These Men They Call Knights - Part 2

Catholic Information Service

The Catholic Information Service promotes four kinds of assistance to those seeking answers to questions about the Catholic religion: advertisements in large-circulation Sunday supplements of secular newspapers; free distribution of religious pamphlets to those answering the ads; a correspondence course on the basic beliefs of Catholics; and individual responses to those who seek confidential counsel.

In April 1969, the board of directors voted to move the correspondence phase of the Catholic Advertising Program, which had operated in St. Louis, Missouri, since 1948, to the new Supreme Office headquarters building in New Haven. Thus the full facilities of the various departments and the manpower in the Supreme Office are in a better position to contribute to the program. The Catholic Advertising Program can be reached by writing to:

It is funded by the Knights of Columbus Charities Inc., and by a semiannual membership assessment of 40¢. Many of the pamphlets sent to respondents have been and are being revised continually. New art work has been developed and a completely new home-study course is being sent to those who request it. This course is somewhat different from other inquiry courses. It is an informal reading course. Ten pamphlets have been selected as the basic texts for the course. These cover, in a general way, the fundamental beliefs of Catholicism. Along with the texts (two sent with each mailing) comes a series of "optional choice" questions to reinforce the reader's knowledge of the material learned through reading the texts.

The Catholic Advertising Program was founded, financed, promoted and has at all times been directed by the Knights of Columbus. It has a glorious history and continues to be most highly commended by bishops, priests and its beneficiaries, those who learn about the Faith.

It is impossible to measure the full results of this great program since its inception in January of 1948. Impressive statistics showing over 8 million inquiries and more than 750,000 enrollments in the home study courses over the years indicate the wide interest and popularity of the program. But neither these results nor the generous financial contributions made by the Order for its support can tell the whole story of its worth. How many were led to the Church through reading the pamphlets and studying the courses never will be known. Nor can statistics ever measure how much prejudice and misunderstanding was overcome through the program's influence.

College Councils

Not only are the Knights of Columbus concerned about young adults being able to attend college, as demonstrated through the scholarship and student loan programs, but they have implemented a plan to allow Catholic young men to associate with others through membership in a Knights of Columbus council on their college campus. Membership in one of the nearly 140 college councils offers the student an opportunity to associate with fellow Catholics, to participate in an active campus organization and thereby accept positions of responsibility. It also enables him to become involved in the college and local community through the activities and projects sponsored by the council.

A national conference of representatives meets annually to discuss the particular situation of college councils and makes recommendations for the growth and improvement of the college council program.

Members in college councils are encouraged to transfer their membership to the community council in which they locate after graduation. Their field of education and their experience as an active knight on the college campus can be of substantial benefit to the local council into which they transfer.

Columbian Squires and Youth

Since their early days the Knights of Columbus have been actively concerned for the welfare of youth. The organization stands second to none in its commitment to and involvement with youths individually or collectively though organizations. "Partnership with Youth" is the theme that motivates ongoing programs in local and state councils. Boy Scout units, C.Y.O. sponsorship, C.C.D. training, Little Leagues, Big Brothers, 4-H Clubs and many others have been assisted financially and by manpower donated by the Knights.

In the early 1920s the Order decided to organize and sponsor its own youth program, known as Columbian Squires. This organization of Catholic young men can be sponsored only by Knights of Columbus councils or assemblies and has as its purpose the training of its members in the art and techniques of leadership. It is literally the junior organization of the Knights. The program is highly structured and operates internationally. Opportunity to accept positions of leadership and responsibility is the major attraction to membership in the Squires program.

During the past few years Columbian Squires have shown great interest in participating in projects that "bind" them together for one common purpose. Since 1975 the Squires "Crusade against Poverty" and "Project Build" raised some $50,000 through the efforts and sacrifices of circles and individuals. The Squires initiated an alcohol awareness campaign, "Dying for a Drink?" The campaign received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Commission Against Drunk Driving in 1987. More recently, the Squires assisted the Fourth Degree of the Knights of Columbus by donating over $26,000 to help pay for the construction of an elevator at St. Mary's Church in New Haven, Conn., the birthplace of our Order.

