Press release by the Pennsylvania State Council of the Knights of Columbus
The Pennsylvania State Council of the Knights of Columbus presented a $5,288 check to the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh Aug. 26 to support vocations.
Michael P. Lynch, State Treasurer of the Pennsylvania State Council, presented the check.
On hand for the presentation were Father Kevin Marks, Vocation Director for the Archeparchy; Very Reverend Andrew Deskevich, Protosyncellus; Deacon Sean Petrisko; and Richard Miller.
Additionally, Metropolitan William Skurla was presented a copy of the Marian Icon of Persecuted Christians. This icon carries an Apostolic Blessing from Pope Francis.
Created by Italian iconographer Fabrizio Diomedi, this icon depicts the Blessed Mother, with the Child Jesus over her heart, spreading her protective mantle around a representative gathering of recent Christian martyrs — men and women, young and old, from East and West; priests, religious and laypersons, including one of the six priest-members of the Knights of Columbus who were killed by the Mexican government in the first half of the 20th century.
The four crosses represent an “ecumenism of blood” among martyrs of Roman and Eastern Catholicism, as well as those of Coptic, Armenian, Syriac and Orthodox traditions.
This icon was the focal point of the 2018-19 Marian Prayer program sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Since its inception in 1979, the Knights of Columbus’ prayer program has held more than 166,900 local council and parish prayer services with some 20 million participants.
Featured images have included Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Our Lady of Pochaiv, Our Lady of the Assumption, Our Lady of the New Advent, Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Charity.
Very Rev. Andrew Deskevich, Protosyncellus; Father Kevin Marks, Vocations Director; Michael Lynch, Pennylvania Knights of Columbus State Council Treasurer, Metropolitan Archbishop William Skurla; Deacon Sean Petrisko; and Richard Miller.
