Columbia July/August 2019

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU MBUS

J ULY /AUGUST 2019

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Because life doesn’t come with training wheels

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU M BU S j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 9 ♦ V o l u m e 9 9 ♦ N u m b e r 7

COLUMBIA F E AT U R E S

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No Greater Love The father of Kendrick Castillo remembers his son, who gave his life to save his friends in a high school shooting.

BY JOHN CASTILLO

14 Brothers in Arms, Brothers in Faith Twin Army captains join more than 200 military service members on the 2019 Warriors to Lourdes pilgrimage.

BY CHRISTINE ROUSSELLE

18 Crushing the Odds Strengthened by faith, a Wyoming wrestler returns from severe injuries to win multiple state titles.

BY DANIEL BEAUDRIE, WITH COLUMBIA STAFF

22 Moon Shot Fifty years later, NASA flight director Gene Kranz describes his instrumental role in the Apollo 11 mission.

BY GENE KRANZ, WITH COLUMBIA STAFF

The jewels of office for newly elected state deputies are displayed during their organizational meeting in New Haven, Conn., June 7.

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Building a better world The heroic witness of Kendrick Castillo demonstrates the fullness of a life lived for others.

BY SUPREME KNIGHT CARL A. ANDERSON

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Learning the faith, living the faith

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Knights of Columbus News Leader of Ukrainian Catholic Church Visits New Haven • Canadian Knights Help Flooding Victims • Knights March for Life in Canada, Mexico • K of C Headquarters Stands Tall for Half a Century

13 Fathers for Good On the verge of collapse, I turned to Father McGivney for help.

BY FRED BOLEN

25 State Deputies 2019-2020 28 Knights in Action

As we profess our faith in, and love for, the Church, we share a responsibility for deep and authentic reform.

Photo by mike ross

BY SUPREME CHAPLAIN ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM E. LORI

PLUS: Catholic Man of the Month

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On Heroism and Holiness WE LIVE in a superhero age. Year after year, cinemas feature big-budget movies about comic book characters and other action heroes, drawing huge audiences and breaking box office records. What accounts for such popularity? In part, rooting for familiar characters amid fast-paced drama and spectacle provides viewers with both a thrill and an escape. But at their best, superhero stories also tap into something deep in the human heart — the desire and call to be and do something greater.

In the world of fiction at least, this “something greater” is twofold. First, every hero has been blessed with unique gifts and talents, preparing him or her for a particular mission.

Second, this mission inevitably involves self-discipline and some kind of self-sacrifice for the sake of others, whom the hero is charged to serve and protect. It is this willingness to fulfill the mission that defines the hero. After all, a person may have extraordinary abilities, but if he uses them to serve himself and disdains the common good, he is not a hero but a villain.

Of course, superheroes are not confined to comic books and movie screens. They have always been among us, though the Catholic Church has a different name for them: saints. Holiness and heroism go hand-in-hand. In fact, a key step on the way to canonization is a declaration of heroic virtue — a formal recognition by the Church that the person practiced the cardinal

and theological virtues to an extraordinary degree. (It is because of such a declaration that Father Michael J. McGivney, for example, is granted the title Venerable.)

It is tempting to think that heroic virtue, that is holiness, is for a select few, but the Second Vatican Council reminded us it is a universal vocation: “All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (Lumen Gentium, 40).

This call, as well as the capacity to answer it, is at the heart of our identity in Christ. In an address on All Saints Day, Pope Francis put it this way: “Being holy is not a privilege for the few, as if someone had a large inheritance; in baptism, we all have an inheritance to be able to become saints.”

A primary reason the Church canonizes saints is to inspire the faithful in their own pursuit of holiness.

Knights of Columbus look to our founder and the saints for inspiration, but we also celebrate “everyday heroism” of people today. This issue of Columbia features profiles of several such individuals. Their stories are different, but they share something important: faithful dedication to the mission God has put before them.

Like the saints, they help remind us that, regardless of our age, personal challenges or life circumstances, we are all called to greatness.♦ ALTON J. PELOWSKI EDITOR

K of C Documentary: Everyday Heroes Everyday Heroes is an award-winning documentary series produced by the Knights of Columbus about ordinary men doing extraordinary things. The film features 14 men who have demonstrated heroic acts of faith and charity as they live out their Christian mission as Knights. Everyday Heroes recently aired on ABC affiliates across the U.S. and will soon be available for purchase on DVD. For more information, visit kofc.org/heroesfilm.

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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 PRAYER CARDS & SUPPLIES 203-752-4214 COLUMBIA INQUIRIES 203-752-4398 FAX 203-752-4109 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 © 2019 All rights reserved ________ ON THE COVER Kendrick Castillo, who was killed May 7 while protecting his high school classmates from a gunman, is depicted in a portrait

by Connecticut artist Mark Hough.

ON THE COVER: Portrait by Mark Hough (oil on panel, 2019)

E D I TO R I A L

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

A True Knight for Today The heroic witness of Kendrick Castillo demonstrates the fullness of a life lived for others

by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson THERE ARE THOSE who say we don’t than this, that he lay down his life for have heroes anymore. his friends” (Jn 15:13).

Kendrick Castillo proves them wrong.

In a better world, Kendrick Castillo One day last May, Kendrick woke up would still be with us. That Tuesday as if it were any other day. An 18-year- would have gone like any other — no old young man, he went through his shooting, no grief, no resulting search for of others ahead of themselves, even if it normal morning routine, packing his answers. Sadly, that is not the world we costs them everything. backpack and heading to school in a live in. Ours is marred with sin and strife If we look around, we’ll see that plenty suburb of Denver. It was an exciting and suffering. But that doesn’t mean we of people still embody these characteristime for him. As a high school senior, have no hope. Heroes give us hope. tics in their daily lives. They are often he looked forward to his graduation — There have always been — and there unknown or unacknowledged because only days away — and the promising will always be — those who inspire us they don’t seek publicity. They also come life that lay before him. with their selfless actions. Some, like from unexpected places and their heroBut on that Tuesday afternoon, Kendrick Castillo, have given up their ism emerges at unforeseen times. everything changed. After lunch, as lives for the sake of others. Others are still One of the most inspiring aspects of Kendrick sat at his desk, a serving as supreme knight has troubled student entered his been meeting so many brother classroom and pulled out a Knights who are true everyday Heroism lives in ordinary people gun. In that instant, Kendrick heroes — heroes who sacrifice who practice the timeless made his decision — he to advance our principles of charged the assailant. charity, unity and fraternity. principles of courage, truthfulness, Kendrick gave his fellow A famous 14th-century treaclassmates the precious seconds tise on knighthood advises humility and self-sacrifice. they needed to hide or escape, Christian knights to be men of before he was shot. But while integrity and devotion, for as the he courageously saved lives, he selflessly among us, living their lives for others, in writer observes, “they are in danger every gave up his own. In Kendrick Castillo, ways big and small. day, and at the moment when they think a life was tragically lost — but a true To find them, we must know where themselves to be the most secure, it is then hero was born. to look. Some think of heroes as having that they may suddenly have to undertake As a nation, we mourn Kendrick’s supernatural powers, only to be found in demanding and dangerous adventures.” death, even as we celebrate his courage. comic books or movies, and in the The integrity of the knight included As an organization, the Knights of mythic tales of ancient Greece and the commitment to defend those in danColumbus is especially moved by his Rome. Others associate heroes with ger who could not defend themselves example of selfless sacrifice. His father, celebrities — great athletes, talented and the courage not to recoil in the face a member of the Knights, has said that artists, the beautiful, the wealthy, the of danger. his son “wanted to be a Knight of powerful, and so on. Yet true heroism We are told that Kendrick Castillo Columbus because he wanted to help has a different face. wanted to join the Knights of Columnot only people, but his community.”

Heroism lives in ordinary people who bus and so to be more like us. My sinKendrick Castillo did exactly that. A do extraordinary things. They practice cere hope is that because of his example, faithful Catholic to the end, he lived the timeless principles of courage, truth- our brother Knights will want to be and died according to the teaching of fulness, humility and self-sacrifice. Like more like him.

Jesus Christ: “Greater love has no man Kendrick Castillo, they put the interests 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

Loving the Church As we profess our faith in, and love for, the Church, we share a responsibility for deep and authentic reform

by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori IN THE NICENE CREED, we profess: “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” A friend of mine recently said, “I used to say those words without giving them much thought.

Now, I say to myself, ‘I believe in the Lord. But do I believe in the Church?’”

My friend speaks for quite a few people. Recent studies show that 37% of Catholics in the United States are seriously thinking about leaving the Church as the result of the sexual abuse crisis. This percentage is not confined to the 75% of Catholics who do not regularly attend Sunday Mass; it includes church-going Catholics. Many pastors confirm that Mass attendance has declined since the summer of 2018, along with financial support.

At a time when parishioners are rightfully angry, what does it mean to believe in the Church and to love it?

Can we love the Church and at the same time insist on genuine reform? Thankfully, the answer is “yes” — but a “yes” that requires us to do some thinking and praying, because there are false ways of loving and reforming the Church.

One false way of loving the Church is to say, “I love the Church all right, but not that old corrupt institutional Church.” From its earliest days, there have been people who professed love only for some invisible, spiritual Church, not the actual flesh and blood Church that came from the side of the crucified Savior. This perspective is understandable enough, yet it remains a cop out.

