Knightline Sept. 14, 2005 - Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council
Knightline Sept. 14, 2005 - Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council
Knightline Sept. 14, 2005 - Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council
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www.k<strong>of</strong>c.org<br />
KnightLine<br />
SEPTEMBER <strong>14</strong>, <strong>2005</strong> VOL. 22 • NO. 13<br />
NEWS FOR KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS LEADERS<br />
CONTACT<br />
THE KNIGHTS<br />
For questions about <strong>Knights</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> relief efforts,<br />
<strong>of</strong>fers <strong>of</strong> assistance, and<br />
questions about insurance<br />
matters connected with those<br />
affected by Hurricane Katrina,<br />
contact:<br />
1-800-380-9995<br />
Fax: 1-203-752-4007<br />
E-mail: katrina@k<strong>of</strong>c.org<br />
<strong>Supreme</strong> Knight Carl A. Anderson spoke with the Order’s 70 state deputies via conference<br />
call Friday, <strong>Sept</strong>. 2, to discuss the Order’s response to Hurricane Katrina.<br />
Shown taking part in the meeting are <strong>Supreme</strong> Secretary Robert J. Lane, Deputy<br />
<strong>Supreme</strong> Knight Jean Migneault and Assistant <strong>Supreme</strong> Treasurer Dennis Savoie.<br />
SPECIAL EDITION: HURRICANE KATRINA<br />
Immediate Assistance Sent;<br />
At Least $2.5 Million Pledged<br />
ON SEPT. 2 THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS ANNOUNCED THE LARGEST<br />
disaster relief effort in its history. The Order pledged a minimum<br />
<strong>of</strong> $2.5 million in financial assistance and is challenging<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> and local units to contribute to the <strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong><br />
Katrina Relief Fund in an amount equal to or greater than the Order’s<br />
pldge. One hundred percent <strong>of</strong> contributions<br />
will go directly to hurricane<br />
relief; all donations to<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> Charities are<br />
tax deductible or tax creditable in<br />
Canada (see page 3).<br />
Visit www.k<strong>of</strong>c.org for up-todate<br />
information on Hurricane<br />
Katrina and the Order’s response<br />
Of that money, $250,000 was distributed to Catholic Charities in<br />
affected areas, and $1.25 million will be used in the immediate future to<br />
assist those displaced and left indefinitely homeless. An additional<br />
$1 million will be set aside and used to rebuild the estimated 130<br />
Catholic schools destroyed or seriously<br />
damaged in the storm and<br />
its aftermath.<br />
The <strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> has<br />
nearly 50,000 members and their<br />
families in Louisiana, Alabama<br />
and Mississippi. Another 45,000<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> and family members live<br />
in Florida, where Hurricane<br />
Katrina first hit.<br />
“We are asking all <strong>of</strong> our councils<br />
and assemblies in the United<br />
States and Canada to become<br />
active in the relief effort within 60<br />
days either through cash donations<br />
or volunteer efforts,” said<br />
<strong>Supreme</strong> Knight Carl A. Anderson.<br />
“We are also asking our members<br />
and councils to support the<br />
collection appeal <strong>of</strong> the U.S. Conference<br />
<strong>of</strong> Catholic Bishops.”<br />
On Aug. 31, the <strong>Supreme</strong><br />
<strong>Council</strong> provided initial relief<br />
funds for the victims <strong>of</strong> Hurricane<br />
Katrina in Louisiana, Mississippi,<br />
Alabama and Florida. Initial contributions<br />
<strong>of</strong> $10,000 each were<br />
made available to those <strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Columbus</strong> state councils.<br />
ADDITIONAL KATRINA COVERAGE,<br />
PAGE 2<br />
1
FROM<br />
SUPREME KNIGHT<br />
CARL A. ANDERSON<br />
Rising to<br />
the Challenge<br />
They say a picture is worth a thousand<br />
words. Below is the picture I<br />
want to share with you, with the<br />
hope that it will motivate you and your<br />
brother <strong>Knights</strong> to consider what more<br />
or what else you can do for the Order’s<br />
Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.<br />
This school desk is about all that is<br />
physically left <strong>of</strong> St. Thomas the Apostle<br />
School in Long<br />
Beach, Miss. The<br />
school was destroyed<br />
and the<br />
church severely<br />
damaged by Katrina’s<br />
winds and<br />
waves. The 250-<br />
plus students<br />
who would be<br />
seated in school<br />
desks like this<br />
