Day for Knights

Saluting generous donors and tireless volunteers, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony inducted more than 60 men and women into papal knighthood--the highest honor the pope can bestow on lay people--in a simple ceremony Sunday at a parish church.

Famed comedian Bob Hope, entertainment executive Roy Disney and media magnate Rupert Murdoch were three non-Catholics approved by Pope John Paul II for the honorary title of Knight Commander of St. Gregory the Great, but only the sometimes-controversial Murdoch arrived for the afternoon rites at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church.

The award is for people of “unblemished character” who have contributed to society and/or Catholic institutions. The naming of Murdoch to knighthood has met with some criticism, since Murdoch’s News Corp. is known for sensationalist tabloid newspapers and sexy programs on the Fox Network.

About 1,000 people attended the ceremony, during which Mahony told the honorees: “You are examples of good peer pressure, positive influences on society and culture.”

Murdoch received the medal along with his wife, Anna, who was one of two dozen Catholic women designated Dames of St. Gregory, the female equivalent of knighthood.

A large sash was placed on six people who received special recognition as Knight Commanders with Star.

The titles are strictly honorary, but only royalty may become knights in higher-ranking pontifical orders. The 167-year-old Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great was opened to women about four years ago after Mahony requested the change from the pope.

The order was named after Pope Gregory I (540-604), whose writings were greatly influential in Catholicism during the Middle Ages. The order was created in 1831 by Pope Gregory XVI (1745-1846), who created the Diocese of Both Californias in 1840, covering the American state and Baja California.

No Americans were given the titles in those earliest years, partly because of the common belief that it would be improper “for Catholics in this country to receive titles from the head of a sovereign government,” said Msgr. Francis Weber, the archdiocese’s historian based at San Fernando Mission.

Before Mahony was installed as Los Angeles archbishop in 1985, only 103 people had been given papal knighthood, starting with political figure Joseph Scott in 1921. Mahony inducted 29 men and 10 women into the order in 1994--the first women in any diocese of the world to be so designated.

The order is distinct from the 116-year-old Knights of Columbus, an American-born, large-membership fraternal organization, and the Knights of Malta and the Order of the Holy Sepulchre--two groups that choose their own members.

During Mass on Sunday, Mahony handed each recipient a scroll in Latin, and a cross with a red-and-yellow ribbon was pinned on each honoree.

“This is probably my greatest honor,” said veteran actor Ricardo Montalban, who frequently appeared at Catholic charitable events during his film and television career.

Using a walker, as he has since undergoing a spinal cord operation about four years ago, Montalban said of the unanticipated award: “It’s a wonderful gift, medicine from God.”

Hope, who is 94, and executive Roy Disney of the Walt Disney Co. did not attend. Nor did their wives, Dolores and Patricia, respectively, who are both members of St. Charles parish in North Hollywood and are designated Dames of St. Gregory.

“The Hopes are in Palm Springs and the Disneys are traveling in Ireland,” said Sister Mary Jean Meier, who directs special services for the Los Angeles Archdiocese. “They will receive the medals personally from the cardinal later.”

Not all recipients were wealthy contributors to the church. Artists Edith and Isabel Piczek--sisters whose studio is in Echo Park--were cited for artistic church work. Dentist Andrew Chung-Woo Nam was honored as a Korean community leader in Los Angeles. Nonagenarian Bernardas Brazdzionis of Los Angeles, the poet laureate of Lithuania, was saluted for his patriotic dedication to his homeland.

Although Los Angeles City Councilman John Ferraro is a longtime Catholic, he was being honored for his service to the city.

No honoree was told that Mahony would nominate them for the honor.

“I was speechless,” said Gloria Griffin of Northridge, recalling the recent letter from the archdiocese notifying her. “I assumed it was a notice of a meeting.”

A past president of the antiabortion Right to Life League, Griffin, the mother of eight, is a member of the archdiocese’s Respect Life Committee. She served on the cardinal’s Archdiocesan Finance Council a few years ago and is active on the board of Loyola Marymount University.

Hotel executive Barron Hilton, another Knight Commander, oversees an international fund for nuns. He and his wife, Marilyn, were described as generous supporters of other Catholic causes.

“The charity of some people is not very well known,” said Sister Meier. She said that construction executive John Shea and his wife, Dorothy, who live in Pasadena, “have probably given close to $9 million” to Catholic inner-city schools. “They’re very quiet about it and only accept honors reluctantly.”

Philanthropist Cyril Nigg, who made his money in potato chips, was president of the Newman Catholic Center at UCLA in 1926 and is a major contributor to a new Newman Center there, Meier said. “Even at 93, he is actively involved in charitable causes,” she said.