Meeting Minutes DDC 2025 Fall meeting:
Meeting called to order 9:01am and opening prayer – SK Ben Oani (DDC President)
Pledge of Allegiance – SK Kevin McGillis (District Master – 3rd Texas District)
Welcome and Opening Remarks – Mike Courtney (Diocesan Deputy)
– Big Thank you to all brothers and families for what we do and the support we get from our families.
– Dallas Diocese is going very well.
– Welcomed State Deputy Ron Alonzo, Supreme Territorial Director PSD James Caffrey.
– Mike asked to think back to our Exemplification and “Why” we joined the Knights and also one time as a member of the Knights that the most gratification
that was felt personally satisfied, that reason for joining. Then Mike asked, tomorrow morning when you go to mass, reach out to one man and tell him
why you joined the Knights sharing the story. Invite that person into the “Experience of a Lifetime”; the power on one with the help of fellow brothers.
– Mike gave us his personal story of why he joined and his promise to God.
State Report – Ron Alonso (State Deputy) – 3 things to make your council, district and diocese successful and to grow the order.
– Game Plan
– Used football analogy of the coach and offensive coordinator scripting the 1st ~10 plays of the game.
– Our Grand Knights are given a fraternal planner and should have met with their priests and planned the fraternal year.
– Share that plan with your District Deputy and your council; plan church recruitment drives in October because Nov and Dec are busy
– Have plans ready for all 4 quarters of the fraternal year for membership, getting required forms in, etc.
– Accountability
– This is a volunteer organization. This is understood.
– But we all stepped up and said we are going to wear the K of C badge and all the responsibilities associated with that badge (whether its
individual member, officer, or state deputy).
– All of us officers / directors are the starting lineup with 200K members in Texas lined up to support us (many wanting your job).
– As State Deputy, Ron spot checks failing councils on membership with Grand Knight. Checks for 1) meeting held in a month, 2)was the Grand Knight
present, and 3) was DD present, 4) was insurance agent present. 5) is having quorum a problem.
– Every council deserves a good district deputy – acts a mentor, shares experiences, must be present.
– Everyone at every level needs to mentor / coach up their assistants so that one day they can take on the bigger role.
– Time Management
– Don’t wait until the last minute to do things.
– “Don’t lose or waste the opportunities in the early quarters of the year”
– “Don’t try to start/restart the engine in January… time management”
– Make sure your meetings are concise (not last more than 45 min to 1 hr); officers (esp Grand Knight) should be prepared for that meeting; not
prepare during the meeting. Committees should meet and make decisions ahead of the meeting and simply provide reports.
– Average age of K of C members is 58.5. Goals in K of C is all about the numbers; this past week was the lowest in the fraternal year as far as
recruitment – only 7 avg new members brought in across 15 Texas Dioceses 200K men. In the order, we lose 36 men in a week.
Run meetings effectively, be active, have programs, so that young men want to become members and want to stay engaged with the Knights.
K of C has 32 wide-ranged programs; no excuses for not doing all of them (e.g., too much, physical labor, too much time) – pick one or two, you
can do. Additionally, K of C programs are not only for membership – can involve non-members.
Report – Supreme Territorial Growth Director (Great Plains Territory) – Jim Caffrey (lives in Colorado)
– Primary role is to support the growth of the order “as a resource to help you invite men become better disciples of Christ”
– Took over territory responsibilities this past July.
– Plains Territory covers Texas to Manitoba (Central time zone)
– Acknowledged field agents and the good they do for our families.
– We need to invite men into K of C; and again, the key is programs.
– It takes only 1 person to head up a program; and invite other men and families to be a part of it.
– Jim’s main purpose for visit was to talk about the Delta Church drive for growth (October – is the key month of the 2nd quarter)
– Drive needs to be coordinated between the church council and the field agent(s).
– Pastor needs to be on-board (meet with the Pastor early on to have plan).
– Use Fraternal planner for planning drives in October (Columbus Day) and March (Founders Day).
– 4 brochures available and enrollment card to help: being a Knight of Columbus, Benefits (Insurance/Financial), what Knights do,
Spirituality, Core, etc. (available in meeting slides).
