To: Carl Anderson, Knight of Columbus, Supreme Knight
From: Steve
Lovison, Knight of Columbus, 3rd Degree,
Pope
John Paul I Council 6020
7631
Quebec Dr. Huntington Beach, CA. 92648
(714)
943-1038
Date: Tuesday November 13, 2007, Feast of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
Subject: The Knights’ Leadership Role in the Renewal of Parish Life
Worthy Supreme Knight,
In the November 2007 issue of Columbia Magazine which I just received today you wrote: “Too often we are tempted to defer our good ideas or best efforts until some later date. . . . there is no better time than the present; and if we use the present as fully as we can, we will find that the future will open up even more possibilities for us.” This proposal was written in October and has been deferred as I let others review it but as you will see should you decide to read this proposal, your writings have once again inspired me. I also find this feast day an appropriate one for sending this to you, and so I take Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini as a special patron for this cause.
I have written the following proposal suggesting three activities that I believe will be of tremendous value to the renewal of the Catholic Church and that the Knights could drive to success. I am confident once you review these proposals you will agree that they are perfect for the Knights to play a spiritual leadership role in the Catholic Church, as you have recently written about.
I have spent several days in Eucharistic retreat
writing this proposal at considerable expense because I believe it is so
important. I realize you are extremely
busy but I beg you to please give it your attention.
The activities
revolve around Eucharistic Adoration
which I have experience supporting in multiple dioceses in the
I see these activities as so important that I have already invested a considerable amount of my own time and money into making them happen. But as a new 3rd Degree Knight I have come to realize that the Knights are the organization to make these activities successful on a world-wide scale.
I joined the Knights primarily due to your writings as related to the Eucharist which I became aware of while assisting the Archdiocese of Chicago with the August 2005 Grant Park procession hosted by the Knights. I fully see the vision you have of the Knights leading parish renewal.
If these activities seem worthwhile to you, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss them with you in person or whoever would be responsible for these activities. I believe that I am uniquely qualified to assist in this effort, which I consider to be one of the most important in the world. I am at your disposal.
Steven Lovison
cc: This document will be sent to several Grand Knights (past and present), and several 4th degree Knights including 3 priests and a deacon who I have had discussions with regarding this proposal. I have also sent a copy to Supreme Director Charles Foos whose name and address was given to me by a 4th degree I discussed this with.
Executive
Summary
Purpose
The purpose of this proposal is to enlist the Knights of Columbus into a formal, aggressive, worldwide campaign to increase devotion to the Blessed Sacrament through perpetual adoration, all-night prayer vigils, and the promotion of the Vatican Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles not only for the Knights themselves but for all Catholics.
In the September 2007 issue of
In support of Carl Anderson’s statement I believe that the most charitable thing the Knights could do is provide the example, inspiration, and resources to make the 1993 goal of Pope John Paul II a reality when he stated “I hope that ... perpetual adoration, with permanent exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, will continue into the future. Specifically, I hope that the fruit of this Congress results in the establishment of perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in all parishes and Christian communities throughout the world.”
In that same issue of Columbia
Cardinal Marc Quelet said there is a “great
Eucharistic movement now under way in the Church”. While I agree, my experience supporting
Perpetual Adoration in multiple dioceses in the
One of the obstacles surely keeping parish priests from supporting Eucharist Adoration with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament is a fear of having enough adorers to sustain it, and fear of problems managing the activity.
The proposals presented in this document are tangible ways to accomplish the great challenge Carl Anderson speaks of, and to revitalize the great Eucharistic movement to the greater glory of God.
Background
I am an insured 3rd Degree Knight joining in June 2007 and taking my 3rd Degree last September. Since my return to the Church in the year 2000, I have used my professional skills and resources as a computer professional to assist groups in their adoration efforts.
Over my career I have held executive positions with manufacturing and distribution companies while at the same time keeping up my technical skill set. I understand systems from many angles and put those talents to use in adoration.
I work within several dioceses most notably Chicago, New Orleans, Orange (California), and San Antonio developing what I consider a world class set of tools to manage perpetual adoration which are available free to all at www.adorationservants.org.
I joined the Knights primarily due to the writings of Carl Anderson as related to the Eucharist. I became aware of these writings while assisting the Archdiocese of Chicago with the August 2005 Grant Park procession hosted by the Knights as part of their major conference.
As I discussed joining the Knights I made it clear my priorities are the Eucharist and my hope was that I could help the Knights promote Eucharistic devotions in a tangible, comprehensive way.
Proposals
Perpetual Eucharistic Exposition and Adoration: As already stated Pope John Paul II wished that perpetual adoration and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament be established in every parish throughout the world. It is a provable fact that when our Lord is exposed in the Blessed Sacrament, more people come to adore Him than would do so otherwise when He is hidden from view in the tabernacle.
But exposition requires a guaranteed presence of the faithful. Under no circumstances may exposition take place such that no adorers are present. To accomplish this guarantee takes significant commitment from many people and significant work in coordinating the ongoing efforts.
The active presence and leadership role in the renewal of parishes Carl Anderson speaks of can be immediately accomplished by every Knight in every Council scheduling themselves for a weekly holy hour where perpetual adoration is in place, finding out from the chapel leaders where they need help, and where requested, taking on any administrative duties that perpetual adoration entails.
All Night Eucharistic Powerhouse Vigils of Love: Establish all-night prayer vigils using the format created by the Marian Therese Vigil Society whose founder, Nancy Martin, is the spouse of a 4th Degree Knight.
These All Night Eucharistic Powerhouse Vigils of Love set out the whole night’s activities making use of some of the most powerful weapons of the Church which amounts to a beautiful, organized medley of divine praise and petition. So when a council establishes an all night vigil, it will not be necessary to “reinvent the wheel” so to speak. The vigil can be off and running with limited preparation.
The Vigil stresses praying for
the “four pillars” which are certainly close to the heart of all Knights: Life,
Marriage, Family, and Priests/Religious. These four pillars are the essence of
civilization and fruitfulness, and they are currently under attack from all
sides. The recent
Vatican Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles: This exhibition, created by the
Resources Available
The three activities proposed
are in position for the Knights to exploit them without very significant
pre-implementation efforts.
The Vatican Exhibition is being promoted under the management of a National Eucharistic Adoration Organization called The Real Presence. When I personally financed my own set of the exhibition ($6,000+) I became their coordinator for the West Coast. Getting started would require scheduling a time (usually a weekend) with a local parish and coordinating schedules with the availability of the exhibition set. An option would be for the Knights themselves to purchase their own set of panels and then they can coordinate display from council to council as desired. I do not know the extent of Archbishop Burke’s proposal to the Knights on this.
The All Night Eucharistic Powerhouse Vigils of Love are completely organized and startup would just be a matter of getting the materials in enough quantity for expected participants, getting permission to hold the Vigil at a parish, and organizing each event.
Perpetual Adoration with Exposition is a completely different story
that will vary not only from diocese to diocese but from parish to parish. Some bishops, like those in Chicago, San
Antonio, and New Orleans have given their adorers complete approval to have
24/7 Exposition if they can or to have less times dependent on a Pastor’s
desires and adorer availability. Other
dioceses, like
Starting up perpetual adoration
requires serious planning and coordination.
The good news is that there are a number of organizations willing to
help such as the Real Presence nationwide, and local diocesan organizations
such as those that exist in
In addition my Internet based system available at www.adorationservants.org can and will ease the tasks required for startup. This effort will surely take resources and should the Knights wish to support this effort in a truly aggressive manner, I would be willing to sacrifice my personal business and help in a more formal, dedicated fashion.
Summary
We live in times where world morals are falling apart. The family is under attack. The Church is under attack and its members suffer and are in need of more available spiritual tools and the inspiration to use them.
The Knights have been, and are now a force to be reckoned with. They are poised and have the resources, should they aggressively desire, to completely renew Catholic Culture through programs they have and by taking on the proposals above. I am glad to be a new Knight of Columbus and I look forward to helping in Carl Anderson’s vision of making the Knights into a spiritual inspiration to Catholics around the world.
Detailed
Proposals for Perpetual Adoration
Purpose & Background
Introduction: The Knights of Columbus are a force of accomplishment such that when they decide something has to be done, gets it done! The proposals presented here are tangible, challenging activities that are needed in every diocese in the world and the main activity, Eucharistic Adoration, has been recommended by saints and popes and over the last fourteen years has met with great success and great failure, great support and great opposition. Should the Knights decide to take these activities on in a formal, aggressive, united manner, the successes to-date will seem like only a prelude to what will come. The Knights have the resource to motivate the rest of the Catholic world.
In the September 2007 issue of
This document will present the activities proposed and justify their need for the Knights to make them their own. It will review the progress to-date and provide real world examples of the stagnation of what Cardinal Marc Quelet called in the September 2007 Issue of Columbia magazine a “great Eucharistic movement now under way in the Church”.
