Columbia July/August 2020

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU M BU S

J ULY /AUGUST 2020

COLUMBIA

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU M BU S A member of Father Damien De Veuster Council 6906 in Aiea, Hawaii, works at the Hawaii Food

& & ♦ & & ♦

Bank May 2

COLUMBIA

F E AT U R E S

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The Knights of Columbus and Racial Equality The Order’s long history of promoting civil rights is rooted in its founding mission of unity and fraternity.

BY COLUMBIA STAFF

16 ‘That We May Be One’ A Louisiana priest reflects on the task of racial reconciliation in light of the Church’s mission.

BY FATHER JOSHUA JOHNSON

18 ‘Big Brothers of the Little Sisters’ The Knights of Columbus provides assistance to the Little Sisters of the Poor when it’s needed most.

BY MATT HADRO

22 ‘A Heck of a Good Man’ Nova Scotia Knight Tom Bagley gave his life checking on neighbors amid a house fire and a gunman’s deadly rampage.

BY FRANCIS CAMPBELL

24 Relief for Our Neighbors at Risk Knights in New Mexico and Hawaii aid indigenous communities stricken by coronavirus.

BY CARL BUNDERSON

Alvin Gomez, a member of Father Damien De Veuster Council 6906 in Aiea, Hawaii, works at the Hawaii Food Bank May 2.

D E PA RT M E N T S 3 Building a better world In anticipation of our founder’s beatification, we reflect anew on our call to be a true fraternal community.

BY SUPREME KNIGHT CARL A. ANDERSON

4 Learning the faith, living the faith Father McGivney’s pastoral ministry calls to mind major themes of Pope Francis’ pontificate.

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Fathers for Good NFP helped us to diagnose our infertility, grow in love and welcome children into our lives.

BY CHRISTOPHER CARSTENS

BY SUPREME CHAPLAIN ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM E. LORI %# # $ % !! $ %$" "

PLUS: Catholic Man of the Month

6 Knights of Columbus News Venerable Michael McGivney to Be Beatified

15 Knights of Columbus News State Deputies Meeting Emphasizes Charity and Fraternity in Trying Times

28 Knights in Action

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The Choice of Charity “LIKE THE MULTITUDE who gathered around the Apostles on the wonderful day of Pentecost ‌ we have men of various races and languages. But, by drawing close the bonds of brotherhood, we produce the best type of American citizenship ‌ with one great, broad, unalterable creed of fair play and equal rights for all.â€? Thus reads the editorial beginning vol. 1, no. 1 of The Columbiad in November 1893. The editors noted that this new publication, Columbia’s forerunner, aimed to serve the “moral and social uplifting of our members ‌ enabling them to better comprehend the principles as laid down in the original act of incorporation.â€?

Father Michael McGivney had envisioned the Knights of Columbus as an organization with the broadest of appeal and the most basic of principles — charity, unity and fraternity, centered in Christ and the Catholic (universal) faith. In many ways, Father McGivney and the Order he founded were far ahead of their time, anticipating the Second Vatican Council’s emphasis on the universal call to holiness. But like the Church herself, the Order is in constant need of renewal and authentic reform, and its work is always best accomplished by staying faithful to its founding mission.

With this in mind, this issue of Columbia celebrates the Order’s historic work related to bridging the racial divide in America and ensuring “equal rights for all,� while also acknowledging that, as members of the body of Christ, our struggle to overcome the sin of

racism is far from complete (see pages 8, 16). As with The Columbiad, these and various articles about the Order’s charitable work are intended to “uplift�

Knights and their families, inspiring them to practice the founding principles in their daily lives and in response to challenges facing the world today.

It is, after all, only through principles rooted in the Gospel — not partisan politics or destructive ideologies — that we can adequately address such challenges. When Supreme Knight Carl Anderson met with prominent African American Christian leaders in 2017, together they endorsed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy outlined 60 years earlier in the 1957 essay “Nonviolence and Racial Justice.�

Anderson co-wrote a Time op-ed with the Rev. Eugene Rivers, a well-known Pentecostal minister, in which they stated, “Now as then, we must choose whether this country will overcome deep racial and political divisions with justice and forgiveness, or deepen them with hatred and violence.�

As the world faces this vital choice today, and civility has further given way to divisive rhetoric, the witness of charity, unity and fraternity is needed more than ever. We therefore return to the vision of Father McGivney, our founder, even as we joyfully anticipate his beatification (see page 6). We must choose the path of charity if we truly hope to build a civilization of love.♌ ALTON J. PELOWSKI EDITOR

Featured Book: The Gift of Black Folk In 1924, the Knights of Columbus commissioned and published a landmark history by civil rights pioneer W.E.B. Du Bois. The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America, which recounts many of the unsung contributions of African Americans to society, was one of several books in the Knights of Columbus Racial Contribution Series. The critically acclaimed work was republished in 2009, with a foreword by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, and is available for purchase at knightsgear.com.

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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 Patrick E. Kelly DEPUTY SUPREME KNIGHT Michael J. O’Connor SUPREME SECRETARY Ronald F. Schwarz SUPREME TREASURER John A. Marrella SUPREME ADVOCATE ________ EDITORIAL Alton J. Pelowski EDITOR Andrew J. Matt MANAGING EDITOR Cecilia Hadley SENIOR EDITOR Margaret B. Kelly ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Venerable Michael McGivney (1852-90) Apostle to the Young, Protector of Christian Family Life and Founder of the Knights of Columbus, Intercede for Us.

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HOW TO REACH US MAIL COLUMBIA 1 Columbus Plaza New Haven, CT 06510-3326 ADDRESS CHANGES 203-752-4210, option #3 addresschange@kofc.org COLUMBIA INQUIRIES 203-752-4398 K OF C CUSTOMER SERVICE 1-800-380-9995 EMAIL 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.

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Copyright Š 2020 All rights reserved ________ ON THE COVER A multiracial group of K of C secretaries stands outside the Knights’ recreation hut at Camp Zachary Taylor, Ky., in 1918.

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BU I L D I N G A B E T T E R WO R L D

Father McGivney’s Spiritual Genius In anticipation of our founder’s beatification, we reflect anew on our call to be a true fraternal community

by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson AS WE LOOK forward to the beatification of Father Michael McGivney, each of us should reflect on how his example can deepen our lives as Knights of Columbus.

Pope Francis writes in his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, “I especially ask Christians … to offer a radiant and attractive witness of fraternal communion. Let everyone admire how you care for one another, and how you encourage and accompany one another” (98).

Throughout history, religious communities such as the Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits have offered this witness. The spiritual genius of Father McGivney lay in his inspiration to found a fraternal association to which married laymen could belong — men required to be in the world to support their families.

In the Knights of Columbus, Father McGivney offered these men the opportunity to serve their families, parishes and communities by joining a brotherhood dedicated to charity and unity.

Soon, a third principle, fraternity, was added to explicitly emphasize that the Knights of Columbus was more than an association; it was intended to be a true fraternal community.

It is precisely in fraternal charity and fraternal unity that the Knights of Columbus transcends other charitable organizations. Seeing our neighbor as a brother makes all the difference.

Pope Francis also reminds us in his exhortation of the importance to “live in fraternity” (91) and to relate to others with “a fraternal love capable of

seeing the sacred grandeur of our neighbor, of finding God in every human being” (92).

This was Father McGivney’s approach to living the Catholic faith. At a time when the Catholic identity of so many was being tested by the harsh economic, social and political realities of 19th-century America, he offered a way forward without compromising the faith. The newly organized Knights of Columbus would not withdraw into enclaves. Knights would engage society by living the Catholic principles of charity and unity.

Since that time, the authentic expression of a truly fraternal charity and unity has been the secret of the dynamic growth of the Knights of Columbus.

“An authentic faith,” Pope Francis writes, “always involves a deep desire to change the world … to leave this earth somehow better than we found it” (183).

This spirit animated Father McGivney to provide a financial safety net for widows and orphans, and to defend the religious liberty so necessary for Catholic institutions, including the Knights of Columbus, to flourish.

In 1900, patriotism was added as the Order’s fourth principle — emphasizing that faithful Catholics, as good citizens, were committed to the common good of all and not narrow sectarian interests.

“The Church,” observes Pope Francis, “cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice” (183).

Within a decade of establishing the patriotic degree, the Order expanded to Mexico, the Philippines and Cuba to help the Church in those countries

confront new challenges following war and revolution.

The Order’s principle of patriotism was also tested by the First World War. Yet, the Knights would be praised as the only wartime service organization that opened its doors to all, regardless of race, color or religion, under the banner “Everybody Welcome.”

Patriotism, when tempered by charity, unity and fraternity, provides a robust defense against excessive nationalism.

Early in its history, the Knights of Columbus recognized that, as Pope Francis affirms, “Christianity does not have simply one cultural expression” (116). This cultural engagement continues today as the Order expands into Poland, Ukraine, Korea and France.

One final observation from Evangelii Gaudium: Pope Francis notes, “Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenseless and innocent among us” (213). How fitting, given the Order’s longstanding commitment to the sanctity of life, that the miracle attributed to the intercession of Father McGivney was the healing in utero of an unborn child.

St. John Paul II often challenged the Christian family to “become who you are.” The beatification of Father McGivney is a clarion call to Knights of Columbus everywhere to become, in even greater ways, who we are.

Vivat Jesus!

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L E A R N I N G T H E FA I T H , L I V I N G T H E FA I T H

The Heart of Our Founder Father McGivney’s pastoral ministry calls to mind major themes of Pope Francis’ pontificate

by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori

IN FEBRUARY, I presented Pope Fran- speak of our solidarity with Christ and cis with an Italian translation of Parish one another.

