Running of the Silver Rose

The Our Lady of Guadalupe Silver Rose Program began in 1960 as a project of the Columbian Squires of North America to honour the Blessed Virgin under her title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas. The program has continued since then as a project of Squires circles, councils and Fourth Degree assemblies in several jurisdictions. In 2001, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson expanded the program by beginning the “Running of the Rose” from the 119th Annual Meeting of the Supreme Council in Ontario. Currently, the program is expanding with a rose making its way from Canada to Mexico through the United States each year. See History of the Silver Rose for more information.

The 2009-2010 Silver Rose Run has grown to incorporate more than double the number of jurisdictions participating. Starting in May, three roses will travel simultaneously through 31 jurisdictions and Mexico.

In recent years the rose has been run from London, Ontario, through 10 states in the United States, and then crossing at the International Bridge into Monterrey, Mexico. During this year, there will be three roses traveling simultaneously starting in London, Ontario, and then moving to the west coast, central United States and the east coast. All three roses will meet at the same time in Texas to travel over the International Bridge and be handed over to Knights from Monterrey.

“The ‘Running of the Rose’ is a perfect program for the Knights of Columbus,” said Supreme Knight Anderson. “Through it we honour not only Our Lady of Guadalupe and express the unity of the Order, but we also reaffirm the Order’s dedication to the sanctity of human life. It is to the Blessed Mother that we turn in prayer as we work to end the Culture of Death that grips our society. As we think in terms of ‘One Life, One Rose,’ it is most appropriate that we turn to Our Lady of Guadalupe who made know her will through Juan Diego and the miracle of the roses.”

http://www.runningoftherose.org/en/index.html

http://www.kofc.org/eb/en/about/activities/culture/programs.html

MINISTERING TO ONE ANOTHER

Father Alessandro Lovato, associate pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Delta, British Columbia, sees his parish as a family.

Father Alessandro Lovato, associate pastor at Immaculate Conception Church in Delta, British Columbia, says that it was the loving presence of God the Father that first called him to embrace his vocation to the priesthood.

“Every vocation springs forth from a person’s experience of being loved by God,” he said. “The priest then goes forth to share that love of God with others.”

Father Lovato, who was ordained for the Archdiocese of Vancouver in 2006, describes his parish as a large family. As a priest, he said, he is called to give this family the words they need to hear, to be there for them and to build them up.

“You feel the fatherhood of God in the interaction with your parishioners and the love they return to you,” added Father Lovato. “You represent God’s fatherhood and love for others, but it’s also shared with you by the parishioners in the family.”

Father Lovato said that the early example of his own parish priests inspired him to discern a priestly vocation. After completing a degree in English and history at Simon Fraser University, Lovato did pre-theology work at the Seminary of Christ the King in Mission, British Columbia. He later studied theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y.

He stressed that the support of the Knights of Columbus was crucial during that time.

“I had been a member of my local parish council (Holy Cross Council 5423 in Burnaby, British Columbia) since my university years,” he said. “That council provided financial support as well as letters of support when I was away from home, studying in New York. I also received the Bishop Daily Scholarship, which significantly helped to pay for my studies.”

The rector of St. Joseph’s and many of Lovato’s classmates were also members, and they often participated in K of C events at the seminary.

Today, Father Lovato admits that it is not an easy time to be a priest, but he draws tremendous strength from the fraternity of his brother priests and brother Knights. On his days off, he returns to his home parish for Mass and to receive the sacrament of penance.

“It’s not a coincidence that the media attacks are happening now, during the Year for Priests,” said Father Lovato. “There is real spiritual warfare taking place. The persecutions either strengthen a person’s faith or scare people away. I realize how much I am ministered to by other priests. Amidst the hustle and bustle of our day-to-day lives, we need to stop and minister to one another.”

Columbia June 2010 - Featured Articles

Priests who received support from the Order during their formation reflect on their vocation.

They Call You 'Father' by Tim Drake

ZENIT, The world seen from Rome News Agency

Rome's Love for Her Knights

Exhibit Details Charity Group's 90 Years in Eternal City

ROME, JUNE 11, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Capitoline Museum overlooking the Roman Forum is known for housing a magnificent collection of Roman art and artifacts. Since Wednesday, however, a very different exhibit is interspersed among the museum's ancient columns and medieval art -- one that details the relationship between the city and a U.S.-based organization.

"Over 90 years it has become clear that the people of Rome love the Knights of Columbus, and we love the people of Rome," said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, who opened the conference on the Knights that made up part of the opening ceremonies for the exhibit. "That is the secret to the success of this relationship."

