INTO THE BREACH

01/14/2023

Council: 13861 - SANFORD

Project Description:

“And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land…” Ezekiel 22:30 This is the Sacred Scripture verse chosen by Bishop Olmsted in his Diocese of Phoenix apostolic letter of September 2015. He pointed out that “Since AD 2000, 14 million Catholics have left the faith, parish religious education of children has dropped by 24%, Catholic school attendance has dropped by 19%, infant baptism has dropped by 28%, adult baptism has dropped by 31%, and sacramental Catholic marriages have dropped by 41%.” He then posed some serious, pertinent questions; 1). What does it mean to be a Christian man? 2). How does a Catholic man love? 3). Why is fatherhood, fully understood, so crucial for every man? The Knights of Columbus took those questions seriously, and developed an outstanding program of video and written materials called Into the Breach. St. Thomas Council #13861 also takes these questions seriously. We proposed to our parish That Man is You group that they present this program during the summer when TMIY does not have an active program. They said yes. We purchased the program materials from National and used them in a 13 week program that met on Saturday mornings in our parish hall. The response was overwhelming. Men loved the videos, but more importantly, they loved each session topic. It resonated with all of us. We begin at 6:30AM. (We meet early so that our men can be home by 8:30AM and enjoy the weekend with their families. This program, produced by National is outstanding. We encourage every council to share it with their members and also with their communities. We also urge National to continue to provide outstanding quality programs like this that challenge, support, and enhance our Faith journey.