one are, safely,<br />
elsewhere.<br />
Our Order has commited $1 million<br />
to help finance the rebuilding <strong>of</strong> the hundreds<br />
<strong>of</strong> Catholic schools damaged or<br />
destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, including<br />
St. Thomas. And I have no doubt that<br />
we will accomplish that goal if not surpass<br />
it.<br />
Helping our neighbors and<br />
brother <strong>Knights</strong><br />
rebuild their lives.<br />
It is more than a fund-raising challenge,<br />
though, as anyone who has read<br />
the newspapers or watched TV coverage<br />
<strong>of</strong> the storm’s aftermath would agree. It<br />
is more than rebuilding a few homes,<br />
schools and churches. It is about helping<br />
people rebuild their lives.<br />
I am heartened by the response<br />
shown by so many <strong>Knights</strong> in the few<br />
short days following the storm. Your<br />
cash donations and contributions <strong>of</strong><br />
goods locally, to Catholic Charities and<br />
to our own disaster relief efforts are having<br />
an impact. <strong>Knights</strong> and family members<br />
who are volunteering in the region,<br />
or helping to relocate and settle families<br />
elsewhere, must also be congratulated<br />
for the work they are doing.<br />
The solidarity we <strong>Knights</strong> showed in<br />
2001, when we raised and disbursed<br />
more than $1 million in the weeks<br />
immediately after the 9/11 terrorist<br />
attacks, convinces me that we can rise to<br />
the challenge we face now. Vivat Jesus!<br />
DIOCESE OF BILOXI<br />
CNS PHOTO BY PAUL HARING<br />
Seminarian Paul Gros, left, from flooded Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans,<br />
serves dinner to evacuees in Baton Rouge, La., <strong>Sept</strong>. 6. Eight seminarians from New<br />
Orleans and Baton Rouge helped serve food to 320 Hurricane Katrina evacuees staying<br />
at the temporary shelter. Gros is a member <strong>of</strong> Most Blessed Sacrament <strong>Council</strong><br />
10455 in Baton Rouge.<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> Charity<br />
<strong>Council</strong>s and individual members help piece together lives<br />
<strong>of</strong> those who have lost everything<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> rushed into action in<br />
the aftermath <strong>of</strong> Hurricane<br />
Katrina with an outpouring <strong>of</strong><br />
charitable endeavors and hands-on<br />
help for victims <strong>of</strong> the worst natural<br />
disaster in U.S. history. With its network<br />
<strong>of</strong> councils, <strong>Knights</strong> were able<br />
to direct aid and volunteer efforts<br />
where they were needed most as they<br />
collaborated with local government<br />
and emergency relief agencies.<br />
With members active in the field,<br />
examples <strong>of</strong> charity abounded<br />
throughout the Order.<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> helped out near the scene<br />
<strong>of</strong> destruction as members <strong>of</strong> Pierre<br />
Part-Belle River (La.) <strong>Council</strong> 5352<br />
worked with an elected state representative<br />
to form “Cajuns for<br />
Katrina.” The group prepared meals<br />
and collected truckloads <strong>of</strong> food and<br />
other relief items for New Orleans<br />
evacuees who were sheltered at<br />
Nicholls State University in<br />
Thibodaux.<br />
Eric Cusimano, a Columbian<br />
Squire from Jesuit Marquette Circle<br />
4156 in New Orleans, put aside his<br />
personal loss and joined relief efforts.<br />
New Orleans’ Jesuit High School,<br />
where he was entering his senior<br />
year, was flooded when the hurricane<br />
broke through the city’s levees. Yet<br />
three days after the storm, Cusimano<br />
was at a football game at the<br />
University <strong>of</strong> Louisiana selling raffle<br />
tickets to raise money for medications<br />
for elderly people.“Right now I<br />
want to focus on helping some people<br />
who need it a lot more than I do,” he<br />
told The News Star in Monroe, La.<br />
<strong>Council</strong>s opened their homes<br />
throughout the disaster areas to shelter<br />
hurricane victims, and individual<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> and their families in safer<br />
areas opened their doors to those who<br />
were left homeless.<br />
<strong>Council</strong> homes have also been<br />
used as staging areas for relief efforts.<br />
In the hard-hit city <strong>of</strong> Picayune,<br />
Miss., the home <strong>of</strong> Oscar J. Gelpi<br />
<strong>Council</strong> 6872 was used as a command<br />
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE, PAGE 3<br />
2
KATRINA COVERAGE FROM PAGE 2<br />