Priest, the biography of Father Michael Father McGivney’s ministry also foreMcGivney. Handing him the book, I shadowed Pope Francis’ call to missionary commented that Father McGivney was discipleship. Inviting us to open our Father encourages us not to be superfi“a Pope Francis priest before there was a hearts to the Gospel, Pope Francis shows cial in our relationships with others, Pope Francis.” With gratitude to our us how we are to become followers of the but rather to be genuinely open to Holy Father, I would like to reflect a bit Lord who want to share with others the those around us. We must journey tomore on how Father McGivney, a late joy of the Gospel. We are to be joyful, gether; we must walk with one another, 19th-century priest, exemplified the committed evangelizers, convinced that just as the risen Lord walked with the themes of a 21st-century pontificate.

Christ sheds light and hope on every as- two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

First, Pope Francis often speaks of a pect of our lives.

Along the way, we must come to know, “culture of encounter.” He calls us love and walk with those who not to be content with a superfiare poor and vulnerable. cial relationship with Christ, but Father McGivney accompaFather McGivney fostered in his rather to open our hearts to the nied his parishioners in their joys Lord in prayer, to worship him in and sorrows. He had a special love parishioners a living faith, and he deepest faith, and to allow his for the marginalized, including a encouraged them to share this faith, condemned man whom he acwords to penetrate and shape our lives. If we truly open our hearts companied to the gates of etereven in the midst of hardships. to Jesus Christ, we will also open nity. As a pastor engaged with his them to those around us, both in people, Father McGivney saw the Church and in broader society.

Long before the phrase “missionary how families were impoverished when As a parish priest, Father McGivney discipleship” was commonly used, Father husbands and fathers died prematurely. did indeed foster a “culture of encounter.” McGivney fostered in his parishioners a He did not merely sympathize with such From his own daily encounter with living faith, and he encouraged them to families; he founded the Order as a way Christ in prayer, he drew the strength and share this faith with others, even in the for men to provide for their families in wisdom to create a true community at St. midst of hardships. He inspired and in- the event of death. He also founded it as Mary’s Parish in New Haven, Conn., and structed through his preaching and teach- an engine of charity — a charity that later at St. Thomas Parish in Thomaston. ing. He modeled what it means to be a bears witness to the Gospel and accomThe plays, picnics and ball games he or- joyful witness to Christ, demonstrating panies people in their need. ganized had a purpose: to bring his people how faith and life intersect. And he creEven this brief glimpse at Father Mctogether and help parishioners know and ated the Knights of Columbus to help Givney’s ministry helps us see how he love one another. A hallmark of Father men practice their faith and serve their foreshadowed key themes of Pope FranMcGivney’s ministry was the personal families more robustly. This saintly priest cis’ pontificate. As we reflect on our attention he gave to his people. He knew understood that all of his people were founder’s fruitful ministry, we rejoice in the cares of their hearts and their spiri- called to holiness and that they were his the news that this venerable parish priest may soon be beatified (see page 6). He is tual needs. Likewise, the founding prin- co-workers in spreading the Gospel. ciples of charity, unity and fraternity that Yet another theme of Pope Francis’ interceding for us, the family of the he chose for the Knights of Columbus ministry is accompaniment. The Holy Knights of Columbus.♦ 4 ♦ COLUMBIA ♦

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SUPREME CHAPLAIN’S CHALLENGE

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

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“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.� (Gospel for July 5, Mt 11:27) Have you ever known a man who was just like his father — who not only looked like him, but also acted, spoke and thought like him? Jesus is the very image of his Father and reveals the Father to us. By striving to know God the Son more intimately — through prayer, the Mass, the sacraments

H O LY FAT H E R ’ S P R AY E R I N T E N T I O N

and Scripture — we also come to know God the Father more intimately. May we better understand the Father’s love for us and model our own fatherhood after his.

Challenge by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori: This month, I challenge you to commit to at least one hour each week in prayer before Jesus in the tabernacle, spending some of this time meditating on God the Father. Second, I challenge you to work with your brother Knights to implement the Faith in Action Holy Hour program in order to help others grow closer to Christ.♌

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

Joseph Chiwatenhwa (~1602-1640)

We pray that today’s families may be accompanied with love, respect and guidance.

L I T U RG I C A L C A L E N DA R July 3 July 11 July 14 July 15 July 22 July 25 July 29 July 31

St. Thomas, Apostle St. Benedict, Abbot St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin (USA) St. Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church St. Mary Magdalene St. James, Apostle St. Martha St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Supreme Chaplain’s Challenge, Holy Father’s Prayer Intention and Liturgical Calendar for August 2020 can be found online at kofc.org/columbia.

ST. JEAN de BrĂŠbeuf has been called “Apostle of the Huronsâ€? for his 20 years evangelizing that First Nation tribe in the 17th century. But Father de BrĂŠbeuf and his fellow Jesuit missionaries also recognized an apostle among the Huron people: Joseph Chiwatenhwa.

In 1636, Chiwatenhwa heard Father de BrĂŠbeuf preach in his village of OssossanĂŠ, in present-day Ontario. While many blamed the “Blackrobesâ€? for measles, flu and smallpox epidemics, Chiwatenhwa, who also fell sick, was moved by their teaching about the “One-who-made-all.â€? After recovering, he asked for baptism in August 1637 and received the name Joseph.

His wife, Aonnetta, was also baptized and their marriage blessed — the first Catholic wedding in Huronia.

Joseph’s deepening faith and desire to share it with his family and tribesmen are recorded in detail by the missionaries. He helped them translate French prayers and hymns into Huron, and his zeal over the next several years so impressed them that he became the first lay administrator in the Catholic Church in Canada.

In 1639, Joseph undertook the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola; the priest who directed the eight-day retreat recorded his reflections, which express his profound gratitude and faith. “This great God has called me from the end of the world,� Joseph marveled. “Alas, my God, how great is your love!�

Joseph Chiwatenhwa sensed that his fervent faith might lead to danger. On Aug. 2, 1640, he was killed in the woods near OssossanĂŠ, possibly by Iroquois warriors. Jesuit Father JĂŠrĂ´me Lalemant described his courageous witness: “He made a firm resolve not to lose the opportunity to speak of God, and never to blush for professing what he was — a Christian, even to death.â€?♌

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU M BU S N E W S

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS around the world rejoiced May 27 at the news that Father Michael J. McGivney, the Order’s founder, had advanced a step closer to sainthood.

The previous day, Pope Francis approved a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to Father McGivney’s intercession, clearing the way for him to be declared “Blessed.� It is anticipated that his beatification Mass will be celebrated in the Archdiocese of Hartford sometime in the coming months.

An additional miracle attributed to the priest’s intercession will be required for his canonization.

Pope Francis, addressing the Knights of Columbus Board of Directors in Rome in February, praised the Order for being faithful “to the vision of your founder, Venerable Michael McGivney, who was inspired by the principles of Christian charity and fraternity to assist those most in need.�

In a statement following the May 27 announcement, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said, “Father McGivney has inspired generations of Catholic men to roll up their sleeves and put their faith into action. Today, his spirit continues to shape the extraordinary charitable work of Knights as they continue to serve those on the margins of society, as he served widows and orphans in the 1880s.�

Born of Irish immigrant parents in 1852 in Waterbury, Conn., Father McGivney was ordained in Baltimore in 1877.

He ministered to a heavily Irish-American and immigrant community in New Haven and Thomaston, Conn. At a time of anti-Catholic sentiment, the young parish priest worked tirelessly to help his parishioners live out their faith, in part by finding practical solutions to their many problems — spiritual and temporal.

With a group of the leading Catholic men of New Haven, he founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882 at St. Mary’s Church to provide spiritual support for Catholic men and financial resources for families that suffered the loss of their breadwinner. “Father McGivney was decades ahead of his time in giving the laity an important role within the Church,â€? noted Supreme Knight Anderson. “He remains an important role 6 ♌ COLUMBIA ♌

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model for parish priests around the world and left us a transformative legacy of effective cooperation between the laity and clergy.�

Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore urged Knights to take inspiration from his beatification. “Let us see this providential turn of events as a sign from God of the goodness, soundness and importance of our mission,� he said. “Let it be an enduring moment of grace that will spur us on to live the principles of charity, unity and fraternity, to put our faith in action, and to recruit good Catholic men to join us in the mission bequeathed to us by our holy founder.�

Known by his contemporaries for his compassion and his zeal for the faith, Father McGivney will be the first American who spent his entire ministry as a parish priest to be beatified.

He died of pneumonia Aug. 14, 1890 — two days after his 38th birthday — after falling ill amid a pandemic.

His cause for sainthood was opened in the Archdiocese of Hartford in 1997, and he was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.

The miracle paving the way for the beatification occurred in the Diocese of Nashville, Tenn., when an unborn child was healed of a very serious medical condition. Doctors gave the parents, Michelle and Daniel Schachle, no hope for their child’s survival and offered abortion, which they refused.

A general agent with the Knights of Columbus, Daniel asked his wife to join him in praying to Father McGivney for a miracle and suggested that if the boy survived, they name him after the Order’s founder. Other family members, friends and co-workers also invoked Father McGivney’s intercession.

A few weeks after the initial diagnosis, an ultrasound found that the unborn child was completely healed of the condition, defying any medical or scientific explanation.

Michael McGivney Schachle, affectionately called “Mikey� by his family, was born May 15, 2015.

