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Captain Victor L. Rollandi, Sr., US Navy Retired, KM was awarded
the German Military’s Cross of Honor in Silver on Tuesday
20, in an official Ministry of Defense
ceremony in Berlin. His
distinguished service on the German Presidency
Team of the Confederation of Interallied Reserve Officers (CIOR,)
a NATO support committee, paved the way for this honor.
The Cross of Honor,
or Ehrenkreuz, is the highest personal
decoration bestowed upon German military
personnel. It is
given for exceptionally meritorious service,
and rarely awarded to officers of other nationalities. The award
was presented to Captain Rollandi by Luftwaffe Major General Hans-Pieter
Treche.
CIOR,
whose members are senior reserve officers
from NATO member nations, advises the Military
Committee of NATO on such reserve issues
as training, legal, medical, public policy
and public affairs. Captain Rollandi
has served CIOR since 1993. His service
to its German Presidency Team (2002 – 2006)
broke international precedent by having
a non-national member.
Captain
Rollandi, his wife Karen, a Western Association
Provisional Dame, and their four children,
Tory (Victor, Jr.,) Ella, Anne and Denise
were present for the award ceremony held
in the Ministry of Defense Headquarters. Attending
were the US Naval Attache to Germany, representatives
of the US Embassy, members of The German
Parliament, and distinguished US and German
military and civilian guests. An
official reception and dinner followed.
The
family later celebrated a traditional American
Thanksgiving in Berlin with NATO colleagues
and friends from the United States, Germany,
Great Britain and The Netherlands.
Captain
Rollandi and his three of his four children
are graduates of Saint Ignatius College
Preparatory, the youngest Denise is a member
of the Class of 2009. Karen serves as an
SI Regent.
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Early
on the morning of December 2nd, Benedict
XVI visited the Roman hospital of St.
John the Baptist, which belongs to the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta and
specializes in treating people suffering
from neurological disorders.
The Holy Father celebrated
M ass then went on to visit the reanimation
unit, an advanced structure for the cure
and rehabilitation of patients recovering
from comas.
In his homily, delivered
before patients and their families gathered
in a hall of the hospital, the Pope gave
assurances of his spiritual closeness and his daily prayers, inviting
them to "find support
and comfort in Jesus, and never to lose
trust."
"God visits
us mysteriously in suffering and sickness," said the Holy
Father, "and if we abandon ourselves to His will, we may
experience the power of His love. Hospitals and nursing homes,
precisely because they are inhabited by people tried by pain, can
become privileged places in which to bear witness to the Christian
love that nourishes hope and gives rise to fraternal solidarity."
Benedict XVI then
recalled how, at its origins, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
- of which Fra' Andrew Bertie is the current grand master - was
dedicated to helping pilgrims in the Holy Land by means of a Hospice-Infirmary,
and how "it sought to cure the sick, especially the poor
and marginalized. One testimony of such fraternal love," he
added, "is this hospital which, having been built in the 1970s,
is today a center of high technology and of solidarity where, alongside
the healthcare staff, many volunteers work with generous dedication."
The Holy Father told
the doctors, nurses and volunteers who work in the hospital that
they "are called to provide an important service to the sick
and to society, a service that calls for abnegation and a spirit
of sacrifice.
"In each sick
person," he added, "may you know how to recognize and
serve Christ Himself. Show Him, with your gestures and your words,
the signs of His merciful love."
Pope also took advantage
of his visit to the hospital "ideally" to present his
Encyclical "Spe salvi" to the Christian community of
Rome. And he invited his listeners to study the text "so as
to discover the reasons for that 'trustworthy hope, by virtue of
which we can face our present, ... even if it is arduous'."
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New Officers for 2008
Here are the officers
who will serve in furthering the fine work
of the Bay Area Auxiliary in the New Year:
President Anthony
Ordona
Vice President Christiaan Klieger
Secretary Peter Johnson
Treasurer Christiaan Klieger
Hospitaller Chair Asher McInerery
Membership Chair Natalia Fritz
Chair Clayton Fritz, KM
From the
Heart Fundraiser
The Bay
Area Auxiliary will hold it's annual fundraiser on Thursday,
February 7 at Villa Taverna in San Francisco at 6:00 PM. Funds
raised from the event will go toward supporting a companion
to go to the Lourdes pilgrimage in April. For additional
information, please contact Anthony Ordona at aaordona@msn.com.
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Most Holy Redeemer Aids Support Group has created a volunteer program
for the Knights and Dames of Malta that will make a tremendous
difference to those they serve.
This Aids Support
Group is in great need of our help. Basically are you willing
to be an Angel Driver?
Would
you be willing to assist
with the transportation needs of HIV / AIDS
patients with doctor appointments, outpatient
medical procedures, hospital discharge,
and numerous other needs? Often
requests for transportation assistance come
with little advance notice.
Right
now there is an unusual need. There is
an AIDS patient in Oakland that must receive
treatment that is only available at a hospital
in San Francisco. He is no longer able
to take public transportation. When
he reaches the hospital in SF he may need
assistance at the hospital.
As
it is now a staff member from MHR-ASG must
drive from San Francisco to Oakland, then
to San Francisco and then back to Oakland
and then back to San Francisco to the office.
