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Happening ... in the Local Church
 Noah
Klink, 13, a member of Lebanon Circle 5205 of the Columbian Squires,
helps out at a parish fish fry. The boys’ organization is affiliated
with the Knights of Columbus. (Photo by Kevin Cullen) |
 The
Columbian Squires emblem: The legend “Esto Dignus” is Latin for “Be
Worthy.” |
By Kevin Cullen
The
Catholic Moment
LEBANON — Friday evening at St. Joseph Church presents a familiar Lenten scene: a parish fish fry, sponsored by the local Knights of Columbus council. For only $8, it’s the best deal in town.
Out in the detached garage, the Knights are dropping battered fish and frozen French fries into six propane-fired deep fryers filled with steaming cooking oil. Volunteers carry pan after pan of fried fillets and fries to servers inside the parish hall. Baked potatoes, applesauce, un-breaded fish, coleslaw, pie and drinks fill out the menu.
But on this particular Friday, one of the male volunteers appears to be too young to be a Knight. He’s Noah Klink, 13, a member of Lebanon Circle 5205 of the Columbian Squires, a boys’ organization affiliated with Lebanon’s Knights of Columbus Council 13968. Someday, he says, he plans to join the Knights and join the older guys who serve his parish.
“I got a flier and I thought it would be interesting to join. I’m already an altar server,” Noah says. “The Squires like to help out, clean the church, do things like that. It feels good to help people. As young kids, we’re not able to do as much.”
The Squires were founded in Duluth, Minn., in 1925 by Brother Barnabas McDonald, FSC, as a youth organization of the Knights of Columbus. It is open to boys aged 10 to 18, and is designed to teach leadership, loyalty, chivalry and practice of the Catholic faith. There are approximately 25,000 Squires in 1,400 circles worldwide.
Noah and his fellow Squires wear shirts with the Columbian Squires emblem sewn on. The design contains a Maltese cross with the letters “CS,” plus the letters “P” for physical fitness, “I” for intellectual development, “S” for spiritual growth and the practice of the Catholic faith and “C” for citizenship and civic life. At the very center is a “K” for Knights of Columbus. The legend, “Esto Dignus,” is Latin for “Be Worthy.”
The local circle, formed three years ago, has 17 members, typically the sons of men who belong to Knights of Columbus Council 13968 St. Joseph the Carpenter.
The Squires meet on Sunday mornings, twice a month, and participate in various activities at the local and state levels. They pray at each meeting, and, as they move up through various ranks, they participate in service projects, such as the Lenten fish fries. Last winter they volunteered to shovel snow for parishioners, and hung Christmas lights between the church and the parish hall. They will assist the Knights at the Mothers Day Breakfast this spring.
It’s fun to be a part of all that, Klink said. There’s a summer
campout, but he especially enjoys the “lock-ins,” when the boys spend the night together, playing video games and Risk, eating chips and drinking pop.
The Squires also develop leadership skills. Klink, state chief bursar, is responsible for keeping track of financial affairs; this year, he hopes to be selected state notary.
The Indiana Squires also collect aluminum pop tabs in their home communities. They are delivered to the Ronald McDonald House in Indianapolis during the Squires’ annual convention. Last year, the boys collected so many tabs that it took two trucks and a sports utility vehicle to deliver them.
“We did it to help the families of kids in surgery,” Klink said.
K
of C member Matt Barry is chief counselor of Circle 5205. He enjoys working
with youth, he said, and he has been involved in the circle for 2½ years. He
works with Noah’s father, Tim, to plan and organize events for the boys, and
he calls the Squires “junior Knights.”
Barry’s son, Lane, is 9 and plans to join the Squires after he reaches the minimum age of 10.
“To get in, it’s like the Knights,” Barry said. “You have to be a practicing Catholic. You fill out an application, the boy’s name is read, and a vote is taken.”
Parishes in Merrillville, Portage, Bristol and other Indiana towns have Squires chapters, and Barry said he hopes that other K of C councils add circles.
The Indiana Squires will meet up at the 2010 state convention on April 24 in Indianapolis.
“There were more (circles), but they fizzled out,” Barry said. The Squires, he noted, have to compete with sports, various other extracurricular activities, and part-time jobs. It can be difficult to coordinate the circle’s events with the schedules of the boys and their parents.
Barry works to come up with projects that spark the boys’ enthusiasm.
For instance, the circle is raising money for a cross, a flagpole and an embossed brick, with the Squires’ emblem on it, in a grassy area near the church. The brick will be among other commemorative bricks that are being sold to raise money for the church building fund.
Sam
Myers said that his son, Caleb, 12, joined the Squires two years ago. After
dusting piles of fish fillets with light breading, Caleb was nicknamed the
“Pillsbury Doughboy.”
“He looked like somebody dumped it on him,” said Sam, a Knight who was preparing yet another batch of French fries for the waiting diners.
“He likes to help people do things,” he said of Caleb. “Whenever I’m working on a project at home, he’ll come in and say, ‘Can I help you?’ Helping people is what their organization and ours is all about.”