By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Officers with St. Louis Parish's Knights of Columbus Council 14730 pose with their pastor, Father Paul Vuturo, after a recent event at the church. The council just won a national award for recruiting new members.
PINECREST | Knights of Columbus Council 14730 of St. Louis Church in Pinecrest has won the award for top council in the United States for recruiting 101 new members in the 2014-2015 fraternal year.
The Knights of Columbus presents the highly coveted Century Club Award to any council adding 100 new members over suspensions and withdrawals. Michael J. McKeever represented the council on a trip to the international headquarters of the Knights in New Haven, Conn. He was also featured in the June 2015 issue of the Knights’ monthly magazine, Columbia, for his council’s significant recruiting accomplishments.
The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization with more than 1.8 million members and 14,000 councils.Charity is the Knights’ first principle. The men volunteer their time to serve their parishes and communities, and were able to donate more than $1.4 billion plus 664 million volunteer hours to worthy causes in the past decade.
The St. Louis council was chartered March 2, 2009 and quickly grew with the help and guidance of the Knights at neighboring St. John Neumann Church as well as their beloved past and present pastors, Msgr. James Fetscher and Father Paul Vuturo, respectively. Father Vuturo is also a fourth-degree member of the Knights at the St. John Neumann Assembly.
The St. Louis council has quickly become a recognized leader among the Knights of Columbus. Their faith-filled service, leadership and generous donations to their Church and community have led to several recognitions, including the Star and Double Star Council awards, and enormous membership growth.
Florida State Deputy Don Goolesby has appointed St. Louis council members to leadership positions: Charter Grand Knight James Buzzella is a District Deputy and Past Grand Knight; Charter Deputy Grand Knight Kevin Kelleher is the Knights’ public relations coordinator in the Archdiocese of Miami.
The award-winning 2014-2015 fraternal year was led by Grand Knight Salvador Romo and Deputy Grand Knight Marco Leyte-Vidal (current Grand Knight).
“This special honor and award truly belongs to all the members of the St. Louis Council,” said Kelleher. “All would agree it’s not about winning awards, but being #1 in the United States of America is a very special honor.”
