IV
Catholic Activities

As the Knights of Columbus in Kansas grew and their organization developed, their activities kept pace.  Later chapters will tell of the Knights' work in the field of public relations, activities for the benefit of the members, and their record in two wars.  This chapter describes projects of the past fifty years, most of which would today be the concern of the Committee on Catholic Activities.  And a catholic list it is, including religious, charitable, and educational activities.

One of the prime conditions for membership in the Knights of Columbus has always been that the candidate must be a practical Catholic.  The Kansas State Council adopted a resolution in 1904 that members should forward to their local secretaries proof that they had fulfilled their Easter duty.  As a rather new organization in the state the Knights were particularly sensitive to criticism, and in 1907 they were under pressure to join the Federation of Catholic Societies.  In that year State Deputy Gibbons reported that there had been some complaints from both clergy and laity that some councils retained members who never approached the Sacraments, and even some who continued membership in forbidden societies.  The State Deputy threatened such councils with the forfeiture of their charters.  One problem was the definition of the term "practical Catholic."  Two years earlier the State Council had adopted a resolution that defined a practical Catholic as one who lived up to the laws of the Church, particularly in regard to attendance at Mass, reception of the Sacraments, support of his pastor, and by practical cooperation in the affairs of his parish.  The majority of the Knights were never of the type that had to be forced to an observance of the minimum of the law.  Membership in the Knights of Columbus encouraged a better appreciation and a more active practice of religion.

That man should worship God not only as an individual but as a member of the Mystical Body of Christ and in union with others in social groups within the Church is a basic principle of Catholicism.  Consequently most councils followed from the first the practice of receiving Holy Communion in a body once a year.  The State Chaplains regularly commended this practice and urged that it be made more frequent.  In 1908 the State Council adopted a resolution recommending this corporate reception of the Sacraments twice a year.  As State Deputy T. P. Downs pointed out in congratulating the council officers for establishing general Communion days, the practice was a wonderful example to others and an inspiration to the members.  By 1922 every council had a general Communion day; some twice a year, some oftener.  For a few years after 1924 there was an attempt to have all the Knights of the state receive on a day named by the State Chaplain.  In 1927 this was the Sunday nearest Columbus Day, in 1930 the Feast of Christ the King, in 1936 Laetare Sunday.  The annual Communion was made a by-law in 1929.

There was an attempt in 1933 to extend this sacramental union of Knights receiving Communion on the same day to the entire nation.  Inspired by a letter from State Deputy Joseph Maguire of Colorado, the convention asked that the Supreme Chaplain set a Sunday in Easter time for a general Communion of all Knights of Columbus and all Catholic men.  The Committee on the Good of the Order recommended in 1941 that all councils receive quarterly.  By 1947 the State Deputy could report that many councils were adopting the fifth Sunday of the month for the reception of the Holy Eucharist in a body and a council Communion breakfast.

The Knights meanwhile had adopted other religious practices for their councils.  State Deputy J. J. Sullivan was pleased in 1932 that so many councils had adopted the practice, long followed by most parish societies, of reciting the rosary at the home of a departed brother.  The Committee on the Good of the Order in 1933 recommended this practice and also the official memorial services for departed brothers.  It also recommended that the councils offer a Requiem Mass in November, at which the council should receive Holy Communion in a body for departed brothers.  An amendment to the by-laws in 1934 provided for a monthly Mass for deceased members by the State Chaplain.  During the war years councils were requested to institute a crusade of prayer for a just and lasting peace.