– Church Drive Proof of Concept:
– Provides suggested Pulpit announcement along w/ enrollment cards to cast a wider net. When they fill out the card, collect card,
follow up within 24-hours (see slides). Enter their information for them and confirm their membership with an email.
The enrollment card (form-11881) gives us their permission to enter their information online for them.
– Question was raised about 35-40 year old recruits and it was answered that the materials and proof of concept do work.
– Showed 45-sec video called “My Knight” which was from the wife or woman’s perspective. Available on Youtube channel.
Ron Alonso – commented:
– DO NOT sit on the enrollment cards when you get them – act immediately or it will be an opportunity lost.
– When doing pulpit announcement, pick someone who can speak well and engage the audience.
– When doing a church drive: DO NOT show up with only two men; man exits (2 men at each).
– Involve field agent.
DDC Programs:
– Membership Reed Fontenot (State Warden)
– Dallas Diocese doing very well.
– Current performance: 90% july (Great August and September), October (not good, 3 new members, and only 4 CUFS scheduled for remainder
of Oct – Dallas Diocese)
– Make sure if CUF scheduled for council that it is posted on the DDC website (In person CUFs always better than the online-on demand).
– 6 scheduled for Nov and 3 scheduled for December.
– Membership goals by DD (Kells Murphy is already at 110% goal, 9 DD’s have already exceeded membership goals).
Reiterated that 2nd quarter is a hard quarter to get to or maintain goal levels.
Prospect tabs for council should have 0 members pending if council doing their job.
22 councils exceeding goals for this year (top 2 are 6065 and 12153 – successfully utilized the prospect tab).
Reed sending out list with prospect tab information to all GKs, DDs, and membership directors.
Eligibility Requirement: Practicing Catholic Men over 18; complete application form – preferably online as an e-member.
Participate in CUF (Live or on-demand) to become council member. State gets credit for E-member but council only does with CUF.
Question raised about fee – Need to put “BlessedMcGivney” code in and hit apply to get fee waived.
Ron Alonso suggests: membership director and FS get together – look at prospect tab and start making calls. Last fraternal year,
800+ members were brought in online and never converted to council off the prospect tab. GET THEM INTO COUNCILS!
Only FS has access to the prospect tab (they act as assistants to state director).
It was suggested by the audience to have a laptop present during membership drive – better than a phone to sign up new members.
– Big Thank You!
– Safe Environment – Bryan Finley / Jorge Ruiz
– Programs are important – you cannot participate in programs without safe environment clearance.
– As a responsibility as a knight – we need to comply with our Diocese.
– and 4 council officers need to comply with the K of C Supreme SEP policy.
– 2 ways: either diocesan SEP program for parish ministries or K of C (DDC) SEP compliance.
– Diocese has new system (VirtusOnline.org) Background check and training, but you need to provide proof to K of C of your
diocese program certification.
– DDC also has an SEP website for managing K of C SEP compliance.
– Training is one year, background check is every two year. date in range, you will show compliant.
– All councils should have a safe environment director (if no director, falls to the GK).
– SEP Website location: kofcdallas.org programs – Safe Environment.
– user is member # password is – e.g. user: 51778899 pass: 1972-51778899
– GK and SEP Coordinator / Director login will have a dashboard – Council management tool – add new members.
– Activate and deactivate a member (but you don’t need to delete).
– Again Diocese Virtus system (compliance through Parish) and DDC SEP systems are not connected; status information
needs to be copied manually for each member over to DDC SEP database.
If a member is certified compliant by the diocese, they must submit proof of that compliance (i.e. certificates,
training and background dates from Virtus) to the council’s safe environment coordinator / director to enter the
information into the DDC SEP system.
– The individual member can register / set up his training and submit request for background check.
– Training is virtual, but Chuck Johnson will conduct a live class of 10 or more members.
– SEP phone app coming soon.
10:35 – 10:45 BREAK
– American Wheelchair Mission – Bill Weber
– Recognized fellow Knights in program: Mark Damah (assistant Dallas Diocese Chair) and Ricardo Guzman (AWM Executive Director).
