(296) The Persecution of Greek Catholics (Ruthenian) by Soviet Russia in the 1940s & 50s and the Loya Family Connection

AMDG

As Told By Deacon Gregory Loya

The Greek Catholic Martyrs (Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Rite).  From left to right are Blessed Basil Hopko, Auxiliary Bishop of Presov, Slovakia; Blessed Theodore Romzha, Bishop of Mukachevo-Uzhorod, Ukraine; and Blessed Paul Gojdich, Bishop of Presov, Slovakia.  This is a mural painted by Fr. Thomas Loya on the west wall of Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church in Homer Glenn Illinois.  Fr. Loya continues as its pastor.  He welcomes visitors to come and pray while enjoying his murals that cover the entire interior of the church, which is open to all daily from 9 am to 5 pm.  See the article done by WGN News at the following link.  Go to:

https://wgntv.com/2018/12/18/priest-called-michelangelo-of-the-midwest-for-paintings-in-suburban-church/

“Priest called ‘Michelangelo of the Midwest’ for elaborate church paintings” – WGN Chicago article on the art of Fr. Thomas Loya.

    In 2008, the Eparchy of Parma, Ohio sponsored a dinner in memory of our martyred Paul Bishop Gojdich.  As we remember our four martyred bishops, Hopko, Romzha, Gojdich, and Chira, let us never forget that this sort of persecution was not rare amongst other clergy and faithful in the “old country.”  I recount a story that touches me personally by at least a couple of related priests from the family of my father’s mother (Elizabeth Bachinsky Loya).  There were other martyrs, de facto as described below, including my great grandfather Fr. Daniel Bachinsky Sr. and my great uncle Fr. Daniel Bachinsky Jr. 

A photo of my grandparents, my father’s (Joseph Loya) parents, the late Rev. John Loya and his wife Pani Elizabeth.  Her maiden name was Bachinsky and they were married before his ordination in November of 1922.  Elizabeth was one of eight children, among them Fr. Daniel Bachinsky Jr., her brother.  (Her father was Fr. Daniel Bachinsky Sr.)

 

    The communists of the Soviet Union in the mid-20^th century started a campaign of demoralization and intimidation toward the Greek Catholic clergy and faithful of the Trans Carpathian Rus area of Eastern Europe.  Around 1944, the Greek Catholic church there was being pressured to “unify” with the Russian Orthodox Church.  Our blessed bishop, Theodore Romzha, was not about to give up our Church to any communist controlled church.  More and more, his freedoms were limited and more of our churches came under communist control.

In October of 1947, Theodore Romzha, Bishop of Mukachevo-Uzhorod, Ukraine went to the re-dedication of a newly renovated church in Laviki (Lavki). The pastor of this church, Fr. Petro Vasko, was also pastor of a church in Lok’hovo, He was married to Margaret Bachinsky, the younger Fr. Daniel’s sister.  Fr. Daniel Bachinsky Jr. was married to Maria Vasko, Fr. Petro’s sister. To demonstrate that he was not being controlled by the Soviets and to encourage the faithful in their devotion to the Church, Bishop Romzha made the trip despite the warnings and pleas of the parish people and clergy.

      The Liturgy itself was held without incident, but there was a suspicious Studebaker truck present with men in uniform, to be joined later by a jeep with more uniformed men.  Despite their concerns, on October 27^th, the bishop decided to depart.  He was accompanied by two seminarians, Michael Bugir and Michael Maslej, a coachman and two priests, Fr. Bereznaj and Fr. Daniel Bachinsky Jr. (Fr. Daniel was my great uncle, the brother of my grandmother Elizabeth Bachinsky or Pani Loya, married to my dad’s father, Fr. John Loya.)

       As they left in their horse-drawn carriage, the truck followed and just outside Ivanivtski, the driver accelerated and rammed into the carriage.  Though the horses were killed, all of the riders initially survived, only to be attacked by the soldiers with iron rods.  The seminarians ran into town for help and a mail truck from Mukachevo arrived which finally caused the attackers to flee.

     The coachman ultimately died of his injuries. Father Daniel Bachinsky Jr. was unconscious for three weeks with a fractured skull, broken right scapula, broken ribs and a spiral fracture of the tibia and fibula in his right leg.  (Some think that he was mistaken for the Bishop, since he did not have his usual facial hair and they looked similar to one another.) The Bishop had a severe head injury, a two-fold fracture of the mandible, a linear tibia wound, broken teeth and bruises all over.  The Bishop’s jaw had to be wired and braced; however he could speak and his prognosis for recovery was excellent. 

    It was the mysterious helper at the hospital named Odarka that was brought on the scene, along with the removal of regular staff doctors who were replaced with Red Army doctors.  In late October, Sister Theophilia, the chief hospital nurse along with the chief surgical nurse were caring for Bishop Theodore and Fr. Daniel, who  was often cared for by his wife, Mary.  A certain Dr. Bergman was there and the two nurses were removed from the room. In less than ten minutes, they returned to hear the Bishop moan “Oh Jesus!” and see his body torn by a convulsion.  Despite the efforts of the staff, his heart gave out and at 12:30, he died. There is much evidence to conclude, including the testimony of my great uncle Fr. Daniel, that our beloved Bishop Theodore Romzha was murdered.  