The Knights of Columbus of Kansas once demonstrated its efficiency in promoting a fuller spiritual life for its members, and at the same time set an example for the Order nationally, by its active encouragement of the retreat movement.  This was undoubtedly one of the outstanding accomplishments of Kansas Knights.  This activity started almost imperceptibly in 1907 when the Committee on the Good of the Order recommended retreats "for the men in different districts".  In 1909 a group of Knights attended a retreat at St. Mary's College, and in the following year the State Council recommended to its members a retreat to be held at the same place.  This policy of urging the Knights to make a retreat was followed annually by the State Council until 1914 when the annual convention was held at St. Mary's College so that a special retreat for the Knights could follow the convention.  George Bordenkircher of Emporia seems to have been the most eager promoter of this opportunity for the Knights.  The annual convention met at St. Marys for this purpose during the next three years.  Each year, until the college at St. Marys was discontinued in 1931, the State Council sponsored a retreat there, and a special committee sent out the announcements and literature.  From 1914 to 1930 the number making the retreat usually fluctuated between forty and ninety, but in 1929 one hundred and forty Knights attended.  In some years a meeting of District Deputies and Financial Secretaries was held while all were there.  At the convention of 1931 it was announced that the Knights of Columbus Retreat would not be affected by the closing of the college, but after its conversion to a seminary it was found impossible to accommodate the retreat.  After an appeal by the Knights, St. Mary's again consented to hold the retreat in 1935 and 1936, but was again forced to discontinue it.  Knights of Columbus are found in attendance at every men's retreat in the state, but as no other Catholic institution can offer the same convenience of central location, the Knights are unable to get together and this splendid tradition has been interrupted.

Some fraternal organizations provide homes for aged and dependent members, and in earlier years the question arose sporadically in the Kansas State Council.  A resolution adopted in 1912 directed its delegates to the National Council to work for a national home for aged and dependent members.  Ten years later a resolution urged that the Supreme Convention promote a national home for Knights suffering from tuberculosis.  This was repeated in the following year, but the Supreme Council had decided that sanatoria were a public matter to be supported by taxes.  For years each convention saw resolutions offered, and adopted or rejected, in any case with growing heat, that the Supreme Council should provide a home for aged and dependent Knights.  In 1929 it was reported that the Supreme Council had referred the matter to the Supreme Board of Directors, and in 1930 that the Supreme Council had now referred it to a special committee.  The proposal seems to have been rejected.  In anticipation of this the Committee on the Good of the Order had suggested as early as 1928 the possibility of a regional home supported by the Knights of various mid-western states.  There is no evidence that this was followed or encouraged.  Another suggestion in 1932 was that the Supreme Council make arrangements for the care of aged Knights in local Catholic hospitals and similar institutions.  This last idea was again suggested in 1935, and with that it disappears from the Proceedings.

This agitation had a useful consequence, for it developed interest in the welfare of Catholic patients at the Kansas Tubercular Hospital at Norton.  In 1930 State Deputy M. J. Healy of Topeka recommended that the State Council investigate means by which items of comfort could be provided for members of the Knights of Columbus and other Catholics who were patients at the State Hospital at Norton.  The convention directed the State Deputy to appoint a committee and empowered the State Executive Council to act on the committee's recommendations.  A year later the committee reported that an appropriation of one hundred dollars had provided books, periodicals, and devotional articles for the patients.  This aid was provided annually and in 1935 an additional hundred dollars was appropriated for the expense of the Catholic chaplain.  This latter appropriation was discontinued after 1937 when the Committee on Legislation had successfully requested the state authorities to pay the expenses of priests who served as official chaplains to the Catholics in the various state institutions.  The original appropriation to provide little comforts for the patients was continued annually until 1943, when it seems to have been overlooked.  It was again granted in 1944 and then discontinued.  An attempt to restore the grant in 1947 was rejected by the convention.

Kansas Knights were always generous in the relief of need whether it was strictly local, as in the case of Father J. A. Murphy's appeal for his new church in Topeka in the early days, or a matter of helping the Pope to help the world's needy as they did in 1916 and thereafter.  But the State Council was less than a year old when Knights along the Kaw had an opportunity to experience the generosity of their brothers.  The occasion was the great flood of 1903 -- the standard of comparison for all floods since.  Supreme Knight Hearn authorized a relief fund on June ninth.  The fund was administered by past State Deputy P. J. Monaghan of Topeka.  In all $4,420.14 was received, of which $286.00 had been donated by Kansas councils.  It was disbursed as follows: $875.00 to members, most of whom lived in North Topeka, $1,000.00 to members in Argentine, $145.00 to non-members in North Topeka, $280.00 distributed by F. M. Hayden, $300.00 for fuel distributed through Reverend Henry, and loans of $500.00 each to J. P. Butterly and T. M. Hanley, both of whom had had buildings and their contents swept away by the flood.  The balance was returned to the emergency fund.

