Fr. David Jaeger Presents Papal Medal  to the Knights of Columbus

At Mass Tuesday morning, December 31st, 2002, Rev. David Jaeger, OFM, presented to Msgr. Ed Jordan, Pastor of St. John Neumann Catholic Church, and Vernon Pohlmeier, Grand Knight of Council 10836 of St. John Neumann Church a Gold Medal award of recognition from Pope John Paul II.  This gold medal is number 68 of 1000 special gold medals minted for the Vatican in 2002 to be presented to persons whom the Pope chose to single out in special recognition for their unique contributions to the Church.  Pope John Paul II presented this medal originally to Fr. Jaeger for his work with the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, including his intervention to negotiate a peaceful end to the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the Spring of 2002.  Fr. David has chosen to present his medal to the Knights of Columbus and the Pastor of St. John Neumann for their support of Fr. Jaeger's ministry in the Holy Land.  For the past three years the Knights have organized and supported the annual ecumenical event, "The Gospel in the Holy Land" in conjunction with Protestant churches in the Westbank neighborhood.  The events were professionally taped and copies are available through the parish library.  In each of these annual events, Fr. Jaeger has been invited by a protestant pastor in the area to speak at his church on current issues in the Holy Land.  This past Summer the "Gospel in the Holy Land" event was held at Westlake Bible Church.  Additionally, the Knights have facilitated collections to help Fr. Jaeger support Christian communities in the Holy Land, particularly the emerging communities of Hebrew-speaking Christians in Israel.