    In a couple more days, the “special commission” concluded that Bishop Romzha had died of a cerebral hemorrhage.  This conclusion came from a Soviet pathologist who prepared the report, with none of the doctors allowed to examine the body during the autopsy to find the so-called ruptured vein.  However, the killers were unaware that Fr. Daniel was conscious during the whole episode at the hospital and being able to speak for a moment, told Sr. Theophilia, “That girl was here and slipped something under the bishop’s nose!”  The doctors concurred in this, for the Bishop’s nose was turning blue and beginning to spread through him.  The doctors determined that he was killed with potassium cyanide.

Fr. Daniel was finally able to leave the hospital in early 1948, several months after the attack.  He was later arrested on June 21, 1949 and deported under a ten year sentence to a prison camp for the disabled.  He returned home in broken health in 1955 and in order to feed his family, had to work in a margarine factory.  He died of a severe heart attack in 1968 at the Uzhorod (Ukraine) Municipal Hospital. During his hospital confinement, he often repeated, “I suffer gladly for there are so many things to offer my sufferings for.”  His funeral was attended by 10,000 people.  Sister Theophilia was also arrested and exiled to Siberia for ten years. 

It was Father Daniel Bachinsky’s father, also Fr. Daniel, that brought the Sacramental Mysteries to his son and the bishop in the hospital.  It was the elder Fr. Daniel, by request of Bishop Romzha, who heard the Bishop’s last confession and gave our blessed Theodore his last Holy Eucharist.  The elder Fr. Daniel Bachinsky was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in a labor camp and confiscation of all of his possessions. One of the lawyers petitioned for his freedom because he was already 73 years old, had only 1/3 of his stomach left, no teeth and his feet were swollen.  Unfortunately, no one did anything about his case and he died shortly after this in a communist prison on July 15, 1951.

Many more details can be found in the book Theodore Romhza: His Life, Times and Martyrdom, by Laslo Puskas.

Below is a translated article about the senior Fr. Daniel Bachinsky.  His son, Ivan (John, shown below) was a professor at Bratislava University.  He was also a priest, but much more in secret and did not suffer the fate of his brother.  His granddaughter told me recently how they used to sneak over to Grandpa’s house to have liturgy in his secret chapel and then go home by other means as they were being watched.

 

Fr. Daniel Bachinsky Sr.

 Great Grandfather of Deacon Gregory Loya

The article pictured above is about the senior Fr. Daniel Bachinsky.  It appeared in an Eastern European newspaper in 2001.  It was translated into English by one of his great grand-daughters, Rita Dolinay. (Who is related to our late Metropolitan, Archbishop Thomas Dolinay).  Note the spelling of the name when translated can be Bachinsky, Bachinskyj or Bacsinsky.

Fr. Bachinsky was a mysterious person for the detectives at the beginning of the 1950’s.  Fr. Daniel Bachinsky Sr., Greek-Catholic (Byzantine) priest, was arrested at the end of December, 1950.

He was born in Vishkovo (near Hust) into the family of a Greek-Catholic priest.  After finishing the seminary in Uzhorod, Austria-Hungary, (today Ukraine) in 1902, he was assigned as a helping priest in Zaritcha.  From 1907 until 1921 Fr. Bachinsky served as a priest in Siltse and later in Dubrivki (near Uzhorod).  He was part of the organization which made the financial, medical and agricultural decisions that concerned the population of the village of Dubrivka.

One of the witnesses reported that Fr. Daniel Bachinsky Sr. was a member of the delegation which traveled to Budapest, Hungary to convince the Hungarians to occupy the Transcarpathia.  Witnesses also stated that he represented the civil and clerical aspects of the village.  Without Fr. Bachinsky’s consent there were no decisions made in the village.  He could also change any decision that was approved by the civil head of the village.

Fr. Bachinsky’s house was taken away from him by the communists.  As a 70 year old man he went to live with his children.  It is known from the documents that until 1946 Fr. Bachinsky had much land, four horses, 10 cows, two full time servants and a house with six rooms.  Fr. Bachinsky had 9 children, one of them being a Greek-Catholic priest who was arrested in 1949.  One of Fr. Bachinsky’s younger daughters became the wife of a priest in the 1920’s and moved to the USA (this daughter was Elizabeth, who was married to my grandfather, the late Rev. John Loya.)

The elder Fr. Bachinsky was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in a labor camp and confiscation of all of his possessions. One of the lawyers petitioned for his freedom because he was already 73 years old, had only 1/3 of his stomach left, no teeth and his feet were swollen.  Unfortunately, no one did anything about his case and he died shortly after this in a communist prison on July 15, 1951.  (His body was buried in an unmarked grave and a man on his deathbed confessed to where his body was and finally returned it to the family cemetery.)

 -----------------------------------------------

Let us remember, pray for, and be inspired by those courageous men, who were martyred for their faith!  Let their courage and martyrdom, as well as the many other clergy and faithful of that time, be an example to us when we consider our own sacrifices for our faith.  Do we have the same courage as these brave souls?  Do we have the same “stuff” they did? May their memory be eternal.  Mna no haja I blahaja ljita!

 

Bachinsky Family Coat of Arms

Similarity of Joseph Loya (son of Eizabeth Bachinski) to Bishop Andre Bachinsky.