center for police <strong>of</strong>ficers, including<br />
military police from a National<br />
Guard unit that came from Ohio.<br />
On Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the<br />
Salisbury Red Cross used the home <strong>of</strong><br />
St. Francis de Sales <strong>Council</strong> 3489 to<br />
train more than 100 volunteers before<br />
sending them south. “The <strong>Knights</strong><br />
have always been good neighbors and<br />
ready to help whenever we ask,” said<br />
Red Cross executive Alan Lee.<br />
Mississippi’s Fourth Degree Vice<br />
<strong>Supreme</strong> Master Paul Gospodarski<br />
reported, “Hundreds <strong>of</strong> central<br />
Mississippi <strong>Knights</strong> are cooking thousands<br />
<strong>of</strong> meals each day at the coliseum<br />
in Jackson for evacuees.”<br />
Soon after the hurricane, members<br />
<strong>of</strong> Daniel Patrick Sullivan <strong>Council</strong><br />
10208 in Hot Springs Village, Ark.,<br />
got busy renovating 42 governmentowned<br />
homes for evacuees.<br />
Paul Bettge, Texas State <strong>Council</strong><br />
public relations chairman, said that<br />
Lake Jackson <strong>Council</strong> 6812, to which<br />
CNS PHOTO BY PAULA GOLDAPP, SOUTH TEXAS CATHOLIC<br />
Msgr. Richard Shirley unloads a van full <strong>of</strong><br />
disposable diapers donated by parishioners<br />
<strong>of</strong> St. Pius X Church in Corpus Christi,<br />
<strong>Sept</strong>. 6, and home to St. Pius X <strong>Council</strong><br />
11567, which he serves as chaplain. The<br />
pastor and vicar general <strong>of</strong> the diocese was<br />
among those helping to collect and drop<br />
<strong>of</strong>f items for Hurricane Katrina evacuees<br />
being housed in Corpus Christi. Catholic<br />
parishes were responsible for collecting<br />
items for babies and young children as<br />
part <strong>of</strong> a city emergency plan.<br />
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED<br />
Donors in the United States should make checks payable to<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> Charities USA Inc., and send them to:<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> Charities USA Inc.<br />
Gift Processing Center<br />
PO BOX 9028<br />
Pittsfield, MA 01202-9028<br />
Attn: Hurricane KATRINA Relief<br />
Donors in Canada should make checks payable to<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> Canada Charities Inc., and send them to:<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> Canada Charities Inc.<br />
Gift Processing Center<br />
PO BOX 7252 Station A<br />
Toronto, ON M5W 1X9<br />
Attn: Hurricane KATRINA Relief<br />
One hundred percent <strong>of</strong> contributions will go directly to hurricane<br />
relief, and all donations to <strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> Charities are<br />
tax-deductible.<br />
he belongs, prepared 275 breakfasts<br />
for evacuees in the local church hall,<br />
and delivered 200 more meals to<br />
nearby hotels for those who were<br />
unable to travel. “At our council<br />
meeting, we voted to continue this<br />
program, once or twice a week, for as<br />
long as it is needed,” he said.<br />
Thousands <strong>of</strong> evacuees from New<br />
Orleans were transported by bus to<br />
Houston, where they were given cots,<br />
a change <strong>of</strong> clothes and three meals a<br />
day at the Astrodome complex,<br />
which includes Reliant Stadium and<br />
the convention center. Texas <strong>Knights</strong><br />
turned out in large numbers to provide<br />
assistance, and District Deputy<br />
Richard Flores coordinated the volunteer<br />
activities <strong>of</strong> about 50 <strong>Knights</strong> per<br />
day. St. Ambrose <strong>Council</strong> 12474, to<br />
which he belongs, has worked with<br />
the stadium on charitable projects,<br />
and Flores was called to help with the<br />
relief efforts. He and fellow <strong>Knights</strong><br />
work about 12-hour shifts, mostly<br />
dishing out the tons <strong>of</strong> food that<br />
arrive on trucks each day.<br />
“We have about 30,000 evacuees<br />
throughout the whole complex,<br />
sleeping on cots almost end to end<br />
from one end <strong>of</strong> the floor to the<br />
other,” Flores said. “When they first<br />
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS<br />
CHARITIES<br />
UNITED IN CHARITY<br />
got here, they were shell-shocked,<br />
with blank, tired faces. Some said<br />
this was the first time they’d eaten in<br />
four days. After a day or so here, they<br />
began to respond and smile when<br />
you’d say hello.”<br />
Jim Collins, state program director,<br />
told <strong>of</strong> a man in the Houston stadium<br />
