College Knights Gather in New Haven

A yearly gathering of college Knights began Sept. 27, as members from throughout North America assembled in New Haven for a weekend of sharing stories, swapping leadership strategies and growing as a community of Catholic leaders.

Over the course of the weekend, the attendees will discuss membership and recruitment strategies, leadership development, peer mentoring and explore what it means to be a Catholic gentleman.

Knights will hear keynote addresses from Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, New York Times columnist and bestselling author Ross Douthat, President of the Magis Center for Reason and Faith Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., and several others.

The conference brings together more than 120 Knights from 64 campuses. Joining the college Knights are nine chaplains who serve the spiritual needs of these college councils and journey with them to the conference each year.

As the conference began, Supreme Knight Anderson met with the advisory board of college Knights tasked with organizing the conference. The group shared experiences, spoke of common goals with the supreme knight, and discussed suggestions for program-wide initiatives.

This year’s conference advisory board is chaired by Kenneth Jordan from the College of the Holy Cross. Joining him on the board are: Christopher Cannataro from Georgetown University, Stephan Collaro from St. Peter’s University, James Hamilton from Harvard University, Michael Pesely from Benedictine College, Nicholas Shields from The Catholic University of America, and Joseph Von Arx from Northern Illinois University.

As the advisory board met with the supreme knight, college Knights checked in throughout the afternoon, and spent time socializing and getting to know each other before the evening’s banquet and awards presentation.