Knights of Columbus State Deputies Meeting
June 8, 2023
As most of you know, I have served as Supreme Chaplain for quite awhile, not as long as Bishop Greco who served for 26 years, but for a long time. This remains a great blessing in my life as a priest and a bishop. With each passing year I have grow in my appreciation for the spirit of the Order and its works of Charity. I rejoice to witness the growth of the Knights of Columbus, in spite of the cultural headwinds that we face. Blessed Michael McGivney has come to play an increasingly important role in my spiritual life, so much so that I describe him as the Pastor of my soul, as my parish priest. These are all great blessings.
But the key to all of these blessings are the friendships that I have experienced in the Knights of Columbus. Early in my priesthood I experienced the friendship of the men in a local parish council in Largo, Maryland. Later, as State Chaplain of the District of Columbia, my friendships in the Knights of Columbus expanded, among them, was my friendship with our Past Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and his wife Dorian. This friendship deepened as the Past Supreme Knight invited to serve as Supreme Chaplain. In this role, my friendships in the order expanded even more. Along the way I came to know our worthy Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly and his wife Vanessa. I am very blessed to have their friendship and blessed to work with them for the good of the Order.
Now, I would bet that my experience is replicated many times over in our gathering today. We are gathered together, State Deputies and their wives along with our State Chaplains. If I may presume to speak for my brother chaplains, we deeply appreciate your friendship and greatly enjoy working with you. I have no doubt that you our State Deputies and you their wives also enjoy your friendship with us, your Chaplains.
From the very beginning friendship has been key in the Knights of Columbus. The Order has brought together men from around the world in faith, friendship, and service. It has created bonds of love and friendship among families who are part of the Knights of Columbus. It is a time tested source of mutual support in living the faith, in meeting challenges large and small, and in extending ourselves far beyond our comfort zone in service to those who are in need. Without friendship, without good friends, life is dreary, and more than that, it makes no sense.
Friendship is more than a coping mechanism, friendship is also key in our relationship with Jesus Christ and in our path of discipleship. As one author put it, “a friend is a companion on our path towards destiny”. And all of us here today would very much like to think that our destiny and the destiny of our brother knights and their families is to enjoy the friendship of Christ and to enjoy the friendship of the saints in this life and in the life to come.
Among other things, friendship creates bonds of trust. In a world where many suffer from isolation and the effects of a polarized culture, trust is in short supply. One of the attractive features of the Knights of Columbus is and should be is that it is a meeting place of friends who enjoy mutual trust, rooted in the one who is supremely trustworthy, namely Jesus Christ the Fathers beloved Son. Fraternity rises and falls on the genuine trust and love and charity that we have one for another and our quest to preserve the unity that has the Spirit as its origin and peace as its binding force (Eph. 4) The trust which is at the heart of our fraternity ought to enable us to penetrate beyond the surface – While we as brother Knights and families enjoy many things in common such as sports or family activities our trust, the trust at the heart of our fraternity, gives us the freedom to be able to talk to one another about the things that matter most deeply, that is to say in our relationship with Christ, in life in the Church, and our striving to live our vocations faithfully and joyously. With one another we should be able to talk about our joys and hopes, fears and anxieties. I have no doubt that in the network of friendship that exists within this room this morning, all of you have experienced, in one way or another or at one time or another this trust and fraternity.
Trust no doubt involves something of a calculation. Every day we assess whom we can trust and whom we cannot. Being part of the Knights of Columbus should make that calculation a whole lot easier. That is why we are poised to help one another along the journey to holiness and wholeness. We should be and we are poised to help one another to journey deeply into the heart of Christ, the utterly trustworthy heart, the heart where we find that infinite love for which we are longing. The limited finite friendships that we enjoy are, in God’s plan, a key that opens the door to infinite friendship with the Triune God. This is the door we walk through together, not as solitary individuals but as friends.
This morning we have heard a wonderful exhortation from our Worthy Supreme Knights about the Cor initiative and I know that, in the presentations and workshops that follow, it will be further explained. In my own remarks yesterday to the State Chaplains I discussed at some length the Cor initiative. In this moment, though, I simply want to underline a point of central importance and it is this: as we build bonds of trust and friendship and as we journey in faith together we will find the courage to accept the grace we need to open our hearts to the heart of Christ, to allow his heart to speak to our hearts, to receive the overflowing love of the heart of Christ into our hearts and to allow the rays of glory emanating from the heart of Christ to illuminate every aspect of our life. IN a word we are seeking to engage in prayer, formation, and fraternity that will allow us to open our hearts to Christ and to one another and to engage in fraternal dialogue about the things that really matter.
As State Deputies you have plans for the Fraternal Year ahead. But at the heart of these plans is a recognition that unless we open our hearts to Christ and to one another, none of the goals we hope to achieve, whether growth in membership or attracting a younger demographic, or expanding the scope of our charity, will come to fruition. In essence, the Cor initiative is about seeking the one necessary thing: a living, breathing, vibrant relationship with the person Jesus Christ. For as Pope Benedict has said and Pope Francis has echoed, “Being Christian is not the result of a lofty choice or an ethical ideal, it is the encounter with an Event, a person – Jesus Christ – that gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”.
Being together as State Deputies, Wives, and State Chaplains is really a very precious and important thing. What we are seeing here this morning is truly unprecedented and what a graced opportunity it is. It is a moment when the Holy Spirit can move us to get on the same page, to unite in extending to our brother Knights and to every man and every family searching for something better, truly to go to the heart of the matter, truly to go to heart of what it is we are seeking, truly to discover or rediscover the truth, love and beauty found in the heart of Christ, truly to discover or to rediscover how to engage in prayer, formation, and fraternity that opens our souls first to Christ and then to one another.
As you heard the Order has experienced healthy growth in membership and in charity during the past fraternal year. I know that this is due to the hard work of everyone here and many others. But let us dream together, younger Catholic men and their families are looking for more than what the ambient culture offers. They want something beyond the isolation, polarization, and disregard for the truth that is around us. They want more than the superficiality that pervades news and entertainment. They want more than a denatured understanding of their Catholic faith. They are looking for a hope with which they can anchor their lives. They are looking for Prayer, Formation, and Fraternity that will bring them closer to the destiny to which they have been called in baptism. I don’t think there is any organization in the world better poised to help them do this than the Knights of Columbus and I do think that the Cor initiative is truly providential.
Sharing as we do in a friendship that transcends the narrow confines that often hem us in, let us strive to see the Cor initiative as the one thing that will unify and animate every worthy goal that each of you, our State Deputies, has set for yourselves in the coming year. With our worthy Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly allow me to thank all of you for your service to our beloved Order and to thank you for the privilege of serving as your chaplain. God bless you and keep you in his love. Vivat Jesus!