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The Church is made up of “a divine and a human element” that coalesce to “form one complex reality” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, no. 8). It is the “human element” of the Church, made up of sinful human beings, which continually needs to be reformed and purified — but not discarded or made into something other than what the Lord intended. Not surprisingly, some proposed reforms have nothing to do with the sexual abuse crisis but rather

We have to turn to the Lord in prayer as never before, both as individuals and as parish communities. attempt to impose on the Church various ideological agendas, in none of which salvation can be found.

Please don’t think this is an attempt to sanitize the depth and enormity of the sexual abuse crisis, for we need deep purification and far-reaching reform.

Good policies and procedures are a start. For example, the so-called “Dallas Charter” enacted by the U.S. bishops in 2002 has been effective. Since then, very few new cases of clergy sexual abuse have been reported. In dioceses, parishes, Catholic schools and other ministries, many safeguards are now in place to prevent abuse and/or to ensure that it is reported to civil authorities the minute it is discovered. Thanks to the Holy Father’s new directive, the U.S. bishops are

also putting in place new procedures by which we will be held accountable for abuse, harassment or failure to handle allegations of sexual misconduct in accord with the highest standards. Procedural reform is indeed one of the ways to love the Church and to reform and purify its visible structures.

But there is a much deeper reform that is more necessary than ever. A profound conversion on the part of the Church’s shepherds is essential, but for this reform to take hold it must include all of God’s people. Purifying the Church is something we do together. We have to reject moral relativism and the compromises with evil that follow in its wake. We have to turn to the Lord in prayer as never before, both as individuals and as parish communities.

And with the help of the Holy Spirit by whom Jesus lives and acts in us, we should strive to change not only programs and certain structures but indeed the culture of our dioceses, parishes, homes and ministries such that they are places of encounter with the risen Lord and one another, places filled with hope and missionary zeal.

As Knights of Columbus, we speak of ourselves as “the strong right arm of the Church.” Let us resolve, then, to believe in the Church and to love the Church so much that we contribute to its ongoing purification and reform.♦

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SUPREME CHAPLAIN’S CHALLENGE

A monthly reflection and practical challenge from Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori: The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Gospel for July 21, Lk 10:41-42) imagine yourself in Martha’s shoes. While your seemingly lazy sister Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, you are the one preparing the food, setting the table and serving the

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

guests. And then Jesus chides you and compares you unfavorably to your sister. Jesus’ words can strike us as harsh.

Wasn’t Martha doing a good thing by serving our Lord?

Yet if we are honest, we recognize that it’s all too easy to get caught up in busyness doing good things and miss the opportunity to encounter Christ. By God’s grace, may we hear these tough words from Jesus, resist this tendency to busyness and strive to choose “the better part.”

Challenge by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori: this month, i challenge you to spend five extra minutes sitting before the Lord before or after sunday Mass. second, i challenge you to participate in the Faith in Action sacramental Gifts program or pray for those receiving the sacraments, that they might choose “the better part.”♦

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

POPE FRANCIS: CNS photo/Paul Haring — VENERAblE ANtHONy KOwAlCzyK: Photo courtesy of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate

Venerable Anthony Kowalczyk (1866-1947)

that those who administer justice may work with integrity, and that the injustice which prevails in the world may not have the last word.

L I T U RG I C A L C A L E N DA R July 3 St. Thomas, Apostle July 11 St. Benedict, Abbot July 15 St. Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church July 22 St. Mary Magdalene July 25 St. James, Apostle July 26 Sts. Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary July 29 St. Martha July 31 St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest

Editor’s NotE: the supreme Chaplain’s Challenge, Holy Father’s Prayer intention and Liturgical Calendar for August 2019 can be found online at kofc.org/columbia.

BrotHEr ANtHoNY Kowalczyk was manning a sawmill in Alberta in 1897 when his right arm got caught in the power belt. the mangled limb was gangrenous by the time he reached a doctor several days later, and only amputation would save his life. “Give me my crucifix,” Brother Anthony said when he learned they had no anesthesia. “that will be enough.” He endured the operation without uttering a word.

Kowalczyk was born into a large Catholic family in dzierżanów, Poland. He apprenticed with a blacksmith and later plied his trade in Germany, where he encountered the Missionary oblates of Mary immaculate. He joined the order as a brother, eager to work in the foreign missions. in 1896, Brother Anthony was sent to a school in northeast Alberta to serve the indigenous Cree and Métis peoples. After his accident, he worked as mechanic and gardener at the mission of st. Paul de Métis. transferred in 1911 to Collège saint-Jean in Edmonton, Brother Anthony served the rest of his life there as a maintenance man, performing the humble tasks of blacksmith, janitor

and laundryman. He also tended the garden and took care of livestock. though he never mastered French, the Polish brother became a beloved figure among the students. He was always available to repair their hockey sticks, sharpen their skates and offer them encouragement. He often urged the boys to pray an “Ave” (which earned him the nickname “Brother Ave”) and was known to drop to his knees to pray a Hail Mary at any difficulty. He was fond of pointing to his prosthesis with its steel hook and saying, “this is a grace.” the first Polish oblate to come to Canada, Brother Anthony Kowalczyk died July 10, 1947; he was declared Venerable in 2014.♦

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

Leader of Ukrainian Catholic Church Visits New Haven UKrainian cathoLic Major archbishop sviatoslav shevchuk of Kyiv-halyč, head of the Ukrainian greek catholic church worldwide, visited the Knights of columbus headquarters May 13. archbishop shevchuk, a member of the Knights since 2012, met with supreme Knight carl a. anderson and other supreme officers. he also celebrated a Divine Liturgy in the headquarters’ holy Family chapel. “i bring good news from Ukraine, where the Knights of columbus are a vibrant group in outstanding development,” the archbishop said in his homily. “We are so grateful that the young Knights in Ukraine are proclaiming the good news of Jesus christ in today’s very difficult situation of our country.” the Ukraine jurisdiction, which was designated the order’s newest state council at last year’s supreme convention, counts more than 1,300 Knights in 29 local councils. at the conclusion of the liturgy, archbishop shevchuk presented the supreme knight with an antimension — a rectangular cloth decorated with

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, together with other Ukrainian Catholic priests, presents Supreme Knight Carl Anderson a consecrated antimension cloth after celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the K of C headquarters’ Holy Family Chapel on May 13. biblical scenes and scriptural passages related to the Eucharist, which is placed in the center of the altar table for the Divine Liturgy. consecrated by the archbishop on holy thursday, it was used for the first time during the May 13 liturgy.

also on display during the liturgy was a first-class relic of st. John Paul ii — a piece of his cassock stained with blood — to commemorate the anniversary of the pope’s survival of an assassination attempt in st. Peter’s square on May 13, 1981.♦

Knights across ontario stepped up when heavy rains and melting snow flooded lakes and rivers to historic levels. Dozens of volunteers helped fill sandbags, feed relief workers and clean homes damaged by water and sewage.

More than 600 square kilometers along the ottawa river were flooded in late april, damaging thousands of homes and closing off hundreds of kilometers of roadways. in some areas, Knights worked to prevent or minimize flooding. in May, Knights from ontario District #36 filled and placed 2,000 sandbags around homes in clarington, a town along Lake ontario. another group 6 ♦ COLUMBIA ♦

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joined the effort to protect the single road to Jocko Point, home of the indigenous people of nipissing First nation. one group of Knights, including members of our Lady of Fatima council 9742 and st. Patrick’s Basilica council 12158 in ottawa, served up hot meals for displaced residents and weary workers at several sites along the ottawa river. once the river level dropped, they helped remove thousands of sandbags; others trained with team rubicon, a veterans’ service organization, for the messy job of clearing homes contaminated by blackwater — sewage and septic waste.

shipments of food and cleaning supplies, together with a donation of $30,000, were sent by the Knights of columbus Disaster relief Fund to help with relief efforts.♦

TOP: Photo by Aaron Joseph — BOTTOM: Photo by Chris Wattie/Reuters

Canadian Knights Help Flooding Victims

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

K of C Headquarters Stands Tall for Half a Century

TOP LEFT: Photo by Jake Wright — TOP RIGHT: August 1969 Columbia cover/Archive — BOTTOM: Photo courtesy of the Marcha por la Vida

Knights March for Life in Canada, Mexico TENS OF THOUSANDS of people in Canada and Mexico, including many Knights of Columbus and their families, gathered in May to show their support for the dignity and protection of all human life.

Canada’s 22nd annual National March for Life was held May 9 in Ottawa. Fourth Degree Knights helped to lead the march after the rally on Parliament Hill, and about 50 Knights from Ontario, under the leadership of Ontario State Deputy Daniel Heffernan, distributed K of C “Choose Life” signs and assisted as marshals along the march route.

Supreme Warden Graydon Nicholas and Supreme Directors Larry Kustra, Arthur Peters and Arcie Lim were also present, representing Knights of various provinces.

