Columbia February 2014

KNIGH T S O F C O L U M B U S

F EBRUARY 2014

COLUMBIA

Hope after Haiyan

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KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS FEBRUARY 2014 ♦ VOLUME 94 ♦ NUMBER 2

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F E AT U R E S

8 Evangelizing America in the Footsteps of Our Lady Pontifical pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe unites leaders from across the continent.

BY ANDREW J. MATT

12 Loaves of Love What started out as simple bread deliveries by a local K of C council has evolved into statewide charitable outreach.

BY MARYANGELA LAYMAN ROMÁN

16 Hope after Haiyan With councils throughout the Philippines, the Order offers relief to typhoon victims.

BY BRIAN CAULFIELD

22 Coming to the Aid of a Brother in Need Councils a thousand miles apart join hands to help a family struck by tragedy.

BY MARIE ELENA GIOSSI

25 Education and Evangelization The work of evangelization helps others to see, understand and engage the world from the perspective of faith.

BY STRATFORD CALDECOTT

Images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego are carried in procession on the opening day of the pontifical pilgrimage and meeting in Mexico City Nov. 16-19, 2013.

D E PA RT M E N T S 3

Building a better world Pope Francis urges us to radiate “fraternal communion and missionary fruitfulness.”

BY SUPREME KNIGHT CARL A. ANDERSON

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Learning the faith, living the faith

PHOTO: Tom Serafin

Like the habits of successful coaches and business leaders, our spiritual lives require the courage to face our fears head on.

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Knights of Columbus News Coats For Kids Wraps Another Record-Breaking Year • Supreme Knight Receives Patronal Medal from CUA, National Shrine • Knights Welcome New Archbishop of Hartford • Order Welcomes Brother Knights to New Leadership Positions • Supreme Council Funds New Project Rachel Position at U.S. Bishops’ Conference

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Fathers for Good Catholic families have practical ways for learning about and witnessing to the beauty of the Church’s teachings.

BY ANDREW LICHTENWALNER

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Knights in Action

BY SUPREME CHAPLAIN ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM E. LORI

PLUS: Catholic Man of the Month

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The New Commandment WHEN ASKED by the Pharisees what commandment in the law was greatest, Christ answered that the whole law and the prophets depend on loving God above all else and loving your neighbor as yourself (cf. Mt 22:37-40). He then gave a “new commandment” during his farewell discourse to the Apostles: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:3536; cf. Jn 15:12).

Christ’s new commandment demands obedience from his followers and remains the cornerstone of Christian life.

Nonetheless, like the rest of God’s commandments, Christ’s precept to love one another promotes rather than impedes freedom, and like the whole of the Gospel, it bears a message of universal significance. The Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World emphasized that man bears a certain likeness to the Holy Trinity and “cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself” (Gaudium et Spes, 24). Far from being a merely private lifestyle choice, one option among many, life in Christ corresponds to the deepest longings of the human heart.

In his recent apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis notes, “We become fully human when we become more than human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being” (8). Embracing this “fullest truth of our being,” grounded in our creation and destiny in God, lies at the center of the new evangelization, which has been called for by Francis and

his predecessors. Ultimately, the joyful witness of Christian faith, hope and charity is the antidote to what the pope calls a “materialistic, consumerist and individualistic society” and the “vacuum left by secularist rationalism” (63).

From one perspective, Pope Francis’ emphasis on “going forth from ourselves toward our brothers and sisters” (179) is not a new message or a change of course.

Christ’s commandment of charity is the constant teaching of the Church and has been particularly stressed in recent decades, from the Second Vatican Council and the call to become “the Church of the Good Samaritan” to Pope Benedict XVI’s foundational encyclicals. On the other hand, an “eternal newness” springs from the Gospel, as there will always be a need to transform hearts and renew societies with God’s love and grace (cf. 11).

In this light, a pilgrimage and meeting that gathered Church leaders in Mexico City last November focused on the ongoing task of evangelization and renewal across the continent (see page 8). This task is also manifested in the Order’s daily work, whether by Knights in Wisconsin delivering bread and other supplies for the poor in their communities (see page 12), Knights in the Philippines helping their neighbors affected by Typhoon Haiyan (see page 16), or Knights in Florida and New York supporting a brother Knight and his family after a devastating accident (see page 22). In these and so many other ways, we see how Christ’s new commandment inspires the witness of faith and the creativity of love.♦ ALTON J. PELOWSKI EDITOR

Faith Resource: A God Who Is Threefold Love The booklet A God Who Is Threefold Love (#404) by Michelle K. Borras is part of the New Evangelization Series published by the Order’s Catholic Information Service. Leading us to a new appreciation of the central Christian claim that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), the booklet explores the communion of love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and Christ’s invitation to discover the origin and destiny of our lives. To download this and other Catholic resources, visit kofc.org/cis.

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COLUMBIA PUBLISHER Knights of Columbus ________ SUPREME OFFICERS Carl A. Anderson SUPREME KNIGHT Most Rev. William E. Lori, S.T.D. SUPREME CHAPLAIN Logan T. Ludwig DEPUTY SUPREME KNIGHT Charles E. Maurer Jr. SUPREME SECRETARY Michael J. O’Connor SUPREME TREASURER John A. Marrella SUPREME ADVOCATE ________ EDITORIAL Alton J. Pelowski EDITOR Andrew J. Matt MANAGING EDITOR Patrick Scalisi SENIOR EDITOR Kaitlyn Landgraf EDITORIAL ASSISTANT ________

Venerable 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 MAIL COLUMBIA 1 Columbus Plaza New Haven, CT 06510-3326 ADDRESS CHANGES 203-752-4580 OTHER INQUIRIES 203-752-4398 FAX 203-752-4109 CUSTOMER SERVICE 1-800-380-9995 E-MAIL columbia@kofc.org INTERNET kofc.org/columbia ________ Membership in the Knights of Columbus is open to men 18 years of age or older who are practical (that is, practicing) Catholics in union with the Holy See. This means that 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.

________ Copyright © 2014 All rights reserved ________ ON THE COVER The Metropolitan Cathedral in Palo, Philippines, is seen in the distance in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

COVER: Photo by Roy Lagarde

E D I TO R I A L

BUILDING A BETTER WORLD

A Personal Challenge Pope Francis urges us to radiate “fraternal communion and missionary fruitfulness”

by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson

IN MY COLUMN last month, I began volvement on the part of each of the a reflection on Pope Francis’ new apos- baptized” (120). tolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium In order to be faithful “missionary (The Joy of the Gospel). I focused on the disciples,” however, Pope Francis says Undoubtedly, some Catholics will read pope’s challenge to Catholics to embrace that it is necessary to go beyond our these passages and ask, “What does such a new “missionary spirit” that brings the “comfort zones” (20) and “abandon the a witness of fraternal communion look Gospel to the peripheries of society. At complacent attitude that says we have like, and how are we to enter into it?” this moment in history, the Knights of always done it this way” (33). He also Yet it is impossible for any brother Columbus has an extraordinary oppor- says that places of “fraternal commun- Knight to read the words of our Holy tunity and, I would add, an extraordi- ion and missionary fruitfulness” are es- Father and not recognize a profound nary responsibility to join Pope Francis sential in the Church today (89). and personal challenge. We have the on the front line in this witness and to Pope Francis then reminds us of the great privilege of being heirs to the spirmeet Blessed John Paul II’s challenge key to this communion and fruitfulness itual vision of Venerable Michael Mcto engage in a charity that Givney, who set out a path of evangelizes. fraternal communion based This month, I would like to on charity and unity more We don’t have to invent new continue reflecting on Evangelii than 130 years ago. associations or experiment with Gaudium and show how it Because of our founder’s inshould serve as a guide for our spiration, we don’t have to innew structures to find a fruitful work as Knights of Columbus. vent new associations or Our Holy Father sees the experiment with new structures form of fraternal communion.

Church opening a new chapter in order to find a fruitful form of evangelization, one characof fraternal communion. Every terized by “the joy of the Gospel” and by again quoting Pope Benedict: “the Knight already belongs to an Order that carried forward by those who “wish to service of charity” is “a constitutive ele- personifies one of the most fruitful exshare their joy.” In this mission — echo- ment of the Church’s mission and an in- pressions of fraternal communion ever to ing the words of Pope Benedict XVI to dispensable expression of her very exist in the countries where we are active. the bishops of Latin America at Apare- being” (179).

The challenge, then, facing every cida, Brazil, in 2007 — Pope Francis Our Holy Father urges us to redis- brother Knight today is to ensure that writes, “It is not by proselytizing that the cover our need as Catholics “to live in the Order and every one of our councils Church grows, but ‘by attraction’” (15). fraternity” and to grow in “a fraternal are places whose “doors are open” and Evangelii Gaudium is the pope’s re- love capable of seeing the sacred whose members invite their fellow sponse to the 2012 Synod of Bishops, grandeur of our neighbor, of finding Catholics to a life of fraternal communion and charity. which met on the topic “The New God in every human being” (92).

It is also the responsibility of every Evangelization for the Transmission of In this light, Pope Francis writes: “I the Christian Faith.” In his document, especially ask Christians in communi- Knight to deepen his fraternal comthe Holy Father takes up a central ties throughout the world to offer a ra- munion with true charity and unity, so theme of the synod: “In virtue of their diant and attractive witness of fraternal that whoever encounters the Knights baptism, all the members of the People communion. Let everyone admire of Columbus will encounter a commuof God have become missionary disci- how you care for one another, and nity of brothers motivated by the joy ples.” And he emphasizes, “The new how you encourage and accompany of the Gospel.

Vivat Jesus! evangelization calls for personal in- one another” (98).

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LEARNING THE FAITH, LIVING THE FAITH

Running to the Roar Like the habits of successful coaches and business leaders, our spiritual lives require the courage to face our fears head on

by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part four in a special series on men’s spirituality.

roar, that we should confront our opponent’s strengths while overcoming our fears. Instead of running from the roaring lion, only to be caught and devoured, we should face the lion headon with a fearless roar of our own.

PAUL ASSAIANTE knows something about winning. As coach for the Trinity College squash team in Hartford, Conn., Assaiante has won 13 consecutive national championships CONFRONTING OUR SINS and a record 252 consecutive matches As we head into the season of Lent, I since 1998. Four years ago, he teamed suggest that all of us “run to the roar” up with James Zug, an award-winning as soon as possible. This means conwriter and widely recognized authority on squash, to write the book, Run to the Roar: Coaching to Overcome Fear As followers of Christ, it is (2010).

As the authors explain, the through the sacrament of roar of the lion strikes fear in reconciliation that we “run to the heart, and the instinct of other animals is to turn away the roar” and confront the from the lion, a strategy that often leads to their demise. barriers between us and God. Even after a lion is past his prime, his mighty roar keeps prey on the run. And when it comes to lions, human beings don’t fronting the things that most threaten fare much better than antelopes. If a our spiritual lives and facing up to roaring lion confronted me, I would what is most likely to impede our be seized with fear and run away — growth as human beings, as followers and would probably become the lion’s of Christ, as Knights, and as husbands mid-afternoon snack. and fathers.

