Local priest is inducted into an order of knights

The Rev. John McClure in Knights of St. Catherine of Sinai cape and medallion.

The Rev. John McClure, a priest of the Toledo Catholic Diocese, has been admitted into the Knights of St. Catherine of Sinai, a religious and military service organization.

Father McClure, who serves with the U.S. Service Command, a group that dispatches chaplains to disaster sites, was invited to join the order in June on the recommendation of a major general in the command.

He was inducted into the order Nov. 3 in St. Catherine of Crete Anglican Church in London and declared a sir knight. Each new member received a cape and medallion and in a ceremony that employed holy water and dirt from Jerusalem and a relic of St. Catherine of Sinai.

Father McClure, 71, who was ordained in 1962 after serving in the Navy, is the chief judge of the diocesan marriage tribunal. He also serves as a chaplain to the Sisters of St. Francis at the Rosary Care Center in Sylvania, where he resides.

He joined the U.S. Service Commission six years ago when it was formed and is a brigadier general.

Since his induction, Father McClure said he has been called everything from “Sir McClure” to “Sir Father General.”