Nine days later, Knights in Mexico joined some 30,000 demonstrators at the eighth annual Marcha por la Vida (March for Life) in Mexico City. The May 18 event drew people from 13 Mexican states, many of them holding brightly colored signs provided by the Caballeros de Colón as they walked from the Monument to Motherhood to the Legislative Assembly building.♦

FIFTY YEARS AGO, the Knights of Columbus cut the ribbon on its new Supreme Council headquarters in New Haven, Conn. The dedication took place during the 87th Supreme Convention, with many church and government dignitaries in attendance.

The governor of Connecticut and the archbishop of Hartford addressed the crowd, and the Vatican’s apostolic delegate to the U.S. gave a blessing.

Then-Supreme Knight John W. McDevitt described the new building as an “acknowledgment of all the labors, all the sacrifices, all the good errands quietly completed, all the unnoted kindnesses of all our brother Knights.”

He added, “These are the substance of the foundation from which it rose.

Without them it would not be.”

The first Knights of Columbus headquarters was a room in a small building on the New Haven Green.

The Order moved five times within New Haven before breaking ground on the current site in 1967. The structure — 23 stories of steel, concrete and glass — was designed by the firm of award-winning architect Kevin Roche, who passed away March 1.

An exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the headquarters will be at the K of C Museum from August 1, 2019, to June 14, 2020.♦

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NO GREATE

The father of Kendrick Castillo remembers his son, who gave his life to save his friends in a high school shooting

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TER LOVE

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Kendrick Castillo did not hesitate. He charged the gunman, a fellow student, pinning him to the wall. Two classmates were right behind him and disarmed the assailant, but not before shots were fired. Kendrick was fatally wounded. A second shooter opened fire in another part of the school, injuring eight before also being subdued.

It was May 7, just days before Kendrick was to graduate from STEM School Highlands Ranch in suburban Denver. During a May 15 memorial service that drew 3,000 people, Kendrick’s father, John, a member of Southwest Denver Council 4844, spoke about his life. Here is an abridged version of John Castillo’s remarks.

P

PREVIOUS SPREAD: Photo by Tim Thompson — LETT: Photo courtesy of Joseph Nguyen

eople have asked, “Where do you find your strength in a time like this?” Well, I have to tell you, it’s easy for Maria and me, because there’s so much love in the world. We had so much love from Kendrick.

It’s no secret to us that Kendrick did what he had to do — we’ve said that over and over. But you really have to understand who Kendrick was to understand why he would do that.

When we’re brought into this world, we’re an empty vessel, and we’re filled up by our parents and our communities. We’re introduced to faith, and we make choices whether we want to accept the good stuff or we don’t. Your families can take you to church, but if you’re unwilling to accept your faith and live it, it’s not going to do much good.

Kendrick was quick to figure things out, even as a young boy. If I had to describe him, the first word that comes to mind is love — love for anybody he met. And I mean anybody. He

was compassionate. If you were walking down the street and you stumbled, he’d walk over to make sure you were OK. There’s risk in love — risk of being hurt, risk of rejection.

Kendrick knew this, and he never wavered. And he knew right from wrong.

But what was extraordinary to me is that you could give Kendrick a shiny object — an expensive Macbook or a vehicle — and whatever it was, he would quickly find out that it was just that, a physical thing. We can’t take such things with us when we pass. Kendrick knew that they were simply instruments to connect him to other people.

When we would go hunting, he knew that it was never about getting elk or deer, but about the bond and relationship. It was about the adventure. We’d pack up the fifth wheel and would almost hope that a tire would blow out or something, because it was creating that memory and bond with his dad and his grandfather. Kendrick figured that out early, and he never lost his innocence.

He pulled me into the robotics team. He welcomed me there, but like other teenage boys, he would separate himself and say to me, “I’m going to go over here; don’t bother me.”

But sometimes, when I’d get busy doing things, he’d come over and say, “Hey, Dad, somebody’s having a bad day; you might want to go talk to him.” And then he’d run off and pretend he never talked to me.

You heard about his upbringing in Catholic school and then moving to a technology-oriented high school. I never had to worry, because Kendrick just moved what he learned in a Catholic environment right with him. He brought the pancake

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Photo by Joe Amon/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

breakfasts that we were doing and extended that to teachers on their professional development day. He took trunk-or-treat, and took a small group and made it big, to make little kids happy.

I’ve always known he was a gift and a hero. He was filled up with the good stuff. Maria and I, we can take credit for it, but you all have something to do with that, too. Community builds strong people.

Kendrick was proud of our aerospace community and robotics, and he figured out right away that if you engineer something that has 15 or 20 steps, it’s not going to work as efficiently as if it had only three. The bottom line is that our love for one another is not so different — it’s actually really simple. And I didn’t teach him that. He taught me.

If Kendrick were here, he would want me to have the strength to help everybody heal. Because he knows I can’t do anything for him now other than reach out to his friends and family and make sure that they are comforted. And I think that he would want me to continue his charge of going out and meeting people and becoming better people ourselves.

Yes, I’m going to have moments of sadness, and I know my wife is.

Kendrick loved his mother immensely, and they had a special bond. But because of this beautiful human being that we brought into this world, we’re going to get through it.

The really big thing — it’s not difficult. We just have to love, take time.

Opposite page: Kendrick Castillo (center) and his father, John, prepare breakfast with members of Southwest Denver Council 4844 at Notre Dame Catholic School in Denver in 2016. • Above right: Joseph Nguyen (left) assists John and Maria Castillo as they bless the grave of their son, Kendrick, with holy water. The burial took place in Littleton, Colo., May 17. • Previous spread: A chair sits empty in honor of Kendrick at the STEM School Highlands Ranch graduation May 20.

‘FOREVER A BROTHER KNIGHT’

Joseph Nguyen, faithful navigator of Mother Seton Assembly 1843 and past grand knight of Southwest Denver Council 4844, also spoke at the memorial service for Kendrick.

THE BOOK OF WISDOM says, “The souls of the just are in the hands of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the eyes of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are at peace” (3:1-3).

It is with these words that I remember Kendrick Castillo, for the just young man that he was — one who imitated Christ’s self-sacrificing love and gave of himself so that others might live and be safe.

I remember Kendrick as a young man at the parish that he and I belong to. Kendrick was an altar server and a minister of hospitality at our church, and a student leader at our school.

Kendrick was united to his father and mother in love, as the Holy Family was. Kendrick, who gave his life in service to the Church, taught us empathy, compassion and love. As a young man, he taught us many things and was wise beyond his years.

It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to him today, but it is with the joy of the Easter season that we celebrate Christ’s victory over death.

We know, too, that Kendrick has gone to be with his heavenly Father and Savior he served for 18 years.

Webster’s Dictionary defines charity as “benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity”; unity as “a quality or state of being made one”; and fraternity as “a group of people associated or formally organized for a common purpose or good.”

These are three of four principles that Kendrick and his father, John, have modeled their lives after. As it relates to his service with the Knights of Columbus, in everything he did with his father there was a smile on his face.

Together, John and Kendrick documented 2,600 hours of community service with the Knights.

Kendrick loved people, he loved his Church, and he loved his God. If you go out today and serve in the manner that Kendrick served, in love, his death will not be in vain.

Although we have lost in Kendrick a friend, the Knights of Columbus and all of us here have lost Kendrick our brother.

To John and Maria, the Church and community are here to support you, and to love you in the days, months and years to come, and to honor your son. The Knights of Columbus will be with you on your journey of grief in the days that lie ahead.

With that, I present a token of our love and appreciation [a glass plaque] on behalf of the Knights of Columbus. Today, Kendrick is forever a brother Knight.

Kendrick, you will be missed, but you will never be forgotten.

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When Kendrick was a child, my wife would say, “It’s kind of slow at your work today; you should see if you can check out for a couple of hours.”

I needed to hear that, and that’s what I did. I’d show up at Kendrick’s school, and we’d eat a hamburger and I’d meet his friends. We only have one shot to do things like that.

Life is short, we move through it. And then when our work is done, we’re called home. Cherish the moments every step of the way. Nothing gets so busy that we can’t put it on hold for a little bit.

I’ll be praying for all of you. Walk your faith like Kendrick did, never wavering. And we need to reach out to people who are on the margins of society. They’re everywhere. Our world needs help.

But there’s goodness underneath, there’s Kendrick underneath. The love of police officers, first responders, clergy — we’re all filled up with the good stuff. What you choose to do with it is really up to you.

We love you, and thank you for loving our son.♦ 12 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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Photos by Ryan Dearth

Above: John and Maria Castillo stand outside of their Denver home. A lawn sign displays the STEM School Highlands Ranch logo with the hashtag #STEMstrong, which has become a way for the community to celebrate Kendrick’s life. • Right: Handwritten messages from STEM School students cover a poster with the words of John 15:13.

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

Our Founder’s Intercessory Power On the verge of collapse, I turned to Father McGivney for help

by Fred Bolen

I

suddenly found myself in the emergency room in April. My heart beat wildly, my blood pressure plummeted and my kidneys stopped functioning. The doctor told my wife, Susannah, to prepare herself, because the outcome might not be good. She pleaded with me not to go because the family needed me.

I said a quick prayer to the Lord to take care of my wife, my children and my grandchildren. Then, as a Knight of Columbus for 45 years, I turned to Father Michael McGivney, and asked him to intercede for me. I believe his prayers saved my life.

Only a few hours earlier, I’d been installing smoke detectors in local homes when I felt a pain in my leg and became dizzy and nauseated.