Look to an upcoming issue of Columbia for extended coverage related to Father McGivney’s life, legacy and the cause for canonization, and a closer look at the Schachle family.♌

Venerable Michael McGivney to Be Beatified

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

Natural (and Supernatural) Family Planning NFP helped us to diagnose our infertility, grow in love and welcome children into our lives

by Christopher Carstens

M

y wife, Marguerite, and I practice natural family progesterone deficiency, and Dr. Smyth prescribed suppleplanning. We also have eight children. Some would mentary progesterone injections to help carry the next conclude from these facts that NFP “doesn’t work.� On pregnancy to full term. the contrary, we would respond: NFP works better than There was a second physician who also came to our aid: we could have ever imagined. It has brought extraordinary St. Gianna Beretta Molla. Canonized by Pope John Paul II blessings to our marriage. in 2004, Molla was an Italian pediatrician who, while In my high school home economics class, in addition to pregnant with a baby girl, was diagnosed with a fibroid teaching us how to balance a tumor on her uterus. Rather than checkbook, iron a shirt and cook risk her unborn child’s life, Molla a simple meal, offered lessons on declined radical treatment. She artificial birth control. The basic died April 28, 1962, just one premise was that pregnancy alters week after giving birth. We asked one’s life, and that becoming her intercession daily, and we are pregnant was a snap — unless, of grateful today to both Dr. Gicourse, intrusive precautions anna and Dr. Louise for our “Giwere taken. As it turns out, the anna babies.� class premise was only half right: Contrary to the popular mindPregnancy and birth are lifeset, the “P� in NFP is for “planchanging; but becoming pregning,� not “prevention� — nant — and staying pregnant — though NFP can also safely help is often no easy feat. a couple avoid pregnancy should When Marguerite and I were they need to in grave circumfirst married, I thought it prustances. In our marriage, NFP dent to take a little time, start has been an essential means to jobs, make some money and get grow and sustain the love beused to our common life. But tween my wife and me and for God thought otherwise, and — our children. I don’t think I snap! — we found ourselves would be a father, or at least not St. Gianna Beretta Molla is depicted surrounded by pregnant within the first year. the father I am, without it. “Gianna babies,� children whose births were attributed And what a joy it was! Married But there’s a familiar saying to her intercession. life was already a blessing, and that is also relevant here: “If you the expectation of our first baby want to make God laugh, tell lifted our happiness even higher. However, our high spirits him your plans!� This is also my NFP experience. After crashed when we lost this first baby to miscarriage. This marriage, I planned to wait some time before pregnancy loss was followed by the stillborn birth at 30 weeks of a and planned for all things to go smoothly. This didn’t daughter, Louise. We tried to conceive again, but to no happen. Thankfully, a better Father than I had his own plan. It included not only NFP, but joy and sorrow, anxavail. It turned out that pregnancy is no easy matter.

And that’s where NFP comes into our story. NFP helped iety and relief, disappointment and gratitude — as well us diagnose infertility issues and address them safely, nat- as doctors and saints. It’s a plan my wife and I could never urally and morally. Dr. Louise Smyth, a physician trained have imagined, let alone executed, on our own.♌ in NaProTechnology (natural procreative technology) through the Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Neb., came to CHRISTOPHER CARSTENS is director of the Office for our aid. After teaching us to read fertility signs and chart Sacred Worship in the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., and a memcycles, the problem emerged more clearly. My wife had a ber of Father McKevitt Council 3492 in Richland Center.

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

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THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS AND RACIAL EQUALITY

The Order’s long history of promoting civil rights is rooted in its founding mission of unity and fraternity

by Columbia staff

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W

hen Samuel F. Williams, a black man, took to the stage to address the 1896 Knights of Columbus Massachusetts State Convention, African Americans were still excluded from many Catholic parishes, schools and seminaries in the United States.

The NAACP would not be formed for another 15 years. The movement for racial harmony was led by people like Booker T. Washington, who had delivered his cautious “Atlanta Compromise” speech a few months earlier. It also faced setbacks like the U.S.

Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld segregation later that year.

But Williams spoke that day not as an outsider.

He spoke as a brother Knight, a co-founder and officer of Sheridan Council 119 in Southborough. And two future supreme knights — State Deputy James Hayes and Supreme Director Edward Hearn — were in the audience listening.

Though noteworthy, Williams’ membership was only the practical application of the principles on which Father Michael J. McGivney had founded the Order 14 years earlier.

A multiracial group of Knights of Columbus field secretaries, known as “Caseys,” gather in front of a K of C hut at Camp Zachary Taylor in Kentucky, Oct. 8, 1918. Providing recreation centers for soldiers during World War I under the banner “Everybody Welcome, Everything Free,” the Order was recognized as the only wartime service organization that practiced racial integration.

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As the Knights of Columbus responds to racial division in society today, it is worth remembering the Order’s history of unifying work through the decades. From its earliest days to the recent Novena for National Unity & An End to Racism, the Knights of Columbus has drawn inspiration and impetus from Father McGivney’s vision.

FOUNDATION FOR DIVERSITY The Knights of Columbus was founded with a framework which could — and would — support membership drawn from the broadest possible diversity of practicing Catholic men.

Indeed, historian Christopher Kauffman wrote of the Order’s early ethnic diversity, “It was the only American fraternal society which did not, by its constitution, prohibit Negro (sic) membership.�

Recollections of Father McGivney describe a man who knew the trickle-down dangers of prejudice, and who believed that bringing Catholic men from disparate backgrounds together in faith was possible, good and broadly needed.

When thousands of Knights visited the grave of the founder in Waterbury, Conn., in 1900, Father James O’Donnell gave a speech expounding on the Order’s principle of unity: “Before the altar all are equal. The beggar if such there be, kneels by the side of the possessor of wealth and the man of dark skin occupies the same pew with his white brother. And this spirit pervades the Knights of Columbus; and so should it ever be.�

One of the Knights’ original incorporators, Daniel Colwell, likewise confirmed this intent for the Order: “It was designed to unify American Catholic citizens of every national and racial origin in a social and fraternal organization,� he wrote, “giving scope and purpose to their aims as Catholics and as Americans.�

W.E.B. Du Bois, a founding member of the NAACP and the first black man to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University, wrote his 1924 book, The Gift of Black Folk, at the invitation of the Knights of Columbus.

One of several books published by the Knights of Columbus Historical Commission at the time, it was later republished in 2009. • Right: The Cardinal Gibbons Institute, a Catholic school dedicated to serving African Americans, is dedicated in Ridge, Md., on Oct. 18, 1925.

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Colwell had worked shoulder to shoulder with Father McGivney on the details of the Knights’ founding, and when McGivney stepped down as supreme secretary, it was Colwell who took his place.

By the turn of the century, the Knights of Columbus was promoting missionary work among African American communities, such as a college for black Catholic catechists in Montgomery, Ala., headed by Father Thomas Donovan, a Knight from Richmond, Va. The belief that faith forged a unity powerful enough to draw all men together played out in the Order’s charitable endeavors as well. This was especially apparent during World War I, when the Order became “the official agency for all Catholic [troop] activity.� The Knights adopted the slogan “Everybody Welcome, Everything Free,� and in keeping with that slogan, it ran the only racially integrated facilities available to the troops — three decades before the U.S. military itself was integrated.

In The American Negro in the Great War (1919), African American author Emmett J. Scott — who served as special adjutant to the U.S. secretary of war — singled out the Knights of Columbus for its wartime service to African Americans: “Unlike the other social welfare organizations operating in the war, it never drew the color line.�

Black soldiers returning from the war could also count on the Order’s extensive educational programs for veterans. Hundreds enrolled in “free supplementary evening schools� in various cities. “It is work for God and Country because it is the fostering of the American promise of opportunity to all,�

Supreme Knight James Flaherty wrote in Columbia in 1921. “We have served men and women of all colors and creeds in these schools.�

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Right: A U.S. Navy gun crew patrols the Korean coast in late 1950 or early 1951. Past Supreme Knight Francis Matthews (above) spearheaded the racial integration of the Navy and Marine Corps during his term as secretary of the Navy, 1949-1951.

RACIAL CONTRIBUTIONS In the years after World War I, the Ku Klux Klan began to fan the flames of racial and religious bigotry, targeting African Americans as well as Catholics, Jews and other immigrants.

Though much smaller in size, the Knights of Columbus took a public role in opposing the Klan.

The Klan responded by attacking K of C activities, conventions and publications, and printing libelous tracts about the Order. A Klan-published pamphlet in 1921 identified the Knights of Columbus as “the organization most interested in the destruction of the Ku Klux Klan.�

The KKK set its sights on individual members of the Knights of Columbus as well. It urged legislation to penalize and even criminalize belonging to the Knights, and harassed, threatened and in some cases physically attacked members — priests and laymen alike. The Klan also targeted celebrations and statues of Christopher Columbus.

During this time, the Order established its Historical Commission to combat prejudice with education. To address omissions in generally Anglo-centric histories of America, the commission published a series of books that highlighted the many ways that maligned minority groups had contributed to the country’s good. “This series is unlike any heretofore published,� the head of the commission noted, “since it gives the actual history of racial contributions to the making of the United States, not from the isolated viewpoint of a single race, concerning other races, but from the viewpoint of each race concerning itself.�

W.E.B. Du Bois, co-founder of the NAACP, was commissioned by the Knights to author what would become the most

notable work in the series: The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America.

With the Racial Contribution Series and similar efforts, the Order was decades ahead of Church leadership in some parts of the United States. In a 1925 letter, Du Bois lamented, “I have just written, for the Knights of Columbus, a volume in their admirably conceived series of monographs for interracial understanding of the making of America. But because Catholicism has so much that is splendid in the past and fine in its present, it is the greater shame that ‘n—’ haters clothed in episcopal robes should do to black Americans in exclusion, segregation and exclusion from opportunity all that the KKK ever asked.�

By this time, the Supreme Council had begun funding the Cardinal Gibbons Institute, a new school for African Americans led by a black couple in southern Maryland, Victor and Constance Daniels. The Order’s financial assistance was crucial to the opening of the school, and through a per capita assessment, every Knight provided support. At the groundbreaking in January 1924, U.S. Navy Adm. William S. Benson, a Fourth Degree Knight, said, “It is not charity, the building of this institution; it is but giving an opportunity to prosper where little has been given before.�

In the 1930s, the crucible of the Great Depression prompted Supreme Knight Martin Carmody to reflect on and promote the Order’s principle of fraternity, which transcends differences and unifies men in action and mutual support. “True fraternalism brings into the group a cross-section of the whole society of the country,� Carmody wrote in Columbia. “It unifies various racial groups, giving them a sense of

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‘FROM WORDS TO ACTION’ As the civil rights movement advanced, the Knights took action, adopting a two-part strategy with regard to racism: changing hearts where it could and limiting the negative impact where it could not.

