In 1882 Father Michael J. McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus in the basement of Saint Mary’s Church in New Haven Connecticut to protect Priests and defend Catholics, to support the Church, and to care for widows and orphans. Its main principles are Charity, Unity, Fraternity, and Patriotism. Since its meager beginning it developed into the largest Catholic fraternal organization in the world and the largest non-profit life insurance company in the world- triple A rated by Stander and Poors.

The men of Saint Lawrence Council have been quietly working around our parish and Sayville for over 80 years with physical, financial, and spiritual support. They financially help seminarians in Huntington studying to become Priests of our Lord Jesus Christ. The council is also very involved with the poor of the community through the food pantries and our outreach program. They remember our heros by going to the Veterans home on Sundays and not only visiting but also helping the Veterans go to mass. I know of at least one of our members who travels to Albany each month to talk to our elected officials about the rights of the unborn. The Suffolk County Chapter donates around $10,000.00 to the Bishop's Ministry Appeal each year. They are also large supporters of Long Island Cares which feeds our poor, but one of my favorites is our donation of new Teddy Bears to be given out by the police department to abused children. Last year the Chapter donated over 3,000 bears.

The State Council, besides its charities, has a mass for the victims of abortion offered by Cardinal Egan in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral each January, just prior to the march in Washington DC, which by the way was first organized by a knight in one of our neighboring councils. They run a day of prayer at The Shrine of Our Lady of the Island in Eastport starting with the rosary and ending with mass. They also have a prayer rally in Albany each year to tell all the people of our state that “We are Catholic and we have Catholic issues”. The Supreme Council donates over 20 million dollars to the Vatican each year, and it guaranteed all the children of the families of every Firefighter and Police Officer who lost their lives in the horror of 9-11 a free college education. These are only a few acts of good works that the Knights of Columbus quietly do.

Saint Lawrence Council has great plans for the future. We would like to include a women’s group; the Columbiettes, and children’s groups; the Squires and Squirettes. We are reinventing ourselves and trying to become a more Christ-centered ministry-based council. We know of one of our sister councils who donates $50,000.00 to charity each year and dream of how great it would be for our church and the charities in Sayville if we could do the same, but we can’t do it at our present size - we need to grow. So if you are a man over 18 years of age and would like to help us by becoming a Knight, or if you just have questions for us, please contact us may God bless you.