A Legacy of Leadership
The February issue of Columbia looks back at Carl A. Anderson’s 20 years of leadership as the Order’s 13th supreme knight. Throughout the new millennium, Supreme Knight Anderson has led the Knights of Columbus to new heights of charity, membership and insurance growth and has introduced many initiatives to further the Order’s founding mission and legacy of service to Catholic families, the Church and society.
In his 20-year tenure as supreme knight, Carl Anderson has faithfully implemented Blessed Michael McGivney’s vision.
WHEN HURRICANE KATRINA slammed the Gulf Coast Aug. 29, 2005, it soon became one of the most devastating storms in U.S. history. ...
FROM DAY ONE of Supreme Knight Anderson’s tenure, he spoke of “a moral obligation to offer the opportunity of membership in the Knights of Columbus to every eligible Catholic man.” ...
FATHER MICHAEL McGIVNEY wrote in a letter to Connecticut priests in April 1882 explaining that he founded the Knights of Columbus, in part, “to unite the men of our Faith … that we may thereby gain strength to aid each other in time of sickness; to provide for decent burial, and to render pecuniary assistance to the families of deceased members.” ...
THE MASS OF BEATIFICATION of Blessed Michael McGivney, celebrated Oct. 31, 2020, at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Conn., was truly the culminating moment of Supreme Knight Carl Anderson’s tenure. ...
THE LETTER OF GREETING of Pope Francis to the 138th Supreme Convention last August noted, “Since its earliest days, care for the family has been a priority for the Knights of Columbus.” ...
WHEN COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic last March, the Vatican communications office received a letter from Supreme Knight Anderson with an offer of help. Within days, Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi blessing was being broadcast worldwide with financial support from the Order. ...
IN HIS 1999 apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America, St. John Paul II urged the Church to build a new “solidarity and communion” across the continent’s different cultures. ...
“THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, through countless acts of charity, affirms the dignity of every person, from conception to natural death,” Supreme Knight Anderson declared in his 2019 annual report. ...
FOLLOWING the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Supreme Knight Anderson wrote a message to members with a question: “Today we must ask ourselves, what will be our response?” ...
SUPREME KNIGHT Anderson notes in the introduction of his recent book, These Liberties We Hold Sacred, that Father Michael McGivney was addressing certain questions when he founded the Knights of Columbus — Can a person be a good Catholic and a good citizen? And, if so, what does that look like? ...
“THE BLOOD of these martyrs cries out to you and me for help,” said Supreme Knight Anderson during his 2015 annual report, as he invited his brother Knights to stand with him in solidarity for persecuted Christians in the Middle East. ...
THE ORDER’S wheelchair program reached a major milestone in late 2020, surpassing more than 100,000 wheelchairs since the first donation 18 years ago.