Interested in Joining the Knights of Columbus?

Catholic men are invited to visit the site below to learn more and register for online membership.  We generally have members from St James, St Lawrence Martyr and St John Fisher parishes in the South Bay area, but all are welcome.  Please indicate Council #1990 as your preference when registering. Special Code BLESSEDMCGIVNEY for free online membership. If you're working with a KofC insurance agent, ours is Adolph Rangel, a code can be entered.  This is not a required field. Please sign up here:

Join Us | Knights of Columbus (kofc.org) 

  Please Pay your KofC Council 1990 Dues

    It is that time of year to collect the Knights of Columbus Council 1990 Dues.

    You may pay 1 year, as well as donate funds to the council.

    Please pay by Jan 31, 2026.

The Knights Event Center run by the CHS is Open for Business. Click here for more information on rates and booking a date:

KnightsEventCenter.com

A 4th of July Reflection from Fr Peter 

Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

July 4, 1776

     Of the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of independence on 4 July 1776, Philadelphia, PA., nine died of wounds or hardship during the American Revolution. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, children, or entire families. All were at one time or another victim of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected to the British side or went back on their pledged word. The title of this piece, Lives, Fortunes and Sacred Honor, is the last phrase of the document they signed.

Francis Lewis (NY): He saw his home plundered and his estates (on what is now Harlem), completely destroyed by British soldiers. His wife was captured and treated with great brutality. Though she later was exchanged for two British prisoners through the efforts of Congress, she died from the effects of her abuse.

William Floyd (NY): He was able to escape with his wife and children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut where they lived as refugees without income for seven years. When they came home, they found a devastated ruin.

Phillips Livingstone (NY): he had all of his great holdings in NY confiscated and his family driven out of their homes. He died in 1778 still working in Congress for the American cause.

Louis Morris (NY): He saw all his timber, crops and livestock taken. For seven years, he was barred from his home and family.

John Hart (NY): he risked his life to return home to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers (British allies) rode after him, but he escaped into the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked his property. Hart, 65 years old, slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across the countryside. When finally, emaciated by hardship, he was able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried, and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He died a broken man in 1779 without ever finding his family.

John Witherspoon (NJ): He was president of the College of New Jersey, later called Princeton. The British occupied the town of Princeton and burned the finest college library in the country.

Richard Stockton (NJ): He had rushed back to his estates in an effort to evacuate his wife and children. The family found refuge with friends, but a British sympathizer betrayed them. He was pulled from bed in the middle of the night and brutally beaten by the arresting soldiers. Thrown into a common jail, he was deliberately starved. Congress finally arranged for his parole, but his health was ruined. He was released as an invalid, when he could no longer harm the British cause. He returned home to find his estates looted, and did not live to see the end of the Revolutionary War. His family was forced to live off charity.

Robert Morris (PA): He made guns and raised supplies that made it possible for Washington to cross the Delaware River at Trenton. In the process, he lost 150 ships at sea, bleeding his own fortunes and credit dry.

George Clymer (PA): He escaped with his family from their home, but their property was completely destroyed by the British in the battles of Germantown and Brandywine.

Dr. Benjamin Rush (PA): He was forced to flee to Maryland. As a heroic surgeon with the army, he had several narrow escapes.

John Martin (PA): He was formerly pro-British in his views before the war and lived in a strongly pro-British area of PA. When he finally came out for Independence from Britain, most of his neighbors and even some of his relatives ostracized him. He was sensitive and troubled man, and many believed this action killed him. When he died in 1777, his last words to his tormentors were, Tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it (the signing of the document) to have been the most glorious service that I rendered to my country.”

William Ellery (RI): Saw his property and home burned to the ground.

Thomas Lynch, Jr. (SC): He had his health broken from privation and exposure while serving in the military. His doctors ordered him to seek a cure in the West Indies. On the voyage, he and his young bride were drowned at sea.

Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleston, Thomas Heyward, Jr., and three other signers (SC): They were taken prisoner by the British in the siege of Charleston, SC. They were carried as prisoner of war to St. Augustine, FL. where they were singled out for indignities. They were exchanged at the end of the war, but the British had completely devastated their large landholdings and estates.

Thomas Nelson (VA): He was in command of Virginia military forces. As American forces surrounded British forces at Yorktown, VA., fire from heavy American guns began to destroy the town piece by piece. British generals and staff moved their headquarters into Nelson’s plush home. While the American guns were making shambles of the rest of the town, Nelson’s home remained untouched. Nelson turned to the gun crews and asked, “Why do you spare my home?” They replied, “Sir, our of respect for you.” Nelson cried, “Give me the cannon!”, and fired on his own magnificent home, blowing it to bits. He also raised $2 million for the American cause by pledging his own estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and his property was forfeited. He was never reimbursed and died in poverty a few years later at age 50.

Abraham Clark (NJ): He gave two sons to the officer corps in the American army. They were captured and sent to the infamous British ship Jersey afloat in New York harbor. It was known as a hell-ship where 11,000 American prisoners of war died. They were treated with special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary confinement and given no food. With the war almost over, Clark turned down a British offer to return his sons if he would renounce the American cause and return to the King and parliament.

John Hancock (PA): He had a 500-pound price on his head.

Thomas Jefferson (VA) As the author of the Declaration of Independence, he had many narrow escapes.

Our Neighboring Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe has been designated a public place of pilgrimage in the LA Archdiocese. Check out the details and how to properly obtain a plenary indulgence in this holy year of Jubilee in celebration of the 800th aniversary of the death of Saint Francis.