Thinking I was having a heart attack, Susannah called 911 and the medics rushed me to a nearby hospital. In the ER, they quickly put me on IV fluids to flush out my failing kidneys and worked hard get my heart and blood pressure under control.

After praying to God and turning to Father McGivney, I began to stabilize. It was not a heart attack after all, but rather a deep-seated staph infection. I was moved to the critical care unit and started on a suite of antibiotics to see which ones were most effective. Groggy, I still felt in danger of death — until my 6-year-old granddaughter entered my room and gave me a hug.

It’s very difficult to describe just what I felt at that moment. I didn’t think she would be allowed to visit me at her age, and I wondered afterward if it was a good idea for her to see her grandfather so weak, with so

many tubes and the oxygen machine going. But I know when she leaned over to hug me that new life was breathed into me. Her hug changed everything. I felt better and I just knew that things would be looking up. I think that Father McGivney brought her to me so I could live to see her and my four other grandchildren grow up.

After all, Father McGivney was a great champion of the family, and he founded the Knights of Columbus to help keep the families of his day intact and safe. The culture has changed so much since then, but our values have not changed as much as you might think. We all hold in our hearts the well-being of our loved ones.

That’s what is most important to me, and I think that is why I am still here today, back helping my wife as a Red Cross volunteer, and watching over our grandchildren.

For me, a miracle happened in the emergency room that afternoon. I was at death’s door, and my prayers for Father McGivney’s intercession brought me back. My eyes have been opened to life itself, and I hope to spend the rest of my days giving thanks.♦ FRED BOLEN is past grand knight of Seaside Council 17 in Waterford, Conn., and faithful navigator of Rev. George Deshon Assembly 110 in New London.

Prayer to Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney God, our Father, protector of the poor and defender of the widow and orphan, you called your priest, Father Michael J. McGivney, to be an apostle of Christian family life and to lead the young to the generous service of their neighbor. Through the example of his life and virtue may we follow your Son, Jesus Christ, more closely, fulfilling his commandment of charity and building up his Body which is the Church. Let the inspiration of your servant prompt us to greater confidence in your love so that we may continue his work of caring for the needy and the outcast. We humbly ask that you glorify your venerable servant Father Michael J. McGivney on earth according to the design of your holy will. Through his intercession, grant the favor I now present (here make your request). Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Please report all favors received to the Father McGivney Guild at www.fathermcgivney.org.

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

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BROTHERS IN ARMS, BROTHERS IN FAITH Twin Army captains join more than 200 military service members on the 2019 Warriors to Lourdes pilgrimage

by Christine Rousselle

M

ark and Matthew Mayor have a lot in common. Not only are they identical twins, but both are captains in the U.S. Army, have served in combat, and are members of Knights of Columbus.

This year, Mark and Matthew shared another experience — Warriors to Lourdes, four days of liturgy, prayer, competition and camaraderie at the Marian pilgrimage site in southern France. Mark participated in 2018 with his wife, Malori, and encouraged Matthew to join them in 2019.

The Mayors were among 220 pilgrims, including 51 wounded warriors, who participated in the sixth annual Warriors to Lourdes pilgrimage May 16-19. Co-sponsored by the 14 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and the Knights of Columbus, the event coincided with the 61st International Military Pilgrimage. More than 12,000 service members from over 60 countries came together for Masses, a Marian procession, a friendly athletic tournament and more.

The event is more than an occasion for military pageantry, especially for wounded, ill and injured participants. For pilgrims like Mark and Matthew Mayor, it is an experience of hope and renewal they won’t soon forget.

“The pilgrimage really promoted international fellowship, cooperation and healing,” Matthew Mayor said. “I came back with a great sense of peace.”

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SOLACE AND THANKSGIVING Mark and Matthew Mayor, 32, have each deployed to Afghanistan twice and both have combat experience. Mark suffered a traumatic brain injury during his service there, and both have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.

Like many pilgrims, Mark and Matthew chose to enter the Lourdes baths — Mark in 2018, Matthew in 2019. The water, which springs from the grotto where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858, is associated with numerous miraculous cures.

Mark’s prayer intentions in the baths included his physical and psychological wounds.

“I prayed that God might heal my mind of the nightmares and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress and brain injury,” he said. After immersing in the water, he said, he felt a profound peace unlike anything he has experienced before.

Mark and Malori brought another important intention to Lourdes last year: to conceive a child. Their prayers were answered, though not in the way they expected.

The couple did not immediately become pregnant, but Malori was inspired to start sharing stories about infertility on her blog, Warrior Life Wellness, and researched methods of achieving pregnancy in harmony with Church teachings.

“I think that was our miracle for last year,” Mark said. “God gave us the wisdom to seek out the right resources.”

Malori is now expecting their first child in January 2020.

This year, Mark and Malori approached the pilgrimage with a different mindset.

“Even before I became pregnant, I was reflecting on last year’s experience at Lourdes, and realized that I need to come here with a different attitude,” Malori explained. “Instead of ‘Give me what I want, right now, on my timeline,’ it has to be gratitude.”

When Matthew entered the baths this year, he prayed for healing, but he likewise stressed that he came on the pilgrimage in a spirit of thanksgiving as well as petition.

“My only expectation was to come here with an attitude of gratitude, to be thankful for the blessings that I have in my life right now,” he said.

THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH For the Mayor brothers, joining the Knights of Columbus has been a natural complement to serving in the military.

Matthew, a member of Cardinal Gibbons Council 2838 in Fayetteville, N.C., since 2016, notes that the principles of the Knights align with the values he has always held dear.

“The principles of unity and patriotism are foundational to our characters,” he said.

Mark, a member of the Knights since 2010 and a current member of the St. Michael the Archangel Council 15250 at Fort Bragg, N.C., credits the Order with providing muchneeded community and support networks when he returned from combat deployments.

The Knights provides “a sense of fraternity and brotherhood that is difficult to find elsewhere in our society,” Mark said. “I consider myself blessed, as far too many U.S. combat veterans experience the negative consequences of combat-induced mental illness from a lack of close community when returning home from war.”

The pilgrimage to Lourdes, the brothers agreed, was a particularly meaningful experience of community. This included the opportunity to meet service members from other countries.

“Some shared their service experiences with me, and I shared mine, which I found very enriching,” Matthew said.

When a member of the military returns home from service or deployment, Mark explained, they are “separated from the

Photos by Tamino Petelinsek

Opposite page: Army Capt. Mark Mayor (left) and Army Capt.

Matthew Mayor stand in front of a statue of Our Lady during the 2019 Warriors to Lourdes pilgrimage. • Right: The Mayors (at right, in foreground) and other U.S. service members march past the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception to a candle-lighting ceremony at the grotto May 17.

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Clockwise, from top: Bishop Joseph L. Coffey, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, is the principal celebrant of Mass at the Lourdes grotto May 18. • Malori Mayor accompanies the choir at the May 18 Mass in the grotto. • Army National Guard Maj. Ryan Vangel (left) and retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Jonathan Lipscomb (seated left) participate in opening ceremonies for the International Military Pilgrimage with members of the French delegation. tribe,” which can trigger depression and other mental struggles. The International Military Pilgrimage serves to “get the tribe back together.”

Mark was also deeply moved by going to Mass and participating in devotions with pilgrims from around the world.

While waiting for the baths last year, he and other pilgrims began reciting the rosary out loud together.

“It was spontaneous in the crowd, as if the Holy Spirit was guiding it,” said Mark, who led a decade of the rosary in English. “The prayers were communicated with power and 16 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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conviction across languages as we stood waiting in line.”

“We were all celebrating one universal Catholic faith,” he added. “It’s something that I find really humbling.”

Malori also found Lourdes to be a remarkable place during the International Military Pilgrimage.

“Everyone’s so peaceful — and all these different countries coming together,” she said. “Maybe this is a little bit of what heaven is like.”♦ CHRISTINE ROUSSELLE writes for Catholic News Agency.

LOWER LEFT: Photo by Tamino Petelinsek — OTHER: Photos by Photo Lacaze

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PILGRIMS SHARE THEIR STORIES THIS YEAR, 220 men and women took part in the Warriors to Lourdes pilgrimage, including active-duty service members, veterans, caregivers, chaplains and family members. Supreme Knight Carl Anderson also traveled with the group.

“I come to Lourdes like any Catholic,” Anderson said. “It’s a special place for Our Lady, it’s a special place to be with people who are taking significant steps on their spiritual journey in life.”

The supreme knight said he prayed especially for his fellow pilgrims, that they find the spiritual or physical healing they seek, but most of all that everyone on the trip may deepen their relationship with God. “That includes me, that includes my family — we all have to grow in our spiritual life and we all have to grow closer to the Lord. That process is never done,” he said.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Mary Katzenberg, a public affairs chief at Fort Bragg, N.C., heard about Warriors to Lourdes from her unit’s chaplain. Even though she didn’t know anything about Lourdes, she felt called to apply.

“I reconnected with God about a year ago after a 20-year stint of thinking I could do things on my own or do things my way,” Katzenberg said.

Visiting the Lourdes baths was a powerful experience, she said. “I prayed for God to cleanse my soul, and it almost felt like a second baptism. It moved me.”

