By Joanne Malene
Staff Associate

MASSILLON – One hundred years of religious participation and charitable contribution will be celebrated April 1 when Massillon Council 554 of the Knights of Columbus holds its anniversary celebration dinner at 2 p.m. in the council’s hall. The day begins with a display of council memorabilia at 12:30 p.m. Persons interested in attending should call 330-837-6670.

Founded on Jan. 27, 1901, the original council had a charter membership of 48 men. The council is named for Bishop Jean Baptiste Massillon, chaplain in the court of King Louis XIV of France. Today the council, with 820 members, is the third largest in the State of Ohio. Council 554 is made up of members of the city’s three Catholic parishes: St. Mary, St. Joseph, and St. Barbara. The Grand Knight is Paul Haig. Council chaplain is Msgr. James R. Kolp, pastor emeritus of St. Mary’s. The council also has two auxiliary organizations, the Columbian Ladies Guild and the Isabella Club, which the wives, daughters, mothers and sisters of Knights may join.

According to Ken Girt, past grand knight and general chairman of the anniversary celebration, the council has long been active in the community.

“We serve a hot lunch every week for about 450 people,” said Girt, who joined the council in 1981. “It is a free meal, no questions asked. That is in conjunction with the philosophy of St. Mary [Parish] and [the] St. Vincent DePaul [Society].” The council also sponsors scholarships for students attending local Catholic schools.

Local Knights and their families are also active in the Ohio State Knights of Columbus council’s “Measure-Up” program each spring. Volunteers solicit contributions from patrons in local businesses. Approximately $5,000 per year is donated to the summer camp program of ARC, the Association of Retarded Citizens of Stark County.

Msgr. Kolp, chaplain of the council since 1973 and twice a state K of C chaplain, told the Exponent that he believes the hot lunch program for the poor sets this council apart from many others.

“One of my most thrilling memories of our great council happened on a Wednesday in about 1975,” he recalled. “Our council was kind enough to allow St. Mary’s St. Vincent de Paul Society to use the new Knights of Columbus facilities for a regular dinner for the poor. On that particular Wednesday, we hosted some 554 of God’s poor for a delicious dinner. The people were welcomed at the door and escorted to their tables, where they were waited on by our volunteers. What a tribute this is to the generosity of Council 554. It’s a marvelous contribution to the poor of the area.” That dinner for the poor, hosted in an air-conditioned dining room, continues to this day, he noted.

Msgr. Kolp said the council met in a converted Christian church at first before moving into “one of the finest facilities in the state,” housed on some 10 acres inside the city corporation limits near St. Mary’s parish. The spacious structure contains three large rooms, often used for banquets, and the overall facility contains a picnic area, ball fields, and a spacious parking area. At one time it even had a swimming pool. Members of the council come from areas outside the city as well, the chaplain noted.

Although many fraternal organizations have faced membership challenges in recent years, Msgr. Kolp said the Knights are holding their own . “The insurance program has brought in billions, and that enables the K of C [on a national and international level] to take on outside projects, such as funding the live televising of World Youth Day and other events on Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), as well as funding any group that needs financial help with a Respect for Life or other pro-life court case.” Knights serve as the ushers at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., which Msgr. Kolp has attended for years. The international organization is even growing in countries such as Mexico, where Carl Anderson, the new Supreme Knight, was installed at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe not long ago.

Msgr. Robert Siffrin, a Massillon native and now diocesan vicar general/moderator of the curia, recalled that the “K of C Bishop Massillon Assembly was a very visible part of the Church when I was a child. I remember that my grandfather was a proud member of the K of C. The Fourth Degree was an ever-present part of any special church celebration – Confirmations, parish anniversaries, Forty Hours, Corpus Christi, and many others. Having grown up just a few blocks from the former Assembly Hall on Third Street, about one block from St. Joseph, I can clearly remember many activities taking place in that hall.”

Later, he said, there was a great deal of “enthusiasm and hard work” when the new hall was built on Cherry Street. “It seemed as if all the Knights were at work building it,” he told the Exponent. “In the years that have followed, I have seen the continued hard work and dedication for the Church by the members of the Bishop Massillon Assembly. May the [council’s] second hundred years witness even greater success of the Assembly on behalf of the Church, and may the Lord abundantly bless all the knights and their families.”

Father Michael McGivney, curate of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Conn., organized the Knights of Columbus on January 9, 1882. According to Girt, Father McGivney wanted to organize a fraternal organization of Catholic men to provide insurance for the widows and children of its members. He also encouraged the group to perform charitable, educational and patriotic works for the benefit of the church, the community and the nation.

All Knights of Columbus members must be practicing Catholics. Persons interested in more information on the Knights of Columbus are asked to contact their pastors.

Joanne Malene covers news for the Exponent in Stark and Portage counties. Lou Jacquet contributed to this report