COUNCIL 6451 NEWS 2024 - 2023
The Official Publication of Saint Aloysius Knights of Columbus #6451, Hickory NC


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Kiwanis Park 2024 Knights of Columbus Picnic! 

Once again, the Lord blessed us with unexpectedly good weather!  On May 18th the Confraternity of Catholic Mothers, Knights of Columbus, future Knights, Ladies Auxiliary, and their families joined together for Food, Fun, and Fellowship at the Kiwanis Park in Hickory for the 2024 Knights of Columbus Family Potluck Picnic!
Forty-one attendees (not counting the bubble-blowing Red Crab that roamed our shelter) all joined in with smiles, appetite, and conversation!  A heartfelt thank you to all who planned, organized, set up, cooked, helped clean up but especially for those who attended! 

One of the most popular attendees the Bubble Blowing Red Crab

Smiling Faces Celebrating Mother's Day

On May 11th and 12th the Knights of Columbus distributed roses in celebration of Mother's Day. This event, according to Grand Knight Bryan Clark, is one looked forward to every year by both the Ladies and the Knights, allowing us to recognize the ladies on their special day.

This year we acquired 800 roses (Thank you Barry Branham) and were blessed with about 30 leftover roses, which were taken to Kingston Place for distribution to the ladies residing in that community!!

This year the Ladies Auxiliary promoted and organized the Stuff the Bottle Campaign for the Pregnancy Care Center of Catawba County.  Ladies distributed the 200 bottles over all the Masses and will collect them on Father's Day weekend. STAY TUNED for the results!!!

In the photo is Council 6451 Ed Halle (who is a volunteer at Highways and Hedges) who is presenting a check from Council 6451 to Highways and Hedges Founder Phillip Williams.  To see a brief video explaining what Highways and Hedges does, please click on the attached QR code.

Photo by GK Bryan Clark.

Click Here for More Pictures are on the
2024 New Album Page

Also, here are a few from past
years you may enjoy:

2014 Fish Fry,

2015 Fish Fry,

2016 Fish Fry,

2018 Fish Fry,

Also we held our first Spanish Language Combined Degree Exemplification!

Our Council now has 8 new 3rd Degree members: Benifacio Gutierrez Hernandez, Alfredo Lomeli, Angel Cruz Mendoza, Erik Ramirez Mejia, Jesus Reyes, Enrique Sanchez, Simeain Rameriez Perez, and Francisco VaLeivcia. Welcome aboard, we look forward to getting to know you and sharing our Faith and participating in service in the future!

A special thank you to our fellow Knights who made this possible: Deacon Francisco,  Freddie , Victor, and Roberto Herrera who were joined by Bill Matthews, Bob Hall, Matt McDonald, Bart Boodee, Ladies Auxiliary members Lynn McDonald and Jennifer Soto,  and Bryan Clark in a very successful ceremony held in Holy Family Hall. Many family members observed the event!

On 24 February 2024 several Knights were at St. Aloysius Catholic Church early in the morning finalizing preparations for North Carolina Knights of Columbus State Chaplain Fr. Bill Lesak to be the Presiding Priest over a special 8:00 Mass and then conduct a Parish Day of Reflection. 

This event, cohosted by St. Aloysius Parish and Council 6451, was attended by 66 parishioners.  Fr. Larry LoMonaco, Parish Pastor, utilized the event as the Parish Lenten Mission this year. Was it a success? 

Several parishioners, once the event concluded, commented thanking the Knights and Fr. Larry for providing this opportunity, and that this type of event is something that our Parish family enjoys and expressed a desire for more of this type of experience.

The topics covered during the program were:  Three forms of Discipleship, The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and The Church in the 21st Century.

We thank State Chaplain Fr. Lesak for connecting with our parishioners in a real and meaningful way.

During the NC West Council Leadership Training seminar (attended by Financial Secretary Harold Jones, Chancellor Matt McDonald, and Grand Knight Bryan Clark) on 22 July 2023, Council 6451 received the Top Program Award for Community for North Carolina’s Division IV.   The award was in recognition of the celebration held in 2022 for Fr. Larry’s combined ordination anniversary and birthday celebration.

An Amazing Fish Story

This year’s Lenten Fish Fry was a tremendous success for many different reasons. The hard work done in the background by Knights, who have requested to not be mentioned, every year to order, organize and run the fish fry.  Three amazing donations were received this year with allowed us, when other groups were increasing the price of their meals, to lower the price back down to the pre-Covid-19 price of $10.00 per meal for adults, $5.00 for Kids, and expand our menu back to the full set of potential side dishes from which to choose.
Added to this:  the efforts of the Ladies Auxiliary to secure advertising for us not only on Radio, and on the internet, but in inviting Wesley Hawn, The Carolina Foodie, to sample and review our Lenten Fish Fry on his Facebook venue.
Volunteers working during preparation, setup, serving, take down and cleanup, seeing repeat visitors as well as many who have never been to our Fish Fry before, and a lot of Fish and Green Beans went into setting the record of serving an average of 335 customers during the six meals served. Yes, 2009 meals!