LIVE from the Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention, Hour 3

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Drew Mariani** (0:16)
Well, good afternoon and welcome back. It is great to be with you today. What a privilege it is for me today to be able to broadcast from the 144th Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus. I'm broadcasting out of Colorado, and today the show is a little bit different. I'm bringing to you some old guests as well, some familiar voices like Stephen White who will be stopping by in just a moment. And I want to plug you in to, well, something you may not be aware of. As you know, I often say I like to give you a look at life you're not going to find anywhere else. And one of my great heroes, I think one of the great heroes of the 20th century, really the Pope probably most of our lifetime was Saint John Paul II. You know, he was an instrumental figure in helping to bring down communism and defending the dignity of every human person. He challenged young people to become saints.
And he reminded the world over and over again to be not afraid.
And those words remain, I think, just as powerful today as they were when he first spoke them. And here at this convention of the Knights, we're talking about one of the great treasures of the Order. That's Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, DC. I had the privilege of broadcasting last year from the convention out of Washington, DC. And that's when I was really first exposed to this.
Some numbers for you, which are quite amazing, and we'll get into some of these. More than 85,000 pilgrims visit the shrine each year to pray, to attend mass, to receive the sacrament of reconciliation, to venerate relics. And with the opening of a new 40-room retreat house and expanded educational programs is a place that if you've not been to, it's well worth pilgrimage to. I know St. Carlos, St. Carlo Akouris has gotten a lot of traction this past year. People are really in love with him. It's one of the features that they have. The Alma family. What an incredible story of martyrdom you'll hear there. Of course, the Shroud of Torum, the Divine Mercy devotion, St. Teresa and so much more. Joining me today to fill you in on all this is Stephen White. He's the Executive Director of the St. John Paul II Shrine in Washington, DC. He's a respected Catholic author and scholar. He's been with me for years, and he spent more than two decades teaching and writing about life, thought, and the enduring legacy of John Paul II. It's great to have you with me today, Stephen. Welcome.

**Stephen P. White** (2:37)
Drew, it's a real pleasure. Thanks for having me on.

**Drew Mariani** (2:39)
This is one of, I think, America's great treasures. There's a lot of wonderful shrines in the US, but I think few people know about this. I didn't really know the scope of this until last year. I know you're now heading this up.
Tell us a little bit about it if you could. Get us plugged in.

**Stephen P. White** (2:52)
The shrine began 25 years ago. Before it was even a shrine, it was called the John Paul Cultural Center.
It opened during his lifetime, and it was a place that he basically said, if you're going to put my name on it, fine, but have it be a place of cultural and inter-religious dialogue. And it was that for about a decade. About 15 years ago, the Knights of Columbus took it over. And by that point, we were into the area of the beatification and canonization of John Paul II, so it became a shrine.
And so that's what it is today. First and foremost, it's a place of pilgrimage, a place of devotion. It's a place where people come seeking his intercession. I like to say it's a place where people come to meet Pope John Paul II and hopefully through him meet our Lord. That's first and foremost what it's about. And then on top of that, there's lots of other exciting things going on. You mentioned some of them. We've got a world class exhibit that functions as sort of the museum of the life of Pope John Paul II. We have, as you mentioned, exhibits on aspects of his life and on saints that he canonized. Lots of activity. We're really excited about the retreat house, which you also mentioned opening up later this month.

**Drew Mariani** (3:58)