Local Knights of Columbus Chapter Honors Cardinal as One of Its Own
It will be another three and a half years before the Knights of Columbus’ Sisqua Council No. 1852 will celebrate its 100th anniversary. But there’s no dispute who its Man of the Century is.
As part of its annual Veterans Day Mass, the council honored its most accomplished and famous member, Edwin Cardinal O’Brien, who has been part of Sisqua Council since 1994. The council includes five churches in its territory–St. Patrick’s in Bedford, St. Mary of the Assumption in Katonah, St. Patrick’s in Armonk, The Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Chappaqua and St. Francis of Assisi in Mount Kisco, where a special late Sunday afternoon Mass was held in O’Brien’s honor.
O’Brien, 73, a Bronx native who moved to Bedford with his family in 1953 for high school, was elevated to Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI earlier this year.
“With three years remaining we can’t think of anybody who’s more deserving than the Cardinal or more famous or more important than the Cardinal,” said Event Chairman Alfred Green at the reception at the Mount Kisco Country Club that followed the service. “It’s a great honor for us to have him and he still remains a dues-paying member.”
It was fitting that Sisqua Council honored O’Brien, a graduate of St. Mary the Assumption Catholic High School, on Veterans Day. His first assignment was as a civilian Catholic chaplain at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Five years later, he joined the Army and attained the rank of chaplain/captain. He was stationed at Fort Bragg where he trained as a pilot and a parachute jumper and served two tours in Vietnam while attached to the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
Sunday’s service featured a procession of Sisqua Council officers, past Grand Knights and Ladies as well as a color guard of retired 82nd Airborne members. Priests from throughout the Archdiocese of New York also attended.
“This brings back many memories and many reasons to be thankful and to give thanks to God,” said O’Brien, who led the Mass and delivered the homily.
Since 1965 when he was ordained by Cardinal Spellman, O’Brien has had an illustrious career in the church. Among his many positions over the years was vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of New York and associate pastor at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In 2007 he was appointed as the archbishop of Baltimore, the oldest diocese in the United States.
As much as the council members were honored to have O’Brien with them, the Cardinal also has been a big supporter of the Knights of Columbus, both in Yonkers when he served two terms as rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary, and at Sisqua Council. He still serves as Sisqua’s associate chaplain.
He said he feels a special kinship to the council because over nearly 20 years they adopted him and is impressed with their work.
“They’re a very loyal, generous group of men and family men, too,” O’Brien said of his fellow council members. “Anything I can do to encourage a group like this, to remain faithful to their families and to remain active in the church with its many charitable activities as the council has, I’m bound to encourage them any way I can.”
Green said the event was meant to be sort of a welcome home reception for O’Brien.
“We tried to do what we could to making this a homecoming, if you will,” Green said. “A warm, inviting, loving environment and that’s what he going to get.”
Father Stephen Clark, a priest at St. Francis of Assisi, said it was a special day for his church to be able to host the Mass with O’Brien presiding over the service.
“It’s truly a privilege for us to do that,” Clark said. “I’m the Knights’ chaplain, the chaplain for this council, the Sisqua Council. They asked if they could do it (here). I said the church is available so I said sure.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