Editor’s Note: Some believe that if Russia conquers all of Ukraine, the Greek Catholic Church will again be suppressed and absorbed by the Russian Orthodox Church.  For years the Archbishop of Moscow controlled the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but a few years ago the Ukrainian Orthodox declared their independence.  Thus it is no surprise that the Russian Orthodox Archbishop Krill supports the invasion of Ukraine.  The Roman Catholic Rite is a minority.  In Russian occupied Ukraine the Knights of Columbus, a strong Catholic Men’s fraternity, are already suppressed.

    Let us not forget that the dictator Vladimir Putin is a product of the Soviet Union in which he grew up.  Furthermore, he is a former officer of the KGB and has that same mindset, using their methods for maintaining power that includes eliminating those who speak out in criticism by jailing and murder under often mysterious circumstances.  Although not a communist as such, he admires Joseph Stalin and has dreams of restoring the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

 

Fr. Vladimir Mihalich

Great Grandfather of Deacon Gregory Loya

On my mom’s (Martha Foley Loya) side of the family: These are my great-great grandparents from Yarembina (not sure how to spell that).  Fr. Adelbert Mihalich and his wife.  My cousin told me that the Mihalich clergy were in that village for a couple centuries!

This is my great grandfather Fr. Vladimir Mihalich (1874 – 1943) with his wife Olga Podajevsky and family in about 1910.   My mom’s (Martha) mom, Irene Mihalich Foley (black hair) on her father’s left.  Fr. Vladimir came to America in 1921 and was pastor of St. Peter & Paul Greek Catholic Church (Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church) in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, a steel town south of Pittsburgh from 1928 until his death in 1943).  He had 5 daughters (Ella, Lilly, Irene, Martha, and Stephanie in that order) and the long line of priests stopped there.  Actually, after skipping two generations, Fr. Thomas Loya, Fr. Vladimir’s Great Grandson, became a priest.  His brother Gregory became a Deacon as did Fr. Vladimir’s grandson John V. Sebastian.  According to his youngest daughter, Dr. Stephanie Mihalich Sebastian, Fr. Vladimir taught one of the Greek Catholic martyrs in the seminary at Eperes, Austria-Hungary.  Both Olga and Fr. Vladimir came from lines of priests.  It was almost customary for seminarians to marry daughters of priests.

    

This is the church of my great grandfather, Fr. Vladimir Mihalich in Rozadomb (Rose Hill) in Austria-Hungary (later renamed Bodruzal-Slovakia).  The name of the rustic church was either St. Basil or St. Nicholas, dating from 1658!  This rustic church is now a tourist attraction and was a model for the Greek Catholic Union’s replica of an old rustic church in Butler, Pennsylvania.  The rectory there was built in 1905 by Fr. Vladimir.  He was pastor of four such churches and traveled to them by horse and buggy.  There are records in the parish of Pleasant City, OH of a Fr. Vladimir coming to America for short trips to help set up the Greek Catholic Church (Byzantine Ruthenian Rite) in the United States.

This photo is from one of our family albums, showing a “typical” eastern wedding of a man who would soon be a priest, Fr. Emil Gulyassi and his bride Lilly Mihalich Gulyassi in Fr. Vladimir’s Church in Charleroi, Pennsylvania in about 1922.  Fr. Emil was pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Bridgeport, CT.  Byzantine Rite Catholic priests may marry before their ordination.  Since they did not have their own bishop in the United States yet, Fr. Emil was ordained in Canada.  During that time the parish was subject to the local Roman Catholic Bishop. 

By Deacon Gregory Loya:  great grandson of Fr. Vladimir Mihalich, the grandson of Irene Mihalich Foley and grandson of Fr. John and Elizabeth Bachinsky Loya and son of Joseph and Martha Foley Loya.

 

APPENDIX I

Below is an article from the June 20, 2018 issue of “Horizons” the newspaper of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, OH.  It gives more information on the Greek Catholic Martyrs.

 

Pilgrims to walk in the footsteps of three martyred Ruthenian bishops

  

Blessed Theodore Romzha was killed by the Soviets in 1947.  Pilgrims will go to Ukraine to venerate his relics.

by Fr. Andrew Summerson

CHICAGO — Pilgrims on Horizons’ fall pilgrimage to Central Europe will walk in the footsteps of three holy Ruthenian bishops martyred for the faith and pray at their tombs in Slovakia and Ukraine.

The Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church boasts three 20^th-century martyrs as outstanding examples of faith in the modern age. The three bishops, Theodore Romzha, Paul Gojdich, and Basil Hopko, all victims of communism, stood for the Gospel in the face of abject hatred of and violence against the church.

Blessed Theodore Romzha was bishop of Mukachevo-Uzhorod in present-day Ukraine, when the region was annexed by the Soviets in 1945. He had been prepared for the role of a missionary bishop for a persecuted church in Soviet territory at the Russicum, a college in Rome founded to train Catholic missionaries to Russia. He urged the underground church to keep the faith by his example. He was beaten and poisoned by the Soviets in 1947.

Blessed Paul Gojdich was bishop of Presov in present-day Slovakia. A zealous missionary priest and pious monk, he was named apostolic administrator of Presov in 1927. In 1950, the Communists took over the region. He was arrested and accused of being an enemy of the state. In prison, he remained an exemplary Christian, choosing to do the dirty work so as to embrace fully Christian humility.

Blessed Basil Hopko was a dedicated Byzantine Catholic priest, having founded the first Byzantine Catholic parish in Prague. As auxiliary bishop of Presov, he was forcibly imprisoned by the communists. He later was released and suffered greatly from mental anguish associated with his imprisonment, yet remained committed to the Gospel.

