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 SUPREME COUNCIL MEETING 2008
ARMAGH
The annual meeting of the Supreme Council of the Order was held in Armagh 10th , 11th and 12th October 2008. A new Supreme Knight and Executive were elected to lead the Order for the next three years. They are as follows:
Supreme Executive
2008 - 2011
Supreme Knight Seamus McDonald Area 4
Deputy Supreme Knight Bernard J. Burns Area 2
Supreme Chaplain Msgr. Gerard Dolan PP. VG.
Supreme Chancellor Barry C. MacMahon Area 8
Supreme Secretary William F. Roe KCSG Area 11
Supreme Advocate Michael O'Brien Area 12
Supreme Treasurer Sean Seahan Area 12
Supreme Warden Michael Jackson Area 5
Supreme Registrar Peter McGovern Area 10
L.P. Supreme Knight Paddy Byrne Area 2
 Belfast Sunday 23rd December 2007
A Christmas message from the Supreme Knight Advent, the season of preparation has come to an end. After four weeks we should be ready to welcome the birth of Jesus, the single most important event in the history of the world. Nothing compares to it. Nothing has or will offer us greater satisfaction or salvation than if we embrace the message of Christmas in our lives. And it’s a simple message.
Love One Another as I have Loved you There are, of course, a number of ways in which this message is delivered in the lead-up and throughout the days of Christmas. Take the case of the man, on his way to Bethlehem with a woman with child. He had heard the message of the angel Joseph do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit There is a manifestation of a man. Josephs love for Mary overcame the usual anger and shame at her condition. His actions in protecting her, sheltering her, providing for her and the child Jesus have a message for us men. This is our primary function in our families and in society. We were made stronger to shoulder the heavier burdens; to protect the women and children in our families; to provide food and shelter for the needy and the homeless. Knights were responsible for all these tasks. We today should be the same and we have a good record in many fields of caring for family and community throughout the country and further afield where people do not enjoy our prosperity. May it always be so. May the joy of having done your best for those around you and dear to you be with you this Christmas and after Epiphany may we all begin again to do the work of the Lord wherever Knights are most effective. On behalf of the Order I wish you every happiness and a restful holiday. Paddy Byrne   Rome 24th November 2007
A consistory to appoint 23 new Cardinals. Knights supporting Princes A texted invitation to join the Archbishop of Armagh for the consistory where Pope Benedict XVI would appoint him a Cardinal may sound unusual but that’s how it came. To be honest, some of us had anticipated events and made arrangements to go to Rome for the weekend to support Archbishop Sean Brady. The invitations to the various ceremonies and receptions were the icing.
The Order has often marked the elevation of Church leaders by providing them with their robes of office. It is an honour. We have supported the Bishops conference over many years and our practical and financial contributions are much appreciated. Perhaps a dozen Knights and some wives travelled to Rome and were honoured with quality tickets to St Peters Basilica for the consistory and the Sunday Mass, the Pontifical Irish College for two receptions, and the Irish Embassy for a third. And then there was the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre reception for their new Cardinal John Patrick Foley from the United States and the Mass for the Irish community in St John Laterans Basilica with three Irish Cardinals, two more of Irish birth or ancestry, a number of Bishops and more priests than you would see at Thomond Park for a Munster final. The Catholic Church knows how to do ceremonial. The prime purpose of the celebration of Mass is to honour Our Lord by prayer, liturgical readings, the consecration of the Eucharist, all liberally adorned by procession, incense, singing. In St Peters they do it even better than in the Cathedrals of the diocese of the world. On this occasion there was more red than a Saturday at Anfield with the new Cardinals and their fellow members of the College. The enthusiasm of the supporters of the new Cardinals is so warm and emotional. Young Franciscan friars, groups of nuns, gaily clad men and women from every continent in the world – the Africans and the South Americans know how to celebrate! President McAleese, Government Ministers from North and South, loads of Bishops, Clergy and people from Ireland particularly from the Diocese of Armagh and the County of Cavan – Laragh, the place of Sean Bradys birth will be on the map now. We might organise a pilgrimage to it next year. Just a thought. Its noticable how the clergy and religious dress very correctly in Rome and there’s no shortage of them. Anybody interested in a campaign to bring back the soutan as common attire for priests? And of course its very obvious that the Church and the Vatican are the major part of the popularity of the City. While there is a significant amount of history to the Roman Empire the religious connections are very dominant and impressive. The Irish College played a big part in the weekend. Sean Brady was Rector before returning to a parish in Cavan and Armagh. It’s a beautiful building close to St John Laterans Basilica and maintains a significant Irish presence in Rome. There was a lunch on Saturday and a reception on Monday evening. The weekend was a great mix of ceremonial and social and it was an honour to be there representing the Knights. Paddy Byrne
Photo below shows Supreme Knight Paddy Byrne with Brother James Hession, a Past Provincial Grand Knight of Area 2 (Belfast). Brother James, celebrating his 90th Birthday, joined the Council of Directors for lunch in the O'Neill Centre, Belfast. The COD were meeting in Belfast that day
Members of the Supreme Executive attending the Council of Directors meeting in Belfast, May 2007
Knight Lights. An occasional diary by the Supreme Knight.
