Columbia April 2022

Columbia KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS

APRIL 2022

St. Michael the Archangel Independence Square Kyiv, Ukraine

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CONTENTS

Columbia APRIL 2022

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VOLUME 102

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NUMBER 3

Departments 3 For the greater glory of God The prayer and action of Knights in support of Ukrainians displaced by violence are a testament to our principles of charity and unity.

By Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly

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Learning the faith, living the faith The end of Lent marks not a return to normal but a new season of grace to enter more fully into the mystery of Christ.

By Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori

PLUS: Catholic Man of the Month

TOP: Photo Aleksander Savranskij/Courtesy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church — ON THE COVER: Composite photo illustration (Statue — iurii Konoval/iStock/Getty Images Plus; Flag — Grafissimo/E+/Getty Images)

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Fathers for Good Scripture shows men the way to grow in self-knowledge and selfgiving.

By Soren Johnson

A Pilgrim Virgin statue from Fatima, Portugal, is carried into the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 17. The statue arrived as Knights of Columbus and faithful around the world began a novena in anticipation of Pope Francis’ consecration of Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25.

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28 Knights in Action Reports from councils and assemblies, representing the four pillars of the Faith in Action program model

Solidarity With Ukraine

ON THE COVER

The Knights of Columbus mobilizes to serve refugees and other victims of war.

A photo illustration shows the bronzeand-gold statue of St. Michael the Archangel that stands above Kyiv’s Independence Square against a Ukrainian flag.

St. Michael is patron saint of the Ukrainian capital.

• Prepared by Providence • Charity in Action • ‘Prayer Has Won Wars’ • Centers of Mercy • ‘We Didn’t Want to Flee’

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A Fighter for God

As a fatal disease weakened his body, former boxer Father Stu Long drew strength from his faith.

By Ed Langlois

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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 an applicant or member accepts the teaching authority of the Catholic 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.

Called (Back) to Work

kofc.org/join

By D.C. Schindler

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved

Work is not a punishment, but a gift that is interconnected with our God-given dignity and vocation.

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EDITORIAL

Witnesses of Mercy THE ONCE QUIET border village of

Hrebenne, Poland, is now flooded at all hours with refugees fleeing violence in Ukraine. Most of those crossing are women, children and elderly people, since men under 60 — with few exceptions — have been prohibited from leaving the war-torn country. Often on foot, the women are typically carrying a single heavy bag of belongings.

Seeing them, one cannot help but think: If you were forced to leave your home with one bag, unsure if you would ever return, what would you take with you?

After crossing the border, many of the refugees are met by Knights of Columbus who are volunteering there. Like modern Simons of Cyrene, the Knights offer to carry their bags and welcome them to a Knights of Columbus Mercy Center — a large heated tent where they can rest, pray and prepare for the next stage of their journey (see page 18). Szymon Czyszek, the Order’s director of international growth in Europe, explained, “This is a place where they can come and experience hospitality, solidarity and mercy. The refugees we meet are our neighbors. In them, we see the face of the Lord, and we can show them what God’s mercy looks like.”

The Hrebenne mercy center is just one way that Knights are responding to the humanitarian crisis resulting from the war, heeding St. Paul’s admonitions to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2) and to “not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good” (Rom 12:21). The Knights’

efforts also clearly manifest the charism and founding vision of Blessed Michael McGivney, who founded the Order, in part, to care for the needs of widows and orphans. If not literal widows and orphans, many of the refugees are practically so — separated from their husbands and fathers, and often lacking basic necessities.

Knights of Columbus in Ukraine and Poland, aided by the Ukraine Solidarity Fund and councils throughout the world, are working tirelessly to help ensure these needs are met. And together with the Order’s financial and material support, Knights have been committed to prayer — asking for God’s protection and mercy upon the displaced who are suffering, and on those helping to bear their burdens. In his book Memory and Identity, published shortly before his death in 2005, St. John Paul II observed, “The limit imposed upon evil, of which man is both perpetrator and victim, is ultimately Divine Mercy.”

As Lent gives way to Eastertide and we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord and his Divine Mercy, we are further reminded of our responsibility to be witnesses of mercy in our daily lives. That is to say, while we continue to pray for and support our brother Knights in Ukraine and those they serve, we must also recognize the face of Christ in our neighbors.

Despite our own weaknesses and failures, we are called to show them what God’s mercy looks like. B Alton J. Pelowski, Editor

Faith Resource: Lord, Teach Us To Pray The booklet Lord, Teach Us To Pray: The What, Why and How of Prayer (#304) by Dominican Father Peter John Cameron discusses our most fundamental relationship — with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Part of the Building the Domestic Church Series published by the Order’s Catholic Information Service, it offers guidance on developing and deepening our prayer at Mass, in our families and in daily contemplation. To download this and other Catholic resources, visit kofc.org/cis.

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Columbia PUBLISHER Knights of Columbus SUPREME OFFICERS Patrick E. Kelly Supreme Knight Most Rev. William E. Lori, S.T.D. Supreme Chaplain Paul G. O’Sullivan Deputy Supreme Knight Patrick T. Mason Supreme Secretary Ronald F. Schwarz Supreme Treasurer John A. Marrella Supreme Advocate EDITORIAL Alton J. Pelowski Editor Andrew J. Matt Managing Editor Cecilia Hadley Senior Editor Elisha Valladares-Cormier Associate Editor

Blessed Michael McGivney (1852-90) – Apostle to the Young, Protector of Christian Family Life and Founder of the Knights of Columbus, Intercede for Us. HOW TO REACH US COLUMBIA 1 Columbus Plaza New Haven, CT 06510-3326 columbia@kofc.org kofc.org/columbia Address changes 203-752-4210, option #3 addresschange@kofc.org Columbia inquiries 203-752-4398 K of C Customer Service 1-800-380-9995

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F O R T H E G R E AT E R G LO R Y O F G O D

‘What the World Needs’ The prayer and action of Knights in support of Ukrainians displaced by violence are a testament to our principles of charity and unity

Photo by Laura Barisonzi

By Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly

LIKE ALL OF YOU, I have been deeply disturbed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — a country where the Order has been present since 2012. The scenes have been shocking and the loss of life horrific. I fear the sorrow of the Ukrainian people is just beginning, and I pray this unjust war ends soon.

The history of this tragic war will not be written for some time. But when it is, we can be proud of the response from the Knights of Columbus. We have stood with the Ukrainian people, and we will continue to support them in the long term.

Our assistance has taken two forms: prayer and action. Both have borne tremendous fruit. Within 36 hours of the invasion, the Supreme Council committed $1.5 million toward humanitarian aid and created the Ukraine Solidarity Fund to care for the needs of the Ukrainian people. The speed and volume of support has been astounding. At $6.5 million and counting by mid-March, it is a historic testament to the generosity of brother Knights and the trust others place in our efforts.

Even more impressive has been the courageous response of our members in Ukraine and Poland. Their creative work serving refugees and delivering supplies into Ukraine is further proof that where there’s a need, there’s a Knight — especially when the need is so urgent.

Obviously, Knights are inspired by the principle of charity. But we are also guided by the principle of unity. While the majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians, there is a sizable Catholic presence in the country, comprising both Ukrainian Catholics of the Byzantine tradition and Latin-rite Catholics. Ten years ago, at a degree ceremony in Lviv, the leading archbishops of both traditions became the first members of the Order in Ukraine.

Within days of the invasion, I spoke

with both of those prelates: His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Latin-rite Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv. They told me how their brother bishops and priests are bravely ministering to the Ukrainian faithful despite the danger of war. The two archbishops have been courageous in leading those entrusted to their care. We should all be proud to call them spiritual fathers and brother Knights.

I was further moved when both archbishops joined the Holy Father’s legate, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, in Lviv on March 9. In his remarks, Cardinal Krajewski praised the work of the Church of Ukraine, adding: “Thank you to all, including here the Knights of Columbus.”

Yet perhaps the most moving moment of the past month has been my meeting with a Ukrainian couple who, for the sake of their children, escaped from Kyiv amid the initial attacks. One might expect this Knights of Columbus family to be overwhelmed with sadness and discouragement, but they exhibited great resilience and even joy. After describing how Knights helped her family each step of the way — in Ukraine, in Poland and now in the United States — the mother told me, “It was so inspiring to see good men, at work doing godly things. This is what the world needs.”

“Good men, at work doing godly things.”

This is a beautiful description of the Knights of Columbus and a profound summons for you and me. As we approach the celebration of the Passion on Good Friday and look with faith to the Resurrection of the Lord, we should keep in mind the suffering of so many in Ukraine. We should pray, fast and give alms for them. And we should recommit ourselves to being “good men, at work doing godly things.”

Vivat Jesus!

‘Even more impressive has been the courageous response of our members in Ukraine and Poland. Their creative work serving refugees and delivering supplies into Ukraine is further proof that where there’s a need, there’s a Knight.’

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LEARNING THE FAITH, LIVING THE FAITH

Deepening the Joy of Easter The end of Lent marks not a return to normal but a new season of grace to enter more fully into the mystery of Christ

By Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori

AS YOU PICK UP this edition of Columbia, Lent is reaching its final days and Holy Week is upon us. Soon we will celebrate Easter, the victory of the Risen Lord over sin and death.

The end of Lent can be the beginning of a temptation — the temptation to let down our guard, to return to our old way of life.

If you went to Mass every morning during Lent, Easter Monday might seem like a good day to sleep in. If you fasted or gave up drinking, the season of Easter might seem like a good time to indulge and eat or drink whatever you wish.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not proposing a perpetual Lent. But I am suggesting that Easter is not a time to backslide, to undo whatever progress God enabled us to make in our struggle for holiness and virtue.

That would be like regressing to a steady diet of fatty foods after a good report from our cardiologist or putting excessive strain on a broken leg that is just beginning to mend. Rather, the Easter season is a time to open our hearts more widely and more gratefully to God, our Father, who has come to our rescue and sent us his Son for our salvation.

