IWKnights Corner for June 4, 2023

Did you know this about the IW Knights of Columbus? 

“Jared Koehler and Alex Harold left the College Councils Conference in Connecticut last October on fire. After a long weekend in New Haven talking about faith and leadership with Supreme Officers and other college Knights, they were filled with determination to revitalize the K of C council at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO), which had languished during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Koehler, the council’s grand knight, and Harold, its program director, had a plan even before they got back to Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  With Hurricane Ian delaying their flight for several hours, they sat together at an airport diner and sketched out their ideas for the upcoming academic year.  Prayer was at the top of the list.

‘The supreme knight made it clear that faith is his top priority for the organization, and we are very much behind him in that effort,’ said Koehler, a junior business management major.  ‘We knew that if we focused on growing the faith lives of our members, the Holy Spirit would take it from there’

They decided to give St. Thomas Aquinas Council 15294 a concrete goal: 1,000 rosaries by the end of the spring semester.  ‘We thought, ‘what could we do that would really inspire a spirit of routine prayer?’ explained Harold.  One thousand rosaries would be a challenge for their small council of about 40 Knights, but a good challenge.  ‘It might be a stretch,’ Koehler remembers thinking, ‘but let’s go for it.’

Back on campus, the Knights made a chart to keep track of their prayers and organized a novena to St. John Paul II, leading up to his feast day Oct. 22, in order to make a strong start.

As the months went on, other students at the university’s close-knit Newman Center joined in, marking off their own rosaries.  Another boost came from members of St. Vincent Council 1111 in Cape Girardeau, who sometimes joined the college Knights in prayer at the St. John Henry Newman Chapel…

By the following month, it was clear that the Knights were going to reach their goal handily.  When Bishop Edward Rice of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau visited in early February, Koehler asked if he’d be willing to come back to pray the 1,000th with them - though it entailed a four-hour drive from Springfield, the bishop enthusiastically agreed.

‘The rosary in the hand of a young man is a powerful thing,’ Bishop Rice said.  ‘So when they invited me to be there for the 1,000th rosary, I said, absolutely! I’ll be there.’

On Feb. 6, the bishop led about 30 Knights and other students in the rosary in front of the exposed Blessed Sacrament in St. John Henry Newman Chapel, and he then marked off the last square on the council’s chart — more than three months ahead of schedule.

While the Knights of Council 15294 have done other projects this year — including organizing social events, volunteering to help elderly neighbors, and collecting food for tornado victims — they consider their effort to grow in prayer their most important work.

‘Faith is the reason I wanted to get involved in the Knights,’ explained Oberle.  ‘That’s ultimately what I’m trying to build my life on.  I love all the charitable works, the fraternity, but it’s all downstream from faith.’”

Pictured above are members of St. Thomas Aquinas Council 15294 at Southeast Missouri State University as they celebrate praying 1,000 rosaries with Bishop Edward Rice of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.

Additional information about our council – including a link to the entire article above - can be found on facebook.com/IWknights9981on IWKnights9981.com/bulletin, on facebook.com/IWknights9981, and on Twitter at twitter.com/IwKnights. The author is CECILIA HADLEY - senior editor of KofC Columbia on-line