George F. Halcovage Jr. wears a number of hats in Schuylkill County, including being a county commissioner, but he is also a liaison for the Knights of Columbus to Lithuania, where he recently traveled.
Halcovage's trip in May was his second to the Baltic country, which is strongly Catholic and still recovering from decades of communist rule as a captive republic in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The announcement of the Knights starting operations in Lithuania and Ukraine was made last August at the organization's annual congress in San Antonio, Texas. The Knights have had a presence in Poland for six years.
During the meeting, Lithuania's Ambassador to the U.S. Zygimantas Pavilionis, who visited Lithuanian Days last August at the Schuylkill Mall, said, "Catholics of the U.S. and the rest of the world directly contributed to liberating us from Communism. We now have to reinforce our civil society because a strong citizen means a strong state."
Halcovage met Pavilionis at the annual meeting, as well as Lithuanian Archbishop Gintaras Grusas, who he had contact with during his Lithuanian visit.
Halcovage is a fourth degree Knight of Columbus and is a member of Schuylkill County 431 and Fourth Degree Schuylkill Assembly No. 0923, both in Pottsville.
Halcovage, who traveled with his wife, Barbara, spoke about his trip in his courthouse office on Wednesday and spent time showing the many photos he took with his iPad.
"There was a request made by Archbishop Grusas of the Supreme Knight Carl Anderson of having the Knights come to Lithuania," Halcovage said. "The Knights are about faith, family, charity, unity, fraternity, patriotism. The archbishop felt that he wanted to get men in support of the church. In talking to some people there, they do have very strong families. However, during communist rule, the men went off to work, and the women and children went to church. It's a matter of getting the men who are faithful Catholics to get involved as a group of men who will be there to assist the priests, the bishop and the church in what they're doing."
Halcovage said a council has been established in Lithuania.
"We're able to announce our first council in Vilnius, in Lithuania. There are presently 35 men who are a part of it," he said. "The pastor of the cathedral is the chaplain. On this last trip, I had the honor of installing the officers. Having been under communist rule and now under democracy, one thing to learn is how to conduct a meeting. Lithuania is a democracy, and one thing that the people believe totally is democracy. However, to go through motions and seconds, to be able to run an efficient meeting, we have templates that we're providing them with. We're working with them on some project. One project is an ultrasound machine. There is a crisis pregnancy center that has started, and we're looking to assist them in the purchase of the machine."
He said that keeping the family together and strong can also mean family activities, adding that since basketball is a popular sport, a free throw competition might be something to conduct.
"Our goal is to keep the family intact," Halcovage said. "Some people say the Knights is a men's organization. That's one of the question that was asked of us. We had informational sessions for the men of the cathedral, and we invited their wives, also. Good Knights of Columbus councils have their wives and families involved with them. We want them to know that this is not the type of organization that will take their husbands away and never have anything to do with him in this organization. The wives are also very involved in participating in the program."
Halcovage showed photos of his visit to the Gate of Dawn, an archway or city-gate into the old city in Vilnius. Above the arch is the chapel of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, where the original icon of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn is displayed for veneration.
"As they go through the archway, people would stop and say a prayer and continue on their way," Halcovage said. "They felt that our Lady was the one who actually saved Vilnius from being destroyed the occupation."
Halcovage also visited the Hill of Crosses, which is located 12 kilometers north of the small industrial city of Siauliai and is a national pilgrimage center. The Hill of Crosses was created by people as a memorial site for relatives who died during the 1831 rebellion. During communist rule, the government made several attempts to destroy the site, but after each attend to remove and destroy the crosses, new crosses were placed.
"The Hill of Crosses is absolutely amazing," Halcovage said as he showed some photos, one showing Halcovage placing a Knights of Columbus rosary at the site. "This is on government ground. Their enemies would come and knock them all down, and the next morning there were more crosses up than there were down. There are over 200,000 crosses and crucifixes. This site is about a three-hour drive from Vilnius. Pope John Paul II visited the site."
An observation that Halcovage made was that the churches are filled for Masses.
"The churches are packed, which is so wonderful to see," Halcovage said. "The faith of the Lithuanian people is just so strong. At the Gate of Dawn, there were hundreds there for the Masses. The first was in Lithuanian, the second in Polish and the third in English."
Another major site is the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Stanislaus and Vladislaus, which contains the relics of St. Casimir.
While in Vilnius, he visited the Divine Mercy Sanctuary, which is a Roman Catholic shrine dedicated to the Divine Mercy devotion. The original painting that was the first showing the Divine Mercy image is displayed in the shrine.
"Sister Faustina, who was a Polish nun, and while she was in Poland, she said she was having visions, and the other sisters (of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy) thought she was not stable and sent her to their convent in Vilnius," Halcovage said. "She was medically evaluated and found to be as sane as anyone. She is now a saint."
Sister Faustina Kowalska said she was having conversations with Jesus and was directed by her spiritual director to write those conversation that became the book, "Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul." She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000.
While no plans are in place, Halcovage hopes to return to Lithuania.
Founded in 1800s, the Knights of Columbus supports its main values of charity, volunteering and protection of Christian values. With about two million members across the globe, it is the world's largest organization of its type.