columbia june 2016

JUNE 2016

COLUMBIACOLUMBIA

10th anniversary2006-2016

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS

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Peace of mind

Find an agent at kofc.orgor 1-800-345-5632

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KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS

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D E P A R T M E N T SBuilding a better worldThe international community mustact now to stop the genocide in theMiddle East.BY SUPREME KNIGHT CARL A. ANDERSON

Learning the faith, living the faithA father’s physical and emotionalpresence is vitally important in thelives of his children.BY SUPREME CHAPLAIN

ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM E. LORI

PLUS: Catholic Man of the Month

Fathers for GoodPrepare your family for heaven bybuilding a domestic church onearth. BY FATHER CARTER H. GRIFFIN

Knights in Action

Knights of Columbus NewsSupreme Knight Discusses Geno-cide Before Congress and the UN •Syrian Archbishop Visits NewHaven, Thanks Knights for Support

Christians at RiskFollowing a terrorist attack in Pak-istan on Easter, Pope Francis calls forsafety of Christians.BY CINDY WOODEN, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

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COLUMBIAF E AT U R E S

From Warfare to WelcomeOttawa Knights help Syrian refugee families establishnew lives in their local parish community.BY DEBORAH GYAPONG

‘United in Faithful Service’Knights celebrate 10 years of the Order’s presence andgrowth in Poland.BY COLUMBIA STAFF

Hands-On CharityA Dallas-area council deploys a dedicated team of handy-men to serve people in their community.BY SETH GONZALES

Knights, the Servants of MercySince the Middle Ages, the vocation of knights has beendefined by sacrificial service to God and man.BY D.C. SCHINDLER

Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori celebrates Mass beforethe image of Our Lady of Czestochowa in the Jasna Góra Monasteryduring the Knights of Columbus Board of Directors pilgrimage toPoland in October 2010.

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EDITORIAL

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COLUMBIAPUBLISHER

Knights of Columbus________

SUPREME OFFICERSCarl A. AndersonSuprEME KnIGhT

Most Rev. William E. Lori, S.T.D.SuprEME ChaplaIn

Logan T. LudwigDEpuTy SuprEME KnIGhT

Charles E. Maurer Jr.SuprEME SECrETary

Michael J. O’ConnorSuprEME TrEaSurEr

John A. MarrellaSuprEME aDvOCaTE

________

EDITORIALAlton J. Pelowski

EDITOr

Andrew J. MattManaGInG EDITOr

Anna BninskiaSSOCIaTE EDITOr

________

Venerable Michael McGivney (1852-90)Apostle to the Young,

Protector of Christian Family Life andFounder of the Knights of Columbus,

Intercede for Us.________

HOW TO REACH USMaIl

COLUMBIA1 Columbus Plaza

New Haven, CT 06510-3326aDDrESS ChanGES

203-752-4210, option #3prayEr CarDS & SupplIES

203-752-4214COluMbIa InquIrIES

203-752-4398Fax

203-752-4109K OF C CuSTOMEr SErvICE

1-800-380-9995E-MaIl

[email protected]

kofc.org/columbia________

Membership in the Knights of Columbus is open to men 18 years of age or older who are practical (that is, practicing)Catholics in union with the holy See. This means that anapplicant or member accepts the teaching authority of theCatholic Church on matters of faith and morals, aspires to

live in accord with the precepts of the Catholic Church, and is in good standing in the Catholic Church.

________

Copyright © 2016All rights reserved

________

ON THE COVERa commemorative medal depicts the revered icon ofOur lady of Częstochowa and the polish hussaria

in the 1683 battle of vienna.

Domestic Church Resource: The Gift of Fatherhood THE BOOKLET The Gift of Fatherhood: What Every ManShould Know (#10168) by Father Carter H. Griffin offersconcrete advice on living out the vocation to fatherhood.Part of the St. Joseph Series published by the Order’s Fa-thers for Good initiative, it identifies the challenges fathersface and provides a spiritual action plan to become betterfathers and husbands. To download or order this resource,visit fathersforgood.org.

IN HIS BOOK Orthodoxy, G.K.Chesterton quipped, “Certain newtheologians dispute original sin, whichis the only part of Christian theologywhich can really be proved.” Despitethe skeptics, the evidence of humansin is manifest both in the worldaround us and in our own lives. Inrecognition of our own need for re-pentance and forgiveness, our prayersat Mass begin with the penitential rite:“I confess to almighty God and to you,my brothers and sisters, that I havegreatly sinned….” But the words thatcome next are particularly instructive:“… in my thoughts and in my words,in what I have done, and in what Ihave failed to do.”

How often in our examination ofconscience, or in the sacrament of rec-onciliation, do we acknowledge notonly the sins that we have committed,but also our sins of omission — that is,the many times that we have failed tolove as we are called to? After all, thecommandments cannot be reduced toa series of “thou shall not’s.” To thecontrary, Jesus said the whole of divinelaw hinges on the commandment tolove God above everything else and tolove your neighbor as yourself (cf. Mt22:37-40). And in the parable of theGood Samaritan, the Lord went so faras to tell us just who our “neighbor” isand what it means to treat him withmercy (cf. Lk 10:29-37).

To truly live one’s faith thereforemeans much more than professing cer-tain beliefs and avoiding certain sins.The Letter of James puts it in stark

terms: “If a brother or sister has noth-ing to wear and has no food for theday, and one of you says to them, ‘Goin peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ butyou do not give them the necessities ofthe body, what good is it? So also faithof itself, if it does not have works, isdead” (Jas 2:15-17). Reflecting on thispassage in a homily, Pope Francis notedthat authentic faith is not merely intel-lectual belief; even the demons believein God and tremble (cf. Jas 2:19).“Having faith,” the Holy Father ex-plained, “means receiving God’s mes-sage brought to us by Jesus Christ,living it out and carrying it forward.”

A full understanding of faith unitesthe theological virtues, as faith goeshand in hand with hope and especiallywith love. From this perspective,Knights of Columbus are called to bemen of faith in the fullest sense —formed by charity, the Order’s firstprinciple. This begins in one’s ownhome and extends to the “least of these”(cf. Mt 25:40), recognizing those whoare in need as our “brother” and our“neighbor.” It is reflected, for example,in the Knights’ efforts to strengthenfamily and parish life, in countless localservice projects and in international as-sistance to persecuted Christians andothers. As the Order prepares for a newfraternal year and continues to grow, weare each challenged to grow in our faith— that is, to practice “faith workingthrough love” (Gal 5:6).♦

ALTON J. PELOWSKI

EDITOR

Faith Working Through Love

COVER: Medal sculpted by Vito Valento Cim

arosti / struck by Colombo M

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BUILDING A BETTER WORLD

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In Support of Christians at Risk

The international community must act now to stop the genocide in the Middle East

by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson

My column this month is based on re-marks that I delivered April 28 to a con-ference on genocide at the United Nationsheadquarters in New York.

THE WORLD’S greatest humanitariancrisis since World War II is unfolding inthe Middle East. Hundreds of thousandsof people in Syria and Iraq have lost theirlives, and entire communities have beendisplaced or wiped out, while neighbor-ing communities and cultures strain toaccept millions of people fleeingyears of war and terrorism. We face the very real prospect

of the extinction of many com-munities indigenous to the re-gion. This crisis implores allpeople of good will to unite tobuild a worldwide effort to savethese historic, indigenous mi-nority communities regardlessof race, ethnicity or religion.The Knights of Columbus is commit-

ted to this great cause. We submitted tothe State Department on March 9, andsubsequently to members of Congress, anearly 300-page report that documentedthe atrocities and laid out the legal analy-sis supporting the conclusion that geno-cide is occurring. Our recent fact-finding mission to Iraq

found evidence of widespread rape, kid-napping, forced conversions, slavery,murder, property confiscation and forcedexpulsion. Many of these incidents hadnot been previously reported.The State Department’s declaration of

genocide on March 17 marked only thesecond time that such a determinationhas been made by the U.S. government

while the crime is ongoing.It is our impression that what we know

today is likely to be only the tip of theiceberg. A concerted, sustained effortnow needs to be undertaken to docu-ment the extent of this tragedy.ISIS and the victims we interviewed

agree on one thing: Many of those tar-geted were targeted because of theirChristian faith. We know that ISIS has killed thou-

sands of Christians in Iraq, Syria and

Libya. Mass graves have been reported inSyria, and the desert between Mosul andErbil was littered with bodies as Chris-tians who fled had no time to buryneighbors and family members.Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius

Joseph III Younan, and archbishopsfrom Aleppo, Erbil and Mosul, have allcalled what is happening to their peoplegenocide.The declaration of genocide has special

meaning for Christians in the MiddleEast. Almost a century ago, RaphaelLemkin formulated the concept hewould later call genocide to address thekilling of Christians in the region duringand after World War I.Today the stakes are even higher. The

number of Christians in Iraq has plum-

meted from more than 1.5 million to asfew as 200,000. In Syria, the Christiancommunity has been reduced by twothirds, from 1.5 million to 500,000.These people are among the longest-

standing ethnic and religious communi-ties, not only in the region, but in theworld. The United Nations must act to

ensure that these ancient andvulnerable indigenous groupsdo not face extinction.We cannot accept one stan-

dard for human rights in thisregion and another standard forthe rest of the world. If Chris-tianity disappears in this region,so does the opportunity forpluralism; and the likelihood of

majoritarian theocracy, or somethingworse, is increased.We have a unique opportunity to

change things for the better. Never beforehas the world’s attention been so focusedon the suffering of these minorities.Never has their plight been so high onthe agenda of the world’s governments,the vast majority of the world’s Muslims,and all people of good will. The United Nations can play a vital role

by protecting the victims and refugees, byensuring the survival of these ancient in-digenous and religious communities, bypunishing the perpetrators and by sup-porting the establishment of internation-ally agreed-upon standards of justice,equality, rule of law and religious freedom.

Vivat Jesus!

We face the very real prospect of the extinction of many communities indigenous

to the region.


