History of Our Council: 52 Years in the Making.

A dedicated group of men of like-mind in 1957 began investigating the opportunity of starting a new council. Through their church and community involvement they saw a need to support and develop Catholic familes in a growing Archdiocese.

They came together and formed the Council drawing on charter members from the South Vancouver and Richmond areas. This early group included many members of the Doyle and Miller families with Mr. Murray Doyle becoming the first Councik Grand Knight. The remaining Council executive for that first year included DGK - John Miller; Chancellor - Stephan Bileski; Warden - Russ Caruthers; Recorder - Fred Ridley; Treasurer - M. Skusanski; Guards - Walter Yough & Peter Ridley; Trustees - Michael Kewllewr, Francis Mooney & Norbert Doyle; Financial Secretary (appointed)- Hugh MacDonald.

The inaugural Council meeting voted on the name Fr. Peter McGuire Council.

Fr. McGuire was a local priest, very active in the local community who had died at a young age, shortly before the Council was formed. His legacy has continued through the knights of Council 4615, "The Action Council".

In the early years of the Council, the leadership sought to galvanize their community ties by becoming involved in many endeavours & leading fundraising for many needy church, community and hospital causes. One of their first efforts was responding to the Archbishop's call to assist in raising $60,000.00 towards the formation of St. Mark's College. Shortly after this, members wanted to see their Council involved with Catholic Youth and so began the sponsorsip and management of the Catholic High School Track Meet. Throughout the years the mantra "The Action Council" has been passed down from Grand Knight to Grand Knight as a call to instill in the membership a need to be involved and to stay involved.

As our community has changed so has our membership which reflects a broadening diversity of backgrounds. This diversity has one binding fabric in us all and that is our pledge to be a practicing Catholic Gentleman. Over the years we have had many different Grand Knights all with their own style of leading but also who man for man have had a keen awareness and drive to keep strong the ideals created by the Council's original leadership.

What has evolved over the years is our Council's involvement in many fundraising efforts and fun events to assist local causes while building interest and awareness of the Knights of Columbus:

  • Papal Mass at Abbotsford
  • Assisting local parish priests and priests abroad
  • Fostering vocation awareness and lending financial support to seminarians
  • Conducting a very successful Speech Arts Festival for Catholic youth.
  • Hosting an annual St. Nicholas Celebration
  • Bursaries to support our youth in furthering their education
  • Assistance to the needy
  • Visiting with and performing sing-a-longs for hospital patients
  • Marching in parades
  • Supporting other community groups ie. Brotherhood Inter-Faith Society
  • Providing support to many church causes and supporting Pro-Life initiatives
  • Hosting family events ie. softball games, picnics, dinner-dances
  • Bingo; Charity Appeal

A group's strength lies in its ability to year after year maintain a strong level of accomplishment and growth. The fact that ours is a very involved community-based Council has not been ignored by Supreme, which over the years has encouraged many parish based councils being born from our Council membership. While these members may have moved to a new locale, they are still fondly referred to as part of Council 4615. These coucils which we acknowledge include:

  • Corpus Christi
  • St. Mary's
  • Holy Name
  • St. Patrick's
  • St. Joseph's
  • Archbishop Duke
  • St. Jude's

Through it all, Father Peter McGuire Council has, like that first council in 1958, been able to persevere, grow and continue to dedicating ourselves to serving our community and churchs including: Holy Family, St. Francis of Assisi, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Fatimah and Our Lady of Hungary.

We have membership spread over a wide area of the Lower Mainland and in othert countries. We continue to have active in our council some of the original charter members but also their off-spring and a legacy of duty, dedication, perseverance and co-operation which continues and must continue to be fostered in future members of our Council.