Irrelevant?
I can't speak for the Masons, but I can certainly speak for the Knights. I'm a Fourth Degree Knight here in San Antonio.
Some of the "irrelevant things" we do as Knights include:
Hurricane Katrina
The Knights of Columbus Gulf States Disaster Relief Fund grew to more than $10 million, and that financial aid was supplemented by hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours of service by Knights in the immediate area (hundreds of Knights worked eight-hour shifts at the Houston Astrodome, for example) and by Knights throughout the U.S. and Canada, who collected clothing, food and other staples for storm victims.
The Knights of Columbus also quickly provided badly needed resources to Catholic Charities offices in Baton Rouge, La., and Mobile, Ala., when they were suddenly overwhelmed with thousands of people who escaped the storm with little but the clothes on their backs. The Knights wired $200,000 to Baton Rouge Catholic Charities just a few days after the storm hit, long before resources were available from any other source. Individual Knights of Columbus at dozens of K of C halls in the region served thousands of meals to evacuees, and several halls were made available to police and national guard officials for use as temporary command centers.
The Knights of Columbus also made significant contributions to the restoration of Catholic education in the affected areas, including a $500,000 grant to the New Orleans Catholic school system, which paid tuition expenses for hundreds of low-income students whose parents were suddenly left without jobs or income.
September 11
The Knights of Columbus were one of the first organizations to offer relief to families of fallen police, firefighters and emergency personnel – within two days of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Since 2001, the Knights have also taken the lead in helping the country to remember the day in a prayerful way. Among the highlights of the Knights activities in the aftermath of September 11:
$1.49 million in immediate aid provided to 419 relatives of fallen emergency personnel through the Knights’ Heroes Fund, which began distributing checks to family members – regardless of religious affiliation – within two days of the attacks.
More than $3500 distributed to each recipient for emergency needs. The fund was established September 12, 2001, and the first checks were delivered September 13.
More than 40 members of the Knights of Columbus members were killed on September 11.
Full scholarships to the Catholic college of their choice are available to 29 children of members killed or disabled in the line of duty on September 11 through the Order’s Matthews and Swift Educational Trust Scholarship program.
Irrelevant?
Hardly?
In decline?
NOT A CHANCE!
The Knights are not ones to brag, but we're here, raising money and making a better world. For more and smaller-scope activities, I invite you to look at the Knights in Action section of our website (http://www.kofc.org/un/news/kia/index.cfm).
The Knights ARE relevant and we're not a drinking group (although we do some of that, too!). We're a group of committed Catholic men who serve God through service to our fellow man.
