The Knights of Columbus is a fraternal benefit society under section 501(c) 8 of the Internal Revenue Code. It offers life insurance and other benefits to its members and families. Qualifications for membership are: you must be a practicing Catholic and must be 18 years of age.
The Father Edmund F. Hartigan Knights of Columbus Council # 4621 is located at 5818 S. Western. The Grand Knight for the fraternal year is Mark Ebenkamp. Meeting nights are the second and fourth Mondays of the month at 7:30 P.M.
Our council works closely with St Joseph’s Catholic Church and St. Thomas. The Council was founded in 1958 through the efforts of active, select men of St Joseph’s Parish. The Council was named after Father Edmund F. Hartigan, who was a pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Today our council has over 200 members and is one of the largest councils in the Panhandle Area.
The council donates funds for Catholic Education, supports Seminarians through the vocation stipend program, and participates in projects within both parishes as well as in the community at large. Many of our members are active in parish life and serve in various capacities, such as ushers, lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, Music Ministers, Cantors, and Perpetual Adoration volunteers.
The vocation breakfast was created primarily to assist seminarians with a monthly stipend. We have assisted as many as five seminarians and as few as one during the school year. If there are no seminarians to support, a portion of the monies raised, goes into the Seminary Burse Fund.
The families of St Thomas have been very supportive and thus excess funds raised from the vocation breakfast have gone to help with student tuitions for St Joseph’s and Holy Cross Schools. With the excess monies raised from our vocation breakfast and other fund raisers done throughout the year, we have provided funds to help the following: