Council 1232 Knights of Columbus, Manchester by the Sea, Enables Haverhill Pregnancy Clinic to Obtain Long Needed Ultrasound System

Masconomo Council’s $12,300 gift matched by Knights of Columbus Culture of Life Fund

Manchester by the Sea, MA, April 08,2022—Pro-Life issues advocacy is fundamental to the Knights of Columbus. The Knights choose to support human life, born and unborn, from conception to natural death. That is a matter of faith and policy.

For Council 1232 Knights of Columbus Manchester by -the Sea that policy became practice when it reached out to the Pregnancy Care Center of Merrimack Valley.

Bill Casey, Executive Director of the center, informed Tom Finn, program director of Council 1232, that their Haverhill Center was in need of a state-of-the-art ultrasound machine to visually show expectant mothers the miracle of life they all carry within their wombs. He said unfortunately it was out of their reach financially.

Finn assured him Council 1232 could and would partner with the national Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Initiative to purchase the system it prefers.

After conferring with the Council’ s membership to approve funds for the project and after pursuing private donations from pro-life advocates, which together with the Council’s funds would comprise 50 percent of the Ultrasound’s purchase price, Finn assured the balance would be provided by Knights of Columbus Supreme headquarters, based in New Haven, Connecticut.

Phil Monahan, Grand Knight of Masconomo Council 1232, Manchester by-the Sea declared, “We are glad to offer financial assistance to the Pregnancy Care Center. It is an asset that provides a welcome helping hand to women and couples in need at a time when they seek love, care, and guidance. The new ultrasound at the center will visually make babies come alive for expectant parents. It will ease the way for them to choose life for their unborn baby.”

“Mothers ambivalent about carrying a pregnancy to full term will now see their unborn babies alive with arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, and toes. What they will see is unquestionably a developing baby. Once a parent sees that it is hard not to choose life- one’s own flesh and blood.”

The ultrasound system gift to the Haverhill center was stimulated by Knight Tom Finn, of Beverly Farms, who was impressed by the quality of counseling and post-partum support available to mothers in the group’s care centers throughout the Merrimack Valley in Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill.

Three months ago, the Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Initiative marked a major milestone when it installed the 1,500th ultrasound system funded through the Initiative. That system was installed in New Brunswick, NJ at The First Choice Women’s Resource Center. As with the Haverhill Center, the Ultrasound was funded by local Knights with a 100% match by the Order’s Culture of Life Fund.

At the presentation of the New Brunswick NJ Ultrasound system, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly said, “Knights of Columbus believe in the dignity and worth of every human life. We work tirelessly through prayer and action to support mothers and their children, both born and unborn.”

Since the Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Initiative began in January,2008, more than 1500 ultrasound systems have been installed at pregnancy centers in all 50 states. They and related post- partum support have a value of $72 million.

Bill Casey noted, “For many women, an unplanned pregnancy can be a real crisis. Our secular society lies to these very women by telling them that it is ok to terminate the pregnancy by saying; it’s only a clump of cells, an abortion will make it all go away, no one needs to know, it’s your body / your choice. They never discuss the termination of a life. They never tell the truth about the serious risks to their physical and mental health associated with terminating their pregnancy.”

He emphasized, “Through this generous donation by Council 1232 and the matching funds provided by the Supreme Council, we now have our third ultrasound machine, one for each of our three locations in the Merrimack Valley. The Knights of Columbus have made this dream become a reality.”

He continued, “The ability to show the mother their actual baby makes a profound impact. It creates a moment where God can touch the mother’s heart and help her to know that there is a life in her womb. A precious life that He created.”

Knights of Columbus Masconomo Council 1232 of Manchester by the Sea, Massachusetts has been awarded the distinction of Star Council, the international organization’s top honor for local councils.

The Star Council award recognizes overall achievement and excellence in the areas of church and community service programs and a vital, thriving membership, joined to a strong Knights of Columbus insurance benefits program. Masconomo Council was hailed for sponsoring effective Catholic faith formation programs and volunteering its members’ time through service-oriented activities benefiting families locally, nationally and internationally, particularly those in the Middle East.

