Columbi.anism in Texas
thirty councils in 1952 and a membership of more than twenty thousand. The work accomplished and the principal achievements attained will be summarized in the remainder of this chapter. Preservation and spread of the Faitk The Knights of Columbus is primarily a Catholic action organization and its first concern in Texas has been the maintenance and strengthening of the Faith by giving effective aid in making the truths and the practices of the Church better known. The time was ripe for Catholic action. At about the same time that the Order was established in Texas, there were three other associations organized for the purpose of maintaining the faith and disseminating Catholic truth, stimulated and encouraged perhaps by the new movement. The first of these was the Catholic League among the large segment of German-speaking peoples of the State. The two other groups that formed similar organizations were the Czechs, who organized the K.J.T.Z.; and the Bohemians, who organized K.J .T. These societies, which included Catholic men and women, joined in their efforts with those of the Knights of Columbus in Texas in a common endeavor to revive and possibly recreate the Catholic life of the people through unintentional neglect and a hostile environment were being engulfed by the more aggressive ele- ments and were in serious danger of disappearing. Many good Catholics and their families were losing their rich cultural and spiritual heritage, their Faith. and their very souls through neglect. indifference and lack of organizational companionship. The Knights of Columbus. taking a page from the old missionary days of the State, when saintly missionaries from Mexico and Spain carried to the people of the wilds a knowledge of the Faith at the cost of great hardships and even life itself, smch as was the case with Fray Antonio de Padilla and Fray Giraldo de Terreros. who heroically made the su- preme sacrifice in the wai-tes of Texas. contrary to Kansas claims, re- solved to use every means at their command to make our Religion known to the non-Catholics of the State. (See Volume 1 of O"r Catlrolic Heritage in Texas, where the martyrdom of Juan de Padilla is finally discussed. A marker was placed in Amarillo by the Centennial Commission in com- memoration of Fray Juan de Padilla.) Knowledge would dissipate the prejudice engendered by blind ignorance and attract the open-minded to the true Faith by arousing their interest. In 1916, at the Sherman Convention, a resolution was adopted by the State Council to pay the expenses of a travelling missionary who was to
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