Knights of Columbus

Pope Francis notes Beatification of Fr. Michael McGivney

Pope Francis today noted the October 31, 202 Beatification of Fr. Michael McGivney.

The Holy Father’s comments came after praying the noonday with the limited crowd in St. Peter’s Square.

“Yesterday, in Hartford, in the United States of America, Michael McGivney was proclaimed blessed: diocesan priest, founder of the Knights of Columbus. Dedicated to evangelization, he did everything possible to provide for the needs of those in need, promoting reciprocal aid,” Pope Francis said. “May his example be an impetus for us to always be witnesses of the Gospel of charity. Let’s give a round of applause to this new blessed.”

McGivney to be beatified by Church

This morning in Connecticut (Roman Noon) it was announced that the Holy Father approved the dossier stating that Father Michael J. McGivney will be beatified. Connecticut gets its first native Blessed of the Church. A miracle has been certified through the intercession of Father Michael J. McGivney. He was the founder of the Knights of Columbus.

– il miracolo, attribuito all’intercessione del Venerabile Servo di Dio Michele McGivney, Sacerdote diocesano, Fondatore dell’Ordine dei Cavalieri di Colombo, v.d. The Knights of Columbus; nato il 12 agosto 1852 a Waterbury (Stati Uniti d’America) e morto a Thomaston (Stati Uniti d’America) il 14 agosto 1890

KofC brings McGivney to greater light in Rome

Lots of talk these days on those proposed for sainthood: Abp. Fulton Sheen, Msgr. Bernard J. Quinn, Sr. Bladina Segale, and of course, Michael J. McGivney (1852-90). As you know the New Haven, CT, native is revered now as the Venerable Servant of God, was a parish priest at St Mary’s Church (New Haven) in what is now the Archdiocese of Hartford and the founder of the Knights of Columbus. McGivney died early of TB.

Carl Albert Anderson the supreme knight of the KofC is in Rome this week for the ceremony which will impose the pallium upon the archbishop of Hartford Leonard Paul Blair by Pope Francis, and other meetings. One of the events was the June 25th presentation of the Italian edition of Parish Priest by Douglas Brinkley Julie M. Fenster. It was held at the Augustinianum, the school devoted to patristic study and steps from St Peter’s. Along with Anderson (remarks here) the book launch was presided over by Kevin Coyne from Columbia University’s School of Journalism and Father Giuseppe Costa, director of the Vatican Publishing House, which is publishing the book. More about the Rome event is here.

The synthesis makes the connection that McGivney was ahead of the times with his social awareness for the dignity of the human person, the poor and the family viz. the Gospel and Tradition, with what became the Church’s social doctrine articulated with the publication Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII.

Hence, the argument is that the Knights of Columbus with its emphasis on charity and fraternity set the stage for greater and wholistic engagement in society in the post-industrial era and prompted by lay men and not the clergy that cared for the person as imago Dei and the encounter with Christ.

Domenico Agasso’s piece for the Vatican Insider, “McGivney prepared the Knights of Columbus to help Popes“

Knights of Columbus Museum presents Orthodox Christianity in Early Russia: the Formation of a Tradition

For the better part of the past year the Knights of Columbus museum has had an exhibit on Russian icons, “Windows into Heaven.”

There is a forthcoming lecture to open up the windows into heaven even more, “Orthodox Christianity in Early Russia: the Formation of a Tradition” The lecture is presented by Paul Bushkovitch Ph.D.

Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014, @ 2 p.m.
Free admission and parking

Knights of Columbus Museum
1 State Street, New Haven CT 06511
kofcmuseum.org | 203-865-0400

Orthodox Christianity has been Russia’s pre-eminent religion for more than a millennium and is integral to the nation’s history and culture. Yale University history professor Dr. Paul Bushkovitch will discuss the origin and foundation of Russian Orthodoxy, which has endured attacks and repression throughout the past, most notably during the preceding century. Dr. Bushkovitch earned degrees from Harvard and Columbia Universities and has studied in Russia. He has been a member of the Yale faculty since 1975 and has published and lectured extensively on Russian history.

The Knights of Columbus Museum’s exhibition of Russian icons, Windows into Heaven, runs through April 27, 2014. The museum is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Pope Francis and Knights of Columbus meet

Several weeks ago now Carl Anderson, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus met with the Holy Father. This week the Board of Directors of the KofC are meeting in Rome and they had an opportunity to meet Pope Francis. Here’s what the Pope had to say:

I am pleased to welcome the Board of Directors of the Knights of Columbus on the occasion of your meeting in Rome. I thank you once again for the prayers which you, and all the Knights and their families, have offered for my intentions and the needs of the Church throughout the world since my election as Bishop of Rome.