What, then, am I proposing? I am suggesting that we join all those newly baptized at Easter in the ancient discipline of mystagogy.

“What in the world is that?” you might be thinking. “It’s even hard to pronounce!”

Mystagogy, a Greek word that means “to lead through the mysteries,” is considered the final stage of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. “Liturgical catechesis,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes, “aims to initiate people into the mystery of Christ” (1075). In other words, through the liturgy and sacraments, especially during the 40 days of the Easter season, the Church earnestly desires to lead the newly baptized — and indeed all of us — to grasp more 4

fully the inner meaning and reality of the Lord’s life, death and resurrection.

This is less a program and more an invitation to participate deeply in the Church’s liturgy, which, through sign and symbol, leads us into the mystery of faith. As we listen to the Gospels, we are caught up in the drama of the Risen Lord’s appearances to his disciples. With them, we confront the reality that Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, is standing before us alive, still bearing the wounds of his Passion, the marks of his love. Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we share the Apostles’ amazement as, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Risen Lord speaks and acts through them. As the Eucharistic Prayer is offered, we enter into the paschal mystery, the death and resurrection of the Christ, and in holy Communion, we receive the body and blood of the Risen Lord. Before long, it dawns on us that the Risen Lord is present and active in our lives no less than in the earliest days of the Church.

This should bring about in our lives an ongoing conversion — not a slackening of prayer but a deepening of our prayer life; not a return to self-centered living but a life of charity, unity and fraternity. Above all, it should lead us to what St. John Paul II called “eucharistic amazement” — a heightened and deepened sense that the Lord is truly among us, that he loves me and gave his life for me, that through the Spirit, the Lord lives, acts and speaks in me.

As Knights of Columbus, our principles of charity, unity and fraternity sum up the Gospels and invite us to deepen our relationship with Christ and one another. Let us beg the intercession of Blessed Michael McGivney that during the Easter season, we might allow the Spirit of God to lead us through the mysteries of Christ to continual Easter joy. B

‘This should bring about in our lives an ongoing conversion — not a slackening of prayer but a deepening of our prayer life; not a return to selfcentered living but a life of charity, unity and fraternity.’

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Supreme Chaplain’s Challenge

Catholic Man of the Month

A monthly reflection and practical challenge from Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori

FOR FIVE DECADES after World War II,

When the hour came, he took his place at table with the apostles.

He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it [again] until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” (Gospel for April 10, Lk 22:14-16) Every Palm Sunday, we hear the account of Christ’s Passion. The story is quite familiar to us by now. Has it lost any of its impact for us from repetition? The Passion of Christ is not just a rote story we recall once a year, but a reality that lies at the heart of our Catholic faith. My brothers, may we never let the recollection of the Passion of Christ fail to move our hearts to greater love for him.

Blessed Mykola Charnetsky (1884-1959) the Soviet Union attempted to erase the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. But the underground UGCC became the largest illegal Christian community in the world and remained steadfast through the indomitable witness of leaders like Bishop Mykola (Nicholas) Charnetsky.

Born into a devout peasant family in western Ukraine, Charnetsky felt called to the priesthood at a young age. After studies in Rome, he was ordained in 1909 and became a seminary professor and spiritual director in Ivano-Frankivsk. In 1919, Father Charnetsky joined the missionaries of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer and worked zealously for the reconciliation of Catholics and Orthodox, giving popular missions in northwest Ukraine. In 1926, Pope Pius XI appointed him apostolic visitor to Greek Catholics in the region; five years later he was ordained a bishop.

When Soviet forces invaded in 1939, Bishop Charnetsky fled to Lwów, Poland — later Lviv, Ukraine. In 1945, he was arrested by Soviet secret police as a “Vatican agent” and sentenced to hard labor in Siberia. According to official records,

LOWER LEFT: Photo by Tamino Petelinšek — LOWER RIGHT: CNS photo/Paul Haring

Liturgical Calendar

Challenge: This month, I challenge you to participate in the Stations of the Cross — alone or with your parish — to enter more deeply into the mystery of Christ’s suffering and death. Second, I challenge you to carry out the Faith in Action Good Friday Family Promotion program.

April 10

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

April 14

Holy Thursday

April 15

Friday of the Passion of the Lord (Good Friday)

April 16

Holy Saturday

April 17

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

April 24

Sunday of Divine Mercy

April 25

St. Mark, Evangelist

April 29

St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

Bishop Charnetsky underwent 600 hours of interrogation and torture and spent time in 30 Soviet prisons and camps over the next 11 years. All the while, he offered comfort and counsel to his fellow prisoners, heard their confessions and secretly celebrated the Divine Liturgy.

Released from prison at the point of death in 1956, Bishop Charnetsky made a remarkable recovery and served the Church for three more years — as much by his prayerful presence as by clandestinely preparing and ordaining candidates for the priesthood. He died a martyr, as a result of his sufferings, on April 2, 1959.

Together with 23 martyr-companions, Bishop Mykola Charnetsky was beatified in Lviv by St. John Paul II on June 27, 2001. B

Holy Father’s Monthly Prayer Intention

We pray for health care workers who serve the sick and the elderly, especially in the poorest countries; may they be adequately supported by governments and local communities.

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Solidarity With Ukraine The Knights of Columbus mobilizes to serve refugees and other victims of war 6

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hen Russian forces advanced into Ukraine and began bombing its cities Feb. 24, more than 40 million Ukrainians suddenly found themselves at war against their will. Though Russian troops had been massing along the border for several months, the full-scale invasion was still a shock.

“There were many reports of a possible attack

by Russia. But no one fully believed that this was really possible, such a mass attack,” said Ukraine State Deputy Yuriy Maletskiy.

Shock, however, soon gave way to action for Ukrainians, including the nearly 2,000 Knights of Columbus in more than 40 councils throughout the country. Those not engaged in territorial defense have been working to bring relief to besieged cities and aid the millions of people displaced by the war. Meanwhile their brothers in bordering Poland have been busy shipping food, medicine and other essential supplies, as well as welcoming refugees and helping to find them housing.

In this, they are supported by a network of spiritual and material support from Knights around the world.

“You do not face this trial alone. Your brother Knights are already rallying to your side. We will stand with you in prayer and in action,” Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly told Ukrainian members in a video message February 25.

The same day, the Order committed $1 million in immediate aid to Ukrainian relief and launched the Ukraine Solidarity Fund, an international fundraising campaign that would match all funds raised up to $500,000. More than tenfold that amount was raised by mid-March, bringing the total contributions to over $6.5 million, with 100% going to assist internally displaced persons and refugees.

The following pages provide a snapshot of the Order’s initial response to this ongoing humanitarian crisis, as well as a brief history of its presence and growth in Ukraine over the last decade.

To contribute to the Knights’ continuing work for those in need, visit kofc.org/ukraine. B

Refugees from Ukraine enter Poland on foot in the town of Hrebenne, March 5. Since March 1, Knights have welcomed refugees to a Knights of Columbus Mercy Center near the Hrebenne border crossing (see page 18).

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Prepared by Providence

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hen Yuriy Maletskiy became grand knight of one of the first two Knights of Columbus councils in Ukraine, he never imagined that, nearly a decade later, he would be leading a jurisdiction of more than 1,900 members during a time of great suffering.

One of several local Knights of Columbus leaders appointed to the Archdiocese of Lviv’s “Anti-Crisis Committee,” State Deputy Maletskiy has been working tirelessly, in collaboration with Knights in Ukraine and Poland, to find shelter for displaced families and distribute much-needed aid throughout his war-torn country.

“Today, more than ever, the activities of the Knights of Columbus are needed here in Ukraine,” State Deputy Maletskiy said. “The call is ‘In service to one, in service to all.’

This is more relevant than ever in Ukraine. Indeed, Father McGivney’s vision was prophetic.”

This is not the first time the Order has met urgent humanitarian needs resulting from unprovoked Russian 8

aggression in Ukraine. Just months after the first Ukrainian councils were established in September 2013, Russia invaded eastern Ukraine and annexed the Crimean Peninsula, beginning an era of violence displacing hundreds of thousands of people and claiming thousands of lives. Local Knights responded with immediate material and spiritual aid, and the Supreme Council provided substantial assistance through both the Ukrainian Greek and Latin-rite Catholic communities in Ukraine.

The leaders of both churches, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halyč and Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv, were among the very first members of the Order in Ukraine, joining together in a degree ceremony in Lviv in May 2012.

“The Knights of Columbus came into Ukraine at the right time and in the right place,” said Major Archbishop Shevchuk in an August 2018 interview, following the designation of Ukraine as a state council. “We started with

RIGHT: Photo by Yuriy Zahzhny — OTHERS: Knights of Columbus Multimedia Archive

Ukrainian Knights serving the needs of their country amid war see God’s hand in the Order’s presence and growth

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the first councils in Lviv and in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, right before the Revolution of Dignity started, right before the war knocked on our door. I think because of that very vibrant presence of the Knights of Columbus in our country, we were prepared by divine providence.”

Now, with Russia’s full-scale invasion, Knights are being called to respond even more generously, Archbishop Mokrzycki said.

“The Knights of Columbus is God’s work,” said Archbishop Mokrzycki. “Jesus himself wants to use us today for the benefit of those who have lost their loved ones and their

home, who are forced to travel into the unknown, who are frightened and lonely. We should be the ones to extend a helping hand to them.”

ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM The seeds of the Order’s expansion to Ukraine were sown in 2005 by Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, then the foremost leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Husar, who fled the Soviet invasion of Ukraine with his family in 1944, emigrated to the United States as a teenager and became aware of the Order’s work as a priest.

Opposite page: Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv (left) talks with Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, after joining the Knights of Columbus together in Lviv on May 9, 2012.

Left: Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, who led the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 2001 to 2011, prays during the opening Mass of the 123rd Supreme Convention in 2005. His remarks at the convention were instrumental in bringing the Order to Ukraine.

