Knights have 'travelling man'

State deputy has toured the province to provide leadership

By GLEN ARGAN
WCR Editor
Edmonton

And the travelling man says the Knights are having "a phenomenally successful year."

Net membership is up almost 600 to 14,200 and the number of councils has increased from 148 to 153, with a few more expected by the time the Knights' year ends June 30.

"I'm extremely happy and excited about that," says Klein.

The dream of Father Michael McGivney, who founded the Knights in 1882, was to have a council in every parish. "We're still a long way from that," says Klein.

Klein, a 63-year-old Calgarian, has more numbers to highlight K of C accomplishments: Alberta Knights raised and distributed $1.16 million to charities last year and gave more than one million hours to volunteer activities.

But behind the numbers is something more important - new councils and more members enables the Knights to have more programs in the community.

"I believe it's extremely important that we create a Catholic presence in the community," he says.

In particular, Klein believe the Knights need to be more vocal about family issues ranging from domestic violence to genetic manipulation. The Knights, he says, can make an impact with government in those areas and in the area of respect for life. "We can make our communities better to live in for the poor, the handicapped and the marginalized."

"It was the camaraderie that drew me in." - Leo Klein

The Knights also have close ties with the Church. "The Holy Father provided us with a distinction when he said, 'You are the right arm of the Church.' But we have to be deserving of that accolade."

He has a good relationship with the Alberta-NWT bishops, all of whom support the Knights. "It's nice to get that kind of support. We encourage the bishops to provide us with their list of priorities as to where we might go."

At the parish level, local councils aim to help the pastor, he says. "We're not there to run their parishes for them; we're there to assist where we can."

The Alberta-NWT Knights gave $1,000 to each diocese to help with the costs of World Youth Day. Supreme council gave $1 million to defray the costs associated with the park where Reconciliation services will be held.

Klein joined the order in 1964 and says, "It was the camaraderie that drew me in." When he retired in 1993 after 35 years of government service, he decided to put more of his efforts into volunteer work.

"Very quickly I found that my free time was taken up by these various volunteer organizations."

He was on the boards of the Father Lacombe Nursing Home and the diocesan Mission Council and has been active in St. Bonaventure Parish along with his wife Shirley.

"We see this as an opportunity to give something back to the community for all the graces we have had in our lives."

But serving with the Knights is more than another volunteer task for Klein. "Being a member of the Knights of Columbus is not something we put on when we attend social gatherings or meetings. It's something we chose to become when we took the various degrees of the Knights of Columbus."

Those degrees hopefully make Knights better fathers, husbands and grandfathers, he says.

Klein retains goals if he is re-elected state deputy at the annual convention April 26-28 in Calgary. He would like to see membership reach the 15,000 level in the next year and he also wants to see more money going into the Knights' charitable foundation which supports a wide array of charities.

And he also wants to "raise the spiritual bar" in the order, "creating a better balance between the charitable activities and spiritual activities."

The Knights will help out at WYD and are also holding a major Eucharistic Congress in the United States in June.

Other members of the K of C state council are state secretary, Mickey Casavant of St. Albert; state advocate, Ernie Sehn of Lac La Biche; state treasurer, William Smith of Calgary; state warden, Peter Wong of Calgary, state chaplain, Pallotine Father Henry Rosenbaum of Calgary and immediate past deputy, Lito Reyes of Leduc.

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