In a sense, it all began in a hospital room. It was a sterile setting, complete with an uncomfortable bed, an uncertain future, and all the tapioca pudding a patient could eat. It seems like an odd place to develop a strong affinity for almost anything, especially a fraternal organization, but that's what happened to Virgil C. Dechant. 
For nearly three decades, Virgil C. Dechant served as the supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, an international Catholic organization of nearly two million men and their families. The Fraternalist is the first effort to fully chronicle Dechant's years leading the Order and the other four-plus decades he spent in service to it.
The book explores the unique, grassroots path Dechant took from a farmer and auto dealer in western Kansas to the headquarters of the K of C in New Haven, Connecticut. Along the way he developed close personal ties to numerous world leaders, including U.S. Presidents
Ronald Reagan and George Bush; Popes Paul VI, John Paul I, St. John Paul II, and Benedict XVI; and St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
This volume is the product of more than two-and-a-half years of research and writing. More than 50 people contributed stories and anecdotes, either by personal interview, phone interview, or by letter. The Fraternalist includes numerous first-person stories told by Dechant and others that explore his hands-on approach to business and personal matters.
A peek inside