The roaring lion is a symbol of our In fact, all sin — especially serious fears, especially the fears that threaten sin — has a way of keeping us on the to consume us, that keep us up at run and hiding behind excuses, alibis night. It represents aspects of our lives and pretexts that damage our relationthat keep us on the run from God, ships with God and others. Sin and our spouses, our families, our friends sinful habits also have a way of conand even ourselves. suming us, of becoming the most imSuccessful coaches and business portant thing in our lives, even more leaders tell us we should run to the important than God and our loved 4 ♦ COLUMBIA ♦

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ones. As followers of Christ, it is through the sacrament of reconciliation that we “run to the roar” and confront these barriers between us and God. Running to the roar is a counterintuitive idea, like jousting without a shield or playing football without a helmet. So what gives us the courage to run to the roar in our spiritual lives? What makes us think that admitting our weakness leads to strength? What makes us think that confessing our sins gives us the home-field advantage? Let us look to Scripture to answer these questions.

With Jesus’ powerful enemies lining up against him, we read in the Gospel how the chief priests and Pharisees ask the guards surrounding Jesus, “Why didn’t you arrest him?” They answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this man” (cf. Jn 7:45-46). No one has ever spoken to us as Jesus has; no one has ever told us the truth about God and about ourselves as he has. Jesus speaks to us words of spirit and life in Scripture, in Mass and in our private prayer. There’s not a coach in the land that can speak to us more powerfully than Jesus.

THE WAY OF CHRIST The prophets offered a foretaste of Jesus’ admonition “to repent and believe” (Mk 1:15) — to run to the roar.

LEARNING THE FAITH, LIVING THE FAITH

Jeremiah, for example, foreshadowed how Jesus would lead the way “like a trusting lamb led to slaughter” (Jer 11:19). In the Garden of Olives and on the Cross, Jesus went ahead of us.

Though sinless, the Lamb of God took upon himself the full fury of human sinfulness and weakness. It wasn’t the scourges that pained him as much as our sins. It wasn’t the heavy cross that caused him to fall, but the weight of our sins. Yet by his wounds we were healed; by his falling we were lifted up; and by his dying we now have in us an imperishable life. In a word, Jesus ran to the roar so that we could do the same.

HOLY FATHER’S PRAYER INTENTIONS

Offered in Solidarity with Pope Francis GENERAL: That the Church and society may respect the wisdom and experience of older people.

POPE FRANCIS: CNS photo/Paul Haring — ARCHBISHOP CIEPLAK: Photo by APIC/Getty Images

MISSION: That priests, religious, and lay people may work together with generosity.

We also have the example of the saints and of our Holy Father Pope Francis. Here is a man who regularly runs to the roar. In his long experience as a priest, as a Jesuit provincial and as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, one of the world’s most complex dioceses, he has had to face many tough problems and shoulder many difficult responsibilities. And now, he has the most demanding responsibility of all: to shepherd as successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ the Church universal at a time when the Church faces challenges on many fronts.

The pope’s simplicity and spirit of poverty is not a public relations front,

a style contrived to charm his followers and disarm his critics. It is really who he is. He runs to the roar armed with a powerful spiritual life, with the knowledge and love of Christ, bolstered by the prayers of those he serves and strengthened by his love of the poor and needy.

As we go about our lives and work as Catholic men dedicated to our founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity, we do so united with our Holy Father and strengthened by the Eucharist to share a love that is stronger than sin and more powerful than death. With this kind of support, we can indeed “run to the roar”!♦

C AT H O L I C M A N O F T H E M O N T H

Archbishop Jan Cieplak (1857-1926) BORN IN POLAND on Aug. 17, 1857, Jan Cieplak was raised by his grandmother. He pursued a priestly vocation and was ordained in 1881. For the next 20 years he served as a seminary professor in St. Petersburg, Russia, while supporting orphanages and schools.

Father Cieplak was appointed auxiliary bishop of Mohilev in 1908, and soon became the first bishop to traverse Siberia and the Far East. He also made pastoral visits across Lithuania and Belarus, and his zeal earned the animosity of the czarist authorities. As a result, he was suspended from the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg.

In 1919, Bishop Cieplak was named titular archbishop of Ochrida. When the Soviet Union was formed three years later, he was the highest-ranking Catholic official in the country. Harassed by the Communist authorities for resisting the nationalization of church buildings, Archbishop Cieplak was arrested twice. In a 1923 show trial that gained worldwide attention, he was sentenced to death for creating a “counterrevolutionary organization.”

Pressure from the West eventually forced the Soviets to commute the sentence to a 10-year prison term. After serving a year in the Butyrka and Lubyanka prisons, Archbishop Cieplak was abruptly released and welcomed with jubilation in Poland. He then traveled to Rome, where Pope Pius XI asked him to prepare a report on Bolshevik Russia.

In November 1925, Archbishop Cieplak began a tour of the United States, visiting 375 parishes and also meeting President Calvin Coolidge. In December, he was appointed archbishop of Vilnius, in present-day Lithuania.

While still in the United States, however, he fell ill in Passaic, N.J., and died there Feb. 17, 1926. His cause for canonization was opened in 1952.♦

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KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS NEWS

Coats For Kids Wraps Another Record-Breaking Year SPREADING WARMTH and good cheer throughout the holiday season wasn’t just a figure of speech as the Knights of Columbus Coats for Kids program provided thousands of winter coats to children in need throughout cold-weather cities in the United States and Canada.

Knights processed orders for a record-breaking 51,000 coats, which were distributed by local and state councils at a variety of events: • Knights at six sites throughout Connecticut gave out 2,000 coats to children in need the day after Thanksgiving. For two hours on the biggest shopping day of the year, Knights distributed coats in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Norwich, Stamford and Waterbury.

• Teaming up with representatives of the Denver Broncos in mid-October, Knights presented coats to schoolchildren at a distribution in the Mile High City co-sponsored by Catholic Athletes for Christ. Two weeks later, they also distributed coats to children whose families were severely impacted by devastating floods in Northern Colorado.

Members of Our Lady of the Assumption Council 11077 in Fairfield, Conn., and representatives of Action for Bridgeport Community Development stand with some of the children who received winter coats through the Order’s Coats for Kids program.

(For more on the Order’s response to the Colorado floods, see page 20).

• In a community-wide effort spearheaded by Knights in the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., eight parishes and several diocesan schools organized a coat collection to benefit students at seven area schools and residents at a homeless shelter. “We’ve collected more than 600 coats — our best year ever,” said Bill

Bouchard, Grand Knight of Bishop Cassidy Council 3669 in Swansea, Mass.

“The parishes have been extremely generous, opening their hearts wide.”

Established in 2009, the Knights of Columbus Coats for Kids program has given away some 150,000 coats to children. In the past year, more than 1,000 councils participated in the program in the United States and Canada.♦

ON DEC. 9, 2013, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson received the Patronal Medal at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. The medal, awarded jointly by the shrine and The Catholic University of America, is given to an individual who renders “distinguished service in the advancement of Marian devotion, theology, or general appreciation of the place of Mary in the Catholic Church.”

“Carl Anderson has dedicated his life to serving the Church and our nation,” said John Garvey, president of Catholic University. “He embodies the qualities for which the Patronal Medal is awarded because his strong faith and devotion to Mary underpin all that he does.”

In accepting the medal, Anderson said the award “is an occasion to recognize the dedication of so many countless Knights of Columbus to the national shrine.” He called it “a privilege and honor” to work with the shrine “for the honor of serving the Mother of our Lord.”

Previous recipients of the Patronal Medal include: Cardinal James Hickey, former archbishop of Washington; 6 ♦ COLUMBIA ♦

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Msgr. Walter Rossi, rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington and, at right, John Garvey, president of The Catholic University of America, present Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson with the Patronal Medal.

Mother M. Angelica, founder of the Eternal Word Television Network; and Dolores Hope, wife of entertainer Bob Hope.♦

NATIONAL SHRINE: CNS photo /Bob Roller

Supreme Knight Receives Patronal Medal from CUA, National Shrine

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS NEWS

Knights Welcome New Archbishop of Hartford

Brother Knights Elected to New Leadership Positions

ARCHBISHOP BLAIR: CNS photo/Bob Mullen

Logan T. Ludwig

ARCHBISHOP Leonard P. Blair, 64, was installed as the new head of the Archdiocese of Hartford Dec. 16, 2013. Archbishop Blair replaces Archbishop Henry J. Mansell, whose retirement was accepted by Pope Francis in late 2013.

“Throughout his time in Michigan, at the Vatican and most recently in Ohio, our archbishopdesignate has shown himself to be a quintessential pastor and shepherd,” said Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson after Archbishop Blair’s new post was announced. “We thank Pope Francis for this outstanding appointment and stand ready to assist our new archbishop in whatever ways we can.”

Archbishop Blair was born in 1949 in Detroit and was ordained a priest in 1976. He served as auxiliary bishop of Detroit from 1999 until 2003, when he was tapped by Pope John Paul II to head the Diocese of Toledo, Ohio. He chairs the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on the Catechism and is a member of the Committees on Doctrine and on Evangelization and Catechesis.

Archbishop Blair joined the Knights in 1994 and has served West Toledo Council 3122 as council chaplain and faithful friar.

Supreme Knight Anderson was among the dignitaries at the archbishop’s installation Mass.♦

Michael J. O’Connor

THE END OF 2013 saw a changing of the guard in several key leadership positions at the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council.

Chief among these was the promotion of Logan T. Ludwig to serve as the new deputy supreme knight following the retirement of Dennis A. Savoie after more than seven years of service in the position. Ludwig, a member of the board of directors since 2007, served as state advocate, state treasurer and state secretary in Illinois prior to becoming state deputy in 2004. In 2011, he was promoted to supreme treasurer.

Natale L. Gallo

Patrick E. Kelly

To fill the vacancy left by Ludwig’s promotion, Supreme Director Michael J. O’Connor was promoted to supreme treasurer. O’Connor is responsible for the financial affairs of the Order and previously served as assistant supreme advocate.

Finally, Supreme Director Natale L. Gallo, a past state deputy of Ontario, was named assistant to the supreme knight for Canadian affairs, while Patrick E. Kelly, vice president for public policy and executive director of the Blessed John Paul II Shrine, was appointed to the board of directors.♦

Supreme Council Funds New Project Rachel Position at U.S. Bishops’ Conference THE U.S. CONFERENCE of Catholic Bishops will have a powerful new ally in helping women heal from the emotional and physical trauma of abortion, thanks in part of the Knights of Columbus.

The U.S. bishops voted Nov. 12, 2013, to add a permanent staff member to work nationally with Project Rachel, the Milwaukee-based postabortion healing ministry founded by Vicki Thorn. The position will be funded in part by the Knights of Columbus.

“While it’s encouraging that so many dioceses are asking for help and responding, the [U.S. bishops’] prolife committee recognized some time ago that additional help would be needed,” said Cardinal Seán P. O’Mal-

ley of Boston of the driving factor behind the creation of such a position.

Established by Thorn in 1984, Project Rachel helps women, as well as men, recover from the aftermath of abortion through hope, healing and forgiveness. The program is present in most dioceses throughout the United States and receives support from the Knights at both the national and grassroots level.