who wore ragged clothes and a<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> in Houston are working<br />
12-hour shifts cooking and<br />
serving food to evacuees<br />
wide grin. “He had just found his<br />
daughter, who was about 12 or 13,”<br />
Collins said. “They had been separated<br />
in New Orleans and hadn’t seen<br />
each other till they got to Houston.”<br />
Another man “had been in the<br />
water in New Orleans for three days<br />
till a helicopter pulled him out,”<br />
Collins said. ◆<br />
Send reports and photos <strong>of</strong> your council’s<br />
response to Hurricane Katrina.<br />
Send to katrina@k<strong>of</strong>c.org or<br />
Columbia, 1 <strong>Columbus</strong> Plaza,<br />
New Haven, CT 06510-3326<br />
PUBLISHED 18 TIMES A YEAR BY THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS SUPREME COUNCIL<br />
1 <strong>Columbus</strong> Plaza, New Haven, CT 06510-3326<br />
203-752-4398 ◆ knightline@k<strong>of</strong>c.org<br />
3
KnightLine<br />
1 <strong>Columbus</strong> Plaza New Haven CT 06510-3326<br />
The Best in the<br />
Business<br />
BY THOMAS P. SMITH JR.<br />
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT<br />
(AGENCIES AND MARKETING)<br />
This past June, many <strong>of</strong> our<br />
agents attended the annual<br />
meeting <strong>of</strong> the Million Dollar<br />
Round Table. MDRT is the premier<br />
association <strong>of</strong> financial pr<strong>of</strong>essionals,<br />
and only about 3 percent <strong>of</strong> life insurance<br />
agents worldwide qualify for<br />
membership. I am proud that the<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> has 88 MDRT<br />
members, or about 7 percent <strong>of</strong> our<br />
field force. The names <strong>of</strong> those 88<br />
agents will appear in the October issue<br />
<strong>of</strong> Columbia magazine. If your agent’s<br />
name appears, why not call and congratulate<br />
him for being among the best<br />
in the business?<br />
The MDRT Code <strong>of</strong> Ethics calls for<br />
member agents to “always place the<br />
interests <strong>of</strong> their clients above their<br />
own interests,” and to “give the best<br />
IMPORTANT NOTICE: As <strong>of</strong> Aug. 31, the <strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong><br />
suspended lapses <strong>of</strong> policies and premium notices in FEMA-designated disaster<br />
areas for at least 60 days. If you are a <strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> policyholder from<br />
the affected areas on the Gulf Coast, call 1-800-380-9995 with any questions<br />
regarding your policies or other matters. We are here to serve you.<br />
possible advice to clients by seeking to<br />
maintain and improve pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
knowledge, skills and competence.”<br />
MDRT expects <strong>of</strong> their members exactly<br />
what we expect <strong>of</strong> our agents —<br />
exemplary sales practices…outstanding<br />
service…high ethical standards.<br />
What does this mean for you and<br />
your family? It means that your pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> agent<br />
won’t simply try to push a policy on<br />
you. He’ll take the time to review your<br />
current coverage with you. He’ll ask<br />
questions about your needs, goals and<br />
budget. He’ll recommend a plan to help<br />
you meet your needs and move toward<br />
accomplishing your goals. Most importantly,<br />
he’ll answer your questions. He<br />
wants your purchase to be an informed<br />
one. Exemplary Sales Practices.<br />
Whether or not you purchase life<br />
insurance coverage that evening (and<br />
we hope that you do!), your relationship<br />
with your agent won’t end. Things<br />
change. Things like needs, goals and<br />
budgets. What is an appropriate<br />
amount <strong>of</strong> coverage today may not be<br />
appropriate tomorrow. He’ll meet with<br />
you annually to make sure you and<br />
your family remain adequately protected.<br />
Outstanding Service.<br />
As a brother Knight, he has the best<br />
interests <strong>of</strong> you and your family at<br />
heart. He will render that service,<br />
which, under the same circumstances,<br />
he would apply to himself. High<br />
Ethical Standards.<br />
To identify your pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
<strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong> agent, visit “Find<br />
an Agent” at www.k<strong>of</strong>c.org. ◆<br />
INSIDE:<br />
• Special Coverage:<br />
Hurricane Katrina and<br />
the <strong>Knights</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Columbus</strong><br />
Response<br />
• <strong>Supreme</strong> Knight’s Message<br />
Page 2