Spirit Lake Knights advance new Knights

The Knights of Columbus Iowa Great Lakes Council 5043 oversaw the exemplification for three members. The ceremony was held January 11 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Spirit Lake. 
 
Honored with the third degree by District Deputy Jim Miller, with State Chaplain Father Dan Guenther presiding, were Vance Katzfey, Okoboji, Jason Dahna, Graettinger and Nicholas Poss, Ashton. 
 
With family members in attendance, the men committed themselves to the first three degrees of the Knights of Columbus: charity, unity and fraternity. 

Iowa Great Lakes Council 5043 in the past few years contributed more than $30,000 to local community needs, including Hope Haven, Iowa Helping Hands Fund, American Wheelchair Mission, the Grotto of the Redemption, Cherish House, Guatemala Mission, Women of the Well Project, Prison Ministries, as well as to local family, community, and parish needs. 

Local Knights sponsor annual youth events including the Free Throw Competition, Spelling Bee, Coats for Kids, and the Keep Christ in Christmas Poster Contest. They also run the Tootsie Roll Drive for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Labor Day weekend, benefiting Special Olympics and local organizations. 
 
In 1882, Blessed Michael McGivney, a young parish priest in New Haven, Connecticut, founded the Knights of Columbus to serve the needs of a largely immigrant Catholic community. What began as a small fraternal benefit society has since grown into one of the world’s leading international charitable organizations, with more than 1.9 million members in over 16,000 local councils. In the past year Knights provided 285,000 children with winter coats, brought 243 U.S. service members to Lourdes on pilgrimage, and gave more than $325,000 to the formation of men and women pursuing a religious vocation.