Category: Knights of Columbus

National Prayer for Life Campaign launched


On Our Knees prayer for life.jpg

Yesterday, May 3rd,
marked the 10th Anniversary of the entrance into eternal life of John Cardinal
O’Connor.


Many of you were able to be present -and others were present through
EWTN–and shared prayer with us for the Cardinal’s eternal peace and God’s
mercy. In case you want see the video coverage, you may watch it here and
I suspect that EWTN will run the program again.


At the end of the Mass,
Archbishop Timothy Dolan launched and introduced a new effort of the Knights of
Columbus and the Sisters of Life called the National Prayer for Life
Campaign. 


Please join us in praying this
prayer every day and give it to others; all of us are hoping that it spreads
throughout our nation so that a Culture of Life may be fully restored!

Novena of Prayer for Pope Benedict

XVI and cross 19 Ap 05.jpgThe Knights of Columbus has begun a novena of prayer for Pope Benedict XVI beginning today, Divine Mercy Sunday, April 11, and ending on Monday, April 19, the anniversary of election as Supreme Pontiff. 2010 is the 5th anniversary of the Pope’s election.

Let us join in this time of prayer. The novena prayer is here.
Saints Joseph, Benedict, Peter and John Vianney, pray for us.

McGivney’s cause for beatification takes another step

The cause for beatification and eventual sainthood of Father Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, took
another step on September 22, 2009, with the submission of a supplemental report on
a potential miracle attributed to the priest’s intercession.

McGivney Cappuccio.jpg

The Knights of
Columbus announced today that officials from a supplemental tribunal of the
Archdiocese of Hartford -of which Fr. McGivney was a parish priest- formally
sent a new report to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints
through Dr. Andrea Ambrosi, the current postulator of McGivney’s cause. The
information gathered by the tribunal included testimonies from witnesses to the
supposed miracle as well as the statements of several medical doctors about the
circumstances surrounding the reported miracle. Dominican Father Gabriel B. O’Donnell,
the current vice-postulator and former postulator, has worked on the cause for a number
of years with the assistance of a variety people, not least was Millie Millea, the
former secretary at the McGivney Guild.

In the context praying Sext (midday
prayer), the brief ceremony in which the new report was signed and presented to
Archbishop Henry J. Mansell was attended by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, other
Supreme Officers and other Knights of Columbus officials, three relatives of
Father McGivney and a number of archdiocesan officials.

Presentation of McGivney materials.jpg

The submission of the
new report “marks an important step forward. The Vatican’s Congregation for the
Causes of Saints will now have valuable additional testimony that clarifies and
adds significantly to the original submission,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson
said.

“Father McGivney’s beatification would be an important event,” Anderson
added, “not only for Knights of Columbus, but for the many thousands of parish
priests who quietly do the Lord’s work in parishes each day and regard him as
an outstanding example for priests everywhere.  In this ‘Year for Priests’
it is an especially appropriate step forward.” When beatified, McGivney will be
the first US diocesan priest beatified.

The cause for Father McGivney’s
sainthood was opened by Hartford Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin in December 1997. In 2000, the cause was presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints;  Pope Benedict XVI declared
him “Venerable Servant of God” on March 15, 2008.

Father McGivney founded the
Knights of Columbus in 1882 and died on August 14, 1890 at the age of 38. At the time of
the founding of the Knights of Columbus he was a curate at Saint Mary’s Church
(New Haven, CT).

For pictures of the event see this link.

[this articled was first published at CNA and edited for
clarity] 

Carl Anderson addressed the Rimini Meeting ’09

The Rimini
Meeting, mentioned here before, invited Carl Anderson, the
Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus to address the more than 700,000
attendees on August 28, 2009. In his address he spoke about the common,
practical spirituality of the Knights as influencing works of Charity. Knowing
that “Christ plays in ten thousand places, Lovely in limbs, and lovely in
eyes not his”, Anderson advocated a life of charity that spurs all people –at least it ought to– to build a civilization of love based on real, lasting hope.

