The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
THEY’RE GOOD KNIGHTS
Group helping church family, community
Members of the Lorain chapter of an international church group want to bring their faith to life through charity, according to two leaders guiding the group.
William Argenti, 88, and DeWitt Gober, 67, are the leaders of James L. Martin Knights of Columbus Council 637.
But neither claims credit for the projects that span five parishes across Lorain. Talking about the Knights, they emphasize any successes come only through teamwork.
“It’s the people around you that make this possible,” Argenti said. “One man is not going to make it alone.”
Getting started
An Army infantry veteran of the Korean War, Argenti is the past grand knight of the Lorain council.
Argenti is a native of Palmer, Pa., where people of all ethnicities worked in the coal mines. It was good training for when he moved to Lorain, the International City, seeking work.
He remains patriarch of Argenti Auto Body of Lorain, which has been in business more than 50 years in Lorain.
A retired Cleveland police officer, Gober now is grand knight, but he described himself as “johnnycome-lately to this.”
“Mr. Argenti was grand knight for 20 years before me in this,” he said.
Years ago, Gober, a Cleveland native, and his wife, Jennifer, moved to Vermilion and rented the home of her grandparents while they traveled during retirement.
Their son, Brandon, at age 6 tested to attend kindergarten at St. Mary’s School in Vermilion, but no spots were available. The Gobers moved to Lorain so Brandon could attend kindergarten at St. Peter School.
In Lorain, the Gobers became involved in Boy Scouts and met Greg Argenti, now Lorain’s Ward 4 councilman, and the son of William Argenti, who recruited DeWitt Gober for the Knights of Columbus.
“My council has a good leader right now in that man,” Argenti said about Gober.
“Thank you, but …” Gober said.
“I knew somebody had to take my place and I wanted somebody good, and he’s better,” Argenti said.
“No,” Gober said. “We have great officers. Without them, none of this stuff would get done.”
KofC
The Knights of Columbus was founded in 1882 in Connecticut as a Catholic fraternal organization to help members and their families. A primary mission was to care for widows and orphans left when workers died, Gober said.
The founding principles are charity, unity and fraternity, along with patriotism. “Charity is our first tenet,” he said.
That mission remains through insurance sold to members, Gober and Argenti said. Although it is not widely known, the Knights of Columbus were among the earliest to respond with financial help for families of first responders killed in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Bringing it home
At the local level, the Knights aim to guide each other as Catholic gentlemen, Gober said.
They want to better themselves as husbands, fathers and members of the community, Gober said.
The church parish becomes as an extension of the family. It is a large family with a parish priest as the head and members serving each other with charitable works, Gober said.
From there the church extends into the community, with Knights serving the community as best as they can, he said.
The council coordinates 246 members and projects from five parishes.
• St. Frances Xavier Cabrini parish, 2143 Homewood Drive
• St. Mary Church at 309 W. Seventh St.
• St. Peter Parish, 3655 Oberlin Ave.
• Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, 418 W. 15th St.
• Sacred Heart Chapel, 4301 Pearl Ave., South Lorain.
The Knights support Catholic education at St. Peter Parish and St. Anthony Parish on Lorain’s east side, and at Elyria Catholic High School. They also reach out to other service organizations, such as We Care We Share and the Salvation Army.
Each parish has a knight coordinator with a working knowledge of the parish to stay informed about needs and projects. Working with the coordinators and parish priests, the council sets its annual calendar of programs.
Projects can range from essay and poster contests to dinners, Christmas dinner, picnics and memorial masses for deceased knights.
They raise money to help feed the homeless, pay for books for religion teachers and support seminarians. Duties include manning booths at parish festivals and putting up Christmas decorations at the churches.
The Lorain Council was founded in 1902 through St. Mary Church. It survived the Great Tornado of 1924, fires and borrowing money to build the council hall at 4720 Oberlin Ave.
Past and future
In recent memory, the 2010 closure of Lorain churches by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese also was a blow to the membership of the Lorain knights.
As far as closures of churches, some of it was warranted due to loss of population, Argenti said.
As the parish is the center of a community, Gober noted neighborhoods were built around parishes. When the church closes, where do the people go?
“That’s a great question,” Argenti said.
Gober remains a scout master of the Boy Scout troop that meets at the Knights hall in Lorain. He and Argenti have been reaching out to younger men, guys in their 30s and 40s, who are ready to get involved.
“I always said, you’re as good as the people around you,” Argenti said.
“I was always lucky to have good people around me.”
The Knights of Columbus was founded in 1882 in Connecticut as a Catholic fraternal organization to help members and their families. A primary mission was to care for widows and orphans left when workers died, Gober said.