‘Building up a communion of love’

St. Patrick Parish Knights of Columbus mark 50 years

By Dan McWilliams

The Knights of Columbus from St. Patrick in Morristown celebrated their 50th anniversary this fall, and Richard Hidalgo has been there for the entire half-century of a council that has taken part in virtually every aspect of parish life and in the community at large.

Mr. Hidalgo, 85, is the only surviving charter member among the 32 men who founded Joseph P. Doherty Council 6730 in 1975. Then-pastor Father Sterling McGuire asked Mr. Doherty, one of a few parishioners who had been driving to Knoxville to attend meetings of Knights Council 645, to address St. Patrick men about forming a council there. Mr. Doherty’s presentations over two weekends were so good that it motivated the 32 men to form Council 6730, Mr. Hidalgo said.

“I was one of them. I was 12,” the charter member quipped.

Bishop Mark Beckman celebrated an anniversary Mass for the council—now 125 members strong—on Nov. 1 at St. Patrick Church, with a dinner and program following at nearby Morristown Landing. Mr. Hidalgo proclaimed both readings and read the closing announcements at Mass, and fellow council members served as ushers and took up the offertory. Fourth Degree Knights of Bernard O’Connor Assembly in Morristown provided an honor guard for the liturgy.

“Tonight, we honor in a special way this local council of the Knights of Columbus to mark 50 years. What a great milestone that is, of building up a communion of love in this community,” Bishop Beckman said.

St. Patrick associate pastor Father Hoan Dinh concelebrated the Mass and in opening remarks welcomed the bishop to the church, and parish Deacon Jim Fage and Deacon Hicks Armor assisted.

State Deputy Eric Pelton of St. Jude Parish in Chattanooga, Council 6730 Grand Knight Dave Howells and many of his predecessors in that leading role, and numerous current Knights attended the Mass and dinner, where council wives also received a special mention. Mr. Hidalgo shared many memories from the council’s 50 years in a talk after dinner, telling of the Knights’ work with the intellectually disabled and numerous other causes, and he received a special award from Mr. Howells at the end of the evening.

All the Souls

The Mass was held on the vigil of All Souls.

“One of the most important gifts of the Knights of Columbus, I believe, is our Knights help men in our communities to grow, a place where brothers help brothers to become more like Christ, to live the Beatitudes of the Gospel that we heard tonight,” Bishop Beckman said. “An active and growing and thriving council in a parish community supports the building of communion of the brothers and sisters of this community in a beautiful way.”

The anniversary celebration, held one day before the official 50-year mark on the Knights council’s charter, fell at an appropriate time on the Church calendar, the bishop said.

“I think it fitting tonight that we honor the Knights of this council and celebrate this milestone on a feast like the feast of All the Souls,” he said. “Why is that so important? Because this feast day reminds us that God has put us together in His Church, in a communion of love, and that itself does not separate us from those who have gone before us . . . Something that we can do to support them . . . is we pray for them, that the Lord will purify them and draw them to Himself.”

Bishop Beckman spoke of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine, as “one of the most beautiful examples of that communion of love I have found . . .when she was approaching her hour of death.”

St. Augustine in his Confessions remembers that “the day is now approaching” when his mother would pass away.

“‘One thing only I ask you: that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be,’” the bishop said in quoting St. Monica. “Those words of Monica spoken to her sons: ‘Do not worry about where you will bury my body. One thing alone I ask: wherever you go, at the altar of the Lord, always remember me.’

“Isn’t that what we do tonight at this altar, on this feast of All the Souls, as we do at every Mass? We remember those who have gone before us at the altar of the Lord, and there is no place in the world, I believe, that we are closer to our loved ones than here in this place, as we celebrate the Eucharist at the altar of the Lord.”

Bishop Beckman thanked Mr. Hidalgo for his service not only at the Mass but for the Knights council over its 50 years.

“He is the only charter member of the council left. It is wonderful to have you serving in this role tonight at the liturgy,” the bishop said, adding that “I told him he must have been 2 when he became a Knight,” a remark followed by a round of applause for Mr. Hidalgo.