The Mass she attended May 17 was her first Mass in 20 years, she explained, but not her last.

“I really feel that God led me here to pull me back into the Church,” she said. “He knows what I need more than I know what I need.”

Photo by Tamino Petelinsek

Navy Cmdr. Lance LeClere, a doctor in Annapolis, Md., was looking for a chance to go on a medical mission when a past pilgrim told him about Warriors to Lourdes. He jumped at the opportunity to combine a religious experience with service to past and present service members as the trip’s medical director.

As a student at the University of Notre Dame, LeClere prayed often at the school’s grotto, which was inspired by the one at Lourdes.

“It was just very special to be at the original grotto,” he said.

“It was very emotional.”

LeClere prayed during the trip for friends in Maryland who are sick, as well as for other kinds of healing.

“I’ve also been thinking a lot about the spiritual and emotional healing of the service members who are on the trip, and folks that I know from back home that are in need as well,” he said.

Army Capt. Adam Fisk and his family did not come to Lourdes hoping for a miracle. They came in thanksgiving for one.

When Capt. Fisk’s son, Julian, was born in January 2018, he didn’t breathe for six minutes. Doctors acted quickly to prevent

Army Capt. Adam Fisk and his wife, Morgan, believe water from Lourdes healed a hematoma in their son’s head shortly after he was born. One-yearold Julian, now doing well, was one of the youngest pilgrims on the trip. brain damage, but Julian suffered a subgaleal hematoma, a potentially fatal complication. Doctors predicted it would take up to a month for the large pocket of fluid in his head to heal.

Adam’s father-in-law, Deacon Mark Mitchell, flew to Texas to be with the family and brought some water from Lourdes with him.

“He sprinkled it on Julian’s head, and along his body, and he prayed over him,” Adam explained. “The next day, the hematoma was gone, and it baffled the doctors. Obviously, it was a miracle to us.”

Adam and his wife, Morgan, made the trip with Julian, who is now doing well.

Air Force Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, who serves as commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa, is accustomed to large military assemblies. Yet he was taken aback by the size and scope of the International Military Pilgrimage to Lourdes.

“I didn’t truly understand the breadth of all the nations that participated in this,” the general said, of the 12,000 service members from more than 60 countries at the event.

Invited to join the official U.S. delegation of the pilgrimage, Harrigian valued the chance to meet his own troops and their counterparts around the world.

“To interact with the different nations, the families, the warriors — it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, one that I’m not sure I truly appreciated as I read about it,” he said.

One highlight was the Mass for English-speaking pilgrims at the grotto, Harrigian said, calling it “a great chance to just reflect upon everything that this experience brings to the entire community of warriors [and] our families.”♦ — reported by Christine Rousselle JULY/AUGUST 2019

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CRUSHING THE ODDS Strengthened by faith, a Wyoming wrestler returns from severe injuries to win multiple state titles

by Daniel Beaudrie, with Columbia staff

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S

Photo by Phill Harnden/Courtesy of Cody Enterprise

Dan Beaudrie lets out a victory yell at the 2018 Ron Thon Memorial Invitational Wrestling Tournament in Riverton, Wyo. Beaudrie won his weight class at the tournament without giving up a single point.

Doctors were doubtful when 15-year-old Dan Beaudrie of Cody, Wyo., asked if he would ever wrestle again. After multiple cranium, brain and spine injuries, he would be lucky to walk.

Two years later, as a 152-pound junior, Beaudrie roared in triumph after pinning his opponent to become Wyoming state champion in his weight division. He repeated the roar his senior year, winning state again, as well as the even more prestigious Ron Thon Tournament. He joined the Knights of Columbus soon after, and he is currently an officer and charter member of newly formed Michigan State University Council 17197 in East Lansing, where he is majoring in electrical engineering, with a minor in religious studies.

Beaudrie recounts how the Catholic faith, the love of his family, and mental and physical determination helped him defy medical expectations and return as a champion athlete.

ports and wrestling have always been important to my family. My brothers all wrestle, but they are more naturally talented than I am. I was a bit of a late bloomer, and as a little guy, I got picked on and struggled a lot. I lost most of my matches. But I knew that wrestling could make me tough. So I started devoting a lot more time to the sport in middle school.

It was also in middle school that I kind of took that teenager turn and began to make a lot of bad decisions.

My parents took us to Mass every Sunday our whole lives, but the first time that belief in God ever seemed meaningful in my life was at my confirmation retreat in seventh grade. At that retreat, I prayed: “Lord, if you’re actually there, I know that means I’ve got to change the way I’m living. Because if all of this is true, then I want you. But if you’re not there, then I’m just going to roll however I want, because it sounds a lot more fun.”

We were all kneeling in a semicircle, and our pastor brought the Eucharist in a monstrance before each of us. He came to me, and I looked up, Jesus just inches away. It was as if floodgates opened up above my head and a torrent of water rushed into my body. In Scripture, it says, “And they were filled with the Holy Spirit” — that’s what it was like. I didn’t hear words, but I could tell that the Lord was saying, “I am here. I’m real.

Follow me.” From that moment, I decided to learn as much as I could about the Faith.

Meanwhile, I was improving a lot in wrestling, and by the time I got to high school I was pretty darn competitive.

‘GOD HAS PRESERVED MY LIFE’ In March 2015, my assistant coach took some of us to a tournament in Denver, a non-school event, and we competed well.

Heading back to Cody that night, we stopped for pizza. When we left, I got in the car and buckled up.

The next thing I remember is just a still image of myself holding up my hands in the shape of a heart. I could see tubes coming out of them and a big splint on my arm. I was just trying to tell my family that I loved them and that I would be OK. I later found out that we were in a car accident in the Wind River Canyon. Coming around a bend, we hit a boulder that was on the white line. I was buckled, sitting behind the front passenger seat. My head and shoulders went through the window and bounced off the canyon wall. The car rolled and then settled on its roof. One of the boys was able to get help, and the EMTs cut me and my coach out of the vehicle.

I was in really bad shape. All of my teeth were fractured, some twisted 180 degrees and pointing the wrong way. The top part of my jaw was broken in half. I fractured 14 vertebrae, and my skull was also fractured in several places. The top of my head was peeled down in three flaps like a banana.

I suffered three bleeds in the brain — two in the frontal lobe and one by the auditory nerve of my right ear. I’ve lost about half my hearing on that side. Doctors later told me that one bleed in the frontal lobe generally means death for a teen.

Looking at the pictures now, it’s remarkable how quickly I healed. I was moved out of the ICU after about a week and JULY/AUGUST 2019

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Dan Beaudrie holds a rosary in the intensive care unit days after surviving a devastating car crash in 2015. • Beaudrie wears his cervical/thoracic brace on a visit to the doctors overseeing his recovery, a team that included a rehabilitation specialist, a neurologist and a facial plastic surgeon.

DON’T TAP OUT My recovery was slow. I would do what they told me to do at therapy — simple exercises. Eventually, I was waddling into school in a big cervical/thoracic brace. I sometimes got discouraged, but then I said, “No, this is where I’m at. I’m going to do my best.”

By midsummer, my brace was removed. I’m a terrible swimmer, but that fall, I was in the pool every day, and I built a lot of strength. Then, around November, I was cleared to begin lifting weights. And a few months later, just after the state tournament, I was cleared to begin wrestling again.

There were some setbacks, though. When I first started lifting, I found out my hand had been broken for nine months and needed surgery. In track that spring, I went out too hard, too fast, and injured myself. And in the summer, I separated 20 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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my left shoulder in a practice match.

When I finally healed up, I continued training for the new season. I was getting out there, but everything always ached.

I didn’t stop, because what else was there to do? Do you come this far and just tap out?

By this point, it was no longer just that I wanted to say thank you to the Lord for my life. There were also so many people who had helped me so much. What could be a greater thank you to all of these people than to do something great?

So I kept pushing on.

Throughout the season, I would make it to the finals match and lose. Outside of the 3A division, I took second place everywhere. It was super frustrating.

I also began to get a really awful pain in my left tricep. Eventually, my parents said, “We really have to check this out.” The doctor said, “You’ve damaged the nerve, and if you do it again, your left arm could become completely paralyzed.”

I was just crushed. For the first time, I questioned, “Why, Lord? I’m trying to do everything right. I’m praying. I’m offering each competition, every part of my life for you. But now you’re telling me, when I’m doing so well, ‘It’s not happening’?”

I struggled with that a lot.

DREAMS COME TRUE With about three weeks before the regional qualifying tournament, my coach and I weren’t ready to tap out. In the last week, we came up with a plan that came to be known as “Operation: Keep the Dream Alive.” Throughout that lead-up

Photos courtesy of Dan Beaudrie

left the hospital less than a week after that.

On one of my last days there, I asked a doctor, “When can I go wrestle again?” She laughed and shook her head, “I don’t know if you’re going to be doing much of anything ever again.

You’re going to be happy to be walking.”

I didn’t believe her. I told myself, “No, I’m going to go out and be a state champion. Whatever it takes. I can work.”

Through the recovery process, my faith was most important. Until then, most of my desire was to be a champion athlete. But now it was: “God has preserved my life and given me all these kind people. Now I want to use the talents he’s given me as my offering back to him, to say thank you.”