On this occasion I also wish to express my gratitude for the unfailing support which your Order has always given to the works of the Holy See. This support finds particular expression in the Vicarius Christi Fund, which is an eloquent sign of your solidarity with the Successor of Peter in his concern for the universal Church, but it is also seen in the daily prayers, sacrifices and apostolic works of so many Knights in their local Councils, their parishes and their communities. May prayer, witness to the faith and concern for our brothers and sisters in need always be the three pillars supporting your work both individually and corporately. In fidelity to the vision of the Venerable Father Michael McGivney, may you continue to seek new ways of being a leaven of the Gospel and a force for the spiritual renewal of society.

As the present Year of Faith draws to its close, I commend all of you in a special way to the intercession of Saint Joseph, the protector of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who is an admirable model of those manly virtues of quiet strength, integrity and fidelity which the Knights of Columbus are committed to preserving, cultivating and passing on to future generations of Catholic men.

Asking a remembrance in your prayers, and with great affection in the Lord, I now willingly impart to you, and to all the Knights and their families, my Apostolic Blessing.

Knights of Columbus move to the Ukraine and Lithuania

The Knights of Columbus has now moved to new parts: the Ukraine and Lithuania. Great news! In 2006, the KofC expanded to Poland with great hope and success. The natural progression in Eastern Europe is now to the peoples of the great East and Baltic states.

The roots of this move is heard in the 2005 homily of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, MSU, now the Major Archbishop emeritus of the Ukrainian Church where he expressed in clear terms his hope that the Knights would come to his country. Let’s recall that in his early life, Cardinal Husar was a member of the Stamford Eparchy. Hence, he is a first hand witness to the good work of the Knights of Columbus in Connecticut, the USA, indeed, worldwide.

The Knights just completed their 131st convention in San Antonio. They wrote the following note on their webpage.

The Archeparchy of Philadelphia for the Ukrainians posted this announcement on their blog, The Way.

May God be glorified!

Cardinal O’Malley highlights Pope’s tenderness and compassion for others, but the media doesn’t listen

The people in the media sometimes hear the same words as everyone else does at the same time but they just don’t seem to get the story correct. Misinformation is generated and passed as correct thus obscuring the truth. I want to believe that media professionals are not extraordinarily ideological as much as they have are unable to connect the dots and to think theologically; they have little interest in matters of religion, plus there’s a tendency to reduce what is said to a least common denominator because there is no perceived value in the story. Lack of interest breeds misinformation.

Thinking in a public way the other day, Boston’s Cardinal O’Malley spoke of Pope Francis in these terms: “his tenderness which is not the virtue of the weak but a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern and compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love.” However, what the press reported was that Pope Francis is only concerned for to love others and soft on life issues thus is changing the Church’s teaching on matters like abortion. But that’s not what the cardinal said, nor what the pope thinks and teaches us. The pope has demonstrated that his belief and teaching is in continuity with his predecessors and that he upholds each iota there is in biblical and magisterial teaching. See, for example, Francis’ various homilies and talks in recent months: June’s Evangelium Vitae Day, the Day of Life address in July, his message to the bishops of Latin America and to the Knights of Columbus.

What O’Malley said, in part, was the following:

Some people think that the Holy Father should talk more about abortion. I think he speaks of love and mercy to give people the context for the Church’s teaching on abortion. We oppose abortion, not because we are mean or old-fashioned, but because we love people. And that is what we must show the world. Recently I read about an American relief worker in Africa, who reported on being at a camp for a food-distribution line, it was very chaotic, even scary. He could see that they were running out of food and that these starving people were desperate. At the end of the line, the last person was a little nine-year-old girl. All that was left was one banana. They handed it to her. She peeled the banana and gave half each to her younger brother and sister. Then she licked the banana peel. The relief worker said at that moment he began to believe in God.

We must be better people; we must love all people, even those who advocate abortion. It is only if we love them that we will be able to help them discover the sacredness of the life of an unborn child. Only love and mercy will open hearts that have been hardened by the individualism of our age.