LEARNING THE FAITH, LIVING THE FAITH

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A FEW WEEKS AGO, I attended asymposium on the efforts of the Churchto address the deep and longstandingproblems in Baltimore’s poorest neigh-borhoods — many of which surfacednationally during last year’s riots. Speak-ers told of the Church’s work to addressissues such as housing, health care, ed-ucation and employment. As the arch-bishop of Baltimore, I am proud of allthat our Catholic hospitals, schools,parishes and social service agencies aredoing to address these majorneeds in areas of the city thatwere torn apart by violence onlya year ago.

The heads of these Catholicservice agencies were impres-sive. However, the most im-portant comments of the daywere made by a group of stu-dents from a local Catholichigh school. These five young men toldabout growing up in neighborhoodsrife with violence, drugs, unemploy-ment and abandoned row houses.They told how, with the help ofCatholic schools, they were pullingthemselves up by their own bootstraps.These young men were clearly seekingto fulfill their God-given potential in afuture full of hope.

MISSING IN ACTIONAfter the young men’s presentation, aparticipant asked them a key question:“What does it mean to have a male rolemodel in your life?” The young mendid not hesitate to answer. One of themsaid that having a dad present would

have made “a huge difference” for himand for his siblings. Another said,“Having a man to look up to makesyou think you can succeed.” Otherstold us they had found male role mod-els and mentors at their school and saidhow grateful they were for them.

These young men were not arguingfor some complicated sociological the-ory or making a political statement.They were speaking from experience— much of it very difficult. These

students conveyed an awareness thatby God’s grace they had been pulledfrom the brink and are among themost fortunate.

What is true of these young menfrom inner-city Baltimore is true of allyoung people. As children grow towardadulthood, their fathers should play acrucial role in their development. Ab-sent a father, young people need to havea father-figure whose virtue reflects thewisdom and love of God the Father.

It is not only inner-city fathers whotend to be missing in action. Fatherlyabsence cuts across all socioeconomiclines. Even in homes with many advan-tages, fathers can be physically presentbut emotionally absent — disengaged

from their wives and families, absorbedin work, sports, hobbies and the like.Pope Francis underlined this problemin his recent apostolic exhortation, ti-tled Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love).

“We often hear that ours is ‘a societywithout fathers.’ In Western culturethe father figure is said to be symboli-

cally absent, missing or vanished.Manhood itself seems to becalled into question,” Pope Fran-cis wrote. “Fathers are often socaught up in themselves and intheir work and at times in theirown self-fulfillment that theyneglect their families. They leavelittle ones and the young tothemselves” (176).

TEACH BY EXAMPLEThe love of both mother and father isimportant to the formation of a youngperson. Indeed, every child has a natu-ral right to a father and a mother. Asmothers and fathers love each otherand their children in complementaryways, children learn how men andwomen should relate to one another:with deep respect for each other’s dig-nity and worth.

A mother’s love helps open a youngperson’s mind and heart to the world,to grow in self-esteem “and, in turn, todevelop a capacity for intimacy andempathy” (Amoris Laetitia, 175). Atthe same time, a father can help his

Why Fathers MatterA father’s physical and emotional presence

is vitally important in the lives of his children

by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori

Fathers play a particularly significant role in helping youngpeople grow in knowledge and

love of their Catholic faith.


Offered inSolidarity withPope Francis

LEARNING THE FAITH, LIVING THE FAITH

HOLY FATHER’SPRAYER INTENTIONS

UNIVERSAL: That the aged, mar-ginalized and those who have noone may find — even within thehuge cities of the world — oppor-tunities for encounter and solidarity.

EVANGELIZATION: That sem-inarians and men and women en-tering religious life may havementors who live the joy of theGospel and prepare them wisely fortheir mission.

CATHOLIC MAN OF THE MONTH

J U N E 2 0 1 6 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ 5

children to meet the challenges of thewider world, by demonstrating an au-thentically masculine love throughconcern for his wife and family.Fathers also play a particularly signif-

icant role in helping young people growin knowledge and love of their Catholicfaith. Research shows that when a fa-ther practices his faith, his children arefar more likely to remain practicingCatholics. There is something powerfulwhen a father kneels before the BlessedSacrament, prays a rosary, goes to Massevery Sunday, or clearly prioritizes prac-ticing the faith over any form of enter-

tainment, including Sunday sports. Inshort, fathers play an indispensable rolein the new evangelization.I have been blessed by a loving fa-

ther in my own life. My dad, a veteranof World War II who worked hard allhis life to provide for his family, taughtus by example about the meaning oflove. I always looked forward to himcoming home from work and to goingplaces with him, even just on a trip tothe hardware store. He encouraged usto do our best, but he also understoodwhen things didn’t go so well. And hislove and concern for us continues to

this very day.As we celebrate Father’s Day, let us

celebrate the role of our dads in build-ing the domestic church, in workinghand in hand with their wives to maketheir homes places of prayer, learning,virtue and service, and in handing onthe faith to the next generation. I hopemany parishes will make Father’s Daya time for the renewal of wedding vowsand that every Knight of Columbuswho has children will recommit him-self to being an active, faith-filled fa-ther who loves his family with a lovethat is generous and strong.♦

SHOUKR ALLAH Maloyan was bornin Mardin, Turkey, on April 20, 1869.Raised in an Armenian Catholic family,Maloyan entered seminary in Bzom-mar, Lebanon, at age 14. A gifted stu-dent and linguist, he was ordained apriest in 1896 and adopted the nameIgnatius, in honor of the first-centurybishop of Antioch.For the next decade, Father Maloyan

served as a parish priest in Egypt, wherehe gained a reputation for his preachingand service to those sick or in need.Though plagued by ill health, Father

Maloyan was made archbishop of hishome archdiocese of Mardin in 1911.Lack of priests, widespread poverty,famine and growing repression againstArmenians made it a daunting mission.Nevertheless, Archbishop Maloyan en-couraged his flock, particularlythrough devotion to the Sacred Heart. At the beginning of World War I,

the Turkish government launched acampaign of genocide against Armeni-ans as “internal enemies.” On June 3,1915, Archbishop Maloyan and morethan 800 others were dragged in chainsto court, on the pretext that they werehiding arms. During the trial, the chief

of police asked the archbishop to con-vert to Islam. When Archbishop Mal-oyan replied that he would neverbetray Christ, the police chief struckhim and sent him to prison.On June 10, Archbishop Maloyan

and nearly 450 other Christians weremarched into the desert. There, thearchbishop consecrated a piece of breadand had the priests present distribute itamong the people. A couple of hourslater, as he watched his people massa-cred before his eyes, the archbishop wasagain asked to convert to Islam to sparehis life. He responded, “I’ve told you Ishall live and die for my faith,” and wasthen shot. Pope John Paul II beatifiedArchbishop Maloyan in 2001.♦

Blessed Ignatius Maloyan (1869-1915)

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KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS NEWS

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ONE MONTH AFTER U.S. Secretary of State John Kerrydeclared that the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL orDaesh) is committing genocide against Christians and otherreligious minorities in the Middle East, Supreme KnightCarl A. Anderson delivered policy recommendations tomembers of Congress in Washington, D.C.At an April 19 congressional hearing titled “Confronting

the Genocide of Religious Minorities: A Way Forward,” or-ganized by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission,the supreme knight underscored the importance of properplanning as lands are liberated from ISIS; of assisting geno-cide survivors who wish to come to the United States; andof ensuring stability and equality under the law for all mi-norities who remain in the region.In reference to the Knights’ nearly 300-page report that

contains extensive evidence of the ongoing genocide in theregion, Anderson said, “Now the United States must act tostop this genocide, to prevent its recurrence, to assure thefuture of Christians and other genocide victims.”On April 28, the supreme knight also participated in a

United Nations conference titled “Defending ReligiousFreedom and Other Human Rights: Stopping Mass Atroc-ities Against Christians and Other Believers.” Part of a three-day “WeAreN2016” congress, the event was sponsored by

the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the UnitedNations and In Defense of Christians.“The scourge of what is happening in Iraq and Syria is

a frontal assault on fundamental human rights, freedomand development throughout the region,” the supremeknight said during a panel on protecting victims of reli-gious persecution. Recalling that in 2005 the U.N. General Assembly unan-

imously pledged to protect populations from genocide, An-derson laid out concrete steps for the U.N. to make thiscommitment a reality.“First, the Security Council should refer key perpetrators

of genocide for prosecution by the International CriminalCourt,” he said. He then recommended that the U.N. HighCommissioner for Refugees prepare to locate and aid com-munities targeted for genocide. The U.N. should also ad-vocate for full and equal rights for religious minorities inthe region, while preparing for the consequences of liberat-ing ISIS-controlled areas, the supreme knight added.Thomas Farr, director of the Religious Freedom Project at

Georgetown University and a member of Potomac Council433 in Washington, D.C., likewise said, “The only thing wecan be certain about is that we cannot do nothing. We mustbegin planning now for the post-ISIL future of that region.”Other speakers included Father Douglas Bazi, a

Chaldean Catholic priest who was kidnapped and torturedby Al Qaeda militants and now runs a refugee camp inErbil, Iraq, and Carl and Marsha Mueller, parents of KaylaMueller, a young aid worker and ISIS hostage who waskilled in Syria in 2015.♦

Supreme Knight Discusses Genocide Before Congress and the UN

Above: Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson speaks on a panel at theApril 28 U.N. conference, chaired by Archbishop Bernardito Auza(center), permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.• The supreme knight addresses the Tom Lantos Human Rights Com-mission during a hearing at the U.S. Capitol April 19.


KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS NEWS

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ON MAY 1, Melkite Catholic Arch-bishop Jean-Clément Jeanbart ofAleppo, Syria, delivered an address onthe suffering of Christians in his coun-try to more than 350 people at St.Mary’s Church in New Haven, Conn.Among those attending were Arch-bishop Leonard Blair of Hartford,local clergy and religious, and Knightsof Columbus representatives.

“Today I come to talk to you aboutyour brothers in Syria,” ArchbishopJeanbart said. “These brothers needyou, need your prayers, need yoursupport.” The archbishop describedthe hardship and pain in his home-land, which has endured more thanfive years of civil war and jihadist vi-olence.

He also explained that Syrians wereamong the first Christians to be bap-tized as well as among the first to bepersecuted — including by St. Paul,before he was converted on the roadto Damascus.