“To oversee the ministry and keep on top of things that need to be done, you really need a full-time person,” Thorn told Catholic News Agency following the announcement. “I’m just delighted that they’re going to have one. This is an important ministry of the Church, and it is really key to the evangelization of our times.”♦

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EVANGELIZING

AMERICA in the Footsteps of Our Lady Pontifical pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe unites leaders from across the continent

by Andrew J. Matt | photos by Tom Serafin

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n a powerful witness of unity and faith, eight cardinals and more than 70 bishops from North, Central and South America — together with K of C leaders and some 250 invited guests from around the hemisphere — gathered in Mexico City Nov. 16-19, 2013, for a pilgrimage and meeting titled “Our Lady of Guadalupe: Star of the New Evangelization on the American Continent.” The event, which was co-sponsored by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Knights of Columbus and the Institute for Guadalupan Studies, included daily Mass and Marian devotions, keynote addresses and work groups.

In a video address Nov. 16, Pope Francis greeted participants and urged them to make “missionary outreach the paradigm of all pastoral activity.”

The purpose of the four-day event was to forge deeper bonds of ecclesial friendship, dialogue and collaboration in the “continental mission” called for by Pope John Paul II in his 1999 apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America.

PILGRIMAGE OF UNITY The pilgrimage and meeting began with the enthronement of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, accompanied by an image of St. Juan Diego, in the convention hall of the Marian Plaza. A procession of flags from throughout the world circled around 8 ♦ COLUMBIA ♦

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the Virgin, symbolizing the universality of the Guadalupan message. Cardinal Norberto Rivera, archbishop of Mexico City, then welcomed the pilgrims to the “spiritual heart” of the American continent, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, delivered the opening address. “Our continental pilgrimage is first of all an encounter among disciples, a family reunion at the end of the Year of Faith,” said the former archbishop of Québec and primate of Canada.

The cardinal said that the 16th-century apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which inspired reconciliation between peoples and innumerable conversions, “constitute the foundational event of the New World — of North, Central and South America.”

He further emphasized that the pilgrimage was “also a profoundly missionary gesture: a response to [Our Lady’s] call to build a common home for all the Americas, a home where the poor and rich listen to the same Word and share the same Eucharist, a home where conflicts are resolved through dialogue, patience and reconciliation.”

Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson, in his address Nov. 17, highlighted the unique role that Our Lady of Guadalupe played in unifying America’s continental identity.

“Our Lady of Guadalupe is known from Alaska to Argentina because she has transcended borders, language and

Opposite page: Cardinal Marc Ouellet, president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, delivers the opening address of the pilgrimage and meeting.

• Above: Participants pray the rosary in procession from atop Tepeyac Hill, site of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego in 1531. culture,” he said. “The mestiza [mixed race] Virgin appeared as ‘perfectly inculturated,’ in the words of Blessed John Paul II. She presented herself with cultural symbolism that brought about attraction, love and reconciliation, and ultimately conversion.”

Reflecting on the significance of the Guadalupan message today, the supreme knight asked, “Could it be that Our Lady of Guadalupe, as ‘Star of the New Evangelization,’ is the surest path for the more profound unity and cooperation among the churches of our continent?”

Other speakers affirmed Mary’s pivotal role as a source of unity among peoples.

“Our Lady of Guadalupe touches the hearts of all human beings, irrespective of cultures, languages and traditions,” said Cardinal Rivera in his homily Nov. 16. “She knows how to place Jesus Christ at the center of every heart, so that it may beat with the very life of God himself.”

Likewise, Msgr. Eduardo Chávez, director of the Institute of Guadalupan Studies, explained how Our Lady of Guadalupe, as a model of perfect inculturation, shows us that “we are all brothers and sisters, beyond languages, cultures and traditions; we are one family of God.”

MISSION OF CHARITY A recurring theme of the pilgrimage and meeting was the mission of evangelization as a movement of communion — with God and our neighbor — involving charity and the gift of self.

As Pope Francis stated in his video message, “The intimacy between the Church and Jesus is an intimacy on the move. It requires going outside oneself.” He added, “We must dare to leave our own communities and go out to the existential peripheries where God’s presence needs to be felt.”

In this context, Cardinal Ouellet underscored that the verb “to go out” — “salir” in Spanish — “is the verb most frequently used by Pope Francis.” This dynamic word choice, he said, translates into hands-on charitable outreach: “It means going out to the existential peripheries where we find loneliness and abandonment; indifference about one’s life and destiny; triviality and distraction in the face of the essential questions about human life; severed connections from fundamental social relationships; dramatic conditions of poverty, exploitation and violence.” Ultimately, Cardinal Ouellet affirmed, it means “going out to encounter everyone, with a mercy which neither discriminates nor excludes, as bearers of the Gospel that transforms life and saves.”

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Clockwise from above left: Cardinal Norberto Rivera, archbishop of Mexico City, elevates the host during Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. • Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson delivers his keynote address. • Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston participates in a panel discussion on evangelization and culture.

Supreme Knight Anderson emphasized the similarities between the missions of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Pope Francis.

“It should come as no surprise,” he said, “that we see in our Holy Father’s pastoral approach a reflection of Our Lady of Guadalupe … who calls us to be a Church of the Good Samaritan.”

Noting that the pope recently compared the Church to “a field hospital after battle,” the supreme knight concluded by pointing to the witness of Pope Francis: “Like our new pope, we too must build a Church that is a place of refuge, a place where wounds are healed, a battlefield hospital where the medicine is charity — an authentic Christian charity that evangelizes.”

COLLABORATION BETWEEN CLERGY AND LAITY The meeting further explored how the evangelizing mission of charity depends on the fruitful collaboration between clergy and laity, a theme that Pope Francis stressed in his video message.

“I believe it is important, indeed urgent,” the pope said, “to form ministers capable of closeness, of encounter, who know how to stir the hearts of the people, to walk with them, to enter into dialogue with their hopes and dreams.” He added that “bishops cannot delegate this work; they must take it on as something fundamental to the life of the Church.”

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Many in attendance noted that this kind of honest examination of conscience needs to extend to the laity as well.

For example, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston observed, “What we are experiencing in the United States is a transition from cultural Catholicism to intentional Catholicism. Those who are staying in the pews today are those who actively decide to embrace the Church and her teachings.”

This assessment was echoed by Cardinal José Robles Ortega, archbishop of Guadalajara: “When Christianity is reduced to mere custom, moral values or social rituals, then sooner or later it loses its vitality and existential attraction for the men and women of our time.”

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, cited recent survey data about the Church in the United States: While more than three out of four American Catholics claim to be proud of their faith, less than 23 percent attend Mass on Sundays, and exCatholics now make up the second-largest religious group in the country.

Nonetheless, Archbishop Kurtz added, there are encouraging signs of hope amid the challenges facing the Church today. He noted that recent years have seen “an increase in vocations to the priesthood; a desire to deepen relationships even in the midst of the fall-off in sacramental marriages; and a curiosity and even enthusiasm of some young adults who are looking for more in life.”

Supreme Knight Anderson cited Blessed John Paul II’s observation that the renewal of the Church in America will not be possible without the laity (see Ecclesia in America, 44), adding, “For this renewal to become a reality throughout our hemisphere, a new partnership among laity, religious and clergy will be required.”

GRATEFUL HEIRS OF OUR LADY The final evening of the pilgrimage and meeting ended with a Marian Vigil in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. After leading a meditation, Cardinal Ouellet presented a “golden rose” to Cardinal Rivera of Mexico City, offered on behalf of Pope Francis to the Virgin of Tepeyac.

The international event concluded the next day with presentations by representatives of the bishops’ conferences of Canada, Latin America, the United States and Brazil on the key priorities of the ongoing continental mission. A closing Mass followed with Cardinal Ouellet as the main celebrant and homilist.

In his homily, the cardinal made reference to St. Juan Diego’s tilma, the cloak that was miraculously impressed with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, now preserved at the basilica.

“As grateful heirs of the tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe,” the cardinal reminded all participants of the Church’s “responsibility to protect the ecclesial tilma that has been woven over the centuries by a countless multitude of saints, known and unknown, in this land of America.”

He concluded, “May all these saints, born of the motherhood of Mary, help us to weave deeper and stronger bonds between the more affluent and disadvantaged areas of our continent.”♦

From top: Mass is celebrated in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. • Participants engage in discussion following a report from one of the working groups.

• Msgr. Eduardo Chávez speaks on Our Lady of Guadalupe as the Star of the First and New Evangelization.

ANDREW J. MATT is managing editor of Columbia.

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♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ 11

Loaves of Love What started out as simple bread deliveries by a local K of C council has evolved into statewide charitable outreach

by Maryangela Layman Román | photos by Todd Dacquisto

T

he call came in as five members of Msgr. F.P. Arnold Assembly in West Allis, Wis., were participating in an event at the VA Medical Center in Milwaukee. The Fourth Degree Knights were dressed in their regalia, complete with swords and plumed caps, when Michael A. Czarnecki’s phone rang.

The caller was a woman from an area bakery with 100 stacks of bread available for pick-up. Could he send someone soon?

Much to her surprise, the five Knights, still dressed in their 12 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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tuxedos and capes, arrived at the bakery a short time later.

They loaded the surplus bread into their cars and set off to deliver the bounty to meal programs and food pantries.

With the exception of their attire, the bakery visit was all in a day’s work for Czarnecki and the Knights of West Allis Council 3095, who, for the past 12 years, have connected people in need with surplus goods that would have otherwise gone to waste.

Czarnecki is the founder of Food for the Hungry, a Milwaukee-based organization comprised solely of volunteers who pick up and deliver surplus goods, primarily bread and other baked goods, to local community outreach organizations.

Describing their efforts as “charity helping charity,” Czarnecki said that the group has expanded its outreach in recent years to include furniture, bath products, books and clothing.

With neither paid staff nor rented space, Food for the Hungry now extends into central Wisconsin and to the Illinois and Michigan state lines.

miles on his minivan in the first two years alone.

By 2005, however, the effort had become too large for the council to manage alone, and the group incorporated separately as a non-profit organization, making donations tax deductible and expanding its eligibility for grants.

“It would not have survived without the West Allis Knights of Columbus council,” said John Schmitz, a past grand knight of Council 3095 who now serves as president of Food for the Hungry. He added that other area councils have long supported the program as well.

Today, Food for the HunMULTIPLICATION gry has more than 450 volOF LOAVES unteers who gather baked The bread deliveries orchesgoods and other products trated by Council 3095 had from about 250 donor bakhumble beginnings. In Seperies, outlet stores, supertember 2002, Czarnecki’s markets, bagel and coffee wife, Irene, read an article shops, furniture stores, in the Milwaukee Journal clothing outlets, and book Sentinel about a charity that publishers. Schmitz estineeded donations. mates that weekly donaCzarnecki had recently tions are worth $3-4 been forced to retire at age million. These goods are 59 due to health problems. distributed to about 1,700 Rather than letting her husgroups that serve the poor. band mope around the The recipients include crisis house, Irene encouraged centers, churches of various him to volunteer. religious denominations, “My wife saw me sitting homes for the elderly and at home and said, ‘Isn’t senior centers, schools, there something you can food pantries, and homeless do?’” explained Czarnecki. shelters.

