A Reporter's Notebook

College Knights Prepare for Leadership

From left are: Dennis Molloy, Notre Dame Council 1477; Danny Kendall, Texas A&M Council 10624; Michael Brewer, College Council Coordinator; Steven Bierschbach, North Dakota University 10829, and Kyle Gallien, University of Arkansas Council 7787.

The young men from the College Knights program are the future of the Order.

A number of them were brought to the convention by the Supreme Council, so they could get an inside look at the operations.

In his annual report, Supreme Knight Anderson said that there are 21,834 college Knights in 159 campus-based councils.

Families Add Life to Convention

When the Knights of Columbus calls itself the world’s largest Catholic fraternal family organization, there is strong meaning to every word of that description. The Catholic and fraternal nature of the Order is well-known and evident in the vision and structure of the organization. Yet the family aspect is also foundational because it is from the family and for the family that the Knights of Columbus exists.

This fact is seen all around the convention center in Phoenix, where Knights have brought their wives and children of all ages. They take part in the many tours, the relaxing pool venues and special children’s games and activities.

The Conrad Family

Michael Conrad, the State Deputy of Nebraska, was balancing time at the convention sessions with time with his wife, Mary, and their three children: Alyssa, 17; Christa, 14, and Seth, 9. Their eldest daughter, 19-year-old Katelynne, was not able to travel to Phoenix due to school commitments.

“We are a Knights of Columbus family,” said Mary. “Seth was a baby when Mike was state program director, so the State Council has gotten to see our kids grow up. It’s a definite plus, because we make great friendships, and our children get to make friends with other kids who share their Catholic values.”

Alyssa proudly called her father “the top dog” of the Order in Nebraska. Christa said that she and her siblings call their dad’s fellow state officers “uncle”.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to bring the Catholic faith into everything we do as a family,” State Deputy Conrad said. “We try to include our children in everything we do, such as the Tootsie Roll drive, free throw contest, wheelchair basketball games, pro-life breakfasts.

“The Knights of Columbus is a great family organization, and that makes it so much easier bringing up your kids in today’s environment.”

Chaplains Gather to Discuss Their Roles

The two pillars on which Knights of Columbus must build their spirituality are the Eucharist and Mary, said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, at the beginning of a meeting for K of C chaplains. For this reason, he explained, the Order has sponsored Eucharistic congresses in recent years, and this year it is holding the first Marian Congress on Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Guadalupe Festival in Phoenix.

The Order’s focus on the Eucharist and Mary “requires a greater role for our chaplains, on the state and local level,” the Supreme Knight stated.

In this Year for Priests, Knights must remain in solidarity with their bishops and priests and present themselves as the strong right arm of the Church, to help pastors in their challenging ministry, he said.

Held on Monday afternoon during the 127th Supreme Convention, the meeting was chaired by Bishop William Lori, the Order’s Supreme Chaplain and Bishop of Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was attended by 50 Knights of Columbus chaplains, most of them serving at the state level.

Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson addresses a meeting of Knights of Columbus chaplains Aug. 3. To his right sits Supreme Chaplain Bishop William E. Lori.

Anderson said that the increasing advance of secularism in society has made catechesis on the faith and spiritual formation more important than ever for Knights. “The task of renewal is vital,” he stressed.

He added that the Order understands its principles of charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism in a different way from the world. The “source and summit” for the Knights is found in the Eucharist, he said.

Bishop Lori noted that for the past three years, he has been including a special section in Columbia magazine on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and matters of spiritual enrichment that should be used by council chaplains at monthly meetings.

He also said that Knights should pray fervently for the beatification of the Venerable Michael McGivney in the Year for Priests.

“We should look at ourselves as successors of Father McGivney,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be a great shot in the arm if a parish priest like ourselves was beatified in this year dedicated to priests?”

Bishop Lori also announced that at the end of the Year for Priests, June 2010, the Supreme Council will sponsor a pilgrimage to Rome for all state chaplains of the Order’s 72 jurisdictions, to promote fraternity and spiritual enrichment.