– As of September 30, 20 councils have donated $12,877 (85 wheelchairs) – down over $40K for this time last year.
– State total is $97,172 (648 wheelchairs) which is up over $20K from last year.
– St Mark’s in Plano, over the weekend continuing this Sunday, raised over $35K (236 wheelchairs).
– As a goal, each Dallas Diocese council donate $150 (1 wheelchair).
– Wheelchair Sundays most effective way to raise money; and a good event to recruit new K of C members.
Consists of a brief 2-3 min pulpit talk at all masses; collecting funds; passing out donation envelopes.
– Wheelchairs come in 2 sizes: 18 and 20 inch. Wheelchairs in local storage if anyone is in immediate need of a wheelchair.
– Bill will be stepping down from the Texas Wheelchair Chairman. Brian Nelson of San Antonio will become the new Texas Chairman
and they are looking for an assistant from the Dallas Diocese.
– Bob Stras Memorial Basketball Tournament – Jake Fleischer (Immediate Past DDC President)
– Tournament has been going on for 62 years (with this year being the 62nd tournament).
– 3 reasons for this tournament: 1) familiarize youth and their families of who the K of C is all about (engaging them where they are
in sports); 2) support 2 of our largest Catholic high schools: Dallas Jesuit and Bishop Lynch who are also the hosts for the tournament;
and 3) honor the legacy of our brother Sir Knight Bob Stras – who kept tournament alive for 40 years – active in K of C (e.g. “Hike for
Life” and “4th Degree Chalice Program”).
– 8 girls teams compete at Bishop Lynch, 8 boys teams compete at Dallas Jesuit. Event is weekend following Thanksgiving Weekend Dec 4-6.
– Knights contribute to: all the trophies, T-shirts (~360 kids wearing shirts with K of C them), personalized bag tags (K of C logo, tournament
logo, school logo, and the person’s name), feed every kid at the end of every game, special commemorative coaches gift, a stipend for each
of the schools ($5000+) to help with the tournaments expenses including referees, security, etc.
– 50-page full color program – funding from program ads pay for must of the costs of the tournament.
Individual sponsorships is down. need more individual sponsorships. total 16% behind from last year.
– 20 to 30 volunteers (knights) come out to help feed the kids at each of the schools and help with other activities.
– Color Corps presence at both of the Championship games to present colors and at the trophy ceremony.
– K of C License Plate Program / RSVP Seminarian Support (Dan Stoffel)
– RSVP – to provide each Seminarian with at least a $500 donation (Supreme gives back a $100 refund).
– John Little is charge of the Dallas Diocese and the Diocese has 49 Seminarians its supporting. John tries to get 4 sponsors
for a total of $2000 per Seminarian. Council 5052 sponsors 24 Seminarians.
– K of C License Plates – After getting the plate and each renewal from the State of Texas, $22 goes to a fund to support retired priests.
The default plate number (assigned) costs $30, custom or personalized plate is $70. Goto myplates.com
Plate frames and magnets also available that supports retired priests.
– Dan is also chairman of the audit committee. K of C is a 501.C8 – We are exempt from sales tax – but we need to apply for it. If you
qualify, a letter would be issued stating “Exemption Verification Letter”. Letters can be searched online. 220 Councils have this letter.
Supreme also has this letter. Question was asked about expiration of tax exemption (letter) requiring renewal. Council needs to remain
active as 501.C8 with filed 990 form. More clarification to be researched on this subject.
– Silver Rose / Icon Program – Tony Stobb
Two simple and powerful programs to run that goes towards Star Council and promotes spirituality in your parish, in your council.
– Silver Rose – Every year a track (around May timeframe) that goes through the Dallas Diocese starting in Canada through US, Texas, Dallas,
and finally laying the Silver Rose at the feet of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Cathedral in Mexico. 4th Degree has a Silver Rose ceremony
that resides in the Dallas area. Silver Rose guidebook available (English/Spanish) – History of Silver Rose program, rosary, liturgy of
the word, Act of consecrations…
– Pilgrim Icon – In honor of and reverence to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; this powerful prayer program package contains liturgy of the word,
divine mercy, catechesis of what the Sacred Heart of Jesus is – involve the parish – have your council bring the icon to your church.
