Which Knights of Columbus 4th Degree Color Guard Uniform Do You Prefer?

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Tis_Bearself said:
In some areas of the country, even where you’re not in the city, 15 or 20 parishes are easily accessible within a 20 or 30 minute drive in each direction. I am 30 miles outside a large city right now and it’s a heavily Catholic area and there is a church every couple miles. I go to at least 6 of them regularly.
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I don’t know too many people that are going to drive 30 minutes to a KofC council meeting.
 
TK421 said:
A “color guard” isn’t unique to the KofC. There are of course other groups that have special uniforms for public appearances. Most of them are going to be middle-aged men or up with families, and I highly doubt any of them see themselves as impersonating the military or police force.

But I do agree it would make me uncomfortable also. The idea of wearing that feels ostentatious, or as though I’m not secure in my manhood, so I need an expensive uniform to compensate for an inner void. That’s why if I were to dress up for an event I would want something much less showy than that. That uniform feels vain.
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BTW, most if not all the members of the Color Corp I have known are military veterans. The theme of the 4th degree is “Patriotism”. They promote events, and serve as Color Guard, for Armed Forces Week, Memorial Day services, etc. My understanding is that at least some veterans in the community respect that connection.

But they also serve the Church, especially the bishop, as Color Guard for special Masses. You could think of a common dress for others, such as the music group at Mass, or ushers. It adds a note of “ceremony”, or importance, which some would like to see at a graduation, etc.
 
commenter said:
I don’t know the details, and it may vary from state to state, but here fraternal groups have to pay property taxes.
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In Pennsylvania, it depends on the usage of the building as to whether or not property taxes are due. On church properties, the school and church buildings are exempt- the rectory is taxable as the use is residential.

I know that American Legion posts are exempt, I don’t know about KofC posts. But if either of those groups owned an office building or residences, the properties would have to be taxed regardless of ownership.
 
I was trying to find a video of Kevin Vann’s 2005 Fort Worth installation. I had thought I remembered having all of the orders process in as part of the entrance procession while the KofC stood guard, but I can’t find it online…

This one is Vann’s 2012 Orange installation. It’s not as visually pleasing as the 2005 Fort Worth installation would have been-- and the Orders kind of filter towards their seats rather than properly process with rhythm and purpose-- but you can see the different pageantry.

The KofC don’t come on the scene until around the 29-minute mark, but they look good in context and compare favorably, even though the other ones are more prestigious. 🙂 You can see the Order of Malta around the 5:30 mark. The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre is around 7:30. And the Order of St Gregory is around 11:00.
 
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I’m actually in a very historic area because it’s one of the three original counties of Pennsylvania and between it and Delaware, some of the oldest Catholic churches in the USA are here. They are not located in cities but rather are out in what was until recently country areas, where a lot of early Irish immigrants were working as loggers or miners or the like. My geo parish here where I just went to Mass this morning dates back to 1793 and the current church building is pre-Civil War (as are most of the buildings in this part of town including my house).

The general area has also had a lot of development over the last few decades, resulting in big new suburban churches. There are a great many Italian Catholics in this area in particular. Many Catholics visit around to other parishes for specific holy hours or Right To Life activities.

Once you get into the cities such as Wilmington, Philadelphia, Camden etc you see more of the church closings you mention, as the neighborhoods grew poor and everyone moved out to the suburbs. My hometown in another state, which is not as wealthy as the PA historic counties, is also having issues with church closures.
 
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Driving 30 minutes around here is nothing because the traffic is so bad, it can take you 30 minutes to go 5 miles up the street. It’s not 40 miles on the highway. The road development here did not keep up with the huge influx of people who decided this was a nice place to live.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Driving 30 minutes around here is nothing because the traffic is so bad,
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It all depends on the population density of the area as to what you have to do.

Here in Pittsburgh, a few years ago, there were 8 Roman Catholic churches iin the South Side alone. There were a number of non-RC churches as well. The population was that high and that dense, it could be done. Out in the country, a lot different.
 
I’m currently blessed to be in areas where you run into a Catholic Church and a Wawa with about the same frequency.

Not like that everywhere, I know.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Once you get into the cities such as Wilmington, Philadelphia, Camden etc you see more of the church closings you mention, as the neighborhoods grew poor and everyone moved out to the suburbs.
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It’s a tragic shame that the Church was unwilling/unable to fill the pews of its parishes with the people that moved into these cities.
 
Some of the neighborhoods are not really populated with functional people. Or by the time people started to move in who might attend services, it was too late.
Some of the churches survived by being taken over by religious orders that use them for shrines. They get a lot of tourists, many Hispanic or Filipino.

I’m actually impressed that Philadelphia has kept as many of the historic churches open as it has. There are some areas where there is a big Catholic church and you literally drive a few blocks down the street and there is another. It was because they were for 2 different ethnic groups back in the day. Just nuts to build them both so close.
 
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I think the top hat and tails (or morning dress) that predated the tuxedo/chapeau looked considerably better.
 
Duesenberg said:
It’s a tragic shame that the Church was unwilling/unable to fill the pews of its parishes with the people that moved into these cities.
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Most of the African Americans moved into the communities weren’t Catholic- they usually attended their own churches. The church building my great grandmother was buried at 50 years ago was sold to a baptist congregation.
 
Augustinian said:
Most of the African Americans moved into the communities weren’t Catholic- they usually attended their own churches. The church building my great grandmother was buried at 50 years ago was sold to a baptist congregation.
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They should have been evangelized into the Church.
 
Duesenberg said:
It’s a tragic shame that the Church was unwilling/unable to fill the pews of its parishes with the people that moved into these cities.
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In many cases, nobody has moved into the cities to replace those who moved to the suburbs. Declining population has been a problem for decades in many cities.
 
Duesenberg said:
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Tis_Bearself:
Just nuts to build them both so close.
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Yet back in the day, both were jammed on Sundays for multiple Masses.
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some yes, others no. Depends on whether it was a Personal Parish or a Territorial Parish.

In Society Hill, Philadelphia; there are two territorial parishes almost across the street from one another. Olde St Mary’s was originally built to be the Sunday Mass church for Olde St. Joseph Parish. Then, Olde St. Mary’s became the first Cathedral of Philadelphia and it’s own parish. Olde St. Joseph Parish continues to this day to be a home for the Jesuits.

“Google Maps”

Then, two blocks west was a German Parish, Holy Trinity (which today is used mainly for weddings and holy days) and one block east was St. Peter Claver Church (an African America parish opened in 1892, which is now closed).

Look how many Churches are near my office: MassTimes - Find a Catholic Mass - Home

God bless
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
I’m currently blessed to be in areas where you run into a Catholic Church and a Wawa with about the same frequency.

Not like that everywhere, I know.
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I have 8 parishes within 3 miles of my home in the suburbs. Within 5 miles there are 13 parishes and 30 parishes within 10 miles. Sadly, not a Wawa for thousands of miles.
 
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