After the San Francisco fire various councils in Kansas had already forwarded over two thousand dollars through State Deputy T. J. Coughlin of Topeka by the time the State Council met for its annual convention in 1906.  More apparently followed.  Knights throughout the United States responded to the needs of their brothers in San Francisco.  The San Francisco Knights returned three-fourths of the sum received, stating simply that it had not been needed.  The State Council recommended that the various councils turn over their portion of the funds returned by San Francisco to Father Francis Orr for the purpose of rebuilding the church at Frankfort.  This action was taken because the parish had had its church destroyed for the third time in a comparatively short period.  Kansas Knights proved themselves just as generous and prompt in their donation to the relief fund raised for members of the Order in Ohio who had suffered severely in the floods of 1913.

The largest project undertaken before the first World War by the Knights of Columbus as a national organization was the half-million dollar endowment for the Catholic University of America.  By 1907 the university was badly in need of money and the hierarchy of the United States sent Archbishop Glennon to the National Directors to suggest that the Knights of Columbus raise this sum.  In effect the Archbishop presented this suggestion to the Knights as an opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities as the largest organization of Catholic men in the United States.

The National Council recommended to the local councils that they vote to assess themselves fifty cents per member for this purpose, and after a majority of the councils had approved the plan it was declared adopted.  The Kansas State Council approved the project and urged its councils to back it wholeheartedly.  Only four Kansas councils rejected the proposal, a few simply failed to report, but most of them did their part in providing this splendid endowment for the university.  On the other hand, it seems not to have been an easy task, and for several years one of the less pleasant duties of the state officers was to urge the laggard councils to make good on their pledges.

From the very beginning Kansas Knights proved that they needed little urging to lend the weight of their organized generosity to aid local charities such as hospitals and schools.  As early as 1904 Wichita and Fort Scott had set the pattern by helping hospitals in their communities.  Some urged that between this work of the local councils and the projects of the National Council supported by the Knights, the State Council would do well to choose some special work for itself.  Among other suggestions were the support and improvement of Catholic orphanages and work with boys in reform schools.  More frequently pursued was the project of aiding boys to study for the priesthood.  The Church in Kansas has never seen the day when it had enough priests to fill its needs, so it is natural that this should have enlisted the interest of the Knights.  An attempt in 1906 to support one candidate each year through a levy of ten cents on each member failed because the laws of the Order insist that works of charity must he supported by the voluntary contributions of the members and permit no compulsory tax or levy for this purpose.  But the idea would not down and was discussed regularly.  Finally, in 1914, the law was apparently overlooked and an assessment of fifteen cents was levied on each member to provide a two hundred dollar scholarship for each bishop in Kansas.  However, it was not a project the Knights could call their own since every one of them contributed to the annual seminary collection in his parish church, and the assessment was discontinued the following year.

It was difficult for the State Council to find a project at once exclusively its own, of benefit to the Church of the entire state, and within its financial means.  Perhaps in desperation the Committee on Resolutions pointed out in 1917 that the Order in Kansas was big enough to broaden its activity and recommended a levy of fifteen cents per capita for a fund for the promotion of the best interests of religion and of the Order in the state.  This was continued for two years, but at the same time the demands of the Knights of Columbus War work gave every Knight scope for as much activity of this kind as he wished and it was some years before this need reappeared.

In the intervening years there was some interest in the religious needs of Mexican immigrants residing in Kansas.  This had been brought to the attention of the State Council as early as 1915.  The convention of 1921 endorsed a campaign to raise twenty-five thousand dollars to help provide churches and schools for them.

A campaign to procure the recognition of a partial holiday on Good Friday was begun in 1920.  After the Fourth Degree took this over as its particular project in 1934 the Knights were annually urged to work for its observance in their communities and considerable success was soon apparent.

