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Knights of Columbus Light of Christ Council 8726 ______________________________ St. Ignatius Loyola Church Sinking Spring, PA |
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History In January of 1983 there were only three Knights of Columbus councils
serving the vast Berks County community.
Michael D. O'Reilly, who was at the time, the General Agent for
Knights of Columbus Insurance, approached his Pastor Rev. J. Pascal of St.
Ignatius Loyola Parish, Sinking Spring, PA with a proposition to form a new
Council that would serve the parish.
O'Reilly also approached Rev. William J. Nessel
of St. Francis De Sales parish in Robesonia, PA for the same purpose. Both Father Pascal and Father Nessel were agreeable, and Mr. O’Reilly turned to
District Deputy John L. Schum to proceed with the
paperwork, and preparations were made to contact the parishioners of both
parishes. At that point the process hit a snag; apparently there were members of
the three other councils who objected to new councils being established in
Berks County due to competition for members.
A complaint was issued to then State Deputy Basil Desiderio,
Plymouth, PA, who referred the complaint to Henry J Mullen, State Membership
Director for investigation. The
allegations of too many councils turned out to have
no merit and the process of obtaining new members continued, but at this
point, very slowly, and not very encouraging. Then two things happened to hasten the development. On August 15, 1983, St. Ignatius Loyola
Parish got a new Pastor, Msgr. James A. Treston. On Oct. 1, 1983 Henry J. Mullen who had
been following the progress in the area was transferred from Pittsburgh to
Sinking Spring and now was a member of St. Ignatius Loyola Parish. Mullen contacted John Schum
and Mike O’Reilly, and called an organization meeting of all who had
expressed interest in the new councils.
There were fourteen from St. Ignatius and four from St. Francis. The
number of members required by the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council to form
a new council is thirty members. It was decided to combine all of the
applications from both parishes and go from there. A second organization meeting was held in February 1984. After a lesson on what the Knights of
Columbus is about many of the attendees took membership applications in order
to recruit new members, and it was agreed that Mr. Mullen would send letters
to members who belonged to Councils outside the state but lived in Berks
County. At that meeting it was evident
that several of the men interested in the council were skilled leaders. From
these we were able to form a slate of probable leaders for the new
council. One member in particular John
Sadowski stood out, and was able to recruit several
more members. In April 1984 we had
secured enough applications to proceed with a First Degree Exemplification,
performed by members of Councils 793 and 7179. In May 1984 after securing the
required 30 members, we submitted the applications to the Knights of Columbus
Supreme Headquarters in New Haven, CT, and on June 3, 1984 we received the
Council Number 8726 and were officially a council of the Knights of Columbus.
John Sadowski was elected Grand Knight of the new
council and Henry Mullen was appointed District Deputy of the Berks County
District #20 Councils. At a later date we chose our name and received our
Charter. During the first years of the council, meetings were held on the 2nd
and 3rd Monday of each month.
The first meeting of the month was held at St.Ignatius
Loyola Rectory basement, and the second meeting of the month was held in St.
Francis Se Sales Rectory basement. At the time, St Francis De Sales parish
did not have a building for Mass so masses were held at Trinity Luthern Church in Robesonia, PA. Our first Installation of Officers Ceremony
was held after Saturday night Mass in that facility. After our first year in
operation, we received a Star Council Award. |
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Date of Last Update: 03/27/2011 |