I base my opinions and get my
examples for my experience supporting Perpetual Adoration in multiple dioceses
in the
Perpetual Adoration Since 1993: In 1993 at the 45th International
Eucharistic Congress in
Before going forward a few terms related to adoration need to be formally defined because depending on whom you talk to, these same terms can mean different things. The USCCB publication Thirty-one Questions on Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is the source of these definitions:
Adoration Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament housed within the tabernacle.
Exposition The Blessed Sacrament is displayed outside the tabernacle in a monstrance or ciborium for public veneration by the faithful.
Perpetual An extended period of time. NOT necessarily 24 hours per day 7 days per week
It is important to note the “Perpetual Adoration” does not necessarily mean 24/7 and it does not necessarily mean exposition is taking place. Note how Pope John Paul II’s statement above says “perpetual adoration, with permanent exposition”. Exposition is key because, as the USCCB tells us, exposition “acknowledge[s] Christ's marvelous presence in the sacrament” and due to this fact we human beings are drawn more to adoration when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed.
For the rest of this document, the term “Perpetual Exposition” will be used but it should be realized that, for the most part, the term “Perpetual Adoration” usually means exposition is taking place. “Perpetual Exposition” is not necessarily 24/7 but any regularly scheduled period of time.
Exposition requires significant rules be followed and these rules are often interpreted different ways. The two basic rules for exposition, according to the USCCB publication are as follows:
During exposition, there must always be adorers present. The generally accepted interpretation is that every attempt should be made to have two adorers but this rule may be altered by the bishop or pastor. Some find only one adorer acceptable while others require significantly more than two adorers. If the Blessed Sacrament chapel is left vacant the Perpetual Adoration program is to terminate.
The Blessed Sacrament cannot be reposed more than twice in any 24 hour period. So people cannot get around vacant hours by opening and closing curtains or tabernacles with doors or by covering the Monstrance, etc.
For the first ten years after John Paul II’s 1993 statement a number of
dioceses took action on the Pope’s request.
My experiences with is with four primary dioceses:
A number of organizations dedicated to Perpetual Exposition were
founded some of them, like the Pope John Paul II Eucharistic Adoration
Association of Archdiocese of Chicago (PJP2EA) and the Eucharistic Association
of San Antonio (EASA) concentrated primarily on a single diocese while other
organizations, like The Real Presence, were nationwide helping wherever they
could. Rather extensive management and communication systems were put together
during this time to handle the management issues of Perpetual Exposition. Ensuring every hour of exposition was covered
was the main priority. The general
hierarchical guideline is for any given chapel to have one chapel leader, up to
four division leaders (Midnight to 5AM, 6AM to 11AM, Noon to 5PM, 6PM to
Midnight), and twenty-four hourly captains.
When done properly, this system
works but requires large amounts of man-hours, communication and scheduling in
often cumbersome manners.
Some chapels start up but are not able to keep up with the demands. Chapel leaders often bear the brunt of the workload and communication with adorers can be weak. There have been times where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed and the chapel vacant and even places where this worst-case scenario happens on a regular basis.
The following examples are meant show some real world problems and to give an idea of why I say Perpetual Exposition may be in decline.
A frequent problem with perpetual adoration is the tendency of the chapel leader to bear the brunt of the activity, often subbing for adorers themselves and dealing with problems to the extent that they sometimes give up in frustration, leaving a void.
My own chapel, which I manage, even with the tools I will be proposing the Knights use, has limited actual assistance in the week-to-week administration. Yes, there are people who offer to help with potluck meetings and Signup Sunday events, but often in a way that places more work on my shoulders.
Only by the www.adorationservants.org (servants)
system am I able to manage our weekly perpetual adoration without help and in a
manageable amount of time per week. The servants system is an internet based
set of tools to manage Eucharistic Adoration more efficiently and effectively
than has ever been done before. I
developed this system as a began to get involved with Eucharistic Adoration in
Chicago by way of my activities with St Maximilian Kolbe’s Militia of the
Immaculata (MI). As my work with
I have spent considerable time and money developing this proven internet based system for handling all the administrative issues of Perpetual Adoration and it is offered free to all. Over my career I have held executive positions with manufacturing and distribution companies while at the same time keeping up my technical skill set. I have developed and implemented worldwide systems to manage corporate enterprises. I understand systems from many angles and put those talents to use in adoration.
When these tools are used the time required for effective management is reduced to a small fraction of the old methods.
I joined the Knights primarily due to the writings of Carl Anderson as related to the Eucharist. I became aware of these writings while assisting the Archdiocese of Chicago with the August 2005 Grant Park procession hosted by the Knights as part of their major conference.