The pilgrimage will offer moments to learn more about these lessed who died for their commitment to the Church of Rome.

For information on the Sept. 16-28 pilgrimage to Central Europe, go to www.parma.org, email horizons@parma.org, or call (216) 470-3287.  Sign up for the e-newsletter.

Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma

5000 Rockside Road, Suite 310 • Independence, Ohio • 44131
Phone: (216) 741-8773 • Email: chancery@parma.org • Hours: Mon-Fri., 9 am–5 pm

 

APPENDIX II

The Diverse Rites of the Catholic Church According to Culture

    When the apostles embarked on their great mission to teach all nations, they encountered people of different languages and cultures.  To make it easier for the people to accept the apostles adapted the liturgy and certain customs to the culture of the country without compromising doctrine and Church teaching. 

    The West had a Roman influence with Latin as the predominant liturgical language.  The East had a decided Greek influence.  Thus the Church was divided into the Latin Rite (Roman Catholics) and the Byzantine Rite (Greek Catholics).  Eastern European countries used their own languages in the liturgy…..we have Byzantine Ruthenian, Byzantine Romanian, Byzantine Hungarian, Byzantine Ukrainian, Melchites, etc.  Because of the great schism in 1050, the Church was split in two and the Orthodox Church was the result.  Centuries later some of the Orthodox returned to Rome under the condition that they be allowed to maintain their customs as married clergy, but marriage only before ordination.  For more detail go to:       

(251) The Diverse Rites of the Catholic Church........Our Byzantine Catholic Experience Deep in the Heart of Texas During the Eastertide

  https://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2021/05/251-our-byzantine-catholic-experience.html

            

 

(295) Many Catholic Priests and Knights of Columbus Among First Responders on 9/11

AMDG

This photo records the scene moments after one of the two terrorist captured planes crashed into one of the two 110 story towers of the World Trade Center about 9 am on a clear sunny Tuesday morning, September 11 as summer was drawing to a close.  The terrorists actually believed that as martyrs for their cause, they would go straight to heaven and have multiple virgins at their disposal.  My family of six went to the top of one of the towers a year earlier and had a magnificent view of the city, the Bay, and the Statue of Liberty.  Our nine year old daughter, Stephanie actually got lost on the large observation deck.  Probably, everyone over the age of ten at the time can recall where they were on that fateful day.  I arrived at the University of Rio Grande and the staff was watching the events on television.  The students were so afraid of a full scale attack that we had to cancel classes that day.

    The fire departments of New York City, including the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn immediately responded to rescue as many of the people trapped in the twin towers as they could, despite blinding and suffocating smoke, probably in the hundreds.  It was horrific.  In desperation a number of people jumped out of windows to their deaths before the flames could consume them.  Of the 9,000 or so in each tower a total of about 2,150 people perished in the disaster.  Most on the floors below the impacts were able to escape, thanks in great part to the first responders.  Those in the second tower had a better chance during the sixteen minutes before the second plane hit.

The first responders included not only fire fighters and medical personnel, but also Catholic priests, who counseled and gave absolution.  Many of the first responders belonged to the Knights of Columbus, who followed their ideals of charity and patriotism.  They served with heroism and at least 45 of them sacrificed their very lives in serving.

    Not many know that the Church was right there, helping people of all faiths.  Let us read the account of brother knight, Msgr. Thomas Machalski, from his interview by Knightline and Columbia Magazine.  He was actively involved.  Born in the Queens Borough, Msgr. Machalski was ordained for the Diocese of Brooklyn in 1985 and now serves as pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bayside, where he is a member of Ridgewood Council 1814. 

United States flag is posted in the rubble of the World Trade Center at Ground Zero on Sept. 13, 2001.  As during the Cuban Missile in 1962, there was a sudden and substantial increase in church attendance all over the Country.  People were scared and prayed.  Sadly, that return to God did not last.  A monument now stands at the site to honor the over three thousand people who died there.  It can happen again; we must be vigilant.

In 2001, then-Father Machalski was among the priests who ministered to first responders at ground zero in the days after the attack on the World Trade Center.

“Shortly after the attacks, a call went out from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn.  They wanted to make sure there were two Catholic priests at ground zero at all times.  So there was never a moment, from the very beginning until the last day of cleanup, that there were not two Catholic priests on duty, 24/7.”

“About 400 of us priests volunteered, and we took six-hour shifts. During the first of four shifts I took — I always had the 12-6 a.m. shift — I was standing right on that smoldering pile that you see in photos and videos, as they were literally pulling buckets filled with pieces of people from that rubble. They would take them into a makeshift morgue, where we would have a small prayer service and bless the body parts, and then go back onto the pile again.

“We were there, really, to provide emotional and spiritual support to the police officers, the firefighters and those who volunteered. They would say things like, ‘We know that you don’t have an answer to this, Father. Nobody does. But we just know God is here when we see you.’  They saw the collar, and that was a sign that God was there with them.”  

“I think our presence also gave a great deal of solace to people who lost family members — to know that if their loved ones’ remains were found, there was a priest who prayed over and blessed them."

    “When I went home and thought about it later, it would bother me that such evil could exist in the world and be perpetrated by one human being against another. But Christ’s example of redemptive suffering allowed me to make sense of what had happened and minister better, I think, to those who were left behind.”