Below: Members of Blessed Mykola Charnetsky Council 16848 in Zolochiv, Ukraine, gather after a program for children with special needs in 2020. The council was recognized with the international Life Program Award at the 138th Supreme Convention for their support of special needs children and their families.

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Knights of Columbus in Ukraine: Historical Highlights August 1988 — The Order launches a Marian Prayer Program featuring pilgrim icons of Our Lady of Pochayiv to commemorate the millennial anniversary of Christianity in Ukraine.

August 2005 — Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, appeals for a “transplanting” of the Knights of Columbus to Ukraine during the 123rd Supreme Convention in Chicago.

2009 — Knights of Columbus leaders in the United States, Canada and Poland begin to lay groundwork for the Order’s expansion into Ukraine, including 10

preparing a team to conduct degree ceremonies in the Ukrainian language.

May 2012 — K of C representatives travel to Lviv, initiating Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halyč and Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv, among others.

2013 — Between May and August, approximately 100 men join the Order in a series of exemplifications in Lviv and Kyiv.

September 2013 — The first councils in Ukraine are established: St. Volodymyr Council 15800 in Kyiv and John Paul II Council 15801 in Lviv.

August 2013 — Ukrainian Knights provide an honor guard for the consecration of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv.

August 2013 — Archbishop Mokrzycki delivers remarks at the conclusion of the Supreme Convention Memorial Mass and blesses attendees with a relic of then-Blessed John Paul II. November 2013 — Major Archbishop Shevchuk celebrates a Divine Liturgy in Kyiv to bless the expansion of the Order to Ukraine. “We rejoice that knighthood is taking root in the life of our Church,” he said.

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“I have become very interested in transplanting the Order of Knights of Columbus to Ukraine,” the cardinal said in a homily at the 123rd Supreme Convention in Chicago.

“Ukraine has gone through a period of at least 70 years in which a communist regime has tried to create a new human being … to take away from the hearts of men their faith in God.” Already, the Order was preparing its first international expansion in nearly a century — with the first council in Poland being established in January 2006. With assistance from Knights in Poland, Canada and the United States, the Supreme Council then laid the groundwork for the first Ukrainian-language exemplifications in 2012 and 2013, and the first Ukrainian councils: Greek-rite St. Volodymyr Council 15800 in Kyiv and the Latin-rite John Paul II Council 15801 in Lviv.

“I find that it was truly providential that the first council was established in Ukraine’s capital city — Kyiv, five years ago, just before the beginning of the Maidan, or ‘Revolution of Dignity’ as we call it in Ukraine,” Archbishop Shevchuk said during his States Dinner keynote address in 2018.

The Revolution of Dignity began Nov. 21, 2013, when tens of thousands of people gathered in Kyiv’s Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) to protest government corruption and Russian influence; confrontations with police resulted in more than 100 dead and many more wounded.

Bogdan Kovaliv, charter grand knight of Council 15800 in Kyiv and later the jurisdiction’s first state deputy, helped lead K of C relief efforts to aid the wounded, provide food and warm clothing, and assist families of those who died.

Photos by Tamino Petelinšek

Winter 2013-2014 — During the Maidan revolution, or Revolution of Dignity, Knights and K of C chaplains in Kyiv tend to the wounded, provide food and clothing, and set up makeshift chapels to provide spiritual guidance. In solidarity with Pope Francis and with the Catholic bishops and Church in Ukraine, Knights everywhere are asked to pray that there may be renewed dialogue and respect, and a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

February 2015 — The Supreme Council disburses $400,000 for charitable relief efforts in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Greekand Latin-rite Catholic communities each receive $200,000 to feed and aid those displaced by violence, including orphans and children separated from

Opposite page: Knights in Ukraine gather with Cardinal Konrad Krajewski (center), almoner of His Holiness Pope Francis, and Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv in a storage area at the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Lviv, March 9. The seminary and archdiocesan pastoral center have become a distribution point for humanitarian aid to Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion.

Above: Knights assist a mother and baby with a new stroller at the archdiocesan pastoral center in Lviv.

their families. A second gift of the same amount would follow in November.

relief in Ukraine. We are immensely grateful for this brotherly support.”

2015 — Knights organize pilgrimages to the Shrine of Our Lady of Zarvanytsia, which is followed by a prayer program featuring Our Lady’s image.

May 2016 — The Supreme Council sponsors 20 pilgrims from Ukraine to attend the 58th International Military Pilgrimage in Lourdes, France.

2015 — Knights cooperate with the Ukrainian Ministry of Health to provide spiritual assistance to soldiers who have returned from the battlefield and experienced psychological trauma.

August 2016 — The Knights of Columbus Board of Directors designates Ukraine the Order’s newest territory, with nearly 600 members in 13 councils.

August 2015 — In a letter to the Supreme Convention, Major Archbishop Shevchuk notes, “I must acknowledge that the Knights of Columbus was the first to respond officially to the appeal of the Holy Father for humanitarian

June 2017 — In the days following the death of Cardinal Husar May 31, Knights of Columbus participate in a massive procession honoring the cardinal in Lviv and later serve as an honor guard at his funeral Mass in Kyiv.

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August 2018 — Major Archbishop Shevchuk delivers the States Dinner keynote address at the Supreme Convention pleading for the international community to help Ukrainian citizens in a “silent and forgotten war.”

May 2019 — Major Archbishop Shevchuk visits the Knights of Columbus headquarters In New Haven, Conn., and celebrates a Divine Liturgy in the headquarters’ Holy Family Chapel.

2019 — The Knights’ continued efforts to help those who suffer from the ongoing war include summer camps for children of veterans, visiting hospitals where the wounded are being treated and repairing the home of a family who lost their sons in battle.

August 2020 — Blessed Mykola Charnetsky Council 16848 in Zolochiv, Ukraine, receives the international program award in the Life category for the council’s activities assisting children with special needs.

Nov. 1, 2020 — Archbishop Mokrzycki concelebrates a Mass of Thanksgiving for the beatification of Blessed Michael McGivney at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven. A week later, he is joined by Bishop Vitaliy Krivitskiy and Bishop Mykhaylo Bubniy in celebrating a thanksgiving Mass with Ukrainian Knights at the Co-Cathedral of St. Alexander in Kyiv.

August 2021 — The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church bestows on Past Supreme Knight Carl Anderson its highest honor, inducting him into the Order of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.

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Knights also set up a prayer tent at Maidan to offer spiritual support.

“Solidarity and support for those in need demonstrate the Knights of Columbus principles for action,” Kovaliv said in 2015. “These initiatives also helped the active development of the Order.”

The Order’s principle of unity has also been a galvanizing force among Knights in Ukraine.

“Collaboration between representatives of the two rites within a large organization like the Knights of Columbus is a wonderful example of creating unity through diversity,” said Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Mykhaylo Bubniy of Odessa. “They are an example of how men take responsibility for their Church at the local level.”

Since the jurisdiction surpassed 1,000 members and was designated a state council in 2018, Ukraine’s membership has nearly doubled, with Knights in more than 40 local councils.

“The Knights of Columbus has grown from a small seed into a large community,” said Archbishop Mokrzycki. “We did not become Knights to gain fame, prestige or money, but to serve through deeds of love for the good of the Church, that is, for the community of people united by one faith and one baptism. This conviction should serve us as a goal, especially here in war-stricken Ukraine.”

‘WE SAVE HUMAN LIVES’ Now, less than a decade after the first councils were formed, the Knights in Ukraine are stepping up to serve during a historic crisis. Assisted closely by councils in neighboring Poland and supported financially and spiritually by brothers Knights around the world, they have received expressions of gratitude from Ukrainian Church leaders and even the Vatican.

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, traveling to Ukraine in early March on behalf of Pope Francis, praised the humanitarian efforts of the Order during a visit to the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Lviv. The Polish cardinal has served as papal almoner, the official in charge of the Holy Father’s charitable work, since 2013.

Speaking to media March 9, Cardinal Krajewski said, “The pope is very grateful to all those who show love to the Ukrainian people. Thank you to all, including here the Knights of Columbus.” He added, “I have come to a country of many blessed people, because this unbelievable multitude of help and kindness that is now directed toward Ukraine is a great blessing.”

Ukrainian Knights have provided humanitarian assistance since the beginning of the war. At the Archdiocese of Lviv Seminary and pastoral center, members of the Anti-Crisis Committee and other Knights are working with the archdiocese and Caritas Ukraine to help provide essential goods to displaced families.

They began receiving large shipments of supplies from brother Knights in Poland on March 1 and have arranged transports of necessities to other parts of the country (see page 14).

State Deputy Maletskiy thanked his brother Knights in Poland and throughout the world for their generosity and solidarity. “Our principles of charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism are truly manifested during these hostilities,” he said. “Indeed, the principle of fraternity is known in adversity as never before.”

The Knights’ witness of brotherhood and service has attracted other Catholic men even in the midst of war.

TOP RIGHT: — Photo by Aleksander Savranskij, Courtesy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church — OTHERS: Photos by Tamino Petelinšek

August 2018 — Numbering more than 1,000 Knights in 25 councils, Ukraine is designated a state council by the board of directors.

Bogdan Kovaliv serves as the jurisdiction’s first state deputy.

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Opposite page: Cardinal Krajewski receives a prayer card with the prayer for the canonization of Blessed Michael McGivney from Ukraine State Deputy Yuriy Maletskiy.

Above: Knights prepare to lead a procession outside the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Lviv on March 17, during a ceremony to welcome a pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima from Portugal. The statue will be available for veneration at the church until April 15.

Left: Ukraine State Secretary Petro Galuga, a member of the Archdiocese of Lviv’s Anti-Crisis Committee, prays the rosary in the pastoral center’s chapel.

Ten Ukrainians from both Greek- and Latin-rite Catholic communities joined the Order in Lviv on March 13 — the first exemplification in Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

Among the new Knights was Bishop Edward Kawa, auxiliary bishop of Lviv and head of the Anti-Crisis Committee.