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The Knights and Education

In 1944 the Knights of Columbus established its million-dollar Educational Trust Fund to provide a college education to the children of members who were killed or permanently and totally disabled in World War II. Later this benefit was extended to children of members who were killed or disabled in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. In 1991 the benefits were further extended to include the Persian Gulf Conflict. In 1970 this privilege was developed further to include children of members of the Order who are killed or permanently and totally disabled as a result of criminal violence while functioning as law enforcement officers and in 1971 to those who were killed or disabled as a result of criminal violence while performing their duties as full-time firefighters. These scholarships include tuition, board and room books, lab fees and other incidental expenses at the Catholic college of the student's choice.

Under provisions of the Pro Deo and Pro Patria scholarship program, the Supreme Council annually awards $1,500-a-year scholarships on the basis of merit to 62 members or the sons or daughters of members in good standing or who were so at the time of their death. Twelve scholarships are for use at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.; with preference being given on two of those twelve to Columbian Squires; the remaining scholarships may be used at a Catholic college of the recipient's choice with Columbian Squires receiving preference on two of those fifty.

Twelve merit scholarships paying $1,500-a-year at Canadian colleges or universities are awarded annually to the members of Canadian councils or the sons and daughters of living or deceased members. Similar benefits are available to members in Mexico, the Philippines and Puerto Rico.

The Supreme Council also has set up postgraduate fellowships at The Catholic University of America. The fellowships are open to lay men and women, both married and unmarried, and cover board, lodging and tuition. Maximum tenure is four years, with a course in American history a requisite.

I n 1973 the Supreme Council established the Bishop Charles P. Greco graduate fellowships for specialization in the field of teaching mentally retarded citizens. The $200,000 trust honors the Order's late supreme chaplain for his pioneering work in the construction and maintenance of Catholic-oriented facilities for mentally retarded individuals. The grant provides $500 a semester and is renewable for a maximum of four semesters. An eligible candidate must be a member of the Order or the son or daughter of a member in good standing. The candidate also must be engaged in or planning a full-time graduate study leading to a master's degree in the field of teaching the educationally handicapped with emphasis on persons with mental retardation.

With the purpose of improving performance in achieving the objectives of Catholic education, delegates to the 1980 Supreme Council established the million-dollar "Father Michael J. McGivney Fund for New Initiatives in Catholic Education." Earnings from the fund support research projects of vital importance to the U.S. and Canada through the auspices of the National Catholic Educational Association with the approval of the board of directors.

These programs at the Supreme Council level combine with other projects on the state and local level to total a multimillion-dollar orderwide commitment to students.

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In 1971 the Order established a Knights of Columbus Student Loan Program which already has made a multimillion-dollar commitment to tens of thousands of young people seeking the opportunity to pursue a higher education.

The program is funded by the Knights of Columbus and guaranteed by the U.S. Government. Under the program eligible students can apply for an annual loan for each full academic year continuing for as many as five years. Everyone eligible for a student loan qualifies for an interest subsidy during the in-school period. Depending on the rate at which the loan is granted, there also is a grace period after completion of studies before repayment begins.

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A Notable Victory

The Knights of Columbus won a notable victory for the American people, and especially for the children of generations to come, by its successful fight against the so-called Oregon School Law. It began in 1922, when a law proposed by initiative petition was enacted in Oregon which would prevent children from attending private and parochial schools.

Responding to an appeal from Archbishop Alexander Christie of Portland, the Knights of Columbus provided $10,000 with which to initiate a suit testing the constitutionality of the law to the Supreme Court of the United States. The court ruled that the law violated the rights of American citizens to educate their children in accordance with the dictates of their own conscience. The Order also provided $15,000 to the Oregon State Council to pursue a similar case involving private schools.

It is due to that action that parents today are not interfered with in the operation of their private and parochial schools and in the rearing of their children in the manner in which they wish them to be raised.

