Feast of St Michael and all Angels - MMVI
Members of the Order of Centurions, Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On behalf of the Legion I am pleased to provide this State of the Order address as we come to the anniversary of the Order of Centurions, and the Internet Chapel of the Centurions.
MEMBERSHIP
Registered membership 157. Our members are predominantly from the United States. This year we registered 15 members from Tanzania, one from Kenya, one from the Netherlands, one from New Zealand, one from Australia, one from Canada, two from England, one from Italy, and the remaining from the United States. Hence, our national breakout looks like Australia - 2, Italy - 3, Brazil -2, Canada -3, New Zealand -3, Germany -1, Britain -4, Slovakia -1, South Africa -1, Argentina -1, and Romania -1 and the remainder in the US. There are seventeen new veterans, bringing our total to about 38. We have seven new members who identified themselves as ministers, an one previous member who has been ordained this year. We have now at least 37 ordained ministers - and numerous others who are propagating the Gospel though Christian organizations and service to the Church. There were 10 designated as Honorary Tribunes bringing the total to 17. On 27 October, 13 answered the muster and were inducted into the Labarum Guard Service Arm on the eve of the anniversary of the Battle of Saxa Ruba.
FINANCES
Income: * Donations $543.50 Other In-kind Donations: Web-site hosting - value of about $60 Outflow: Expenses: $320.97 * Supplies $284.52 * Postal: $ 15.03 * Transaction Fees: $ 2.62 * Reproduction: $ 2.80 * Domain name: $ 16.00 Total Income: $543.50 Total Expenses $320.97 Change $222.53 Old Fund Balance $103.68 New Fund Balance: $326.21 Accounts: * Checking Account: $320.44 * Petty Cash: 5.10 * Ebay holding: .67 TOTAl: 326.21 Property: Medals $85 X 2.70= $229.50
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
* Devotion - We completed the year of sermons by Chrysostom and other ancients. We added new prayers to the prayer page. We added homilies designed for our Legionaries and have posted them on the Legionaries Forum. We added a Centurion's Hymnal of modern and ancient hymns.
* Education - We have offered a free bible course through the Prafectus Castrorum. Also we have listed the source for a completely free seminary course suggested by a beloved Centurion from Covenant Seminary. We have sent out several posts concerning ancient biblical items of interest to the membership, such as the discovery of the Chapel of the Centurion of Megiddo.
* Calendar - We have added several "saints" to our calendar and / or history page that were suggested by our members. We have listed the calendar items in the Chapel each week, as well as on the Centurion.blogspot.com forum and in email to members.
* Communications - We began a new forum as suggested by several members that is designed for informal communications among members: Centurionmum at Yahoo Groups, and designated the Order of Centurions Forum at Goggle Groups for Official Legion mail. We activated the Legionaries Forum web log. We met our objective of reaching 5,000 visits in several months, and one month had over 10,000 visits. Internet use has leveled to about 26,000 hits per month mo. See the charts below
* Organization - We activated the Labarum Guard as a provisional service arm of the Order on 27 October. There were four new Cohorts chartered: Deo Inservio, Maganificat, Anthony, and Rockies, and one charter went inactive.
* Accouterments - We completed the design for a medal for the Order and have manufactured a lapel pin/breast pin of the medal. The lapel pin for the Labarum Guard was completed also.
FUTURE GOALS
* Grow in membership - It is hard to put a number on this, and there are no numerical growth objectives. However, I think it is reasonable to expect that we will register approximately 50 members in the next year. (It should be remembered that registration is a voluntary action and is not required. There are no doubt many who have said the vow, believe the creed, and live by the rule, yet have never chosen to voluntarily register.)
* Maintain or increase internet visits.
* Organization - Finally, we have discussed amongst selected members, and are seriously considering, incorporating the Order of Centurions in the United States.... with a target date of a legal incorporation on 29 September - St Michael's Day, MMVII. (This will complement our complete independence without formal affiliation any other religious body.) Although this not a set goal, it is certainly a vision shared by the Primus Pilus and the Prefectus Castrorum, and one that I believe will be realized. It will give the Order a life of its own, that is not bounded by the life of any one member, and so it may exist in perpetuity. We will begin to work on a test Charter and Bylaws this year with a target date of Sacramentum of the Order - January 3rd for publication of drafts to selected centurions for comment and, if the leadership finally approves this move, the Annunciation -- 25 March for a decison and letter to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, or other state, for incorporation. In addition, we will make the Labarum Guard a permanent element this year on 27 October MMVI
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we have increased our membership by about 70%. We have provided ancient sermons and homilies for each Sunday. We added commentaries for all the collect prayers for each Sunday and Holy Day, tracing their ancient history. We added several new prayers to our collection. We remembered several new "centurions" on our calendar, most of which came from suggestions of new members. We have provided the members with information leading to free educational opportunities.
We thank, again, those who have made special efforts to assist the Order with its various projects and have made contributions to Order. I have sent emails to those who have contributed throughout the year.
pax Christi,
Mark - Primus Pilus
in fide et in bello forte
Order of Centurions
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