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Photo by Spirit Juice Studios

Dan Beaudrie, who joined the Order in 2018 as a member of Bishop Maurice F. Burke Council 17197 in Cody, Wyo., is pictured at St. Anthony of Padua Church, his family’s parish. week, I would increase my intensity of practice incrementally, but if at any point I began to have any sort of pain, coach would yank me. We did each day, made it through doing great, and I ended up winning the regional tournament.

Finally, it’s the state tournament. I was No. 1 seed. My first two opponents went quick. My semis match was tough, but after I won, I looked at my hometown crowd, like, “We did it! We’re in the finals!”

The next day, before my finals match, a thought crept into my mind: “What if you lose?” But then I had peace. I knew that I had prepared physically and mentally more than anyone — against my will at times — and I had been preparing spiritually. It was simply what I was made to do.

My match is finally up. I do what I do before every single match. I run to the edge of the circle, slap coach’s hand, and get out there, put my toe on the line. Whistle blows, and I’m off. I keep working for a pin, not able to get anything. About halfway through the third period, I lock up my cradle. I pull him back once, twice, three times. On the fourth time, I hear the ref slap that mat.

I get up, find where my family, my crowd, is sitting in the stands and I point up to them. And then I yell with all my might, letting out all the emotion, the pain, the confusion of the last two years. In that moment, I let it all out.

I hug my coaches and friends, and then run over to where my family is right there in the first row, and I hug them, crying.

That was my thank you to my parents and to everyone else.

I didn’t need to say anything because I showed it. It was one of the greatest feelings that I’ve ever experienced in my life.

FAITH IN ACTION What does the future hold for me? Right now, I’m studying electrical engineering with the hope of going into robotic prosthetics.

I tried to join the military but, mostly because of my hearing, I was turned away. I thought, “Well, what’s the next way I can serve my country?” Working on prosthetics would serve those who went in my stead, and is something that interests me intellectually for itself. I’m trying to stay open to wherever the Lord could call me.

I joined the Knights of Columbus after Supreme Director Ken Stockwell invited me to. My dad and my grandfather are also members. Hearing about the work that they do in our communities and throughout the world for those in need, providing manpower and funds and, most importantly, prayers — I thought, “Of course! How could I not want to be part of something larger than myself, something that gives back to others, and say thank you with the way I live my life?”

When somebody asks me to describe myself, it’s quite simple: “I’m a Catholic, I’m a patriot, I’m a wrestler, and now I am a Knight of Columbus.”♦ JULY/AUGUST 2019

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MOON SHOT Where were you when men first landed on the moon? If you’re old enough to have heard Neil Armstrong announce, “The Eagle has landed,” you probably remember.

Gene Kranz certainly remembers. He was at his console at NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston — Buzz Aldrin’s voice in his ear and fuel levels on his mind as Armstrong piloted the Eagle closer and closer to the lunar surface. As flight director, Kranz was the final authority on every decision of the moon landing.

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Kranz had many memorable moments in his storied NASA career, including his work to save the astronauts of Apollo 13 (featured in the March 2019 issue of Columbia). Through tragedy and triumph, the longtime Knight of Columbus said a prayer to the Holy Spirit before every shift in mission control.

Now a member of Father Roach Council 3217 in Dickinson, Texas, he recently spoke with Columbia staff in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. Here, he recounts the dramatic hours of July 20, 1969.

NASA Photo/Wikimedia Commons

Fifty years later, NASA flight director Gene Kranz describes his instrumental role in the Apollo 11 mission

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Photo by Felix Sanchez

THE DAY I got up very early in the morning; it was still dark when I left. I had gone to Mass the day before and obtained a blessing, as I did before every mission. I arrived at Mission Control and noticed there was a security guard in the parking lot. I parked my car, and he came up and said, “Are we gonna land today, Mister Kranz?” And all of a sudden, it just hit me: “Today is landing day.”

Walking into Mission Control, there’s normally a bunch of people going in and out, a lot of chattering. But it was almost totally silent. I went up to the third floor, where the control center was, and another guard was there.

The security was different, but then I walked into the room and it was just like previous missions. The atmosphere in the room gets you — everybody smoking cigars, cigarettes, pipes.

The room has got a color, reflective of the map that covers the whole front of the room. When we’re in earth orbit, it’s a map of the earth. We were in lunar orbit, so you could see all the craters on the moon.

As my team and I picked up the shift, the crew was moving into the lunar module and starting its power up. We had roughly three revolutions before we start going down to the moon.

Now, before we started down, I gave my team a speech.

They were 26 years old on average, and we were doing something that had never been done before. I told them, “I will stand behind every decision you will make. We came into this room as a team and we will leave as a team.” And then we locked the control room doors; no one would enter or leave until we’d either landed, crashed or aborted the landing.

THE DESCENT On the spacecraft’s third pass around the front of the moon, we pass the information up for the DOI — Descent Orbit Injection maneuver. This will lower the lunar module’s orbit from about 50 nautical miles to roughly 50,000 feet, the altitude from which we will start the actual descent. We give them the “Go” for the DOI, which they do on the backside of the moon.

When they come around to the front side of the moon, we immediately recognize we are not where we expected to be, trajectory-wise. We don’t know why, but we’re further downrange, which means we’re going to be landing long. There’s a scurry among my controllers to take a look at what the landing site would be, and we find a lot of craters and rocks.

As we move toward my “Go/No Go” for powered descent, communications are very ratty, very difficult. As we’re counting down, I’m thinking, “Do I have enough information to continue? Yes or no?”

We finally get to the point where it looks like the data telemetry is good, voice communication is good. I give the “Go” for the startup power for the descent — and we immediately lose data. This goes on for almost 10 minutes. Data is lost, we get it back, lost, get it back.

It’s hard for my controllers to do their job. And I have to make the decision: are we really going to do the descent on

Above: Gene Kranz, who directed the lunar landing from NASA’s Mission Control Center, is a member of Father Roach Council 3217 in Dickinson, Texas. • Opposite page: Astronaut Neil Armstrong works at the lunar module Eagle during the Apollo 11 moon landing July 20, 1969.

this orbit? I decide yes — we’re going to make it! If there is some kind of problem we can’t solve, we’ll abort five minutes into the descent. The engine starts.

As we’re waiting for data from the lunar module landing radar to come in, we start having a series of computer program alarms, telling us that the computer is running out of time to perform all the functions. We continue to fight the alarms, and we get the landing radar data. I poll my team, and they all give me a “Go” to continue the descent.

THE LANDING And now the crew for the first time is looking out to where they’re going to be landing. When we get down close, it’s like driving a car when your gas gauge reads empty. The descent fuel is in a cylindrical tank with a rounded bottom. When it gets down to the rounded bottom, we get a “low level” indicator. And then one of the controllers starts a series of stopwatches. We have 120 seconds of fuel at a 30% throttle JULY/AUGUST 2019

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Flight director Gene Kranz (second row, third from left) poses with his team of flight controllers — the White Team — at the end of the Apollo 11 mission. A flight director manages a team of 15 to 21 controllers and has ultimate authority during a mission. “The job description is one sentence long,” Kranz said. “The flight director may take any action that is necessary for crew safety and mission success.”

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and they started celebrating. You can hear it coming through the walls and the glass: stomping, applause, cheering. Everybody in my team has a chill. The whole world is celebrating — but we are not.

We have to make sure it’s safe to remain on the surface. I go through three “Stay/No Stay” decisions: one at two minutes, one at eight minutes and one at two hours. At the end of two hours, the spacecraft can power down. And now my team can start celebrating that we just landed on the moon.

At the time, I really did not think too much about the impact of the mission. As soon as we finished, we started the preparation for the next mission.

I think I’ve had my greatest reflection in the last five years.

We were really operating right on the boundaries of all of our knowledge. And the key was teamwork. No matter what happened, the team had to hang together, and I was their chief.♦

NASA photo/Scan courtesy of Gene Kranz

setting. From now on, we’re watching fuel — not a quantity measurement, but a pure time measurement.

We know Neil’s trying to find a suitable landing site. He’s descending quite rapidly at about 100 feet per second and moving laterally, looking for a point where he feels he can land. But he has a problem as he gets close to the surface — the surface of the moon is dust and it’s blowing with him. It’s like driving in a snowstorm with the wind behind you — you don’t think you’re moving. So Neil has to pick out a large boulder or rock and use that as a reference.

He’s also worried about running out of fuel. We give him a call: “60 seconds of fuel remaining.” And then we’re just listening; everybody’s quiet now in Mission Control. We give him another call: “30 seconds of fuel remaining.” And about the time that we would say “15,” we recognize the crew has just touched down on the surface.

There are about 100 people in the viewing room behind us,

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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 Underscores Order’s Mission FRATERNAL LEADERS from throughout the Order gathered for the annual Organizational Meeting of Knights of Columbus State Deputies in New Haven, Conn., June 6-9, to discuss membership growth, new initiatives and future challenges.

During the opening business session June 7, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson called on leaders to help the Order grow “in membership, charity, volunteer service and insurance.”

Here are several highlights from the supreme knight’s address: Our Mission as Catholic Men “What is God calling Catholic men to do today? He’s calling Catholic men to do what he’s always called them to do — to take responsibility for their families, to help their neighbors in need, to provide for defense and support of their Church, to love their country and to defend it, and to work and manage their businesses with integrity.

