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Entrusted with the Future
6/11/2018
State deputies from around the globe gather in New Haven to learn about the Knights of Columbus’ new initiatives and discuss how to achieve them.
In his address to the state deputies, Supreme Knight Anderson announced the 2017 charitable giving and volunteer hours and also discussed the new Faith in Action program and the call that they – as leaders – have to ensure the future of the Knights of Columbus.
The Knights of Columbus held its Organizational Meeting of State Deputies last week in New Haven, Conn. The nearly 80 first and second year state deputies came from the United States, Canada, Poland, Mexico, Philippines and the Dominican Republic.
During the multi-day meeting, first year deputies receiving their medals of office, and all participated in general business sessions and a variety of workshops on topics relevant to their roles.
During the opening business session, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson spoke about the importance of the Knights’ charitable work and emphasized the importance of councils working closely with their pastors and parishes. He also stressed the new ‘Faith in Action’ program model and its connection to our Building the Domestic Church priority.
See below for additional key points from the Supreme Knight’s address.
RESPONSIBILITY OF STATE DEPUTIES
“We've been entrusted by our brother Knights to guide this organization into the future, to guide its growth, and to guide its well-being. And it's a heavy responsibility. Knights of Columbus is going to grow or decline in the local council. That's why we have to reach out and make sure that our local councils are active, that they have sustainable leadership, and that they understand the necessity of bringing new and more people in.”
OUR NEW PROGRAM MODEL – FAITH IN ACTION
“What the Knights of Columbus is doing in thousands of different ways every day is putting our faith in action. Putting our faith in action in ways that people see and understand and know bring value to people's lives, bring value to our communities, bring value to our country--whichever country we are living in. So I urge every single council to embrace this program and to carry forward projects within each of these categories.”
BUILDING THE DOMESTIC CHURCH
“The domestic church is foundational to Faith in Action. Pope Benedict told us that the church has three missions. It has a mission to pray, it has a mission to evangelize, and it has a mission of charity. Our domestic church program simply says the Catholic family has the same mission. It has the mission to pray together, it has the mission to build up each other in the faith, and it has the mission to practice charity among the members of the family and for the family to reach out to other families. How many fewer individual Catholic families would be broken and suffering if we could get our families to pray more, build up each other in the faith, forgive, and reconcile and practice charity?”
BUILDING CATHOLICISM, NOT COLUMBIANISM
“What Father McGivney laid out was not the principles of a men's club or the principles of a secret society. It was a principled way of life for men to live their Catholic faith. We are not just building Colombianism, we are building Catholicism. Let's think about being a Knight of Columbus like that. And if we do, we understand that we are not just state deputies. Is that not the spiritual genius of Father McGivney? To understand how to build a way of life for men that goes to the central core of what it means to be a Catholic: charity, unity, brotherhood.”
Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore was the main celebrant for this and the other Masses celebrated throughout the weekend. He was also the Homilist for each Mass.
THE STRONG RIGHT ARM OF OUR PARISHES
“We pride ourselves in being called the strong right arm of the church. We cannot do that unless our councils are the strong right arm of their parish priests. That was Father McGivney’s dream--a team of men who would be there for their local pastor.”
CHARITY - DOING MORE
“When we tout our numbers, it's not numbers alone, it is lives changed and lives changed in ways that only we can do. But as we go forward this year, let's do a little more. Let's ask every council if they can do three, four or five percent more this year. If we do, we are going to change thousands of more lives.”
CONTINUING TO HELP PUERTO RICO
“I was down in Puerto Rico with the state deputy and we stopped at an orphanage and a school for girls that had taken a direct hit from the hurricane as most of the island had. Here we were five months after the hurricane, the roof was still not finished, and the girls were not in the orphanage but they were still at temporary homes because they could not fix the roof. So I gave the nun who was in charge of the facility a check for $50,000 from the Knights of Columbus to fix the roof, and she could not stop crying.”
WARRIORS TO LOURDES
“I met a woman who had served in the military and received a very severe head trauma as a result of an IED and now barely can talk. What she can say is very difficult to understand. And her mother said to me, ‘I can't can't thank you enough for this experience. My daughter and I are not Catholics, but being here has changed our lives, and we thought people had forgotten about us. But then the Knights of Columbus called.”
ULTRASOUND INITIATIVE
“We are getting reports back that for every ultrasound machine we place, we are saving an average of two children a week. That's 100 children a machine. Where can you save 500 lives for $15,000? Where can you save one life for $15,000? And if you talk about the legacy of being a grand knight or the legacy of your council, what if it is saving hundreds of babies.”
