Str. Joseph Pilram Icon

Dear Worthy Brothers:

Some of you have been asking what the subject is all about and mentioned on the posters located the main entry to church and at the main entries to Marian Hall.  This is a prayer and mass service that Fr. Mario and I have discussed during the last two months, and decided to set May 25, 2022 as the date for the above mentioned event based upon the availability of the traveling icon.  There had been a brief mention of this in the minutes of one of our recent meetings.

What follows describes what this is all about:

Every few years, the Knights of Columbus selects an icon of a saint whose patronage is particularly inspiring to Knights and their communities. Each jurisdiction receives one or several of these icons which travel from council to council and serve as the centerpieces for prayer services in parishes throughout the Order. Since the first traveling pilgrim icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1979, more than 174,800 council and parish prayer services with some 22 million participants have been held.

The St. Joseph Pilgrim Icon Program prayer service, flowing from the Year of St. Joseph declared by Pope Francis in 2021, and inspired by his apostolic letter Patris Corde, is sponsored by Knights of Columbus St. Francis of Assisi, Council 11746, to honor St. Joseph and pray for his intercession in preserving, cultivating and passing on the Catholic faith to future generations. Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly chose to entrust his service as Supreme Knight to St. Joseph and through this Pilgrim Icon Program, encourage Knights and their communities to "turn in prayer to St. Joseph, give thanks to God for the gift of fatherly example, and ask St. Joseph to be a father to us" as we seek to "grow in our own imitation of St. Joseph's quiet strength, integrity and fidelity." In the first year of his pontificate, Pope Francis received the Order’s Board of Directors in a private audience, during which the Holy Father said, “I commend all of you in a special way to the intercession of St. Joseph, the protector of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who is an admirable model of those manly virtues of quiet strength, integrity and fidelity which the Knights of Columbus are committed to preserving, cultivating and passing on to future generations of Catholic men.”

The purpose of the program is to spread devotion to St. Joseph and pray for the courage to stand up and carry out our mission of protecting, defending, and raising future generations.  Within the United States of America, there are on average two traveling icons per State, and our Council is privileged to present one of two in the State of Georgia at a special prayer service starting at 11:00 AM followed by a special mass at noon on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.  The Knights of Columbus, Council 11746 will have 200 prayer cards and 100 prayer/mass service booklets available at this special event.  If Bill Haler (or another person) is not available to play the two songs for the mass service, then the only deviation from the mass service will be the omission of the two songs mentioned in the booklet.

For additional information, consult these web sites located within the Knights of Columbus main page:

Pilgrim Icon Program - Faith Programs | Knights of Columbus (kofc.org)
5050 Pilgrim Icon Program (kofc.org)
11221 St. Joseph Icon Prayer Card (kofc.org)

If you have any questions regarding the above,  do not hesitate to call/text or email me.  I will respond as soon as I can, but please be patient if there is a delay, as last week I had a medical emergency and was hospitalized for two days due to a problem that has gotten worse with age.  My contact information follows my signature.  

Fr. Mario already has his own copies of the prayer card and booklet.  Thank you all for everything you do.  Blessed Michael McGivney and St. Francis of Assisi pray for us.

Sincerely,
Rick Graff
Grand Knight, Council 11746
Faithful Captain, Assembly 2563
51 Hidden Fields Rd.
Hiawassee, GA 30546
Cell/Text: 706-970-5696
Email: hydraglide1951@icloud.com