“We are called to make sure our councils are places where this can happen, and to make sure that every Catholic man understands that the Knights of Columbus is where he can become a better husband, a better father, a better parishioner and a better citizen. That’s our mission.”

Photo by Mike Ross

Building a Culture of Life “This year, we have to redouble our efforts. I urge each of you to appoint a state pro-life chair-couple or a state pro-life chairman. Make sure that whoever you appoint can help lead the effort in education, in mobilization, in support of good legislation and in continuing to build a pro-life consensus and grassroots organization in your state.”

Protecting Children, Families “More than a million children a year in the United States are victimized. If we have a program called the Domestic Church, if we have a commitment

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson delivers keynote remarks June 7 during the organizational meeting of state deputies in New Haven, Conn. as husbands and fathers to protect our families, then we need to make sure that our families understand the danger confronting their children.

“We’re not talking so much about the danger at a parish activity as about

the immense danger in other places of society where predators are on the hunt 24/7. The educational material we’re developing that will go to members and councils in the coming months will make that very clear.”♦

‘A CHARITY THAT EVANGELIZES’ “Successful culture change on the part of any organization always entails a more intense degree of fidelity to its original inspiration and purpose.

“In the documents of the Second Vatican Council, we read: ‘Every renewal of the Church essentially consists in an increase in fidelity to her own calling.’ Beginning with the council and across four different pontificates, the Church has been called to engage in a profound change of culture, tilting itself ‘from maintenance to mission.’

“When a person moves from being not only a recipient of the Gospel but also someone who is responsible for the spread of the

Gospel, then such a person has become a missionary disciple.

“If the essence of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, then the essence of the Knights of Columbus must be to practice a charity that evangelizes — that evangelizes both its members and those who are assisted.

“In doing this, we are working with the Church, and to paraphrase the Second Vatican Council, we are increasing our fidelity to that which Father McGivney has called us.”

— an excerpt from Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori’s address at the opening business session, June 7

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S TAT E D E P U T I E S 2019-2020

ALABAMA JASON C. ESTEVE

ALASKA BILLY A. CHRISMAN JR.

ALBERTA VICENTE R. REYES

ARIZONA THOMAS KALISZ

ARKANSAS LEROY J. ANDERLE

BRITISH COLUMBIA DALE D. HOFER

CALIFORNIA DAVID M. ABBOTT

COLORADO CHRISTOPHER J. FOLEY

CONNECTICUT GARY P. MCKEONE

DELAWARE EUGENE M. DZIELAK

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BRANDON J. BROWN

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC LAZARO BERQUEL RODRIQUEZ CABRERA

FLORIDA SCOTT A. O’CONNOR

GEORGIA MARK W. HOFMANN

GUAM BOBBY O. PELKEY

HAWAII MICHAEL M. MADIX

IDAHO SHANE J. GEHRING

ILLINOIS FRANK J. SCHWARTZ JR.

INDIANA PAUL A. ZIELINSKI

IOWA PAUL R. LEE

KANSAS DALE A. WEBER

KENTUCKY CAMERON G. PECK

LOUISIANA RENNAN J. DUFFOUR

LUZON NORTH RENE V. SARMIENTO

LUZON SOUTH BONIFACIO B. MARTINEZ

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S TAT E D E P U T I E S 2019-2020

MAINE MARK R. BOURGOIN

MANITOBA DANIEL P. SHEPHERD

MARYLAND DALE W. TROTT

MASSACHUSETTS PAUL A. FLANAGAN

MEXICO CENTRAL FRANCISCO SÁENZ MUÑOZ

MEXICO NORTHEAST JUAN MANUEL QUINTANILLA BALCÁZAR

MEXICO NORTHWEST CESAR GILDARDO ESTRADA TREVIZO

MEXICO SOUTH ROMMEL MANUEL PALMA GARCÍA

MEXICO WEST FRANCISCO A. MORENO MUÑOZ

MICHIGAN WILLIAM H. CHASSE

MINDANAO GERRY EUTEMIO T. MISSION

MINNESOTA MARC E. PETERS

MISSISSIPPI PHILIP N. JABOUR

MISSOURI ROBERT M. HAWKINS

MONTANA ALLEN W. CORMANY

NEBRASKA MARK J. BORYTSKY

NEVADA ANTONIO F. PASCUA

NEW BRUNSWICK GERALD P. WHITE

NEW HAMPSHIRE JOSEPH J. KOWALIK III

NEW JERSEY VINCENT P. TAVORMINA

NEW MEXICO JOHN R. BRAULT

NEW YORK WALTER J. WYCH

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR L. GORDON LANNON

NORTH CAROLINA DANIEL L. LANGE

NORTH DAKOTA JAMES J. WERNER

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S TAT E D E P U T I E S 2019-2020

NOVA SCOTIA JAMES A. MACDONALD

OHIO ROBERT E. BYERS

OKLAHOMA MATTHEW C. MALY

ONTARIO DAVID C. PETERS

OREGON RONALD J. BOYCE

PENNSYLVANIA MARK L. JAGO

POLAND TOMASZ WAWRZKOWICZ

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND RICHARD E. ALLEN

PUERTO RICO JOSÉ LUIS VAZQUEZ PADILLA

QUÉBEC DANIEL DUCHESNE

RHODE ISLAND MICHAEL J. DZIOK

SASKATCHEWAN CHRISTOPHER R. BENCHARSKI

SOUTH CAROLINA DANIEL E. BARTON

SOUTH DAKOTA GERALD S. DVORAK

TENNESSEE MICHAEL R. MCCUSKER

TEXAS T. MARK EVANS

UKRAINE BOGDAN I. KOVALIV

UTAH GREGORY A. KELLER

VERMONT THOMAS A. HERBST JR.

VIRGINIA ROBERT J. SZERSZYNSKI

VISAYAS TEOFRIDO B. LAGRAI

WASHINGTON PATRICK L. KELLEY

WEST VIRGINIA PAUL B. NIEDBALSKI

WISCONSIN JACK V. WRBANICH

WYOMING BRET T. LADENBERGER

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KN IGHTS IN ACTION

REPORTS FROM COUNCILS, ASSEMBLIES AND COLUMBIAN SQUIRES CIRCLES ADOPTED PARISH

For several years, Holy Family of the Mountains Council 7950 in Crestline, Calif., has donated food, supplies and educational support to parishioners at St. Eugene de Mazenod Parish in Tijuana, Mexico. Council 7950 recently expanded its fundraising efforts and increased its donations to help the parish accommodate an influx of migrants sleeping in tents and warehouses.

ROOM AT THE INN

Ontario Knights repaint walls at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore — a used home and building supply store that raises funds for Habitat projects — in St. Catharines. The event was part of “Knights of Columbus Week” in Niagara Falls, Ontario, during which the city officially recognized the Order for “quiet acts of charity.”

WORKS OF MERCY

Marlboro (Mass.) Council 81 supports Home of the Divine Mercy Institute for Vocational Training in Kabale, Uganda. The ministry, founded by Ugandan priest Father Evarist Gabosya Ankwasiize, teaches profitable skills to young women who were orphaned or exploited. The council has raised $5,500 to improve the Institute’s instructional building.

RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD

Father Fray Juan Diaz Council 1806 in Yuma, Ariz., purchased eight new tires for the Casa-Hogar de Niñas Santa

Members of Mamakating Council 14560 in Wurtsboro, N.Y., attended Mass at St. Christopher’s Inn in Garrison, a ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement that offers rehabilitation to men in crisis.

Guests at the inn live with the friars and receive free or low-cost services such as substance abuse treatment, primary health care, psychiatric services and vocational

COMMUNITY assistance. Deputy Grand Knight Joseph Hershel presented the ministry with a check for $3,400.

POLISH PRIDE

Members of Msgr. Charles A. Kelly Jr. Council 14129 in Henrico, Va., hosted a Polish-themed family festival at St. Mary’s Parish Hall.

The event included folk dancing, an authentic Polish dinner and a silent auction.

Proceeds were donated to the church’s sister parish in Haiti and to KOVAR, a Virginia state council charity that provides financial assistance to organizations helping people with intellectual disabilities.

Maria de Guadalupe, an orphanage in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, Mexico, where religious sisters care for approximately 30 young girls. The sisters desperately needed to replace the old tires on their two vans.

GOOD STEWARDS

For 15 years, members of St. Stephen Council 14084 in Riverview, Fla., have joined families and parishioners of St. Stephen Catholic Church to “adopt” a road through Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, a nonprofit that promotes environmental stewardship. The council picks up trash four times a year along a road close to the parish.

Knights and family members of St. Matthew Council 14360 in Norwalk, Conn., take a break from cleaning up the future home of Malta House, a residence for pregnant women and mothers in need. Malta House will be moving to a former convent at All Saints Catholic School in Norwalk once its capital campaign has raised the money for renovations. Council 14360 has supported the home for the last 10 years, assisting with projects, raising funds and collecting supplies.