This Star Council honor was bestowed upon the Cape Ann council by the Supreme Council of the international Knights of Columbus based in New Haven, Connecticut. Masconomo Council 1232 shares its elite status with only 5 per cent of the 280 local Knights of Columbus councils in Massachusetts. They were each honored for their comprehensive program planning, participation and charitable giving.

Council 1232 Grand Knight Phil Monahan thanked Knights’ leadership for making this the fourth time in six years that his council has been so honored by the Supreme Council, the Knights of Columbus governing body. It did so on the recommendation of the Massachusetts State Council. That action reflected its view of a Masconomo Council alive and thriving to support its Church, its priests and parishes, as well as its Cape Ann communities and our country at large.”

For more than 113 years the Manchester by the Sea – Essex brother Knights of Masconomo Council 1232 have exemplified the highest ideals of charity, fraternity, unity and patriotism. Its current membership is the acknowledged key to the Star Council honor. Equally important are the contributions of this group’s past leaders who inspired a perpetual, solid commitment to service. That cadre of leaders includes recent Past Grand Knights Bill Busta, Jeff Mastendino, Tom Finn, Arthur Sheehan, Richard Sullivan and Roger DiNapoli.

In the current fraternal year 2020-2021, Masconomo Council 1232 is engaged in a variety of activities including soliciting funds for and distributing scholarship awards for local students receiving the Father Jack Gentleman Memorial Scholarships. It has organized coat drives, sock drives and food drives to benefit those in need in this extraordinary COVID-19 pandemic year. In October it extended hands for the iconic Tootsie Roll can drive benefiting special needs individuals. It has aligned its membership to fundraise and advocate for Christians at risk in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world. A garden shed was built by Knights in Manchester by the Sea to support Christians in need of humane aid in refugee camps in Syria and Iraq. Cape Ann’s Open Door Food Pantry lauded Council 1232 for its ongoing food drive to benefit neighbors who need a helping hand. And first and foremost, members of Masconomo Council 1232 assist local parishes in Manchester by the Sea, Essex, Gloucester, Marblehead and Beverly as Eucharistic ministers, lectors, ushers, and hospital visitors. They also support faith formation programs and nurturing vocations and seminarians’ training.

To be eligible to qualify for the Star Council Award, a council must qualify for the national Father McGivney, Founder’s, and Columbian awards.

Our members include veterans, heads of families, students, retirees, businessmen and professionals from every walk of life. They are proud to be part of an organization dedicated to service and charity. They are proud to follow the lead of its founder Father Michael McGivney, a young priest committed to service for those in need, a young priest committed to holiness. Next month that young priest will be beatified- the penultimate step toward sainthood. Few men belong to organizations founded by those who aspire to be saints.

Masconomo Council 1232 Knights of Columbus, Manchester by the Sea awarded thirteen $500 scholarships to 2021 graduating seniors of area high schools. This year’s awards bring to seventy-eight the total number of scholarships presented by Council 1232 in the past twenty-one years.

For the past six years, the Council’s scholarship program for graduating seniors has been designated the Father Jack Gentleman Memorial Scholarship, in memory of Father Jack Gentleman the late pastor of Sacred Heart, Manchester by the Sea and St John the Baptist, Essex.

The scholarships are annually funded by local donations and the proceeds of a fundraising raffle.

The awards were presented by Rene St Pierre and Chris Shea, representatives of the Knights of Columbus scholarship committee in the form of “Mega Checks” at a garden reception at Sacred Heart church on Corpus Christi Sunday.

Father Paul Flammia, pastor of Sacred Heart and St John’s, blessed the graduates at a Mass preceding the ceremony and wished them well in their future endeavors.

Grand Knight Bill Busta congratulated the scholarship recipients and noted the awards recognized the graduates’ achievements, perseverance, and community service. He said the awards also saluted their patience and forbearance in an exceptionally difficult pandemic year. He urged them, in the spirit of Father Jack, “to walk life’s journey loving one another, caring for each other, and treating others as you would wish to be treated.”

Busta also thanked everyone who supported the Father Jack Memorial Scholarship Fund financially in a difficult year. “You made these awards possible.” The outgoing Grand Knight also congratulated Father Paul Flammia who celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood the first week of June.