Supreme Knight's Report

Military Services

The support of the Knights of Columbus for our armed forces is legendary. When the United States joined the battle in World War I, Gen. John Pershing led the U.S. Expeditionary Forces, and he gladly accepted an offer from us to set up rest and recreation centers near his troops. Supreme Knight James A. Flaherty sent a letter to every grand knight asking for a $2 contribution from every member to build a $1 million War Camp Fund.

 Baltimore’s Cardinal James Gibbons enthusiastically endorsed the project, saying, “The Knights of Columbus do things… Your noble gift of a million dollars to furnish decent places for these splendid young American Catholic soldiers to hear Mass and receive the sacraments and other consolations of our holy faith, should forever stamp the Knights of Columbus as men of practical forethought, timely patriotism and true Christian charity.”

A Knights of Columbus clubhouse in Andernach, Germany, operating under the motto "Everybody welcome. Everthing free".

Ultimately we built and operated 150 KC Huts in Europe, with the motto “Everybody welcome. Everything free.” They welcomed soldiers of every faith and offered a spot for rest, social activities and prayer.

Thousands of soldiers found themselves getting to know, for the first time in their lives, Catholic men and Catholic priests who were KC chaplains. And they quickly discovered that anti-Catholic groups back home, which had declared that Catholics couldn’t possibly be good, patriotic citizens, were just plain wrong.

It was a pivotal moment in American history. Knights showed beyond all doubt that Catholic faith and patriotism can go hand-in-hand. Some years after World War I, Supreme Knight Martin Carmody recalled the thanks expressed by the top U.S. commander in the war: “Gen. Pershing, when speaking of the services performed in the World War, said that of all the organizations that took part in the winning of the war, with the exception of the military itself, there was none so efficiently and ably administered as the Knights of Columbus.”

In World War II, the USO absorbed the functions that the Knights of Columbus and the YMCA had performed for U.S. soldiers in World War I. But Canadian Knights operated KC Huts once again for Commonwealth solders.

 And when the Philippines was liberated from Japanese occupation in 1945, Jesuit Father George Willmann, dubbed the “Father McGivney of the Philippines,” emerged from a wartime POW camp to lead the men of Manila Council 1000 as they established a center modeled on the KC hut program for Allied soldiers, many of whom were coming out of concentration camps in poor health. Their efforts received financial backing from U.S. Knights.

Again today, our support of the armed forces is geared toward helping to meet their spiritual needs. Earlier this summer we delivered 45,000 copies of the Knights of Columbus military prayer book to the Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A., headquarters in Washington, D.C. That brings the total number of prayer books that we have printed and Catholic chaplains have distributed since 2003 to 400,000.

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, the former head of the Military Archdiocese who was recently appointed archbishop of Baltimore, calls our prayer book “the greatest evangelization tool” he’s ever had.

Earlier this year, a beautiful new headquarters for the Military Archdiocese opened in Washington, D.C. The Knights donated $1.1 million for the project and provided additional funding of $3.4 million through our ChurchLoan program. The new headquarters provides administrative offices, apartments, a chapel and a conference center.

U.S. soldiers in Iraq unload care packages from their truck while a local family looks on. The packages were sent by Our Lady of the Island Council 6911 in Massapequa Park, N.Y., through its "Adopt-A-Battalion" program.

We have several Knights of Columbus round tables operating in the Middle East. One, at Camp Victory in Iraq, is sponsored by St. Paul Council 11634 in Colorado Springs. The Knights at Camp Victory not only watch out for each other, they also help Iraqi Catholics who live in very difficult conditions. They’ve gathered nearly $5,000 from among soldiers at the camp to help five nearby Catholic parishes. A round table in Baghdad is sponsored by Msgr. Martin C. Murphy Council 6847 in Columbia, S.C. It has collected and distributed six tons of food, clothing, religious items and toys for the beleaguered Catholic community in Baghdad.

The round table at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan is sponsored by Msgr. Robert D. Goodill and St. Luke Council 11229 in Erie, Pa.

There are more than 370,000 Catholics in the U.S. Armed Forces, and another 200,000 in the National Guard and Reserves. There are 29,000 Catholic patients in military and VA hospitals. Organizing councils to serve them and working with the Military Archdiocese to ensure that they have access to Catholic ministry is a high priority for the Knights of Columbus.

At present, we have 49 military councils. This year, we have established five new councils: two in the U.S. and three overseas.

Paul Kelly John Quinlan Glen Arnold Joshua Hanson Philip Murphy-Sweet Joshua Hines     Ibrahim Sara

At Arlington National Cemetery, in section 60, two brother Knights killed in action in Iraq earlier this year are now buried in the front row, just ten graves apart. U.S. Army Col. Paul Kelly rests in grave site 8528, and U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer John Quinlan rests in grave site 8538. Col. Kelly died in action just 11 days after taking his First Degree at Camp Victory. Chief Quinlan was a member of Father John A. Nolan Council 3537 in Clarksville, Tenn.

They were two of seven brother Knights killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan since we met in Orlando last August.

The others are: Canadian Cpl. Glen Arnold (Father T. Holly Council 11932, Petawawa, Ont.); U.S. Army National Guard Sgt. Joshua Hanson (Perham, Minn. Council 1773); U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Joshua Hines (Olney, Ill. Council 1352); U.S. Navy Commander Philip Murphy-Sweet, (Nina Council 43, Stonington, Conn.), and civilian Ibrahim Sara (Rev. Michael Hoban Council 11946, Shelby, N.C.).

A total of 30 Knights and two former Squires have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan since the war on terrorism began.

We honor their courage, we mourn their loss, and we extend our sympathy and prayers to their families.

We pray for the day when armed conflict will give way to a world in which we can live together in peace and in justice.

We invite people everywhere to again join us on Sept. 11 for the Knights of Columbus World Day of Prayer for Peace.