When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream� speech in August 1963, numerous clergy were in attendance courtesy of the Knights of Columbus, which provided $25,000 for their lodging.

The next summer, the pivotal Civil Rights Act of 1964 advanced the cause of an equitable society, but discrimination was, sadly, far from gone.

Supreme Knight John McDevitt (seated right) speaks with panelists and organizers at a human rights conference at Yale University, April 3, 1965.

The Knights co-sponsored, helped to organize and participated in the conference, titled “From Words to Action — a commitment of the Catholic body to the unending struggle for interracial justice and charity.�

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In fact, it became clear that some K of C councils had prevented black Catholic men from joining the Order; at the time, it took only five votes to block a candidate. The Supreme Council took increasingly aggressive steps to root out the problem, including amending its bylaws in 1964 to “remove forever the opportunity of prejudice.� To drive the message home, all Supreme Convention delegates received a pastoral letter on race relations by Supreme Chaplain Bishop Charles P. Greco of Alexandria, La. Before that year’s convention even began, the Knights confronted persistent segregation at the host hotel in New Orleans. Supreme Knight John McDevitt threatened to move the convention to another site, and the Roosevelt Hotel — whose owner had one time declared it would never desegregate — integrated that day.

The message was further highlighted at the convention by the presence of Father Harold R. Perry on the dais at the States Dinner, the first black clergyman to offer a prayer in Congress. Father Perry had also participated, like thenSupreme Knight Luke Hart, in a meeting on civil rights called

by President Kennedy, and he would later become the first black priest consecrated as a bishop in the United States in a hundred years. Fourth Degree Knights served as an honor guard at the consecration Mass in January 1966.

Supreme Knight McDevitt, a former educator, was eager to move Catholics toward concrete efforts in the area of civil rights. Under his leadership, the Knights of Columbus undertook a number of public initiatives related to racial equality.

At Yale University in 1965, the Order co-sponsored a conference titled “From Words to Action — a commitment of

their common citizenship, an awareness of their place and importance in the common work of building the nation.�

Carmody’s successor, Supreme Knight Francis Matthews, truly became a champion of racial integration and equality.

After guiding the Order through World War II, he stepped down as supreme knight and served on President Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights. That commission took up the difficult racial issues of the day and was credited with Truman’s executive orders integrating the federal workforce. Then, as secretary of the Navy from 1949-1951, Matthews spearheaded the integration of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.

As the United States continued to grapple with racial issues and integration, another supreme knight, Luke Hart, was tapped

by President John F. Kennedy to participate in a White House meeting of religious leaders about eliminating racial discrimination. Hart had previously served as supreme advocate since 1922, and was at the forefront of the Order’s clash with Klan.

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A bronze bas-relief in the Our Mother of Africa Chapel at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., depicts the African American experience from slavery to emancipation. The Knights of Columbus contributed $100,000 to the construction of the chapel, which Cardinal James A. Hickey dedicated in August 1997, in the presence of more than 6,000 African American pilgrims from across the United States.

the Catholic body to the unending struggle for interracial justice and charity.� Knights were among its organizers and speakers, and many more were among the 2,000 attendees.

Beginning in 1967, the Knights also collaborated with the John LaFarge Institute in New York City to promote social justice and racial equality through dialogue and research.

The Supreme Council furnished all state deputies and more than 800 local councils with discussion material from the institute, with the intention to “make fraternity an instrument welding discussion and action into a powerful force for good.�

The Order’s work for racial equality continued in the following decades with particular emphasis on providing support for the practical and spiritual good of African Americans.

In the 1970s and into the 1990s, the Order funded programs through the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice in Washington, D.C., during the administrations of both McDevitt and his successor, Virgil Dechant.

In 1996, the Supreme Council contributed $100,000 to establish a scholarship for African American students pursuing Catholic education. And a year later, the Order allocated the same amount to help fund the construction of a chapel dedicated to Our Mother of Africa at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

FOLLOWING ‘ANOTHER WAY’ The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Time is cluttered with the wreckage of broken communities which have surrendered to hatred and violence. For the salvation of our nation and the salvation of mankind, we must follow another way.�

In the new millennium, Supreme Knight Anderson ensured that the Knights remained engaged, promoting racial harmony through the Order’s founding principles, and with the sentiments of Rev. King at the forefront.

Anderson’s personal experience — serving for nearly a decade on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in the 1990s, and his previous work for co-sponsors of the Civil Rights Act and Equal Rights Amendment — has informed his work as supreme knight.

In recent years, the Knights of Columbus has brought critical issues and voices to the attention of the nation’s leadership. This has included organizing meetings of black clergy with government officials such as the vice president, to discuss race, poverty and models of policing.

The Order also funded the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ establishment of a new Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism in 2017. The supreme knight serves as a consultant.

In collaboration with African American clergy, particular attention was given to promoting King’s message of nonviolence

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and of equality for all. As part of these efforts, the Supreme Council organized and took part in a news conference at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial with senior Catholic and Protestant clergy to discuss the twin evils of racism and violence. The message was also taken up in an opinion piece published by Time magazine co-authored by Supreme Knight Anderson and prominent African American Pentecostal pastor Eugene Rivers III. Continuing the commitment to education, in recent years the Knights of Columbus has also provided substantial assistance to Catholic inner-city schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, led by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori.

The Knights of Columbus has also brought to new audiences the legacies of African Americans who were pivotal in civil rights history. In 2009, for example, the Supreme Council republished — with a new foreword by Supreme Knight Anderson — The Gift of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois. Last year, the Order sponsored a vocal and orchestral concert in New Haven that commemorated the landmark performance of Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday 1939.

Knights and their families around the world have been invited to join in the Order’s latest efforts.

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urged Knights to “redouble our efforts to overcome the suffering and injustice which result from the sin of racism.”

Citing Pope Francis and Martin Luther King Jr. and their shared emphasis on justice, reconciliation and nonviolence, he wrote, “We pray that we can all follow this other way and come to understand that injustice to a black person is injustice to all; that regardless of race or culture, all people, without exception, are made in the image and likeness of God, and are deserving of our respect and love.”

This mandate has been consistent within the Order for nearly 140 years.

Indeed, if Father McGivney and the first Knights of Columbus had lived to hear the speeches that King delivered some eight decades after the Order’s founding, his words would have resonated with them. After all, they envisioned the Knights as a way of uniting men of every color and race under the banner of faith.

“Knowing Father McGivney as I did, I was acquainted with his motives and intentions in the foundation of your Order,” said Father William J. Slocum, speaking to the Knights who gathered at Father McGivney’s grave in 1900. “So long as the [Knights] follows in the pathway marked out by Father McGivney, it is bound to prove a power and blessing in the world.”

His words — like McGivney’s founding of the Order itself — have proved prophetic.♦

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson joins a group of Christian leaders at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., for a news conference Oct. 2, 2017. Together, they endorsed Rev. King’s message of nonviolence, famously outlined in his 1957 essay “Nonviolence and Racial Justice.” From left: the Rev. William Bass; the Rev. Eugene Rivers III, founder and director of the W.J. Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies in Boston; Bishop Edwin Bass, president of the Church of God in Christ Urban Initiatives; and Jesuit Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism.

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU M BU S N E W S

State Deputies Meeting Emphasizes Charity and Fraternity in Trying Times THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC did not stop fraternal leaders from meeting to discuss the achievements, initiatives and goals of the Order. It did, however, force a change of venue. The Organizational Meeting of Knights of Columbus State Deputies was held virtually for the first time June 3-7. K of C jurisdiction leaders participated in online business sessions, breakout meetings and a livestreamed closing Mass from their homes around the world.

In his opening business session address, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson spoke about the ever-greater need for leadership, charity and a true Catholic fraternity to face the challenges of the moment. Here are highlights from the supreme knight’s remarks: FINANCIAL AND FRATERNAL STRENGTH “During the last several years we have implemented changes to make the Supreme Council stronger and to make our insurance program stronger, more competitive and better positioned to withstand today’s challenges. …

“We have the financial strength to address much of the suffering we see around us. But more importantly, we have the fraternal strength to do the great works of charity that the times demand.”

The newly elected state deputies’ medals of office are displayed May 27 on the sarcophagus of Venerable Michael McGivney at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Conn.

A CATHOLIC COMMITMENT “Through the spiritual genius of Father McGivney, we have found a way to transform friends into brothers. …

“Membership in the Knights of Columbus is not primarily an invitation to do something. Membership in the Knights of Columbus is primarily an invitation to be someone — a Catholic man who lives his life according to a Catholic commitment to charity, unity and fraternity.”

CHAMPIONS OF CHARITY “Please continue to make Leave No Neighbor Behind a top priority. We

THE SOURCE OF CHARITY, UNITY, FRATERNITY “Where does our charity as Knights of Columbus come from? Our love and generosity are but an extension of the Father’s love, revealed by Christ crucified, and poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit! …

“The Holy Trinity was the source of all the good that Father McGivney did. Father McGivney could immerse himself in parish work and in the work of the Order only because he was

immersed in the love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“The same is true of you: As you immerse yourselves in the work that lies ahead, be sure you are immersed in the love and fellowship of the Trinity by prayer, by Eucharist, by penance, and by following the example of our blessed founder.” — an excerpt from Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori’s homily on Trinity Sunday, June 7

are providing urgent support to the neediest among us. And our local councils and brother Knights have become the champions of this effort. …

“I am pleased to report, that according to our 2019 Fraternal Survey, our brother Knights gave more than $187 million to charity, and volunteered more than 77 million hours of service.”

MEMBERSHIP MILESTONE “This fraternal year, the Knights of Columbus reached 2 million members. This is a historic milestone. But it is not the end of the journey. …

“The more men who join, the more lives we will transform and communities we will serve. The more men we have, the more we will do for our parishes and the more Catholic families we will strengthen.”

