>> CARL ANDERSON: Virgil
Dechant’s legacy
as Supreme Knight is one
which really saw
the transformation of the
Knights of Columbus
into a modern, dynamic,
growing organization.
>> ROBERT LANE: My experience
working for him,
I think was very fulfilling.
You know,
my career there lasted 53 years.
And when he came into the
office, he was 37,
as I recall it.
I could see immediately
that his future
was bright with the Order.
He had a knack for realizing
what the Order
needed at that particular time,
both in membership
and in insurance.
>> CARL ANDERSON: We can look at
the professionalization
of our agency force
and moving our
Knights of Columbus Insurance,
which is our greatest
fraternal benefit,
as a competitor with major
modern insurance
companies in North America.
>> ROBERT LANE: I witnessed
the growth of that insurance
operation from what it was
to what it became
and we did an awful lot
of things to make our
insurance program much more
attractive than it had been.
>> CARL ANDERSON: I think one
of the most important
accomplishments
of Virgil Dechant
is the way in which he began
to bring in the wives
and families of our members.
Before he was Supreme Knight,
almost all of the Knights
of Columbus
meetings were men only,
but Virgil insisted that Ann
join him on these occasions.
And so,
women became very important
participants
in so many of the meetings
of the Knights of Columbus.
Which of course meant
that our families too,
became more included
in our activities.
And that really changed in many,
many ways of the outlook,
the dynamics,
and the outreach of the Knights
of Columbus.
>> ROBERT LANE: Virgil
recognized
that Vatican II was looking
for more
involvement in the laity,
and he saw that as a perfect
opportunity to bring
the councils into parish halls.
And I think it worked
very effectively
because membership took off.
More new councils
were being established
than had been done
over the past years,
prior to his time.
>> CARL ANDERSON: I think every
Knight of Columbus
is tremendously proud of the way
of the Knights of Columbus,
during the ‘80s and ‘90s,
was so closely aligned
with the pastoral
and international initiatives
of Pope John Paul II.
Which did so much
to renew the Church,
to bring the good news
of the Gospel
throughout the world,
and which in so many ways,
led to the transformation
of Europe and the end
of the Cold War.
>> VIRGIL DECHANT: On behalf
of all of our knights,
I’m privileged to present
to you,
the earnings of the
Vicarious Christie
fund for this past year.
And this is for your
personal charities.
We want to assure
you of our loyalty,
our obedience, and our
continued support.
And if there’s any endeavor
that you ever
wish to have us do,
you know that we stand ready
and willing to support you.
>> ROBERT LANE: The first thing
that comes to mind when I think
about the order having
established closer
ties with the Vatican,
was our 100th anniversary
convention in Hartford in 1982,
when he was successful
in having Ronald Reagan
appear at our convention
and address the attendees.
>> RONALD REAGAN: Much
has happened
to Father McGivney’s dream
since 1882 and much good
has flowed from that church
basement on Hillhouse Avenue.
The Knights of Columbus
is unrivaled
in his dedication to family,
community, country, and church.
And your corporal and spiritual
works of mercy
for those in need of both
a legend and an example
to your country.
>> ROBERT LANE: He
was successful not only
having Ronald Reagan
appear at our convention,
but also the Vatican Secretary
of State, Cardinal Casaroli.
>> VIRGIL DECHANT: I arranged
for those two to meet
in my suite,
along with the representative
of the Holy See,
the delegate then to Washington,
Cardinal Laghi,
Ambassador Wilson and one
of the President's
great friends Judge Clark.
And they had a very
historic meeting,
a fireside chat so to speak.
But during that meeting,
one of the things that came up,
is that they discussed
diplomatic relationship
between the two countries.
And so within the next year,
the House voted
that we establish
that relationship. In a way,
I feel that we had a great
part in bringing that about.
>> CARL ANDERSON: Of course,
the Knights of Columbus
have been involved in many
projects with the Holy See.
But perhaps,
the greatest was the initial
restoration of the facade of St.
Peter's Basilica,
which had not been undertaken
for centuries.
And that was, in large measure,
due to the determination
of our past Supreme Knight
and stands today as one
of the remarkable
contributions to the modern
Vatican City state.
It hadn't been touched in 450
years and
it was in terrible shape.
So we undertook that project.
It took us better
than two years.
And the Holy Father was most
appreciative of it.
And then the word came
down to us
that the Holy Father wanted
to build this chapel
in honor of St. Benedict, Cyril,
and Methodius.
So we seized the opportunity
and we built
the chapel near the Tomb of St.
Peter.
