It’s almost time for our next parish blood drive—and we hope you’ll consider donating. The drive will be held on Friday, June 9 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Additional details below.

Sign up today!

On Sunday, April 23, the St. Isaacs Jogues 55 and Up Group held a very successful Designer Handbag Bingo event in the Parish Hall. More than 100 people attended—and our Knights of Columbus council contributed six well-stocked wine baskets as raffle prizes and several door prizes!  A number of knights also helped set up and participated in the Bingo games.

Once again, the Knights of St Isaac’s council was proud to support another St. Isaac Jogues parish ministry!  

Welcome to our newest council member, Bob Morris! He joined us in February 2023 and is a 3rd Degree Knight.

Bob has been a St. Isaac’s parishioner for over 20 years and is a big part of our parish community. He serves both as head lector and as a leader of the Adult Faith Formation Program.

A retired insurance executive, Bob currently lives in Berwyn.

Once again, welcome Bob! We’re thrilled to have you in our council!

This Lent our council has continued our tradition of simple Friday dinners of meatless soup and bread, served before Stations of the Cross.

This year we had eight soups and collected $235 to feed the poor through the Rice Bowl Program. Soups included vegetable, fish chowder, two kinds of minestrone, black bean, clam chowder, vegetable chili, and Chinese Surprise.

Thanks to all who helped make Soup & Stations a success!

Our council is raising funds to bring much needed shelter, food, medical supplies, clothing and religious goods to displaced communities in Poland and western Ukraine. Donate today

A local connection to a far away country

Ukraine may be thousands of miles from St Isaac Jogues’ parish, but one doesn’t have to look far to find someone with ties to the country. Frank Yanni, a long-time Knight and one of the founders of our council, is one such person. Frank’s grandson Andrew met, and later married, Olga, a Ukranian woman he met while working in Prague. The couple eventually came to the U.S. and stayed with Frank for over a year. They now live with their daughter Milana in Rochester, NY, a city with a thriving Ukrainian community.  

Knowing of Frank’s family ties to Ukraine, friends of Frank spontaneously started sending him charitable contributions. In the end, donations exceeded $5,000 and were wired overseas and paid the entire cost of a surgery for a Ukrainian baby. The surgery was a success and baby fully recovered after being transported post-op to a children’s hospital in Brussels.  

You too can make a difference

Whether or not you have a personal connection to someone from Ukraine, your financial support can go a long way in providing relief to those affected by the humanitarian crisis brought on by the war. If you’ve been thinking about donating to this cause, please consider using the link above to do so.   

December may be his busiest time of year, but that didn’t stop jolly old St. Nick him from visiting with dozens of children from our parish community. Santa made his appearance following the 10:30 a.m. CCD Mass on December 18.

In addition to having a chance to share their Christmas wishes with Santa, kids also received coloring books and candy canes.

Thank you, Santa for taking time to visit with the children of St Isaac’s. We’re also grateful to all of the elves who made the event possible, especially Amy Saylor and Rita Thompson, who did a terrific job setting up the coffee and snacks!

For the third consecutive year our December meeting was held at Nona Rosa Restaurant in Norristown. The meeting was intentionally kept short, so that the 16 Knights gathered had ample time to enjoy some delicious Italian food and conversation.

A high point of the evening was a surprise announcement by District Deputy Tim Schuster that our Grand Knight, Frank Schlupp, will be the recipient of the Father McGivney Award for his success growing and strengthening our council. Congratulations Frank, and thank you for all of your hard work and dedication!  

By Bill McCann

Our Phillies and Eagles have been making news this fall and with good reason. But there is another group of PA athletes making big news too. They met at Villanova University over the first weekend in November this year for the thirty-fourth time in the Fall Fest of Special Olympics Pennsylvania.

I visited Fall Fest to learn more and to talk to some of the participants. As someone who is totally blind and who has participated in a range of recreational sports from swimming rock-climbing to water skiing, I feel a natural affinity to these athletes and their friends and families. My own wonderful parents gave their blind son a bicycle for his sixth Christmas and my dad taught me to ride it that spring.