RESPONDING TO CRISES “My hope is that, amid all these challenges, we grow closer to one another, and that each of us will live more profoundly our principles of charity, unity and fraternity. And that because of our efforts, the Knights of Columbus will emerge from these circumstances stronger and more vigorous than ever.”♦

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‘That We May Be One’ A Louisiana priest reflects on the task of racial reconciliation in light of the Church’s mission

EDITOR’S NOTE: Father Joshua Johnson, 32, is pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church and a member of Holy Mary Council 6389 in St. Amant, La. He is also the author of Blessed and Broken: An Invitation to My Generation (2018) and the son of a former police captain for the Baton Rouge Police Department. In early June, Columbia editor Alton Pelowski invited him to share his thoughts about the racial divide in the United States from the perspective of faith. The following reflections are excerpted from that conversation.

A PERSONAL INVITATION My mother is Catholic and white, and my father is Methodist and black. They raised our family in the Catholic Church, but growing up, I never really felt connected to the Church and didn’t have a relationship with Jesus. We were “sacramentalized,� but I was never evangelized — until high school, when Protestants began to share Jesus with me. I also lived a lifestyle that was not conducive to becoming a saint, and I stopped going to church.

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and one of my friends was a white girl who recognized that there were only a few black kids in our class and never any black kids in youth group. She was very intentional about making us feel seen and welcome. The summer before my senior year, she invited me to a Catholic youth conference. I didn’t want to go, but for some reason I said, “Yes, I would love to.�

On Saturday night during the conference, Bishop Sam Jacobs processed the Blessed Sacrament through the crowd of thousands of teenagers. And for the first time in my life, I perceived that the Eucharist was in fact the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. The first words I perceived from him were, “I love you,� and from that moment, I knew I wanted to be in a relationship with Jesus — specifically in the Eucharist — for the rest of my life.

I then perceived an invitation to discern the priesthood. I initially said no, but over time I began to desire to become a priest. After eight years of formation, I was ordained on May 31, 2014.

by Father Joshua Johnson

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WE ARE ONE BODY club, so the country club changed its practice.

My greatest desire is to console the heart of Jesus; and in John There are also a lot of practical ways to make things right 17, Jesus reveals his heart’s desire for us. He prays to the Fa- in the body of Christ today. Support Catholic schools in your ther that there may be unity — that we may be one as he and diocese that primarily serve minority communities and are the Father are one. struggling financially. Look at our handbook policies and see I think this is a unique time in history, and God has cre- if there is anything there that might be discriminating against ated us to bring about unity and renew and restore the body people of color. Add more artwork depicting saints who were of Christ. black and brown, Asian and indigenous — not just European For years I have been speaking as a biracial man about healing saints, whom I love. I also have a devotion to St. Michael the the racial divide in this country; it’s in my DNA. In recent days, Archangel, but when St. Michael is painted to look like a I’ve been so inspired by the number of Catholics, especially in white man and Satan to look like a brown or black man, then this country, who have shared with me that for the first time in that sends a message to many people of color. their lives they feel inspired by God to pray, fast and work with others to really bring about racial reconciliation.

WALKING TOGETHER AS BROTHERS St. Paul says that we must make up for what is lacking in When I was discerning to enter the seminary, I needed help the suffering of the body of Christ (cf. Col 1:24). Every financially. The Knights of Columbus called me and said, “We Catholic is responsible for every member of the body. If any heard about you and want to help you out.” That’s how I was member is suffering, whether they’re white, black or brown, introduced to the Knights, and I’m very grateful. we are all responsible for that memThe council in my parish is tremenber. I must offer up penances and sacdous. The Knights here are intentional rifices in spiritual reparation, to bring disciples of Jesus Christ. They pray the about reconciliation with the entire rosary consistently, lead small group community.

Bible studies, do a lot of pro-life minWANT MY CHURCH It’s a biblical spiritual practice to reistry, help the poor on a weekly basis, pent not only of our sins, but for the and spend a lot of time in eucharistic ON EARTH TO LOOK sins of others. I encourage people who adoration. Unfortunately, there are have never said the N-word or have many councils that are still more of a LIKE THE CHURCH IN never participated in an institution that social club. But the Knights of Columdiscriminated against people of color to bus, too, has gone through positive rerepent on behalf other Christians who form over the years, and this work HEAVEN.’ have never said “I’m sorry” to God. continues today.

The rosary is one of the most powOne thing I would encourage erful prayers, and because racism is a Knights to do is to be very aware of demonic stronghold that has attacked what groups, nationalities and people this nation for hundreds of years, I always encourage people of color aren’t represented in your councils. Go out and find to pray the rosary for this specific intention, as well as for the those people in your parishes and communities, and invite souls of our ancestors who have not repented. them to walk with you, so that together you can use your charisms to do the work of God in our world.

A SEAT AT THE TABLE Martin Luther King Jr. said that the problem in our nation We need to start with silence and prayer — listening and spend- between black and white Americans is not a societal problem; ing time with the Lord. We must also spend time with, listen to it’s a church problem. The most segregated time in America and learn from our brothers and sisters in Christ who have been is 11 o’clock on Sunday mornings. hurting. We need to fast from speaking so that we can hear their I believe that we have to take seriously the commandment stories about how they’ve been impacted by unjust policies and of Jesus, “Go out and make disciples of all nations.” The word practices and by racial prejudice and discrimination. “nations” is actually translated from Greek ethnos, which is One of the stories I love to share is about Archbishop Alfred where we get the word ethnicity. When St. John had a vision Hughes of New Orleans. He noticed that a lot of faithful of heaven in the book of Revelation, he said, “Behold, I see black Catholics were leaving the Church, so he invited them people of different races, nations and tongues” (cf. Rev 7:9). to sit at the table with him. And he heard something that So, our goal as Catholics should be this: I want my Church shocked him: Catholic churches and organizations were host- on earth to look like the Church in heaven. This is how I want ing gatherings at a country club that would not allow black my parish community, my K of C council, my Bible study membership. This wasn’t the ’70s; this was the 2000s. group, my diocese and my nation to look — with every memArchbishop Hughes responded by writing a pastoral letter ber abiding in personal, intentional, consistent relationship against racism. Then a lot of Catholics finally began to stand with each other. And until my earth is like heaven, I have a up against it and began to pull their money out of that country lot of work to do.♦

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‘BIG BROTHERS OF THE LITTLE SISTERS’

The Knights of Columbus provides assistance to the Little Sisters of the Poor when it’s needed most

by Matt Hadro

T

his past spring, the Little Sisters of the Poor saw their latest legal battle for religious liberty again reach the U.S. Supreme Court. But even as historic telephonic oral arguments were being heard in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania (see sidebar), the sisters were fighting another battle — against the coronavirus.

When the Little Sisters quarantined in March to protect the elderly residents they serve, they had trouble obtaining everyday supplies, let alone scarcities like hand sanitizer and masks.

Mother Provincial Loraine Marie Maguire, one of three regional superiors of the Little Sisters in the United States, made a call to a longtime ally, the Knights of Columbus.

The Office of the Supreme Knight promptly reached out to the sisters’ residences throughout the country, and state councils in 20 jurisdictions rallied their communities to fulfill requests for things such as water, food, cleaning supplies and paper products. The Supreme Council helped procure harderto-find respiratory masks, gowns and other medical supplies.

“The Knights of Columbus with their gestures of charity have become guardian angels for the Little Sisters,” Mother Loraine said of the outpouring of support. “It’s gestures like this that really lighten the load and show you the goodness of people.”

Since they were founded in France by St. Jeanne Jugan in 1839, the Little Sisters of the Poor have expanded to more than 30 countries. They live with and care for the elderly poor of every race and religion, and traditionally have sustained their homes by begging in the community. Over the years, the Knights have supported the Little Sisters in many ways, from local council donations to the Order’s highest honor, the Gaudium et Spes Award. The 2016 award was presented to the sisters in recognition of their work, as well as their stand for religious conscience rights.

When supplies began to run short in the sisters’ homes in March, the Maryland State Council was one of the first to step up. When Maryland State Deputy Dale Trott heard that the Little Sisters’ St. Martin’s Home outside of Baltimore was 18 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore present the Order’s highest honor, the Gaudium et Spes Award, to Mother Loraine Marie Maguire, representing the Little Sisters of the Poor, at the annual States Dinner in 2016. in dire need of certain supplies, he and his wife bought whatever they could from the sisters’ wish list. With Maryland Knights, they made the first of several deliveries in early April.

“The sisters have been a godsend to this community for 150 years,” Trott said. “We truly appreciate all that they do, and we must make sure that they can take care of the residents here and themselves.”

The Knights in Maryland have since expanded their work beyond St. Martin’s Home, organizing an ongoing statewide collection program to supply Little Sister residences in Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C. Around the country, state and local councils have arranged similar collections. Deliveries have included medical supplies, meat and eggs to the Holy Family Residence in St. Paul, Minn.;

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From top: Sisters and several priest residents at the St. Joseph’s Home in Palatine, Ill., express their thanks to the Knights of Holy Ghost Council 4977. • District Deputy Joe Carter (left) drops off supplies for the Little Sisters at St. Joseph’s Home in Louisville, Ky., with help from Mike Koenig (right) and Bill Moriarity of St. Margaret Mary Council 15979. • Maryland State Deputy Dale Trott helps unload a delivery of supplies at St. Martin’s Home in Catonsville, Md. gloves, masks and hand sanitizer to the Jeanne Jugan Residence in Somerville, Mass.; and toilet paper, bleach and tissues to the Queen of Peace Residence in Queens Village, N.Y. In Louisville, Ky., District Deputy Joe Carter put out a request to local councils, and the donations quickly started piling up in his garage. He and others brought several truckloads of paper products and masks, as well as 20 gallons of sanitizer, to nearby St. Joseph’s Home.

The project was a great opportunity to build unity among councils, Carter observed. “We all came together in brother-

hood in order to get the supplies,� he said.

Another notable example of support took place in early May, when the Little Sisters in Palatine, Ill., were thrown a curveball by new state health guidelines for nursing homes.

