March 2024

My Brother Knights,

The retention procedures have changed dramatically over the last few years. In fact, the last time that I served as the State Retention Chairman under PSD George Czerwonka, the procedures were extremely complex as well as long and drawn out. Today they are much simpler and easier to process. The definition of retention has not changed although our procedures have changed, today members are not suspended, instead they are transferred to Affiliate Member status.

Here are a few definitions of retention from Webster’s dictionary:
A: the act of retaining : the state of being retained.
B: abnormal retaining of a fluid or secretion in a body cavity.

A: power of retaining : RETENTIVENESS
B: ability to retain things in mind.
specifically : a preservation of the aftereffects of experience and learning that makes recall or recognition possible. something retained.

Now for the procedures for the current retention program also known as the AFFILIATE MEMBER PROGRAM:

Q. What is affiliate Member?
A. An affiliate member is a Knight who shares our values and supports our mission, but is unable, for any number of reasons, to be engaged with a local council at this time. Q. Who is eligible for Affiliate Membership? A. A member who has not responded to his council’s outreaches for 18 or more months may be eligible for affiliate membership. The specific criteria are listed in the Guidebook. They include nonpayment of dues, no response to emails, letters, phone calls, texts, or other forms of council communication. Eligible members also have not attended council meetings or events, and they have not been seen at Mass.

Next month more Questions and Answers on Affiliate Membership.

Fraternally,

Andy Kraemer
Retention Chairman
retention@kofc-wa.org