“As soon as we started working, the Knights of Columbus came out immediately with an offer that they want to serve. And these communities exist all over the country

— wherever we look, there are the Knights of Columbus,” Bishop Kawa said. “This is exactly the community that was created with two traditions, and now there is no difference between us. Whether we are Greek Catholics or Roman Catholics, we work together and do one thing together: We save human lives.” B Editor’s Note: Vita Yakubovska, a journalist based in Lviv, Ukraine, contributed to this story.

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Charity in Action with humanitarian aid made its way from Poland to Lviv, in western Ukraine. The supplies — including food, water, medicine, generators, sleeping bags, warm clothing and other necessities — were collected by K of C councils throughout Poland and brought to regional sites in Kraków, Radom and the eastern town of Tomaszów Lubelski. The items were then loaded onto a single 18-wheeler — the “Solidarity Shuttle” — in Tomaszów Lubelski and driven to Ukraine to aid displaced families and others affected by the war.

Knights in Ukraine received the delivery at the seminary of the Archdiocese of Lviv, where an “Anti-Crisis Committee” established by the archdiocese is coordinating relief efforts.

Ukraine State Deputy Yuriy Maletskiy and State Secretary Petro Galuga serve on the committee and are leading K of C efforts to receive and distribute much-needed supplies — including many more shipments, large and small, sent by Knights in Poland.

Poland State Deputy Krzysztof Zuba was among the dozens of Knights who packaged supplies at the regional collection sites in late February, several days after the Russian invasion.

“As Knights, we want to be that bridge between those who can help and those who need it,” he said. “The attack on Ukraine has caused evil, but at the same time, in the many actions of those who have responded, great good has been revealed.”

The Knights’ networks in Poland and the Order’s Ukraine Solidarity Fund have made possible the delivery of other goods as well. The Semper Fidelis Foundation, an organization in southeast Poland that supports the Lviv archdiocese, filled two warehouses with essential supplies but had no way to get them to Ukraine. The Knights secured a series of large trucks to deliver the goods, with the first “charity convoy” arriving in Lviv in mid-March.

From there, local Knights have coordinated with the archdiocese and Caritas Ukraine to distribute goods to displaced people arriving from elsewhere in the country. Other supplies have been repacked for transport via truck and train to other cities.

As Russian attacks intensified in the east, the need for basic necessities grew — and so did the difficulty of delivering them.

“We have a lot of calls, appeals from the east, where they need food and medicine,” said State Deputy Maletskiy. “The roads leading to major cities in the east, such as Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, have been seized by Russian forces. But thanks to our cooperation with Caritas, we are finding ways to distribute that aid to different cities. Our Knights are working day and night to send humanitarian aid regularly, especially to those areas most under attack.”

State Secretary Galuga noted the anguish experienced by Ukrainians as their homeland is ravaged by war.

“Seeing disturbing news and photos 24 hours a day is psychologically exhausting,” he said. “But knowing that we are working for the good of others also provides some reassurance, even confidence, that our brothers and I will help our country survive.” B

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From top: Knights take inventory of medicine and other essential supplies at the St. John Paul II Center in Kraków, one of three regional K of C collection sites in Poland, before boxing and loading them for shipment.

• Knights at Our Lady of Częstochowa Parish in Radom load supplies bound for Ukraine. Father Wiesław Lenartowicz (right), pastor and associate state chaplain, helped lead the initiative, and Bishop Marek Solarczyk was present to bless the first shipment Feb. 28. • Poland State Deputy Krzysztof Zuba gathers with Knights from various councils to help load and transfer items to a semi-truck in Tomaszów Lubelski on Feb. 28.

MIDDLE: Photo by Marek Tyka — OTHERS: Photo by Emilia Adamska

IN THE EARLY MORNING hours of March 1, a semi-truck filled

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FROM TOP: Photo by Emilia Adamska — Photo by Jakub Pabis — Photos by Tamino Petelinšek

Clockwise, from top: Knights transfer boxes to the “Solidarity Shuttle” in Tomaszów Lubelski Feb. 28. Necessities were collected by K of C councils throughout Poland, and the initial large shipment reached Lviv, in western Ukraine, on March 1. • Dominican Father Patrick Mary Briscoe blesses a “charity convoy” of trucks bound for Ukraine from Łańcut, Poland, March 15.

The trucks, carrying supplies collected by the Semper Fidelis Foundation, were sponsored by the Order. • Ukrainian Knights unload humanitarian aid from Knights in Poland at the seminary of the Archdiocese of Lviv on March 8.

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ON MARCH 17, Knights worldwide joined a nine-day cam-

paign of prayer to conclude March 25, the solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, coinciding with Pope Francis’ consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In a message urging participation in the novena, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly wrote, “Together, we’ll ask Our Lady to intercede on behalf of those directly impacted by the conflict, to give strength to our Ukrainian and Polish Knights working so hard to deliver relief, and to help bring peace and healing to the region.”

The novena — initiated by Catholics in Ukraine and first requested by the Latin-rite archbishop of Lviv, Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki — has been one of many prayer initiatives undertaken throughout the Order for peace in Ukraine.

Indeed, Knights in many places — including Ukraine and Poland — participated in prayer services and Masses for weeks prior to the Russian invasion. The Order’s birthplace, St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Conn., was the site of one of a number of K of C-organized Holy Hours held Jan. 26, in response to the Holy Father’s initial call for a special day of prayer for peace.

Days after the invasion and another worldwide day of prayer on Ash Wednesday, Supreme Knight Kelly addressed a letter to grand knights Orderwide, underscoring the Knights’ two-part response to the humanitarian crisis — charitable support facilitated by the Ukraine Solidarity

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Fund, and prayer, especially Holy Hours and rosaries for those suffering.

“While the benefits of our prayers may not be as tangible as dollars spent on food or medicine,” the supreme knight wrote, “we trust that their effects are even more important.”

He also referred to a conversation with Archbishop Mokrzycki and Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who were among the first members of the Order in Ukraine.

“It was moving to hear the witness of both men, who are ministering tirelessly and courageously to a people facing unimaginable stress and turmoil,” the supreme knight wrote.

“I promised that the Knights of Columbus would accompany them and their people both in prayer and material support.”

Several days later, on March 10, both archbishops and a delegation of Ukrainian Knights participated in a historic event — an ecumenical prayer service for peace at the Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lviv, led by Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner and official representative of Pope Francis.

“From the very beginning of the war, and before the war, we knew that the situation was very dangerous, uncertain,” Archbishop Mokrzycki said in an interview following the prayer service. “We encouraged our Christian people to pray and participate in the sacraments, because we know that prayer has power. We know from history that prayer has defeated evil many times and has won wars.” B

CLOCKWISE: Photo by Anna Nycz — Photo by Tamino Petelinšek — Photo by Mykola Schepniy — Photos by Spirit Juice Studios

‘Prayer Has Won Wars’

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Top, from left: Archbishop Wacław Depo of Częstochowa, state chaplain of Poland, preaches during Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa on March 18. Knights organized and participated in the Mass, during which the archbishop blessed rosaries to be distributed to refugees in partnership with U.S.-based Goya Foods. • Supreme Knight Kelly and Knights of Columbus staff attend Mass in the Vatican’s Chapel of Sts. Benedict, Cyril and Methodius on Feb. 20 with the special intention of peace in Ukraine.

The chapel, dedicated to the co-patrons of Europe, was constructed in 1981 with the support of the Order to honor Europe’s Christian history at a time when atheistic communism divided the continent. • Cardinal Konrad Krajewski leads an ecumenical prayer service at the Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lviv on March 10. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk (left) and Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki (right) were among the religious leaders who participated.

Above left: Knights and family members participate in a moleben, a liturgical service of supplication, for the intention of the protection of the people of Ukraine, March 18, at St. Stephen Protomartyr Ukrainian Catholic Church in Calgary, Alberta.

Lower left: Members of Villanova University Council 4609 and other Knights gather after a Divine Liturgy to pray for Ukraine, held March 16 at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia.

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Centers of Mercy women and children — began arriving at the border crossing in Hrebenne, Poland, in late February, border agents needed help.

Hrebenne, a village of just a few hundred people, had little to offer the cold, weary, disoriented travelers — many of them on foot — as they awaited the next stage of their journey.

The Knights of St. Wojciech Patron of Poland Council 15267 in Tomaszów Lubelski, about 14 miles away from Hrebenne, immediately went to work. Beginning March 1, the council set up a series of heated tents, initially dubbed “mercy huts,” where they welcomed refugees, serving hot drinks and food. Neighboring councils began to contribute as well, with Knights and their families volunteering and bringing donations. Soon the Knights of Columbus tents were stocked with clothes, toys, diapers, formula and strollers for the many children among the refugees.

“We help women who cross the border with their children [to] escape the horrors of war,” explained Marcin Wojciechowski, grand knight of Council 15267. “We try, at least, to give them temporary warmth when they come and wait the dozen or so hours for check-in.”

Tatiana Alexandrovna, who arrived in Hrebenne March 10 with several of her grandchildren, was among the many who have fled from Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, the second-most populous city in the country. She and the children had spent two weeks in the basement of an apartment building — with no light, no toilets and little food or water — while Russian bombs fell on their residential neighborhood.

“The first thing I want to do is to sleep with my grandchildren — not listening for every explosion,” Alexandrovna said after crossing the border. “We lived in such horror, I can’t tell you. I am so grateful to the people who helped us escape and to the Polish people who have received us.”

Knights also arranged a dedicated space for health care workers to tend to refugees, and on March 15, a much larger Knights of Columbus Mercy Center was constructed at the Hrebenne site with support from the Poland State Council and the Supreme Council’s Ukraine Solidarity Fund. Priests and religious sisters have helped to staff the expanded mercy center, which includes a space for prayer.

