Local K of C forms new assembly in
honor of JPII
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published July 28, 2006
Taylor – Bill Downing says his 30 years of membership in the Knights of Columbus has been a great way to meet and socialize with others who share a like interest in being faithful Catholics.
"They're great quality people, and you form friendships you might never have had if you hadn't joined the K of C," says Downing, 53, who was invested last Saturday as the first faithful navigator of the new Taylor-based Pope John Paul II Assembly 2942 of Fourth-degree Knights of Columbus.
The faithful navigator is the top post in a fourth-degree K of C assembly, analogous to the grand knight of a K of C council.
The ceremony took place at the All Saints Council K of C Hall in Taylor, along with the installation of officers of the host council and several other downriver-area councils. The installations followed a Mass at St. Alfred Church in Taylor celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Francis Reiss.
Downing, who is single, is director of safety and risk management for Wayne-based Rush Trucking.
Photo by Robert Delaney
Bill Downing, faithful navigator of the new Pope John Paul II Assembly 2942 of Fourth-degree Knights of Columbus, displays the Taylor-based assembly's banner. | His history with the Knights began as it has for many members of America's largest Catholic men's organization, when a friend took him to a meeting as a guest. That was at Wyandotte Council 1802 back in 1976, and he joined that same year.
Downing says his experience with the K of C has also mirrored that of many other members – that as he became more involved with the fraternity, he also became more involved with his parish.
"The Knights are all about supporting vocations and supporting Church-related charities and our priests and bishops. There are so many things tying the Knights and the Church together – they go hand-in-hand," he says.
Downing, who grew up in Wyandotte, moved to Taylor in 1985 and transferred to St. Alfred Parish and to All Saints K of C Council 4872 there. He served as that council's grand knight from 1999 to 2001.
Downing became a fourth-degree Knight in 1985, which also made him a member of a fourth-degree K of C assembly, Msgr. Van Antwerp Assembly, then in Lincoln Park. And although he has had some success in getting third-degree Knights to "take it to the next level" by going for the fourth degree, he says he figured he could do better than two or three new members a year if a new Taylor-based assembly were formed.
The results, he says, have proved him right. "You need 30 to get an assembly started, and we're starting with 52 – 25 new members and 27 transfers from the Msgr. Schulte Assembly in Wyandotte and the Msgr. Van Antwerp Assembly in Allen Park," Downing says.
Fr. Bernard Fraser, pastor of St. Cyril of Jerusalem Parish in Taylor, says the Knights of Columbus is a "great opportunity for Catholic men to get more involved in the Church." He hails the Knights' support for vocations and for pro-life activities. "Within the parish, they are usually the men who take the leading roles in parish activities," Fr. Fraser continues, adding that the K of C members "are excellent role models in living out the Knights' shared values of charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism."
Photo by Robert Delaney
Members of the Knights of Columbus Fourth-degree color guard stand ready to escort new officers during the ceremony. |
The first three of those virtues are the focus of the first three degrees of K of C membership. Becoming a Knight involves going through the first or Charity degree, and some Knights go through all three degrees at the same time, while others might take the second and third a few months later. (While there is no secret about the focus of each degree, precisely what they involve is something the Knights do not divulge.)
But the fourth degree is something a third-degree Knight might only tackle some years later, if at all. And while details are also secret, Downing says Knights take their fourth-degree during an all-day, formal-attire event called an "exemplification."
Most Catholics have probably at least seen fourth-degree color guard units – distinguished by their swords, capes and military-style chapeaux – at special Church ceremonies.
They might not realize, however, that in line with their focus on the virtue of patriotism, the fourth-degree Knights also provide the service of disposing of worn and tattered U.S. flags. The ceremony involves burning the flags, but with respect, not in protest.
"Our assembly just recently held out first flag-retiring ceremony, with a U.S. military honor guard and members of the Boy Scouts of America," Downing says.
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