The charter member, who attended the Mass and dinner with his wife of 62 years, Valerie, said after the liturgy that he is “the only one left” from the original council members.

“It’s incredible. These are wonderful people, and the ones who preceded them, all of these folks, are terrific, too. I’m missing a lot of my brother Knights, but this has been a grand time for us,” Mr. Hidalgo said. “We’ve had 50 successful years as a council, so we’re really happy for that.”

A shared vision

Those early years were “very exciting,” Mr. Hidalgo said, “because 32 people joined.”

“That was a big group to join the Knights, and so we hit the ground running,” he said. “We got noticed by the state right away, and we did a lot of good things.”

From 1980 to 2015, Council 6730 operated the Sutherland-Metz group home for intellectually disabled men.

“That was one of the many things we did. We had ‘Holy Bingo’ here every Wednesday while we could. We did a lot of good things because of bingo. We brought the parish together. We had some good dinners—any kind of festivity, the Knights of Columbus were there,” Mr. Hidalgo shared.

The group home was named after council members Tom Sutherland and Chuck Metz.

“It was very successful, and we had wonderful house parents who took care of the men. That was a big plus for us,” Mr. Hidalgo said. “Chuck Metz and Tom Sutherland—Tom was a retired Navy guy and a hero of World War II.”

Nashville Bishop James D. Niedergeses presided at the ceremony that launched the council in 1975.

“It was a wonderful ceremony. It was grand. Everybody had their vestments. It was very inspiring,” Mr. Hidalgo recalled.

Bishop Beckman said following the liturgy that it was “very, very providential” that the anniversary celebration occurred when it did.

“I think it’s so beautiful that we’re celebrating the gift of the Knights of Columbus, who are so devoted to fraternity and communion, on a day when we remember our communion with all those who have gone before us on this special day of All Souls,” he said. “Half a century, 50 years—that’s quite a remarkable achievement, a lot of service, a lot of charity, a lot of communion.”

One goal of the Knights of Columbus, as seen in their bulletin announcements asking men to join the order, is to help men “get to heaven.”

“That’s the goal of all the whole Church, right? To help each other to get to heaven, which is where all the saints are,” Bishop Beckman said. “We hope to join them someday.”

Greg Oparyk, faithful navigator of the Bernard O’Connor Assembly and financial secretary of Council 6730, emceed the dinner. In his opening remarks, Mr. Oparyk said that the average age of the council’s members is 67 and their average years of service to the Knights is 22. He then asked how many council members in the audience were above both averages, and several hands were raised.

Bishop Beckman spoke to the Knights and their wives at the dinner before giving the opening prayer.

“I’ve been a Knight of Columbus since 1982, I think it was, in my college years,” the bishop said. “I’m so grateful for the Knights of Columbus. You all are a gift to the Church in the United States, and the fact that you have been here at St. Patrick for half a century to me is a true milestone. I ask the blessing of the Lord upon you tonight and the food that we’re about to share.”

In his prayer, Bishop Beckman said, “Gracious and loving God, we do indeed thank you tonight for the gift of the Knights of Columbus as we celebrate this council’s 50th anniversary. We ask you, Lord, to bless all of those who have gone before us, that they may know forever the goodness of your love in the kingdom of heaven and that someday we will join them. Help us, Lord, to carry forward that great torch of faith that has been handed on to us.”

Mr. Howells, the Grand Knight now halfway through his third year in the role, then took the microphone.

“On behalf of our council, it is my great honor and joy to welcome you as we celebrate this truly special milestone: our 50th anniversary as a Knights of Columbus council.

“Fifty years ago, a group of Catholic men at St. Patrick came together with a shared vision, and that vision was to serve God, to serve the Church, to serve the families, and to serve the community through the principles of charity, unity, and fraternity. Tonight, we gather to honor those 32 men who chartered the council back in 1975 and their dedication to the order. We also want to reflect on the countless ways our present and past Knights and brothers have lived that mission over the past five decades.”

