108. In response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Knights on Sept. 12 establishes its $1 million Heroes Fund. Checks for $3,000 are presented to families of all full-time professional law enforcement, firefighters and emergency medical personnel who lost their lives at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Forty-five Knights were killed on 9/11.
114. The Knights provides $1 million to World Youth Day in Toronto in July 2002. 115. The one-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is marked by the Order with a Mass and patriotic program at the National Shrine. During a ceremony for peace, participants’ candles are lighted from a tiny oil lamp first used at a prayer meeting for peace in Assisi, Italy, convened by Pope John Paul II on Jan. 24.
111. The first Knights of Columbus Day of the Unborn Child is observed March 25, 2002, to coincide with the feast of the Annunciation.
122. Thousands attend an outdoor eucharistic celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park at the conclusion of the Order’s third Eucharistic Congress, Aug. 4, 2005. 118. In October 2004, the Order’s Board of Directors make a pilgrimage to Poland as part of the Order’s celebration of Pope John Paul’s 25th anniversary as pope.
109. The Knights of Columbus is honored by the Path to Peace Foundation with its Champion of Peace Award in ceremonies in New York, Nov. 26, 2001. Archbishop (now Cardinal) Renato R. Martino, apostolic nuncio of the Holy See’s mission at the United Nations, presents the award. Cardinal Martino is now the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. 110. The first Blue Mass sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council is held at St. Mary’s Church, Feb. 10, 2002.
Paul II’s election and his interfaith outreach to Muslims, Jews and Christians. The former chief rabbi of Rome and an imam of the Rome mosque, among others, attend the event, entitled the “Concert of Reconciliation.”
119. In 2005, the Knights begins a partnership with the Wheelchair Foundation, sending 2,000 wheelchairs to land-mine victims and people with disabilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
116. In March 2003, 100,000 copies of a pocket-sized prayer book are printed by the Order and the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and sent to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with 10,000 rosaries.
123. To promote devotion to the Mexican saints of the Knights of Columbus, the Order sponsors a pilgrimage of their relics in communities throughout Mexico and the United States.
120. Villa Maria Guadalupe, the Order’s pro-life retreat center in Stamford, Conn., operated by the Sisters of Life, opens in 2005.
124. In its first international expansion in 100 years, the Order charters its first councils in Poland in 2006.
121. In 2005, the Order marks the 100th anniversary of its presence in Mexico and the Philippines; Supreme Knight Anderson travels to Mexico and the Philippines (below) to take part in celebrations.
125. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. Gulf, Knights raise and donate close to $10 million to help rebuild Catholic churches and schools. n
112. In 2002, the Order establishes a $2 million Pacem in Terris fund to promote peace and education initiatives in the Holy Land and provide support for the Christian community there. 113. The first Knights of Columbus Eucharistic Congress is held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, June 22-23, 2002.
117. The Knights finances a concert at the Vatican Jan. 17, 2004, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Pope John
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