OCT 17 SK Report E 9_15 FINAL.qxp_Oct E 11 9/15/17 5:52 PM Page 21
Photo by Lloyd Wolf
Following the U.S. House of Representatives’ unanimous vote to pass the Iraq and Syria Emergency Relief and Accountability Act (H.R. 390), Supreme Knight Anderson participates in a press conference on Capitol Hill June 7. With him are Chaldean Catholic Bishop Bawai Soro of San Diego and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who joined the supreme knight in stressing the urgency of the situation facing Christian and other religious minorities in the Middle East. Rep. Smith and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) were the principal co-sponsors of the legislation. Today, we also recall the historic 1999 visit to St. Louis of Pope John Paul II, a visit regarded by many as the most important event in the history of St. Louis. His Mass, which was celebrated here in this very building, was attended by more than 104,000 participants. It is still considered the largest indoor gathering in the history of the United States. Today, we recall his words during that papal Mass. After recounting the Catholic history of St. Louis — a history that began in 1698 — he said: “These three centuries have been a history of God’s love poured out in this part of the United States, and a history of generous response to that love.”2 This year marks our 135th anniversary. We celebrate our anniversary in a city named for a great and saintly Catholic king, a city of missionaries, a gateway city opening up the promise of a new continent. And, like
those early missionaries, we come to St. Louis because, in the words of this year’s convention theme, we are “convinced of God’s love and power.” Our theme comes from Pope Francis’ World Day of Peace message. He praised those who — rather than resort to violence — are “so convinced of God’s love and power that they are not afraid to tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth.”3 My brother Knights, each day we tackle the evils of our times in ways large and small. We do so peacefully, and we do so with love and truth. We take to heart these words attributed to St. Teresa of Ávila: “Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless his people.”4 OCTOBER 2017
♦ COLUMBIA
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