100th Anniversary Cardinal Gibbons Council #2521
Banquet, Keynote Address
Columbus Gardens
February 24, 2024
I am delighted to be with on this festive occasion, the 100th anniversary of Knights of Columbus Council #2521, named in honor of James Cardinal Gibbons, the 8th Archbishop of Baltimore who served from 1877 until his death in 1921. We honor the memory of Cardinal Gibbons who was arguably the most prominent member of the U.S. hierarchy in his day. But we remember him with special affection because it was Cardinal Gibbons who ordained Michael J. McGivney to the priesthood in what is today the Basilica of the Assumption, on December 22nd, 1877.
Let us also not forget how instrumental Cardinal Gibbons was in promoting the Knights of Columbus in Maryland and throughout the United States. Back in the day, some bishops thought that the Knights were scarcely different from the irreligious and anti-religious secret societies that were attracting many men away from the practice of their Catholic faith. But Cardinal Gibbons understood what the young priest he ordained wanted to do. For like Father McGivney, Cardinal Gibbons was very close to the laboring men of his day, many of them immigrants, men who worked long and hard, for meager wages, under difficult and dangerous conditions. Gibbons understood as did McGivney the lure of these secret societies that provided a sense of belonging and dignity for these hardworking Catholic men. He knew that Father McGivney had hit upon a way of evangelizing these men and keep them close to the heart of the Church while helping them to provide for the financial security of their families in the event of their death.
Cardinal Gibbons died three years prior to the founding of Council #2521, but his memory was fresh and vivid among our founders and the effects of his unflagging support for the Knights was still felt. March 24th, 2024 will mark the 103rd anniversary of Cardinal Gibbons’ death. As we mark our own 100th anniversary and look towards the future of this Council, let us imitate Cardinal Gibbons’ vision and energy as in God’s grace we seek to grow our membership and attract to our ranks younger men and their families.
The World of 1924
As we know, the world of 1924 was very different from today’s world. When our Council was founded, Calvin Coolidge was president and Archbishop Curley was in his third year as Archbishop of Baltimore. Baltimore was a growing city with a strong business and industrial base and already the Catholic community was making its way towards the suburbs. Churches were crowded, vocations were abundant, new schools were being opened and Catholic Charities of Baltimore was newly incorporated. The Knights of Columbus itself was only 42 years old but had already distinguished itself in World War I by its battlefield canteens emblazoned with the phrase, “Everyone Welcome Everything Free.” After the Great War, it continued to welcome veterans into its ranks and provided much assistance to those who bore the scars of that brutal war. In the 1920’s, members of the Knights of Columbus in Mexico would bear witness to their faith in the face of a bloody religious persecution by the government. So too, in the 20’s Pope Benedict XV had invited the Order to Rome to take charge of several playgrounds that served poor children and their families, playgrounds that eventually developed into the family and sports centers in Rome that the Knights of Columbus still maintains. In the meantime, the Order continued to grow in membership and home corporations were being established as places for Catholic men to gather.
In this context, in 1924, Council #2521 was formed at St. Michael’s in Overlea and its first Grand Knight, Nicholas J. Herbert was elected. On that occasion, 34 men received the First Degree of the Knights of Columbus, and with those auspicious beginnings, this Council began to write its own history – a history marked by the Order’s foundational principles—charity, unity, and fraternity; a history marked by hands on charity to the poor and the distressed, as also by support for vocations and for Catholic education; a history of fellow Knights encouraging one another in the practice of the faith and in fulfilling their God-given vocations as husbands and fathers; a history of providing a place for social activities for Catholic men and their families. This is the history we celebrate and for which we give thanks this evening. And let me take this moment to thank you most sincerely for what you’ve done but for what you’re doing, “in service to one and in service to all.”
The Future
As we survey the past and give thanks to God for the blessings of years, we naturally look to the rapidly changing landscape of the present and future. We are all very familiar with the challenges which the Church is facing – locally, nationally, and globally – and we may tempted to think that our best days are behind us, that the future will be one of managing decline.
That is not, never has been, and never will be the way of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternity that is growing in membership, now over 2 million strong, a Catholic fraternity that rightly calls itself “the strong right arm of the Church.” The Order recognizes, as do we all, that the greatest challenge and opportunity facing the Church today is not finances or administration or right-sizing the number of parishes and schools. The greatest challenge and opportunity for the Church today is evangelization – the work of helping the minds and hearts of our contemporaries to awaken to the presence and self-giving love of Jesus Christ in our midst, the work of helping our contemporaries to fall in love with Christ all over again or perhaps for the first time ever, the work of providing the men of our parishes the support they need to live their faith and with fatherly love to help their families live the faith as well. Studies show that when the father of a family practices the faith, it is far more likely that the children will also practice the faith . . . As Knights, we exist to help men practice their Catholic faith.
This is also why the Order has instituted CORE, an initiative designed to help men not simply to know about the faith but to allow the love of Christ to penetrate to the very core of their lives, to put Christ at the center of their lives and the lives of their families and to become active members of the Body of Christ, the Church. I’ll mention just one approach, the first-ever men’s Scripture study guide which helps open men to the Word of God in ways that are life-changing.
Back Our Roots
Much has changed since 1924 but one thing remains the same: the original mission that Bl. Michael McGivney envisioned for the Knights of Columbus remains, not only valid, but more necessary and relevant than ever. He was not only a natural leader and a great priest, he also possessed in the Holy Spirit “the genius of holiness” – in bequeathing to the Church the unique organization we call the K of C.
The future? It should be bright indeed for us! Will it require change? Moving beyond our comfort zone? Welcoming into our ranks men and their families we do not yet know? Perhaps at times a change of emphasis or direction? No doubt it will, just any family that is living and growing does. This is how Cardinal Gibbons led the Church – conscious throughout his 44 year service as Archbishop of Baltimore that the world around him was changing rapidly and that the Church must respond to those changes. Let that be true of us, dear brothers and dear friends, as we look to a future full of hope.
Let me conclude with this thought. My long association with the Knights of Columbus has been life-changing. I often say that Bl. Michael McGivney is the parish priest of my soul. I thank God that in his providence I have been able to be active in the Order. I think that you can say the same – and with you I pray that many more will experience the blessing of being a part of the Knights of Columbus in the next century of Council #2521, the Cardinal Gibbons Council. Vivat Jesus!