After working as a bread “There’s hardly a charity deliveryman for 25 years, in the area that we do not Czarnecki knew that a lot serve,” said Schmitz, adding Opposite page: Grand Knight Donald J. Banker of West Allis (Wis.) of leftover baked goods go that there is even an Amish Council 3095 and fellow council member John Schmitz, president of to waste. And as a Knight, community near Erin, Wis., Food for the Hungry Inc., prepare bread crates for delivery Dec. 24, Czarnecki knew that many that accepts donations.

2013. • Above: Veteran Casimer Dominak receives a meal provided in low-income people could Food for the Hungry has part by Food for the Hungry. make good use of that “exalso extended its outreach cess bakery,” as he called it. to veterans in recent years So he approached his conby partnering with the Milnections in the baking business, and they agreed to give him waukee Homeless Veterans Initiative. There are approximately day-old bread and surplus items, provided the receiving 300-400 homeless veterans in the Milwaukee area and angroups would not sell it. other 5,500 at-risk veterans. Many seek assistance from food La Causa Crisis Nursery & Respite Center in Milwaukee pantries and similar community services. and Kathy’s House, a non-profit hospital hospitality house, In turn, Food for the Hungry hosts two annual fundraising were early recipients of the surplus baked goods. Soon, other spaghetti dinners and provides food for a number of commurequests for food began pouring in. The number of bakeries nity events for veterans. On the morning after Christmas Day eager to donate mushroomed, and Czarnecki turned quickly 2013, volunteers served steaming hot plates of scrambled eggs to his brother Knights for financial assistance and volunteer and bacon, bread, and sweet rolls to about 200 veterans. Besupport. fore eating, the veterans and those serving the meal gathered In the early years of the program, Czarnecki made deliveries in a circle to give thanks for the food and for the volunteers to about 100 food pantries three times a week, as he and six who provided it. Food for the Hungry had delivered all the to eight council members delivered thousands of dollars’ baked goods for the meal, as well as piles of packaged breads worth of baked goods annually. He put an estimated 40,000 and pastries for the veterans to take home.

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♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ 13

Michael A. Czarnecki, founder of Food for the Hungry and a member of West Allis (Wis.) Council 3095, fills his van with loaves for the needy.

FABULOUS VOLUNTEERS In the years since Czarnecki began his bread deliveries, he has received a good deal of local and national recognition for his efforts. And while the accolades are nice, Czarnecki stressed, “Plaques and that don’t mean a thing. What means the most to me are my volunteers … and the people in need that get the product.”

For example, Czarnecki cited a class at Hampton Elementary School in Milwaukee. Students sent him thank-you letters that read, “Dear Mr. Bread Man, we like peanut butter and jelly, we like donuts,” along with other messages that touched his heart.

Czarnecki also credits his “fabulous volunteers,” who sometimes make up to 20 stops a day or work behind the scenes to keep the organization up and running.

For example, Charlie Ruzick, 79, is the type of guy “who makes old age look good,” Czarnecki said. A volunteer almost from the beginning, he is one Food for the Hungry’s six directors.

With a handful of helpers he calls “Charlie’s Angels,” Ruzick 14 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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not only packs his truck full of bread several times a week, but also pulls his 12-foot trailer laden with “bakery” to dozens of locations throughout Milwaukee. In between bread runs, he picks up donated furniture.

Another volunteer is Jim Luther, who experiences both sides of the outreach as director of the St. Hyacinth Food Pantry and a member of Immaculate Conception Council 4706. A Food for the Hungry board member, he picks up a carload of surplus bread once or twice a week and then distributes it at the pantry he runs on Milwaukee’s south side.

“The mission of the Knights includes charity and patriotism, and we are trying to take care of people in the community, serving the community where there is great need,” said Luther.

As he delivers the baked goods, Luther sees the impact that simple things like a loaf of bread can make.

“The majority of the people are very appreciative,” he added.

“We are definitely making a difference in lives in many ways.”

Likewise, Joe Senglaub of St. Bruno Council 6436 in Dousman began making bread runs about three years ago. A financial planner who is studying to be a permanent deacon for the

Above: Mike and Irene Czarnecki are seated beside John Schmitz at a breakfast for homeless veterans in Milwaukee Dec. 26, 2013. • Right: Dick Williams loads a truck with surplus baked goods as Jim Luther (right), a Knight and board member of Food for the Hungry, looks on.

Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Senglaub knew he had time on Saturday mornings. Since then, he’s helped coordinate pickups in the Jefferson County area and also makes regular deliveries to the Fort Atkinson Food Pantry.

“What is amazing is how little effort it takes to make an impact,” he said. “Anybody can drive in a car for a few miles, and unloading bread takes little effort, and yet it does make an impact. It’s amazing how easy this is, and how little time commitment there is, but it’s just a wonderful way to open yourself to the mission of Christ and of the Church.”

“I just don’t like to see people go hungry,” said Czarnecki, explaining what motivates him even in retirement to put in an estimated 50 to 60 hours a week with Food for the Hungry. “Plus, I love to see the smiles on the little ones’ faces when they see me coming with the bread.”

In spite of the wear and tear on his cars and his investment of time, Czarnecki said it’s all worth it.

“I love doing it, and I won’t quit,” he said. “It’s a giving back for all the things I’ve been given.”♦ MARYANGELA LAYMAN ROMÁN is managing editor of the Catholic Herald, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

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Hope

after Haiyan With councils throughout the Philippines, the Order offers relief to typhoon victims

T

he destructive force of Typhoon Haiyan can be measured in many ways: the 195-mile-per-hour winds and 20-foot ocean surges; the 6,000-plus death toll and seaside villages reduced to splintered piles of wood; or the millions of people displaced as the super typhoon tore a gash across the center of the Philippines, from the Pacific Ocean to the South China Sea, in what experts are calling the strongest storm ever recorded to make landfall.

Months after the storm of early November 2013, pain and sorrow still mark the lives of survivors as the work of recovery and rebuilding continues.

Yet there is more to the story than nature’s unbounded fury 16 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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and the grim toll of death, destruction and grief left in its wake. There is the indomitable spirit of the Filipino people — a spirit of courage that impelled those on safe ground to venture into churning tides to save friends, family and even strangers; a spirit of charity that prompted those who were pounded by previous storms to collect relief goods and money for the victims of Haiyan; and a spirit of hope that saw families banding together under makeshift tarpaulin shelters, with neighbors consoling neighbors who lost loved ones and sharing what little food and water they had left.

All of these actions were bound together by a spirit of faith in this predominantly Catholic country, a faith that led Archbishop

TOP LEFT: CNS photo/Erik De Castro, Reuters

by Brian Caulfield

Opposite page: An aerial view shows a coastal village in the province of Samar three days after Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines. • Above: Amid fallen trees and emergency tents, Knights of Columbus distribute relief packages to residents in the town of Hernani, Eastern Samar.

Photo by Roy Lagarde

Jose Palma of Cebu, whose northern regions were battered by the storm, to declare: “No typhoon or flood can diminish the strength of the Filipino soul. No calamity or natural disaster can quench the fire of our soul.” Using the local name for the typhoon, he added, “The Filipino soul is stronger than Yolanda.”

KNIGHTS THERE TO HELP Both during and after the storm, Knights of Columbus were there — sometimes as victims, but also as rescuers and relief

agents with a commitment to provide long-term assistance.

“As we work to assist those who have suffered so much in the Philippines, they will also remain in our prayers,” said Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson. “The Knights of Columbus has a long tradition of charitable service in the Philippines, and our efforts there on behalf of those affected will continue in that spirit. Locally and internationally, we are committed to helping the people of the Philippines rebuild their lives.”

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Knights conduct an emergency food distribution program in La Paz on the island of Leyte, one of the areas devastated by the typhoon. Their blue shirts feature a quote from Blessed John Paul II: “A charity that evangelizes.”

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distributed in areas along the Pacific coast that suffered the greatest losses.

Vicente Ballon, a Knight who lost loved ones and who barely escaped the storm himself, offered a glimpse of the destructive force of Haiyan. He described how three successive ocean surges carried away family members and finally left him clinging for life to a mangrove tree. His wife was in Manila at the time, and they were reunited a few days later after he was able to board a military evacuation plane.

“The height of the water was 15 to 18 feet. The winds were blowing really hard,” said Ballon, a member of San Joaquin Council 13493 in Palo. “It happened so fast, only seconds, and they were gone.”

He paused.

“It’s hard to talk about what happened. How will I rebuild?

I don’t know yet,” he added.

SIGNS OF HOPE Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila traveled to Tacloban City for the Palo Archdiocese’s jubilee in late November 2013.

He told Columbia that when he first saw the scarred hills, once thick with coconut and palm trees, and the huge piles of wood that had made up thousands of homes, his thoughts turned to the human suffering.

“If this is the result of the storm,” he remarked, “imagine what the people were going through at the time all this was happening.”

Photo by Joreen Baquilod

The Order established councils in the Philippines in 1905, and today there are more than 300,000 Knights in some 2,500 councils in the three jurisdictions of Luzon, Mindanao and Visayas.

When Haiyan hit, the Supreme Council announced an immediate emergency disbursement of $250,000. In the following weeks, Knights and others sent $500,000 more in donations to the Order’s emergency relief fund. In addition to helping the dioceses hardest hit by the storm — allowing bishops to continue their charitable works among their people — these funds have been used to support a K of C relief center on the outskirts of the ravaged area, where food, water, clothing and other goods are distributed to the most needy. The funds have also purchased basic materials for fishermen to get back to work, and for farmers to start clearing and working their fields again.

As international relief agencies such as Catholic Relief Services, which has committed $20 million to recovery efforts, attend to the larger issues, the Knights of Columbus has been employing its on-the-ground council structure to identify underserved areas and bring direct assistance.

Using Supreme Council funds, the Visayas State Council, under Deputy Rodrigo N. Sorongon, purchased canned goods, rice, bottled water, utensils and other necessities, and packed them in sacks for delivery to remote villages. Relief supplies were transported along muddy roads to northern Cebu two days after the storm. Truckloads of supplies followed, and were

A PERSONAL VIEW OF HAIYAN ROY LAGARDE, a member of Manila Council 1000 who works in the media office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, traveled to the devastated areas with other journalists a few days after the storm. He spoke to Columbia in late November.

ABOVE RIGHT: Photo by Roy Lagarde — BOTTOM RIGHT: CNS photo/Romeo Ranoco, Reuters

COLUMBIA: What were your first thoughts when you reached the stricken area?

ROY L AGARDE: When we entered Palo, Leyte, I wasn’t able to recognize the town anymore. It was so different from what I remembered. I also had the same reaction when we entered Tacloban City, a place that is close to my heart because I spent my college years there. It was like I was on another planet. The damage was just so massive, like an area struck by ty-

phoon, earthquake, flash floods and whirlwind all at the same time. In hospitals, I saw long lines of injured people.

COLUMBIA: How did you get around?

ROY LAGARDE: In Tacloban, we did a lot of walking and sometimes I just tagged along with photographers who had their own car. In Eastern Samar, I borrowed a motorcycle for two days, going to towns battered by the typhoon up to Guiuan, the southernmost tip of Samar Island, where Haiyan made its first landfall.

COLUMBIA: What did people say when you spoke to them?

