Central Point, OR.
Knights of Columbus
St. Augustine Council No. 11258
Vol. 21, No. 4, April 2015
Ryan Headley (left) enjoying the St.
Patrick’s Day Dinner hosted by St.
Augustine Council on March 17th.
At right, Shelley and Jim Haught
and Martial Henault. Over 130
parishioners attended the event that
featured dinner, singing, and Bingo.
BUSINESS MEETING:
TUESDAY APRIL 7th
Please plan to attend our monthly meeting this coming Tuesday, April 7th. The evening begins with Mass
at 6:00 PM, followed in the Parish Center with a
pizza dinner, and the Business Meeting at 7:00 p.m.
Shepherd of the Vally
Holy Week Schedule:
Holy Thursday: Good Friday: Easter Vigil: 7:00 pm Bilingual
5:30 pm English 7:30 pm in Spanish
8:30 pm Bilingual
LADIES’ APPRECIATION NIGHT:
APRIL 21st
Ladies’
Appreciation Dinner, Tuesday April 21st
Knights and Ladies (as well as ‘unaccompanied’
knights!) are invited to attend our Annual Ladies Appreciation Night, Tuesday April 21 beginning at 6:30
p.m. at Wild River Brewing and Pizza Company, 2684
N. Pacific Hwy, Medford. Doug Smith will deliver
this year’s appreciation. Ordering will be done off
the menu and no advance reservations are needed.
Since 2012, the Knights of Columbus, order-wide,
have donated over $2.7 million and 3.8 million
pounds of food to local food pantries, community food banks and soup kitchens. Special thanks to
Bro. Chris Erno for coordinating this year’s event.
Food for Families
On Saturday and Sunday March 20-21st, St. Au-
gustine Council Knights held an annual program
to help alleviate hunger in our community, collecting 2000 lbs. of food for St. Vincent de Paul.
Brothers Ron DeAvilla and Chris Erno collecting food for St. Vincent
DePaul Society who graciously loaned us their truck for the occasion.
Celebrations
BIRTHDAYS:
Members: Sam Barnum; Ralph Browning; Ron
DeAvilla; Ed Dinius; John Garner; Terry Grogan;
Dave Knouff; Scott Koester; Don Krolak; Mike
Masters.
Wives: Kristy Bodfield; Alice Mullaly; Megan Stillwell;
Celina Tobias.
WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES:
Kristy and Mark Bodfield; Nancy and Jerry Bourgeois;
Carmen and Frank Hernandez; Betty and Leon Stupfel; Ann and Carl Wieland.
Jim Duman, Rest in Peace
We
were deeply saddened by the March
25th death of Brother James Peter Duman, whose funeral service, celebrated by
Fr. Victor, took place at Shepherd of the
Valley Church, Wednesday, March 26th.
Born in 1929, in Scio, Oregon, Jim was
the ninth of 14 chidren. He served in the US
Navy during the Korean War, and worked in the
lumber industry all his life, eventually becoming
superintendent of Boise Cascade’s Medford facility, at the time the largest plywood producing
mill in the world.He married his beloved Marilyn at Mt.Angel in 1954, and together they raised
seven children.
Jim Duman, became a Knight on his 18th in
1948 and later was a charter member of St. Augustine Council. He had been an active member
of the council, regularly attending meetings, and
taking the lead in carnival booths each year. Our
prayers go out to his wife, Marilyn and family. Donations in Jim’s name can be made to Food and
Friends, PO Box 3275, Central Point, OR 97502.
Your editor would be grateful if you would help us improve the
accuracy of these listings!
Twenty leaders from the five councils of District 9 met with
State Deputy Bob Kish on Saturday March 28 at Knights Hall
in Medford to focus on building better councils. St. Augustine
Council had five representatives in attendance. With fine hosting by the Medford Council, it was an excellent day in every way!
Prayer Intentions
Remember in your prayers Jack and Linda Kolaso, Ed
Daniels, John Plunkett, and Gary Staats. Anyone who
knows of other brother knights or family members in
need are asked to contact Ron DeAvilla at 541- 4999217.
Welcome New Members!
CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
Sun., April 5, Easter
Tues., April 7 Business Meeting
Tues., April 21 Ladies Appreciation Dinner
Fri-Sun April 24-26 State Convention, Newport
Tues., April 28 Officers’ Meeting
Upcoming Exemplifications
Sat., May 15 Sat., June 13, At our First Degree Exemplification March 3 we were happy to
welcome brothers Jim Leffingwell (left)and Tony Casillas (right).
2nd and 3rd Degree Medford
4th Degree Grants Pass
For more Council information visit our excellent website < www.KofC11258.org >.. You
can find the newsletter clicking on the “Current Newsletter” link on the right at the bottom of the page.
The Knights’ magnificent statue of the young Lafayette
was well received by a war-ravaged France.
The Metz Statue: When the Knights
Spoke for America
On a sultry August 5th evening in 1920 the transatlan-
tic liner Leopoldina cast off from the New York docks
amidst the sounds of a police band, sirens, and cheers.
Aboard were 237 Knights, including 15 priests, bringing with them a giant American flag to use for unveiling an equestrian statue of the Revolutionary War hero,
the Marquis de Lafayette. The ceremony was to take
place on August 22nd in the northeastern French city
of Metz, near the German border. From a distance it is
difficult to appreciate the deep national stirrings in both
the United States and France that this event occasioned.
The idea of the monument had first surfaced
at the 1919 National Knights of Columbus “Peace”
Convention in Buffalo, New York where, following a
powerful speech by a French High Commissioner, a
resolution had been unanimously passed to memorialize the Franco-American wartime sacrifices with a
statue of Lafayette. Within a short time, the Knights
had raised $60,000 for the project, and at their National
“Lafayette” Convention in August 1920, a model of
the statue was displayed to the public in the foyer of
the convention center, depicting the French officer as a
young man with sword in hand setting out for America,
“his face sharp-featured, intelligent, aristocratic.” But there was a backstory to the statue. In
both countries, Catholics, through their loyalty to nation, had something to prove. The situation in France
prior to the Great War was by far the most egregious.
In 1905 the French Parliament had passed legislation
transferring all Church property to state ownership,
outlawed religious orders, and banned the teaching of
religion in public schools. The Great War had provided
Catholics an opportunity to assert themselves in the
public forum. Supporting the war effort also allowed
the Church to align itself with the traditionally Catholic officer corps of the French army, led by Ferdinand
Foch, Grand Marshal of France and a devout Catholic.
The choice of Metz, a city where the youthful Lafayette
had made the decision to join the American Revolution,
was also significant. The fortress town, the largest metropolitan center of Alsace-Lorraine, had been restored
to France only one year earlier, after a repressive fortyyear occupation by Germany following the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. Its population was staunchly Catholic
and since returning to French control had successfully
resisted secularizing efforts of the central government.
The Knights of Columbus were also highly regarded by the French government for their
wartime work in France. During the two year period in which America had engaged in the conflict,
Knights had distinguished themselves for support
of the War effort, aiding in the collection of over
$30,000,000 in contributions to take the lead in operating social and entertainment programs. By August 1919, the Knights were operating nearly one
hundred servicemen’s clubs in France, under the
motto “Everybody welcome, everything free.”
The figure of Lafayette also seemed appropriate. He had served America as one of George Washington’s most trusted commanders, and had been responsible for bringing the French into the war. With the help
of Thomas Jefferson, he had later drafted the core
document of the French Revolution, the “Declaration
of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” (1789), and
The three-ton statue, shown here on a Knights of Columbus truck
at its foundry, had been shipped from New York three week prior
to the departure of the delegates. Photograph is from a San Deigo,
California newspaper.
A Knights’ publication
described the stature
of The Marquis de
Lafayette with“his face
sharp-featured, intelligent,
aristocratic.”
had championed democratic revolutions in Greece,
Poland, Italy, and South America. No figure in France
was as closely identified with the ideals of democracy.
For all of these reasons, both Marshall Foch and the
French hierarchy were receptive to the Knights of Columbus’s offer.