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N BACK FROM THE DESERT

GOOD WORKS ENSHRINED

Mary Mother of the Church Council 10381 in Laurie,

FAITH Mo., donated $50,000 for repairs and maintenance at the National Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church. The landmark and USCCB-recognized national shrine, located on the grounds of St. Patrick Catholic Church, draws an estimated 50,000 pilgrims and tourists each year. The council had been saving funds to purchase a home corporation building but instead decided to strengthen its relationship with St. Patrick Parish and donate the money to the shrine’s capital campaign.

PLAYING AT THE PARISH

FAMILY FOOD FOR FAMILIES

Burleson County Council 6366 in Caldwell, Texas, hosted a Food for Families drive at St. Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church as part of KBTX TV Brazos Valley Food Drive, a community initiative sponsored by the television station.

Members of Council 6366 donated $1,000 and volunteered from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., helping to bring in some 12,800 pounds of canned goods and $26,000 in donations for local food banks.

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Our Lord of Divine Mercy Council 12259 in Quezon City, Luzon South, and its associated women’s group organized the Palarong Pambata — traditional games for children — at the Parish of the Lord of Divine Mercy’s Fiesta celebration.

FEEDING FATHERS

Dads and guests ate their fill at the Father’s Day Appreciation Breakfast provided by Gilmary (Pa.) Council 3868 at St. Sylvester’s Church Hall in Brentwood. Chefs flipped omelets and volunteers handed out pastries, chocolate bars and American flag lapel pins. The Knights donated the proceeds to local food banks, Pittsburgh-area seminarians and the council’s Coats for Kids initiative.

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Participants in a giant tricycle race entertain the crowd at Derby Day, a Kentucky Derby family party and fundraiser sponsored by Edward Douglass White Council 2473 in Arlington, Va. The proceeds, totaling more than $17,500, were donated to Tracy’s Kids, an art therapy program for young cancer patients.

CREATURE COMFORTS

Thanks to the generosity of the parishioners at Our Lady of Light Catholic Community in Fort Myers,

Fla., Our Lady of Light Council 10498 collected more than 200 stuffed animals for first responders to give to children involved in traumatic events.

TOP: Photo by Gregory A. Shemitz | BOTTOM RIGHT: Photo by Joe Cashwell, Reprinted with permission of the Arlington Catholic Herald www.catholicherald.com

Knights gather for Mass during an annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Island in Manorville, N.Y. Approximately 200 Knights and family members representing several area councils participated, including Supreme Director Carmine Musumeci, State Deputy Kenneth Latham and other state leaders.

St. Louise de Marillac Council 8186 in Warren, Mich., hosted a dinner to support local seminarians.

More than 100 guests enjoyed chicken cacciatore prepared by Father Michael Suhy, pastor and council chaplain, with assistance from the Knights. After the meal, seminarians from Sacred Heart Major Seminary spoke about their Desert Formation Experience, a pilgrimage they took to the Holy Land. The council awarded several door prizes, including a leatherbound Bible and a rosary made of hematite, and distributed copies of Into the Breach.

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N HEARTBEATS AND MARCHING FEET

LIFE LAPS FOR LIFE

More than 200 people participated in Coastal Laps for Life at Father Lopez Catholic High School in Daytona Beach, Fla., the last of a series of walkathon fundraisers organized by councils and assemblies in central Florida.

So far, the program has placed four $30,000 ultrasound machines in pregnancy resource centers, purchased with matching grants from the Supreme Council’s Ultrasound Initiative. A fifth ultrasound machine will go to Alpha Pregnancy Center in Bunnell.

Over the course of a year, Msgr. D.P. Murphy Council 3734 in Weirton, W.Va., raised more than $13,000 from various council projects and private donations toward the purchase of an ultrasound machine for the Aim Center for Women, a pregnancy resource center in Steubenville, Ohio. The council also donated $450 to Weirton Madonna High School in support of the students’ bus trip to the annual March for Life.

William Necel, a member of Pope John Paul II Council 13808 in Greensboro, Ga., assists a young man running the 50-yard dash at the 2019 Greene County Special Olympics at Greene County High School.

DECENT BURIAL

Father Francis S. Franklin Council 6037 in Conneaut Lake, Pa., donated $500 to the Stephen P. Mizner Funeral Home in Meadville to support its ministry of providing free burial services for babies lost to miscarriage.

KISSIMMEE FOR LIFE

Beato Carlos M. Rodriguez Council 13116 in Kissimmee, Fla., provided integral support in the founding of Beyond Pregnancy Care, a

new pregnancy resource center. Members painted the exterior of the building and remodeled the interior to include a reception area, three examination rooms, a lounge and a baby boutique.

CIVILIAN TRANSITIONS

St. John Neumann Assembly 478 in Utica, Mich., supports homeless military veterans at Vets Returning Home, a local shelter that offers vets a place to live as well as legal help, training and job placement. The assembly donated $2,000 to the organization and household items to veterans moving into homes of their own.

Residents at the shelter were also special guests at the assembly’s Christmas dinner and annual summer picnic.

Ron Janak (left) and Cesar DeJesus, members of St. Joseph’s at Honey Creek Council 8521 in Spring Branch, Texas, place flags at the marker of an American Civil War veteran. Father Virgilius Draessel Assembly 3439, also in Spring Branch, decorated the gravesites of more than 50 veterans at an annual Memorial Day ceremony at St. Joseph Catholic Church and cemetery grounds. The event included readings, blessings of the graves, a distribution of poppies, a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps.

PATRIOTISM and a commemoration of prisoners of war and service members missing in action.

Veterans shared their stories and received handmade certificates. The event also raised $1,500 for the Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House in Barrington.

VETS APPRECIATION

St. Mary of Huntley (Ill.) Council 11666 hosted its annual Veterans Appreciation Dinner, this year honoring veterans of the Vietnam War. The program included a color guard marching with the flags of each branch of the military

FLAG DISPOSAL

Msgr. John J. Lettau Assembly 2596 in Youngstown, Ohio, led parishioners of local churches in a ceremony to dispose of soiled, torn and otherwise unserviceable flags in a dignified and prayerful manner.

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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.

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Please enroll me in the Father McGivney Guild: NAME ADDRESS 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

USA Red T-Shirt Made in America, this 100% cotton T-shirt features the full-color emblem of the Order on the front left chest and Knights of Columbus printed in white on the back.

M, L, XL: $23 each, 2XL: $25 each, 3XL: $26 each, 4XL: $27 each

OFFICIAL JULY 1, 2019: 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 06507-0901. 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 06507-0901.

COLUMBIA (ISSN 0010-1869/USPS #123-740) IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, 1 COLUMBUS PLAZA, NEW HAVEN, CT 06510-3326. PHONE: 203-752-4000, www.kofc.org. PRODUCED IN USA. COPYRIGHT © 2019 BY KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT NEW HAVEN, CT AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO COLUMBIA, MEMBERSHIP DEPARTMENT, PO BOX 1670, NEW HAVEN, CT 06507-0901.

CANADIAN POSTMASTER — PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 1473549. RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, 50 MACINTOSH BOULEVARD, CONCORD, ONTARIO L4K 4P3.

PHILIPPINES — FOR PHILIPPINES SECOND-CLASS MAIL AT THE MANILA CENTRAL POST OFFICE. SEND RETURN COPIES TO KCFAPI, FRATERNAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT, PO BOX 1511, MANILA.

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Safety Vest This bright yellow safety vest ensures visibility as you direct traffic, park cars or manage the flow of people at a K of C event. Made of 100% polyester, it has several pockets, and the emblem of the Order and Knights of Columbus appear in black across the back shoulders.

The vest also includes 2-inch wide reflective taping and is ANSI/ISEA 107 Class 2 certified.

M, L, XL: $23 each, 2XL: $25 each, 3XL: $26 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 MBU 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.

A family gathers on the grounds of Mundelein Seminary during the fifth annual Dash Around the Lake, a 5K walk/run sponsored

by Cardinal Stritch Council 3674 in Libertyville, Ill. The race was open to all ages and ability levels; proceeds supported various council charities and the St. Joseph Catholic Church youth group’s mission trip to Appalachia.

TO BE FEATURED HERE , SEND YOUR COUNCIL’ S “K NIGHTS IN A CTION ” PHOTO AS WELL AS ITS DESCRIPTION TO : C OLUMBIA , 1 C OLUMBUS P LAZA , N EW H AVEN , CT 06510-3326 OR EMAIL : KNIGHTSINACTION @ KOFC . ORG .

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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

‘I KNEW JESUS WAS CALLING ME.’

SISTER MARIA IMMACULATA GLOFCHESKIE Sisters of Our Lady Immaculate Cambridge, Ontario

Photo by Jonathan Bielaski

The seeds of my vocation were planted at an early age as my parents taught me our Catholic faith and how to pray. However, I did not consider religious life until my elementary school principal asked: “Have you ever thought of being a sister?” Around age 13, I began a journey of deeper prayer, particularly in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

It was there that I knew Jesus was calling me to be his bride.

When I met the Sisters of Our Lady Immaculate, I remember the joy and peace they radiated! I was attracted to their charism to live religious life faithfully and teach the faith courageously. I entered the community on the feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 2011.

The great joy of being a religious sister is that we follow in the footsteps of Our Lady, seeking to love and glorify Jesus all the days of our lives. This demands sacrifice and a total gift of self, yet we know that God always gives us the grace we need to respond to his voice saying, “Come, follow me.”