“On Sept. 21, the [New York] Mets played their first game since the attacks, and I had a ticket to the game. It was against Atlanta, our biggest rival, and we were losing in the eighth inning.  But then [Hall of Fame catcher and lifelong Catholic] Mike Piazza got up, and he whacked a home run like you wouldn’t believe. Once he hit that ball, I knew it was gone.”

“That place just — I’m getting emotional just thinking about it — it just exploded. And we won that game. I still look at that moment and think that was God saying, ‘You guys need this’ — not the Mets, but the people of New York.”  Brother knight Msgr. Machalski would go on to become the New York Mets’ Catholic chaplain since 2007.  Read more about Msgr. Machalski’s life and work in this May 2024 Columbia feature on Knights who serve as Major League Baseball chaplains.

Three brother knights who are Catholic Major League Baseball Chaplains.  From left to right are Msgr. Thomas Machalski of the New York Mets, who is described in this article, followed by Fr. Burke Masters of the Chicago Cubs and Fr. Pedro Rivera of the San Diego Padres.

Watch the video produced by the Knights of Columbus, “Service and Sacrifice: Remembering 9/11”at 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isd4pUNRGK0 or search for that title at www.youtube.com.   It gives a glimpse of what the first responders went through.  This short film commemorates the heroic work of first responders and priests as well as the K of C Life Insurance Field Agents’ efforts to bring financial assistance to grieving families of First Responders who lost their lives.  The Knights of Columbus raised $1.5 million for the Heroes Fund to help many of the families of over 400 fallen first responders….police, firefighters, medical personnel, etc. regardless of religious affiliation.  At least 45 of the fallen first responders were knights.  Surely, some of the other 2000 victims were also knights.

Having breathed so much toxic fumes and smoke, many of the surviving first responders suffered from chronic ailments for years…..respiratory, cancer, etc. 

Fr. Mychal Judge, a 68 year old Franciscan friar and chaplain of the New York City Fire Department, accompanied his men and was killed when the south tower collapsed. He was the first certified fatality of the attacks. Other priests also put their lives at risk.

It should be mentioned that one of the large financial companies that had many offices in the World Trade Center took care of the families of the personnel it lost in the disaster. 

Upon announcing the annual World Day of Prayer for Peace at the Supreme Convention in Dallas in 2004 and calling people of all faiths to annually observe September 11 as a day of prayer for worldwide peace, former Supreme Knight Carl Anderson made the following statement: "TERRORISM AND THE TERRIBLE TRAGEDY OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, PRODUCE MANY EMOTIONS, RANGING FROM ANGER TO PROFOUND SORROW. BUT AS WE RECALL THE LOSSES OF THAT AWFUL DAY AND HONOR THOSE WHO DIED, WE SHOULD ALSO REMEMBER THAT PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING, NOT REVENGE AND RETRIBUTION, MUST BE OUR ULTIMATE GOAL. WE CAN BEST ACHIEVE THAT GOAL BY RAISING OUR VOICES TO GOD, REMINDING HIM THAT WE SHARE HIS DEEP AND ABIDING DESIRE FOR PEACE ON EARTH, AND ASKING HIS DIVINE GUIDANCE AND HELP."

(294) The Significance of Each of the Four Degrees of the Knights of Columbus

 AMDG

Sir Michael Merry and Sir Michael Dressel, New 4th Degree Knights

      Our St. Louis Council 3335 has had a shortage of 4^th Degree knights and two of our most active knights filled the bill on April 6.  They demonstrated their interest in learning more about the history of the Knights of Columbus and what the 4^th Degree is all about by sacrificing much of a busy Saturday at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Marietta, Ohio.  In the ceremony the over 40 candidates were urged to be always faithful to God and His Church and to continue being active in their local councils.  The key is to desire being a 4^th Degree knight and to participate at a higher level.  In Knights of Columbus circles these two faithful Catholic men may now be addressed as Sir Michael Merry and Sir Michael Dressel as with the knights of old and in Great Britain today.  Both men considered it all an enjoyable experience.    

       Mike Merry has been a knight for 31 years (it’s about time for the 4^th Degree).  Besides his obvious spirit of service, what attracted him to the knights was that it is Catholic and worldwide.  He was Grand Knight for three years and has served as deputy and secretary.  Mike was in charge of the parish youth group for ten years and continues as President of Gallia For Life for the last 22 years.  While raising four lovely daughters, Merry worked for S&J Lumber in operations and maintenance.  After 22 years with S&J, this entrepreneur started his own logging business.   

       Mike Dressel joined the Knights 23 years ago because he enjoys helping people and being part of a team.  He followed in the footsteps of his father, who also was a knight.  After serving as Deputy, Mike succeeded Matt Bokovitz as our current Grand Knight.  Previously, Dressel was an altar server at the Knights of Columbus Masses for several years, but now he will process as part of the honor guard.  Until his retirement, Mike kept our lights on as a team leader in operations at American Electric Power’s Gavin Plant.   

The Mission. The Knights of Columbus was established in 1882 by the Blessed Michael J. McGivney to provide a means by which Catholic men could support the Catholic Church, provide financial protection to protect their families, and engage in works of charity to benefit the less fortunate.

       Four Degrees and Four Principles.  The 4^th Degree is the highest degree of the order.  The 1^st Degree is the initiation step of a new knight.  It focuses on the first principle of the Knights of Columbus…..CHARITY.  The motto of the knights is: “In Service to one, in service to all”.  To join the knights and strictly speaking to remain one, is to be a practicing Catholic.  Regular Sunday Mass attendance is a bare minimum.

    The 2^nd Degree focuses on the second principle of the Knights of Columbus…..UNITY.  We are united in helping our parish in need of constant renewal and the surrounding community in need of its best citizens.  We are united with the Church and its mission of saving souls and in its fight for life, for peace, for the integrity and welfare of families.  We are united for God and Country in the fight against the evils that plague our society and do our part in the battle against them as we can.

The 3^rd Degree focuses on the third principle of the Knights of Columbus……FRATERNITY.  We are brothers; we care about each other; we help each other as necessary in any way we can by prayer, encouragement, sympathy, friendship, etc. 

The 4^th Degree focuses on the fourth principle…..PATRIOTISM.  We loyally love our country and perform our civic duties for a better community and country.  We are willing to fight for our country if called upon to defend it in a just war. Many knights died rescuing people trapped in the two World Trade Center Towers of New York City on 9/11, not to mention the numerous wars America has had to fight in the 20^th & 21^st Centuries against aggressive foes.

 The honor of the 4^th Degree brings certain privileges…..the privilege of wearing the regalia and processing at special Masses, devotions, and other functions.   Upon death the deceased 4^th Degree knight receives an honor guard of other 4^th Degree knights if that is the previous wish of him and his family. 

Invitation to Be a Knight and Eventually a 4^th Degree Knight.  The 4^th Degree Knights in our Council 3335 include Keith Elliott, Bruce Davison, Matt Bokovitz, Michael Haas, Paul Sebastian, Dr. Mel Simon, and more recently Michael Edelmann three or four years ago.  Mike Merry and Mike Dressel increase this number to 9.   Two of those have moved away.  If you are an active knight please consider adding yourself to the group of elite knights by making yourself available to become a 4^th Degree Knight.

At the same time all practicing Catholic men 18 or over are cordially invited to join the Knights of Columbus, which has councils all over the world, including Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Ukraine, among others.  There’s great fellowship with a meal at each meeting and opportunities to serve the parish and community as your time permits.  

Furthermore, any knight may choose the Knights of Columbus life insurance, which gives security to his family.  It has a savings feature and other financial services.  Any surplus goes to charity and not to the stockholders of a conventional insurance company.  Knights of Columbus Insurance is rated among the very top insurance companies in the United States in financial stability. Contact our Grand Knight, Mike Dressel at 740-853-1842 to join.  

(293) A Forty Hours Eucharistic Meditation: The Greatest Love Story of All Time and True

 AMDG

The Last Supper is brought to us in the Mass, transcending time.  Thus the Eucharist is a sacred meal for us.  The 40 Hours Devotion of Eucharistic Adoration gives us the opportunity to be with the Lord Himself as the apostles were in Christ's public life. 

      The Forty Hours Eucharistic Devotion is a special exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with prayers and adoration continuing for an approximate total of 40 hours over a period of three days.  The beginning and culmination of the 40 Hours is the solemn Mass, a Eucharistic sacrifice that we consume as a sacred meal in unity with Christ and neighbor.  It concludes with a Eucharistic procession and benediction. 

The devotion is a tradition that began in Milan, Italy about 1527.  The 40 hours of prayer represent the time between Jesus' burial and resurrection and the number 40 has significant meaning in the Bible, often representing trials and suffering.  Examples are the great 40 days if rain and flood that destroyed the earth, 40 years that the Jews wondered in the desert after being freed from Egyptian slavery, and Christ’s 40 days of prayer and fasting in the desert in preparation for His active ministry.  It was initially celebrated as a way to atone for the community's sins and to pray for God's protection during wartime. 

The 40 Hours Eucharistic Devotion spread quickly in the West through such great leaders of the Counter Reformation as St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Philip Neri, St. Charles Borromeo, and others.  Popes Clement VIII and Clement XII further promoted it.  In America, St. John Neumann was the first church leader to practice the devotion. 

At our own St. Louis Church we are celebrating it on Friday August 30, Saturday August 31, and Sunday September 1 as part of our community’s participation in the ongoing National Eucharistic Revival.

     What do we do during these 40 Hours of intense prayer and adoration?  Some members of the parish sign up for specific hours of prayer and adoration to assure the presence of one of us during every hour while everyone else is strongly encouraged to participate at the time of his/her choice. 

We can be at peace as we gaze upon the Blessed Sacrament, simply meditating upon Christ’s great love for each one of us and we love Him in return, praising Him, adoring Him, and giving thanks for all that He has done for us.  As a natural consequence, we will have a greater love for those around us and everyone in the community as we grow in charity and kindness.  We ask for the Lord’s mercy and the ability to have mercy and compassion for others.  To help in our meditation on God’s love we have below a summary of the greatest love story of all time.  The story spans milleniums.

There is much we can do during this time of being one on one with God Himself.  Simply converse in your own words with the most faithful and closest friend you could possibly imagine.  Our Lord really wants a personal relationship with you and the best way to build that up is through Eucharistic Adoration.  One cannot go wrong in life by seeking the will of God, following it, and trusting in Him no matter the circumstances.  There is no better setting than Eucharistic Adoration to discern God’s will for your life.  Be willing to do and to go wherever  He sends you …..offering to Him the crosses (suffering) that come your way and you will be on your way to holiness and sanctity.

