A Knight of Family & Faith, fun and excitement

Courtesy Photo by Andy Airriess

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From left: Knights of Columbus Jerry Hanten, Charles Dover, Jr. and Todd Holtzhauser were among those who formed the color guard at the Real Salt Lake game.

SANDY- After a very sunny day, a lot of Catholic parishioners gathered to enjoy a good family night, not in a church as one may have thought, but in a soccer stadium to witness a singular match.

The Most Reverend John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, was the guest of honor in the Faith & Family Night at Rio Tinto Stadium as Real Salt Lake took on the New York Red Bulls. The Knights of Columbus color guard marched with the bishop and Catholic Boy Scouts onto the field.

Before the game started the Knights organized a soccer match in which kids 10 to 14 years old participated in the chance to win a trophy but also by their love of the sport.

“I want to participate because I’m good at shooting balls,” said Marco Escamilla, who, with his mother, Esperanza, is a parishioner of Saint Andrew Catholic Church.

There were five nets in which the kids were able to shoot the balls; the upper corners of the nets were 20 points; the lower corners in the middle were 5 points.

“Who gets the most points gets trophies and the respect of their fellow soccer players; the trophies will be engraved with the name of the winners,” said Andrew Airries, State Advocate of the Knights of Columbus.

“It’s good that they participate in this event because the kids do sports, they learn, and they can win,” said Richard Lanievsky, a fourth-degree Knight.

As the time for the game approached people started to fill the seats in the stadium. This year the Knights sold approximately 165 special tickets compared to 30 last year, which means the response of the Catholics was much better.

“The fact that our bishop will be here made us very happy,” said Joseph Millers, who with his family was very excited to be at the game.

The announcement of the bishop’s presence was made the color guard of the Knights of Columbus entered the Rio Tinto field accompanied by the Boy Scouts and the professional soccer players.

Bishop Wester was welcomed with a big round of applause.

“I’m honored to be here,” the bishop said.

Real Salt Lake earned a 1-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls, tying the longest home undefeated streak in Major League Soccer history at 22 games.

Forward Fabian Espíndola scored the game’s only goal in the fourth minute of the match in which the crowd went crazy.

“I’m so excited to be here, the RSL is my team and having Bishop Wester here with us is a plus,” said Bobby Chors, a Blessed Sacrament parishioner. “I simply can’t believe how great this night is.”