ROY LAGARDE: Talking to survivors, whose lives were shattered, and letting them narrate their experience was the

hardest part for me. Most people I talked to said they had to live through the ordeal of seeing their loved ones die, their homes damaged and their dreams torn apart. Around 200 meters away from the city hall was a pile of dead bodies wrapped in cadaver bags.

COLUMBIA: Where did you stay?

ROY LAGARDE: I stayed at the Tacloban City Hall the whole five days that I was there, together with some Manila-based journalists and photographers. I slept on a chair. We were just eating biscuits from breakfast to dinner and we had to conserve our drinking water. The lack of toilet facilities was a big problem for all of us, too.

The stay in Tacloban taught me important lessons in life and skills for survival, and it made me understand the real meaning of camaraderie.

After Mass, a woman approached the cardinal to discuss the needs of the people. He asked how she and her family would celebrate Christmas amid so much destruction. “She said that maybe with everything that they had lost, this would be the first time they will be able to appreciate the true meaning of Christmas,” Cardinal Tagle recalled. “Without the lights and the wrapped gifts, they would truly know how simple Christmas can be, like the poor Christ Child in the manger.”

Archbishop John Du of Palo offered another sign of hope when he decided to conduct previously scheduled priestly ordinations in the cathedral — even though parts of its roof were gone. A tarp was placed over the altar and the shell of the cathedral was filled to capacity with people seeking the strength and solace of their Catholic faith. Archbishop Du said that to postpone the ordinations would be to deprive parishioners of new priests in a time of crisis.

Likewise, Pope Francis showed his solidarity with the victims with prayers and a monetary donation immediately after the storm. At the end of December, his apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, stayed with Archbishop Du to celebrate Christmas Mass and to bring the pope’s blessing, prayers and best wishes to the Filipino people.

Above right: In Balangiga, Eastern Samar, a grateful woman receives a bag of goods from Visayas Deputy Rodrigo N. Sorongon as other residents wait their turn in line. • Right: Two days after the storm hit, people pray inside a damaged church in the battered coastal city of Tacloban.

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Knights in Leyte ride motorcycles over damaged roads to bring relief to remote areas.

Archbishop Palma, who recently served as president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, has a special connection to the area. He was archbishop of Palo before being named to the Archdiocese of Cebu in 2010. In an interview at his residence, he said, “It’s so inspiring to see from here in Cebu and from all over the world, caravans of aid being delivered to people. It’s so inspiring to hear the testimonies of children, like one little child celebrating his birthday, and instead

of asking for gifts for himself, he said to his father that he will send his gifts to the children in Leyte. It is inspiring to know that in Iligan, which suffered the typhoon and flood the other year, together with Cagayan de Oro, the bishop said that they have more than 5,000 sacks of rice for Leyte.”

Second collections in dioceses throughout the Philippines for Haiyan relief have consistently been larger than the usual Mass collections, Archbishop Palma also noted.

Almost forgotten in Haiyan’s aftermath was the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the Visayas region in mid-October, causing heavy destruction and toppling the bell tower of the historic Basilica of Santo Niño de Cebu, near the site where Ferdinand Magellan planted a cross for Christ in 1521 during his trip around the globe.

Archbishop Palma said the people have good reason to feel weary from disasters, and many are in need of counseling and encouragement. Yet the prayers, outpouring of aid and solidarity from around the globe have provided much consolation.

The archbishop added, “It may cost us millions, and we will need help from all over, as we have already seen, but the faith of the people will rebuild, sooner than many expect.”♦ BRIAN CAULFIELD is the editor of Fathers for Good and vice postulator for the canonization cause of Venerable Father Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus.

WATER CAN BE just as destructive as it is life-giving. That’s what residents of the Philippines discovered during Typhoon Haiyan when their neighbor, the sea, rose up into one of the most devastating storms ever recorded. North America saw its own share of water-related disasters last year as well, including flash floods in Colorado.

From Sept. 11-15, 2013, heavy rains inundated much of Colorado’s Front Range, creating floodwaters that destroyed homes, businesses and roads.

More than 16,000 families were left homeless or with property damage, especially in Boulder County, one of the hardest-hit areas.

On the national level, the Supreme Council authorized $10,000 in immediate aid to flood victims. As with other disasters that took place last year, Knights were on the front lines in part because of the Order’s Second Responders Program. Working in conjunction with the American Red Cross, Knights 20 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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from Colorado and surrounding states helped care for flood victims by providing basic necessities like food, shelter and cleanup services.

“Our brother Knights from Wyoming and Kansas have come in to assist with the mass care and feeding,” said Dennis Hughes, operations section chief of the Second Responders Program for the Denver Metro Area.

In Wyoming, Supreme Director Kenneth E. Stockwell organized a group of volunteers to help their neighbors to the south. Members of Bishop Patrick A. McGovern Council 801 in Cheyenne, Wyo., traveled to Longmont, Colo., to help residents remove debris, mop out their basements and combat the growth of mold.

“When we arrived, the damage was beyond description, and those affected needed any and all the help we could provide,” reported Past State Deputy Thomas Enright (1998-2000).

Meanwhile, in Greeley, Colo., about 60 miles northeast of Denver, Knights

volunteered at a distribution center at St. Mary’s Church. Working with the archdiocese’s Catholic Charities service, Knights began helping at the center in late September, unloading food, blankets, cleaning supplies, toiletries and more.

“Most of [the victims] are kind of traumatized from the flooding and they need whatever help they can get and we try to give it to them,” said Dan Smith, a Catholic Charities volunteer and a member of Father Bud Raney Council 2160 in Greeley.

According to Catholic Charities, recovery from the flood will take anywhere from 18 months to five years because of the widespread area that was affected. In the meantime, volunteers and donations are still needed as residents brace for what is sure to be a long road ahead.

Catholic News Service and Catholic Charities of Denver contributed to this article.

— Reported by Patrick Scalisi

TOP LEFT: Photo by Joreen Baquilod

KNIGHTS ASSIST AFTER COLORADO FLOODS

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

The Gospel and Your Family Catholic families have practical ways for learning about and witnessing to the beauty of the Church’s teachings

by Andrew Lichtenwalner

“N

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ever before has proclaiming the Gospel on the Family … been more urgent and necessary.”

These words mark the beginning of the Preparatory Document for the upcoming Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family, to be held in October at the Vatican. The document contains a series of questions for bishops to use when they consult the priests and laypeople of their dioceses. The first set of questions considers “the diffusion of the teachings on the family in Sacred Scripture and the Church’s Magisterium.” Topics include the knowledge and acceptance of the Church’s teachings; the difficulties and cultural factors hindering the reception and practice of these teachings; and opportunities for formation and catechesis.

The synod is a call from Pope Francis to consider the family and what the Church teaches about its meaning and beauty. By responding to this call, and seeking to understand and embrace the Church’s teachings on marriage and family life, we will grow in God’s grace and our families will become closer in holiness and joy. In the coming months, what can we laypersons do while our bishops ponder these questions with the Holy Father? I offer four practical suggestions for Catholics to become ever-stronger witnesses to the Gospel in relation to the family.

First, let us make the Word of God in Scripture a daily reference in our lives. This could be as simple as praying and reflecting on the Mass readings of the day or taking a few minutes daily to read and meditate upon a particular Scripture passage.

Catholic men need to be courageous leaders in this regard, especially with all the temptations to distraction that can enter the home and our lives. When we know and savor Sacred Scripture, we discover how interwoven marriage and the family are within the Lord’s plan of salvation — from the account of creation itself, to the words of the prophets, to the mystery of Christ and his Church as the Bridegroom and Bride.

Second, let us make the Catechism of the Catholic Church a trusted resource. How wonderful it would be if every

Catholic man owned a copy of the Catechism and shared it with his family, for it is an essential resource for learning the Church’s teaching. Of particular interest related to marriage and family are the sections “Male and Female He Created Them” (nos. 369-373), “The Sacrament of Matrimony” (1601-1666), “The Fourth Commandment” (2197-2257), and “The Love of Husband and Wife” (2360-2379). The teaching here is concise and understandable, with references to Scripture and other Church documents. Let’s challenge ourselves and set aside the time to read and reflect upon the Church’s wisdom. How are we living and handing on this teaching within our families and beyond?

Third, let us pray and fast for strong marriages and families, for healing of those that are struggling, and for Pope Francis and our bishops as they prepare for the synod. We know the challenges are significant, but we also know the freedom that Christ’s truth and mercy brings. Consider taking up the bishops’ “Call to Prayer for Life, Marriage, and Religious Liberty” (see usccb.org/pray).

Fourth, let us resolve to be champions for marriage and the family, leading with mercy and unafraid to witness to the beauty of the Church’s teachings. What areas of God’s plan for marriage and the family need work in my life? Do I see my marriage as a vocation and mission? As a Catholic man and a Knight, what resolution can I make to take the next step when it comes to witnessing to the Gospel on the family in my own marriage and family; in my parish, community and workplace; and in the public square?

Remember, “Never before has proclaiming the Gospel on the Family … been more urgent and necessary.” Let us not remain on the sidelines. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance as you seek to live out the faith within the context of your family.♦ ANDREW W. LICHTENWALNER is executive director of the Office of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is a member of Sacred Heart Council 2577 in Bowie, Md.

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

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Coming to the Aid of a Brother in Need Councils a thousand miles apart join hands to help a family struck by tragedy

by Marie Elena Giossi

C

arlos Malave joined the Knights of Columbus a dozen years ago because he admired the Order’s commitment to charity and he wanted to help people in his community of College Point, Queens, N.Y. Never did he expect to be on the receiving end of that charity.

Then tragedy struck the Malave family as they returned home from a Florida vacation on March 30, 2013. As they drove from Clearwater along U.S. Route 301, a car traveling the wrong direction collided head-on with the family’s minivan.

Carlos, 43, sustained life-threatening injuries, while his wife, Hilda, 42, had shattered several bones. Their eldest daughter, Melissa, 20, suffered a concussion and head trauma, and their younger daughter, Alyssa, 15, broke her foot. Their youngest child and only son, Cristian, 11, did not survive.

“Cristian was awesome,” said Carlos, a member of St. Ambrose Council 1463 in College Point. “It’s going to take a long time to get used to not having our little man with us.”

Amid the heartache, this Knight and his family found hope and healing through the overwhelming support of brother Knights, their families and communities in two states.

A NETWORK OF SUPPORT Sitting in his living room on a recent Saturday, Carlos admits that he remembers very little of the weeks he spent in critical condition and rehabilitation at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida, Gainesville, where ambulances took the family after the accident.

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Carlos suffered severe “seatbelt damage” when the impact caused the safety strap to shift his internal organs. He endured eight surgeries, lost 50 pounds and had skin grafted from his thighs to his abdominal area “to keep my intestines in,” he said.

Wincing as he stands up, Carlos lifts his tan sweater to reveal the surgical scars and an ileostomy bag to the right of his abdomen. The bag bypasses his large intestine, which is not functioning as a result of the accident.

News of the family’s misfortune spread quickly through the tight-knit community of College Point. Carlos is the local FedEx deliveryman. Hilda grew up in the area and is a familiar face at the dancing school the girls attend. Cristian attended religious education classes at the family parish of St. Fidelis

Photo by Ed Lefkowicz

Carlos Malave of St. Ambrose Council 1463 in College Point, N.Y., holds the baseball glove once worn by his son, Cristian, before a car accident took the boy’s life March 30, 2013. Carlos wears a memorial wristband that bears his son’s name.