“What is important is to help and tosave the descendants of these originalChristians,” Archbishop Jeanbart said.“They have been living for 2,000 yearsamong hardships, difficulties and per-secutions — and they continue.”

Archbishop Jeanbart expressed hisgratitude to the Knights of Columbusfor its advocacy and for the materialsupport his diocese has receivedthrough the Order’s ChristianRefugee Relief Fund.

“They have given me strength tohelp large groups of my people,” thearchbishop said. “And they have beeninstrumental in pushing your govern-ment to make a statement that the Is-lamic State is committing genocide.”

The following day, ArchbishopJeanbart and Supreme Knight Carl A.Anderson held a joint press confer-ence at the Knights of Columbusheadquarters.

The archbishop responded to ques-tions about the situation in Aleppo,once Syria’s most populous and pros-

perous city, which has become a bat-tleground between government forcesand Islamic militants.

“My people are under attack bymortars of the terrorist rebels whosend them into the residential areas inthe government-controlled area,” hesaid. “But on the other side, we wouldbe obliged to become [either] Muslimor second-class citizens with norights.”

Supreme Knight Anderson notedthat the religious and ethnic minori-ties in the region — including Chris-tian, Yazidi and Turkmencommunities — are the most vulner-able and therefore need greater protec-tion. Last year, of the 1,250 Syrianrefugees accepted to the United States,approximately 10 were Christian.

“That’s not even 1 percent,” thesupreme knight said. “The most vul-nerable ones that have been targeted

by what the world community un-derstands to be genocide seem to beat the very bottom of the list in termsof priority.”

Following the press conference,Archbishop Jeanbart celebrated a Di-vine Liturgy in the headquarters’Holy Family Chapel.

“Thank you for remembering ourpeople in this moment of our his-tory,” the archbishop said in his hom-ily. “May the Lord Jesus bless theKnights of Columbus and help you toserve the Church all over the world,particularly in the Middle East and inSyria where it needs you.”♦

Archbishop Jean-Clément Jeanbart of Aleppo,Syria, is pictured speaking at St. Mary’sChurch May 1 and during a Divine Liturgyat the Knights of Columbus headquartersMay 2.

Syrian Archbishop Visits New Haven, Thanks Knights for Support

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On March 24, 2015, a 12-member welcoming team pre-pared to greet a Syrian refugee family near the baggage

claim at Ottawa International Airport. The group representedHoly Redeemer Church in Kanata, Ontario, including mem-bers of Holy Redeemer Council 9544, and Syrian refugeeswho had already become established in Canada.As Shadi Al Dakhil, his pregnant wife, Kholoud, and their

three children — Yasar, 15, Sofia, 14, and Syriana, 10 —came down the airport’s long escalator, they saw a welcomesign written in English and Arabic and surrounded by flash-ing lights.“When I saw the sign and the people,” Shadi said, “I felt like

a person in the hospital in need of a heart transplant who hasfound someone to give him a new heart. … Wow! We are safenow, thanks be to God!”Kholoud recalled, “It was like a dream! Everyone was smil-

ing and welcoming.”Bob Near, a member of Council 9544, had arranged to use

the airport chapel for a reception with not only food and bev-erages but also an array of cold-weather gear to outfit the fam-ily for what remained of the Canadian winter.One year later, the Al Dakhil family is self-supporting and

actively involved in parish life, while Holy Redeemer parish-ioners and local Knights are doing what they can to welcomemore refugee families like them.

A WARTORN HOMELANDThe Al Dakhils come from the ancient city of Daraa, some60 miles south of the Syrian capital of Damascus. There,Shadi had a job as a shipper/receiver at a large potato chipfactory; Kholoud worked as a teacher. They led a peaceful lifeas Melkite Greek Catholics, members of the Christian minor-ity in a region dominated by Sunni Muslims.Then, during the Arab Spring in 2011, anti-government

demonstrations in Daraa against the regime of Syrian presidentBashar al-Assad sparked the civil war that has now lasted more

From Warfare

to

WelcomeOttawa Knights help Syrian refugee families

establish new lives in their local parish community

by Deborah Gyapong


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than five years. Many Western governments supported whatat first seemed to be pro-democracy groups protesting a violentdictatorship.“After six months, the Syrian people began to worry,”

Kholoud said. The Al Dakhils soon discovered threats of violence scrawled

on the walls of their children’s school: “We will kill your chil-dren” and “We will take your daughters.” After learning ofplanned bombings, they had to move their children to differ-ent schools three times.Before the civil war, Christians represented about 10 per-

cent of the population in Syria, which was 70 percent Sunni.

Syrian refugees Kholoud and Shadi Al Dakhil are pictured with their children at their home in Kanata, Ontario. With help from Holy Redeemer Council 9544,the Al Dakhils were welcomed to Canada last year.


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Clockwise from top: Yasar and Sofia Al Dakhil shine their Royal Air Force Cadets boots, as BobNear (left), a member of Council 9544 and a retired infantry major in the Canadian Army,looks on. • Kholoud Al Dakhil holds her son, Stephane, who was born in Canada last July. •Father Pierre Champoux, pastor of Holy Redeemer Church and chaplain of Council 9544, wasinstrumental in bringing the Al Dakhil family to his parish community.


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The Assad government is dominated by Alawite Muslims, asect of Shi’a Islam, another minority group. Under Assad, re-ligious minorities had a degree of protection. Thus, Christianswere deemed to be government supporters, even if they stayedout of the conflict as the Al Dakhils did.But the conflict found them anyway. Gunfire regularly

broke out in their neighborhood, and government forcesbombed the area. Twice, armed men stopped Shadi. He hadno idea whether they represented the government or anothergroup. Many of the men were not Syrians; Daesh (an Arabicacronym for ISIS) was moving in.Finally, when gunmen shot at Shadi’s car as he drove to

work, leaving some 40 bullet holes, the Al Dakhils decidedthat the time had come to flee Syria. With Shadi’s leg stillbleeding from a bullet wound, the family piled into their car,leaving everything behind so as not to alert anyone they werefleeing the country. On April 27, 2013, they arrived inLebanon, a country of 4 million, strained to the limit by 1.5million refugees.“It was so difficult,” said Kholoud.

“The worst thing is you feel that peo-ple don’t like you and don’t acceptyou.” Still, the Al Dakhils considered

themselves fortunate. Kholoud gotwork at a school that allowed theirchildren to attend and learn English,and Shadi managed to find work at arestaurant. But after paying for rent,water and electricity there was hardlyany money left over.After two years in Lebanon, they fi-

nally received word that Canada hadaccepted them as refugees.

THE NEED TO SERVEWith civil war raging in Syria and growing evidence of geno-cide against Christians, the Archdiocese of Ottawa encour-aged parishes to come to the aid of Syrian refugees.Father Pierre Champoux, pastor of Holy Redeemer Church

and chaplain of Council 9544, knew that his parish was largeenough to support at least one refugee family.“I was convinced that this was something the parish needed

to do,” Father Champoux said. With more than 3,000 parishioners attending Holy Re-

deemer’s five weekend Masses, Father Champoux and hisparish council invited the Catholic Centre for Immigrants,Ottawa, to make a presentation on refugee sponsorship. Theresponse was immediate — some 30 parishioners signed upon the spot.“Pope Francis calls us to help those who are poor and mar-

ginalized,” said Mary-Lou Hakansson, co-chair of Holy Re-deemer’s refugee committee. “We as a parish really took thosewords to heart.”Within a week of the first committee meeting, Father

Champoux said, donations were flowing in and parishionerswere offering couches and chairs. “One of the women offered her own home for the people to

live in when they first came,” he said. “That’s a big sacrifice.”Once in Canada, the Al Dakhils stayed with the parishioner

for several weeks while they looked for a place to live.During that time, Bob Near, who serves on the refugee

committee, mobilized the Knights wherever they were needed.He and other Knights provided transportation as the familynavigated getting their health and permanent resident cards,enrolling the children in school and going to Sunday Mass.The council also organized a welcoming event at the parish,

but it was postponed until after Kholoud gave birth to thecouple’s fourth child, Stephane, last July.By that time, the family had settled into a three-bedroom

apartment near a shopping mall and public transportation, aswell as bike paths and parks.Shadi and Yasar got involved with the monthly Knights’

breakfast at the parish and helped out last year at the coun-cil’s Christmas tree fundraising effort.The Knights gave the Al Dakhils theirfirst Christmas tree, a stand and dec-orations, to help introduce them toCanadian traditions.Near, a retired infantry major in the

Canadian Army, even encouraged thetwo older children to enroll in theRoyal Canadian Air Cadets, a youthprogram administered by the Cana-dian Armed Forces. Yasar and Sofiaproudly wear their cadet uniformsand participate in weekly training, in-cluding lessons in citizenship andleadership.

As Near explained, “Exposing them and their parents to cit-izenship training that includes Canadian military culture andtraditions gives these new immigrants a positive model of themilitary — one which can be admired rather than feared.”

AN ONGOING MISSIONA year after being welcomed by Holy Redeemer parishioners,the Al Dakhil family is now self-supporting. Shadi has full-time employment at the nearby mall. Kholoud is enrolled inan English language course in preparation for a two-year pro-gram that will train her to help children and youth with spe-cial needs.“The family came to mean a lot to us,” said Cathy De-

ogrades, co-chair of Holy Redeemer’s refugee committee. “Wewant to help them as much as possible. It’s a mission for us.”That mission led the parish to receive a second refugee fam-

ily this year: Shadi’s brother, Wael, is married to Kholoud’ssister, Wedian, and together they have two young daughters,ages 2 and 1. They were living in Lebanon with two 23-year-old nephews, who had been university students in Syriawhen the civil war broke out. Studies became impossible,

“I WAS CONVINCED

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NEEDED TO DO.”


