Mac Kocha
There was a time when Mac would not only have never given a single thought to the Knights of Columbus, but there actually was a time when he left the Church for a time.  After following a more Evangelical calling for about two years, it became gradually clearer to him that the only way he could hope to grow in God was through the Church he had left, so like many of the saints of old, he came back.  As time went on he began looking for more ways to be of' service to the Church, and though he didn't know too much about the Knights, he was aware of the service thrust of the Order.  He asked Father Doug LeCaptain how to get into contact with the Knights, and it just so happened Doug was planning to attend a meeting of Council 10243.  As Mac recalls, Doug was looking for a contribution from the Council for one of the programs of the Vocation Office, and brought Mac to the Council meeting.  One thing led to another and Mac is now a Third Degree member of Council 10243.  He's on the go a lot, but in the time he has been with the Council he has made several of the meetings, gotten involved in the insurance program and helped out at several activities of the Council, including a couple of brat fries this summer.

Mac is a native of Green Bay and is working at Georgia Pacific as an Instrument Technician.  That means he spends the greater part of his workday paying attention to the instrumentation on paper machines.  He originally thought about to be a police officer, and was looking for a two-year educational program so he could get on the job quickly.  After looking into Police Science he decided that wasn't quite what he was looking for at the time.  His dad is an electrician and it was his mother who suggested that he look into his current field.  Although at the time he considered it to be a rather 'oddball field,' he pursued it and ended up with an Associate Degree from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in 1999.  He's been on the job at Georgia Pacific for about four years now. 

Much of his free time is associated with church work.  He's a member of St. Jude parish on Green Bay's West Side and has been a volunteer in several aspects of parish life.  He currently works with Boy Scouts at the parish and is looking forward to being Assistant ScoutMaster.  He's also thinking of teaching in the Religious Education program at the parish.  In addition to all that he does at the parish, he's into bicycling.  Another project is home improvement.  He bought a house some months back and estimates that he's got about $30,000 in ideas for the place.  Tacking one project at a time keeps him busy.  As far as vocations go, he gave some thought to the priesthood but at the present seems to have ruled that one out.  He's now looking into the vocation of marriage, but noted that he's neither aggressively nor passively pursuing it.  Down the road he sees himself married with a family, and still keeping busy.  He thinks of himself as a 'simple guy' and has also been involved with TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) about twice a year

 Another of his hobbies seems to be road trips, sometimes wondering how long he can manage to stay awake and alert.  He spends some time visiting family members out of State.  Mac is one half of a set of twins, and his brother, about a minute older than Mac, is in the Air Force in South Dakota.  Military service seems to run in the family although Mac never signed on for that.  Reflecting back he says, "The one in the family who would have probably enjoyed it the most never went."  He also has a sister in Minneapolis and another brother with whom he explored vast areas of Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, spending several hours crawling around on the ground.  On the lighter side he confesses that he smoked his first cigarette the day before this interview took place, admitting that he isn't quite sure if it was fun or if he'd think about trying it again.  We're glad he tried the Catholic Church again and that his search has led him to the Council family. 

August2003