The guidelines discouraged serving water from pitchers, which meant that the sisters needed bottled water for the 90 residents of their St. Joseph’s Home — and they needed it fast.

Bob Novak, grand knight of Holy Ghost Council 4977 in Palatine received a phone call from Mother Margaret Charles Hogarty.

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THE LITTLE SISTERS’ FIGHT FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Order sides with Little Sisters and conscience protections in U.S. Supreme Court cases The Knights of Columbus’ emergency assistance during the coronavirus pandemic is a continuation, not the beginning, of its support for the Little Sisters.

With the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the religious order’s communities in the United States were suddenly placed in an untenable situation. They faced heavy fines if they did not cover contraceptives, sterilizations and abortifacients in their employee health plans, per rules of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The sisters have been fighting the mandate in court since 2013. The Knights of Columbus has stood with them throughout their legal battle, providing financial support to Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, their legal defense, and filing amicus 20 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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(“friend of the court”) briefs on their behalf.

The sisters opposed the mandate “not out of duty to rules, but out of love for God,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said in a keynote address to women religious in September 2018.

Quoting Mother Loraine Maguire, he noted, “The Little Sisters wanted the mandate rolled back ‘so that we can continue caring for the elderly poor and dying as if they were Christ himself without the fear of government punishment.’”

Montse Alvarado, vice president and executive director of the Becket Fund, said that the Knights’ support has been invaluable.

“The Knights have been right alongside the sisters, supporting their ministry … and standing with them to defend religious freedom for all,” she said.

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Sister Mary Paschal, a Little Sister of the Poor, shares a laugh with a resident at St. Joseph’s Home in Palatine, Ill., in this 2016 photo.

Little Sisters of the Poor rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building March 23, 2016, as the court hears arguments in Little Sisters v. Burwell, a religious liberty case they won but which continues to be challenged today.

In May 2016, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the government could not fine the Little Sisters, arguing that a solution should be found to appease both sides. The following year, HHS issued a new rule allowing exemptions from the mandate for religious nonprofits like the Little Sisters. Pennsylvania, California and several other states challenged that rule in the case now before the court.

Supreme Court justices heard arguments in the case via telephone in early May, with a decision expected in late June. — reported by Matt Hadro

“That’s when it all clicked,� recalled Novak, noting that his council had been looking for ways to answer the call of the Order’s new initiative, Leave No Neighbor Behind.

By the end of that day, he and fellow members of Council 4977 delivered numerous cases of bottled water to St. Joseph’s and had organized the shipment of three more pallets — almost 6,000 bottles total.

They weren’t finished. A few days later, the Knights ran water bottle drives at nearby St. Theresa and St. Thomas of Villanova parishes, and raised money to purchase more water for the home. The community response surpassed expectations, and the council collected more than $13,500 in donations. “At a time like this, it means more than ever,� said Mother Margaret Charles, administrator of the residence and superior of the Palatine community. “We are always so grateful to have the Knights in our life.�

Novak was equally thankful to the sisters for the chance to help. “We were so happy to hear from them,� he said. “We feel like we’re big brothers of the Little Sisters, and we were so happy to hear from them. My faith has really been magnified by what’s been happening here.�

The Supreme Council, meanwhile, has contributed $90,000 of personal protective equipment, thermometers and hand sanitizer to Little Sister residences nationwide to help them safely care for sick residents. “The Knights have been good Samaritans because they have seen neighbors in need,â€? said Mother Provincial Maria Christine Lynch, who oversees the sisters’ Chicago province. “Leave No Neighbor Behind is a manifestation of their generosity, and we are truly grateful.â€?♌ MATT HADRO is the senior Washington, D.C., correspondent for Catholic News Agency. He is a member of George Brent Council 5332 in Manassas, Va. JULY/AUGUST 2020

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‘A Heck of a

Good Man’ Nova Scotia Knight Tom Bagley gave his life checking on neighbors amid a house fire and a gunman’s deadly rampage

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elping and caring were a way of life for Tom Bagley. “He would help anyone, friend or stranger, expecting nothing in return,� said his daughter Charlene. “It was in his nature to give.�

That selfless nature brought Bagley, a Royal Canadian Navy veteran, retired firefighter and Knight of Columbus, to his neighbors’ burning home in the rural Nova Scotia community of Wentworth on April 19.

He could not have known that the fire had been ignited by a gunman in the middle of a 13-hour rampage that spanned 170 kilometres (more than 100 miles) across the province. Bagley, it is thought, saw the fire or heard a disturbance while on his morning walk and went to help. He was 22 ♌ C O L U M B I A ♌

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killed along with the homeowners, two days shy of his 71st birthday. They were among the 23 victims (including an unborn child) of what became the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, in a letter to the Nova Scotia State Council, wrote that Bagley, a longtime member of St. Bernard’s Council 11625 in Enfield, embodied the Order’s principles. “Surely, no one could express better than he, during the final moments of his life, what it means to ‘leave no neighbor behind,’� the supreme knight wrote. “It is my hope that, in this way, our brother Knight will continue to inspire thousands more, through the good works of the Knights of Columbus.�

by Francis Campbell

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STRONG FOUNDATIONS As a boy growing up in rural New Brunswick, Thomas Edward Bagley saw a picture of the HMCS Bonaventure, the last aircraft carrier in service with the Canadian Armed Forces, and he set his mind to serving on that ship one day. He joined the navy at 17 and went on to realize his dream.

Bagley began his 10-year naval career with a posting to Chatham, New Brunswick, where he met his future wife, Patsy Aucoin. “They say that nobody is perfect, but he was perfect in my eyes, one of a kind, and a heck of a good man,� Patsy said of her husband of nearly 47 years. “He was an amazing friend, an amazing husband, an amazing dad.�

Tom had learned firefighting in the navy and transferred those skills into civilian life in 1974, taking a job as a firefighter at the Halifax International Airport. The Bagleys settled in Elmsdale, a village to the north. They had a daughter, Charlene, and later adopted two more girls, Karla and Amanda.

Not long after Tom and Patsy’s move to Nova Scotia, a young firefighter named Joe MacLean transferred to the Halifax airport’s fire service. He lived with them for a couple of years and forged a close friendship with Tom that spanned more than four decades.

In the 1990s, the two friends joined Council 11625 at St. Bernard’s Church in Enfield. Bagley served as membership director for a year, but his real niche was in the kitchen during the Knights’ regular community breakfast. “He loved it in the kitchen, telling stories,� recalled MacLean. “He was renowned for his dollar fries — cutting potatoes in rounds, leaving the skin on them.�

MacLean, who served as the council’s faith director for more than a decade, added that Bagley was always happy to help. “He was never looking for glory. He was just there to work. If you ever needed a hand with something, Bagley was there.�

Faith and family formed his life’s foundation. In addition to his wife and three daughters, he also left behind two grandchildren: Charlene’s son, Brody, and daughter, Braea. “Tom would light right up when he mentioned the kids,�

Patsy said. “He adored them.�

A storyteller with a passion for his Harley Davidson motorcycle and the great outdoors, Bagley also had a gift for friendship. “People who were lucky enough to know him, they were friends with him right away,� his wife recalled. “He was just one of those types of people.�

MOTIVATED TO HELP Tom Bagley worked with the airport fire and rescue crew for 31 years. Even after retiring, he continued to volunteer with nearby fire departments.

Several years ago, he and Patsy began to winterize a cottage they had acquired in Wentworth, an hour’s drive north of Elmsdale, and Tom soon got involved in the community. He served as a lector and assisted in any way possible at the mission church of St. Cornelius in nearby Streets Ridge. The

Above: Members of St. Bernard’s Council 11625 in Enfield, Nova Scotia, pray a rosary for Tom Bagley at St. Bernard’s Church. From left to right: Grand Knight John Steele, Joe MacLean, David Lewis, and Joe Gignac, a retired police officer. • Opposite page: Tom Bagley stands beside a fire truck at Halifax International Airport in this 2003 photo. consummate jack-of-all-trades, he was also quick to use his plumbing, electrical, carpentry and painting skills to aid his neighbors. “He was well liked by everybody. They all knew he’d drop anything he was doing to go help someone,â€? Patsy said.

And that is exactly what he did the morning he died. The motive of the gunman, who was shot and killed in a confrontation with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, remains unclear, but Bagley’s motives were more transparent. “He got shot trying to help friends,� Patsy said. “That’s who Tom was.�

Charlene Bagley said she was blessed to have him as a father. “I cannot make any sense of this tragedy at all,� she said. “I’m completely heartbroken for my mother, who lost a very loving and devoted husband, for my children who lost their beloved Poppy, and for myself, who even though I’m an adult, still needs her dad so badly. My world will never be the same without him.�

Tom Bagley’s remains were buried at 11 a.m. May 7.

Though they could not be there in person due to COVID19 restrictions, his brother Knights from Council 11625 prayed together that morning for Bagley’s soul and the consolation of his family. Among them was David Lewis, the council’s financial secretary. “‘He would give you the shirt off his back’ is a description often attributed to many a good man, but it fit Tom to a T,â€? said Lewis, who knew Bagley for more than 20 years. “He was a Knight who expressed the principles of Leave No Neighbor Behind all his life, and died doing so.â€?♌ FRANCIS CAMPBELL is a journalist for the Halifax Chronicle Herald and a member of St. Bernard’s Council 11625 in Enfield, Nova Scotia.

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RELIEF

FOR OUR NEIGHBORS AT RISK Knights in New Mexico and Hawaii aid indigenous communities stricken by coronavirus

by Carl Bunderson

he Order’s call to “Leave No Neighbor Behind� this past spring had a special urgency for Supreme Director Patrick Mason, a member Fray Marcos Council 1783 in Gallup, N.M. He knew his neighbors in nearby Native American reservations were particularly threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact. “Native populations are always hit disproportionately hard by pandemics,� said Mason, who is also a member of the Osage Nation and a board member of Life Is Sacred, a prolife Native American organization. “The 1918 flu wiped out entire villages. The H1N1 death rate in Native American communities was four times the national average.�

In March, Mason and his brother Knights got together to brainstorm what they could do. At first, their goals were

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Above: Jeremy Boucher, Lance Tanner and Supreme Director Patrick Mason — all members of Fray Marcos Council 1783 in Gallup — unload a trailer of supplies for the Acoma people in New Mexico. The Knights organized a COVID-19 Relief Canteen to bring supplies to Native American communities afflicted by the pandemic. • Opposite page: A woman on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, receives a delivery of food and other essentials from Knights conducting the Kupuna Needs Project. modest. “We said, ‘You know what, if we can only feed 10 families, then let’s feed 10 families,’” Mason explained.