A resolution adopted in 1910 pointed out that the number of Catholic students at the state university was increasing each year, and that in other states Catholics provided for the needs of these students.  Therefore, "be it resolved, by the Knights of Columbus in State Convention assembled, that we favor the building in Lawrence, Kansas, by the Catholics of the State of Kansas, and their friends, a Club Building to be devoted to the interests of Catholic Students at the State University, and to that end, we recommend that a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the Bishops of Kansas." Nothing more was heard of this exhortation to the Catholics of Kansas until J. W. Gibbons moved, in 1916, that a committee be appointed to secure funds "to propagate the Faith" among Catholics at Kansas University and Kansas State College at Manhattan.  The State Council recommended a ten cent per capita donation by local councils for the project.  In the following year it was reported that thirty-five councils had donated a total of $345.45 for the work, and that the councils at Lawrence and Manhattan had expended great personal effort to help provide for these students.  After considering the needs of each group one hundred and eleven dollars was allotted to that at Kansas University and the balance to the Manhattan Club.

The loss of student residents occasioned by the draft in the first World War presented these Catholic fraternities with another crisis.  The group at Manhattan considered discontinuing activity until after the war.  The fraternity at Lawrence asked the State Council for a donation of five hundred dollars to tide them over the difficult year.  In 1920 the fraternity at Lawrence was faced with the alternative of buying its house or surrendering it to another group.  The State Council directed that a committee be appointed to raise fifty thousand dollars through voluntary contributions so that the house could be purchased.  It subscribed five hundred dollars of its funds to the cause.  However, the committee never got into action.  In its report the following year it pointed out that it had been forced to delay its campaign until after harvest and that by that time two of the sees of Kansas were vacant and any action without the approval of the bishops was unthinkable.  Finally the bishops had formed another organization which the committee felt would undoubtedly take care of the needs of the fraternity at Lawrence, and recommended that the Knights of Columbus abandon their plan.

The Reverend M. T. Hoffman, chaplain of Catholic students at Kansas University, addressed the convention of 1938 on the growth of Communism among the student body at that school and asked that the Knights counteract this tendency, especially by providing a more Catholic atmosphere for Catholic students.  Somehow the appointment of a committee was overlooked until the following year.  In 1940 it reported that a social center for Catholics, such as was needed at Lawrence, was too big a venture for the State Council.

Another project of the State Council in the twenties could be only partially completed on account of the hard times suffered by farmers and agricultural communities.  In 1922 the State Executive Council instituted a movement to raise one hundred thousand dollars as an endowment for St. Mary's College on the occasion of its seventy-fifth anniversary.  State Deputy James Malone reported to the convention of 1923 that contributions were coming in satisfactorily and was confident that every Knight in Kansas would have contributed by June.  The State Council voted to donate one thousand dollars out of its treasury to the fund, and approved the action of the State Executive Council.  By the following year twelve councils had filled their quotas.  Just under twenty thousand dollars had been collected by 1925, and as the price of farm products declined the donation of $7.80 per member that was asked, seemed to grow larger and larger.  A concerted effort was made to bring the sum to at least forty thousand dollars in 1926 but at the same time complaints began to be reflected in the resolutions of the annual convention.  In 1927 a resolution was adopted to the effect that since the councils were not always aware of what the State Council might do, the State Council should take no action concerning general charitable or educational projects affecting the finances of the councils unless the Grand Knights had been notified of the proposal in writing sixty days in advance of the convention.  Finally, in 1928, the State Council gave up and turned all pledges over to St. Mary's College.

State Deputy J. J. Sullivan announced to the convention of 1931 that St. Mary's was closing its doors as a college and had expressed its willingness to return the sum of twenty-nine thousand dollars which had been collected for the endowment.  The State Deputy recommended that a committee of three be appointed to consider the matter.  Three outstanding Knights, W. D. Jochems, John J. McCurdy, and M. J. Healy, were appointed to this committee, and the report they presented the following year was a careful legal study of the problems involved.  In brief the committee pointed out that "clearly, the absolute title to the fund has been granted to the St. Mary's College", and that furthermore, since by the terms of transfer the fund had become a public charity in the eyes of the law, the State Council could not take it back with a clear title, since the state could consider itself an interested party if there were an attempt to transfer the fund.  The money was sensibly left with St. Mary's, which continues its great work in educating priests.