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and the young men risked being conscripted into the Assadregime’s army.But the refugee committee faced a dilemma. They knew theparish could raise $30,000 to sponsor another family, plusone of the two nephews.“We didn’t want to leave one behind,” said Hakansson. “So

we approached the Knights of Columbus at our church forfinancial assistance to bring the other nephew over, too.”Council 9544 contributed $5,000 to cover the cost ofbringing the second nephew, and on Feb. 15, all six familymembers arrived at the Ottawa airport.The reunion of the families “was very emotional, with lotsof tears,” said Deogrades. “We were all crying.”With assistance from the Knights and other parishioners,Wael and Wedian Al Dakhil, together with their nephews, set-tled in a spacious four-bedroom home not far from Holy Re-deemer. The young men have since enrolled at AlgonquinCollege to take courses in finance and business administrationand are working at a nearby McDonald’s.The family of another of Shadi’s brothers has also been wel-comed to Canada, sponsored by a church in Sherbrooke,Québec. Deogrades’ husband, Eddie, a member of Council

9544, drove for six hours to bring them to Kanata for Easter,thus bringing about another poignant family reunion. Like her husband, Kholoud comes from a large family, andthe refugee committee has arranged with a nearby Anglicanparish to sponsor her widowed sister, Claude, and Claude’stwo teenaged sons. Still another family of relatives is being sponsored by twosmaller Catholic parishes in the area.“Things have kind of spiraled in a good way,” said FatherChampoux. “When you see the family integrating, being partof activities, there’s a great sense of pride for all of us all theway around.”In September 2015, Pope Francis appealed to Catholics toprovide concrete support for refugees, thereby confirmingHoly Redeemer parishioners and Knights in their mission.In the words of Shadi Al Dakhil, they had already helped hisfamily leave behind “a dark life and start a new life.” Andsince that time, they have continued to help more familiesdo the same.♦

DEBORAH GYAPONG is a freelance journalist based inOttawa, Canada.

Assyrian Christians, who had fled Syria and Iraq, carry placards and wave Assyrian flags during a gathering in late May 2015 in front of U.N.headquarters in Beirut.

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Pope Francis appealed to the government of Pakistan totake steps to ensure the safety of the country’s Chris-

tians and other minorities the day after a terrorist bombingkilled at least 70 people and injured more than 300 whowere spending Easter afternoon in a public park.After reciting the Regina Coeli prayer with pilgrims

gathered in St. Peter’s Square March 28, the pope con-demned the attack in Lahore, Pakistan, as a “cowardly andsenseless crime.” Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of theTaliban, said it carried outthe attack and specificallytargeted Christians celebrat-ing Easter.Pope Francis explained,

“Easter was bloodied by ahideous attack, which massa-cred many innocent people,mostly families belonging tothe Christian minority — es-pecially women and children— who were in a public parkjoyfully celebrating the Easterholiday.”The Holy Father appealed

to “the civil authorities and all community leaders in thatnation to do everything possible to ensure the security andserenity of the population, particularly the most vulnerablereligious minorities.”“Violence and homicidal hatred lead only to pain and

destruction; respect and brotherhood are the only pathsthat lead to peace,” he said.Before leading the crowd in reciting the “Hail Mary” for

the victims and their families, Pope Francis asked the peo-ple in St. Peter’s Square to pray that God “would stop thehand of the violent, who sow terror and death, and that inthe world there may reign love, justice and reconciliation.” The pope also spoke about the importance of making a

real effort to live with the hope that the Resurrectionshould bring.“Life has vanquished death. Mercy and love have van-

quished sin,” he said. “We know that faith and hope are agift of God and we must ask for it: ‘Lord, give me faith,give me hope. We need it so much.’”

Later the same day, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz ofLouisville, Ky., president of the U.S. Conference of CatholicBishops, expressed “tremendous sorrow” about the attacks.“Even as Christians celebrated the peace of the risen Lord,

they became victims of the most atrocious violence,” Arch-bishop Kurtz said in a letter to Archbishop Joseph Coutts,president of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference.“There are simply no words that can fully capture the im-

measurable horror of seeing achildren’s playground turnedinto a place of slaughter.”He echoed Pope Francis’

solidarity with PakistaniChristians, adding, “our unitywith you will never tire in theface of evil.”Since the attack, Church

officials in Pakistan have alsobacked a government plea tothe international communitynot to demonize all Muslimsbecause of acts of terrorismcommitted by extremists, re-ported ucanews.com.Sartaj Aziz, adviser to the

prime minister on foreign affairs, addressed an Organizationof Islamic Cooperation meeting in Istanbul April 12.“We are deeply concerned at a sharp rise in hate speech,

discriminatory acts and social hostility against Muslims inWestern countries,” he told the meeting. Targeting the whole Muslim community because of acts

of terrorism helps the aims of terrorists, explained FatherAftab James Paul, former director of the Faisalabad Dioce-san Commission for Interreligious Dialogue, April 13.“This is exactly what they want,” he said. “Blaming Mus-

lims for terrorism will further alienate innocent people fromrest of the world.”Father James Channan, director of the Dominican Peace

Center in Lahore, said all Muslims, wherever they are, facea backlash due to actions of a few extremist groups.“All the recent attacks in the West and in our country

have been claimed by Muslim militants,” he said. “All Mus-lims should not be punished for that; only those responsiblemust be apprehended and brought to justice.”♦

A ‘Cowardly and Senseless Crime’Following a terrorist attack in Pakistan on Easter,

Pope Francis calls for safety of Christians

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Family members mourn over the coffin of a victim of the suicidebomb attack at a park in Lahore, Pakistan.


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More than 350 delegates, chaplains, wives and guests, in-cluding Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson and his

wife, Dorian, together with representatives from Lithuaniaand Ukraine, gathered April 22-24 in Łomża, Poland, for thejurisdiction’s sixth state convention. The convention coin-cided with the 10th anniversary of the Order’s 2006 estab-lishment in Poland, its first international expansion in nearlya century. Located northeast of the capital city of Warsaw,Łomża is one of the original six cities where the first PolishKnights of Columbus councils were founded.

Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv, Ukraine, whoserved as a personal secretary of Pope John Paul II, presided

at Mass April 23. Nearly 40 council chaplains concelebratedthe Mass, which took place in the 16th-century Cathedral ofSt. Michael the Archangel. Those in attendance made an Actof Consecration to the Holy Family in the presence of theOrder’s Holy Family pilgrim icon.

In remarks that evening, the supreme knight expressed hispride in the accomplishments and growth of the Polish juris-diction, which started a decade ago with several hundredmembers in six councils and today numbers more than 4,300members in 88 councils.

“Ten years ago, we began a journey to make St. John Paul II’sdream come true and bring the Knights of Columbus to his

Knights celebrate 10 years of the Order’spresence and growth in Poland

by Columbia staff

‘Unitedin

FaithfulService’


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At the invitation of Cardinal Józef Glemp of Warsaw (front), a delegation of Fourth Degree Knights, including then-Supreme Master Joseph P.Schultz (left), participate in a procession at the third National Eucharistic Congress in Warsaw June 2005. • Opposite page: Cardinal FranciszekMacharski, then-archbishop of Kraków, talks with Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson during the October 2004 pilgrimage of the Knights ofColumbus Board of Directors to Poland. Cardinals Glemp and Macharski were instrumental in the Order’s expansion to Poland in 2006.

native homeland,” the supreme knight said. “He wanted ourmodel of Catholic brotherhood, united in faithful service tothe Church, to take root in Poland.”

Noting that in the past decade the Order in Poland has pro-vided approximately $1 million to charity and more than450,000 hours of volunteer service, Anderson called PolishKnights “faithful co-workers.” He praised their efforts in de-

fense of human life, such as gathering thousands of signaturesfor the “One of Us” European Citizens Initiative and hostingthe First Congress of European Pro-Life Organizations inKraków. He also noted that Poland had a higher rate of par-ticipation than any other jurisdiction for the Our Lady ofGuadalupe pilgrim prayer program from 2011-13.

“I am especially proud that you have reached out to your


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Above: Pope John Paul II blesses an image of DivineMercy while meeting with the supreme knight and hiswife, Dorian, and Dr. Stanisław Grygiel in 2003. Theimage was used in a yearlong K of C prayer programfor the pope and all priests.

Left: Polish composer Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (center)is pictured with Supreme Knight Anderson and then-Archbishop Henry J. Mansell of Hartford at the conclu-sion of the premiere of a sacred choral work, Pod TwojaObrone (Under Your Protection), which the com-poser wrote entrusting the Order’s success in Poland toOur Lady of Czestochowa. Also pictured are formerSenator Stanisław Hodorowicz and then-TerritorialDeputy Andrzej Gut-Mostowy (far right).

neighbors to the east and to the north and have assisted ourCatholic brothers in Ukraine and Lithuania,” Andersonadded. “These actions testify to the vision of St. John Paul II,who encouraged us all to embrace the common Christianroots of Europe as the best way forward to a future that re-spects human dignity and authentic national development.”

The supreme knight pointed to Poland’s role as “a lightunto the nations” during the 20th century. “One place where you can see this vividly is within the Lu-

minous Mysteries Chapel at the Saint John Paul II NationalShrine in Washington,” he said. “Just a few weeks ago, wededicated the altar that contains the sacred relics of four Poles

— St. Albert Chmielowski, St. Faustina Kowalska, St. Maxi-milian Kolbe and St. John Paul II. All are tremendous rolemodels for our Order and our society.”Finally, the supreme knight thanked Polish Knights in ad-

vance for the role they will play when Kraków hosts WorldYouth Day in July.“The Knights will be there providing volunteers, assis-

tance, and — I’m proud to say — hosting a center for Eng-lish-language pilgrims,” he said. “What we are planning forWorld Youth Day will take hard work. And it will not be pos-sible without the commitment of many brother Knights inPoland.”♦

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April 2004 — At the invitation of CardinalFranciszek Macharski of Kraków and CardinalJózef Glemp of Warsaw, then-primate ofPoland, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson ad-dresses the bishops of Poland during the epis-copate’s spring conference. Later, bothcardinals publicly invite the Knights of Colum-bus to start development in Poland.

October 2004 — The Knights of Colum-bus Board of Directors travels to Poland for apilgrimage and to hold meetings with local rep-resentatives.

August 2005 — During the SupremeConvention in Chicago, the supreme knight of-ficially announces that the Knights will expand

to Poland, the first international expansion ofthe Order in nearly 100 years.

January 2006 — The first Admission De-gree ceremony takes place in Poland, conductedby a team from Ontario. The first six councils arelater established in Kraków, Ludźmierz, Łomi-anki, Łomża, Radom, and Starachowice.

