Fr. Steve Shadwell's Briefcase
Fr. Francis Koch
Knights of Columbus Council 6343
The Knights of Columbus
Article by Fr. Steven Shadwell in the St. Joseph Parish Bulletin September 18th & 19th, 2010
This weekend we assist once more at the Installation of Officers for the Knights of Columbus. This fraternal order of Catholic gentlemen was founded in October of 1881. It was a response to two situations: the need for a society like that of the Masons that would not compromise the Faith of its members, and a desire to offer true assistance to the families of those who were members. Under the inspiration of Father Michael McGivney it was founded by a group of Catholic laymen at St. Mary’s parish in New Haven, Connecticut.
Members enjoyed the fraternity and the identity the Knights offered. However, the benevolent (insurance program – these insurance programs were very much in the ascendancy in the late 1800’s) became its chief source of membership. To profit from the insurance program, (one of the few still enjoying a top rating today) one had to be a member, and to be a member one had to be a devout or practicing Catholic. The Knights of Columbus thus responded to two challenges: to make a practical faith possible to immigrant Catholics who often found themselves excluded because of their faith, and to offer a means of securing the future of one’s family at a time when destitution was only an injury or unexpected death away.
Today the Knights of Columbus enjoy a membership that makes them the largest Catholic fraternity in the world. They eventually became strong and prosperous enough to offer their assistance to those who were not necessarily members or even Catholic: the Veterans, the Handicapped, the Elderly, the Unborn etc. According to Brinkley and Fenster in, Parish Priest, Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism, (2006) the Knights numbered 1.7 million at the time of their writing, and figures available for 2004 showed the Knights contributed $135,000,000.00 to charitable causes that year.
In our parish here at St. Joseph’s, the Knights of Columbus enjoy nothing but the esteem they merit. These men remain faith filled and faithful. The Knights are loyal to Church and Country. They take seriously their deep commitment to living their faith by loving God and neighbor. It is no surprise then that the great majority of Knights are regularly present for Sunday worship and ever ready to help the parish. This spirit is from their fraternity. The list of their services is too long, it suffices to say that I know that everywhere I go parish priests always want a Knights of Columbus Council in their parish. I am personally grateful for all the assistance they offer to me, mostly though I am grateful to them for their prayer life and their witness in public: for their practical faith.
It is my hope that this short article on this special occasion for our Knights will inspire many if not all the men of our parish to join what I consider to be the finest men’s fraternity in the world. Your spirits will be nourished, your faith lived, and your need for a place to hang your hat with the other men of the parish, to hang your hat where you feel welcomed, to hang your hat where you feel you belong and enjoy fraternity will be met.
Thank you brother Knights of Columbus: May you never know decadence or a fading, may your present spirit bring to life the Catholic men of tomorrow.
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