On a warm and sunny November Saturday, Hailey Fuzak, Director of Marketing and Communications for Special Olympics Pennsylvania, welcomed me to Fall Fest 2022. Immediately on arrival at Villanova, I could feel the excitement and positive vibes in the air. There really was something special going on with all of the clapping, cheering and high-energy music surging. Over a thousand athletes, their friends, and families, plus some three thousand volunteers had taken over the campus and were clearly having a rollicking good time.

We went over to the Connolly Center where the crowd of spectators maintained a hush while each powerlifter had a turn and then erupted into enthusiastic applause after each display of strength. Ms. Fuzak introduced me to Coach Pete Wilson from Lebanon Valley and two of his star athletes, Kyale and Matt. Coach Wilson let me know that he expects Matt to take the gold medal for powerlifting after bench pressing 220 pounds and “dead lifting” 264 pounds.

Kyale, another powerlifter, shared how much he enjoys training with his coach regularly a couple of nights per week. Kyale especially enjoys the social aspects of these events which have become not only chances for competition but reunions with friends.

In fact, athletes compete in seven sports: Bocci, long distance running and walking, powerlifting, roller-skating, soccer and volleyball. And, for the first time this year at Fall Fest, athletes are competing in flag football. Fall Fest is the largest, student-run special Olympics event in the world. Villanova students actively plan for Fall Fest throughout the year and pitch in in great numbers to make it all come together.

Coach Wilson expressed his appreciation for the local and national Knights of Columbus support for Special Olympics. For years now members of our own Knights of Columbus Council 13716 have served as volunteers for this uplifting event.

Mr. Wilson decided to get directly involved as a coach after retiring a few years ago as a way to give back. His daughter has participated in the program as an athlete for the past fifteen years. Working with athletes with intellectual disabilities has taught him patience; patience with them and patience with himself.

Marketing Director, Hailey Fuzak, who has been with the organization for three years now, clearly just loves her job. I asked her how it has changed her. She replied that her experience has strengthened her own personal conviction that everyone matters. “We all have different talents and strengths and there is no reason why everyone can’t be included.” Special Olympics works to get that message out. They practiced what they preach, as she says, by letting the athletes lead the way.

Everyone involved in Special Olympics is echoing the words of Our Lord” “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Fall Fest was all about celebrating life. Congratulations and commendations to all involved including our own brother Knights of the St. Isaac Jogues Council 13716.

This year’s Stockings for Soldiers parish project, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, was a resounding success! Thanks to the generosity of St. Isaac Jogues parishioners, we were able to deliver more than 40 boxes of donated items to fill stockings this year!

Stocking for Soldiers is an organization that sews holiday stockings and fills them with special items for the troops. For many troops, this gift is all they receive for the holidays and a reminder they have not been forgotten.

Many thanks to all those who donated and especially to Mark Saylor and other Knights who pitched in and helped!

On October 15, our council held a wine and cheese social to celebrate a herculean accomplishment—the refurbishment of St. Isaac Jogues Prayer Garden!

The renewal of the garden was made possible with the excellent leadership of Jeff Dutka and the tireless efforts of Jeff and two dozen other volunteers (Knights and other parishioners). The effort took 17 days and an estimated 350 person hours and included:

• Pulling weeds from between all paver stones and all shrub and flower beds.
• Power washing all of the paver stones, rosary stepstones, entry sidewalk, statues, statue bases, and the sitting wall.
• Spreading mulch on all interior and perimeter shrub beds.
• Installing a new fountain pump and spray head.
• Scraping and painting the fountain pool.
• Installing solar powered pool lights.
• Planting mums around pool perimeter.
• Starting troubleshooting and identifying electrical circuit breakers.
• Cutting down seven dead trees and performing major pruning of remaining trees.

It was a stunning transformation and finished, as planned, in time for our special 9/11 Memorial Mass.

Thank you to Jeff and all those who participated.

Cheers!