Flag Day is celebrated every June 14, in commemoration of the June 14, 1777 authorization by Congress making the "stars and stripes" a national symbol for the United States of America. Congress said: "Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be Thirteen stripes alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." The national observance of flag day came with President Woodrow Wilson's 1916 proclamation establishing the day. In 1949, President Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress naming June 14 as "National Flag Day." More info can be found here.My Knights of Columbus Council (Fr McGiveny Council 10705, New Haven, CT) and 4th Degree Assembly sold US flags over the weekend at Church. So, I am proud to say that a US flag is flying happily in front of my parents' house. You may know that the 4th Degree of the KofC was the last of the four degrees instituted by the KofC, not known by Fr McGivney, but entirely consistent with the mission of the KofC. For more info on the 4th Degree, see this website.
There is a great human interest and patriotic story in today's New Haven Register on a gesture of patriotism and empathy for our nation and for our soldiers serving abroad. I am happy that the context for this admiration for freedom and the flag which symbolizes our God-given freedom is Our Lady of Pompeii Church (East Haven, CT), my family's parish church. Also, we have in the story an example of how young people can reach out to others. The Colombian Squires bring together faith and action in a fitting way.
Today is also a wonderful day to think of Father Michael Morris, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and professor of history at St Joseph's Seminary who has a high love for flags, especially the US flag. He's got a beautiful one flying in his office.
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