Not all sectors of the American Catholic community, however, saw the French hero in a positive
light. Three years before coming to America, Lafayette, along with 100 other French officers, had joined
a Masonic Lodge in Paris, an act that carried the penalty of excommunication – although at the time the
stricture was only lightly enforced. But the issue had
not gone away. In 1900 it had taken the personal approval of Pope Leo XIII for an American Archbishop
to speak at the dedication of a similar statue of Lafayette in Paris. Two decades later, concerns again were
raised criticizing the Knights for their endorsement
of an “apostate general,” “ and a “renegade Catholic.” One priest complained that the Knights of Columbus were showing “ridiculous eagerness to prove
[themselves] patriotic.” Elements of the German
community seemed particularly unhappy. Defending
the decision, the Supreme Secretary replied that the
statue was intended to “express appreciation of the
aid and assistance given by France to the struggling
colonies” and not “to glorify Lafayette as a Catholic.”
The French, however, welcomed the large
delegation with open arms. Upon the group’s arrival at the seaport of La Havre on August 15th,
it was whisked through customs and taken by special train to Paris to celebrate Mass at the Cathedral of Notre Dame with the Cardinal Archbishop.
From Paris they traveled by train and automobile to
the battlefields of Northern France where the countryside had been ravaged by war. “We passed through
at least twenty small settlements or towns,” a delegate
wrote, “many of them entirely destroyed, others partially ruined, while still others were deserted.” Hundreds of thousands of trees had been destroyed, many
of them by poison gases and chemicals. At every side
were cemeteries. America’s loss of 53,000 combatants was paled in comparison to the 1.3 million military deaths that the French had suffered. The members of the American delegation were deeply moved
by the great number of black-dressed widows shouting “Vive l’Amerique!” as tears ran down their faces.
Arriving at Metz on the afternoon of August
21, members of the group found the city festooned
Metz was a fiercely Catholic City recently liberated from 40 years of
German occupation when the statue was dedicated.
A book-length account of the pilgrimage
published in 1921 depicts a knight wearing a crusaders cross traveling through a
barren land. Honoring the war dead was
an important aspect of this pilgrimage.
with American and French flags. On their way to a
grand banquet attended by the Premier of France, they
were cheered by enthusiastic crowds. The next morning, at a Solemn Memorial Mass honoring the dead of
both countries Foch joined the Knights in receiving
Communion. The dignitaries were then conveyed by
automobile to the courtyard of the Palace of Justice
for the dedication ceremony of the statue. Uncovering the statue, Supreme Knight James A. Flaherty
recalled the oft-quoted General Pershing’s words, “
Lafayette we are here,” and to the delight of the huge
crowd, then added: “Lafayette We Are still Here!”
Aircraft flew overhead dropping flags and flowers. For
the first time in fifty years the bells of the Cathedral were
rung, and five thousand French troops paraded past.
An account of the dedication of the statue appeared
the next day on the front page of the New York Times,
and in other newspapers across the United States.
For twenty years, the statue stood as an el-
oquent tribute to the internationalism and high
mindedness of the Knights of Columbus in the period immediately after the Great War. Though
the values symbolized by Lafayette remained, the
statue would not survive. In 1940 German forces once again occupied Metz, and soon thereafter the statue and its artwork were destroyed.
Larry Mullaly
Insurance
Corner
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Insurance Check-Up for 2015
Where did 2014 go? It seems like it was summer yes-
terday and Easter was last week.
I hope you and your family had a great finish to 2014.
Now, the first quarter of 2015 is flying by.
Hopefully, you’ve established a few goals for this year. I’ve learned a great tip regarding resolutions.
First, write them down. It’s not too late if you haven’t
already done this. Commit your goals to paper and
post it someplace you will see it often. Writing down
a goal is the first step towards achieving it. It may not
make sense at first, but I’m sure you have heard stories of the success this simple task can bring. Whether
your goal is to exercise more, give more to charity, read
more or watch less television, you’re more likely to ac-
Behind the scenes: Ed Daniels and a large group of knights and
ladies set up the hall for the annual parish Seder Meal, March 24th.
Respecting Life in All Its Stages
T
he 1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and
her child’s 2nd birthday offer a unique window of
opportunity to shape healthier and more prosperous
futures. The right nutrition during this 1,000 day window can have a profound impact on a child’s ability to
grow, learn, and rise out of poverty. It can also shape
a society’s long-term health, stability and prosperity.
The Archdiocese of Oregon in partnership with the
Catholic Charities and the Portland Mother and Child
Education Center are sponsoring daily webcasts for a
thousand days of the program, beginning March 22,
2015. The well-produced audio programs can be accessed at www.archdpdx.org.