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Happening ... in the Local Church
 Members
of the St. Maria Goretti (Westfield) chapter pray before this year’s
Easter Vigil Mass. (Photos provided) |
 Members
of the original group of Knights on a trip to the Shenandoah Mountains
in Virginia in the summer of 2000 |
 Knights
at the 2009 fall retreat at CYO Camp Rancho Framasa in Brown County |
 Matthew
Marrah, left, of St. Joan of Arc, Kokomo, and Chris Vas, of St. Patrick,
Kokomo, attend the 2009 retreat. |
Knights of the Holy Temple marks 10th anniversary.
By Caroline B. Mooney
The
Catholic Moment
The Knights of the Holy Temple, now in its 10th year, “is like a high school Catholic men’s fraternity who serve Mass as well as their parish and community,” said Father Brian Doerr, diocesan vocations director.
He began the group after a conversation with then-high school senior Ben Sward at St. Joan of Arc Church, Kokomo. The first chapter of 11 young men served midnight Mass there on Christmas Eve 1999. A decade later, the Knights serve seven parishes in the diocese.
Sward, 29, now in the United States Air Force and stationed in Arkansas, remembers his time in the Knights as “a cool experience. Father Brian and I talked about starting something for the older guys to do, and it just grew from there. I’m shocked at how much it has grown.
“The group taught us a code of conduct and we all pledged to be the best young Catholic men we could be,” Sward said. “I really learned the importance and seriousness of our faith.”
He said that in addition to serving at Mass, the group met weekly to plan and “help each other out if someone was having a rough day. We were really a brotherhood.
“My favorite experience was when the first group all went hiking together in the Appalachian Mountains,” he said. “We had Mass there — it was a neat time.
“I truly believe Father Brian Doerr had a wonderful idea when he organized this group of young men,” said Karen Sward, mother of Ben and Jon, 27, who joined the first group as a freshman. “His intent was to get the high school boys more actively involved in their Catholic faith. I believe that by participating … my boys did get more actively involved in serving the Catholic Church. It strengthened their faith, helped them develop a deeper understanding of the Catholic Church and promoted a deeper spiritual relationship with Christ.
“Being a senior server is a wonderful way for young men to be introduced to think about the vocation of priesthood,” she said. “The ministry … has touched the lives of many boys and continues to have a lasting effect on those who have participated in the ministry.”
Father Doerr estimates that 330 young men have been involved with the Knights or currently are members.
Chapters now exist at: St. Joan of Arc; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, Carmel; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Carmel; St. Patrick Church, Kokomo; the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Lafayette; St. Maria Goretti Church, Westfield; and St. Alphonsus Church, Zionsville.
An archcouncil oversees the seven chapters. Matthew Gerth, 17, a member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, is the current archmaster. A junior, he has been a Knight for two years.
“I was unsure about joining at first,” Gerth said, “but we all quickly became great friends. The Knights have been a great opportunity for me. It helps us all get more in tune with our faith. It’s a real fraternity of guys. We strive to be the best Catholic gentlemen that we can be in service and in faith and try to always be polite and well-mannered.”
Gerth said his chapter has 10 members, and the other groups range in size from five to 25 members. As archmaster, he meets with the archcouncil to talk about all the chapters and plan get-togethers and retreats.
“I am concerned that all the chapters keep thriving,” he said. “We all help each other get through things. It’s great to meet brothers in all the chapters. When we get together, it’s 80 to 100 young men and no one is ever left out. It’s always a welcoming, fun experience. We have confession and talk about faith.”
“It’s a great apostolate,” said Father David Hasser, associate pastor at St. Joan of Arc and St. Patrick parishes in Kokomo and chaplain of St. Joan of Arc’s chapter. “It’s a neat, new kind of group that Father Brian put together with time-tested techniques.
“It has a great function because the high school years are such a formative time,” he said. “Everybody recognizes that guys and girls need different things to grow into who they will be. The Knights offer different experiences and influences.”
Knights go on two annual retreats and try to do four service projects each year, such as working at parishes and soup kitchens, helping pastors and praying at abortion clinics.
Father Hasser meets monthly with St. Joan of Arc’s chapter and has seen members develop good leadership skills.
“They really learn how to serve others and be leaders,” he said. “It’s great preparation for college and the workforce. Each chapter has functions with others in the diocese, so it’s bigger than each group — as a whole there is a lot of force and potential. The members could feel at home with a group other than their home parish because it really doesn’t have borders.
“It’s great for Knights to pray together and learn about faith together without any negative peer pressure,” Father Hasser said. “It’s a safe place to express that without worrying what others think. The group helps them think about their futures, discern and ask God what he wants them to do as husbands, fathers or priests.”
Seminarian Kyle Neterer, 19, from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, said being a Knight “really got the ball rolling with my faith. It brought me closer to the liturgy, closer to the priests and gave me leadership opportunities.”
While a high school senior, Neterer served as archmaster for the diocese.
“It’s a real fraternity of brothers with a lot of fellowship,” he said. “When I was a high school freshman, I didn’t know what a diocese was. The Knights was a good opportunity to meet guys from other parishes and it really helped me see the bigger Church.”