One of the most useful and at the same time most constant activities of the Knights of Columbus has been its varied efforts to diminish religious prejudice and to promote a better understanding of Catholicity.  This action is particularly well suited to the Order and is one in which every level of the organization can be employed.  In its role of defender of the Faith the Knights of Columbus has had opportunity to combat prejudice with all the means demanded by the varied forms under which prejudice appears.  In the early days it was not uncommon for newspapers to publish editorials misrepresenting the Church or its attitude.  State Officers or other qualified Knights protested and explained the cause of the misunderstanding.  If textbooks used in the public schools fostered prejudice, the Knights, as laymen and tax-paying citizens, could most properly object and demand corrections, as they did on more than one occasion.

The years before the first World War were a period of social unrest.  Wild-eyed journalism flourished and the Church came in for more than its share of vilification.  A resolution adopted by the convention of 1913 noted an extraordinary flood of literature defamatory to the Church and instructed the State Advocate to inspect the state laws for possible redress, and if the laws were found to be inadequate to submit a draft bill which could be presented to the state legislature for its consideration.  The conditions described occupied much of the convention's attention.  Another resolution called on all Christians to combat Socialism.  Still another instructed the State Council's delegates to the Supreme Convention to urge the appointment of a committee "for the purpose of raising money with which to hire Lecturers or to take such other steps as said committee deem advisable to combat the Socialistic propaganda and the campaign of vilification and misrepresentation now being waged by the Menace and all similar publications."

The Supreme Council did appoint a Committee on Religious Prejudices which served a valuable dual purpose.  On the one hand it coordinated the efforts of state and local councils and the information on local conditions received from them.  On the other hand it functioned as a research group and exposed the merchants of bigotry as the cynical mercenaries that they are.  The Supreme Council had long furnished the services of a small group of expert lecturers for local councils.  These now simply concentrated on the immediate problem.  In reply to the appeal of the Kansas State Council the famous David Goldstein lectured on the topic "Socialism vs Christianity" at Seneca, Topeka, Pittsburg, Cherryvale, and Wichita.  There were similar series of lectures later.  The convention of 1921 noted that a "lecture campaign against Socialism in Kansas during the month of March" had resulted in great good for the Church and the Order.  Peter Collins delivered twelve lectures in Kansas in 1924.

The convention of 1915 sought further cooperation with the national committee and State Deputy W. D. Jochems made the following suggestion: "In connection with the work of the Committee on Religious Prejudice and for the purpose of aiding in the campaign of education now being waged against religious prejudice and bigotry, I suggest that each council appoint a publicity committee.  Let this committee make up a mailing list of the school teachers of the county -- the ministers, and the leading non-Catholic citizens.  Then from time to time as printed matter is prepared for distribution by the Supreme Council, send for a supply and mail it to this list.  Also send out copies of Catholic papers which contain articles of special merit." In keeping with its constant effort to diminish religious prejudice and further mutual understanding, the Knights of Columbus have regularly tried to place a variety of Catholic literature where non-Catholics who wished might find the facts about our belief.  In later years this became one of the prime responsibilities of the Catholic Activities Committee.

The Knights realized the importance of an informed and able Catholic laity.  To this end they fostered Catholic literature both in their clubrooms and in their homes.  Some councils helped support good parochial libraries, as did Topeka Council as early as 1904.  The Knights performed a genuine service for the Catholic press and helped move a step nearer their goal of a better informed world by their support of the Catholic Encyclopedia through the publication of a special Knights of Columbus edition.  The State Council limited itself to approval of this worthy enterprise, but the various councils purchased sets for the public libraries and schools in their communities.

MAKING DISCOVERY DAY A HOLIDAY IN KANSAS

Governor W. R. Stubbs is seated in front at his desk. Those standing read from right to left: Miles H. Mulroy, Representative from Ellis County, Hays, Kansas;  James Malone, Representative from Rawlins County, Herndon, Kansas; James W. Gibbons, Past State Deputy, Topeka, Kansas; Charles McCarthy, State Deputy, Kansas City, Kansas; Wm. P. Feeder, Representative from Barton County, Great Bend, Kansas.

