red Onion Bag Food Drive. Michigan Knights of Columbus councils are encouraged to bring the drive to their parish or community and help local food pantries meet increased need during the holidays.
Getting involved takes three steps: promote the drive at your parish or in your community, distribute red onion bags to collect nonperishable food items, and deliver the collected food to your local food pantry.
The program offers councils a visible and meaningful way to serve neighbors while bringing parish and community members together in the spirit of Christian charity.
Get your council involved and help make a difference in your parish and community.
This Sunday's Gospel reading and second reading concern the end times - things that will happen when Jesus returns for the final judgment day. Are you prepared, like the wise virgins? We'll discuss what that means, and how Wisdom helps us to be ready, in this week's Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad
Bishop Joseph H Albers Council 4090 in Davison hosted an Exemplification of Charity, Unity, and Fraternity on Tuesday, October 27, welcoming 3 Brothers into the Order: two for Council 4090 and one for Holy Family Council 4285 in Mt. Morris.
The candidates (pictured seated, left to right) are George Abuaita from Mt. Morris, and Matthew Dzuria and Tim Mullally from Davison.
After the Exemplification, District Deputy Gene Richards presented the Star Council award to IPGK Mike Lalonde and GK Dominick Kriener.
Thank you to Joel Fournier, PFN, Newsletter Editor, for sharing the story and photos.
Knights of Columbus Au Lac Council 10724 in Ira Township honored some of its recent Youth of the Month Award winners and their families at a pizza dinner in the parish hall on Sunday, October 25.
Since January 2023, Au Lac Council has recognized 46 students in grades 3 through 12 for demonstrating their faith through service to their school, parish and community.
“Thank you to these four and all the other winners for sharing their faith with others!” said Grand Knight Mark Kehoe.
Congratulations to all of the Youth of the Month winners, and thank you to the Brother Knights of Au Lac Council 10724 for encouraging young people to live their faith through service.
Submitted by Grand Knight Mark Kehoe, Au Lac Council 10724.
On Saturday, October 24, 2026, Michigan Knights of Columbus joined the Catholic High School League at Ford Field in Detroit for CHSL Prep Bowl® LIV. Founded by the Knights of Columbus, the Prep Bowl is one of the CHSL's most cherished traditions, and this year it took on added significance as the league celebrates its 100th year of competition during the 2026-27 school year.
At the invitation of State Deputy Charles E. McCuen III, State Board members, Michigan leadership, Brother Knights and their families came out to show the Order's support for Catholic education. The Fourth Degree Color Corps took the field in full regalia to present the colors for the National Anthem, and Brother Knights walked across the field to be introduced to the fans.
Prep Bowl® LIV was a full day of Catholic school athletics, academic achievement, school spirit and celebration. Throughout the day, the CHSL recognized student-athletes for academic achievement, honored educators for their service and celebrated the generations of people who have helped shape Catholic school athletics. For 100 years, the league has used interscholastic athletics as an extension of the educational mission of its member schools.
Watch the video below and enjoy a few photos from the day. Special thanks to State A/V Director SK Matt Wierzgac for the photos, and to Kym Nummer for two photos.
Photos courtesy of State A/V Director SK Matt Wierzgac and Kym Nummer.
Video music: "Motivator" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
In his November 6 message, "The great race," State Deputy Charles E. McCuen III encouraged Michigan Knights and their families to keep the faith and maintain their momentum in membership.
"It's time to make our move, we are trained, we are ready and now we need to make our move to the inside track!" he wrote.
Using a race as his illustration, McCuen described the percentages as close and urged Knights not to let up as the fraternal year continues.
"I believe in my heart that we can make a difference if we continue to keep the faith!" he wrote, pointing to Michigan's programs, COR effort and membership team as reasons for confidence.
McCuen's message highlights Michigan's Big Four: Spirituality, Membership, Communication and Accountability.
St Catherine of Siena Council 6980 in Portage held a “Taste of Poland Dinner” on October 24. It was a very successful event, and everyone had a great time. 235 people attended.
The event included authentic home cooked Pierogi and Golumpki. The Kielbasa was purchased from a Polish meat market in Northern Michigan that has been in business for over 110 years and is still owned by the same family. Polka music was played during the event.
Attendees were able to write down loved ones who had passed away on a Remembrance Board, which was blessed during the event. This included Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła), whose feast day was two days earlier.
The event raised over $8,000. Some of the organizations that will receive donations from this event are the Kalamazoo Diocese Catholic Charities Bread of Life program, the St Catherine St Vincent de Paul Thanksgiving Food Baskets, and the Western Michigan University Pro-Life Student group for their trip to the national March for Life in January.
Thank you to Grand Knight Joe Magalski for sharing the story and photos.
Matt Birk at Baltimore Ravens training camp, August 5, 2009. Photo by Jeff Weese, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Football fans remember Matt Birk as the St Paul native who anchored the offensive line for his hometown Minnesota Vikings and then finished his career as a Super Bowl champion with the Baltimore Ravens. What many fans may not know is that the six-time Pro Bowl center is also a brother Knight of Columbus, and today one of the most sought-after Catholic speakers for men in the country.
A Harvard economics graduate, Birk was a sixth-round pick of the Vikings in 1998 and went on to earn six Pro Bowl selections and two first-team All-Pro honors. He joined the Ravens in 2009, and on February 3, 2013, he helped Baltimore beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans before retiring that month. A year earlier, he received the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, recognizing his work off the field, including the literacy programs of his HIKE Foundation.
His faith was not always so central. "In my 18 years at home, I never missed Sunday Mass," he told the National Catholic Register. "Once I left for Harvard, however, that changed." It was his wife, Adrianna, who helped bring him back. "She was a devout Catholic, and she helped me to see what I was missing out on by separating myself from the Church," he said. "Thanks to my wife and then others who followed, I now realize the importance of practicing the faith. That's what life is all about."
The Knights of Columbus describes Birk as a member of the Order, and he has given it his time generously. He delivered the keynote at the 2018 College Councils Conference in New Haven, appeared in the Knights of Columbus documentary "St Joseph: Our Spiritual Father," and spoke at a Haiti benefit dinner hosted by St Joseph the Worker Council 13359 in Maple Grove, Minnesota. "My vocation is to be a husband and a father, and there's no better example of that than St Joseph," Birk said. At that council dinner, he put it simply: "At the end of life, we need to answer three questions. Did I love God? Did I love my neighbor? Did I use the talents God gave me to further his glory? That's it."
Birk and Adrianna are the parents of eight children and parishioners of St Joseph Parish in Minnesota. He has served on the board of a local pregnancy care center, spoken at the March for Life, and helped found Unity Catholic High School in Burnsville. "I try to keep God at the center of my life with everything I do," he has said, from his marriage and fatherhood to his friendships and his business.
Michigan Knights have heard his message in person. In March 2025, Birk gave the keynote at the IGNITE Catholic Men's Conference at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, presented by the Diocese of Lansing, the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Knights of Columbus. "We weren't built to go it alone," he told the Diocese of Lansing before the event, adding that men "were built for communion."
Brothers, that is exactly what our councils offer: men who pray together, serve together and stand together. If you know a Catholic man who is looking for that kind of brotherhood, invite him to join us at kofc.org/joinus.