MILESTONES OF THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS IN POLAND

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Clockwise, from top: The first group of newly admitted Knights are pictured in Ludzmierz, Poland, after their Admission Degree ceremony in January2006, with Supreme Council representatives and a ceremonial team from Maximilian Kolbe Council 9612 in Mississauga, Ontario, and CardinalWyszynski Council 9296 in Toronto. • Knights from throughout Poland participate in the annual men’s pilgrimage to Piekary Slaskie, Poland, in May2010. The first Knighthood (Third) Degree exemplification in Poland took place after the event. • Supreme Master Joseph Schultz, then-State DeputyKrzysztof Orzechowski and Supreme Master Dennis Stoddard celebrate Poland becoming the fifth country to have its own Patriotic Degree, following anexemplification ceremony at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Kraków on Poland’s Independence Day, Nov. 11, 2011.

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June 2006 — Poland is named a territory.Andrzej Gut-Mostowy is appointed as the firstterritorial deputy.

February 2007 — The first Formation(Second) Degree exemplifications take place.

December 2009 — Membership inPoland surpasses 1,000.

May 2010 — The first Knighthood (Third)

Degree exemplification takes place followingthe participation of the supreme knight andPolish Knights at the annual men’s pilgrimageat Piekary Śląskie. The supreme knight speaksat the event, which draws some 100,000 menfrom throughout Poland.

August 2010 — Krzysztof Orzechowskiis appointed as the second territorial deputy.

October 2010 — During the Board of

Directors pilgrimage to Poland, SupremeChaplain Archbishop William E. Lori entruststhe development of the Order in Poland to OurLady of Częstochowa.

May 2011 — Poland becomes a statecouncil, holding elections at its first state con-vention in Częstochowa. Orzechowski iselected the first state deputy.

November 2011 — The first exemplifi-

Fourth Degree Knights process with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe following the Mass that opened the 4th Poland State Convention, heldMay 9-11, 2014, at Gniew Castle in northern Poland.


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cation of the Patriotic Degree is held in Kraków.Poland becomes the fifth jurisdiction to have itsown Patriotic Degree.

January 2012 — Membership in Polandreaches 2,000.

November 2012 — The first representa-tion of the Fourth Degree color corps takesplace during the Independence Day celebra-tions in Warsaw.

February 2014 — Polish Knights numbermore than 3,000.

May 2014 — The fourth state conventionis hosted in Gniew, in northern Poland. AndrzejAnasiak is elected state deputy.

October 2015 — The Polish governmentbestows the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Meritof the Republic of Poland on Supreme Knight An-derson at the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C.

November 2015 — Membership inPoland surpasses 4,000.

February 2016 — Anderson meets withPolish President Andrzej Duda during his visitto Washington, D.C., and receives thanks forthe Order’s work in Poland.

April 2016 — The sixth state conventiontakes place in Łomża, celebrating the 10th an-niversary of the Knights of Columbus in Poland.♦

Left: A map of Poland shows the locations of thecountry’s 88 Knights of Columbus councils.

Below left: Members of St. Padre Pio Council15015 in Starachowice, Poland, are pictured cut-ting planks of lumber while framing the roof attheir new parish rectory in 2011. Knights vol-unteered several hundred hours to help constructthe rectory, focusing specifically on installing floorsand the roof.

Below right: Supreme Knight Carl A. Andersonand State Deputy Andrzej Anasiak shake handsduring the sixth Poland State Convention inŁomza, Poland, April 23.


When Allen Reitmeier pulled his red Chevy Silveradointo the driveway of a home on a sleepy Saturday

morning in Cedar Hill, Texas, the 10 men removing a mas-sive tree that had fallen in front of the house were glad to seehim — and the log splitter with him.

None was happier than Jim Russell, the owner of the home.“This is what it’s all about,” said Russell, who, along with

all the men present, is a member of Knight Hands, a chari-table initiative of Holy Spirit Council 8157 in nearby Dun-canville. “Everyone knows that if they needed this kind ofhelp, these brothers will be there. And I’d be one of them.”

Russell has been “one of them” since 2012, and while he’smore accustomed to giving help to others, on this day he wasthe recipient.

Reitmeier and Russell are two of 35 men who make up theactive roster for Knight Hands, which has completed morethan 180 projects.

THE DUTY TO HELPIn 2010, Council 8157 formally established Knight Hands asa way for members to help parishioners in need at Holy SpiritCatholic Church, where the council is based. If they neededassistance, parishioners were asked to fill out an application.Then, pending review and approval by the Knight Hands’ ad-visory board, a team would then be sent to the worksite to getthe job done — at no cost to the client.

As requests for assistance came in, Knight Hands begantackling a variety of projects ranging from minor householdchores to major home renovations and repairs. To raise moneyfor materials needed for the projects, the 250-member councilhas been consistently staffing baseball field concession standsin Cedar Hill during the spring and fall seasons.

The program has “grown immensely,” said Reitmeier, whohas served as director of Knight Hands from the beginning.Though helping others often gladdens the heart, he said, the

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Hands-On CharityHands-On CharityA Dallas-area council deploys a dedicated team of handymen

to serve people in their community

by Seth Gonzales | photos by Jamie Orillion


Knights’ assistance is simply a matter of Christian duty.“We have an obligation to help people,” Reitmeier said.

“That’s what charity is — giving. There’s nothing emotionalabout it; we just do it.”

Even so, the mere mention of Knight Hands leaves TeddieAnderson, 74, animated with joy and gratitude for the workthey have done on behalf of her and her late husband, Jack, aCatholic convert and Knight who died in March 2015.

When Jack became disabled more than 20 years ago, theAndersons were left in the difficult position of having tocompletely fend for themselves — that is, until KnightHands arrived.

“People don’t realize how it’s such a relief for people finan-cially and anxiety-wise,” Anderson said. “When you’re olderor you’re disabled, there’s a lot of anxiety about strangers com-ing into your house. With the Knights, you don’t have thatanxiety, you have friendships.”

In addition to picking up, delivering and installing a newfreezer for the Andersons, Knight Hands also installed newceiling fans, new sliding drawers on her kitchen cabinets,changed the hardware on their cabinetry and fixed a leakykitchen faucet.

While some tasks can loom large, it’s often the small proj-ects that mean the difference between helping people keeppace with life and letting them fall through the cracks.

‘NOBODY TO TURN TO’Vicki Armstead and her mother, who are parishioners at HolySpirit Catholic Church, are among those managing to keeppace through the help of Knight Hands.

In 2010, Armstead suffered a debilitating stroke that forcedher into early retirement at age 57. Since that time, she has beenliving with her elderly mother, Evangeline. The two are origi-nally from Washington, D.C., where Evangeline worked as a

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A member of Knight Hands, a charitable initiative of HolySpirit Council 8157 in Duncanville, Texas, rolls away afreshly cut chunk of a fallen tree.


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Jorge Ruiz, a Knight Hands volunteer, chainsaws a fallen tree into manageable pieces for removal as fellow Knights work in the background.


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secretary at the Pentagon. When Vickimade a career move to Texas in 1984, leav-ing her job as a registered nurse to becomea computer engineer for IBM, her parentsfollowed her.When Vicki suffered a stroke, she was no

longer able to take care of herself, andmoving in with her mother was her onlyoption. Evangeline, whose husband diedfour years earlier, remembers how desper-ate the situation became.“I had nobody to turn to,” Evangeline

said. “I can’t say enough about the Knights,because they really help people in need.”Reitmeier has gotten to know Evangeline

and Vicki very well, having overseenroughly 15 different Knight Hand projectsfor the women. Tasks have ranged from sim-ply giving Evangeline a ride to the doctor orunclogging a drain to replacing a hallwayfloor and widening the bathroom doorwayso that Vicki could maneuver through it in a wheelchair.As Reitmeier was inspecting one of Vicki’s three wheel-

chairs, he paused to reflect on his own role in all of this.“When I was working, I thought I was doing important

stuff,” said Reitmeier, who spent his 28-year career in thehome-building industry. “That was just noise. Now, I’m doingsomething important.”Vicki explained that Knight Hands was an answer to her

and her mother’s prayers.“Whenever there was something we needed, we prayed

about it, and people appeared,” she said. “There is alwayssomething to do, so it’s just very heartwarming. Then you re-alize it’s not just me. It’s anybody in the church and even peo-ple who are not Catholic.”Since its inception, Knight Hands has grown in size and

scope to include those beyond the Holy Spirit community.“They don’t have to belong to our parish,” said Ken Rarick,

a Knight Hands volunteer and longtime professional col-league of Reitmeier. “They don’t have to belong to the neigh-borhood we live in. If there’s somebody who needs help, we’llhelp them regardless of their background.”

‘ON THE SAME JOURNEY’David Dybala, a civil engineer who served as director of Pub-lic Works and Transportation for the city of Dallas, recalled aparticularly memorable project that took Knight Hands tothe home of an elderly woman named Precious Bell.Bell had only one leg and used a wheelchair for mobility,

yet she didn’t have a wheelchair-accessible ramp for her house,located in a depressed neighborhood of South Dallas. That’swhen Dybala put his engineering skills to work and, togetherwith other Knight Hands volunteers, built the ramp that Bellneeded. By the time it was completed, there wasn’t a dry eyein sight.

“All of us are on the same journey,” Dybala said. “We’remaybe in different places along the way, but we’re able to growin faith together just by helping others. You see a fellowKnight doing good for others, and it boosts your drive to giveto others.”Jorge Ruiz, a Knight Hands volunteer for the last two and

a half years, brought the group to help replace aging appli-ances in the home of a neighbor whose husband recently died.“As a family man and Catholic myself, for all of us there

was no question about it; this was something we had to do,”said Ruiz, who raised three boys with his wife, Kathie.Rarick said his time as a volunteer has made one thing abun-

dantly clear: Knight Hands builds up not just the communityat large, but the Knights themselves. For him, service has beenthe best way to foster a sense of purpose and brotherhood.“It probably benefits me more than the people we help,”

Rarick said, adding that the Knights’ visible presence in thecommunity is a strong witness of faith. For his part, Reitmeier would like nothing more than to see

the Knight Hands concept catch on in councils everywhere.While prayer is a vital part of Christian discipleship, he said,so is action.“St. James said you have to do more than hope that some-

one recovers from injury or hope that someone is able to takecare of themselves,” Reitmeier said. “You need to do morethan that. You need to help them.”♦

SETH GONZALES is a staff writer for the The TexasCatholic and a member of St. Michael Council 10523 inGrand Prairie, Texas.