The Paulists were famous for their missions for non-Catholics in the early nineteen-hundreds.  This positive approach appealed to the Knights and in 1905 they resolved that the Order should aid this cause.  A year or so later the Parsons Council sponsored such a mission and was enthusiastic about its results.  In 1908 State Deputy Gibbons recommended that a plan be worked out whereby the Knights could support a missionary who would give missions to non-Catholics in each town that had a council of the Knights of Columbus.  A committee was appointed to confer with the bishops but nothing seems to have come of it; two years later a similar resolution was adopted, again without evident consequence.

Shortly after the turn of the century the Knights of Columbus began a campaign for official national recognition of Christopher Columbus.  The Kansas State Council took part in this project and in 1906 put itself on record as favoring a bill introduced into the House of Representatives for the erection of a monument to the memory of Christopher Columbus.  When six years later, the splendid memorial to Columbus in the Union Station Plaza in Washington was ready for dedication, the convention voted to send five delegates to represent it at the ceremonies and recommended that each council send a delegate.  The final result was a splendid representation of Knights at the dedication.

Following the example of other states the State Council of Kansas began in 1907 to petition for state legislation making October twelfth, Columbus Day, a legal holiday in the State of Kansas.  Each year the councils were reminded to remind their State Senators and Representatives of their interest in this matter.  At the convention of 1911 State Deputy C. F. McCarthy of Kansas City could report that thanks largely to the efforts of Brothers Mulroy, James Malone, and Feder, the State Legislature had, at its last session, made Columbus Day a legal holiday in the State of Kansas.  As a consequence State Deputy McCarthy recommended that the Knights observe the day with either a statewide or district celebration.  In the years following Columbus Day was generally observed with a picnic, an initiation, or the reception of Holy Communion in a body by the councils.

The fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the Knights of Columbus was marked in 1932 by elaborate celebrations on Columbus Day, particularly by radio programs not only sponsored by, but given by Knights over various local stations.  Since that time the Knights have seized the occasion to celebrate Columbus Day by short programs and talks on many radio stations throughout the state.

The well-organized program of Catholic Activities carried out by today's Knights began to appear about the nineteen-thirties.  In 1931 Pope Pius XI had called upon the Knights of Columbus to participate in the lay apostolate.  The bishops, through the organizations of NCWC and its organs, encouraged vigorous lay activity in various projects.  Many councils were affiliated with the National Council of Catholic Men and were local leaders in these projects.  The Catholic Activities program, in other words, seems to have originated primarily in local council activity.  The convention of 1933 pointed out that for some years local councils had been sponsoring monthly radio programs, publishing and distributing Catholic literature, sponsoring public lectures, doing charitable work, supporting religious vacation schools, religious correspondence courses, and similar activities.

In succeeding years the work of the Legion of Decency was forwarded by a committee headed by Emmet Blaes, appointed to coordinate the work of the Knights under the direction of the bishops.  At the same time the Knights did much to further the work of the Catholic Evidence Guild, especially in the western part of the state.  The Supreme Council, the State Council, the local councils members of NCCM, all contributed generously to the support of the Catholic Hour.  Support was also given to the radio programs of the Reverend Richard Felix, O.S.B., especially his Highway to Heaven for children.

A resolution adopted by the convention of 1934 empowered the state officers to expend fifty dollars to provide a Christian burial for any Catholic dying in a state or county institution.  As part of the same program cooperation with the Rural Life Commission and the Kansas Commission for Crippled Children was recommended.

