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My brothers all, At the District Deputy organizational meeting I spoke about the importance of the relationship between Programs and Membership using a song from the 50’s and ‘The Parable of the Sower” as references. I believe this subject is worth revisiting.
During my remarks I mentioned that I equate programs and membership to the old Sammy Cahn song from the 50’s that was also the theme song for a mid 80’s and 90’s TV sitcom. You may remember the opening verse:
Love and marriage, love and marriage
So let me tell you my brothers, the same is true of programs and membership. Believe me; you can’t run successful programs without a strong, healthy, and growing membership and you will not be able to attract and retain members without strong, healthy and vibrant programs. Like the song says, “You can’t have one without the other”. Therefore, it becomes most important that we, the leadership and members of our great Order, assure that each and every council is actively recruiting members and constantly running effective programs. It is the only way we will grow, the only way we can continue to do the good works of the Order, and the only way that our Order will survive. The Sunday before the District Deputy meeting the Gospel was Matthew’s Gospel that contains “The Parable of the Sower”. We have all heard this parable many times; it’s the parable where Jesus preaches about the sower that went out to sow seed. In the parable Jesus says that some seed fell on the road and was eaten by birds, some seed fell on rocky ground with little soil and sprouted quickly, but without roots it was scorched by the sun, some seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew and choked it, and finally, some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit a hundred, or sixty, or thirtyfold. I have heard and thought about this parable many times and in many different ways. However, on this particular Sunday, probably because I had been preparing for the upcoming District Deputy organizational meeting, the parable struck me in a completely different manner. I started to think about the councils in our great jurisdiction and what is need to sustain or Order and make it grow so that we can best serve our Church, our communities, the unborn, the less fortunate, our families, and last but not least ourselves. The answer was easy, it jumped right out at me, and the Gospel was telling all of us what is needed. Our councils, each and every one of them need to be the rich soil. They need to be the places where new member and old members alike, along with their wives and children, find a place to satisfy their inter hunger to do good works and a place for good family social events. All new council starts out as this place, this rich soil, but somewhere along the line many councils lose their direction. So I challenge you, my brother knights, to please revisit you council’s approach to membership and programs. If you are not already the rich soil, change plans and restructure your council to be an organization that aggressively recruits new members and one with rich soil that allows its members to grow, its council to grow, and its programs to grow to better serve our Church, our communities, the unborn, the less fortunate, our families, and our members.
Vivat Jesus Vivat Jesus
George R. Koch August 2011
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