Knight Hands volunteer Ken Rarick visits with Evangeline Armstead (right)and her daughter, Vicki, after completing a repair project in their home.


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The connection between knighthood and mercy may notbe obvious to the popular imagination. On one hand, we

typically picture the knight as a warrior, a courageous soldierin battle, laying low his enemies. On the other, we tend to as-sociate mercy with acts of gentleness and kindness. But infact, knighthood has a deep connection with mercy, both inits history and in its core meaning, which remains relevanttoday even though cultural customs have changed. As we ob-serve what Pope Francis has designated the Jubilee Year ofMercy, it is especially fitting to reflect on this connection,deepening our understanding both of knighthood and ofmercy itself. This, in turn, will help us to appreciate what itmeans to be a Knight today.

IN SERVICE TO THE KINGFrom its origin, knighthood has always been tied to service;the English word “knight” comes from the German wordKnecht, which means “servant.” Of course, a knight was a manwho had been elevated to a special position of honor as the de-voted servant of his country and king. At a deeper level, how-ever, the knight served an ideal as he strove to conform himselfto the perennial values of justice, truth and honor. This en-tailed, above all, a willingness to sacrifice himself in order toprotect the defenseless, the weak, the poor and the innocent. In contrast to the modern “bourgeois,” the person who

looks after his own self-interest most of all, the knight under-stands himself as serving something higher and more impor-tant than his particular self-interest. He is not just an

individual, but part of a greater whole. The knight knows thathe has a special duty to take care of others. Twentieth-centuryGerman poet Reinhold Schneider, who is known for hisCatholic and anti-Nazi literature, once wrote, “The knightexists for the sake of everyone: that is his proper position inthe world.”In this position of honor that entails a devoted service to

others, it is not hard to see that there is a natural affinity be-tween knighthood and Christianity. The pledge of one’s lifein service to one’s king and country can be taken up, in aChristian soul, into the pledge of one’s life in service to theKing of kings, to Christ and his Church — and indeed to allpeople whom Christ came to save. In the Christian knight,the ideal of the warrior, as defender of the weak, joins withthe ideal of Jesus Christ, who emptied himself, taking theform of a servant (cf. Phil 2:7).Geoffrey de Charny, author of one of the great works on

the meaning of knighthood, the famous Book of Chivalry, wasknown in the 14th century as the “true and perfect knight.”The king of France accorded Geoffrey the great honor of car-rying the Oriflamme, the banner of France, in battle.Geoffrey is also the first reliably attested person to have cus-

tody of the Shroud of Turin, an ancient piece of fabric thatbears the as-yet-unexplained imprint of a scourged and cru-cified man, which has been venerated as the burial cloth ofChrist himself. We might say that this knight carried the em-blem of his king and country with one hand and the imageof the central Christian mystery with the other, proudly dis-playing both the temporal and Christian ideals. He representsa responsibility for the world and a devotion to Christ, a ser-vant of both ideals together.

THE GIFT OF MERCYThe institution of knighthood flourished during the MiddleAges, when various Christian chivalric orders formed. These

Knights, the Servants

of MercySince the Middle Ages, the vocation of knights has been

defined by sacrificial service to God and man

by D.C. Schindler

A stained glass window in the Church of Notre Dame in Saint-Hippolyte(Doubs), France, where the Shroud of Turin was preserved and veneratedfrom 1418-1452, depicts Count Humbert de la Roche holding theshroud, which had been entrusted into his care through his marriage to thegranddaughter of Geoffrey de Charny.


26 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ J U N E 2 0 1 6

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were orders of knights, many of whom took vowsof chastity, poverty and obedience, like monks. Butunlike monks, they lived those vows through directservice to people in the world, carrying out whatcame to be called the “works of mercy.” Beginning in the 12th century, the Sovereign Order

of St. John of Jerusalem, also called the Knights Hos-pitaller, established and staffed hospitals, devotingthemselves to healing the sick and wounded, andproviding food, drink, clothing and shelter for thepoor. They protected travelers, ensuring safe pas-sage for those making pilgrimages to and from theHoly Land, accompanying them and even buildingbridges to make the journey possible. The Order of Our Lady of Mercy, also known as

the Mercedarians, was founded in 13th-centurySpain to ransom Christians held captive by nonbelievers. TheMercedarians not only raised money to ransom captives, asone of the corporal works of mercy proscribes, but also en-joined its members to offer themselves as collateral in orderto obtain the release of prisoners. They, like other knights,thus sought to live the Christian ideal in very concrete andpractical terms.The English word “mercy” comes originally from the Latin

merces, meaning “reward.” In Christian usage, the Romanword came to mean spiritual reward for answering injusticewith kindness. Of course, the “reward” for an unmerited giftcan only be itself an unmerited gift. The works of mercy arenot investments made for the purpose of reaping a payoff inthe afterworld; instead, they are gifts that reflect the gift ofredemption that we ourselves have received.Mercy is ultimately the expression of a love that is poured

out beyond measure: not “tit for tat,” but grace unbidden.The Greek word for mercy, eleos, comes from the word forflowing oil; the image evokes the blood and water poured outfrom Christ’s side — that is, God’s superabundant love thatanswers our sinfulness with redemption.Knighthood and mercy go together because they are both

expressions of sacrificial generosity. The knight is someonegiven a special honor, lifted up beyond his natural status, andhe lives that honor by lifting up those around him. The ex-ternal forms of medieval chivalry may no longer be part ofour culture, but knighthood was never first about such forms.Rather, it was above all a spirit of service, an impetus to alle-viate suffering and provide for those in need.

MODERN-DAY KNIGHTSThe spirit of knightly service continues to exist in our ownday. When Father Michael J. McGivney brought together agroup of young men in 1882, they called themselves “Knights”because they wished to be rooted in this ongoing tradition. To bind these men to each other, Father McGivney ap-

pealed to their faith and idealism, their desire for communitythat would be founded on more than individual self-interest.He asked them to look out for each other in fraternity and,

in unity with their brothers, to care for those in the broadersociety. And he showed them that their commitment to theChurch and their love for their country went hand in hand.The foundations of the Order show a key element of

knighthood: devotion to the service of others out of gratitudefor the grace of charity one has received himself. In this, thereis the convergence of responsibility in the world and devotionto the Christian mystery of merciful love. When Christ senthis apostles into the world to teach and heal, he told them,“Freely you have received; now freely give” (Mt 10:8). This isthe essence of mercy, and it is the essence of the vocation ofthe knight.In his second encyclical, dedicated to the theme of mercy,

St. John Paul II wrote, “Modern man often anxiously wondersabout the solution to the terrible tensions which have built upin the world and which entangle humanity. And if at times helacks the courage to utter the word ‘mercy,’ or if in his con-science empty of religious content he does not find the equiv-alent, so much greater is the need for the Church to utter hisword, not only in her own name but also in the name of allthe men and women of our time” (Dives in Misericordia, 15).On behalf of the men and women of our time and on be-

half of the Church, knights are called to be living words ofmercy — active expressions of God’s love. To quote ReinholdSchneider once again, “If the world is torn by divisions, if thepeoples are thrown into the confusion of mutual hostility,how is the world to be healed, how are the peoples to be rec-onciled, if not through such a new body of knights, which isnothing other than carrying out the will of Jesus Christ, hereand now, in this time?” We who call ourselves Knights have been entrusted with a

great responsibility to heal the divisions of our own time andto make manifest the Father’s gift of mercy by faithfully bear-ing witness to Christ.♦

D.C. SCHINDLER is associate professor of metaphysics andanthropology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Mar-riage and Family at The Catholic University of America inWashington, D.C. He is a member of Potomac Council 433.


FATHERS FOR GOOD

FIND ADDITIONAL ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FOR CATHOLIC MEN AND THEIR FAMILIES AT FATHERSFORGOOD.ORG.

J U N E 2 0 1 6 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ 27

Thinksto

ck

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is adapted from the bookletThe Gift of Fatherhood, which is available on the Fathersfor Good website.

What is the role of a father? Every dad asks himselfthis question at some point, and coming to the right

answer is vitally important in our time, when the very no-tion of fatherhood is trivialized and undermined by popu-lar media and cultural trends.What may be called the full-

ness of fatherhood has its originin God the Father, who shareshis life-generating capacity withall men — both those who pro-create biologically and thosewho live for others as single orcelibate persons.What is God’s fatherhood

like? It is safe to say that Godloves generating life. You see iton a beautiful day, as nature isteeming with life, and you see itin the wonderful diversity ofpersons whom God has made inhis own image. Only God cancreate an immortal human soul,and thus he is rightly called theFather “from whom every family in heaven and on earth isnamed” (Eph 3:15).Of course, the word “father” usually refers to a man who

has children. Biological fatherhood is a great blessing, yetthe responsibility does not end on the physical level. A childneeds to be raised through faith formation and human ed-ucation, and this takes time, attention and self-giving.When a man looks at his child, something happens. His

heart changes, or it should. Fatherhood fixes his gaze onthe beloved child and draws a man out of himself. Any sac-rifice or hardship becomes worthwhile for the sake of thechild who has captured his heart. But change can bepainful. A man has to stretch his limits, mature, live in thepresent and work for the future. A man who does this trulytakes hold of his fatherhood.Yet despite good intentions, men may lack perspective.

They love their kids, but what is their role as day-to-day

dads? Are they still needed as providers and protectors?Should they assert authority or offer quiet guidance? Un-fortunately, with widespread divorce and family separation,and few positive father figures in popular culture, a manmay lose his way.Perhaps the best place to start today is with an ancient

Christian concept retrieved by the Second Vatican Council— the domestic church. It combines a father’s spiritual andtemporal duties under one roof, affording fathers both a

natural place and a definite rolein leading their families in theeveryday practice of the faith.Men must not shrink from

their important leadership rolein their family, which is to beexercised with humility, joy,grace and love. We’re not talk-ing about domination of familylife, but rather a dying to self sothat others may grow andthrive. The ultimate goal of fa-therhood is to generate childrenof God. That’s the Christian vi-sion of a man’s mission in thedomestic church — humblyleading others to their God-given potential and ultimately

to life with our Father in heaven.This mission is worthy of every man, but it is not easy.