Chaplains Respond

After presentations by Anderson and Bishop Lori, the chaplains were invited to make comments and suggestions.

A number of priests mentioned the need for greater sharing among chaplains and suggested that the Order sponsor regional retreats for chaplains.

Father Justin Brady, a priest of the Diocese of Boise and state chaplain of Idaho, participates in the meeting of Knights of Columbus chaplains Aug. 3.

Others stated that council officers must invite chaplains to become more than merely honorary members, and that chaplains must prepare a spiritual message of substance for each meeting.

Father Justin Brady, state chaplain of Idaho, said that he was “sold on the Knights of Columbus,” but that he needed more instruction on how to fulfill his role as chaplain. “I need mentoring in this great gift of being a state chaplain,” he said.

Msgr. Eduardo Chavez, postulator for the canonization cause of St. Juan Diego, closed the meeting with a presentation on Our Lady of Guadalupe and her message for the world today.

An Oasis of Peace in the Adoration Chapel

As the pace of the Knights of Columbus Convention picked up, with more delegates registering and filling the venues along with their families, a small oasis of peace and spiritual sustenance was opened on Sunday.

The Adoration Chapel, a simply decorated converted meeting room a short walk from the main corridor of the convention center, is available for anyone to stop in for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle. The chapel is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day through Friday during the Convention and Marian Congress.

A Fourth Degree honor guard during the changing of the guard in the Blessed Sacrament chapel.

An honor guard of two Fourth Degree Knights in regalia sit on either side of the tabernacle, taking hour shifts throughout the day.

“The Sir Knights are really proud to take part in this spiritual part of the Convention,” said Arizona District Marshall Kevin McCarthy, who was heading up the Fourth Degree participation in the Adoration Chapel. “There are a lot of flashy and more public events, but what goes on in this chapel is every bit as vital a component. Our spirituality is the foundation of who we are as Knights.”

More than 30 Fourth Degree Knights from the John H. Reddin Province were filling the shifts before the Blessed Sacrament, along with Fourth Degree Knights visiting from jurisdictions throughout the United States and Canada, McCarthy said.

“We are all working together to make sure the Blessed Sacrament is always accompanied by a worshipper,” he pointed out. “We will all take part in the other events at the Convention, but this is what the Knights are all about, our Catholic faith.”

Convention Reunion

Patrick Schuller, Arizona state secretary, had worked more than a year helping to prepare for the 2009 Supreme Council Convention. Yet there was one detail he couldn’t control. Schuller had asked the Knight who proposed him for membership 28 years ago to attend the Opening Mass on Tuesday. But he wasn’t sure if Eldon “Sandy” McAdams would be able to make it.

To Schuller’s great joy, McAdams was there beside him for Mass.

“When I was 19 years old, Sandy got me into the Order. He took me to my First, Second and Third Degrees. The least I could do was make sure that he got to the Opening Mass when the convention is here in Phoenix.”

Schuller and McAdams belong to Most Holy Trinity Council 7306.

“He did a great thing for me in my life, getting me involved in the Knights,” Schuller said. “So many good things have happened since then – the people I’ve gotten to know, the events I’ve attended the friendships I’ve developed with brother Knights, and with priests and bishops.”

“If you’re not a Knight,” he said, “you are really missing so much of the Catholic Church.”

Amid High Temperatures, Volunteers Provide Warm Welcome

When delegates come through the front doors of the convention hotel, passing from the broiling heat to the air-conditioned lobby, one of the smiling greeters they meet is T.J. Shope.

Wearing a straw, wide-brimmed cowboy hat, the 23-year-old Knight has a handshake, words of Southwestern hospitality and information for the delegates and their families seeking to connect with their groups. He even offers help with baggage.

“I get a lot of comments,” Shope said about his cowboy hat. “They say that they want to buy one as long as they’re here in Arizona, especially the people from the eastern United States.”

