The attached letter was sent to the Council from Joyce Gridley, the Justice & Peace Chair for the Catholic Church of St. Mark.Food Pantry Letter

The Kempsville Council of the Knights of Columbus (10515) is pleased to announce the opening of the 2021 application period for the Young Man and Young Woman of the Year awards. Each recipient will earn an award of $500. The award is open to young Catholic men & women who are members of the Catholic Church of St. Mark, family or friends of Council 10515 members, and students at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High.

The attached documents (one in Microsoft Word format and one in PDF format) include the application packet and instructions for filling out and submitting application.

The deadline for submitting an application is April 12, 2021.

YM-YW Application Packet 2021 (PDF Format)

YM-YW Application Packet 2021 (MS Word Format)

Good morning Mike,

Sorry for the delay in responding to this email. We just wrapped up the semester at the Seminary this past Friday, so the last two weeks have been a bit chaotic trying to finish papers and other assignments, while the professors are also rushing to cover all the material they needed to cover.

I thank the brothers for taking such great interest in my formation journey. Many things have occurred since the last time at was at St. Mark for Christmas 2019. In January, as required by Canon Law and the other documents guiding Priestly Formation, I went on a 1-week silent retreat with the rest of the seminary. It was truly a graced filled moment. I was also able to received my 2nd and 3rd degree as a Knight. The group of us that received 3rd degree where the last ones to do so under the former manner in the State of Maryland. As the semester progressed, I decided that the Lord was calling me to go on pilgrimage over my Spring break.  With this in mind and my heart I purchased a plane ticket and spent 5 graced filled days in Rome. I visited three of the four Major Basilicas namely: St. Peter’s, St. Mary Major, and St. John Lateran. I also was able to see and pray at many other historic and beautiful churches, visit my friends studying at the Pontifical North American College, and enjoy some wonderful meals along the way. When I returned to the US however, I found myself in a two-week quarantine and at the end of that quarantine an email from the Rector of the seminary telling us all to leave the seminary within 48 hours. I returned to the seminary to pack my belongings and soon made the drive down to Richmond, where at the request of the Bishop the seminarians would live for the foreseeable future.  We lived in community for ~4 months celebrating the Sacred Triduum together. After we were released from “Corona Camp” or “Frank Parater Diocesan Seminary” as we jokingly called our community, I was able to return home for a couple of weeks before beginning my summer assignment at Holy Trinity in Norfolk. During this Summer I took another major step towards ordination, after receiving my petitions several months before Bishop Knestout instituted me into the Ministry of Lector. After the Summer I returned to the seminary and we were blessed finish the whole semester without a case of Covid in the house. Now I look forward to spending some time resting at home and working at Holy Trinity until I return to the Mount for my final semester before Pastoral year.

I hope this is a good summary of what I have been doing for the last 11 months.

God Bless!

David Arellano

Diocesan Seminarian

3rd Degree Knight

Dear Mr. King,

Thank you for your email. I hope that the council is doing well and is still able to keep up with at least some of its activities despite the pandemic. I most appreciative of the council’s continuous support of me in my formation. I was thinking of the Knights just recently because my seminary had the wonderful opportunity to venerate a first-class relic of Blessed Michael McGivney. My seminary, Theological College, has a connection to his seminary, St. Mary’s in Baltimore, as both are run by the Sulpician Fathers. (TC originally was like a satellite campus of St. Mary’s.) Fr. McGivney is now the third saint to have studied at a Sulpician seminary, so we have particular reason to celebrate his beatification.

Like everywhere else, the virus has greatly impacted seminary. We have been following a strict observance of Covid protocols and of course many places in the city are closed but the greatest difference from normal is that all our classes are on zoom. I think all of us seminarians and our professors are itching for a return to in person classes if at the very least, so we don’t have to stare at our computers all day. Thankfully we haven’t had any virus cases in our seminary, and we have been able adapt well to the times. We have made the best of otherwise disagreeable terms. Personally, I have been doing very well and I am very much enjoying formation here. Now that I have left minor seminary and entered major seminary and theological studies, I have entered a more serious stage of discernment in the eyes of the Church and the bishop formally accepted me as a candidate for holy orders back in July. This brings me great joy to be moving closer toward my goal. The completion of this semester marks the halfway point of my formation- 4.5 years down, 4.5 to go! Truly the Lord has been good to me.

 

I will continue to keep your council in my prayers ever thankful for your support. Please keep me and my brother seminarians in your prayers. Blessed Michael McGivney pray for us!

Sincerely in Christ,

 

Andrew Clark

Frist Theology

Theological College

Diocese of Richmond

Mike,

 

I hope you and your family are doing well. It’s my great privilege to be in my second year of theology studies here in Rome at the Pontifical North American College. I attend classes at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, which is operated by the Dominican Order. There are about 160 men in formation for the priesthood here, hailing from across the US (as well as 6 or so Australian seminarians). 