Is there an Angel Driver who lives in the
East Bay who could do this for us?
The
Knights of Malta and MHR-ASG Angel Drivers
program works as follows.
We are creating an e-mail list of Knights
or Dames who have expressed an interest in
being an Angel Driver. When
a requirement comes up you will receive an
e-mail outlining the particulars.
If
you are interested and your schedule permits,
you can contact MHR-ASG for the next steps. Beyond
that there is no obligation.
www.mhr-asg.com/
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Along with our care for the sick and the
poor, we are called also to defend our
faith – a task that
is both more challenging and more needed
today than in the past. Here are some activities
of our Association in this vital area:
Activity of a Chapter
In the Orange County area the Knights and
Dames are reading and discussing the United States Catholic
Catechism for Adults published by the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops. After the monthly Mass, Tom Markel,
KM, presents a 6-7 page PowerPoint presentation on the assigned
reading, and the members of the Order discuss it and reflect
on the main points. An assignment is then made for the
next monthly meeting of 2-3 more pages from the Catechism.
Presentations
The chairman of the Western Association’s
Defense of the Faith Committee, Tom Dillon,
KM, gave a presentation about the Association’s
Defense of the Faith Committee to the Grand
Commander of the Sovereign Order of Malta,
His Excellency Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre
del Tempio di Sanguinetto; the Receiver of
the Common Treasure, His Excellency Marchese
Gian Luca Chiavari; and His Excellency Antonio
R. Sanchez-Corea from the Sovereign Council
in Rome when they visited the Order’s
office in San Francisco on August 6, 2007.
A presentation about
Defense of the Faith was also given to the Provisionals in Southern
California on January 27, 2007, by Tom Dillon, KM; this presentation
was given by Maria Grant, DM, to the Provisionals in San Francisco
on October 13, 2007.
The Defense of the
Faith Committee had its annual meeting in San Francisco at the
Order’s office on Wednesday, September 19, 2007. Along
with the President of the Western Association of the Order of Malta,
His Excellency Richard Madden, KM, and Chancellor, William Regan,
KM, representatives to the Defense of the Faith Committee from
various regions worked on the language in the Western Association’s
Policies and Guidelines book for submission to the Board for its
September 28, 2007, meeting. There will be a meeting of the
Chairs of the Defense of the Faith chapters in the spring on the
campus of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California—the
date is yet to be determined.
Noteworthy
The
timetable
for
the Quotes
and
Editorial
Comments publication
of
the
Defense
of
the
Faith
Committee
has
been
changed. It
will
now
be
published
at
the
beginning
of
Advent
and
the
beginning
of
Lent.
The 2008 theme for
the Order of Malta is “The Church in Mission Nourished by
the Eucharist.”
It is worth noting
that the 49th International Eucharistic Congress will be held in
Québec City from June 15 to 22, 2008, hosted by His Eminence
Marc Cardinal Ouellet. The theme of the Congress is “The
Eucharist, gift of God for the life of the world.” This
ties in very well with the Order of Malta’s 2008 theme. For
more information, please visit www.cei2008.ca.
The third annual
Order of Malta retreat will be held at Thomas Aquinas College from
June 13 to 15, 2008.
The following websites
may be useful for anyone interested in Defense of the Faith.
Zenit – www.zenit.org
Vatican – www.vatican.va
Vatican Information Service – www.vis.pcn.net
Catholic Answers – www.catholic.com
Scripture Catholic (Catholic apologetics) – www.scripturecatholic.com
Catholic Culture – www.catholicculture.org
Catholic Links – www.ecatholichub.net
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PHASE II –
Order of Malta Home Renovation Program in New Orleans,
Louisiana
September 2007-
April 2008
From
March 2005 to April 2006, over 250 members
of the Order of Malta from all across the
US participated in Phase I of the Order
of Malta Home Renovation Program in New
Orleans. Thanks to a successful partnership
with Rebuilding Together, Catholic Charities
of New Orleans and the New Orleans Marriott
our volunteers worked none different one-week
work sessions in Treme, Gentilly, and New
Orleans East. Sixteen families have moved
back in their homes as a result of the
great work done by our Order of Malta volunteers.
So successful was the program that we have
decided to extend it for six more sessions – Sept & Dec
2007 and Jan/Feb/March/April 2008.
The
exact work weeks are listed below, along
with all of the other information about
the program. One of the major differences
in Phase II will be the overall size and scope of the project. In Phase I our
volunteers were working on homes with major damage requiring extensive and
expensive repairs. Teams of 30-40 volunteers
would work all week, and the house would
still be weeks from completion. In Phase
II we will be working in houses that only
need a week’s worth of finishing work before the family can move back
in. We are only accepting 25 volunteers per week.
Our efforts will be concentrated in the Treme / Esplanade Ridge section of New
Orleans. Very near downtown / French Quarter, this entire neighborhood will positively
be re-built.
We
need six teams of volunteer workers, 20-25
per team, one team for each of the six
weeks listed below. Volunteers will arrive
on their own (usually) on Sunday afternoon,
and check into the New Orleans Marriott
( Canal Street). We work (usually) Monday – Thursday
from 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM. All three
meals will be provided, and there will
be a farewell party on the last night.
If
you can help, please contact Bill Regan
at the Malta Office (415) 788-4550.
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