Sunday 24th September 2006 Cashel Co Tipperary
Invited to open a housing scheme by Brothers who formed St Patricks Dwellings for the Elderly and built 24 houses in a sheltered scheme for those in greatest need. What a success. Knights using their God-given talents to put together a proposal, source the funding, arrange the preparation and implement the scheme over a lengthy period. The scheme was the brain-child of the late Dr Willie Ryan who served this Order over many years and it will remain as a monument to his memory and the great work of his Brothers in Cashel. By the way, it was great to be in Cashel, enjoy an attractive Irish town, some great local hospitality and Mass in an unusual and lavishly decorated classical Church. ______________________________________________
October Bank Holiday Weekend 27th – 30th October 2006
I think it is important to be attentive to the signs that the Lord gives us along our way. He speaks to us through events, through persons, through encounters: we must be attentive to all this. Benedict XVI
Went to Clare to meet a new cousin. An unexpected new cousin. A surprising new cousin. A great new cousin. And a very welcome new cousin. Peter passed through town in August still trying to put together the final threads of his birth after 55 years. He asked about a man he believed to be his father in a pub where my cousin overheard him. In a short time it was apparent that our long deceased uncle was Peters father. The days and weeks that followed were filled with meetings, calls and e-mails putting the story together and getting our heads round events of half a century ago and the years since. Peter was born in England and immediately adopted. He had a good life and prospered but in time wanted to know his origins. Through the Liverpool orphanage and his diligence he very quickly found his birth mothers family in Clare and followed her to America where he was rejected though he did meet two welcoming half-sisters - every cloud! He generously returned this year for her funeral. His maternal family in 1980 shared the identity of his father and that he had an older sister, Paula. She had been in an Irish orphanage after her grand-mother died, was fostered by a kindly teacher, married well, had five children, eventually met her brother– and died of cancer aged forty-one over 20 years ago! The sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain – and even the guilt! Peter came this weekend with wife and one of two sons - and certificates, letters, photos, cuttings – and an insatiable and generous appetite for his new found large family of 16 first cousins not to mention their spouses and families. He’s a devout Catholic and bears no ill will. His appetite was well satisfied. We were blessed! The week-end is a blur of revelations, emotions, affection, celebration, singing and indeed praying. We, siblings and cousins, were joined by Paula’s husband and three of her five children, now in their twenties, and his second wife, for dinner drinks coffee over three days. We went to Mass, walked and visited generations of relatives in cemeteries, including one who may or may not have known his legacy. Tu es Petrus. Welcome.
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad. Psalm 125
Friday 3rd November 2006 Ballymena Co Antrim
Up to Ballymena for the big celebratory Dinner Dance for the 50th Anniversary of the formation of a Council of Knights in the town. A number of the past 25 Grand Knights were present (each served a two year term). Ballymena prides itself in never having ‘recycled’ a Grand Knight and with new blood coming forward every year they hope to continue that record. The Council activities include 550 Christmas hampers for the needy, a significant contribution to Habitat for Humanity in building houses in Guatemala and one to the Orders fund raising in support of the Bishops conference not to mention an enviable programme of Faith Formation and religious observance throughout the years. They went to see President McAleese in Aras an Uachtarain last May. By the way, Ballymena Council has its own music group called the ‘White Knights’ who travel the country playing music to support Order and other charitable functions. The Grand Knight plays the banjo and rides a Harley – Catholic yes, conservative never! _______________________
Saturday 4th November 2006 Ballymena Co Antrim
Back to Ballymena again! This time for the centenary dinner of the Ruairi Og hurling club in Cushendall, Co Antrim. A magnificent and well organised evening of nostalgia and celebration of a very successful club in a small rural community. They drew with Dungiven in the Ulster final in the afternoon – what a bonus a win would have been! The video show was very poignant for those present as the images of their ancestors, now dead and not always in old age, appeared on the screens. The guests included Sean Og O’Halpin and Peter Quinn. Now there’s a couple of role models. Without prompt, a young man I know shared with me the worry of his mothers life threatening illness while another told me of the trauma and strain, as life-boat crew, of searching, including diving, for suicide victims – five in two or three years - in the Irish Sea and the North Atlantic. Two young men carrying their crosses and making their contributions to family and community and both immersed in the hurling club as well! STOP PRESS –The Ruairi Ogs beat Dungiven in the replay a week later! Onward to Croke Park!
