Alta. Knight gets supreme honour

Mickey Casavant is only 4th Canadian ever elected to K of C supreme council

- WCR photo by Ramon Gonzalez Mickey Casavant displays his jewel as supreme warden of the Knights of Columbus.

By RAMON GONZALEZ
Western Catholic Reporter
St. Albert

Mickey Casavant, former leader of Alberta's 15,000 Knights of Columbus, is now one of the supreme leaders of the Catholic order.

Casavant, who served as state deputy for the Alberta/Northwest Territories jurisdiction of the Knights in 2003-05, was recently elected supreme warden, thus becoming one of seven members of the Knights' supreme council with headquarters in New Haven, Conn.

He is one of two Canadian knights currently serving on the supreme council and one of four Canadian supreme officers in the organization's 125-year history. He replaces Lawrence Constanzo of California as warden.

Casavant, 66, was elected to the position Oct. 2 by the Knights' supreme board. Supreme officers are elected yearly but usually serve two one-year terms.

"I feel honoured to have been chosen to be a supreme officer," Casavant said Nov. 18 from his home near St. Albert. "In an order totalling close to 1.8 million members (worldwide) it is indeed an honour. And I also feel honoured to have an opportunity to provide a voice from Canada (on the supreme council)."

The warden is the only supreme officer not required to live in New Haven, which means Casavant will have to travel several times a year for meetings and conventions.

"I'm very excited about this because there is an expectation that my wife, Astrid, will be travelling with me."

His supreme warden's duties are varied and include being part of an audit committee that reviews the finances of the order and being responsible for making sure supreme meetings and conventions run smoothly.

He is also expected to represent the supreme council at various jurisdictional conventions and events.

Casavant, a father of two adult children, attributes his election as supreme warden to the fact the Alberta/Northwest Territories jurisdiction has excelled in a number of areas in the last few years.

"Alberta has consistently done very well in membership recruitment in the past number of years (and) we have worked diligently in promoting pro-life," he said in a recent email.

"We were instrumental in initiating a postcards blitz as well as letter writing to members of Parliament for the very controversial issue of maintaining the definition of marriage and we have had extensive involvement in working with the youth through the Squires Program and with youth groups in the communities."

Casino funding

The Alberta Knights have also worked closely with parishes to help raise funds and provide manpower for many other community projects.

During Casavant's tenure as state deputy the Knights committed themselves to replacing bingos and casinos with more family-oriented fundraising activities.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson was not available for comment but Deputy Supreme Knight Dennis Savoie, the other Canadian on the supreme council, said Casavant was chosen as warden because he is a good knight.

"The supreme warden is an honorary position we have on the board to recognize the services rendered, in this case, by Mickey Casavant.

"Over the years Mickey has been a very dedicated Catholic layman; he is a past state deputy of Alberta and a very successful one," Savoie said Nov. 18 from New Haven.

"We wanted basically to have the calibre of individual that Mickey brings to the table, first of all, and also recognize the work that he has done and continues to do for the Knights."

A native of Legal, Casavant was a social worker with the Alberta government for 30 years, joined the Knights in 1974 and is currently a member of Brother Anthony Council 10014 in St. Albert. He and his wife Astrid are members of Holy Family Parish.

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