But in the weeks that followed, the Knights delivered food to thousands of Navajo and other native families in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. They also contributed to similar efforts in Hawaii, where Knights helped launch the Kūpuna Needs Project to aid elderly native Hawaiians on Oahu. Together with partnering organizations and initiatives, the Knights have put their faith in action by providing muchneeded food for their neighbors on the margins.

“It’s been amazing,” Mason said. “Banding together with our brothers, we’re able to accomplish great things.”

GOING TO THE PERIPHERIES The Knights in Gallup had good reason to be concerned for native communities as the coronavirus spread. Many homes are multigenerational, with grandparents helping to raise grandchildren. Running water is not universal, making frequent handwashing more difficult. And the rate of diabetes — a condition that increases the danger of the virus — is high.

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Volunteers with the Kupuna Needs Project, including Knights from several Oahu councils, gather May 2 to package and prepare deliveries for the elderly and vulnerable. Ryan Fielding (center, with his dad, John) started the delivery service with help from John and his brother Knights. Dallas Carter (far right) coordinated additional funding for the project from Knights in New Mexico.

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communities. Knights have delivered an estimated 3,000 food boxes to tribal leaders, who distribute them directly to native families in need. “Pope Francis is always talking about going out to the peripheries,� said Boucher. “Leave No Neighbor Behind is really encouraging us to do that, to go outside of our comfort zone, and remember that it’s not just our family and friends who are our neighbors.�

LOVE FOR ONE’S ELDERS Meanwhile, 5,000 miles away, Knights on Oahu were making a similar effort to provide food and other supplies to kōpuna, or elderly native Hawaiians, through the Kōpuna Needs Project.

Seventeen-year-old Ryan Fielding, the son of Knight John Fielding, started the program in March. Ryan, whose grandparents live with his family, said he “started thinking about all the other kĹŤpuna who are having difficulties just getting basic necessities.â€? So he set up a hotline for any kĹŤpuna needing groceries delivered.

Several local K of C councils soon offered support, including St. Michael the Archangel Council 16741 in Waialua, Father Damien De Veuster Council 6906 in Aeia, and his father’s, Our Lady Queen of Peace Council 5000 in Honolulu.

Help came from further afield, too: After Dallas Carter, a member of Council 16741 and of Life Is Sacred, told Patrick

According to the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA, five Native American tribes, including the Navajo Nation, have higher per capita infection rates than New York state.

Moreover, the strict lockdown measures reservations instituted to combat infection made it difficult for many to get supplies.

Supreme Director Mason worked with Jeremy Boucher, also a member of Council 1783 and co-director of the Southwest Indian Foundation, to make a list of those most in need in the area. Donations of food and money were collected by Knights in New Mexico, with the help of the state council. Many food boxes were assembled at a local grocery store owned in part by Lance Tanner, also a member of Council 1783.

The Knights began filling a trailer with boxes of food to be distributed where most needed; each box had enough groceries to feed a family of four to six for about two weeks. The Knights of Columbus COVID-19 Relief Canteen made its first delivery in early April to the Acoma Pueblo.

Brian Vallo, governor of Acoma Pueblo, thanked the Knights on behalf of the community. “Recipients of these food donations are just so grateful and appreciative,â€? he said. “I know that my Acoma people ‌ are offering prayers in response to the generosity.â€?

The Supreme Council has contributed $40,000 in matching grants to the project, which has provided more than $320,000 worth of food to Navajo, Acoma, Zuni and native Hawaiian

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Mason about the project, the Knights in New Mexico contributed enough money to fund it for two weeks. “We will continue to stand in the breach and do everything within our ability to help those in most need on our island during this pandemic,� Carter said. “Now is the time for us to live our Catholic call to serve those in need.�

KĹŤpuna Needs has responded to hundreds of calls, assembling and delivering two-week food and toiletry packages to kĹŤpuna and other vulnerable people across the island. It has also partnered with several meal-delivery nonprofits, helping to deliver hundreds of meals each day to elderly residents. “A lot of them break down in tears,â€?

Ryan Fielding said, “They really need help, and they never thought that they’d be asking for supplies in their life.�

Ryan’s father, John, a past grand knight of Council 5000, described delivering a package to a woman living alone. “She told me that I was literally the only human being she’d seen in two weeks, and that she’s scared to leave her house,� he said. “Knights have provided not only physical essentials, but also consolation during this very hard time. This is truly what the Knights are all about.�

The witness of the Knights has been inspiring, Ryan said: “Seeing them in action has really helped me understand more about my faith and more about how we should be helping other people.�

As for Mason, he has seen the Leave No Neighbor Behind effort in light of Christ’s commandment “to love your neighbor as yourself â€? (Mt 22:39). “I have great hope because God always brings great good out of bad situations — and I’m seeing the good that’s coming out of this and the love that’s growing between neighbors and peoples,â€? Mason said. “When the dust settles, I like to think this world is going to be a much better place because we decided to rise to the occasion, and truly leave no neighbor behind.â€?♌ CARL BUNDERSON is a reporter for Catholic News Agency based in Denver and a member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Council 13205 in Littleton, Colo.

KNIGHTS AID FAR NORTH INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES Saskatchewan Knights traveled hundreds of kilometres north in June, hauling more than $12,000 of food to two remote villages pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic.

It wasn’t possible to go sooner: The entire far north region was placed under a strict travel lockdown in late April, as the coronavirus began to spread. The center of the outbreak was the village of La Loche and the adjacent Clearwater River Dene Nation.

This combined area, which has only about 3,200 residents, saw nearly 200 cases of COVID-19 by late May. The Knights, led by State Deputy Chris Bencharski, brought food hampers to Our Lady of Visitation Catholic Church in La Loche, to be distributed by the parish. They also made a delivery at Mary Magdelene Catholic Parish in Beauval, a village of about 700. “There is great need in the aboriginal communities in the north because of many socioeconomic issues, including a lack of well-paying jobs and the high costs of goods and services,�

Bencharski said. “And now with the

COVID-19 situation, there is even a greater need.�

Councils across Saskatchewan contributed funds to purchase the food, surpassing a matching grant of $5,000 from the Supreme Council Leave No Neighbor Behind Fund.

The Saskatchewan Knights of Columbus Charitable Foundation has also made grants to food pantries with many indigenous clients, including Guadalupe House in Saskatoon and Door of Hope in Meadow Lake.

At Door of Hope, the $1,500 donation was supplemented by 1,000 pounds of groceries collected and delivered by members of Meadow Lake Council 5259, including State Deputy Bencharski.

Leave No Neighbor Behind has been a spur to action for the Knights in Saskatchewan, he said: “Aiding families is one reason the Knights of Columbus were formed. Leave No Neighbor Behind is an example of our principle of charity becoming real in the lives of those who require help.� — Reported by Cecilia Hadley, senior editor

Saskatchewan State Deputy Chris Bencharski (right) and Grand Knight Kevin Rutt of Meadow Lake Council 5259 sort groceries at Door of Hope, a food pantry in Meadow Lake that serves many indigenous clients.

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KNIGHTS IN ACTION

REPORTS FROM COUNCILS & ASSEMBLIES

FAITH FAITH ON THE AIR

St. Helena Council 7965 in San Antonio donated $1,000 to a local Catholic radio station, Guadalupe Radio 89.7 FM. NEW MEDIA, SAME MYSTERIES

Members of Our Lady of Fatima Council 9636 in Las PiĂąas City, Luzon South, used videoconferencing to continue their weekly Rosary Crusade, a council tradition since 1987. In recent weeks, Knights and their families have gathered virtually every Saturday evening to pray together.

BRIDGING CHURCH AND HOME

Atlantic (Iowa) Council 1164 enabled members of St. Mary’s and Sts. Peter and Paul Parishes to participate virtually in Sunday Masses by providing video equipment to livestream the liturgy. Knights also delivered palms to parishioners’ homes on Palm Sunday.

MEMORIAL DAY MASS

Members of Flushing (Mich.)

Council 8489 trimmed the grass and cleaned the outdoor altar at St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Cemetery in preparation for the parish’s

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annual outdoor Memorial Day Mass. It was the first public Mass at St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church in nearly two months.

SANCTIFIED SANITIZER

Members of St. Ann Council 11925 in Nashville, Tenn., assembled and installed a hand sanitizer station donated by a health services company at St. Ann Catholic Church prior to its reopening for Mass.

OPEN-AIR PENANCE

Members of North Pueblo (Colo.) Council 4286 organized and directed traffic

JULY/AUGUST 2020

for outdoor confessions on the grounds of St. Pius X Catholic Church in Pueblo.

Parishioners, who had not been able to go to confession for several weeks, drove up in their cars and walked to a designated spot to receive the sacrament.

POINTING THE WAY

Monessen (Pa.) Council 954 donated $10,000, raised through various fundraisers, to purchase a statue of Christ for Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Parish in Monessen.

The statue and a new sign now welcome parishioners and visitors to the church.

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N

FAMILY CHECKING IN ON FAMILIES

Members of All Saints Council 14475 in Lake Wylie, S.C., telephoned every family of All Saints Catholic Church — nearly 1,000 households — to check on their welfare and assist in providing food, medical supplies and prayers during the pandemic.

HEFTY DONATION

Members of Christopher Council 3182 in Claymont, Del., volunteered at several emergency food distributions at Holy Rosary Parish, helping to give away more than 76,000 pounds of food to families in need.

