Knights share enthusiasm at annual convention dinner
Catholic Spirit, September 2008, In Our World
By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service
Knights of Columbus from around the world gathered for the 126th annual Knights of Columbus convention in Quebec City on Aug. 5. The Knights, their spouses and guests celebrated the accomplishments of local councils and shined a spotlight the diversity of the 126-year-old organization.
For nearly 10 minutes members of the throng waved colorful flags from their home states, Canadian provinces and far-off countries as a slew of distinguished guests, including dozens of members of the church hierarchy, marched to the dais and the four long rows of head tables reserved for them.
As dinner progressed, representatives from each locale stood and waved multicolored flags as the Stu Hirsch Orchestra rolled through a battery of songs, each recalling the 50 states, the District of Columbia, 11 Canadian provinces and five countries.
The evening also was devoted to celebrating the work of the international network of Knights councils, which raised a record $144.9 million in 2007 and saw membership climb by nearly 22,000 worldwide in the fiscal year ending June 30. U.S. and Canadian dollars are roughly equivalent.
Joining the gala were Cardinal John P. Foley, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York, Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec and Bishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who is president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Cardinal Foley, billed as the convention’s second keynote speaker of the day, urged the convention to continue praying and supporting the work of Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem. He reminded the gathering of the difficulty the Catholic Church faces in the Holy Land as the Christian presence continues to dwindle.
Patriarch Twal was in attendance at the convention and earlier in the day he had made his own appeal to the 500 delegates for their support of the church in the Holy Land.
“We cannot permit the Holy Land to become merely a Christian museum,” Cardinal Foley said. “We must help keep alive a vibrant Christian community in the land made sacred by the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
Saying that Israel’s security must be preserved, Cardinal Foley also called for respect for the rights and dignity of all Palestinians, Muslim and Christian alike.
“There is a great material prosperity in Israel, of course, but not so much for the Palestinian minority and even less so for the Christian minority within the Palestinian minority,” he said.
He described the situation for Palestinians on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as “truly desperate.” He said the Israeli-built security wall around Bethlehem “has to be seen to be believed.”
In closing, he thanked the Knights for their charitable works and urged them to build the work around the organization’s three founding principles: charity, unity and fraternity.