CAnderson RM 09.jpg

The point for
Catholics is not to set up another group of “do-gooder” structure no
matter of the brilliance of the idea which has no grounding in the dignity of
man and woman and/or with some vague understanding of Christianity, but to form
a companionship, friends who are rooted in Christ Jesus. Only then can we
truly, actually care for another. Many can argue rightly that people who have
no faith or don’t share faith in Christ can build a loving and caring society.
True and there are bountiful examples of this being done all around the world.
But for those who claim to be Christians, substance over sentiment is what
drives. I don’t do something and meet Christ. Rather, I have met Christ and
therefore I live differently with myself and with my brothers and sisters
around me. Otherwise we have beige Catholicism and we don’t need more of that
stuff.

In my opinion, Carl Anderson touches on this point: our Christian lives
are not sustained by a something but a someone: Christ who sacrificed himself
for us on the cross and then rose from the dead. This is the hope Christians
have. If we forget this point then we Catholics are no different than the Elks
lodge and that may be OK for some but I think being Catholic means something
more: that we come to know our God is a personal way through helping others.
Ask yourself: How am I different after I’ve done something for my neighbor? Has
my life in Christ changed, or not? Mr. Anderson draws on sacred Scripture &
Theology as well as the works of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Particularly
re-read Deus caritas
est.

Carl Anderson’s talk can be read here

Newtown, CT Knights dedicated new space: Moritz Hall

Bp Lori blesses St Rose KofC meeting space.jpg

On Saturday August 16th Bishop Lori blessed the grounds of
the new Council 185 Meeting and Storage building which will be named Moritz
Hall.

The Moritz Hall derives its name from PGK Len Moritz who has been a major
force assuring completion of this four year project.

The hot day was part of a
Saint Rose of Lima (Newtown, CT) hosted Fan the Fire Youth Rally. Over 600 teens from all
over the diocese spent the day participating in renewal, witness and
confession. The day ended with a sunset Mass celebrated by Bishop Lori,
Monsignor Robert Weiss and a host of concelebrants. Vivat Jesus!

Antonella Cappuccio: Contemporary Italian Paintings

ACappuccio.jpegThe Knights of Columbus Museum is hosting an exhibit of an artist who has painted popes and scenes relevant to our human reality. Some hail Antonella Cappuccio as reviving a renaissance sense of painting. I like her work because it is evocative. See for yourself: the exhibit runs until October 4th.

MJM.jpeg

KofC Museum is a philanthropic work of the Knights. The museum was founded in 1982. The museum is a contemporary work of the Knights that takes seriously the artistic interests of Father Michael McGivney who brought art and faith together when he served in various parishes in New Haven and Torrington, CT.

Today’s New Haven Register article
Visit the Cappuccio webpage of the exhibit at The Knights of Columbus Museum

Michael J. McGivney’s Legacy


Michael Mcgivney.jpgDaily we pray for the beatification of the Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus. His cause for canonization has been advanced because we are convinced he deeply contemplated the face of Christ and truly knew the Lord by entering into his sacrifice of love. In imitation of the Lord who came ‘not to be served but to serve,’ Father McGivney poured out his life, “in service to one, in service to all.” He was that priestly grain of wheat, which, like the Lord died and was buried, and then in the power of the Holy Spirit produced abundant fruit.

 

By being with his people in their need – the people of this very parish [St. Mary’s Church, New Haven, CT] – Father McGivney followed Christ; where Christ was, there was Father McGivney.

 

Our founder saw Christ in the multitudes that packed this Church each Sunday, and especially in the hardworking men whose faith he strove to bolster. He found Christ in families bereft by the death of husbands and fathers and indeed in a man condemned to die.

 

He sought the Lord in the lay leadership he raised up in the basement of this Church, men to whom he entrusted his fledgling organization conceived in the genius of holiness. In the power of the Holy Spirit, Father McGivney sought to write the law of love on the hearts of those first Knights of Columbus by creating an Order whose first and more enduring principle was charity. His love for Christ, and for his Church, and for the beloved Knights of Columbus did not diminish when be moved to Thomaston to serve as a pastor. He was merely 38 years of age when he died having poured out his life in acts of love for his people that replicated the mystery of Christ’s sacrificial love that he celebrated each day in the Mass.

 

This is an excerpt of Bishop William A. Lori’s homily from the March 29th Founders’ Day Mass, Saint Mary’s New Haven, Connecticut. Bishop Lori is the Bishop of Bridgeport and the Supreme Chaplain for the Knights.