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Geauga Council 3304 in Newbury, Ohio, provided seven washable masks to a family whose granddaughter has severe disabilities and is particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus. Grand Knight David Hrycik delivered the masks, which were made by the wife of a member.

LEAVE NO FISH BEHIND

Columbian Council 2191 in Batavia., Ill., gave away all the food it had purchased for its canceled fish fries to families in the community.

The Knights bagged the frozen fish and sides in family-sized portions, and hundreds of people picked up the free meals at the hall

where the council meets.

Members also delivered frozen dinners to a dozen families sheltering in place.

DOMESTIC CHURCH BOOKLETS

Switzerland Council 12664 in St. Johns, Fla., set up a kiosk of the Order’s “Building the Domestic Church� booklet series in the lobby of San Juan del Rio Catholic Church. Over six months, parishioners have taken more than 1,000 booklets and donated nearly $500 to the council’s Faith in Action programs.

FREE FAMILY DINNER

Members of Msgr. John Jerome Davis Council 7230 in Houston cooked and

served approximately 400 barbecue dinners at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.

The council had planned a barbecue fundraiser, but Father Edmund Eduarte, council chaplain, suggested holding a free dinner instead to help families affected by the economic impact of the lockdowns.

ANNIVERSARY SURPRISE

Knights of St. Isaac Jogues Council 11098 in Pickering, Ontario, made a surprise visit to the home of member Pat Valiquette and his wife, Gwen, to celebrate the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary. From a safe distance, the visitors fêted the Valiquettes with signs and joyful greetings.

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N

COMMUNITY FUND RAZOR

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St. Pius X Council 12656 in Portland, Ore., offers a handyman service called St. Joseph’s Toolbox, providing home and yard work to the parish, clergy, elderly, widows, single parents and others requiring assistance. Recently, members repaired the asphalt in the parking lot of St. Pius X Catholic Church and remodeled an apartment to house the parish’s new parochial vicar, who had been living in a rental. The new apartment will save the parish $24,000 a year.

RESTOCKING THE PANTRY

Sacred Heart Council 2955 in Dodge City, Kan., made two donations of frozen meat and pantry items to the

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local Salvation Army food bank, which had been depleted by increased demand during the pandemic.

MEETING COMMUNITY NEEDS

San Gorgonio Council 5392 in Beaumont, Calif., reached out to the vulnerable by bringing food and supplies to a new homeless camp, donating to the St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Community food kitchen, and volunteering with the parish food bank. Knights also assisted homebound members with meals and groceries, and brought a sick member to the hospital emergency room.

AGAPE FOOD DRIVE

St. Emile Council 8221 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, sponsored a food drive for Agape

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Table, a nonprofit providing meals and a food bank for people in need. Knights collected four carloads of nonperishable food and $350 in donations in the parking lot of St. Emile Roman Catholic Church.

HELPING THE HOMEBOUND

Members of Infant Jesus Council 7058 in Lumberton, Texas, completed extensive and urgent safety repairs at the home of an elderly parishioner of Infant Jesus Catholic Church who had self-quarantined due to COVID-19. The Knights rebuilt her deck, added support railings to the steps, repaired plumbing, replaced an outdoor power outlet and completed other home repairs.

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ST. JOSEPH’S TOOLBOX

After its fish dinners were canceled due to the pandemic, Our Lady of LaSalette Council 8376 in Marietta, Ga., organized a new fundraiser: a beardgrowing contest and pledge drive. Inspired by bearded knights of the Middle Ages, dozens of members committed not to shave until the local lockdown ended, inviting others to pledge a dollar a day. Proceeds allowed the council to continue its uninterrupted support of parish ministries and community organizations.

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LIFE SAFELY SAVING LIVES

Our Lord of Divine Mercy Council 12259 in Quezon City, Luzon North, organized a blood drive in partnership with the Botocan Blood Donors Club. The council distributed face masks and rosary kits to all participants and helped incorporate social distancing protocol. The units collected were donated to local hospitals overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

375.: 56'02:*0/- : 6++1$: 7"8: 93.%:75.: 9/6: 495'6: 48,2:29:36'02 $:)8)+831:9,: 449/8 *9/5-64: :65: 9- :#1475.$:#44&$: 965: 6116116((6: 7448%: 8'69574: 499.:*85283:127,,:)8)+83 6-948: 7'583:9/216.8:7:"806-48:/18.:,93:+499.:.95726951&: 08:-9/5-64:1(951938.:7:+499. .36"8:65:208:(73 65':492:9,:!2&: 6/1: :*720946-:*0/3-0$:+365'65':65:)938:2075: :/5621:9,:+499.& *9/5-64: :071:084.:+499.:.36"81:2 6-8:755/744%:72:208:(73610:,93:)938:2075: :%8731&:

HEALING WHEELS

Pend Oreille Council 14268 in Newport, Wash., donated three new wheelchairs to Newport Hospital and Health Services. The chairs will be used in the organization’s recently opened advanced care facility for long-term patients.

CHANGE FOR MOMS AND BABIES 8)+831: 9,: 4+75%: 38& *9/5-64: :6512744:7:1272/8 9,: 73%$: /3: !9339 ,/4 92083$: 71: 7: )8)93674: 29 7+9328.: -064.385: 72: /3 7.%: 9,: 83(82/74: 84( *720946-: *0/3-0&: *9/5-64 :(/3-0718.:208:1272/8 75.: 7: -95-3828: ,9/5.72695 (7.: 620:084(:,39): 9(8:!2& 905: ###: 118)+4%: :65 *93"74461: 75.: 7: '3752: ,39) 208: 38'95:!2728:*9/5-64&

St. Mary’s-Stony Hill Council 14675 in Watchung, N.J., sponsored its third annual baby bottle drive at St. Mary’s Catholic Church — Stony Hill. The council donated the proceeds to the Center for Great Expectations, which supports women with substance abuse disorders and their children and specializes in helping addicted expectant mothers safely carry their babies to

term. Over three years, the council has collected more than $20,000 for the center.

FEAST ON THE FRONT LINES

Members of Archbishop Blenk Council 1905 in Gretna, La., cooked and delivered more than 200 jambalaya meals to emergency personnel at West Jefferson Medical Center and the Gretna Police Department.

several hardware and grocery stores, bringing in $2,100 for The Arc of Platte County.

PPE PROVIDERS

St. Mary’s Longmeadow Council 5406 in Longmeadow, Mass., donated 400 pairs of rubber gloves to medical personnel in need of personal protective equipment at Mercy Medical Center, an acute care hospital in Springfield.

TRI-COUNCIL FUND DRIVE

Three councils in Columbus, Neb. — St. Isidore Council 12086, St. Anthony Council 9264 and Columbus Council 938 — join forces annually to sponsor a fund drive for people with intellectual disabilities. This year, Knights collected donations outside

See more “Knights in Action� reports and photos at

www.kofc.org/ knightsinaction Please submit your council activites to knightsinaction@kofc.org

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P RO M OT I O NA L & G I F T I T E M S

K OF C ITEMS OFFICIAL SUPPLIERS IN THE UNITED STATES THE ENGLISH COMPANY INC.

Official council and Fourth Degree equipment 1-800-444-5632 www.kofcsupplies.com KNIGHTS GEAR CANADA

Official council and Fourth Degree equipment 1-888-266-1211 knightsgear.ca

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Please enroll me in the Father McGivney Guild: NAME ADDRESS

Sport-Tek® Racer Mesh Polo — Personalized This moisture-wicking 100% polyester polo is embroidered with a full-color emblem of the Order or Fourth Degree emblem, along with your council or assembly name and number, on the left chest. Have your name embroidered on the right chest for an additional $6. Available in true royal heather (pictured), navy blue, red, graphite gray, maroon, forest green or black. Please allow 10-12 business days for your custom order.

S, M L, XL: $26, 2XL: $28, 3XL: $29, 4XL: $30

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

Soft Mesh Cap This navy cap is embroidered with the emblem of the Order matching its tea color back mesh. Made of soft washed material, it has an unstructured low crown and an adjustable snap closure. One size fits most. $15.50 each

OFFICIAL JULY 1, 2020: 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 06507-9982. 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 06507-9982.

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Three-Piece Barbecue Tool Set This three-piece grilling set includes a fork, spatula and tongs, each with rubber handles. It comes in a sturdy red carrying case, screened with “Knights of Columbus” in black. $25 each

knightsgear.com Questions? Call: 1-855-GEAR-KOC (855-432-7562) Additional shipping costs apply to all orders. Please call before mailing in an order.

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU M BU S

Knights of Charity

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

TO

BE FEATURED HERE , SEND YOUR COUNCIL’ S

C OLUMBIA , 1 C OLUMBUS P LAZA , N EW

Deputy Grand Knight Kelly Brown (center) and Jim Werth of St. Joseph Council 6353 in York, Pa., check on the vegetable garden that council members planted at the New Life Center for Mothers and Children in Glen Rock. Knights maintain the garden for the addiction and abuse recovery center.

“K NIGHTS IN A CTION �

H AVEN , CT 06510-3326

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

K E E P T H E FA I T H A L I V E

‘GOD IS FOREVER FAITHFUL.’ I was in third grade when I decided to become a missionary priest like those who served my parish in the Philippines. Little did I know that 20 years later, I would find myself thousands of miles away, ministering in the mission-rich field of western Oregon.

My vocation journey was not always smooth sailing. Doubts and homesickness sometimes cast shadows over my steps, and I even took time off from the seminary for a while. But God is forever faithful and supplies whatever is lacking.

When I look back, I can see clearly how God has journeyed with me, giving me strength through the sacraments and through people he sent my way. With the encouragement of my bishop, brother Knights, family and friends, I persevered.

I was ordained in 2016, and the graces I receive through my priestly ministry — through administering the sacraments, counseling or teaching the faith — far outweigh the challenges.

FATHER TETZEL UMINGLI Archdiocese of Portland Albany (Ore.) Council 1577