The anniversary “is not only a celebration but a moment to give thanks—to God for His abundant blessings, to our pastors and clergy for their guidance, to our families for their support, and to every brother here who has brought time, talent, and faith to this order,” Mr. Howells said.

“I also want to place a lot of value on the Knights’ ladies over these past 50 years,” he added. “As members of the council, we are called to serve. But none of this would be possible without the steadfast love and support of the women who stand by us. Our wives are not only our partners in life—they are the silent strength of the work that we do for the order.”

Blessed Father Michael J. McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, and the council continues his vision, Mr. Howells said.

“As we look ahead, let us be inspired by the legacy that we inherited and recommit ourselves to carrying the mission forward that our Blessed Michael McGivney envisioned over 100 years ago,” the Grand Knight said. “While our waistlines and hairlines may have moved over the years, our hearts are in the same place: to serve our God, our families, our Church, and our community. Our Lord and Savior asks one thing of us: ‘give me your heart.’ That is what all our brothers over those decades have desired to do. Thank you for being here this evening on this joyous occasion. May the evening be filled with gratitude, fellowship, and renewed purpose in the service of Christ and His Church.”

Mr. Pelton followed Mr. Howells.

“I bring you greetings from our Supreme Knight, Patrick Kelly, and as state deputy I echo his words of gratitude to the officers and members of the Joseph P. Doherty Council 6730,” he said. “We also want to thank the ladies who help support us in the mission. The mission was started in 1882 by Blessed Michael McGivney. That mission is still our mission today: to bring Catholic laymen together in a common cause, to strengthen the Church, to promote and protect the Catholic family, and to offer assistance to the less fortunate.

“For 50 years, you’ve been carrying out this mission of charity, unity, and fraternity. Morristown is a better place. St. Patrick’s is a better place for what the men and women of this council have done over the past 50 years. You can be rightly proud of yourself. Let me close by saying it’s my honor to say congratulations and thank you on behalf of the Tennessee Knights of Columbus.”

In his talk after dinner, Mr. Hidalgo remembered that Mr. Doherty, Bernard O’Connor, Mr. Sutherland, and Bernie Flederbach drove to Council 645 meetings on Magnolia Avenue in Knoxville. That council, based at Immaculate Conception Parish downtown, recently celebrated its 120th anniversary. A men’s club at St. Patrick had about seven members, Mr. Hidalgo said, before the original 32 men stepped up to form the Knights council in Morristown.

The man who made those original presentations to the men of the parish and gave his name to the council served as its first Grand Knight.

“We even named the council the Joseph P. Doherty Council 6730 in his honor, and when it was established, we named our Fourth Degree Assembly as the Bernard O’Connor Assembly in Bernie’s honor because he was responsible for getting the Fourth Degree assembly up and running,” Mr. Hidalgo said.

Those early years

The council’s first Tootsie Roll Drive, a time-honored fundraiser for Knights to benefit the mentally challenged, was a resounding success, the charter member said.

“In our very first drive, we came in second in collections, and we were up against councils in Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and all the state,” he said. “About 25-plus men manned the roadblocks and storefronts in the city, and we raised more than $21,000” for what was then called the state Knights’ MR Program.

Those after-Thanksgiving collections continue, Mr. Hidalgo said.

“Since that first Black Friday 50 years ago, brother Knights have come to the parish center to collect boxes of Tootsie Rolls, traffic cones, and gallon milk jugs fashioned into cash receptacles,” he said. “We would wear warm coats, sweaters, comfortable shoes or boots, scarves, and gloves and stand at roadblocks or storefronts in snow, rain, wind, or mild temps from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., missing football games or leftover turkey.”

The idea of a men’s group home for the intellectually disabled came up in those early years.

