2008 NH State Council 109th Convention State Deputy Welcome General Convention Information Convention Schedule Men and Ladies detail Convention Schedules Important Fees and Deadline How to Make Hotel Room Reservations How to Register & Purchase Convention Banquet Tickets 2008 Convention Packet Submit a Convention Program Book Ad 2007-2008 State Awards Selection Process Election and Award Report - May 5, 2008 Supreme Director's Convention Talk - May 4, 2008

State Deputy's Welcome

Welcome to the New Hampshire State Council Convention

To:      State Officers, Past State Deputies, District Deputies, State Directors, State Chairmen, Grand Knights, Delegates, Faithful Navigators, Field Agents. Re:      2008 New Hampshire State Convention  My Brother Knights;  On behalf of our State Council Family, Sue and I welcome you to our annual New Hampshire State Council Convention. It will be a joyous time filled with fellowship, celebration and renewal of our mission as Knights. This is your State Council Family, so come and join us!

State Deputy Greg & Sue Taillon

 May I suggest that you make this a local Council Family Event. Come to the Convention with your Council Staff, and both existing members as well as new brothers you have recruited this year. Aim at filling a table at the Convention Banquet for your Council. Expose others, who have never been to a State Convention, to the wonderful spirit of fellowship that each Convention present us with.

 This year our Convention will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2 Somerset Parkway Nashua, NH on May 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th, 2008. The Crowne Plaza Hotel is located off Exit # 8 on Route # 3 Everett Turnpike. At the hotel, all Convention activities are conveniently held under “One Roof”.

Enclosed is all of the information pertinent to this State Convention. It is important that you read this information THOROUGHLY, so you, in turn, can present it to your entire membership, so as to encourage interest and participation. It is also important that you promote participation in the Convention Program Book. Independent of your Council’s ad, please also suggest that individual knights in your Council take out patron ads. These are only $10.

 We have planned a pleasant weekend for both delegates and guests. We are looking forward to a successful 109^th New Hampshire State Convention and hope that you enjoy this Convention weekend.

 Looking forward to welcoming you at the Convention!

God Bless

Greg

Greg Taillon, State Deputy
NH State Council, Knights of Columbus

Return to Top of Page

General Convention Information

Our 2008 annual New Hampshire State Council Convention will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2 Somerset Parkway Nashua, New Hampshire on May 2 – 4, 2008. The Crowne Plaza Hotel is located off Exit # 8 on Route # 3 Everett Turnpike.

  At the Crowne Plaza Hotel, All convention activities are conveniently held under “One Roof”.  We have planned a pleasant weekend for both delegates and guests.  We are looking forward to a successful 109^th New Hampshire State Convention. We hope you enjoy this convention weekend.

Return to Top of Page

Convention Schedule

FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 2, 2008

The convention opens with the Commemorative Service and celebration of Holy Mass.  Your attendance at this service is strongly requested.  Mass will start promptly at 6:30p.m. It is recommended that jackets and ties be worn for this service. Past State Deputies and District Deputies and District Wardens should wear the robes of office.

SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 3, 2008

Dignitaries will assemble in the Ballroom Foyer area. Dignitaries include VIP guests, State Officers, Past State Deputies, State Directors, and District Deputies. Dress Code for the Convention Banquet and Ball will be White Dinner Jacket for men. Dress Code for the Ladies will be cocktail dress or dress of choice. During the evening there will be a band for dancing.
PLEASE NOTE: Gentlemen who do not own a white dinner jacket, please come with your black tuxedo jacket or dark business suit.

SUNDAY MORNING MAY 4, 2008

Sunday Morning services will start at 7:30AM with the Rosary. This will be held outside, weather permitting. This will immediately be followed by the closing Mass. The Convention Celebration will conclude with breakfast and a brief program.

Return to Top of Page

Important Fees and Deadlines

Return to Top of Page

How to Make Hotel Room Reservations

1)    Call the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 603-886-1200 and ask for In House Reservations

2)    Identify your affiliation with the New Hampshire Knights of Columbus group to receive the preferred rate of $99.00 Do Not say K of C

3)    Guarantee your room with a credit card

4)    Hospitality Rooms can be reserved by calling 603-595-4129 and asking to speak to Michelle

Please note: If you have a hospitality room, hotel security advises no drinking in hallway.
All guests must remain in hospitality room with alcohol.

 REMEMBER: the cut off date for rooms is April 15, 2008. After the cut off date, reservations will be taken on a space available basis only and the special group rates may no longer be applicable. For further information on room reservations, contact: Ed Mele Jr., PSD at (603) 432-7452

Return to Top of Page

How to Register and Purchase Convention Banquet Tickets

1)    Fill out the Registration Form on the next page for your entire Council.

2)   Enter the number of people registering for the Convention and then break this number down by Male and Female to allow us to stock the correct number of Registration Gifts. (This registration fee must be paid in advance by all persons who plan to attend our Convention Celebration. Cutoff date is April 15th, 2008.)

