KNIGHTS OF THE CHURCH The Knights of Columbus are one of three organizations to be honored with the Amar Es Entregarse Award at the 22nd Annual Bishop’s Dinner on May 27. LEFT: Knights stand in the back of a church ahead of a Diocesan Mass. RIGHT: Knights participate in the Special Olympics Plane Pull which takes place annually at Long Beach Airport to raise money for Special Olympics.
By Miramon Nuevo
Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis called them by these titles: Protectors and Defenders of the Catholic Faith, Our Lady’s Knights, Guardians of the Family, Guardians of the Truth, Knights of the Eucharist and Guardians of the First Tabernacle.
We simply refer to them as the Knights of Columbus.
This May 27, at the 22nd Annual Bishop’s Dinner to be held in Palm Desert, Bishop Alberto Rojas will bestow the Amar Es Entregarse Award to three organizations, including our local Knights of Columbus.
Whether the Knights are in capes crowned with feathered felt hats making an arch with their swords during special church ceremonies or just in plain polo shirts and slacks selling steaming pancakes and hotdogs and handing out church bulletins after Mass, these men have been a regular fixture that can’t be missed at local parishes.
Whether it’s providing coats and food for those in need, helping with special Olympics, supporting seminarians or rebuilding Christian communities in the Middle East, the Knights of Columbus have proven in powerful ways that wherever there’s a need there’s a Knight.
“Catholic men are drawn to the Knights of Columbus because they see what we do and want to be part of it,” explained Marc Cobb, president of the Arrowhead Desert Valley Chapter (ADVC). “Whether it is serving the parish or the local community, watching men serve is very contagious.”
Cobb joined the Order in 1982. He is currently the Financial Secretary of his council. The ADVC was organized in 1958 to promote the Order within the Diocese of San Bernardino. There are 66 local Knight of Columbus councils under its supervision.
Last year, the ADVC raised $20,000 for their annual Bishop’s Burse Dinner which raises funds to support the seminarians in the Diocese. In August 2021, the ADVC, in collaboration with District Deputy 135 Alex Castanon, donated an ultrasound machine to the Pregnancy and Family Resource Center in San Bernardino. Last Christmas Eve, the ADVC and Riverside Council 1638 delivered a wheelchair from District Deputy Ed Robillard to retired priest Father George Gonzales as a surprise gift for his 90th birthday.
On March 3, in response to Bishop Rojas’ urgent plea, the ADVC teamed up with the staff from the Diocesan Pastoral Center to collect and transport foods and essential supplies to residents of San Bernardino mountain communities who were trapped in their homes by heaps of snow for nearly 2 weeks. (See page 5 for extended story on this recent outreach.)
These are just some of the many ways that Knights in our Diocese have found to serve those in our local communities.
“We are here to assist [Bishop Alberto Rojas] in all ways possible. The Amar Es Entregarse Award symbolizes the many hours of dedication and the financial support the Knights and their councils within the ADVC have provided to the Diocese,” Cobb said. “These Catholic men do all of this out of the love they have for their priests, bishop and the Church. I am truly honored to accept this award on their behalf.”
One Knight, Zaki Mustafa, along with his wife Loretta, run a non-profit organization called Transforming A Life. Every year since 2017, they’ve been handing out jackets and other basic necessities to the homeless, both in the US and in some disaster and poverty stricken countries. So far, Transforming A Life has donated 42,000 jackets, the success of which they partly attribute to the unfaltering assistance of the ever-ready Knights of Columbus.
“While the bulk of our fundings are coming from private organizations and donors, the Knights of Columbus essentially serves as the hands, arms and legs of Transforming A Life in assuring that our projects and missions are delivered timely and swiftly,” said Mustafa, who joined the Order in 2010. “God has given the gift of life and it is our responsibility as Knights to give back.”
Led by the quiet, unassuming Father Michael J. McGivney of St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven, Connecticut, a small group of men established the Knights of Columbus in the church basement early in the spring of 1882. As the Church faced serious problems in the 19th century such as anti-Catholicism and ethnic prejudice, Blessed McGivney conceived the idea of an organization of Catholic men who would band together to aid one another in times of sickness and death so that their widows and orphans would not face abject poverty, to strengthen themselves and each other in the faith, to strengthen families, to be a strong pillar of support for their priests and bishops and to be of service to Church and community by coming to the aid of those most in need in society.
Father Clarence Saldua, Administrator of Our Lady of Lourdes, Montclair, became a Knight in 2019. He offered this heartwarming prayer to the BYTE to shed light on the very essence of the Knight’s purpose, mission and vision:
“Lord, let me be a lamp unto the feet of my brother, that I may help him through the hard times. When rain falls down upon him, let him know that I will lift him up – when his load is too heavy to bear, when his steps are weary, and no comfort can be found.
“Let me be a breeze unto the back of my brother, that I may help him through turbulent times. When the world rises up against him, when the waves get too high and the harbor seems so far away, let him know I am a safe shore and will help him to find firmer ground.
“Let me be an answer to the prayer in my brother’s heart that I may have served some purpose here, not only to those whom I love but also to my brothers I have never met. Let me walk each day in the knowledge that no man ever walks alone and live life to the fullest until the trumpet’s last sound.
“Lord, let me be. Amen.”
Miramon Nuevo is a freelance writer and a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes, Montclair. A retired sports columnist and boxing analyst, he now lives with his wife, Justine, and three children in Fontana.