“We learned what was involved and we began to move in that direction. Brother Bill Jewett, who became Grand Knight, worked for Exxon in sales and marketing. He spoke with the powers at Exxon and secured a grant of close to $10,000 to purchase land on Gammon Street in the city,” Mr. Hidalgo said. “We spoke with people in Chattanooga who operated several group homes in that city . . . and they gave us invaluable insight into how to navigate through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. We learned how to write and present a request for a grant. We were successful and awarded close to $350,000 to build a group home for 10 intellectually disabled men in our community.”

Morristown-area residents and manufacturers supported the Sutherland-Metz home, including a couple who took care of the residence and meals and drove the clients to their jobs.

In 1996, Holy Trinity Parish in Jefferson City was dedicated, and the January 2001 formation of its Knights council—in a ceremony that also honored the Doherty Council’s 25th anniversary—took away several members of the St. Patrick Knights.

“We lost many of our council members who lived in that parish, and they have continued to grow,” Mr. Hidalgo said.

Council 6730 Knights over the years have held spaghetti dinners and a Project Graduation event for high school seniors, which included a casino, and bingo.

“We operated ‘Holy Bingo’ every Wednesday for years, and we had between 2- and 300 people, some playing as many as 24 cards. We started at Madonna Hall and then in the parish center,” Mr. Hidalgo recalled, adding that the bingo games moved to the local VFW as attendance grew, before the state declared bingos a lottery and banned such events.

Proceeds from bingo allowed the council to make sizable contributions to volunteer fire departments, hold graduation dinners and dances for students of Morristown East and Morristown West high schools, and fund scholarships for the high schools, Mr. Hidalgo shared.

He also said Jim Mach designed and led a group of Knights in building a pavilion by the parish center, and Jim Miller built a grotto at St. Patrick to honor Our Lady of Fatima. Jerry Butler headed another contingent in installing Stations of the Cross behind the grotto.

Longtime St. Patrick pastor and now-Monsignor Patrick Garrity asked Mr. Hidalgo several years ago to build a columbarium.

“We went to brother Knights along with their wives, and they became the columbarium board of directors who made it happen,” the speaker remembered.

The council on Memorial Day honors deceased veterans inurned in the columbarium and has sponsored prostate-cancer screenings, and council Knight Luis Crespo drove Father Joseph Hammond, CHS, to Hispanic missions in the Five Rivers Deanery, among many other acts of service by Morristown Knights.

“Council 6730 has been a visible entity in our church community for the past 50 years,” Mr. Hidalgo said. “We installed the flagpole at the entrance to the church. We’ve taken our altar servers to Smokies baseball games, conducted basketball free-throw competitions, and donated funds to the building of the parish center and the expansion of our church.”

One Knights family received a special honor from the national council, he said.

“Brother John Coccia and wife Joan along with their children became the family of the year nationwide, for Joan’s dedicated work with handicapped children in her Adaptive Aquatic classes conducted at the Boys and Girls Club. The Coccia family was flown to New Haven, Conn., to be honored by the Supreme Council of our order.”

The local council’s spaghetti dinners began about 45 years ago, Mr. Hidalgo said.

“Brother Connie Gervasi, a Brooklyn native, was the head chef and taught some of us how to make pasta and meatballs,” he said. “When we lost Connie, John Karwowski stepped up to the stove, told everybody he was Italian, and kept the tradition going until he handed off the spoon to Mike Leonard.

“Brother Jerry Butler heads up St. Patrick’s Day suppers with gobs of delicious corned beef, which I sliced, colcannon mashed potatoes, which I peeled, and sometimes green beer, which I had to approve for consumption. It was always a fun event, and brother Knights and their wives would clean up the mess.”

The Morristown Knights also serve the meal at the parish Council of Catholic Women’s annual banquet; support Special Olympics; serve on the boards of United Way, the Red Cross, the Chamber of Commerce, and other organizations; and place white crosses on the front lawn of the church “to remind passersby of the tragedy of abortion,” Mr. Hidalgo said.

What’s next?

He concluded his remarks by asking “what’s next” now that the half-century mark has been reached.

