States Dinner Address

States Dinner Greeting
Carl A. Anderson
Supreme Knight
August 4, 2009 

States Dinner Program

Carl A. Anderson Supreme Knight

We meet here in a place of confluence and permanence, consistency and change. Arizona has long been known as a place where people take to the sun and retire, yet it has also become an area of rapid immigration and younger newcomers. In a similar sense, we Knights come to Phoenix with the age-old Catholic faith while seeking new and fresher ways to live out and communicate that faith. We represent a fraternal Order that is 127 years old, yet reaches out to the men of today and to their families with a dynamic message of charity, unity and fraternity.

How do we bring together the various strands of old and new, the tug of tradition and the draw of the future? I think there is no better guide on this journey than Our Lady of Guadalupe. We gather under her patronage and protection, and seek during this Supreme Convention — and the Marian Congress and Guadalupe Festival that follow — to hear her message more clearly, and to follow her more closely, as she brings us to the presence of her Son, Jesus Christ.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, in her appearance to Juan Diego, was the perfect image of inculturation, of the melding of different cultures, both old and new. Her message was that we are all one family, as God’s children, regardless of country of origin, racial background or ancestry. Although she appeared nearly 500 years ago, she remains the perfect image for us today. As our world becomes smaller through rapid communications and travel, Our Lady of Guadalupe’s message of faith and unity has even greater relevance, telling us that we can transcend cultural and political boundaries, especially in this American hemisphere.

Our theme for this convention also reflects a harmony of our past, present and future: “We Stand with Peter in Solidarity with Our Bishops and Priests.” In historical terms, the papacy is the world’s oldest continuously governing body, yet in terms of vitality it is clearly on the cutting edge of the modern world. One only has to read a few pages of the latest encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), to know that our Church, through the papacy, understands humanity today and has solutions to the many ills that plague our cultures and economies. “We Stand with Peter” and with our bishops and priests, and we know that they guide us to the truths of our faith, and how to apply that faith to the changing conditions of our world.

The convention theme is also related to this special Year for Priests, proclaimed by our Holy Father. As Knights, we know the difference that one good priest can make in the lives of his parishioners and in the life of the Church and society.

Our Order’s founder, Venerable Michael McGivney, was certainly a priest for his time, who sought to address the problems of his parishioners. Yet in his forward thinking manner, Father McGivney founded an Order that continues to provide faith, hope and financial security for millions of Catholic men and their families. And during this Year for Priests, the life and legacy of Father McGivney shine forth as a priestly paradigm for the parish priests of today, and in a special way, for our Knights of Columbus council chaplains.

We should also remember, and assist, all those who are preparing for the priesthood. In this Year for Priests, we will redouble our efforts to see that every seminarian receives moral and material support from the Knights of Columbus. Indeed, every seminarian in our many jurisdictions should have a close association with a Knights of Columbus council, so that even years before their ordination, they will know that in the Knights they will find their “strong right arm.”

Father McGivney would surely be pleased with our activities this week as we chart the course to new records of growth and charitable giving, and gather together Catholics from many different nations under the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The future of the Church in this continent and throughout the world depends very much on what we do during these important days. We are here in Phoenix to make sure that this future is vibrantly Catholic, filled with charity, unity and fraternity, in solidarity with our Holy Father, our bishops and our priests.

Vivat Jesus!