3)    Make out one check to the NH STATE COUNCIL for the total of your Registrations, Meal Packages and Banquet Ticket requests. Mark the check NH State Council Convention in the memo area. Please ensure your Council Number is also on the Check.

4)    Send your check and the Registration Form to our State Convention Ticket Chairman:
                                  Barry Rondeau, FDD
                                  18 Knightland Road
                                  Atkinson, N.H. 03811

5)    All tickets will be picked up at the registration table by the Grand Knight on Friday night of the convention.

6)    Only tables of ten (10) persons can be reserved for the banquet and ball.

7)    If you have any questions please either call Ed Mele Jr., PSD (603) 432-7452 or email him at EdAnMeleJr@verizon.net .

Return to Top of Page

Convention Election and Award Report

State Council Election

    State Council Award Winners

PROJECT MOSES
Msgr. Joseph M. Donahue Council #12988 Bedford
Grand Knight John Cebrowski

Benefit Fundraiser for Accident Victim
St. Joseph/St. Raymond Council #6850 Epping
Grand Knight David Biron

COUNCIL POSTER
Msgr. Joseph M. Donahue Council #12988 Bedford
Grand Knight John Cebrowski

WEDDING VOW RENEWAL
St. Jude Council #6617 Plaistow
Grand Knight  Tom Ingham

COUNCIL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
Sacred Heart Council8016 – Greenville
Grand Knight Stephen Thompson

New Prayers on Old Beads
Phil Lessard Council #3023 - Derry
Grand Knight Frank Saglime

Council 4442 Salem – Large Councils
Council 7575 N. Conway – Medium Councils
Council 10896 So. Merrimack – Small Councils

First Place - Council #5790 Peterborough
Second Place - Council #3023 Derry
Third Place - Council #506 Berlin

Return to Top of Page

New Hampshire State Convention Talk

Supreme Director Jim White, PSD NJ

May 3, 2008

 Worthy Chaplain, Reverend Fathers, Sisters, Worthy State Deputy, Worthy Officers, Delegates to this Convention, My brother Knights, good morning, I am honored to be here today to have the opportunity to represent our Supreme Knight and to address your Convention.

 Jill and I wish to thank you for the wonderful hospitality which you have shown us during our stay with you.

 Last month, Jill and I had the privilege of standing on the south lawn of the White House and hearing the words of our president and of the Holy Father.  The Holy Father spoke about patriotism in America.  Reminding us that freedom is not free but must be bought, he said “It (freedom) also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate.  In a word, freedom is ever new.  It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good.”

 The Holy Father spoke clearly; he praised America; he praised the American people as a people of hope.  He told us that we and the World were at a crossroads and that we must all work to see Jesus in others, and to help to create a united and loving society.

 Clearly, if we are to preserve freedom, we as Catholics and as Knights of Columbus must do our part by bringing Catholic principles to the reasoned public debate.

 Certainly there are critical moral issues that cry out for our action—divorce, euthanasia, abortion, same sex marriage, embryonic stem cell research, and the root cause of many of these problems, pornography.

We need only to look at the headlines to confirm the Holy Father’s analysis.

 We face many evil and growing trends.  We must make sure that our country, America, the leader of the world, makes the right moral choices.

 Let’s examine a few recent headlines that highlight causes for the Holy Father’s deep concern.

 Marriage:  -- The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University made public a report on marriage. The report, based on interviews with adult Catholics, shows a widespread indifference to the Church's teachings on marriage.

 The most striking result of the survey is the revelation that American Catholics now divorce at rates indistinguishable from those of their non-Catholic neighbors.  About 23% of adult Catholics in the US have been through a divorce; of these 11% have remarried.

 CARA reports, two-thirds were married in the Church. That means, of course, that about 33% were married outside the Church.  Some 34% reported that they attend Mass "rarely or never," another 26% "a few times a year," and 9% "once or twice a month."

 Marriage is threatened not only by divorce but also by the enactment of same sex marriage laws.  To see the dangers posed by same sex marriage, we need only look at what is happening in Massachusetts where the legislature has refused to let the people decide on what the definition of marriage should be.

 The homosexual agenda reaches beyond marriage and is a direct threat to our children.  Let me cite just a few examples.

 A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit from Massachusetts’ parents seeking to prevent the discussion of homosexual families in their children’s elementary school classrooms, and A Maryland Circuit Court judge has ruled in favor of a public school curriculum promoting homosexuality, bisexuality, anal intercourse, and transvestitism to 8th and 10th grade students.  The curriculum also teaches how to use

condoms during unnatural sex acts and instructs students that homosexuality is innate.

 And this is just the beginning, - Boston Children’s Hospital is now offering transgender operations to children who do not feel they are the correct sex.

 Embryonic stem cell research : - This has been partially checked by the discovery of an ethical method of creating embryonic-like stem cells from skin cells.  While many researchers are using these cells, others persist in demanding that only embryonic cells will do.