 

We arrived back in August, when things were still mostly open throughout Rome and Italy. In those early weeks, I was able to get up to Ravenna (a city famous for 1,500 year-old Christian mosaics on the northeast coast of Italy). I also went down to Monte Cassino (the mountaintop site of both a famously pitched battle in World War II and the birthplace of Western monasticism thanks to St. Benedict). 

 

As the semester got underway, the COVID situation in Rome and Italy deteriorated. Our classes now meet exclusively online, and we were barred from leaving our seminary’s campus for about two weeks. Fortunately, we are blessed to have a gym, a running track, and plenty of green space to keep our sanity! Thanks be to God, I have not taken ill yet. A few guys here had COVID but they have recovered well. Since that time, we are now able to get out into the city for Mass on Saturday mornings and to run errands.

 

I was able to get in a nice 8 mile run along the Tiber to St. Paul’s Outside the Walls this week. I went to Mass this morning at Sant’Andrea delle Fratte, which was the site of a Marian apparition in 1842 and is the Church were St. Maximilian Kolbe celebrated his first Mass as a priest. I am spoiled living here, what can I say?

 

One of the best parts of this year is beginning to learn how to preach homilies. Every two weeks, we prepare and deliver a homily to a priest member of the faculty and two or three other classmates, who each evaluate us and offer advice. It’s a great exercise. It can be humbling, but it’s exhilarating to preach about the Word of God. This is why we came to seminary: to prepare to be parish priests. It’s a chance to use all of the theology we’ve been learning, and to draw on our own prayer life and experiences.

 

I am truly blessed to have the prayerful support of the Knights. Your prayers for me and the men in formation here are powerful and important–please pray for us, that we might be the holy and zealous priests our Church needs. Be assured of my prayers for you and Council 10515. 

 

Thank you.

 

In Christ,
Mike Nugent 

 

 

 

 

___________________________________

Mike T. Nugent 

Pontifical North American College 

Theology II

Diocese of Arlington

Pope Francis has composed a prayer asking for Our Lady to intercede in this time of pandemic. Follow the attached link to participate and view the video.

Prayer for Protection

The 2021 Annual Dues were formally assessed as of 15 December 2020 with the release of the 1st Notice invoices.  Remember, your current 2020 Membership Card expires at midnight on 31 December 2020.  The Financial Secretary will release your new 2021 Membership Card upon payment of the 2021 Annual Dues.

Our Fraternal Year 20/21 Budget, approved in June 2020, set our Annual Dues at:  $50.00/Regular Member and $10.00/Honorary Member.  Honorary Life Members are not assessed dues but can still elect to donate to our PKD Charity drive by writing a check for $3.65 or calling the FS and he will charge your credit card.    The PKD Fund is a Virginia State Council charitable fund that is used specifically to promote and support the deacons, priests and sisters that serve our Church.

All payment options are active now.

1^st Payment Method:  You can write a check made out to “K of C Council 10515″, and mail it to:

• Kempsville Council No. 10515 | PO Box 65530 | Virginia Beach, VA 23467

2^nd Payment Method: Go online to the council website and select the MEMBERS tab and then select PAY YOUR DUES from the drop down menu.  You will be brought to the DUES payment screen.

• If you logged on to the MEMBERS ONLY area of the council’s website, your member information will automatically populate
• If you didn’t log on to the MEMBERS ONLY area you will need to fill in the blank form with your member number and contact information to ensure payment is posted to your account.

Immediately after your member information is the block “Dues Payable.”  Fill in the block with your DUES from the membership invoice you received from the Financial Secretary.

• Note:  The block may already be prepopulated if you logged in with your membership number. You will need to change the amount owed if you have a balance in arrears.
  

The “Donation Amount” is the VA State Council’s Penny per Knight per Day (PKD) charitable fund is used specifically to promote and support the deacons, priests, and sisters that serve our Church.  The block is prepopulated with suggested donation of $3.65.  You can accept this amount or insert the amount you would like to donate.

The website will auto-calculate and display the additional funds collected for the credit card processing fee.

Click on the “PROCEED TO PAYMENT” button, and you will be prompted to enter your credit card information.

3^rd Payment Method:  Use your credit card and our Square Card Reader Account (note: electronic receipts can be provided)

• You can see the FS in person, and he will use our Square Card Reader to swipe your credit card. The cost is 2.6% of the transaction plus $0.10.
  • $51.44 – Annual Dues
  • $55.18 – Annual Dues plus $3.65 PKD donation
• You can call the FS, and he will take down your credit card information (cc number, expiration MM/YY, and CVC), and then charge your credit card by manually keying in your card information on the Square Reader website. The processing charge is 3.5% of the transaction cost plus $0.15.
  • $51.97 – Annual Dues
  • $55.75 – Annual Dues plus $3.65 PKD donation