State Membership Page

Information on Growing Your Council -  Recruitment and Retention Ideas -  State Support and Programs

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• NH State Council Membership Organization
  • The State Membership Team
    “Knights have nothing less than a moral obligation to offer every eligible Catholic man the opportunity and the privilege of membership in our Order. Also, we must have a Knights of Columbus presence in every parish.” Those were the words of Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson as he addressed his first meeting of state deputies.
    
    Besides the usual reasons, we’ve also noted the special circumstances of our day. Due to the crisis in vocations, the shortage of priests forces the Diocese of Manchester to cluster parishes. This means that a single priest will be serving a few parishes. Are we as Knights prepared to assist him in this capacity?
    
    We need to do our best to invite like minded Catholic men to join us. Imagine that each parish has an active Knight on each committee, an active Knight in each ministry, and an active council prepared to help meet the unforeseen challenges in the parish that each pastor meets! The Knights of Columbus has proved many times of its ability to do this. This is what Pope John Paul the Great had in mind when he described our order as “the strong right arm of the Church”.
    
    The state membership team is organized by the State Deputy to address all things related to membership. It is his priority that we do all we can to invite like minded Catholic men to join us in our effort to grow in our faith, unify our families and parishes, and serve our families and community by our service.
    
    The focus of the membership team is not on numbers, it is on the quality of membership that is important. Our priority is to make our membership in the Knights of Columbus truly the Experience of a Lifetime.
    
    Membership Director
    The Membership Director is appointed by the State Deputy to lead a team of men who each work within specific membership categories. In turn, the Membership Director works directly with the District Deputies and indirectly with the councils. All correspondence regarding membership is through the membership director.
    
    Insurance
    The Knights of Columbus insurance program is operated solely for members and their families, and relies on council-agent teamwork for its success and provides the financial backbone for all the Order's good works.
    
    Make sure your council is working with its insurance agent as closely as possible. Appoint an insurance promotion chairman, if possible the field agent, to ensure a smooth council relationship. New officers need to get to know their field agent. Call on him to be a part of your recruitment team or to train recruiters. Remember— he is the professionally trained salesman, utilize him!
    
     Fr. McGivney Guild
    The Father Michael J. McGivney Guild serves as a source for information about the life, works and spirituality of Father McGivney. The Guild distributes informational materials about him, receives reports of favors granted through his intercession and oversees the distribution of relics. Guild members receive regular updates on the progress of Father McGivney's cause for canonization and are invited to participate in promoting devotion to this Servant of God.
    
    New Council Development
    New Council Development is charged with seeing to the growth and expansion of the Order in New Hampshire. In this department, the dream of Father Michael J. McGivney to have a council in every parish is our focus. To better incorporate the various Catholic populations, we are working to include additional colleges and universities, Spanish-speaking parishes and Eastern Rite churches.
    
    Round Table
    A Knights of Columbus presence may be established in one of two ways: by the institution of a new council or by the establishment of the Parish Round Table program. Through the Round Table a council works closely with the pastor of each parish or mission that it serves. All Knights in a parish, regardless of their council affiliation, are part of the Round Table. This program makes the tremendous manpower of the Order readily available to the pastor to help him achieve his plans and goals.
    
    Retention
    Our Order loses many members within the first or second year after initiation because they are uninformed on the programs, objectives and achievements of the Knights of Columbus. Others leave due to lack of opportunity to reap the benefits of membership, including the chance to work on activity committees they found interesting and challenging.
    The goal of the state retention chairman is to work with the district deputies and the grand knights to keeping members who are in jeopardy of suspension. Remembering that it is our moral obligation to invite Catholic men to join our order, it remains our obligation to do what we can to help members to maintain their membership in good standing. 

March 10, 2008 - State Membership Report

• March Membership Madness!!
  
  Worthy Grand Knights and Brothers,
  
  A Focused Recruitment Plan
  
  Supreme has asked all of us to be focused on and perform a Membership Blitz for the month of March. I know, as with a lot of councils that when we think of a Membership Blitz we think of putting a brother knight up on a soap box in front of the Church to talk about the Knights and his experience. Then telling anyone interested to see a brother knight at the back of the church for further questions or applications or conveniently scheduling a coffee and donut social after that mass. Well there’s more to it than just asking someone to join even though that might sometimes work. To have a successful council we need to create a Focused Recruitment Plan. Some of these ideas have been introduced to you and expressed at the latest District Deputy seminars and the State quarterly meetings. The idea here is not just asking a perspective candidate to join our order but being able to answer his question on what we do as a council and what our goals are as well as what we expect out of him once he joins the order.
  
  We are What We Do!
  Have your message ready and clear!!! Activities are what we do!!! Explain the different activities and when you perform them. Show prospective members your council calendar and Activity list. If you don’t have a current Activity list to work with, then your council should prepare one. Start with the five service groups on top (Church, Community, Council, Family, and Youth) and list the activities that your council currently performs under each column. This will also help your Council expose the areas it’s lacking in and also show the needs to recruit members that can assist in building up those areas and not just building council numbers.
  Make your Plan!
  Prepare for a March Blitz! – Order your materials now and start to get your volunteers ready to assist in the process.
  
  Please find attached the web address for the Blitz material order form:
  http://www.kofc.org/cmf/resources/BlitzFormNew.pdf 
  If you have any question please fell free to call or email.
  
  Fraternally,
  
   Richard A. Bouchard
  State Membership Director
  NH State Council, Knights of Columbus
  603 235-3921 rbouchard@haartz.com
   

•  September 2007 and February 2008 Regional Seminar Presentations

  • Spring 2008 - February Regional Seminars
    Spring 2008 Regional Seminar - Part 1 - Activity Handouts.pdf
    
    Spring 2008 Regional Seminar - Part 2 - Transition Handouts.pdf
    
    Spring Regional Seminar Workshops.pdf
    
    Fall 2007 - September Regional Seminars
    Fall 2007 Regional Seminar - Part 1 - Activity.pdf
    Fall 2007 Regional Seminar - Part 1 - Workshop.pdf
    
    Fall 2007 Regional Seminar - Part 2 - Membership.pdf
    Fall 2007 Regional Seminar - Part 2 - Workshop.pdf

• January 22, 2007 - Ladies Secret Guide to the Knights
• January 22, 2007 - Quality of Membership
• January 22, 2007 - Requirements of Membership