The Rhode Island State Council Knights of Columbus held its 2008 state convention at the Best Western hotel at Newport on the weekend of May 2 - May 4, 2008. The beautiful surroundings of the hotel set the stage for a wonderful convention enjoyed by all who attended.

The RI State Council was blessed, as Supreme Director Fred Abraham graced our presence for the weekend. he and his lovely wife Chris are truly a gift to the Knights in general and we were fortunate to have them share our weekend.

Special thanks to State Deputy Arthur Sylvester and his lovely wife Mona for a truly magnificent weekend. They put in hours and hours of time to make the weekend just perfect. That started out by choosing a great convention planner in Augustus "Red" Drywa. He has done this for several years in a row now and we all hope he continues doing it because he really knows what he's doing. Thank you, Red.

Friday night started our weekend with the traditional banquet. Over 100 members and their wives feasted on a wonderful chicken dinner. We also were treated to some of the funniest jokes ever heard at a banquet as PSD Ken Hogan graced the premises as the Master of Ceremonies.

Supreme Director Morrissey provided us with a very good history lesson about the Knights and gave us strong incentives to continue our membership drives for the rest of the year.

Saturday morning started out with a Mass celebrated by our Bishop Thomas Tobin and our State Chaplain Father Joe Paquette. What a wonderful way to start our proceedings off.

Bishop Tobin was grateful to the RI State Council and the subordinate councils presented him with over $6,000.00 for the Catholic Charity Fund Appeal. The Knights of Columbus first principle is Charity and we truly exemplified that as we stood up and took notice as to the importance of the Catholic Charity Fund.

Saturday evening we had our traditional Memorial Mass for our deceased members. 2007-2008 was a very difficult year as we lost so many members. Our Mass provided an opportunity for us all to say good- bye one last time and let everyone know that they will not be forgotten. To see pictures from the Memorial Mass, please visit the Convention photo montage

May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

2008 was a State Officers election year. We completed our weekend by electing Michael Benson as the new Warden. Good luck, Michael, as you start out on your new journey. State Deputy Sylvester concluded his second year as State Deputy (and 10th year total going through the chairs!). He truly deserves to be near the back of the bus as the new Immediate PSD.

Of course, since we voted in a new warden, that means that we alos ushered in a new State Deputy. State Secretary Stephen Ciolfi became our new State Deputy elect. Steve has been a wonderful addition to the RI State Officers and we truly wish him well as he takes over the reins of the State Council. All the other State Officers moved up a position so we we also wish them good luck this Columbian year: State Secretary John Marcello, State Treasurer Jim Gilcreast, State Advocate Peter Lentini.

The state will be well represented at the Supreme Convention in Quebec City, Canada this August with delegates: Rick Forest, Ed Seeley, and Anthony Tedeschi as well as State Secretary John Marcello.

The weekend's conclusion was a wonderful colation at the hotel. It gave us all a chance to kibitz one more time and discuss the highlights of the weekend and speak about the upcoming Supreme Convention in August.