Similarly the Order responded in more recent times when a case arose in British Columbia that would place in jeopardy the rights of the hierarchy to conduct its schools in a manner consistent with its beliefs. A suit brought by the Manitoba bishops to secure public funding of denominational schools in that province was also supported by the Order.

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Many Benefactions

In 1920 the Knights of Columbus contributed $60,000 toward the erection of a gymnasium at The Catholic University of America. In the same year a gift of $35,000 was made to the Cardinal Mercier Fund for the restoration of Louvain University and its magnificent library in Belgium.

In 1923 a gift of $38,000 was made to the Cardinal Gibbons Institute for the care and education of minority children in Maryland.

For more than 30 years, a correspondence school was maintained by the Order providing instruction in 108 subjects for its widespread membership and their families. More than 45,000 took advantage of these benefits.

In 1924 the Order, at its own expense, established at the University of Notre Dame a course in boy-guidance to develop trained leaders interested in the counseling of boys as a life work. For 15 years the Order provided 12 annual scholarships of two years each for students in the boy-guidance course. During that period the Order expended more than $400,000 in support of the program. It was discontinued only when this type of training and instruction was made available in schools throughout the country. More than 200 benefited from scholarships during this period.

Historical Commission

In 1921 the Knights of Columbus organized a Historical Commission composed of respected educators to investigate and protect the United States from propaganda designed to undermine a feeling of American identity. As a result of this investigation, certain widely used history and other textbooks read in schools were eliminated or rewritten to remove matter misrepresenting historical facts or subverting American ideals.

The Knights of Columbus Historical Commission conducted a prize competition for studies in American history. Many notable books on the subject were written as a result, including "Jay's Treaty," by Samuel Flagg Bemis; "The Monroe Doctrine," by Thomas H. Mahoney; and "The American States," by Allan Nevin.

In 1939 the Knights of Columbus contributed $10,000 to the Golden Jubilee Fund of The Catholic University. Over $100,000 was contributed to the maintenance of the Catholic Radio Hour broadcasts from Washington and Toronto.

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Vatican Film Library

The incredible range of devastation throughout Europe during World War II underscored the possibility that at some future time the precincts of Vatican City might fall prey to aggressors.

Destruction of the Vatican library, art collections and museum, the unrivaled depositories of the world's cultural treasures, would constitute a tragic loss to both present and future civilizations.

In the spring of 1951, word was received by the Order that the Vatican would be receptive to suggestions about how such an eventuality could be avoided. The Order began consultations and on receiving approval initiated the monumental task of microfilming Vatican documents. This process occupied the better part of eight years.

Competent scholars first surveyed the manuscripts involved to estimate the probable cost of the project. Next a committee of world-renowned scholars was appointed to decide which documents should be microfilmed. This accomplished, a master list of all the material necessary for the microfilming on such a vast scale was compiled.

By the spring of 1952 a completely equipped microfilm laboratory, second to none in the United States and Europe, had been set up at the Vatican and photographing had commenced.

Under the supervision of personnel from St. Louis (Mo.) University, 815,000 feet of microfilm, representing 11 million pages of rare manuscripts, were recorded. The total number of manuscript codices in microfilm copies is 30,500.

The Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library, as it now is designated, is located on the first floor of the Pius XII Memorial Library at St. Louis University. The true importance of this library to the universal scholastic community cannot be adequately described.

Papal Film Library

In 1977, Pope Paul VI requested help from the Order to make feasible a project of collecting films of the popes and of activities of the Holy See dating back to 1897 when Pope Leo XIII was first filmed. These films now are scattered throughout various public and private collections around the world. The Holy See hopes to obtain copies of these films and gather them in a special library in Rome. There the collection would be available to scholars and journalists as resource material for newscasts and documentaries. The Order has granted a sum of $10,000 to initiate a study on what films might be obtained for this central library.