The photos and artifacts that chronicle this friendship will be on display until Oct. 31. The exhibit is titled "Everybody Welcome, Everything Free: The Knights of Columbus and Rome, 90 Years of Friendship."

Rome-coming

The Knights were first brought to Rome on a short-term basis at the request of Benedict XV during World War I. Their mission was to help American troops by establishing a service center in Rome like those they'd founded throughout Europe.

Their work soon expanded however, and in 1920, Benedict XV asked the Knights to return to Rome, this time on a long-term basis, taking responsibility for providing athletic facilities for the youth of the city.

That work continued even during World War II, when the United States and Italy fought on opposite sides. During that time, approximately 400,000 people a day were fed by the papal charity, which was run for some time from the Knights' St. Peter's Oratory next to the Vatican.

And after the war ended, the Knights worked with the U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Administration to feed children, again utilizing their facilities in the city, while also working actively with other Catholic organizations on Italian relief efforts.

Profile

Founded in 1882, the Knights of Columbus today is the world's largest Catholic fraternal organization with over 1.8 million members in 13 countries. One of the most active charitable groups in the United States, the Knights last year provided a record-setting 69 million hours of charitable service and more than $151 million in donations, despite the weak economy.

Examples of the organization's Rome initiatives in the years since World War II include the sponsorship of Vatican satellite communications; major restoration projects, including the façade of St. Peter's Basilica completed in 1987; the continued maintenance of five athletic centers available to youth and others, including the intellectually disabled; and the sponsorship of conferences on social issues, such as pastoral outreach to those hurt by experiences with divorce and abortion.

Discussing what he termed the Knights' "fruitful permanence in Rome," Benedict XVI's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said at the opening of the exhibit: "I would like to join in with this universal expression of public applause and thank the Knights of Columbus, who in the world, and especially in Rome, witness the love of Christ and his Church for the weak and defenseless."

He described the group as a "meaningful expression of the evangelical requisite of charity."

The mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, also participated in the exhibit's opening.

"The Knights of Columbus are rightfully part of the Rome of the third millennium, which we want to build together without detaching ourselves from our true cultural and spiritual roots," he said.

The mayor went on to commend the legacy of the Knights of Columbus sports centers, whose former patrons include 1960s Italian soccer star Giancarlo "Picchio" De Sisti. Today, Alemanno said, the centers are "the flower on the lapel of our city" for their free services to parishes, schools and institutes for the disabled, hospitals, centers of rehabilitation, needy children and seminarians.

The mayor also praised the quiet diplomatic work done on behalf of the city by the Knights' representative in Rome during World War II, Count Enrico Pietro Galeazzi, in an era before formal Vatican relations existed with the United States.

The Knights' role in diplomacy between the Holy See and Washington would come full circle in 1982, at the organization's 100th international convention. There, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Agostino Casaroli met with President Ronald Reagan and discussed the transition to full diplomatic relations.

Feeding the hungry

The relief efforts undertaken by the Knights of Columbus during and after the Second World War are featured prominently in the new exhibit. A black and white photo taken by a U.N. photographer on a Knights of Columbus playground depicts the Knights' collaboration with the U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Administration to aid in the distribution of food -- especially to children -- during a time of severe shortages after the war.

Likewise, a news article from 1944 describes St. Peter's Oratory as the headquarters of Pope Pius XII's personal food distribution program, which fed upwards of 400,000 people daily.

The exhibit also traces the Knights of Columbus' contribution to arts and communications projects in Rome and the Vatican.  

Since 1975, the organization has financed the satellite transmission of major Vatican events, such as Christmas and Easter liturgies and the funeral Masses of Popes John Paul I and John Paul II, as well as satellite downlink costs for poor nations. In another boost for Vatican communications, the Knights funded the Vatican Television Center's purchase of a mobile television studio in 1985.

Cardinal John Foley, the former president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said these actions have marked a pivotal step forward for the Church's mission of evangelization.

"For many countries, that signal would not have reached them without the help of the Knights of Columbus," Cardinal Foley said. "So there was a consciousness of the importance of this work, and it has helped create a real sense of the unity of the Church, the universality of the Church."

The Knights of Columbus have also assisted with some of Rome's greatest treasures, supporting Vatican restorations through a close partnership with the Fabbrica di San Pietro. Projects funded by the Knights at St. Peter's Basilica alone include the restoration of the façade, the Maderno Atrium, the dome of the Blessed Sacrament chapel, several grottos and the statues of Sts. Peter and Paul in the Square.

"Some of the greatest works of spiritual beauty and creativity that humanity has produced are in the safeguarding hands of the Vatican," Anderson said in a video shown at the event. "The Knights have felt very proud that we've had the opportunity to preserve and enhance what really is a patrimony of humanity."