New Knights and Ladies of Knights of Peter Claver Council 419 were installed Sept. 13 during Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa. (Courtesy Dann Ebina)
By Lisa Dahm
Hawaii Catholic Herald
It’s not often that a national Catholic service organization built for the entire family arrives in the diocese.
On Sept. 12, the Knights of Peter Claver Council 419 was officially established in Hawaii in a ceremony at St. Anthony Retreat Center in Kalihi, followed by a Mass the next day at 5 p.m. at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu.
The event brought together more than 50 Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver from districts throughout the country. Dressed in ceremonial white dresses, black suits and distinctive fez hats, the national members welcomed the first seven Knights of St. Damien and seven Ladies of St. Marianne Cope — the new official councils named after the two saints who served Hansen’s disease patients in Kalaupapa.
The newly initiated members joined in their first service project before Mass Sept. 13 — food distribution for seniors at the co-cathedral, alongside members of the parish’s Social Ministry.
The co-cathedral’s Deacon Ray Lamb and his wife, Tyra Lamb, are the first grand knight and grand lady of Council 419. Deacon Lamb said he was honored to have the opportunity to start the organization in Hawaii.
“In the Catholic Church, there’s a lot of effort going on right now to be able to be family-inclusive in everything that we do, in terms of serving the church outside of its four walls,” Deacon Lamb said. “We look at involving the whole family in living out their charisms as disciples of Jesus Christ. This organization afforded that opportunity.”
Open to everyone
Deacon Lamb said the organization is open to people of all races and ethnic backgrounds. The national organization has about 15,000 members in six districts throughout the United States as well as in Cartagena, Colombia.
In addition to its Knights and Ladies Auxiliary groups, it includes both Junior Knights and Junior Daughters components; all are based in faith, leadership and service to the community. Members serve in their parishes and minister to people who are in need, sick or imprisoned.
“We are excited that the founding members of our unit (will) reflect the cultural diversity of Hawaii,” said Deacon Lamb. “This is important because although the KPC is a predominantly Black Catholic fraternity, its mission and the charisms of its namesake are not exclusively a Black Catholic mission.”
Deacon Lamb is also responsible for the co-cathedral’s 82 altar servers in its thriving program. He and Tyra were looking for ways to encourage youth to continue in their service to the community even further.
“Tyra and I were wondering, ‘How do we continue to motivate and inspire our young people to remain Catholic and to be active Catholics?’” he said. “When we started talking to Ladies and Knights of Peter Claver, they said, ‘I’m Catholic today because some lady, or some knight took an interest in me.’ That was important.”
Hilda Wiltz, the 15th supreme lady of the Catholic fraternal organization’s Ladies Auxiliary who flew in to attend the event from Lafayette, Louisiana, said that members of the organization were thrilled to start a chapter in the 50th state, which is now part of the Western District.
“This is not just a historical event for Hawaii, but it is a historical moment for the Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver all over the world,” Wiltz said. “We are so excited to be in this space.”
Darrell Dickerson, Western States district deputy along with Karen Pinson, said the organization is the only one that welcomes families.
“We’ve got a division that is carved out in our bylaws that provides for them,” Dickerson said of families.
Deacon Lamb said that the Knights of Peter Claver is one of the largest Black Catholic organizations in the United States. It began in the early 1900s and is named after St. Peter Claver, a Jesuit priest from Spain who was a missionary in Cartagena, Colombia, and met slave ships that crossed the ocean and arrived in Cartagena. The slaves were removed from the ships and sold at auction.
“He was the one that went down into the bowels of the ship and dealt with all that human deprivation they found down there,” Deacon Lamb said. “He cared for them first and then ministered to them. By the end of his life, he was credited with over 300,000 people that he baptized and brought into the church.”
Darrell Dickerson, the Western States district deputy for the Knights of Peter Claver, presented the charter establishing Council 419 in the Diocese of Honolulu to Deacon Raymond Lamb of the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa Sept. 13 during a celebratory Mass. (Courtesy Dann Ebina)
New Knights and Ladies
Local members of the Knights of Peter Claver include Bishop Larry Silva, who joined more than 20 years ago when he was in the Diocese of Oakland, California; Father Manuel Hewe, pastor of the co-cathedral; and Father Dario Rinaldi, pastor of Holy Family Church in Honolulu.
New Knights from Hawaii include Anthony Selvanathan, Noel Remigio, Deacon Marlowe Sabater and Jason Kaneaiakala. New Ladies include Maggie Sabater, Lea Remigio, Maila Kaneaiakala, Faith Leasiolagi, Vea Afu and Rose Weldon.
Tyra Lamb said it was easy to recruit the first members from the co-cathedral who were invited to start the unit.
“Once they heard (St. Claver’s) charisms, who he was and what he did going into the bowels of the slave ship, it was amazing to see how people joined,” Tyra Lamb said of their response to the life of the organization’s namesake.
She said the leaders were deliberate in building a multicultural unit in Hawaii, and that the main Knights and Ladies of the St. Peter Claver national board supported their initiative.
“We wanted to be represented by as many cultures as we have, and we did it,” she said.
“Anyone who wants to join the Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver, we welcome them,” Wiltz added.
Deacon Sabater, who is a fishery management specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Honolulu, is also assigned to the Hawaii Apostleship of the Sea Ministry at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.
“My personal motivation to join is because St. Peter Claver is a saint that ministered to the slaves in the hull of the slave ships,” he said.
Deacon Sabater said he was inspired when members of the Knights of Peter Claver, especially board member James Ellis, offered to work with his district to assist the Apostleship of the Sea Ministry by collecting toiletries and clothing for longline fishermen.
“It kind of opened my eyes to the possibilities of this national order,” Deacon Sabater said. “We opened the doors for Hawaii to this national fraternal order that we can tap into some of the resources that they have to help our ministry.”
Maggie Sabater said that as an educator for more than 20 years, with half of that as a middle school teacher at St. Joseph Parish School in Waipahu, she wanted to join the Ladies of St. Marianne Cope (the name of the local Ladies Auxiliary) because it is an extension of her dedication to service.
“We are called to build our lives in the pillars of friendship, unity and Christian charity,” she said. “For me as an educator, it reminds me that friendship begins with my relationship with God through my prayers every day, attending Mass every day, doing reflections and attending some liturgical prayer at home or also in the church.”
Deacon Lamb said the next step for the organization is to create an initiation ceremony and open membership applications.
For more information on the Knights of Peter Claver, visit kofpc.org.