Share your problems, hurts, trials, decisions to be made, etc.  Ask the Lord for His help and listen.  He may give you an inspiration and will certainly give you the strength to get through your current trial, but we must trust Him and His will, which is for the best in the long run.  He allows us to enlist and mobilize the power of prayer and draw upon the reservoir of His grace.  Review your life and be sorry for past sins, especially the more recent ones and ask for His help to do better in the quest for holiness.

Bishop Fulton Sheen was the greatest Catholic communicator of the 20^th Century.  He was a prolific author and gave entertaining and deep talks first on radio and then on national television with top audience ratings.  A tremendous source of energy and creativity for him was daily Eucharistic Adoration and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament for one hour no matter where he was.  In fact, he would prepare his talks for national television in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  St. Mother Teresa depended upon it for herself and her nuns for their very fruitful apostolate.   

Ask the Lord to bless and help your loved ones by name as well as the sick, unfortunate, and needy.  Prayer for those who are drifting away from the Church is crucial.  Ask Him to grant world peace.  Pray for the sanctification of priests and families, for the Church, for the poor souls in Purgatory, for our Country.  And of course there are the traditional prayers…..the Rosary, the Chaplet, Stations of the Cross, prayer books, the Bible, spiritual reading, meditation, etc.

The monstrance containing the miracle of the Eucharist (the Body and Blood Soul and Divinity of Christ Himself) that the faithful adore during adoration.  Some parishes have periodic Eucharistic Adoration for the faithful, while the larger ones have a special chapel for perpetual adoration 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Thus the faithful can visit at any time.  Perpetual adoration only works if there are enough people in the parish to commit at least one specific hour a week with a backup to assure that there is always a person responsible in prayer.  The red rays symbolize the blood Christ shed for us and the blue (white) rays the cleansing water.  A mixture of blood and water came from the side of the crucified savior when the Roman centurion pierced His heart of the savior with his lance to assure His death. 

During an apparition Jesus Christ asked St. Faustina in the 1930s to commission a painting of what she saw to help the people realize that He is not only a God of judgment, but also a God of mercy, who loves them beyond their imagination.  Our Lord told her that if the Divine Chaplet is recited in the presence of a dying person, He would come to him/her.  The Lord also asked her to write down everything that He told her.  That became the classic book, “The Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul”.  

The Great Love Story, a Subject of One of the Talks at the National Eucharistic Congress. 

God is love personified.  His greatest act of love was creating us, His most magnificent creation, to share Heaven with us for eternity.  Adam and Eve yielded to a temptation they knew was wrong (they wanted to be their own god) but didn't care.  Aren't we the same?  As a consequence of committing the original sin, God the Father closed the gates of heaven to humanity, but in His Divine Mercy promised a Redeemer.

God chose the Jewish people to be the vehicle for the Redeemer (Mesiah) to enter the world.  He made a series of covenants with them, all explicitly saying “I am your God and you are my people”.  He taught them how to live righteous lives faithful to Him, but they were a fickle people.  The Jewish race began with Abraham, his son Isaac, and grandson Jacob.  From the latter came his 12 sons who bore the 12 tribes of Israel.

The Exodus. God raised Moses as a prophet and leader, His instrument to free the Israelites from the yoke of the Egyptians and lead them to the Promised Land with many miracles to help them, including the parting of the Red Sea as a pathway to escape from the pursuit by the Egyptian soldiers.  However, instead of trusting God, the Jews drifted into complaining, disbelief, and idolatry.  Therefore, God extended the rather short journey for nearly 40 years to purify them.

The next two millenniums consisted of a series of cycles.  When the people were faithful, God helped them to victory over their aggressive neighbors and they were blessed with prosperity as a powerful nation as under King David and most of the reign of King Solomon.  The Jews would drift into idolatry, corruption, and sin.  Aren’t we the same?  The Lord’s prophets (His spokesmen) tried to lead them on the right path and warned them of the consequences of their sins.  Thus the Lord allowed them to be oppressed or conquered by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans to bring His people back to Him.  Each time the Jews would return to God contrite and the nation again became prosperous.  Even when forced to be slaves in Egypt and Babylon, God did not abandon His people and preserved them as a nation. 

Although the Jews were scattered all over the world,  God remained faithful with His love and never abandoned His chosen people.   Talented and gifted, the Jews maintained their culture over the centuries and prospered in business and the professions, arousing envy which led to intense persecution. After the Holocaust, God brought them back to Palestine in 1948 to form the modern nation of Israel, which prevailed over the intense opposition of its Arab inhabitants and neighboring countries.  

Both Jews and Christians believe in the Old Testament of the Bible, which reiterates the promise of the Redeemer (Mesiah).  The Old Testament, a chronicle of the battle of the ages between good and evil is really a history of salvation and preparation for the Redeemer.  One cannot understand the New Testament --which is the fulfillment of the promise-- without understanding the Old Testament.  The Holy Family was Jewish and Christ was raised as a Jew.  Thus it can be said that salvation came through the Jews.

Four thousand years after the fall of Adam and Eve, God kept His promise and sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, humbling Himself to become one of us with many of the same difficulties of living, first as a helpless infant and later to teach us how to live and save us from our sins.  He loved us so much that He wanted to become just like us, fully human and fully divine, in every way except sin from the womb to the tomb. 

