John Pojawis sees his responsibilities with the Knights of Columbus, his Catholic faith and professional life as all being connected – one mission for God and keeping the dream of Knights’ founder Blessed Michael J. McGivney alive.
“Being a Knight comes with a great tradition,” he says. “Our founder wanted to help, and so do I. We all have to give back.”
Nearly 140 years ago, Father McGivney, a 29 year-old assistant pastor in New Haven, Conn., led a group of men in their first gathering as Knights of Columbus, a fraternal organization dedicated to serving virtuously their Church, family and community.
Pojawis, born and raised in Camden, takes that duty seriously. He has been a self-employed financial adviser since 2002, and as owner of Freedom Financial, he helps families and individuals with advice in investments, taxes and other key money matters.
Helping others, he says, is not an option. “It’s an obligation. I want to help out in any way I can.”
Pojawis is District 56 deputy and a fourth-degree member of Haddon Township’s Santa Maria Council 1443. Pojawis first entered Santa Maria Council 20 years ago, and has held the titles of Past Grand Knight, treasurer and Faithful Navigator for the Bishop Eustace Assembly 0652. He serves as a Eucharistic minister and lector in Saint Rose of Lima Parish, Haddon Heights.
Like Pojawis, Steven Richardson, a fourth-degree Knight of Marian Council 3784 in Cherry Hill, aims to provide people “a better life” through his faith life and work as owner of Richardson Law Offices in Woodbury.
“The Knights kept me tethered to the Church,” Richardson explains when recounting his younger years growing up in Haddonfield and discovering men whose faith he wanted to emulate.
“My brothers motivated me to keep active in my faith, and at some point, I didn’t need to be pushed anymore; the faith just became a part of me,” he says.
Richardson has served as a Grand Knight, Faithful Navigator, district deputy, and until this past June, was for eight years the New Jersey State director of Life Programs.
It was the fraternal love and care that helped him realize the “opportunities for service” all around him, Richardson says. Those opportunities also include being a Eucharistic minister in Sewell’s Church of the Holy Family and talking real estate transactions, student loans and bankruptcy concerns with members of his community.
Richardson and Pojawis say a life dedicated fully to God and neighbor, whatever one’s profession, is essential to living a life of virtue.
“The Knights of Columbus has always been about taking care of our families and building up the Church,” Richardson says. “I like to do my part, to give people a fresh start.”
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