A second Knights of Columbus Mercy Center opened near Budomierz, a border town further south, in mid-March, with the assistance of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Council 16380 in nearby Lubaczów and other Knights.

As refugees continue to flood Poland, the mercy centers have brought the Knights’ founding mission into sharp focus.

“Blessed Michael McGivney founded the Knights to serve the widow and the orphan — and here we are doing exactly that,” said Dominican Father Jonathan Kalisch, director of chaplains and spiritual development for the Knights of Columbus, who was among those serving at the border in early March. “We receive them here in this place of refuge, a place for them to gather their thoughts and to prepare and seek the strength they need to continue further.” B 18

From top: Sister Eliasza, a Sister of Our Lady of Mercy from Kraków serving at the Knights of Columbus Mercy Center in Hrebenne, Poland, helps a young refugee pick out a rosary on March 17. The Knights of Columbus collaborated with Goya Foods to help distribute more than 15,000 rosaries to refugees in Poland and people displaced in Ukraine. • Ukrainian women rest, get warm and contact loved ones from a K of C tent in Hrebenne after crossing the border March 5.

FROM TOP: Photo by Jakub Pabis — Photo by Tamino Petelinšek

WHEN TENS OF THOUSANDS of Ukrainian refugees — mostly

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TOP: Photo by Sebastian Nycz — MIDDLE RIGHT: Photo by Kriystian Kiełpiński OTHER: Photos by Tamino Petelinšek

From top: A larger Knights of Columbus Mercy Center, constructed to meet growing needs at the Hrebenne border crossing, welcomes refugees after opening March 15. • Ukrainian girls wave from inside a heated tent constructed by St. Wojciech Patron of Poland Council 15267 in Tomaszów Lubelski. • Andrzej Jaracz, a member of St. Nicholas Council 16964 in Chojnice, Poland, holds a Ukrainian child at the Knights of Columbus Mercy Center in Budomierz on March 17. • A mother and child stand by a fire outside the initial “mercy huts” in Hrebenne on March 5.

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‘We Didn’t Want to Flee’ Olga and Roman Panivnyk faced a difficult choice: staying for Olga’s parents and their country or leaving for their children

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love my country. I was asked many times why I didn’t stay in the United States after working there in 2003. But it was my conscious choice to come back to my country and to contribute to its growth and development. It’s heartbreaking to find ourselves leaving it.

However, at 5 a.m. on Thursday [Feb. 24], I heard a blast.

We have a tram road next to our apartments in Kyiv, so at first I thought it was probably a tram. But my friends called me and told me that the Russians were bombing us all over Ukraine.

I woke Roman up because he didn’t hear it. Our kids woke up, though. My heart was broken when I had to tell my kids it was war. Immediately, my husband went to my parents’ home to pick them up and bring them to our place so that we would be together. We initially hoped to stay in Kyiv. We always knew there was the possibility of war, but we wanted

Photo by Tamino Petelinšek

Editor’s Note: By mid-March, more than 2.5 million Ukrainians had sought refuge from Russia’s invasion, crossing the border to Poland and other neighboring countries. A top UN official called it “the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.” The decision to leave was harrowing for Roman Panivnyk, a Knight from Kyiv, and his wife, Olga. Torn between loyalty to their country, concern for Olga’s elderly parents and responsibility for their three children, they ultimately left to Poland. From there, they received assistance from Roman’s brother Knights, and the family was able to continue to Olga’s sister’s home in Pennsylvania.

In the following testimony, shared with the Knights of Columbus upon their arrival to Kraków, Olga describes their decision, their journey from Kyiv and their determination to speak for those they left behind.

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to stay there because it’s our land, it’s our home, and we didn’t want to flee.

I was not afraid to sacrifice my life, but I was afraid for my kids’ safety. We had to make a decision on how we would go and where we would go. My parents are elderly though; my dad has troubles with his heart and has had a few operations, so it would have been difficult for him to travel. When we asked them to come with us, they told us to go. Making this decision, I had to sacrifice my parents in a way, leaving them behind.

When we started the journey, our first question was who could help us. Would we cross the Romanian, Hungarian or Polish border? Roman said, “We have to go to Poland because the Knights of Columbus are there. I have brothers there who will be able to support you.” Some of his best friends in Ukraine are in the Knights of Columbus, and I became close to wives of Knights as well. In a way, they are our extended family. So we decided to head toward Poland.

Once we were packed, we started our trip at 3 p.m., and then it was a 23-hour drive to the border in western Ukraine. People were using all four lanes on the road instead of just two. Our radio was on all the time, and we were listening to what was happening and where the Russians were bombing. After each siren and each bombing, I called my parents, hoping that they would pick up the phone, so I could check how they were.

Many people were fleeing. There was this huge line stretching 31 kilometers toward the border control points.

You would see clothing along the road all the way toward the border. People who were walking to the border instead of driving would stop and unload their luggage, their bags, because they were too heavy. Since the line was moving very slowly, Roman joined some people in a field kitchen. He also joined a troop to prevent people from cutting the line.

It gave me comfort that, wherever we ended up, we could still find ourselves serving others.

But during the entire journey, we were unsure of whether Roman would be allowed to leave or not — since the government banned men between 18 to 60 from leaving the country.

“I was ready for anything. If I would have to carry this cross alone with the kids, I would carry it. While we neared the border, I was praying to the Lord Photo by Mike Ross

to allow us to cross as soon as possible because, for my kids, it was like a nightmare.”

Above: Olga and Roman Panivnyk visit Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly at the Supreme Council headquarters in New Haven, Conn., with their youngest daughter on March 16.• Opposite page: Olga and Roman Panivnyk pray in the chapel of the miraculous image of the merciful Jesus in Kraków, Poland, after Roman’s brother Knights welcomed him and his family in early March.

Roman told me that he wanted to get us over the border and if he needed to stay, he would go back to become part of the territorial defense troops. And he would help the Knights of Columbus in the region provide humanitarian help. If he was allowed out of the country, he would go with us to support me and the kids.

I was ready for anything. If I would have to carry this cross alone with the kids, I would carry it. While we neared the border, I was praying to the Lord to allow us to cross as soon as possible because, for my kids, it was like a nightmare.

Thankfully, we finally crossed the border on Tuesday, March 1, and Roman was allowed through because of our three children. The first thing I did was call my parents, who said they were praying for us and they just hoped we were safe. After the call, the new question was “OK, we made it, what’s next?” We had plans for our lives, we had dreams. But they’re so irrelevant today, and these days I just hope that the people who I love will be alive.

The faith is something which has sustained me through all my life, and, in this particular situation, it is the cornerstone.

God is with us. When we were on the road, I was praying the rosary the whole time. We were praying together with the kids in the car. What is left with us after fleeing home is our faith and love we have for each other. This is it. I believe that the Lord will sustain us, he will guide us and protect us.

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A FIGHTER

for God As a fatal disease weakened his body, former boxer Father Stu Long drew strength from his faith

By Ed Langlois

J

aws dropped in Helena, Mont., when Father Stuart “Stu” Long was ordained a priest in 2007.

“I knew a Stu Long in high school, but it can’t be the same guy,” was the reaction of one former classmate. The Stu he had known growing up in Helena had muscled and gabbed his way through street fights, football games and boxing matches before becoming a bouncer and then a bit actor in Hollywood.

But Stu’s course veered radically after a near-death experience and spiritual conversion led him to seminary; it changed again when he was diagnosed with the degenerative disease that would lead to his death at age 50. The one-time terror of Helena spent his last years in a nursing home with lines of people outside his door waiting a turn for confession and counsel.

The life of Father Stu Long, who is the subject of a new film starring Mark Wahlberg, proves that God puts mischief makers to good use. A fearless, one-of-a-kind priest and 22

FROM HELLRAISER TO HOLY ORDERS As a boy, Stu and his pals explored abandoned mine shafts and chucked apples at tour trains. In high school, he emerged as a star football player, wrestler and leader of a group of combative jocks known as the Capital High School wrecking crew.

“Everybody knew him,” recalled John Palmer, who knew Stu from sporting events and “cruising the drag” in the late ’70s. Back then, Palmer addressed the fearsome athlete with the deference one offers a mafia boss. “Stu was not a nice guy, not a guy you wanted to be on the wrong side of,” said Palmer, now a member of Helena Council 844.

Stu’s first exposure to Catholicism came at Carroll College in Helena, where he enrolled on a football scholarship and the coach required Mass for players. With fascination and horror, Stu stared at the church’s stained-glass depictions of angels and demons. He saw the priest in clerics and immediately thought of Johnny Cash.

The seed of faith had been planted, but Stu continued to live a rambunctious life. One of his professors, Father Jeremiah Sullivan, believed the lad was hindered by anger and encouraged him to channel his rage into boxing. Stu excelled in Golden Gloves tournaments and sought to go pro until a jaw injury halted his career in the ring. Later, as a bouncer in Helena, he continued to earn his rough reputation, but heroically. People still talk about the time he decked a bar

LEFT: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Helena — TOP: draghicich/iStock/Getty Images Plus

member of Helena Council 844, Father Stu seems to have become a spiritual giant precisely because he was a loose cannon who eventually emitted light and hope amid suffering.

“It seemed like the more that was taken away from him, the stronger his faith got,” said Grand Knight Bruce Norum of Sts. Cyril and Methodius Council 10576 in East Helena, who helped lead retreats with Father Stu. “His faith was untouchable. It wouldn’t break.”

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FROM TOP: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Helena — Photo courtesy of Bill Long

patron who was harassing a woman.

Stu’s mother wearied of her son’s moping about the house. “Why don’t you go to Hollywood and try to get into the movies?” she suggested. Stu took the advice and eventually found some footing in show business, working as an extra in advertisements and playing a murderer in a TV movie. He started to live large, riding a motorcycle and frequenting parties.

The most dramatic change in his life started with two events. First, he crashed his motorcycle. He was lucky to survive — a car rolled over him — and he began to think more about life’s real purpose.