Activities of this sort grew year by year and at a meeting of the State Executive Board preceding the convention of 1937 State Chaplain Green suggested that the councils make a voluntary contribution of ten cents per member for a Catholic Activities Fund to be placed at the disposal of the bishops.  That year $625.30 was donated by seventy-seven councils.  The fund was used to help develop Catholic troops of Boy Scouts, for Catholic Evidence Guild work and similar propects.  The Knights in Abilene sponsored a monthly Catholic broadcast there.  The Knights of District Fifteen paid the expenses of Father Stremel from Fowler to Dodge City where, with the cooperation of the local radio station, he gave a weekly broadcast on Catholic subjects.  In 1938 Herman J. Tholen reported concerning the work of the Evidence Guild at Hays of which he was president.  The Hays group had had a successful season of a series of meetings in four different towns.  Much interest had been shown in the talks and the team of six lay preachers and two priests looked for similar success in the coming season.  Knights in Wichita were doing similar work.

The annual collection for Catholic Activities was continued and fluctuated between four and five hundred dollars, until 1943 when State Deputy Emmet A. Blaes of Wichita recommended that the work be financed from the regular State Council funds at the rate of five cents per member.  At the same time he set up a special committee, with Lawrence J. Wetzel as chairman, to coordinate the work of the local councils and to undertake projects that could best be handled by a central committee.  The first project given to the committee by the bishops of the state was the dissemination of Catholic literature, especially Bishop Noll's Our National Enemy Number One, among officials interested in education.  The State Deputy was able to report that the committee had already received a favorable response to this activity.  This work was continued for some years.  In 1945 the committee was distributing copies of Guido Gonella's A World to Reconstruct.  The committee that year reported that "The work consists primarily of the dissemination of Catholic, thought-provoking, constructive literature among the people of our state who have responsibilities of leadership." They had encountered a very favorable reaction, and asked each Grand Knight to supply the names of leaders in their communities.  According to the committee report of 1946 it had distributed three thousand pieces of literature, mostly on social and economic subjects, had continued placing Columbia in public libraries, the State Council had been affiliated with the National Council of Catholic Men, and local councils were engaged in a wide variety of activities.  For example, the councils in the Salina diocese were helping to raise funds for a new cathedral, and Leavenworth Council had sponsored a Pan-American Pontifical Field Mass on the occasion of the graduation of a large group of officers from Latin-America from the Staff and Command School at Fort Leavenworth.

The Padilla Cross project was inaugurated by State Deputy Clarence J. Malone in 1947.  The Kansas State Historical Society had recently decided to erect an historical marker to commemorate the expedition of Coronado and Father Juan de Padilla to the land of Quivira in 1541.  The site on highway 50N, four miles west of Lyons, was donated by John Malone.  It was chosen because it is near one of the largest known Quiviran villages.  The accounts of the expedition state that the explorers erected a large cross in Quivira.  At the convention of 1948 State Deputy Malone pointed out that this cross marked the very birth of Christianity in this country, and that its erection was one of the most dramatic events in the story of the spread of the Gospel of Christ.  He reminded his hearers that Coronado and Father Padilla were also followers of Columbus.  He begged the Knights to seize this opportunity to re-erect the cross on the plains of Kansas as the epitome of the things they believe and which they wish to perpetuate for the generations to come.

The convention directed the State Deputy to appoint a committee to make arrangements for the erection of the Padilla Cross Memorial.  The committee was authorized to appeal to the Kansas councils for contributions and to contract for the construction of the memorial, the cost of which was not to exceed eight thousand dollars.  Immediately after the convention State Deputy Malone appointed an executive committee composed of the state officers with the newly elected State Deputy John G. Dowd as its chairman.  Emmet A. Blaes was appointed chairman of the committee on design and historical inscriptions, Ed L. Dunbar chairman of the committee on the dedication ceremony, and Frank Robl chairman of the committee on the preparation of the site.  The heaviest burden fell on the finance committee led by Dr. Harry M. Klenda.  Councils were asked to contribute to the project on the basis of fifty cents per member, and every council in the state responded.

The submission of designs was invited and a prize of two hundred and fifty dollars was offered for the winning entry.  In September, 1949, the committee on design selected one submitted by G. William Patten of Newtonville, Mass.  October 12, 1950 was set as the tentative date for the dedication of the memorial.  This monument to the memory of a man who died to bring Christ to the New World is a fitting milestone to mark the first half-century of the Knights of Columbus in Kansas.