How to build a domestic church? Begin with God at thecenter. Pray with your wife, who is your equal partner,and branch out into family prayer with the children. Lookto the needs of others through the corporal and spiritualworks of mercy. Place all of this upon a foundation oflove, forgiveness, sacrifice, support, self-discipline, humil-ity and grace. Dad, it starts with you. As we celebrate Father’s Day this

month, strive to become a father from the Father’s heart bylaying the foundations for your domestic church.♦

FATHER CARTER H. GRIFFIN is director of vocationsfor the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and vice rectorof St. John Paul II Seminary. He is a member of PatrickCardinal O’Boyle Council 11302.

Forming Fathers TodayPrepare your family for heaven by building a domestic church on earth

by Father Carter H. Griffin


28 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ J U N E 2 0 1 6

SHELTER HELPSt. John Paul II Assembly inWest Hartford, Conn.,hosted a cookout for 40 localveterans at the South ParkInn Shelter in Hartford.Knights offered food and re-freshments to all those in at-tendance. Following thecookout, the assembly pre-sented South Park Inn with adonation of $3,100 and 18boxes of care items that werecollected by Catholic parish-ioners throughout the area.

SCHOOL EXTERIORRESTORED

Members of Saratoga (N.Y.)Council 246 volunteered 220hours to clean and repaintthe concrete façades atSaratoga Central CatholicSchool. Knights washed theconcrete with pressure wash-ers and applied 40 gallons ofnew stain.

SPAGHETTI DINNERMasham (Québec) Council6853 hosted its third annualspaghetti dinner. More than250 people attended theevent, which raised nearly$4,500 for La Maison desCollines, a palliative care cen-ter. Other local councilspooled their efforts to do-nate an additional $4,000 tothe facility.

A+ INCENTIVESt. Bernard Council 13455 inWorcester, Mass., launched a“Better Grades Incentive Pro-gram” to assist young councilmembers who are attendingcollege. Members can earngrants based on their GPA toassist with expenses not cov-ered by scholarships or stu-dent loans, such as laundry,supplies and more. The pro-gram also encourages student-members to achieve better

grades. Funding for the pro-gram comes from the coun-cil’s recycling initiative.

PATRON STATUEGood Shepherd Council5573 in Plainfield, Ill., to-gether with its ladies’ auxil-iary, helped Boy Scout Troop#19 beautify the front of St.Mary Immaculate Parishwith a lit statue of Mary anda small garden. The projecttook a year of planning andfundraising to accomplish.

ON THE WEBFather Samuel F. HomseyCouncil 14050 in Abilene,Texas, helped raise $4,500 forPregnancy Resources of Abi-lene to build a new website.The council hosted a benefitbreakfast and raffle to fundthe organization’s new site,which offers support and re-sources for pregnant women.

KNIGHTS ACTION REPORTS FROM COUNCILS, ASSEMBLIES AND COLUMBIAN SQUIRES CIRCLESIN

Runners crowd the starting line just before the opening whistle of the fifth annual Respect Life5K sponsored by Father Francis Syrianey Council 12567 in Littleton, Colo. Nearly 200 walkersand runners participated in the event, which was followed by a council-sponsored pancakebreakfast for athletes and their families. The run raised $4,500 for the Knights of ColumbusUltrasound Initiative.

WIDOWS MASS& BRUNCH

Bishop Salpointe Council4584 in Sierra Vista, Ariz.,hosted a district-wide Massand brunch for K of C wid-ows. Four speakers talkedabout the contributions ofthe ladies’ late husbands andthe ongoing affection of theKnights for the widows. Thecouncil plans to hold a simi-lar event quarterly.

CAR SHOWPrince of Peace Council 6593in Roscommon, Mich.,hosted a custom car and mo-torcycle show to benefit Spe-cial Olympics. The showfeatured 29 cars and sevenmotorcycles, and raised morethan $1,400.

Michigan Knights paint thehallway to the dining room atthe Monastery of the BlessedSacrament in Farmington Hillsduring a major renovationproject for the cloistered Do-minican Sisters who residethere. Seven K of C councilsfrom in and around Farming-ton Hills have completed anumber of projects at themonastery — painting, in-stalling lighting and insulation,plumbing work and more.

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KNIGHTS IN ACTION

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GARAGE SALEChrist the King Council9257 in Milwaukie, Ore., or-ganized a garage sale at itsparish. Twenty-five councilmembers and their familieshelped collect, organize, priceand sell the items. The eventraised more than $2,000,which was donated to helpbuild a new parish center. Ex-cess items were donated to alocal children’s library, aclothing depot and a dona-tion center.

VETERANS BARBECUEChrist Cathedral Assemblyin Garden Grove, Calif., helda barbecue at the Long BeachVA Medical Center. Morethan 35 Knights and theirfamilies feted about 100 vet-erans and medical centerstaff members.

ROSARIES & HOLY WATER

For the past year, Our Ladyof the Plains Council 13221in Byers, Colo., has providedfree rosaries and bottles ofholy water to parishioners

BROTHERS IN INDIAWhite Mountain Council506 in Berlin, N.H., held abarbecue to benefit FatherIsaac Honsan, who serves asthe rector of a seminary inIndia. Father Honsan workedin America for two months,during which time he joinedthe Knights of Columbus.The barbecue raised nearly$6,000 to help with basicneeds for the seminary, such asmattresses, books and waterstorage tanks.

OFFICER ASSISTANCERed Church Council 3634 inNorco, La., held a dinner tobenefit a local police officerwho was shot in the line ofduty. Knights welcomed theofficer’s wife and children tothe event as special guests,and the dinner raised $4,300for the officer as he recovers. peaceful environment where

a person can experience na-ture and pray in silence.Knights and their wives helpprepare meals and clean thekitchen, set up the diningroom, prepare guest roomsand do laundry, among othertasks at the facility.

FIREWOOD STACKEDFather Irenee BouchardCouncil 8189 in Beresford,New Brunswick, helped acouncil member in need bystacking firewood for him toheat his home throughoutthe winter.

CHRISTIANS AT RISKGeorge Washington Univer-sity Council 13242 in Wash-ington, D.C., hosted anawareness event and fund-raiser for persecuted Chris-tians in the Middle East. Thecouncil distributed hundredsof green-and-white ribbonsfor students to pin to theirbackpacks. Knights also tookdonations for the ChristianRefugee Relief Fund, raisingmore than $350.

and visitors at Our Lady ofthe Plains Church. The bot-tles and rosaries are displayedon a rack that was con-structed by a council mem-ber, and more than 700items have been given awayso far.

TUITION ASSISTANCEFather William A. DalyCouncil 2122 in GreatNeck, N.Y., held an Italiandinner during which a$10,000 check was pre-sented to St. Mary Schoolfor the school’s tuition assis-tance program. Funds forthe donation were raisedthrough several initiativesthroughout the year. About150 people attended the din-ner, which also includeddancing, music and a rafflebenefiting retired priests.

MONTHLY VOLUNTEERS

Members of PiedmontCouncil 939 in Greensboro,N.C., volunteer monthly atthe St. Francis Springs PrayerCenter. The center offers a

Members of St. Pius X Council 9659 in Jamul, Calif., use a wooden form to smooth out con-crete while repaving part of the parking lot at their parish. After learning that repairs to the tar-mac around the church and rectory would cost approximately $80,000, Knights organized agroup of volunteers to help provide materials and labor for the project — saving the church atremendous amount of money.

Members of Grand MesaCouncil 2731 in Delta, Colo.,prepare to unload refurbishedpews and kneelers at St.Michael Church as part of amulti-pronged renovationproject. Knights cleaned thebasement of the church inpreparation for repairs to thefoundation; removed all fur-nishings to make way for newpaint, plaster and light fixtures;and oversaw the restoration ofpews with new kneelers, sup-ports and coverings.


KNIGHTS IN ACTION

30 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ J U N E 2 0 1 6

fundraiser. About 700 guestsattended the show, whichraised $15,500 for the coun-cil’s charitable fund. Part ofthe proceeds is specificallyearmarked to “adopt” a re-tired religious sister.

AWARENESS PACKETSOur Lady of the Pines Coun-cil 9852 in Whiting, N.J.,created “awareness packets”to raise funds for the Order’sChristian Refugee ReliefFund. Each packet containeda “Support Persecuted Chris-tians” wristband, an orangeribbon and a card describingthe plight of Christians in theMiddle East. Parishioners atSt. Elizabeth Ann SetonChurch responded by donat-ing more than $2,500.

TEST PREPAmerican Martyrs Council14666 in Oakland Gardens,N.Y., offered a free prepara-tion course to eighth-gradestudents interested in apply-ing to Catholic high schoolsin Queens. Those applyingare required to take a place-

CHURCH RESTOREDFlorida District #34 restoredthe exterior and grounds ofSt. Anne Byzantine CatholicChurch in New Port Richey.Four councils joined forces tocomplete the project over sixmonths. The work includedrepairs to the roof on thepavilion; pressure washing allsidewalks, entrances andbuildings; exterior painting;and landscaping.

FARM’S BOUNTYWabasha (Minn.) Council881 harvested potatoes andapples from a local farm,made syrup, and deliveredthese items along with severalcords of wood to a nearbyhermitage of Carmelite nuns.

COMEDY FUNDRAISERAnnunciation Council 3826in Beach Haven, N.J., pre-sented the hit stage comedyLate Night Catechism as a

for students. Young peoplefrom elementary, secondaryand university education lev-els competed to showcasetheir public speaking skills,leadership qualities andknowledge of local govern-ment. Winners received tro-phies, medals and cash prizes.

RETURNS FOR VOCATIONS

Credit Valley Council 8661in Mississauga, Ontario, con-ducted two “Returns for Vo-cations” fundraisers tosupport area students who arepreparing for the priesthoodand religious life. Knightscollected redeemable bottlesand cans, raising more than$5,100 for vocations.

