Worthy District Deputies
(and Worthy RDD's and Worthy GK's)
As a vital part of Supreme Council's Marian Hour Program,
our State Council has been given possession of two icons of Our Lady of
Guadalupe with the intention they tour North Carolina over a two year period.
This is a big task so it was deemed best to leave it to each DD to schedule the
tour of the icon within his own district. That said, let's describe the process
by which icons will move between councils and across the state.
Tour sequences have been published on the state
council website showing which months each district will have custody of an
icon; you can also get to this in "Resources" below. Generally, each
district will have an icon for approximately one month. Some districts, of
course, will have their icon for a longer period of time depending on the
geographic distances involved or the number of missions and parishes without
KofC councils to be visited. If necessary, DD's of adjacent districts may swap
an icon back and forth in response to special situations; just let us know in
your itinerary what you arrange to do in this respect.
After seeing where your district falls in this
sequence, talk with your councils and decide when each of them will have the
icon and conduct a veneration service at their parish. If a council's parish
services a mission, the council will also conduct a veneration service there.
As DD you will also have to contact missions and parishes in your area without
any KofC council affiliation and arrange for a council or assembly to bring the
icon to them. DD's will be advised of those places we've found in our research
by an attachment sent with their copy of this message. (links
to listings of parishes and missions in both dioceses are below in 'Resources')
Our Worthy State Deputy is adamant in his desire that the icons visit every
Catholic place or worship in our great state. Once you have established an
itinerary for the icon's tour within your district pass it on to me by e-mail.
At least a month before your district is to
receive its icon, get in touch with the DD of the district getting the icon
before you. Find out what council in that district is the last to have the icon
and when their veneration service is scheduled. Send a delegation from the
first council in your district to attend that service. They will then take the
icon with its accompanying materials (which will include an easel, narrative,
travel log and a case of reusable booklets and prayer cards) to their parish
for veneration. (The icon measures 48"x31"x6" so a larger
vehicle will be needed to transport it.) Thereafter each council next in line
to receive the icon will have to send a delegation to the previous council to
pick it up at the veneration service. And as soon as your district arranges to
receive the icon, get in contact with the next DD so he can send a delegation
to the last veneration service in your district.
When the Organizational and Mid-Year meetings
roll around, districts having custody of an icon should bring them to their
respective meetings. The district hosting an icon located closest to the State
Convention site will also have to bring the icon to that event.
The veneration of our Blessed Mother's icon and
relic is sponsored by our Order and thus the councils will take the lead role
in arranging for and conducting the prayer services. Councils are encouraged to
add simple acts of devotion such as placing roses in front of the icon or
having a Fourth Degree Honor Guard escort the icon into the prayer
service. If you feel a congregation would benefit from an explanation of
the events of Our Blessed Mother's appearance to Juan Diego, the intricacies of
the image's symbolism and the miraculous traits of the tilma,
a narrative has been written which can be read before the prayer service. This
can be accessed on the state web page or reached through the
"Resources" listed below; a limited number will be included in the
case accompanying the icon.
After the service collect the prayer books and
return them to the plastic case provided and send it along with the image, the
logbook and the easel to the next council. The Grand Knight should record the
council’s program in the logbook that accompanies the image before sending it
on to the next council. (Supreme Council has stated that no money should be
collected nor should any social activity be held in conjunction with the
service; I would thus presume active recruiting for our Order might not be
entirely appropriate at these services, however attractive it might be to do
so.) Additional steps to be taken by each council are provided under
"Resources".
Please pass this on to your councils and their
Grand Knights.
Resources:
A summary of the veneration prayer service and steps by which your
councils can prepare are shown on our State Council's website:
http://kofcnc.org/11_12%20files/Programs/marian_hour_page.htm
Details of the veneration service
are in a sample program booklet:
http://issuu.com/knightsofcolumbus/docs/olog_book?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed
Here it is in Spanish:
http://issuu.com/knightsofcolumbus/docs/olog_book_es?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed
Our Lady of Guadalupe Prayer Card (you may
need to open these with Internet Explorer):
http://www.kofc.org/un/en/resources/service/church/olog_prayer.pdf
In Spanish:
http://www.kofc.org/un/es/resources/service/church/olog_prayer.pdf
Our Lady of Guadalupe narrative:
http://kofcnc.org/PROGRAMS/CHURCH/Marian%20Hour/Our%20Lady%20of%20Guadalupe.htm
Icon tour schedules by district:
http://kofcnc.org/PROGRAMS/CHURCH/Marian%20Hour/Tour%20Schedule.htm
Listing of Charlotte Diocese parishes and missions:
http://www.charlottediocese.org/directories/parishes (click on the small typeset 'Parish Directory' in the lower left
for all of them)
Listing of Raleigh Diocese parishes and missions:
http://www.dioceseofraleigh.org/directory/ (click on 'show all')
In Juan Diego's second meeting with our Blessed
Mother, he returned to the hill where he had first met Mary and found her there
waiting for him. Imploring her to send someone else, she responded: "My
little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have
chosen."
Vivat Jesus,
Fred Burton (Yardmaster_28112@yahoo.com)
Alvaro Alzate
Marian Hour Co-Chairs