“I’m part of the welcoming committee, just helping out, answering questions, telling people how to get around, where to find things, whatever they need,” said Shope, who is deputy grand knight of St. James the Apostle Council 12375 in Coolidge, Arizona.

He is one of more than 400 Arizona volunteers, who stand out among the crowds with their blue vests emblazoned with the K of C emblem on the front and the word “Volunteer” on the back.

“They do a little bit – or really quite a lot – of everything,” Arizona State Deputy Herbert Maddock said of the volunteers. “From moving cases of donated water from the back dock, to picking up members of the Church hierarchy at the airport, to organizing tours and the Monday night entertainment, our volunteers are involved from the beginning to the end.”

Don Gorney, the volunteer coordinator, has been laboring hard for months, Maddock added.

“This is definitely a team effort,” he noted. “Arizona is really proud to host the Supreme Convention for the first time ever, and we definitely want to give everyone the best experience possible.”

Tom Kalisz, an Arizona district deputy, and his wife, Danuta, had a special reason to sign up as volunteers. “We are from Poland and we knew that there would be a Polish delegation coming,” he said. “I am picking them up at the airport as they come in. We want to show them as much hospitality as we can, and give them as much from our heart as we welcome them in their own language.”

“This is probably the one time in our lifetime when the convention will be held in Arizona, so we are doing everything we can to make this a successful event,” Kalisz said.

The Silver Rose Arrives in Phoenix

A full week of Knights of Columbus events in Phoenix, including the 127th Supreme Convention, the Marian Congress and the lively Guadalupe Festival, was launched on Sunday (Aug. 2) with the presentation of the Silver Rose at Saints Simon and Jude Cathedral.

A symbol of the unity among peoples in the Americas, the rose had been carried over the course of months from Canada and through the United States.

The presentation in the Phoenix Cathedral at the 9 a.m. Mass was one stop on the long journey in the annual Knights of Columbus event known as the Running of the Silver Rose.

The rose is also a symbol of the Order’s commitment to the pro-life cause, and Our Lady of Guadalupe is claimed as the patroness of the pro-life movement. The rose’s final destination is the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12.

In the opening procession of the Mass, the rose was presented by members of the Columbian Squires, the youth group of the Knights of Columbus. Carrying the rose was Esteven Wetzel, a member of St. Mary’s Squires Circle #5000 in Phoenix. He was accompanied by fellow Squires Paul Taylor and Devin Morales.

The Squires were chosen for the honor because the annual Running of the Rose was started more than 50 years ago by members of the Columbian Squires.

“I think it is pretty cool to get to participate in keeping this tradition going,” Wetzel said before Mass. “I know the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe and I think it is amazing. Also, I am a pro-life person. I pray in front an abortion clinic with my pro-life group. I think it is an honor to represent the pro-life message with this rose.”

Celebrating the Mass was Father Paul Sullivan, director of vocations for the Phoenix Diocese. He told the congregation that the rose, which was placed before the cathedral’s large image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, was “a sign of our commitment to the protection of all human life.”

The Silver Rose will be a part of the celebrations at the Guadalupe Festival on Saturday, Aug. 8, when some 16,000 people are expected to fill the Jobing.com Arena for an afternoon and prayer, song, witness talks and intercultural exchange.

For 50 years, the Knights of Columbus has sponsored the Our Lady of Guadalupe Silver Rose Program to honor the Blessed Virgin under her title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of America. The purpose of the is to honor our Lady of Guadalupe and to reaffirm our commitment to the sanctity of life.

This past May, three Silver Roses left Ontario, Canada, and have been traversing the United States by a Western, Central and Eastern route. In November, all three Roses will come together in Laredo, Texas, to travel over the International Bridge and be delivered to Knights from Monterey, Mexico.

The Western Rose, traveling south through the Mountain States, is the one that arrived in Phoenix.