About the same time, his live-in girlfriend, who was Catholic, went to confession for the first time in more than a decade. Stu was struck by her newfound, radiant joy as well as by her no-nonsense terms: If he were ever to marry her, she said, he’d need to become Catholic. He complied, surely becoming one of the parish’s more memorable RCIA students, asking numerous and outlandish questions.

While Stu’s faith was growing, his relationship was faltering. A clergyman meeting with Stu and his girlfriend said he feared the union would be troubled. “Why?” Stu asked. “Because you’re in it,” the priest retorted.

In 1994, Stu was baptized and confirmed. Like a repentant St. Peter who responds to his sins by eschewing all half measures, he suddenly knew he was called to go all in and be a priest.

He investigated a religious order in New York and studied philosophy.

But eventually, superiors told him he seemed cut out for diocesan priesthood instead, and he entered formation for the Diocese of Helena.

‘POWER IN SUFFERING’ Sitting just outside of a quiet, tiny German Catholic town, Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon was not sure what to do with the clever Montana wild man who swore so freely. His future became even murkier when doctors diagnosed Stu with inclusion body myositis, a rare condition with symptoms similar to Lou Gehrig’s disease. His muscles,

Above: Father Stu Long (left, with crutches) and Father Bart Tolleson were ordained to the priesthood by Bishop George Thomas of Helena on Dec. 14, 2007, in the Cathedral of St. Helena.

Left: As a college football player, Stu Long played at Western Montana College before transferring to Carroll College, a Catholic school in Helena, where he attended Mass for the first time.

Opposite page: Father Stu is pictured after his ordination for the Diocese of Helena.

which had carried him through life for so long, were wasting away.

Seminary officials recommended against ordination, but then-Bishop George Thomas of Helena felt he should take a chance.

“I asked the Lord, I asked Our Lady, ‘Please guide me, tell me what to do,’” said Bishop Thomas, who is now the bishop of Las Vegas. “I kept hearing over and over again in my prayer: There is power in suffering. There’s power especially in redemptive suffering. And he exemplified that.”

Bishop Thomas never regretted his decision to ordain Father Stu in 2007.

“He was deeply in love with the Lord. It was a beautiful thing to

watch,” he said.

Father Stu served briefly in two parishes after his ordination. But a few tumbles convinced everyone that he needed closer tending. In 2010, he moved into room 227 of Big Sky Care Center in Helena. In that room — which came to be dubbed “Parish 227” by the residents — his most profound ministry began.

Friends and family acquired a creaky van with a wheelchair lift and drove Father Stu to schools, parishes and prisons across the region. Wherever he went, he would talk straight about his fatal condition and hold forth about God. Folks started calling the van the Holy Roller.

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PASTOR OF ‘PARISH 227’ As Father Stu’s condition declined, he stayed closer to the care center. Those who’d been inspired by Father Stu on his journeys started coming to visit for confession, advice and chats that could be one moment hilarious and another moment penetrating.

One of the people who visited was Allison Bell, a wife and mom from Helena. The two enjoyed droll arguments, like whether Bruce Willis or Harrison Ford is the better actor.

But when Bell had a complicated pregnancy, their talks turned serious. Doctors said the baby boy was likely to die.

“And Father was like, no, that’s not going to happen,” said Bell. Unbeknownst to her, Father Stu was assembling a group to pray for her and the unborn child each time she went to the doctor. After young Max was born prematurely, he not only survived but thrived.

John Palmer, who had once feared Stu in high school, returned to Montana after a corporate career and joined the group that went to Father Stu for Mass and confession.

“He asked the most in-depth and concerned-for-your-soul questions,” Palmer said. “He was very insightful and reminded me of Padre Pio in the way that he looked into your soul.”

Sam Prestipino, a member of Helena Assembly 589, which had sponsored Father Stu through the Order’s RSVP program, recalls mailing $100 monthly checks to Stu at seminary. Many years later, when Prestipino’s wife fell ill, he returned to her hospital room one day and found Father Stu there in his wheelchair, having sat with her for several hours.

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Michael Norum receives his first Communion from Father Stu on May 11, 2014, during Mass at the Big Sky Care Center. It was the last Mass Father Stu celebrated before his death June 9.

Yet even in his waning years, something of the old rowdy Stu could break out. He and another fellow in an electric wheelchair would periodically square off at opposite ends of the hall and then barrel down at full speed until they collided, a kind of nursing home joust.

After Father Stu became ill, he urged his parents to join the Catholic Church, which they did shortly before he died.

“When his father made his profession of faith at the Easter Vigil, I looked over to Stu and I could see a tear falling down his cheek,” said Bishop Thomas. “That was, I think, a pivotal moment that gave Stu permission to go home to God.” His father, Bill, said people were drawn to Father Stu’s acceptance of his situation and his hope. “He just said, ‘We all need to suffer,’” explained Bill, who spent long hours caring for his son. “You have to go through some suffering in order to attain the ultimate goal.”

Father Stu had often told people that while he wished he were healthy, getting sick may have been the best thing for him.

“As our bodies start to betray us and break down, and as our minds start to fail, that is an opportunity for us to make our peace with God,” Father Stu stated in a 2011 interview.

“The struggle of this disease helped me learn to live the way I should have been living all along. It has helped me overcome some of my prideful ways. It’s taught me a little humility. It’s taught me about dignity and respect for others.”

Father Stu died June 9, 2014, and is buried at Resurrection Cemetery near Helena. The film Father Stu is slated for release on April 13. B ED LANGLOIS is managing editor of the Catholic Sentinel and its Spanish-language edition, El Centinela, newspapers of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon.

Photo courtesy of Bruce Norum

“He had that way of conveying the love of God and adapting to the people with whom he associated in a way where you’d feel special, you’d feel loved,” said Father Sean Raftis, pastor of St. Richard Parish in Columbia Falls and chaplain of Columbia Falls Council 7009.

Father Raftis recalled seeing Father Stu in his wheelchair praying with his brother Knights near a Planned Parenthood abortion facility.

“That image — the image of Christ standing there witnessing to women in need, children in need, the unborn — it was beautiful,” Father Raftis said. “Father Stu was one of the most vulnerable at the end of his life, so he had that natural affinity to be able to stand up for the unborn.”

Though his body had weakened severely, Father Stu desperately wanted to celebrate Mass and went to do so at places like Carroll College.

“He could not even lift the weight of the host at the elevation,” Bishop Thomas said. “So one of the students would hold his hand up. And I thought, ‘There’s a man who simply would not give up.’ He loved the Lord so deeply and loved his people so deeply.”

Attempting to raise the chalice, Father Stu would hold his hand as still as possible and lean his body far to the side, almost to the floor.

Father Bart Tolleson, his ordination classmate, marveled at the sight. “What an amazing image of raising the blood of Christ by lowering himself,” Father Tolleson said. “And the lower he got, the higher Christ was.”

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F AT H E R S F O R G O O D

Man in the Mirror Scripture shows men the way to grow in self-knowledge and self-giving

By Soren Johnson

Tutye/iStock/Getty Images Plus

CANCER TOOK MY DAD several years ago, but nothing will

ever take from me the memories I have of him reading his Bible. I keep one of his marked-up, dog-eared Bibles within sight of my desk. And it constantly causes me to ask: Am I emulating his discipline in the Word, such that I too will leave a legacy for my children when I’m gone?

My dad, Tom Johnson, was an early riser, taking his Bible and his first cup of coffee into the living room. If I were up that early, I’d catch him head-down in Scripture in his usual chair.

Little did I know then, but Dad’s morning ritual was a way of peering into the truest mirror, seeking to see what he looked like from God’s perspective. His near-daily reference to the mirror of God’s Word gave him unique access to something many fathers lack. Without it, he would have been just like so many other dads, careening back and forth in pursuit of one false image of himself after another: the independent Tom, the successful Tom, the strong Tom, the wealthy Tom, the charismatic Tom ...

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror,” writes St. James in his no-nonsense epistle. “He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like” ( Jas 1:23-24).

Or, to quote a character in a movie I saw recently, “Having looked that problem squarely in the face, let us now pass on.”

We laugh, but unfortunately, too many of us take a passive approach to life. We wake up, briefly look our problem — ourselves — squarely in the face and “pass on,” rushing to check our smartphones before running into our jammed schedules. If St. Jerome were right — that “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ” — then we are men who are unaware of our own identity.

Sixty percent of Americans read the Bible fewer than five times per year, according to recent studies, and only 11%

of adults read the Bible daily. If these findings are accurate, there are a lot of dads out there who don’t even know what they look like in the Lord, who are leading their children to ignorance of Christ and a life in the shallow end of the pool.

“Men who read the Bible grow in grace, wisdom and peace,” Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix wrote in his apostolic exhortation Into the Breach. What’s more, he asserts, “If a man’s children see him read the Scriptures, they are more likely to remain in the Faith.”

The stunning simplicity of this led one priest at a men’s conference I attended to nearly shout: “Gentlemen! This is your new rule: Bible before breakfast! Bible before bed! No Bible? Then no breakfast for you! No Bible? Then no bed for you!”

True spiritual leadership today means casting our distractions aside and gazing into the mirror of God’s Word to seek our true identity as beloved sons of our heavenly Father.

Infinitely loved. Created in his image. Called by him to lead our families into the knowledge and love of Christ.

Never before in history have Catholic dads had so many resources to go deeper in the Word: Catholic study Bibles, daily Mass readings with commentary, even a Bible in a Year podcast. No more excuses — let’s do it. Read the Bible before breakfast. Talk about the Word at the dinner table with your kids or on the way to soccer practice.

Remember that our earthly sojourn will someday end.