As I discussed joining the Knights I made it clear my priorities are the Eucharist and my hope was that I could help the Knights promote Eucharistic devotions in a tangible, comprehensive way.
The point is with the use of the adorationservants.org system, a Council can manage the adoration with minimal effort. There would be no need to “reinvent the wheel”.
In fact the communication
aspects of the system work so well that when levy breaks resulting from
Hurricane Katrina flooded the St Dominic 24/7 chapel in
Even if the servants system is not in place, the Knights are surely needed in, I suspect, every Perpetual Exposition chapel there is.
The Knights surely are “providentially positioned to take up the challenge of a leadership role in the renewal of parish life” and to do so “we must reach out into more parishes with an active presence” but what does that mean for each Council?
The most active presence in a parish is the Real Presence of Christ in
the Blessed Sacrament. The active presence of the Knights needs to
be the physical presence of every Knight in adoration before the Real Presence,
and making it easy and attractive for the rest of the parish to do so. This will bring parish renewal.
Proposal 1 Perpetual Eucharistic
Exposition and Adoration
As already stated Pope John Paul
II wished that perpetual adoration and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament be
established in every parish throughout the world. It is
a provable fact that when our Lord is exposed in the Blessed Sacrament, more
people come to adore Him than would do so otherwise when He is hidden from view
in the tabernacle.
But exposition requires a guaranteed presence of the faithful. Under no circumstances may exposition take place such that no adorers are present. To accomplish this guarantee takes significant commitment from many people and significant work in coordinating the ongoing efforts.
The active presence and leadership role in the renewal of parishes Carl
Anderson speaks of can be immediately accomplished by every Knight in every
Council scheduling themselves for a weekly holy hour where perpetual adoration
is in place, finding out from the chapel leaders where they need help, and
where requested, taking on any administrative duties that perpetual adoration
entails.
There are several aspects to distinguish and the first can be overlooked or its importance minimized. Every Knight should make a personal commitment to spend at least one hour a week in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, preferably a scheduled hour. This commitment to personal sanctity cannot be denied as valuable but it can be a sacrifice though ultimately becomes a habit one does not want to give up.
Former Spiritual Director for the Pope John Paul II Eucharistic Adoration Association of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Rev John P. Grigus OFM Conv., who is himself a Knight, often told those working in the association that if we wanted to promote devotion to the Eucharist, we must all have at least one holy hour a week ourselves. If we did not follow what we were promoting we would not only be providing a poor example, but we would also be working with less graces than we should be.
An example for the Knights can be Blessed Mother Teresa and her order. They all have daily holy hours of adoration and Mother Teresa, when she had really busy days, was known to increase her time with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament to more than one hour! The patron saint of this proposal, Mother Cabrini’s order did likewise. Every council should follow these examples.
The remaining aspects all presume permission from the Pastor and
permission from the Bishop where required.
The second aspect is the Knights supporting the existing perpetual exposition chapels already in their Council. I guarantee you these chapels need the Knights help. The council should first find out what the exposition schedules are, and who is in charge. Ask the chapel leader what kind of help they need. Using my own chapel as an example I would say that we have six or seven weak hours and if the Knights could fill those hours where adorers are needed that would be wonderful. Then I would explain that I am the only person managing the effort and if the Knights could help administer by taking on some of these duties that would be great. The duties include review of attendance and calling adorers to ensure the hours are being covered. These efforts would take maybe, on average, 30 minutes a week. By-products of helping administratively would be the Knights being visibly seen as being active in adoration and this could add new Knights as well.
The third aspect is the Knight expanding perpetual exposition chapels. This task would assume that the chapel has the proper permission from the bishop to expand.
Summary
Nothing could do more for our Church, our country, and our organization that successful promotion of Eucharistic devotions. These proposals, especially support of Perpetual Adoration, are surely efforts that will bring graces from heaven and can impact our present culture. The Knights are needed! The mission is in front of us.
cc: Steve Wellander, Grand Knight, Pope John Paul I Council 6020
Leon Supranet, Knight of the 4th Degree, Past President Catholics United for the Faith
Otto
Kaiserauer, Knight of the 3rd
Degree, President Pope John Paul II Eucharistic
Adoration Association of the Archdiocese of
Fr XXX Sera 3rd Degree Knight and recent Knight Honoree (xxxdetails detailsxxx)
Ben Gentemann Grand Knight, xxxx Council xxxx
Deacon Pay Maher Knight of 4th Degree
Fr Al Tremari 4th Degree Order of St John Cansius