Faithful Navigator's Message

Worthy Sir Knights,

Thank you to all who were able to attend our dinner this past evening for the Installation of Officers. Congratulations to all our newly installed Officers and may God guide us all through our new positions and the duties we take on. A special Congratulations to our Worthy Commander Sir Knight, Henry “Hank” Pilla Jr., for being appointed as District Marshal by Massachusetts District Master, Michael Kerrigan. Your continued commitment is an inspiration and we are blessed to have you in our council. 

September feels like it is flying by as we approach our upcoming events. Our next meeting is at St Patrick's in Watertown, October 22nd. 

November 1st is our Communion Breakfast and Memorial Mass at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary. If you are interested in, or intend on attending the Communion Breakfast and Memorial Mass, please reach out to Ray, Hank, Nino or myself for tickets.

As you may know A Night at The Races has moved to Friday November 13th in place of our original date. Times for the schedule remain the same, only the date has changed. If anybody is looking to volunteer and help, or If you have any questions and need to buy tickets please contact Ray, Hank, Nino, or myself. We thank St. Patricks in advance for hosting this event. 

This past September 11th marked the 25th year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and our country. This remembrance brings many thoughts to mind. Though I was a young boy when this took place, I can fondly remember the patriotism and tightness the country felt at that time. Today, we remember the heroes that ran courageously into the buildings in determination to save as many lives as they could, with many of those heroes losing their lives in the process. We remember all of the innocent victims, and we pray for their families and their souls. We also remember that day as a day where humanity and Americans showed their true colors, with love for our country and each other. With the ever growing constant news cycle and ability to live broadcast around the world 24/7, the negativity, rage and fear mongering shown from the media in hopes for clicks, and engagement, sometimes leaves one feeling hopeless with a bleak outlook on the world. One may say it can only feel one way, and that is evil. There seems to be one common driving force, and it is always causing division. To the untrained person, this can easily infiltrate and manipulate our emotions. Even to the trained, this is still a battle that is often hard and exhausting. Sometimes we say things we know in our hearts to not be true, or act in ways we would have never thought imaginable. However, as Christians and as Catholics, we actively refuse to let the enemy win, knowing our Lord has already won the war. Those battles and those evils, we face them, we take them head on, and we continue to pursue righteousness. Some days are easier than others, but we know who we can look to and where we can go when times get tough. We are equipped with prayer, and action. We are also blessed to be part of this brotherhood, where we know we all have the common denominator. Willingly we choose what is good. What is good can only come from one place which is God, and that is what we are always aimed towards, God. For love of our brothers, sisters and country. 

Another Historic Catholic event took place this week, the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. Sheen, who was a Sir Brother Knight himself. With the beatification taking place on the same day as our installation, though this is all happenstance, it adds to a memory on the day. Over the past few years, I have had the chance to study the life of Fulton J Sheen. One thing that sticks out to me, largely for its spread through the secular world in a time where I was still longing for the miracle to be born, Sheen won an Emmy for Most Outstanding Television Personality attributed to hosting the show Life is Worth Living, which aired from 1951-1957. During his acceptance speech he spoke "I feel it is time I pay tribute to my four writers- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,”. Something I find that if I had heard that in live time it would be tremendously inspiring. It is inspiring to hear about today. I had always been fascinated with television and entertainment from that time period my whole life. Only up until recently I learned who Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was and how much of an impact he had on our nation and the world. Let us pray for the next steps to Sainthood for Archbishop Fulton J Sheen.

Always we pray for the canonization of Blessed Father Michael J. McGivney. His feast day was this past August 13th. 

I would also like to ask all to please pray for Ivan Bobnar, the son of our Faithful Scribe, Worthy Sir Knight Esoos Bobnar, and his wife, Amber Bobnar. Ivan is very ill and the continuation of prayer for him is important.

God Bless you all. God Bless America.

Vivat Jesus!

Cameron Barca

Faithful Navigator

Gov, David I Walsh Assembly #403