Other Organizations

Knights of Columbus

Knights of Columbus is a Catholic Fraternal Organization dedicated to promoting and conducting educational, charitable, religious and social welfare works, rendering mutual aid and assistance to sick and needy members and their families, and providing insurance products and annuities to benefit members, wives and children. The Knights of Columbus is the largest Catholic men’s organization.

St. James Council #1728 volunteered over 17,000 hours in 2017.

This organization supports and/or provides the following services:

• The Tootsie Roll Drive for Intellectual Disabilities
• 5th Sunday breakfasts at St. James Church
• Serve meals for the KCHS football & Band fundraisers
• Assist Building & Grounds at St. James Church
• Teaching, coaching, and mentoring youth
• Bingo every Tuesday evenings at The Old Town Hall
• Lenten Fish Fries
• Serve meals to the Newman Center monthly
• Visiting and taking food to the sick
• Habitat for Humanity Volunteers
• Serving a meal to kick off Cruise Night
• Participate in local parades

Financial Support provided for St. James Church, ARC, Special Olympics, Scholarships for KCHS/KHS students, Newman Center, after prom parties for KCHS/KHS, Youth activities in the community for soccer, basketball, baseball and softball, Camp for autistic children, producing TV mass for the shut-ins, Pro-Life Collage, Spirit Catholic Radio, sponsor Seminarians, Provided bibles for CCD children, Monetary assistance to KCHS kids who went to Rome, Monetary support for Choice Wine, Monetary support for the Dorothy Day Presentation, Monetary support for the playground equipment for the St. James Little Fish Preschool, many Knights take part at St. James as Eucharistic Ministers, Readers, Greeters, Lecturers, Media and Sound.

Any man 18 years and older may be a member of Knight of Columbus. Council 1728 is a Catholic men’s organization dedicated to serving the Catholic Church, Priests, Brother Knights and their families as well as the larger local community.

Contact: Dan Arens-Grand Knight   308-236-2054

Catholic Daughters

Mission and History: The Catholic Daughters of the Americas (CDA) was founded in Utica, New York in 1903 by John E. Carberry and several other Knights of Columbus as a charitable, benevolent and patriotic sorority for Catholic ladies. Catholic Daughters Court #2007 was founded in about 1969 and includes women age 18 and over from both St. James and Prince of Peace, as well as Elm Creek, Amherst, Shelton, Gordon and Thedford. We donate to charities, administer scholarship programs and strive to be helping hands where there is pain, poverty, sorrow or sickness.

The CDA motto is “Unity and Charity.” The CDA today numbers 66,000 dues-paying members in 1,150 courts (local chapters) in 45 states across the country and in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, Kenya, and Peru. Catholic Daughter women enjoy each other’s company at meetings and work hard for their parishes and communities. Deeply spiritual, together they share faith, love of God and a distinctly feminine spirituality alluded to by Pope John Paul II when he spoke of the necessity of “feminine genius” in today’s world. The program includes concerns of today’s church and society as well as issues that affect the well-being of women and children.

Projects of our local court include:

• Bake sales to raise money for scholarships for Catholic Seniors in high school
• Providing desserts at the Knights of Columbus fish fry to raise money for local charities and the Catholic Daughters education fund
• Serving/providing meals and drinks at the Newman Center, Habitat for Humanity, the Jubilee Center, Octoberfest and Springfest
• Helping with Bingo at Mt. Carmel and donating to their store so the residents can “buy” things for their family and themselves
• A Date Night to provide free child care so parents can have a night out alone once a month
• Visiting residents in local nursing homes
• Helping as needed with requests from the churches and community

Contact: Lori Marshall

Serra Club

This club is for the promotion of vocations through prayer and service to our priests, seminarians, and religious. Contact: Mary Bowman, 308-234-5536, [email protected]