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Every member of the Knights of Columbus receives a monthly issue of the organization's magazine, Columbia. Articles on a wide variety of subjects of interest to members and their families are published regularly. Projects and initiatives within the Order's far-flung membership are described and illustrated in reports and pictures. The editorial page carries informed comment on matters of current interest.

Elected and appointed leaders - officers and program directors - automatically are placed on a special mailing list when they are reported to the Supreme Council office. They receive Knightline, a Supreme Council office newsletter, which is designed to get fast-breaking news out into the field. They also receive 18 issues of PS (Program Supplement), a publication of special interest to the officers and directors of the Service Program. It contains current ideas, suggestions and guidelines to assist the program and membership chairmen in the discharge of their duties.

The Squires Newsletter is published monthly as a medium of exchanging ideas and information of use to Squires circles.

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Recognizing the need for Knights to become involved in the battle against pornography, a program of partnership with Morality in Media was launched in the late 1970s. Based in New York City, Morality in Media is perhaps the foremost organization engaged in combating the spread of pornography. State and local councils are encouraged to affiliate with Morality in Media by taking out organizational memberships. Thus the councils benefit from the expertise, information and services provided by Morality in Media while assisting that organization in its work through their participation.

The Order also assists Morality in Media by pledging support for an attorney who directs its National Obscenity Law Center, a clearinghouse of legal information for prosecutors engaged in enforcing anti-pornography statutes.

Members in Canada and Mexico support similar groups in their own countries.

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Playgrounds in Rome

In 1920 Pope Benedict XV appealed to the Knights of Columbus who raised $1.5 million to provide playgrounds for the needy children of Rome. Since that time the Order has established seven such playgrounds. Five remain open today. On May 10, 1959, Pope John XXIII visited the playground at St. Peter's Oratory and, after expressing gratitude to all who bestow kindnesses upon youth, noted particularly the "praiseworthy society of the Knights of Columbus" who made these playgrounds possible. In 1966, learning that the Vatican had expressed a wish to erect a Papal Audience Hall adjacent to St. Peter's Basilica, the Order conveyed the property upon which St. Peter's Oratory was located to the Holy See. The deed of gift for the land was executed and delivered on July 1st of that year. Visitors to Rome have no difficulty in identifying the remaining playgrounds marked by attractive modern signs showing they were founded by the Knights of Columbus.

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Bringing the Pope to the World

On June 30, 1966, two new 100-kilowatt short-wave transmitters donated respectively by the late Francis Cardinal Spellman and by the Knights of Columbus were dedicated at Vatican City and accepted personally by Pope Paul VI.

The transmitters still are in use, bringing programs reflecting the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church to the four corners of the globe.

Under the aegis of the Catholic Advertising Program, the Knights began a project in 1975 of televising the pope to the world. The programs utilize the four satellites placed in space by the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (INTELSAT) of which the Holy See is a member, the K of C pays the costs of beaming the programs to the satellites, and also part of the charges for capturing the signal by TV stations in mission lands.

A minimum of three special programs are scheduled each year. These include the pope's Midnight Mass at Christmas, a series of Holy Week ceremonies; and one other outstanding event of interest to Catholics worldwide. In 1977, the canonization of St. John Neumann was broadcast to the United States. Had it not been for the intervention of the Knights, this historic ceremony in which the "little bishop of Philadelphia" became a saint might never have been seen live in the U.S. The funeral of Pope Paul VI, the Mass initiating the ministry of Pope John Paul I, his subsequent funeral and the initiation of Pope John Paul lI's pontificate all were brought to a global audience of some half-billion persons under this program.

Other specials included the uplink of the World Day of Peace held in Assisi, and the canonization of St. Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint, both in 1987.

Delegates to the 1981 Supreme Council meeting unanimously approved the creation of a $10 million fund (doubled to $20 million in 1988), the "Vicarius Christi" fund, for the personal charities of the Holy Father. Earnings of the fund are presented annually to the Pope in perpetuity; the last presentation brought the total gift to more than $24 million.