In anticipation of His Ascension into Heaven Christ instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday......"This is my Body" and "This is my Blood", the transubstantiation of ordinary bread and wine into His body and blood, soul and divinity......the Lamb of God which the apostles consumed as we do today in Holy Communion.  He then ordained the apostles and their successors to do the same today in His name with the words: “Do this in memory of me”.

That evening Christ went out to the Garden of Gethsemanes to pray.  He knew that one of his beloved apostles betrayed Him.  He knew that His epic passion would be the next day.  Being human as well as Divine, our Lord was so afraid that He sweat blood.  He prayed for strength.  He asked His father to relieve Him of it all: please let this cup pass, but not my will, but your will be done.  He loved us too much to abandon His great mission to save us from our sins.  The next day He could have come down from the cross, but He loved us too much.          

The very next day, Good Friday Jesus gave us His own Mother from the cross at Calvary; and offered Himself and His immense, perhaps infinite suffering physical, mental, and spiritual as a sacrifice in reparation for all the sins of the world…..past, present, and future…. thus opening the gates of Heaven and unimaginable happiness for us if we follow Him and His teaching that He left with the Church that He Himself founded for us.

Our Lord continues to sacrifice Himself for us in an unbloody way through the priest (persona Cristi) at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 24/7 all over the world as Calvary is brought to us in a mysterious way that transcends time (time collapses).  And we have the opportunity to participate in that awesome sacrifice every time we assist at Mass. 

The moment of sacrifice begins when the priests raises the Eucharist under both species and says the prayer, "Through Him, with Him, and in Him is to Thee Almighty Father all honor and glory.....".  The sacrifice is complete when we consume the Lamb of God as the Jews of the Old Testament did after their sacrifice of an unblemished lamb.  The Romans also consumed their pagan sacrifices.  Thus the early Christians accepted  death rather than eat of the pagan sacrifice which would mean active participation in a pagan ritual.

When we receive the Eucharist, we are for a few precious moments in intimate communion with the almighty God, the creator of the Universe, Christ the King of the Universe.  How awesome is that?  He manifests His infinite love for us in the gift of Himself in the Eucharist. 

Christ departed from us when He ascended into Heaven, but yet remains with us in a very real way in the Eucharist.  He welcomes us with open arms to receive Him in the Eucharist and spend time with Him in prayer .....one on one. 

Jesus further manifests His infinite love for us in His mercy in the sacrament of Reconciliation and when we ask for it with sincere sorrow and repentance.  His great love for us is further manifested in His instituting the Church to help us on the journey to eternity and the sacraments as tremendous sources of grace. 

In His love He sent us His Holy Spirit as a sanctifier, a counselor to teach us, to guide us, and to sanctify us.  He constantly shows His love in answered prayer. 

He even sends His own earthly mother Mary, the Queen Mother to perform miraculous cures of ailments and to deliver messages of peace and repentance as a modern day prophet in her apparitions to selected people around the world as the greatest missionary ever over the centuries. …..Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima, and many more.

In times of greatest crisis He has raised up the greatest saints and Popes as leaders, as models for living, as messengers (modern day prophets).  By all logic our Church, the Body of Christ, should not have survived through 2000 years due to periods of intense persecution, laxity, corruption, scandals, secularism, and materialism.  Today the Church still stands under the guidance of the Holy Spirit whom He sent to preserve it. The gates of hell shall never prevail against it.

Completing certain devotions as the First Fridays of the month, the First Saturdays, reciting the Divine Chaplet in the presence of a dying person are great aids to salvation as He revealed to St. Faustina.  The power of God’s grace has changed many a life headed toward perdition. 

Our Lord allows us to participate in His work of on-going redemption.  That is through redemptive suffering by prayer and offering up of one's crosses (suffering due to illness, accident, hurts, setbacks, failures, misfortunes, bad days, etc.) as dynamic prayers for the conversion of sinners as Mary requested at Fatima, for world peace, for the Church, for our country, for our loved ones.  In that way suffering becomes productive with purpose instead of misery.

Each one of us is essential to the life of the Church and He gives us the opportunity to have a role in the mission of the Church which is to steer souls to Heaven.  That role may be prayer, word, and/or deed…..all an expression of virtue, especially charity.

And don't forget the word of God, the Bible through which our Lord continues to teach us.  He gave the four evangelists, the mission of recording Christ's teachings in the four Gospels.  St. Matthew wrote one specifically for the Jews and their culture; St. Mark wrote one for the Romans; and St. Luke wrote one for the Greeks.  St. John's Gospel explains it all theologically in much greater depth.  In addition St. Paul and some of the other apostles explained the Gospels in their Epistles to the different peoples they evangelized.         

       Awesome, but true.  For more evidence just look at Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John.  Jesus Christ explicitly said: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day”.  Only a symbol?  If so, Christ would have made a clarification when many of his disciples and most of the people who heard Him walked away.  Is it beyond the power of our omnipotent God to change the bread and wine into his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity through the priest, another Christ during the Mass?

    Ask Mary to help you to love her son profoundly.  Loving God above all things leads to love of neighbor.    The Two Great Commandments say it all and summarize the Ten Commandments which God gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai!  God loves us more than we could ever love Him.