Minnesota Knight of the Year honored for service, leadership

When St. Joseph of the Lakes parish in Lino Lakes needed help preparing to resume in-person Masses in early June, John Czech and members of his Knights of Columbus council quickly put a plan together.

“We will take on the role of ushers and direct people to seating locations, and then we’ll be cleaning the pews between each service,” said Czech, 61, showing the enthusiastic, can-do attitude that earned him the title of Minnesota State Council Knight of the Year in May.

“I can’t think of hardly a thing that he has not done,” said Don Hohn, trustee for the 180-member Lino Lakes Council 9905 based at St. Joseph of the Lakes. “He’s really into the Knights of Columbus and he shows that. … He’s always been willing to spend his time and help out.”

Czech, 61, was selected from among nominees at 270 Minnesota Knights councils to receive the state award after first being named his Council’s Knight of the Year for his considerable service.

A Knight of the Year exemplifies traits of a “solid Catholic man,” promotes the principles of the Church and the organization, and is the “model” man for the parish to follow, according to the Knights of Columbus. Candidates for the Minnesota award are evaluated for their participation in council activities related to life, faith, community and family.

Czech, who is his council’s chancellor, said he is grateful to members for nominating him for the award. He will be presented a commemorative plaque when social distancing restrictions end.

“It’s humbling to think that these friends and these men that I associate with through the Knights of Columbus respect me enough and think enough of me to have submitted my name for consideration (at the council level) and at the state level,” he said. “These are just things that I do, things that I believe in.”

Czech is the third member of Council 9905 to be named Minnesota Knight of the Year in the past six years. The active Council, which has 48 ongoing projects in the parish and community, also was one of five Minnesota councils recognized this year for work in raising funds for an Iraqi parish.

Czech became involved in the Lino Lakes Council in 2003 when he saw membership as a way to support the priests at St. Joseph, a parish of 2,100 families. He also was inspired by St. John Paul II’s characterization of the organization as the “strong right arm of the Church.”

“In so many ways the support we provide to the Church, individuals and as a group, we’re able to do small things and we’re able to do large things,” said Czech, who lives in Coon Rapids and has a grown son and two grandchildren. He works for Medtronic in its heart valve division.

Czech has been involved in many council projects, from arranging transportation for a parish group attending the March for Life at the State Capitol and purchasing gifts for mothers on Mother’s Day to helping with food drives and highway cleanup. He’s often found operating the grill at pancake breakfasts and fish fries.

With the parish’s Council of Catholic Women, Czech co-chairs the annual Christmas bazaar in November. He was also the driving force behind installation of a life-sized, carved pieta statue near the parish’s entrance.

“It’s not just the things we ask him to do, it’s the things he sees with his vision,” said Don Trudeau, the Council’s Grand Knight, who submitted Czech’s nomination. “It’s tremendous as far as our church and our organization.”

Besides serving with the Knights, Czech has been a Boy Scout scoutmaster for 30 years and serves in a number of ways at the parish.

“He’s very strong in his faith, and I think that faith helps to make him the person who’s willing to give rather than to take,” Hohn said.

Czech also brings humor into the Council’s work, including showing up for meetings in costume.

“You have to have humor if you want to strike a chord that people will keep coming back and being involved,” he said.

Czech recruits men for the organization by emphasizing the council’s community involvement, Hohn said. Young men seeking service opportunities hopefully will be drawn to the Knights as Czech was, he said, adding that while it’s an opportunity to serve, it’s also a chance to work with friends to make a difference.

“We build on each other,” Czech said. “We build each other up. That’s what I really love about being a Knight — is that I’m a better person for the men that I know in the Knights of Columbus.”