More recently, the Order has undertaken many projects in support of the works of the Church. A brief description of some of these initiatives paint a picture of unselfish generosity in promoting the Gospel message. The Knights:

• co-hosted with the Diocese of Brooklyn, the Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in October 1995, at Aqueduct in Brooklyn, N.Y., during his pastoral visit to the United Nations and several U.S. cities;

• committed $5 million to the new Pope John Paul II Cultural Center to be built in Washington, D.C.;

• presented a $600,000 mobile television production van to the Vatican Television Center for the taping, recording and transmission of Vatican ceremonies to a worldwide audience;

• established the $2 million Count Enrico Galeazzi Fund for the Pontifical North American College for the benefit of the College, U.S. and Canadian Bishops and its priest-students; the Father McGivney Fund for the Collegio Pontificio Filipino; the Our Lady of Guadalupe Fund for the Pontifical Mexican College; and the Father McGivney Fund for Advanced Studies of Priests in Puerto Rico;

• underwrote the erection of the Chapel of Sts. Benedict, Cyril and Methodius, co-patrons of Europe, and the expansion of the Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa both in the grottoes of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome;

• made a $2 million grant for the construction of the chapel in the new headquarters of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops dedicated to Mary, Mother of the Church, and identified as the "Knights' Chapel" in honor of former Supreme Chaplain, Bishop Greco; and raised $1 million for the Bishop de Laval Fund to help support the work of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops;

• have distributed millions of special Knights of Columbus rosaries at the rate of some 10,000 per month, especially to new members;

• support a multimillion dollar Student Loan Program for members and their children pursuing higher education, with all seminarians eligible;

• provide support for such varied apostolates as the Eternal Word Television Network; the National Clergy Conference on Alcoholism; Morality in Media; the National Catholic Office for Persons with Disabilities; the National Foundation for Mexican-American Vocations, the National Apostoiate with Mentally Retarded Persons;

• provide $65 million-plus dollars in Church-related mortgages to Catholic dioceses and institutions at low interest rates;

• renovated St. Mary's Church in New Haven, the birthplace of the Order and entombed the remains of the founder, Rev. Michael J. McGivney, therein on March 29, 1982. Completed the 110-year-old construction plan of the church by erecting a 179-foot steeple, including a carillon of three bronze bells, atop St. Mary's;

• allocated $900,000 to the Archdiocese for Military Services, U.S.A., for the purchase of a chancery office near Washington, D.C. Monies came from a fund established by the Order in 1987 to buy a chancery and provide for Spiritual needs of armed forces and embassy personnel; and

• sponsor Mass daily for deceased Knights at St. Mary's Church in New Haven and enable widows of members to receive Columbia magazine each month.

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Knights Respond

Several jurisdictions conduct an annual "Pennies for Heaven" campaign in which spare cents are collected from members at all council meetings and activities and subsequently are totaled at the state convention. Proceeds are used to support vocations programs.

Almost every jurisdiction conducts a fund-raising project with proceeds earmarked for people with mental retardation, with the orderwide total approaching $15 million annually. The funds remain in the states and communities in which they were raised.

An easy-to-learn technique that can save countless lives in emergency situations has been given widespread publicity - and practical application - by many councils. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) courses have been showcased by councils, with the help of the Heart Association, to teach the technique to members and other interested citizens.

Tens of thousands of boys and girls aged 10 through 14 take part annually in the Knights of Columbus International Free-Throw Championship. The project was initiated in 1971 when two state councils, North Dakota and Florida, agreed to participate in a pilot endeavor. In 1972 it was expanded to 10 jurisdictions and in 1973 went Orderwide. Engraved trophies are presented to the winners, who also receive recognition as they move through the council, district and state

competitions. Each youngster who signs up to compete receives a certificate of participation.

When it comes to community service, Knights are among those who have not forgotten a segment of the population often otherwise shamefully neglected: the elderly. Many councils have opened their homes and facilities to weekly programs for senior citizens. Meals, socials, card and bingo parties, dancing and arts and crafts are among the activities provided.