“Many of our younger members are realizing that their talents will be needed in our church and the community at large,” Mr. Hidalgo said. “In fact, they are needed now. And it’s time for many of you to give prayerful consideration to deepen your personal involvement in our mission. Undoubtedly, there will be occasions where the Knights of Columbus will be called upon to exhibit charity, unity, fraternity, and, yes, patriotism, where we may be called upon by our bishop for some extraordinary tasks.

“And we have to say yes and gratefully answer those calls because we must—we are Knights of Columbus. Vivat Jesus. Thank you.”

Mr. Howells presented the award to Mr. Hidalgo, beginning with a mention of 1975 events such as the end of the Vietnam War, the founding of Microsoft, and the start of “Saturday Night Live,” and remarking that Bishop Beckman was then an eighth-grader at Sacred Heart School in Lawrenceburg, Tenn.

“It’s encouraging to hear that history and it should give us a lot of faith and energy to move forward,” Mr. Howells said. “The award is going to be given for living up to the ideals of Father McGivney. It demonstrates steadfast commitment to the Church, to his family, and to the community. It honors not only his accomplishments but also his quiet acts of kindness, leadership by example, guidance, and willingness to answer the call to service. . . .

“It is with gratitude as you can tell from the stories that Richard got to live every day for 50 years. I want to thank you for showing us what a Knight of Columbus is all about. God bless you, and congratulations to your family.”

Also attending the dinner were Ron Henry, a Knights financial adviser, and wife Andrea; Joe Fromme, district deputy, and wife Joyce; and Andy LaBauve, Grand Knight of Council 12838 at Holy Trinity in Jefferson City.

Mr. Oparyk introduced a number of Council 6730 past Grand Knights in attendance. Mr. Hidalgo served as Grand Knight in 1982-83. Also present were Jim Beelaert, Andy Vrba, Steve Taylor, Don Urnick, Jim Mach, Mike Sandlock, Brian Stiesslinger, John Karwowski, Allen Keller, Luis Crespo, Murad Mubarak, and Dave Lande. Another Grand Knight, Steve Parella, was unable to attend.

Including Mr. Howells, “that’s 15 of the 37 Grand Knights,” Mr. Oparyk said. “Some of them could not be here tonight, and others have gone before us. All 37 have helped form this council into what it is today.”

The Grand Knights then received a round of applause.

Mr. Oparyk also recognized three widows of Council 6730 Knights who attended the dinner: Julie Leonhardt, Mary Miller, and Susan Martocci.

“Julie’s husband, Richard, was our 30th Grand Knight from 2011-2013. Julie is accompanied by Bill Burrows, who is a former member of our council, and they came all the way from Green Bay, Wis., to join us,” Mr. Oparyk said. “Mary’s husband, Jim, was a member of our council, and we are very grateful for the work Jim did in creating and developing the beautiful grotto area behind our columbarium. Susan’s husband, Jack, was not a member of our council for a lengthy period of time, but Jack will always be remembered for his kindness and his willingness to help in any way he could.”

Multiple ovations followed those introductions. “I’ve always learned: ladies do not get enough applause,” Mr. Oparyk said.

A number of displays at the dinner included a photo of charter members; the council’s original application to the Supreme Council for a charter; the notice of 6730’s institution as a new council; congratulatory letters from the Vatican, Supreme Knight Mr. Kelly, and Fourth Degree Supreme Master Michael McCusker; and plaques bearing the names of deceased Knights of the Doherty Council and O’Connor Assembly.

A slide show of council members played during the dinner, and a dance followed the meal and program.

Father Dinh led the closing prayer, thanking those who organized the event and congratulating the council on its anniversary.

“I hope you have an anniversary like this every year. How about every two years?” he said before the prayer.

That gave Mr. Oparyk an idea as the dinner ended.

“Thank you very much for what you have done for the parish for the last 50 years that make a great impact on the parish and also the community,” he said. “I am glad that Father Hoan mentioned next year or two years because I was going to ask for committee members for the 75th.”