Earlier in the year, I received a letter of congratulations from the Middle Atlantic Lieutenant of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem that I had been nominated to become a Knight of this ancient Papal organization.  Dating from the 11th century, the order protects pilgrims to Jerusalem and in today’s world promotes spiritual and financial support to Christians living in the Holy Land.

The investiture process took place over the last two days.  First, the new knights and ladies who were being invested gathered at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington for an educational session on Friday morning to learn about the history of the order and its current activities around the world.  Then we were bussed across town for a short afternoon pilgrimage to the Franciscan Monastery in northeast Washington where various sites from the Holy Land are replicated inside the church.  That afternoon we attended Vespers in St Matthew’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.

On Saturday morning, a business meeting was held for all local members and other visitors from around the US and from Rome.  One of the keynote speakers was Archimandrite Robert Stern, Executive Director of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association in New York which provides a great deal of financial support to Christians in the Middle East.  After lunch we then “dressed up” in WHITE tie and TAILS, gloves and all, for the formal Investiture Mass in the Cathedral with Cardinal John Foley, Grand Master of the Order from Rome, presiding.  Both retired Cardinal Keeler of Baltimore and Cardinal McCarrick of Washington attended, and greeted me as I was “dubbed” by Cardinal Foley during the ceremony.

A huge reception and grand banquet followed in the hotel, all of us dressed up in tuxedos and long gowns.  It was a great honor to be invested KHS, the most prestigious of my other knighthoods – Knight of Saint Catherine of Sinai, Knight of Cyril and Methodius, and Knight of the Patriarchal Order of the Holy Cross under the protection of His Beatitude Patriarch Gregorious III of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.