Two hundred worn United States flags were properly retired in time for Flag Day thanks to the patriotism of the Msgr. Frank J. Wade Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus Assembly from Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Homewood. On June 10, four days before the June 14 commemoration of Flag Day, the knights conducted the retirement ceremony for spectators.

Following the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord’s Prayer, the assembly’s Faithful Navigator Patrick Rupinski began the ceremony, and pieces of the flags were placed into fire. The proper way to retire U. S. flags is cutting them, separating the stripes but keeping the blue field of stars intact, and burning them. Flags cannot be buried or discarded. There is a collection box for tattered flags in the chruch’s parking garage and at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Birmingham for year-round use.