But another highlight was,
when we preparing
for the millennium,
we took an opportunity
there to restore the atrium
of the Basilica.
It's the length of two
football fields almost
and it depicts the entire
life of St.
Peter in the ceiling
in bas-relief and hadn't been
touched for centuries.
So we were able to restore
that and the Holy Year Door
for the year 2000.
So these are opportunities
that we've had afforded
to us and that the Order
took great pride in being
able to provide for the Church.
One of our programs is to assist
the Holy Father
in evangelizing.
We started in 1975.
It was a program whereby
we worked with RAI,
the Italian Television Network
to uplink Vatican programs
to the Intelsats program.
We also bought him a van for
the Vatican Television Station.
They needed a portable van
with all of the studio
equipment when the Holy Father
left or went to different
locations in the Vatican. Well,
we provided them two of those,
one earlier one and then later
a new one.
>> CARL ANDERSON: Our work
to bring to the globe
the message of the Holy Father
through our careful work,
our close collaboration with
the Pontifical Council
for Social Communications
to make sure
that the Holy Father's
midnight mass,
the Easter services,
and many of his events
for beatifications in different
parts of the world,
World Youth Day,
World Meetings of Families,
were brought to regions
of the world that otherwise
would not have been able
to share
and participate in these great
trips by the Holy Father.
>> VIRGIL DECHANT: I had been
invited
to the World Vocations Workshop
of the Bishops.
I was one of two
laymen in the world.
And that morning,
it was a Wednesday morning
in the Holy Father's audience,
we had the first or second row,
and we were sitting there
waiting
for the Holy Father and all
of a sudden the shots went off.
The pigeons were flying all
over the square
and it was a stunned silence
then all of a sudden...
The gates were locked
when Holy Father
when they took him out,
but with the Count and all,
we went back to visit
with the Holy Father's
great friend and the Order’s
great friend Cardinal Deskur.
And so we went to see him,
and there were all
the Polish sisters,
all the ones from the Pope's
household came over,
because they took care
of the Cardinal also.
And we sat there listening
to a little radio hoping
that the Holy Father
would survive. You know,
there was just doom
and gloom in that room.
Everybody was shocked.
And then all of a sudden,
the Cardinal looked up
and he above his desk,
a little desk where he had
the radio he had Our Lady
of Czestochowa and he said,
“Today is the Feast of Fatima.
She’ll save him.” And the
sisters became joyous.
I mean they were relieved,
and I never saw such faith.
We decided that we’d do
something we've never done,
to develop an award
for people that do
outstanding humanitarian
service.
We named it Gaudium et
Spes after Vatican II,
one of the more
important documents.
And our first recipient
was to be Mother Teresa.
And so I called her in Calcutta
and I explained
it to her and she’s, “Well.”
She said,
“I’ll have to think
about that for awhile.”
And I said,
“We’ll have this dinner
in New York.” And she said,
“Well, I never go to a dinner.”
She said “I just refuse to go
to dinners.”
And I said, “Well, Mother,
can we do it before the dinner?”
And she agreed.
>> ROBERT LANE: The interesting
part was that evening
at our States Dinner, she was
to receive that award.
And she made it clear
that she would never eat
in a group like the number
of people we had there,
maybe 2,500 people.
She always ate with her
sisters alone.
And she looked around the room.
I can still hear her say,
'My, with the number of people
that have to be fed here,
the cost of this dinner
must be exorbitant.”
And she said,
“Do you know how many people
I could feed that are homeless?”
>> VIRGIL DECHANT: We offer
this medal to you, Mother,
in gratitude for the gift
that you have
given us by your life.
A life spent in service to Jesus
and to the dying poor.
Also, we offer you this check
for $100,000 that goes
with the award. In addition,
knowing your wish that dinners
in your honor not be held,
but rather that the cost of such
dinners be given to the poor,
our board of directors
voted yesterday to give
you an additional
check tomorrow,
equal to the cost of this 110th
Annual States Dinner that will
begin after this ceremony.
>> ROBERT LANE: Everything
that he had done
was to further what the original
founding fathers thought
that the order represented,
you know charity, unity,
fraternity, and patriotism.
He took every one of those
principles and advanced
them by things that he had done
during his time in office.
>> CARL ANDERSON: Also,
elevating
the relationship of the Knights
of Columbus with our bishops,
our priests, our
bishops' conferences,
and especially with the Holy See
and the Pope.
This is one of the
great achievements
of our past Supreme Knight,
Virgil Dechant.
The Knights of Columbus
is a much different
organization today
than it was years ago,
thanks to Virgil
Dechant’s commitment.