Church and played baseball for College Point Little League.

Since the family was 1,000 miles away at the time of the accident, Robert P. Graziano, past grand knight of Council 1463 and district deputy of New York District #27, knew he and other area Knights could not offer hands-on assistance. So he reached out to a network of men he knew — not in name, but in spirit — who stand for the same principles of unity, charity and fraternity.

Graziano sent an urgent e-mail appeal to councils in and around Gainesville, alerting them that a brother Knight and

his family had been seriously injured and asking if they could offer support. The response from the Knights in Florida far surpassed what Graziano expected from “a simple e-mail.”

Joseph Solenski, then-grand knight of Pope John Paul II Council 13900 at the University of Florida, immediately went to the hospital and then to the local Ronald McDonald House, where Hilda and Alyssa were staying.

“I promised them they would be taken care of,” said Solenski. “As Knights, there’s a sense of fraternity. We come together to answer the need of a fallen brother.”

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Photo courtesy of Malave family

True to his word, Solenski recruited neighboring councils braced by his brother Knights from St. Ambrose Council, into the cause. He estimated that at least 100 Knights and their cluding Hilda’s uncle, Arthur Ferony, who first introduced families across Florida District #12 contributed in various Carlos to the Order. The Knights turned out in full force for ways. More than a few took time to stop by the hospital.

Cristian’s funeral Mass at the family parish and were part of “I have no idea who they all were,” Hilda said, recalling the the escort to St. Charles/Resurrection Cemeteries in FarmingKnights from Gainsville, Ocala and Tampa who visited Carlos. dale, N.Y. “The magnitude of help was unbelievable. They brought cookBesides offering love and support, the council had also colies and rosaries. They prayed by [Carlos’] bedside, and they al- lected $40,000 to assist with the family’s substantial medical ways asked if we needed anything.” expenses.

Jerry Woodward, then-grand knight of Father Patrick J. When Knights across New York heard about the accident, Lynch Council 6108 of St. Patrick Church, Gainesville, spoke they responded with the same zeal as their Floridian counterto his council members about the situation. Moved by the parts, with various councils and individual Knights contributMalaves’ experience, Andrew Mitchell offered the family use ing to an emergency relief fund for the family. Carlos’ council of his rental home, where Hilda and the girls stayed for almost held a charity pasta night that raised $12,000, and local resitwo months, rent-free with all utilities included. dents made additional donations.

“What they did for my family was amazing,” said Carlos, Graziano and Grand Knight John Quinn of Council 1463 who spent a week at the house after his release from rehab. delivered the donations to Carlos and Hilda when they re“They gave my family the turned home. comforts of home without “We sat and listened being at home.” to their entire story,” Those comforts included said Graziano. “It was mattresses and box springs, very hard to fight back furnished by Catholic Charthe tears. … I was so ities through the efforts of proud that we could John Barli, a member of Fahelp, and they knew ther John H. Patrick Counthey didn’t walk through cil 13207 and regional this alone. They had our director of Catholic Charisupport.” ties Gainesville. Meanwhile, In addition to the Woodward’s friends at Knights, College PointDumas Discount Furniture based organizations proprovided bed frames and a vided further financial dining room set. Knights assistance, with an onand parishioners from St. line fundraiser netting The Malave family is pictured together in happier times. From left: Carlos, Patrick’s Church in more than $54,000 in Alyssa, Hilda, Cristian and Melissa.

Gainesville cleaned the donations for the family house, set up furniture and from 795 supporters. tried to meet the Malaves’ every need. Area eateries also doLooking back on the past year since the accident, Carlos and nated meals, and The Home Depot provided supplies to build Hilda know how much they have lost. a wheelchair ramp.

“We still cry every day. We grieve every day,” Carlos said as Beyond material assistance, local clergy and lay ministers he gazed into Cristian’s room, which remains exactly as his son visited the couple and their daughters to ensure their spiritual left it the day they went on vacation nearly a year ago. wellbeing.

But this family also knows how much they’ve been given as they count their blessings and learn to move forward.

COMING HOME “We give thanks because we’re still here, and we’ve been very Knowing his family was in good hands, Carlos made substan- blessed with all the Knights have done for us,” Carlos said. tial progress and was well enough to fly home in early June Carlos will undergo additional surgeries to rebuild his ab2013. Before leaving, Carlos and Hilda visited Council 6108 dominal wall later this year. He hopes one day he will be well to personally thank the Knights for all they had done. Carlos enough to go back to work and to begin volunteering again wished he could have done the same at every council that had with his council. helped them through this difficult time.

“I’ve never done something of this magnitude for someone “They didn’t know me, but they knew I was a brother else,” he said. “It feels great but I also want to find a way to Knight so they took care of my family,” Carlos said. “What pay it forward one day.”♦ can I say? I feel good about that. It makes me proud to be part of this organization.”

MARIE ELENA GIOSSI is a staff writer for The Tablet, the That pride deepened when he arrived home and was em- newspaper of the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y.

E DUCATION

&

E VANGELIZATION The work of evangelization helps others to see, understand and engage the world from the perspective of faith

by Stratford Caldecott

Education of the Virgin (detail), Anonymous, 14th century — © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY

T

he call for a new evangelization — what Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI called the “urgent need to proclaim the Gospel afresh in a highly secularized environment”— has huge implications for Catholics in education, at home and at school. Both are places of evangelization.

According to the Congregation for Catholic Education, “The mission of the Church is to evangelize, for the interior transformation and the renewal of humanity. For young people, the school is one of the ways for this evangelization to take place.” The home is the first and most important school we attend, and our parents remain our primary educators, no matter where we go later.

The Catholic understanding of evangelization places a priority on personal conversion and “interior transformation.” In this sense, it is radically distinct from proselytism, which aims at exterior measures and effects, such as putting people in pews and money in the collection basket. This is something we need to get right, as Pope Francis keeps insisting. If we do, fewer of our children will lapse in their faith as they grow older, and more will find themselves able to reach

out and speak about their Catholic faith with confidence to the world around them.

“PRE-EVANGELIZATION” The process of evangelization has three dimensions, as well as another very important stage, sometimes called “pre-evangelization,” that must take place beforehand.

This initial phase corresponds to the call to discipleship. The Gospels show us that the disciples were called to Christ not by abstract speeches, but by an encounter either with Christ himself or, after Pentecost, with men and women who were on fire with the Holy Spirit. The Apostles taught doctrine, of course, but it was the firm foundation of a living faith that carried the words into the hearts of their listeners, showing that they, too, could be transformed. What every Christian convert eventually comes to realize is that he or she is being offered not just a list of rules or a set of doctrines, but also the secret of true happiness.

If a person does not feel drawn toward Christ and does not appreciate the need of salvation, he or she can hardly be expected to listen to the Church’s teaching

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with real attention — just as an academic subject that appears to have no connection with one’s own life will always seem boring. We have to find ways of presenting that call of Christ and nurturing interest into a desire to follow him.

Sometimes a longing for the joy and happiness that only God can give can be aroused through a work of fiction — the Narnia stories of C.S. Lewis would be a good example (in fact, the author said that they were written partly with this intention in mind). Lewis himself felt that inner joy and discovered a way to communicate it to others. Likewise, works of art, music, song, poetry and biography are all vitally important in opening our hearts to the call of God. This is sometimes called the “way of beauty.”

The witness of individuals who have lived their faith in difficult circumstances, or who worked in the service of the poor and sick and found joy in doing so, is also a powerful means of making audible the call of Christ. Personally meeting such a witness can sometimes be a life-changing experience. And it goes almost without saying that an exemplary parent or 26 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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teacher, one with a living faith and real integrity, may have the most powerful and lasting effect of all.

Of course, sometimes the best we can accomplish by our attempts at “pre-evangelization” is to arouse someone’s curiosity.

Making him or her an apostle may take longer, but that’s fine.

Curiosity is better than indifference.

MEMORY AND REASON Christ’s call is followed by a “sending” (missio) to others that corresponds to evangelization. It is helpful to think of evangelization as having three elements or dimensions: remembering, thinking and communicating. These elements, in turn, relate to the trivium of classical education: grammar, logic and rhetoric.

The first dimension of evangelization is an initiation into the memory of the Church, or the transmission of doctrine and tradition. “Do this in memory of me,” Jesus said at the Last Supper. The original Greek word (anamnesis) implies not just a going back into the past, but a gathering together into the

Panel from the back of the Maestà altarpiece, Duccio di Buoninsegna (c.1260-1319), Siena, Italy — Scala / Art Resource, NY

In this panel of the Maestà altarpiece, painted by Duccio di Buoninsegna in the early 14th century, Christ is depicted instructing the Apostles in the Upper Room: “I chose you that you should go and bear fruit” (Jn 15:16).

present. This is not just learning, then, but initiation — a together). It refers to the way we treat each other, and it deprocess by which we become familiar with the tradition and pends on the quality of our attention and respect for one anbegin to inhabit it as our home, becoming a part of the chain other. It supports and stimulates both imagination and of transmission ourselves. intellectual inquiry, but is distinct from both.

For many people, this first part of evangelization appears to The ethos of a school is sometimes expressed in a mission leave us with nothing more to do, as if the whole point of statement, but that can be no more than a point of reference. evangelization is to make people part of our tradition. True, it Ethos requires us to actually behave, not just speak, in accoris an essential step, but it is not nearly enough by itself. As we dance with the faith and intelligence we profess. It is a matter have seen in the past, faith based on memory, doctrinal in- of the “spirit” rather than the “letter.” It shows itself in differstruction or familiarity alone cannot survive the challenges of ent ways, from an almost tangible mood or atmosphere to varmodern life. Many children grow up knowing their faith and ious concrete signs, such as the close integration of liturgy, remembering Bible stories and rituals, but they still fall away prayer and religious instruction with the rest of life; the moral because it does not really mean anything to them apart from a example set by teachers and parents; the encouragement given vague nostalgia. to courtesy and kindness; special care for those with special Therefore, the second, equally important dimension of needs, and so on. evangelization is an awakening of intelligence. Doctrine, ritual To some it may sound excessively Catholic to say so, but a and Scripture have to be understood as ways of apprehending Christian ethos is essentially Marian. The “atmosphere” of a and progressing in truth. They are not just motions we go Catholic school or home will tend to reflect that of the Holy through or affirmations we make because we are part of a Family, since this is the educational environment in which our group. What we learn must not sit there in our minds unex- Lord himself grew up. amined, until it is worn away or cast It is the work of the Christian aside under the pressure of modern life. teacher or parent to help bring Christ This second step is to help the inquirer to birth and to maturity in each memto engage with the faith, and to do so ber of the community, and to that exVANGELIZATION DOES with both mind and heart alert. This tent to help extend the ethos of the requires mental discipline in the purHoly Family throughout the world.

NOT STOP WITH RELIGIOUS suit of truth throughout a person’s life.

This is only possible with the helping INSTRUCTION OR LITURGY, Truth in its totality, as an overarchgrace of the sacraments, which transmit ing unity, always lies just beyond our the living presence of Christ himself.