Sean Cardinal O’Mally, OFM Cap
Archbishop of Boston
Address to the Knights of Columbus Convention, excerpt
San Antonio, Texas

Whatever is said by the media about the pope these days needs to be fully scrutinized for its accuracy. You need to read the texts yourself; do your own homework; don’t let other digest what the teaching authority of the Church supposedly said, use your critical thinking skills. Secular news agencies, including some of the Catholic news agencies, count on you not doing your own work –they are happy to do the thinking for you. Some media elites are able to discredit the Church through the person of the pope as well as others because they hope you won’t notice coupled with the fact they accept what the bible and the Church teaches; if the media people don’t believe in the biblically revealed vision of life and happiness that the Church teaches as beautiful, good and true, then how could we accept at face value that they are conveying fact.

Opposition to abortion, care for the elderly, visiting the imprisoned, concern for the poor, uneducated and marginalized are some of the many ways the Church defines human dignity, love and happiness. The embrace of all human beings regardless of status in society is the Church’s way of life.

Witness to marriage, family and dignity of all life, Pope Francis tells KofC

Conscious of the specific responsibility which the lay faithful have for the Church’s mission, he invites each Knight, and every Council, to bear witness to the authentic nature of marriage and the family, the sanctity and inviolable dignity of human life, and the beauty and truth of human sexuality. In this time of rapid social and cultural changes, the protection of God’s gifts cannot fail to include the affirmation and defense of the great patrimony of moral truths taught by the Gospel and confirmed by right reason, which serve as the bedrock of a just and well-ordered society.

Pope Francis to the Knights of Columbus
San Antonio Convention 2013, excerpt

Windows into Heaven –Knights of Columbus Museum exhibits Russian icons

I am always looking for the way heaven touches earth. Perhaps you are, too. The image that comes to mind is the finger of God touching that of Adam in a painting done by Michelangelo. I also recall that the Incarnation is a manifestation of the beauty of heaven touching the ordinariness of earth and making our existence forever beautiful. These are some thoughts on an experience of “Windows into Heaven: Russian Icons and Treasures” at the Knights of Columbus Museum (New Haven, CT). Though the icons aren’t in their original liturgical context, they nonetheless open the heart and mind onto something and someone beautiful. The icons, for me, are more than nice pieces of Christian art; they truly are positions of grace that allow my desires to be opened anew by an experience with the Divine Majesty. There is an emphasis here on the personal relationship we have with the Trinity. To say otherwise is to neglect a piece of your humanity because the beauty of the icon does invite us to a different way of living the faith.

I was just reading an address of Cardinal Ratzinger on beauty. An amazing act of the Spirit to allow me to see the icons and then reflect with Ratzinger on the experience. He had addressed the annual meeting organized by members of Communion and Liberation in August 2002. A paragraph sticks out:

To admire the icons and the great masterpieces of Christian art in general, leads us on an inner way, a way of overcoming ourselves; thus in this purification of vision that is a purification of the heart, it reveals the beautiful to us, or at least a ray of it. In this way we are brought into contact with the power of the truth. I have often affirmed my conviction that the true apology of Christian faith, the most convincing demonstration of its truth against every denial, are the saints, and the beauty that the faith has generated. Today, for faith to grow, we must lead ourselves and the persons we meet to encounter the saints and to enter into contact with the Beautiful.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

“The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty”

Rimini Meeting 2002

Take the time this summer to visit the KofC Museum and be inspired! Allow yourself to be wounded by beauty, as Ratzinger said.

Gonzaga University rejects Knights of Columbus because they are Catholic

Father Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Kni...

The Knights of Columbus are not allowed to officially exist on Gonzaga’s University’s campus because they don’t meet a criterion: that non-Catholics be admitted to the group. The decision by the University Student Life office was communicated by Sue Weitz with the help of Kassi Kain. The KoC is a fraternity (of men) who are practical Catholics.

The Knights of Columbus was founded in 1882 in New Haven, CT, by the Venerable Servant of God Father Michael J. McGivney. It is a lay-run organization. As a fraternal benefit society the KofC provides an opportunity for Catholic men to serve the local and universal Church by defending the Catholic faith and doing works of charity. As a group, the KoC also promotes patriotism.

By the same criterion, the Jesuits would not be able to be an official group on Gonzaga University’s campus. Imagine.

Perhaps it’s time to formally re-evaluate whether the Society of Jesus will continue –in good conscience–to officially sponsor universities such as Gonzaga which is quickly loosing its Catholic character. Surely this act of the University does not cohere with documents of the General Congregations of the Jesuits.