My dear brothers and sisters,
I wish to base this month’s letter on an issue that has engaged my attention for sometime now and which I was privileged to share with Council 71 recently. You would recall that in my letter of January 2008, I impressed upon you the need to count your blessings and not only that but to remember to share them because they are “community gifts” that God channels through us. Again in my letter of March, I described our Noble Order as “a force for spirituality founded on unity, charity, friendship and service which connects each one of us in ways that enable us to serve our God and man. For that reason, I said our Order must be strong and went on to say that the Order can only be as strong as each one of its Councils and Courts and our Councils and Courts can only be as strong as their members”.
Any keen observer of our Order would realise that even though we have grown to nearly 180 Councils and Courts, very few of our Councils and Courts can be said to be growing in strength in terms of numbers, finances and deeper understanding of what the Noble Order stands for. This is forcing the focus of almost everything about the Order on these few Councils and Courts particularly those in the Greater Accra such that the Region has become the engine that is propelling almost every aspect of the Noble Order. This is good but the Noble Order should be strong as a whole and not in parts if we are to play our role effectively in the Church and society. Indeed any weakness in any part of the Order renders this great “force of spirituality” weak. To help reverse this situation, could I ask Councils and Courts that are endowed to factor some of the questions below in their discussions this month?
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Could we be a little inward looking and find ways to support Councils and Courts that are weak? Could some strong Councils and Courts adopt some weak ones and support them financially, the performance of the rituals and other activities? In this regard is there something we can learn from the way developed countries support developing countries?
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Could we get from among the strong Councils, Brothers who would volunteer their time and money as “supreme Knight’s Ambassadors” to help improve the quality of meetings, motivate and encourage our less endowed Councils?
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Many of our members have the energy and strength to do much of the “legwork” that many of us are unable to do. Yet because of finances they have joined the band of dormant brothers and sisters. Perhaps if we reminded ourselves of St. Paul’s letter about “the body being made up of many parts with each part contributing its quota to the proper functioning of the body”, we would do something for such brothers and sisters to be part of us. After all who said charity does not begin at home?
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In short, could we share some of the blessings God has bestowed on us with others?
I urge those of you endowed Council and Courts to please spare some thought for the less endowed ones. I am sure if you put your mind to it you can find ways to help so that Noble Order as a whole can be strong. The Church needs us, the society needs us. We must become more relevant than we have hitherto been. So let so let the strong help the weak! This “force of spirituality can only be strong if we are all strong.
Yours fraternally
SIR KT BRO. EDDIE PRAH
(SUPREME KNIGHT)