– Mike Courtney commented referencing last’s years appreciation dinner stating 40 priests attended with the icon present at the dinner,
and the priests present, said “Yes” to conducting this program at their respective parishes. This program is spiritual and is another
opportunity to bring in new member Knights.
– Evangelization and Faith Formation (EFF) – Dr James Kauffman
– 22 councils have EFF programs, but we need more.
– Council 8954 is sponsoring a Dallas Core workshop on December 6. (9-11am).
– Share best practices with existing directors and new or potential EFF councils get to hear what is working well.
– Look at infusing technology in faith formation: Google Classroom, Notebook ALM, ChatGBT, Gemini Jim, other tools.
– Core program offering workshop next Saturday 11/18 – 2.5 hours at St Joseph: “Becoming the Great Catholic Husband”. 9-1130a (free w/
open registration).
– Clergy Appreciation Dinner (CAB Table Sales). Chaplain of the Year and Seminarians’s Best Friend Awards – Ben Oani
– This coming event will be on Friday February 13, 2026 at the Kaycee Club (Council 799) – Cocktails 6p followed by dinner and program.
– Bishop Burns will be in attendance; K of C State Deputy is also invited to attend.
– 2 Awards: Chaplain of the Year and Seminarian’s Best Friend
– Table sales open through the DDC website: kofcdallas.org/store/ (18 tables available).
– Proceeds to go the Seminarians emergency fund along with other DDC charities. Bishop Burns will get 70% of the total proceeds.
– To facilitate Chaplain of the Year, a nomination form with 3 questions has been provided both printed and electronic online (DDC Website,
events (Clergy Appreciation Dinner). Seminarian’s Best Friend award is given to an individual or a couple, council or assembly who does
special things above and beyond to help the Seminarian(s). This is more than just the monetary donation. This submittal is free form.
Both nominations need to be sent to Ben Oani by November 1, 2025.
– Final Comments / Wrap-up
WSD Ron Alonso:
– Silver Rose transfer on Dec 9 thru 10 in Laredo TX. Supreme master will be attending (All WDMs of 4th Degree are planned to be
attending). Get reservations in to attend. Supreme has 8 Silver Roses that travel the US, Canada, Alaska that travel through all the
Jurisdictions. 7 out of 8 Roses come through Texas. Transfer to Mexico is over the Int’l Bridge which is shutdown for the day. Texas Delegation meets Mexican Delegation at center of the bridge. Respective American and Mexican bishops and brother knight are there for the
transfer.
– For EFF, Director Greg Brown working on very 1st Texas State Council men’s retreat to be held in March 2026 – Location TBD – minimum 100 men.
– Clergy Banquet – When getting table, be sure to invite your Chaplain, your parish priest.
– Challenge: make sure all the work the DDC Diocesan Deputy is recognized at the end of this fraternal year.
Deputy Mike Courtney:
– Thank you to all for a great morning.
– Mike announced his retirement from the workforce.
– Mentioned Kevin Quinn (Assistant Dio Deputy) attended District Deputy meeting for Mike in Beaumont TX.
Kevin (normally a quiet guy) saw 3 Knights there w/ t-shirts saying – So goes Beaumont, so goes Texas. Mike said, I wasn’t there,
but would not stand for that. We have said “As Dallas goes, so does Texas”. We, Dallas, don’t like to stand behind anyone.
– “This is our challenge; the gauntlet was thrown…. every program presented today allows you to go out and invite another gentleman
to come in and be part of what we do to get us back to where we need to be”.
– Mike thanks us all for what we do and what we will do. We will we have a t-shirt made for the convention next year in May (the time in
Dallas – “As Dallas goes… So does the Great State of Texas”
“Thank you for all that you do. Thank your families for allowing you to do it and lets do it one step better from what we do today”
– Final Prayer – Ben Oani
– Meeting Adjourned and 50/50: 11:44am (Opened up to visiting program directors and tables).
Minutes respectfully submitted.
SK Joseph A Boduch
DDC Secretary.