BUT AFFECTS WHAT IS TAUGHT grasp — once we think we have finally Evangelization does not stop with reattained it, it has slipped through our ligious instruction or liturgy, but affects AND THE WAY IT IS TAUGHT, NO fingers. And yet we cannot give up the what is taught and the way it is taught, search, except at the cost of our huno matter the subject. The Incarnation MATTER THE SUBJECT.” manity. A growing faith should be a is not some piece of historical informastimulus to reason and intelligence, not tion that, once communicated, can be an obstacle or alternative. This is the forgotten while we turn our minds to lesson of Pope John Paul II’s great engeography or biology or mathematics. cyclical, Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason). There are always If true, faith changes everything, even the way we view the questions, puzzles, enigmas and mysteries to contemplate, new cosmos. Once that primary lesson is learned, there are no depths to penetrate. “boring” subjects. Nothing can be ugly or pointless unless we make it so. G.K. Chesterton once quipped, “Is ditchwater THE CATHOLIC ETHOS dull? Naturalists with microscopes have told me that it teems The third dimension of evangelization prevents it from be- with quiet fun.” coming a merely intellectual — and eventually exhausting — In the end, faith alters the way every subject is taught as well obsession. as the relationships between them. It connects them severally We need community, which implies a set of relationships and together to our destiny, to the desire of our hearts for within which truth can be communicated. No one can learn union with infinite truth — what used to be called the saving or teach in a vacuum. This third dimension of evangelization of our souls.♦ involves the cultivation of an ethos — the sense of belonging to a community of shared values and ideals, a moral environ- STRATFORD CALDECOTT is a director of Second Spring ment where the individual person is valued, supported and Oxford (secondspring.co.uk) and the author of Beauty in the Word: cherished.

Rethinking the Foundations of Education (2012). He is also the edThe word ethos originally meant “custom” or “habit” or itor of the online journal Humanum (humanumreview.com). In “character,” and so the “ethos” of a Christian community — September 2013 he received an honorary doctorate in sacred thesuch as a school — refers to a way of living, a way of relating ology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marto one another, a way of being together (and being with God, riage and Family in Washington, D.C.

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KNIGHTS IN ACTION

REPORTS FROM COUNCILS, ASSEMBLIES AND COLUMBIAN SQUIRES CIRCLES

its members and the parish community. Knights served popcorn and lemonade to those in attendance.

SHELTER HELP

Father Michael J. McGivney Council 10705 in New Haven, Conn., worked with members of the youth group at St. Rita Church in Hamden to prepare a chicken dinner for residents at the Immanuel Baptist Shelter in New Haven. Knights and the teens cooked dinner for approximately 70 men.

SUPPORTING FAMILIES Representatives from St. Norbert Council 12107 in Paoli, Pa., present a check for $500 to Donna Kurtz of St. Joseph House and some of the clients that the organization serves. St. Joseph House was founded in 1999 to assist widows, single mothers, orphans, families and children in need and in crisis situations. The funds will help St. Joseph House continue its mission of offering Catholic-based services to these families.

ENTRY RELIEF

San Juan de los Caballeros Council 13684 in San Juan Pueblo, N.M., donated

$1,750 to San Juan Bautista Church to have a new relief of Christ’s baptism placed above the main entrance.

Knights also volunteered to remove the church doors during the installation of the glass relief, which was crafted by the church’s pastor, Father Larry R. Brito, and bronzed in Santa Fe. ANNIVERSARY TABLES

Members of St. Peter Council 13988 in Kansas City, Mo., participated and volunteered at the “Putting the Boots to ALS” 5K run and walk. In addition to raising money for ALS research, Knights offered support to council member Paul Melland, whose wife is battling the disease. Pictured from left: Ryan Duffy, Travis Curran, Pete Hutchison, Shannon Beecham, Anthony Meyer and Matthew Mulhern.

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St. Dominic-Delhi Council 15533 in Cincinnati celebrated its first anniversary by purchasing $800 worth of tables for the St. Dominic Church Parish Center. The new commercial tables are lightweight and replace old, heavy wooden tables in meeting rooms and the parish’s gathering space.

They are also easier to move, store and reconfigure for a variety of purposes.

FEBRUARY 2014

NEW SHRINE

All Saints Council 9441 in Clinton, Ind., donated $1,200 to the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary of the Woods to help fund a permanent shrine to St. Mother Theodore Guerin. Mother Guerin and five companions established the Sisters of Providence in 1840. Pope Benedict XVI canonized Mother Guerin in 2006.

Every week, members of San Jose De Zapotlan Council 3338 in Guzmán, Mexico Central, prepare breakfast for the families of patients who are hospitalized at local medical facilities. Knights feed 50-80 people each Saturday.

MEDICAL & DENTAL CLINIC

Santo Rosario de Dampalit Council 15656 in Malabon City, Luzon, co-sponsored a medical and dental mission for needy members of the community with the St. Martin’s Foundation. Knights and volunteers served more than 500 patients at the event.

NEW TABLES

FILM SCREENINGS

Knights of the Resurrection Council 13851 in Tualatin, Ore., hosted a screening of the film Restless Heart: The Confessions of Augustine for charity. The screening netted $2,000 and various baby supplies for the Father Taaffe Homes for teenage mothers.

Likewise, Itasca Council 2840 in Grand Rapids, Minn., hosted a screening of the film For Greater Glory for

Father Widmer Council 7877 in Stafford, Va., and its ladies’ auxiliary each donated $2,500 to St. William of York Church to purchase new tables for the parish and its school. The new tables will replace old ones that are used by parish and school organizations year round. Funds for the donation were raised through breakfasts and bake sales sponsored by the Knights and their ladies.

KNIGHTS IN ACTION HOUSE OF HOSPITALITY

Pope Pius XII Council 4691 in Rochester, N.Y., serves dinner every month at the St. Joseph House of Hospitality, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen. Knights and their wives serve approximately 80 people, making sure that the meals are nutritionally balanced and sourced as much as possible from local farmers and vendors.

BOOK DISTRIBUTORS Father Patrick Brosamer of St. Benedict Council 12290 in Anchorage, Alaska, exchanges the sign of peace with Archbishop Roger L. Schwietz of Anchorage during Father Brosamer’s ordination to the priesthood at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. Council 12290 supported Father Brosamer during his formation through the Refund Support Vocations Program (RSVP). Archbishop Ryan Assembly in Anchorage and Father David Melbourne Assembly in Palmer provided an honor guard for the ordination Mass.

UPPER LEFT: Ron Nicholl/The Catholic Anchor, Archdiocese of Anchorage

PLAY SET BUILT

St. Benedict Council 4208 in Decorah, Iowa, constructed an outdoor wooden play set for a local family. The family requested assistance from the council after realizing that they would not be able to assemble the play set themselves.

Holy Cross Council 5423 in Burnaby, British Columbia, donated $6,000 toward the editing, printing and distribution of a book titled Letters from Tanzania by Father Zenon Zgudziak, former pastor of Holy Cross Church.

Originally written in Polish and translated into English, the book follows Father Zgudziak’s experience as a missionary and educator in Africa for 18 years.

HAMBURGER BARBECUE

Holy Family Council 9085 at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana teamed with Broadmoor Council 3407 in Shreveport and Bossier Council 4873 to host a hamburger barbecue for HAP, a state program that provides a safe work environment for people with intellectual disabilities. At the event, Council 9085 presented the proceeds from its annual fund drive — a total of more than $1,700 — to HAP representatives.

CHURCH ADDITIONS

Alamo Council 4298 in San Antonio donated $10,000 to St. Pius X Church to help with the construction of a new gym, cafeteria, technology center, library and music room. Funds for the donation were raised through a variety of donations and council fundraisers.

FUNDING TECHNOLOGY

St. Charles Borromeo Council 5399 in Port Charlotte, Fla., delivered a pledge of $10,000 to help fund new equipment for the technology department at St. Charles School. Knights raised the necessary funds through a

Herb Yang of Coquitlam (British Columbia) Council 5540 and Hansel Yang of Holy Cross Council 5423 in Burnaby, along with their sister, Heidi, stand with their bikes during the Ride to Conquer Cancer from Vancouver to Seattle. Councils from throughout British Columbia and the Yukon donated funds to help the siblings raise more than $18,000 for the B.C. Cancer Foundation. The Yangs rode in memory of their father, Knight Bill Yang, who died of cancer.

number of casino trips, bingo games and raffles.

ceeded $1,400, which was donated to the Sisters of Life.

NOTHING WASTED

STATUES PLACED

Rochester (N.Y.) Council 178 collected surplus food from the LPGA golf tournament and donated the goods to the food pantry at St. Theodore Church.

St. Clare of Assisi Council 12851 in Surprise, Ariz., helped unpack and position statues of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare of Assisi and two adoring angels that were delivered to St. Clare Church after being hand carved in Italy. Knights pledged and delivered $14,500 to have the statue of St. Francis created, while other donors funded the remaining statues.

PAYING FOR RENOVATIONS

St. Andrew Council 8001 in Pleasanton, Texas, donated $11,000 to St. Andrew Church to help pay for renovations. Funds for the donation were raised through a variety of council activities.

FAMILY BARBECUE

Blessed Trinity Council 11681 in Toronto hosted a family barbecue at its parish.

Knights served more than 750 hamburgers and accepted goodwill donations at the event. Contributions ex-

TRUCKS UNLOADED

Members of Pope John Paul II Council 13808 in Greensboro, Ga., help unload the delivery truck at the Green County Food Pantry each month. Knights generally unload between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds of food for the pantry, which feeds about 350 families per month.

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KNIGHTS IN ACTION CAR SHOW UPDATE ON THE ULTRASOUND INITIATIVE The January issue of Columbia exhibited the continued growth of the Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Initiative. Here’s how local Knights are making the program a success: • Father John Jay Jackson Council 1101 in Jackson, Tenn., raised more than $18,500 to purchase a new ultrasound for Birth Choice of Jackson. The new machine replaced a very old unit that the facility had been using for some time.

• Msgr. James R. Jones Council 3303 in New Bern, N.C., Msgr. Frank Howard Council 6648 in Havelock and St. Pius X Council 11101 in Greensboro joined forces to host several fundraising activities — including a community dinner — to purchase a new ultrasound machine for the Havelock Pregnancy Resource Center.

• Bishop Edward T. Hughes Council 15540 in Three Bridges N.J., donated nearly $9,500 to two pro-life charities.

Knights donated $4,900 to purchase an ultrasound machine for a local pregnancy resource center. The council also donated $4,500 to other pregnancy centers in the Diocese of Metuchen from a pro-life baby bottle drive.

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Queen of Angels Council 10118 in Alpine, Calif., hosted a charity car show that raised $2,000 for the Global Wheelchair Mission, the Alpine Community Center and the council’s scholarship fund. Knights prepared breakfast and lunch at the event, which attracted nearly 100 classic cars. Likewise, St. Barbara Council 11736 in Black Diamond, Wash., hosted its annual car show. With several classic cars on display, Knights held a raffle that raised $300 for the Black Diamond Food Bank. The council also collected a tub of food at the event.