May we resolve to give our children the breathtaking memory of having caught us in the early and hushed stillness of the morning — as we looked into the mirror, beholding the man God sees. B SOREN JOHNSON co-directs Trinity House Community with his wife, Ever, and is a member of Holy Family Council 6831 in Leesburg, Va. APRIL 2022 B C O L U M B I A

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CALLED ( BACK ) TO WORK Work is not a punishment, but a gift that is interconnected with our God-given dignity and vocation

By D.C. Schindler

I

t will take many years to come to grips with the way COVID-19 has disrupted our lives, even after the immediate danger has passed. While some things will likely return to normal quickly — shopping without masks or eating at restaurants — others will take years, and still others may never again be the same. Of particular importance is the way that people experience and think about work — not to mention the way we actually do it.

We are currently going through what economists are calling the “Great Resignation,” giving what might otherwise have appeared as a curious phenomenon the status of a historical event. It seems to warrant this status because of its magnitude and its culture-changing implications: Not only did the rate of early retirement skyrocket in the past two years, but tens of millions of otherwise young and capable adults quit their jobs — sometimes to take advantage of the “seller’s market” to find a better line of work, but other times simply to live without a job as best they can. These members of a burgeoning “anti-work” movement are finding other, unconventional means of surviving, ways of making a living that do not involve fixed hours in a cubicle and endless paperwork.

What has caused this radical shift in attitudes toward work?

There is not yet consensus about the economic and sociological causes behind it, but one thing seems certain: The pandemic forced us to step back from the usual course of our lives, which allowed us to reflect on the things we do, and why we do them. And when people today asked themselves why they work, many of them apparently found no compelling response: Why work, often toiling away at something seemingly pointless for people we scarcely know, if we don’t “have” to; if we can find some other way to meet our needs? Whatever the proximate causes may be, it seems we have lost a sense of work as a meaningful part of our existence.

MAN’S TWOFOLD VOCATION Catholic social teaching, which has developed since the late-19th century, sheds a unique light on the state of work today. This teaching helps us to see that the Great Resignation is not just a superficial change in behavior patterns, but ought to be recognized as a symptom — one of many — of a deeper crisis regarding the meaning of life. Indeed, it is ultimately a crisis of love.

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In an encyclical that celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, Laborem Exercens (on human work), St. John Paul II identified work as one of the things that makes us human.

As embodied spirits, human beings have the extraordinary privilege of participating in the most original work of all, namely, God’s creation of the world. Made in the image of God, we are able to realize in a unique and effective way God’s creative will that the world flourish and manifest his glory. This gift was granted to no other creature but man.

The commandments given at man’s creation, according to the Book of Genesis, are to “be fruitful and multiply” and to “till and keep” the garden, which means to “have dominion” over creation (Gen 1:28, 2:15). In other words, the two “tasks” God assigned — so essential to our existence as to define who we are — are marriage and family, and work. It is not an accident that precisely these two areas of existence, the most fundamental to our nature, were wounded as a result of original sin: Sexual relations became complicated and childbirth painful and dangerous, and work became laborious and often fruitless (cf. Gen 3:16-19).

But in both cases, what was wounded was not destroyed. At the wedding Mass, we recall the uniting in flesh of man and woman as a great blessing rooted in God’s plan for creation.

It is important that we see work, too, in its original reality as a gift. When God created man to till the soil, it was not because God was unable or unwilling to supply man’s needs, and so left man to fend for himself. If God gave work to man, it was

“Love inevitably carries burdens. To put our hand to real things, to take the time to do things well — for all of the toil involved — is to affirm our humanity and to take part in the love that is creation.”

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“St. Joseph, Model of Workers,” a bas-relief by Joseph Guardo at St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal in Montréal / Photo by Bruno Olivier

mainly as a blessing, to share in his own free and celebratory bringing of the world into being: “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good!” (Gen 1:31).

Early in his pontificate, John Paul II famously elaborated a “theology of the body,” explaining that the “call to love” is so fundamental to our existence as to be inscribed into our very flesh. Each of us is made for faithful and fruitful union — most clearly signified by bodily fruitfulness in marriage. But we are also “called to work” (Laborem Exercens, prologue) — and this call is also inscribed in our flesh. For example, the human hand, which Aristotle called the “tool of tools,” with its uniquely opposable thumb and thus extraordinary versatility, allows man to intervene in the world and refashion it in profound and creative ways, cultivating it, transforming it, giving it order and beauty, and making it fruitful. The vocation to work, in other words, is also an indispensable part of the vocation to love that defines our humanity.

‘GUARDIAN OF WORK’ There seem to be two basic reasons that we have lost a “taste” for work in the contemporary world. One is that much of the work available these days has, in fact, become largely meaningless — at least in the profound, human sense. Work has generally been organized around productivity and profit, not first of all around what John Paul II called its “personalist” meaning. The main purpose of work is not what can be achieved by it, but first of all the activity itself; we work not simply because it produces good things, but because it is good to work. Moreover, it can be better to work in a way that is actually less profitable and productive, if it is more affirming of the intrinsic meaning and value of what is being done and of the people doing it.

Second, we have forgotten that work is an expression of love, and that, to quote John Paul II once again, “man cannot live without love” (Redemptor Hominis, 10). The explosion

of ever more sophisticated gadgetry has reinforced our disordered inclination to avoid burdens whenever possible.

But there is nothing meaningful in our lives that is not also a burden, even if it is a “light” one. To get rid of all inconveniences is to eliminate the very things that make life worth living. Love inevitably carries burdens. To put our hand to real things, to take the time to do things well — for all of the toil involved — is to affirm our humanity and to take part in the love that is creation.

We are accustomed to think of the Church as the “guardian of marriage,” cultivating and protecting that basic human institution. But as Catholics and Knights, we ought to become more aware of the Church’s role as “guardian of work.”

And to do so we may meditate on St. Joseph, that great saint who was identified in Scripture with a simple — but increasingly significant — description: “the Worker” (Mt 13:55). The Greek word here, tektōn, is typically translated as “carpenter,” but in fact it means “artisan” or “craftsman” in a more general sense. St. Joseph may therefore be taken as the living symbol of work as an expression of the essential Christian mission.

When Pope Pius XII established the feast day of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955, he wisely chose May 1 — the date that had been claimed by the Marxist International Socialist Congress in 1889 for the annual celebration of workers’ rights. He thereby made clear a message that is important for us, too, to remember during this confusing and unstable time: The value of work can best be affirmed by recovering its deepest roots and its noblest purpose, namely, to participate in God’s own creative act — and to respond to the call to love. B D.C. SCHINDLER is professor of metaphysics and anthropology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is a member of Potomac Council 433.

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N ✢ F A I T H I N A C T I O N

Faith

Knights from several assemblies and councils in central Florida gather after reopening the prayer tower at St. Ann Catholic Church in Haines City. The tower was remodeled thanks to the combined efforts of Father Philip de Carriere Council 10484 and Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Assembly 3200, both in Haines City, and Cypress Gardens Council 7091 and Frank J. Durbin Assembly 2608 in Winter Haven.

The Knights also installed four new statues, including the first statue of Blessed Michael McGivney in the Diocese of Orlando.

MASS FOR VETERANS Cardinal Ritter Assembly 3873 in Brownsburg, Ind., sponsoreed a healing Mass, particularly for veterans of the war in Afghanistan, on Sept. 11. Father Sean Danda, pastor of St. Malachy Catholic Church and the assembly’s faithful friar, celebrated the liturgy.

MARIAN MOTORCADE Our Lady of Visitation Council 17496 in Tayabas City, Quezon, Luzon South, organized a motorcade in honor of the Blessed Mother in which more than 400 parishioners participated.

A GLORIOUS DONATION Father Battersby Council 7586 in South Lyon, Mich., raised $5,000 to donate a piece of artwork to the rosary garden at St. Joseph Church. The metal plaque depicts the first glorious mystery, the Resurrection.

Q-AND-A WITH FATHER Queen of Peace Council 9649 in Ocala, Fla., organized an online video discussion with Father Patrick J. O’Doherty, pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church. More than a dozen guests logged on to ask Father O’Doherty about his life and vocation, as well as questions of faith and doctrine.

TECH UPGRADE Immaculate Conception Council 928 in Riverhead, N.Y., donated $1,500 to upgrade the computer system at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.

Vince Stollar (center) and Ed Kern, members of Marietta (Ohio) Council 478, return two statues of the Blessed Mother, newly repaired by the council, to the principal of St. Mary Catholic School. Council members restored and repainted the damaged figures and constructed an oak pedestal for the larger statue.

ABOVE: Photo by Randy Hale

FIRST-ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION St. James Council 14818 in Fremont, Calif., held a Mass — celebrated by Father Antony Vazhappilly, California state chaplain — to mark the first anniversary of Father Michael McGivney’s beatification.

CLUTTER CLEANERS Members of Our Lady of the Angels Council 15857 in Mead, Colo., helped their pastor and chaplain, Father Ron Cattany, clear out the basement of the original Guardian Angels Catholic Church, built in 1911. The historic sanctuary has not been used since the parish opened a new, larger church in 2018, but the parish is working to restore and open it for Mass.

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Family

LEAVE NO PARISHIONER BEHIND Holy Rosary of Wea Council 12546 in Bucyrus, Kan., helped a parish family that was having trouble maintaining their property. A group of Knights cleared weeds, removed trash and cut down trees around the family’s house.

HELP US HELP FAMILIES M.J. Benvenuti Council 8419 in Wellington, Fla., created a “Help Us Help Families in Need” program to provide toys and more to local families during the Christmas season. The council raised $25,000 to purchase gifts and meals, which the Knights distributed during an evening with Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

BELOW: Photo by Andy Airriess

Deputy Grand Knight Lupe Vasquez (left) and Scott Walker of Amarillo (Texas) Council 1450 build a wheelchair ramp for a brother Knight returning from the hospital. More than 20 Knights from Council 1450, Dumas Council 5061 and other local councils worked on the project. In the past decade, Knights in the Amarillo area, under the leadership of Miguel Nevarez, grand knight of Council 5061, have constructed more than 100 ramps for older adults and people with disabilities.