 Euthanasia: - A Massachusetts girl, Haleigh Poutre,  nearly became a victim of euthanasia when doctors gave up hope on her after she entered a coma and state officials, who had custody, petitioned a court to let them take her life.  Poutre showed unmistakable signs of consciousness just prior to her possible euthanasia and now the young girl is talking more about what happened to her.

 Futile Care is a new term being reported and argued about in such influential publications as The Journal of the American Medical Association, The New England Journal of Medicine, and The Hastings Center Report.  Under Futile Care a hospital can withhold treatment at their discretion regardless of the patient’s wishes. 

ABORTION:  - The fight to preserve life and to ban abortion has reached world wide proportions.  The merchants of death are active all over the world, often under the auspices of the UN, they pressure third world countries to enact laws permitting abortion.  They are doing their best to make abortion a human right in the charter of the European Union.   In the US they have tried unsuccessfully this year to force the president to include abortion “services” in the legislation appropriating AIDS funding for Africa.

 As the worldwide conflict grows, the pro-life effort is paying off here in the US where we are beginning to win this fight.  True there have been reverses like the loss of the parental notification law here in New Hampshire and Planned Parenthood’s development of mega abortion centers in metropolitan areas, but we now  have the momentum here in the US and we must increase it if we are to overturn Roe v Wade.  Polls now show that the majority of young Americans are pro-life.  For example, a recent Harris Poll found 55 percent of "young adults" opposed "abortion rights."

Hollywood has taken notice of this trend in public opinion, and always eager to make a profit, is producing pro-life films that play to its key audience -- teenagers and young adults.  One of these films, Juno, has received 3 Golden Globe awards and has done extremely well at the box office.  Others include "August Rush, " "Knocked Up," "Bella," and "Waitress."

 This sea change in opinion has come about in part because of technological advances allowing us to look into the womb.   The main reason for this change, however, is due to prayer and good old Catholic action, ordinary people doing extraordinary things to protect life.

 In the technology area, National Right to Life reports that 13 states have enacted legislation giving women the option of seeing an ultrasound image of their womb before undergoing an abortion.  Such legislation prevents many abortions and saves lives.  I urge your councils to get behind the enactment of similar legislation here in New Hampshire.

 The merchants of death have also taken notice of the sea change in youth opinion.  No longer assured of monolithic media support, they are now resorting to draconian measures mainly focused on denying freedom of conscience.  Let me cite a few examples.

 Freedom of Conscience:-  A San Francisco area USCCB Pro-life Ad Campaign has been targeted for suppression by Planned Parenthood.  Denver's Catholic Charity Group is the latest to be threatened by so called "Anti-Discrimination" legislation.  Commenting on this,  Denver’s Archbishop Charles Chaput in his weekly column, said that Catholic Charities has a right to its religious identity. "Catholic Charities has no interest at all in generic do-goodism; on the contrary, it’s an arm of Catholic social ministry. When it can no longer have the freedom it needs to be 'Catholic,' it will end its services. This is not idle talk. I am very serious."

A Colorado Hospital Owner is suing the state Attorney General over allowing the sale of a hospital to a Catholic hospital because it would end abortion at the hospital being sold.

A federal law protecting pro-life medical clinics and professionals on abortion remains in legal limbo three years after abortion advocates brought a lawsuit against it. The state of California and pro-abortion groups had challenged the Weldon amendment shortly after Congress approved it and the suit has been held up in court ever since.

Catholic Belmont Abbey College’s president and chancellor are currently embroiled in a defense of the college’s Catholic identity against eight faculty members who insist on insurance coverage for voluntary sterilization, abortion, and contraception

A national organization for pro-life OBGYNS is challenging the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) over a new policy saying all doctors, including those who are pro-life, should refer women to abortion centers.  And, pro life pharmacists all over the USA are being forced either to prescribe abortifacient drugs or lose their jobs.

It is apparent from these headlines that the strategy of the death merchants to preserve abortion is to limiting the right of conscience.  -  So, what must we do about all of this?  The Holy Father has told us we must change. Well, lately you and I have been hearing a lot about change and the need for it.  The Holy Father, however, is showing us the best way to change.   Let us all pledge ourselves to adopt and follow the Holy Father‘s plan for change.

Our Holy Father has told us that God is Love and that only by love can we change this world for the better.  He is the vicar of Christ on earth.  Let’s listen to him, and follow his direction.  Let us love one another as God loves us.

 Throughout his visit, Our Holy Father’s words have been very clear.  He tells us to get back to basics – regular Mass attendance, Confession, Communion, and the rosary; he asks us to begin building what our Supreme Knight in his new book has called a civilization of love.

 At this critical time in our history, we need to follow the wise counsel of our Holy Father. We need to have courage; we need to shake off our fear; and we need to bring our deeply held Catholic beliefs to the reasoned public debate.  We need to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.

 Let me close with a quote form our former Supreme Secretary, Charlie Foos, who came to a New Jersey State Council Convention a few years ago and said, “ We Knights of Columbus like to say that we are the right arm of the church, well it’s time now to be its steel spine.”

 Vivat Jesus.

W. James White, PSD NJ
Supreme Director

Return to Top of Page