MARIAN MUSIC FESTIVAL

Blessed Father Jerzy Popieluszko, Martyr Council 15239 in Tarnobrzeg, Poland,

Registered Nurse Juliana Mannino shows volunteer counselor Melissa Thompson an ultrasound of her baby at 17 weeks on a new ultrasound machine that was donated to the Mother & Unborn Baby Care Clinic in Southfield by Michigan Knights. Bishop Gallagher Council 2569 in Royal Oak led an effort among five other councils to raise funds for the machine through the Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Initiative.

Knights raised more than $24,000 to purchase the machine, which was dedicated last summer.

organized a Marian music festival at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church. A number of children in attendance performed songs and chants about Mary.

COFFEE & DONUTS

St. Mary of the Assumption Council 14531 in Stockton, Calif., serves free coffee and donuts to parishioners after all Masses on the first Sunday of each month.

VOCATIONS IN EL SALVADOR

Paul Elmer Jr., the son of council member Paul Elmer Sr. of Marquette Council 1437 in New Orleans, holds a fish that he caught during a council-sponsored fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico.

Funds raised through the trip will help Notre Dame Seminary build a new barbecue pit after its outdoor gathering space was damaged during a hurricane.

FEBRUARY 2014

In response to the growing need for vocations in South America, John Paul I Council 7165 in Dale City, Virginia, donated $4,000 to Bishop Elías Samuel Bolaños Avelar of Zacatecoluca, El Salvador, to help build a new seminary for 125 students in that country. Funds for the donation came from a councilsponsored pancake breakfast.

The seminary, which is projected to cost $3 million, will include two dormitories, a chapel, classrooms, and a recreational field.

CORRECTIONS In the December 2013 issue of Columbia, the Catholic Man of the Month column should have indicated that Father Corby was a chaplain for the Union Army's Irish Brigade “in the 88th New York regiment.” During the Civil War, the Irish Brigade consisted of three regiments. Father Corby was one of seven chaplains to serve the Union Army.

Page 15 of the December 2013 issue incorrectly states that the Order’s private audience with Pope Francis took place Oct. 20, 2013. The audience with the board of directors and their wives took place Oct. 10, 2013.

kofc.org exclusive See more “Knights in Action” reports and photos at www.kofc.org/ knightsinaction

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KNIGHTS IN ACTION

KNIGHTS MOBILIZE TO AID THE PHILIPPINES

EVER SINCE Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the Philippines Nov. 8, 2013, Knights around the world have rushed aid to their stricken brothers and sisters.

In the aftermath of the storm, the Supreme Council pledged $250,000 in immediate aid, while local councils and assemblies got to work in many unique ways.

K OF C BREAKFASTS

Father Vilarrasa Council 7268 in Benicia, Calif., held an omelets-to-order parish breakfast to benefit victims of Typhoon Haiyan. More than 200 parishioners attended the event, which raised about $1,000. Meanwhile, East Kildonan Coun-

cil 4107 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, held a pancake breakfast that raised $500 for relief efforts. Members of the council grilled sausages outside in wind chill temperatures that were -41 degrees Celsius.

LOADED FOR TRANSPORT

Members of Pateros (Luzon) Council 4640 and Santa Maria Assembly loaded relief goods for transport to the most severely affected areas of the island nation. Knights loaded boxes of clothes and goods for victims, and collected 30,000 pesos (approximately $675) for relief operations.

FROM ONE COUNCIL TO ANOTHER

St. Paul Council 10775 in Inabanga, Visayas, received relief goods from their brother Knights in Fatima Council 7101 in Mandaue City.

Knights immediately distributed the goods to residents of local villages.

RICE AND MORE

Members of San Jose de Agudo Council 12878 in Caloocan City, Luzon, load relief goods onto a hand truck while coordinating the delivery of supplies for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

Knights collected relief goods and helped repack them for distribution to storm victims.

Mary, Help of Christians Council 14039 in Cebu City, Visayas, packed 2,000 packages of relief goods for victims of Typhoon Haiyan. Knights distributed the relief packages, which contained rice, noodles, canned goods and sugar, to residents on a small island in the archipelago nation.

SENDING ‘CARDS OF HOPE’

San Jose de Agudo Council 12878 in Calcoocan, Luzon, coordinated a “Cards of Hope” project with a local el-

Augusto Catacutan, Grand Knight Alfonso Muglia and Zeny Larino pack relief goods for the Philippines at an event cosponsored by All Saints Council 9485 in Mesa, Ariz. Knights joined with parishioners at All Saints Church under the leadership of Father Robert Caruso and Dr. Benedicto Dayrit to pack 95 boxes full of clothing and other supplies for typhoon victims. Council 9485 also donated $1,000 toward the estimated $5,000 shipping fees to send the boxes overseas.

ementary school to benefit victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

Students made heartfelt cards that were included in relief packages bound for areas affected by the disaster.

FARMERS MARKET FUND DRIVE

Mary Immaculate Council 12769 in Secaucus, N.J., hosted a fund drive at a local farmers market that raised $750 for relief efforts.

MASS AND DONATION

Mary, Cause of Our Joy Council 8447 of Soldiers Hill, Luzon, donated 20,000 pesos (approximately $450) and offered a Mass for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

Members of the council also volunteered to repack relief goods, such as food, clothes and more, for those impacted by the storm.

A JOINT EFFORT

Sto. Nino de Molino Council 9926 in Bahayang, Luzon, and Bishop Felix Perez Assembly conducted a joint relief effort for typhoon victims. Various parish organizations in the province of Leyte contributed donations.

Donations still needed!

Donate online at: kofc.org/disaster Or call: 1-800-694-5713

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KNIGHTS IN ACTION

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02/14

Please enroll me in the Father McGivney Guild: NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE/PROVINCE ZIP/POSTAL CODE Complete this coupon and mail to: The Father McGivney Guild, 1 Columbus Plaza, New Haven, CT 06510-3326 or enroll online at: www.fathermcgivney.org

OFFICIAL FEB. 1, 2014: To owners of Knights of Columbus insurance policies and persons responsible for payment of premiums on such policies: Notice is hereby given that in accordance with the provisions of Section 84 of the Laws of the Order, payment of insurance premiums due on a monthly basis to the Knights of Columbus by check made payable to Knights of Columbus and mailed to same at PO Box 1492, NEW HAVEN, CT 06506-1492, before the expiration of the grace period set forth in the policy. In Canada: Knights of Columbus, Place d’Armes Station, P.O. Box 220, Montreal, QC H2Y 3G7 ALL MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOS, ARTWORK, EDITORIAL MATTER, AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES SHOULD BE MAILED TO: COLUMBIA, PO BOX 1670, NEW HAVEN, CT 06507-0901. REJECTED MATERIAL WILL BE RETURNED IF ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED ENVELOPE AND RETURN POSTAGE. PURCHASED MATERIAL WILL NOT BE RETURNED. OPINIONS BY WRITERS ARE THEIR OWN AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS. SUBSCRIPTION RATES — IN THE U.S.: 1 YEAR, $6; 2 YEARS, $11; 3 YEARS, $15. FOR OTHER COUNTRIES ADD $2 PER YEAR. EXCEPT FOR CANADIAN SUBSCRIPTIONS, PAYMENT IN U.S. CURRENCY ONLY. SEND ORDERS AND CHECKS TO: ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT, PO BOX 1670, NEW HAVEN, CT 06507-0901.

COLUMBIA (ISSN 0010-1869/USPS #123-740) IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, 1 COLUMBUS PLAZA, NEW HAVEN, CT 06510-3326. PHONE: 203-752-4000, www.kofc.org. PRODUCED IN USA. COPYRIGHT © 2014 BY KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT NEW HAVEN, CT AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO COLUMBIA, MEMBERSHIP DEPARTMENT, PO BOX 1670, NEW HAVEN, CT 06507-0901.

CANADIAN POSTMASTER — PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 1473549. RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, 50 MACINTOSH BOULEVARD, CONCORD, ONTARIO L4K 4P3 PHILIPPINES — FOR PHILIPPINES SECOND-CLASS MAIL AT THE MANILA CENTRAL POST OFFICE. SEND RETURN COPIES TO KCFAPI, FRATERNAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT, PO BOX 1511, MANILA.

32 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

FEBRUARY 2014

Vice Supreme Master Angelo Catucci (far right) and Father Marcellus McCarthy (far left) congratulate Bernard Johnson, Andrew Edelen and Louis Casator after they joined Carroll Council 377 in Washington, D.C., in 1961. Under the administration of Supreme Knight John W. McDevitt, the Order reinforced the admission of African Americans and began several initiatives to promote racial equality.

AS WE CELEBRATE Black History Month, it is important to reflect on past initiatives by the Knights of Columbus to fight racial inequality in the United States.

In 1924, when Jim Crow laws were still in effect in many parts of the country, the Knights of Columbus commissioned and published The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America by civil rights leader W.E.B. DuBois. This book was part of a larger project adopted by the Knights of Columbus Historical Commission to combat the revisionist history of the time, which excluded minorities from historical records.

Forty years later, at the height of the civil rights movement, the Order continued to advance the cause of racial justice. In 1964, Supreme Knight John W. McDevitt amended the Order’s bylaws to prevent local councils from discriminating against potential members on the basis of race. In April 1965, the Order co-sponsored with the Archdiocese of Hartford a conference on human rights at Yale University, which drew more than 2,000 people. Finally, in 1967, the Order collaborated with the John LaFarge Institute in New York City to promote social justice and racial equality through dialogue and research.

As the Knights of Columbus continues to fight for racial equality today, these past efforts serve as an important reminder of the Order’s second principle: unity for all.

- Reported by Kaitlyn Landgraf

KNIGH T S O F C O LU M B U S

Building a better world one council at a time

Roy Lagarde

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.

TO

BE FEATURED HERE , SEND YOUR COUNCIL’ S

C OLUMBIA , 1 C OLUMBUS P LAZA , N EW

Visayas Deputy Rodrigo N. Sorongon hands a food package to a woman during a Knights of Columbus emergency relief effort in Hernani, Eastern Samar, in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the central Philippines Nov, 8, 2013. In a long-term effort to help typhoon victims, the Order has committed funds to deliver food and other necessities and support programs to help people get back to work to support themselves and their families.

“K NIGHTS IN A CTION ” H AVEN , CT 06510-3326

PHOTO AS WELL AS ITS DESCRIPTION TO : OR E - MAIL : COLUMBIA @ KOFC . ORG .

FEBRUARY 2014

♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ 33

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

KEEP T H E F A I T H A L I V E

‘I SAW THE NEED FOR SPIRITUAL FATHERS.’

JARED RODRIGUE Archdiocese of New Orleans Notre Dame Seminary

Tim Mueller Photography

Ever since I was a little boy, I knew I wanted to be a priest. The more I learned about the faith, the more I saw Christ in my pastor, Father John Phuc. Tragically, Father John died in a boating accident when I was in fifth grade.

What I witnessed at his funeral was the great need people have for spiritual fathers.

From that moment on, I knew in my heart that the Lord wanted me to take on this mission. However, I spent the following years shying away from the call because I wanted to be “normal.” I decided to attend college and become a permanent deacon after marriage, if the Lord continued to call me.

I then attended a Knights of Columbus meeting at which I was to receive a college scholarship, and my heart was transported back to Father John’s funeral. I knew I was making a mistake; I was called to be a priest.

I have God to thank for finally uniting my head and my heart. After a long journey with the Lord, I have come to know my own backyard as my mission.