PARISH FOOD PANTRY St. Timothy Council 12834 in Laguna Niguel, Calif., provides regular support to the food pantry at St. Timothy Catholic Church. The Knights assist with collecting donations of groceries and other items, and also run an ongoing recycling drive to benefit the pantry.

FEEDING THE COMMUNITY Members of Lebanon (N.H.) Council 2656 and Father McGivney Council 8027 in Enfield support a community Thanksgiving dinner organized by Sacred Heart Parish in Lebanon. Knights helped to cook, package and deliver more than 2,400 meals in 2020, and nearly 1,700 meals in 2021.

SALVATION ARMY DONATION Weyburn (Saskatchewan) Council 1731 donated CA$1,000 to the Salvation Army to help stock the organization’s food bank.

SPECIAL DELIVERIES Members of Ted H. Denning Jr. Council 8781 in Farragut, Tenn., run a food delivery ministry in the Knoxville area, continuing a project founded by the council’s namesake. Every day, Knights and other volunteers pick up perishable food from grocery stores and restaurants and bring the donations to food pantries and other local service agencies.

EMERGENCY AID Members of Our Lady of Lourdes Council 11809 in Sun City West, Ariz., with support from other Knights in Arizona and Michigan, collected supplies for families affected by destructive rains in Gila Bend. Council members delivered furniture, clothes and other supplies to the town’s Catholic parish.

Rick Hixson, a member of Mother Teresa of Calcutta Council 12181 in Draper, Utah, assesses a student’s project during the Diocesan Science and Engineering Fair at St. Juan Diego High School. Many Knights volunteer as judges at the annual fair, which has been sponsored by the Utah State Council for 26 years.

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N ✢ F A I T H I N A C T I O N

Community

Members of Renovo (Pa.) Council 542 gather after helping the Renovo Little League clean up leaves and debris from their fields in preparation for the baseball season.

GIVE THE WARMTH A blanket drive held by Our Lady of Mount Virgin Council 12700 in Middlesex, N.J., gathered more than 200 new blankets for the St. Vincent de Paul Society and a pregnancy resource center.

THESE HONORED DEAD Our Lady of Peace Assembly 1184 in Clarksburg, W.V., raised $8,000 to place more than 800 wreaths on veteran gravesites in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery as part of Wreaths Across America.

GOLFING FOR GOOD St. Francis Council 2962 in East Boston, Mass., sponsored a foursome for a golf fundraiser benefiting East Boston Central Catholic School. The event raised $12,000 for the school, which serves four Catholic parishes in the area.

CAR SHOW FUNDRAISER Sts. Cosmas & Damian Council 13341 in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., raised

RUNNING WITH THE SAINTS Church of the Holy Spirit Council 12150 in Montgomery, Ala., organized a road race in which runners were encouraged to dress as a saint and prizes were awarded for the best costumes. The event raised $2,700 to support Catholic Social Services of Montgomery.

$6,900 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with its third annual car show. The event featured music, concessions, door prizes and more.

AFTER THE FLOOD Members of Holy Family Council 15234 in Brentwood, Tenn., collected 400 coats for families affected by severe flooding across the state in August 2021. Knights delivered the donation to St. Patrick’s Parish in McEwen for distribution by its St. Vincent de Paul Society.

MEN’S NIGHT IN St. Don Bosco Council 8146 in Calgary, Alberta, adapted its annual “Men’s Night Out” fundraising dinner to pandemic restrictions, making it a “Men’s Night In.” The council packed food and drinks for pickup, and guests gathered virtually for livestreamed entertainment.

In seven years, the event has raised CA$100,000 for St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, a shelter for pregnant women and other charities.

Fred Bradley and Ernie Davis, military veterans belonging to Assumption Council 6899 in Stratford, Prince Edward Island, stand before the town’s cenotaph after laying a Remembrance Day wreath on behalf of the council.

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Life

LIFE IN 3D St. Mary’s Council 4196 in Spokane Valley, Wash., placed a 3D ultrasound machine at MyChoice Spokane, a pregnancy resource center and medical clinic. Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane was present at the dedication and blessed the machine, which was purchased with support from the Supreme Council and 4US.

Grand Knight Robert Michaud (right) and Xavier Michaud, members of Bishop Edward C. O’Leary Council 13181 in Sabattus, Maine, present a boy and his father with a donation from the council’s fund drive for people with intellectual disabilities.

Council 13181 works with the local school district to identify special education students whose family could benefit from financial help.

Members of St. Martin de Porres Council 8238 in Yorba Linda, Calif., pray outside a Planned Parenthood facility in Orange during the closing vigil of a 40 Days for Life event.

TORONTO LIFE CHAIN Members of St. Barnabas Council 13785 in Toronto participated in Life Chain, an annual, peaceful pro-life event by coordinated groups across the United States and Canada. More than 200 parishioners joined the demonstration outside St. Barnabas Parish.

POUNDING THE PAVEMENT Members of St. Paul Council 738 in Valparaiso, Ind., collected more than $9,000 during their fund drive for people with intellectual disabilities. The money was donated to several charities, including the St. Agnes Adult Day Care Center and Special Olympics.

BOUNTY OF BLOOD St-Pascal Council 2941 in Kamouraska, Québec, worked with local organizations to hold five blood drives in 2021, collecting more than 500 donations over the course of the year.

VITAL SIGN St. Peter Chanel Council 13217 in Roswell, Ga., donated materials and constructed a new sign for the

Pregnancy Aid Clinic, a pregnancy resource center, to replace an old one that had fallen into disrepair. Members also painted the center’s mailbox and replaced two light fixtures.

ANNUAL MEMORIAL Msgr. Desmond Council 13348 in Lewes, Del., continued its tradition of placing crosses on the grounds of St. Jude the Apostle Catholic Church during Respect Life Month. Each cross represents 1 million of the approximately 65 million children aborted in the United States since 1973.

BIKE FOR LIFE Father Martin T. Gilligan Council 14882 in Dayton, Ohio, organized its second annual Ride for Charity.

Through sponsorships for riders, the Knights raised more than $2,000 for Dayton Right to Life.

See more at www.kofc.org/knightsinaction Please submit your council activities to knightsinaction@kofc.org APRIL 2022 ✢ C O L U M B I A

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Join the Father McGivney Guild

‘Their Need Became Our Need’

Please enroll me in the Father Michael J. McGivney Guild:

Nebraska Knights renovate a religious community’s rickety roofs

By Andrew Fowler

✃

4/22

NAME ADDRESS

THE FRANCISCAN SISTERS of the Sor-

rowful Mother looked at the 80-yearold barn on their 10-acre property in Nebraska City, Neb., and saw potential.

Despite the barn’s leaking, dilapidated roof, they envisioned turning it into a quiet place of retreat for spiritual reflection and vocational growth.

Father Shine Council 1966 in Plattsmouth, with the assistance of other local councils, helped to make that dream come true. Nearly 40 Knights came together last year to repair the barn’s roof, as well as that of a smaller maintenance shed, thereby saving the sisters an estimated $25,000.

“The Franciscan Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother are an important part of our mostly rural communities,” said council member Michael Vaughn.

“They are a blessing. Their need became our need.”

The Knights in Council 1966 had previously fixed the roof of the Church of the Holy Spirit’s rectory in Plattsmouth, and they figured this job was right up their alley. But the work required more manpower than they anticipated, so the council reached out

Father Joseph Vanderheiden Council 3152 in Nebraska City and Father Frank R. Flicek Council 7021 in Auburn, as well as a Franciscan community, the Knights of the Holy Eucharist.

The men gathered for two work days to strip shingles, remove nails, repair and replace the roof decks and fascia, and install new steel roofing on the barn and shed. Several Knights later painted the shed as well.

The Franciscan sisters were delighted with the work. “You gentlemen of the Knights of Columbus did an excellent job of transforming a very rickety, holey barn roof into a gorgeous, long-lasting one!” they wrote to the Knights in thanks. “God will bless you! Father McGivney is smiling down upon you!”

Council 1966’s charitable handiwork continues. Most recently, the Knights installed a new roof for My Neighbor’s Closet, a thrift store at the Church of the Holy Spirit whose profits support those in need. B

— Andrew Fowler is a content producer for the Knights of Columbus Communications Department.

Knights from three councils reroof a barn belonging to the Franciscan Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in Nebraska City.

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KNIGHTS OF CHARITY

Knights of Charity Every day, Knights all over the world are given opportunities to make a difference — whether through community service, raising money or prayer. We celebrate each and every Knight for his strength, his compassion and his dedication to building a better world.

Members of Pinaglabanan Council 5120 in San Juan, Metro Manila, Luzon North, serve soup and bread to families in Batis Barangay as part of the council’s Food for Families program. Grand Knight Julian Bernabe (second from left) and Deputy Grand Knight Renato Madrona offered a prayer and Gospel reading before the meal.

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: knightsinaction@kofc.org COLUMBIA APR 22 ENG COVERS 03_18 FINAL.indd 3

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

‘I opened the door of my heart.’

Growing up, I had a lot of misconceptions about nuns. Primarily, I assumed women became nuns only if they couldn’t find a boyfriend. Why else would a woman give up the same joys — marriage and family — as celibate priests, with none of the “superpowers”?

Then, in college, I actually met nuns, and I was stunned. They were beautiful! And smart!

And had personalities! With the foundation of my understanding shaken, I opened the door of my heart. Not much — just a crack. But it was a crack big enough for Jesus to get his toe in and open it a lot wider.

Throughout my discernment, I often recalled the words of my spiritual director: “We all have a natural call to marriage, but some of us have a supernatural call to celibacy.” The call to celibacy doesn’t come instead of a call to marriage. It transcends it. My desire for a spouse helps me lean into Christ as my Bridegroom. And my desire for children molds me into a spiritual mother to many more children than I could otherwise have.

Photo by Erika Borden

Mother Natalia Christ the Bridegroom Monastery Burton, Ohio

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