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As we continue Celebrating 125 Years of Faith in Action, I continue to reflect on the words of the late Cardinal James Gibbons, archbishop of Baltimore: “The Knights of Columbus do things.” He was commenting on our efforts in 1917 to provide assistance and chaplains to Catholic soldiers as America entered the First World War.
Cardinal Gibbons (1834-1921) must have had a special place in his heart for the Knights of Columbus. He had ordained Michael J. McGivney to the priesthood in Baltimore’s Cathedral of the Assumption.
He must have taken great interest in the noble experiment in fraternalism that the young Father McGivney began in 1882.
By 1885, the Order was able to pay its first death benefit of $970. Only 14 years later, we had grown to such an extent that we could endow a chair in American history at the newly established Catholic University of America.
Some 35 years after our founding, we raised $1 million from our members for the War Camp Fund, and set up and operated 150 K of C huts with the motto “Everybody Welcome, Everything Free.”
No wonder Cardinal Gibbons would say, “The Knights of Columbus do things.” He would go on to say that such work “should forever stamp the Knights of Columbus as men of practical forethought, timely patriotism, and true Christian charity.”
What was true in 1917 remains true 90 years later. Our recent Fraternal Survey report of more than $143 million donated to charity and more than 68 million volunteer hours demonstrates better than any words ever could that “The Knights of Columbus do things.”
We can be duly proud of this record of accomplishment and what it represents – that in thousands of parishes today, Knights of Columbus are the men who say, “Father, what can we do to help you?” And when they hear the response, they do something.
Pope Benedict XVI has expressed concern for the vitality and renewal of parish life. His concern is heightened by the shortage of vocations to the priesthood, and the closing and merging of parishes in many areas.
With our thousands of parish-based councils, we are providentially positioned to take up the challenge of a leadership role in the renewal of parish life: to be the strong right arm of our parish priests.
Father McGivney knew that the men he gathered together in the basement of St. Mary’s Church were men he could count on to answer the needs of the families entrusted to his pastoral care. Today, there are thousands of priests who know they can place the same trust in their local K of C council.
But we must do more. We must reach out to the millions of Catholic men who have the muscle and the desire to join in our works of charity and fraternalism. We must reach out into more parishes with an active presence to assist even more of our parish priests.
In this work, we make our own the words of Benedict XVI in his great encyclical Deus Caritas Est: “The Christian’s program – the program of the Good Samaritan, the program of Jesus – is ‘a heart that sees.’ This heart sees where love is needed and acts accordingly” (31).
Let us continue to extend Father McGivney’s legacy of true Christian charity and let us continue to do so as men of practical forethought.
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