FENCE PAINTEDMsgr. Henry Schryer Council654 in Elgin, Ill., painted thefence around the rectory at St.Thomas More Church.Council members also workedto clean the church grounds.

ment test known as TACHS,which is designed to measureacademic achievement inreading, language arts andmathematics. The four-partpreparation course aided stu-dents by providing coursestudy, test strategies andpractice exams.

RACECAR MINISTRYFor the past three years, Selma(Texas) Council 6856 hasgiven more than 700 hand-made wooden racecars to pediatric patients at CHRIS-TUS Santa Rosa Health Carein San Antonio. Each uniquecar requires 30 steps andmany hours of labor to create,and can provide countlesshours of joy to a boy or girlwho receives care at the hospi-tal. Knights are also expand-ing the program to providecars to children served byother local ministries.

ORATORICAL CONTEST

Siquijor Island (Visayas)Council 6129 hosted an in-terschool oratorical contest

Members of St. John Nepomucene Council 12075 in BacolodCity, Visayas, paint the borders of a concrete planter at a localschool. Knights joined teachers, parents, students and othercommunity groups for a countrywide school cleaning opera-tion before the start of the new academic year.

A young contestant spins thewheel at the Catholic Evan-gelization Booth sponsoredby Roseburg (Ore.) Council2939 at the Douglas CountyFair. Knights provided 64 vol-unteers to operate the booth,which ran an ongoing videoabout the Catholic Churchand offered free resourcesand prizes.

Members of St. VincentCouncil 11353 in Fort Wayne,Ind., level a sunken headstonewhile undertaking a three-month restoration project atthe old cemetery at St. Vin-cent Church. Knights straight-ened all the headstones andwashed them with a cleaningcompound to remove growthand restore their appearance.Council members also clearedtrees and brush from theperimeter of the cemetery.


KNIGHTS IN ACTION

J U N E 2 0 1 6 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ 31

Guests are served lobster and steak by members of CalvaryCouncil 8144 in South Portland, Maine, at the council’s an-nual surf and turf lunch at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church. Morethan 160 people attended the event, which featured lobster,steak tips, sides and desserts. The lunch raised $400 forWreaths Across America, which places memorial wreaths onthe graves of deceased veterans.

kofc.orgexclusive

See more “Knights in Action” reports and

photos atwww.kofc.org/knightsinaction

DINNER AND DONATION

Cardinal Newman Council5324 in Matawan, N.J., or-ganized a dinner-dance partyfor the H.A.M. RecreationProgram. The local organiza-tion provides educationaland social activities for peo-ple with intellectual disabili-ties. During the fun-filledevent, the council also pre-sented a $500 donation tohelp with the program’stransportation expenses.

FEEDING THE HUNGRYSt. Thomas More Council2188 in Westwood, N.J.,provides ongoing support tothe St. James Social ServiceCorporation in Newark. As apart of the corporation’s“Feeding the Hungry Pro-gram,” council members pre-pare and serve meals on thefirst Saturday of each monthat the St. James SoupKitchen. The council also do-nated $1,000 to the corpora-tion for its ongoing buildingrenovations program.

SONOGRAM REPAIREDSt. Michael Council 14584 atFort Bliss in Texas joined aCatholic women’s group fromthe Army post to run a babybottle drive. The fundraisernetted more than $4,000 torepair a broken ultrasoundmachine at a local pregnancyresource center.

CANES FOR VETSOur Lady, Queen of theAmericas Council 15983 inDinwiddie, Va., providedorder processing and shippingsupport to Canes for Vets, aveteran-owned and operatedoutreach mission that pro-vides personalized walkingcanes to veterans with disabil-ities. Knights have helped topackage and ship more than1,000 canes to date.

FENCE & GATELincoln (R.I.) Council 4005constructed a fence and gateto control access to the parishcenter parking lot at the his-toric St. Joseph Church inCumberland. The council

donated $387 in materials,while six members providedvolunteer labor. The gate wasneeded to stop unauthorizedvehicles from accessing theparking lot and using thechurch’s dumpster.

SEALED UP TIGHTSt. John Paul II Council16176 in Elma-Montesano,Wash., prepared and poureda new concrete water sealaround two sides of St.Joseph Church to preventwater leaking into the base-ment. Knights also orderedand installed new windowsand rain gutters prior to thecold-weather months.

COLORING BOOKSSagadahoc Council 249 inBath, Maine, presented morethan 200 coloring books andcrayon sets to Father FrankMurray, pastor of St. CharlesChurch in Brunswick. Thebooks will be used by PastoralAssociate Angela Boivin inministering to sick and in-jured children at area emer-gency rooms.

WILD GAME SUPPERImmaculate ConceptionCouncil 9693 in Paincourt,Ontario, held its 22nd an-nual wild game supper andcharity auction. This year’sbeneficiaries were two in-fant brothers who both suf-fer from cystic fibrosis. Thesuppers have raised morethan $250,000 over thepast two decades and haveaided 34 families with chil-dren suffering from seriousillnesses.

Members of Yuba City (Calif.)

Council 5978 work to install

the plumbing on a fountain

that the council helped to

place on the grounds of St.

Isidore Church. Knights vol-

unteered more than 2,000

hours to transform a portion

of the church parking lot into

a small plaza that included

cobblestones, benches and

the fountain.

corrections

on page 5 of the April

2016 issue, Guatemala

city was mistakenly identi-

fied as the capital of new

spain. Guatemala city was

formally under the admin-

istration of Mexico city,

which was the capital of

new spain.

the caption of a Knights

in Action photo on page

28 of the April 2016 issue

incorrectly identified the

subjects as members of

council 13354. the

Knights in the photo are

casey reuter, Luke Dixon

and Bruce Kleinmaier of

Dixon (ill.) council 690,

working at a Habitat for

Humanity site. Knights

volunteered at several

Habitat projects, working

mostly on roofing trusses,

and also provided lunch

to workers.


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YEAR OF MERCY

Giving Drink to the ThirstyLawrence Frontera (left) andLarry Hess of St. JaneFrances de Chantal Council13340 in Sterling Heights,Mich., load cases of waterfor delivery to Flint. Thecouncil donated 60 cases ofwater in January. • Below:Jeff Lubeski, grand knight ofHartland Council 8169 car-ries a case of water for deliv-ery to the St. Luke N.E.W.Life Center.

In recent months, K of C councils near Flint, Mich., have donated anddelivered hundreds of cases of clean water to the city. Severe lead contami-nation of the water supply was discovered after the city switched from usingwater from Lake Huron to the Flint River in April 2014. Though the watersource has since been changed back, lead levels remain dangerously high.The water donations have been an occasion of teamwork between the

councils and among community organizations.For example, after learning that Art Van, a furniture store, made its trucks

and a dispatch center available for water deliveries, four metro-Detroit councilsunited to donate 100 cases of water in January. Robert Fluture, grand knightof Father James W. Cotter Council 1874 in Warren, Mich., led the effort. According to Fluture, members of Council 1874 readily agreed they

should make a donation. “I then contacted the other three grand knights,and they showed an overwhelming desire to help,” he said.Also in January, just before the Flint Firebirds OHL ice hockey team arrived

for a game against the Windsor Spitfires, the Spitfires began a collection ofwater to send back to Flint after the game. Within 24 hours, Father VictorC. Cole Council 9671 in Windsor, Ontario, purchased and delivered 50 cases.“The United States, Canada, we’re all the same,” Grand Knight Dave

Wilds said. “We’re all one big brotherhood, so we help out wherever we can.”Hartland (Mich.) Council 8169, which

is in the same diocese as Flint, earmarked$1,000 to donate two pallets (240 cases)of water in March, at the suggestion ofcouncil member Bob Scheloske. Scheloskethen found that a local water treatmentcompany, owned by a fellow parishionerof St. John Catholic Church in Hartland,would contribute a third pallet of water tothe donation and lend the council a truckto make the delivery. About 15 Knightsspent a Saturday delivering the 360 casesto St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center in Flint.“Even as we were unloading, they said

the demand is so great, it would be dis-tributed by Tuesday,” recalled GrandKnight Jeff Lubeski. “It’s so easy to takewater for granted.”♦


KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS

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TO BE FEATURED HERE, SEND YOUR COUNCIL’S “KNIGHTS IN ACTION” PHOTO AS WELL AS ITS DESCRIPTION TO: COLUMBIA, 1 COLUMBUS PLAZA, NEW HAVEN, CT 06510-3326 OR E-MAIL: [email protected].

Elementary school children in Quezon Citydecorate posters inspired by the life of Mel-chora Aquino, a Filipina patriot. Banal NaSakramento Council 8753 sponsored theposter-making contest to celebrate the“Mother of the Philippine Revolution,” who,as an elderly widow, both sheltered revolu-tionaries in her shop and comforted themwith advice and prayer.

Building a better world one council

at a timeEvery day, Knights all over the world aregiven opportunities to make a difference— whether through community service,raising money or prayer. We celebrateeach and every Knight for his strength,his compassion and his dedication tobuilding a better world.

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PLEASE, DO ALL YOU CAN TO ENCOURAGE PRIESTLY AND RELIGIOUS VOCATIONS. YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT MAKE A DIFFERENCE.PLEASE, DO ALL YOU CAN TO ENCOURAGE PRIESTLY AND RELIGIOUS VOCATIONS. YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

‘GOD QUALIFIESTHOSEWHOM HE CALLS.’

Though I dreamed early in life of becominga priest and a religious, I always had doubtsthat I would have what it takes.

When I was in grade school, I used to helpa priest prepare to celebrate Mass in the localhospital. But then I would run outside andwait for him to finish, because I could notstand the smell and sight of the hospital.

Today, however, I wear the red cross thatshows I am a member of the Order of St.Camillus, which works mainly in the healthcare field.

I never could have imagined that my entryto the seminary would lead me from a remotetown in the Philippines to the St. CamillusCampus in Milwaukee. I came to learn thetruth in the expression, “God does not call thequalified, but qualifies those whom he calls.”

I now dedicate my life to God by professingthe vows of poverty, chastity and obedience,and embracing the special charism of theCamillians — serving the sick even with dan-ger to my own life.

FATHER JOJO OROSA

Order of St. Camillus, Milwaukee

KEEP THE FAITH ALIVE

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columbia june 2016

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