Sunday 17th December 2006 Third Sunday in Advent He who has two coats let him share with him who has none and he who has food let him do likewise Luke 3:11 Who’s choosing these readings which are so relevant to our every day lives?
Ballymena again! Went to deliver our hamper to the local Knights Christmas hamper appeal, a project now in its second decade which gathers over 500 hampers for needy families locally and in Belfast. Doners, representing all communities in Ballymena and district, are allocated a family by name and assemble their hampers with food-stuffs, Christmas goodies and presents, invariably clothes, for the children. A fleet of trucks delivers them to distribution centres before the day is out. Went to Mass in the now famous Harryville church, much in the news in past years as the subject of loyalist protest. A courageous and dignified stand by Catholics and sympathisers prevailed and such events are hopefully history. Its a modern, probably best described as brutalist, building in the style of a regal crown, in need of re-ordering, with a miserable house next door with all the windows protected by grilles, as you’d expect. One vigil and one Sunday Mass and only half full since its local Catholic population has substantially relocated. On the other hand, All Saints, the main church at the other end of the town, is thriving with a new parish centre under construction across the road from the boxing club where Liam Neeson learnt the virtues of dedication and perseverence.
Tuesday 19th December 2006 Blessed are the Gentle for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5
To St Gerards Redemptorist Church on the Antrim Road in Belfast for the funeral of Dermot Watson. Dermot died suddenly and tragically after a fall at the weekend. If the truth be told he never got over the death of his wife from cancer some years ago. They are together now – the Lord works in mysterious ways. A large and diverse congregation attended a sad and moving requiem Mass with music and generous and well deserved tributes to a gentle man who made a particular contribution to his Church and his God.
In the afternoon we watched some grand-children in their school Christmas plays. No shortage of Christmas messages delivered by innocent children to an adoring audience. A nice lead-in to the Christmas season.
That evening to St Malachys College in Belfast for the prize-giving. A wide ranging review by the Principal encouraged the ethos of the Catholic school and alluded to the current political pressure on the Catholic sector in Northern Ireland recently referred to by the Bishops. The prizes were presented by old boy Martin O’Neill who captained their gaelic football team in the late 1960’s. A very engaging and popular man presenting an impressive list of prizes to pupils from all years in the college including some of the highest academic, sporting and artistic achievers in the province and indeed the country.
 Leadership Programme 2005 / 2008 Our world today is getting smaller, at the same time Europe is getting bigger and growing in world importance. She has committed herself to creating a new reality combining unity and diversity, national sovereignty, joint activity, continued economic progress with Social Justice and religious freedom. Our new Europe has inherited core values that have flourished for over two thousand years. These values are based in the main on Christianity which endowed culture with a humanism which has played a significant role in the history of our continent. In the coming debate on the Constitution for Europe we must work and pray that our people will ensure that faith will have a constitutional place in the Europe of the future. We must remember that the Lord has no hand but ours. Our values, our motivation and our activities and goals must reflect God’s ways at all times. We must learn about our faith in order to echo it to others. This is why I ask for your support, your help, your involvement in establishing in each area, opportunities for ongoing Adult Education and Religion and a Programme of Spiritual Formation. We must work hard to motivate others to make the message of Christ alive and to build up a vital Christian community in our Parishes. I know that there is a variety of skills and gifts latent in every community. Our task is to foster them and give them expression. I believe the most effective Leadership process is collaboration. The Primary goal is to identify, release, utilise and unify the gifts of all our Brothers, all Baptised Christians. This involves and explicit, continuous deliberate chosen and sustained effort prayerfully to share discernment, decision-making and evaluation at every level, Supreme Council, Council of Directors, Supreme Executive, Provincial Councils and Councils. SUPREME EXECUTIVE 2005 / 2008
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