3rd Sunday of Easter
125th Anniversary of the Maryland State Knights of Columbus Council
St. Aloysius Catholic Church
Leonardtown, Maryland
April 13, 2024
Little Did He Imagine . . .
On December 22nd, 1877, in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Baltimore, the new Archbishop of Baltimore, James Gibbons, ordained young men who had been formed for the priesthood at St. Mary’s Seminary. Among them was a young man from Connecticut, hailing from the Diocese of Hartford, by the name of Michael J. McGivney. As he imposed his hands upon this young man and invoked the Holy Spirit, little did Archbishop Gibbons imagine the tremendous impact this new priest would have on the Church. Only a few years later, in 1882, Fr. Michael McGivney would found the Knights of Columbus in the basement of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven. He founded it to be a lay-led organization, based on the Gospel principles of charity, unity, and fraternity, a brotherhood designed to strengthen the faith of husbands and fathers, and a mutual aid society for families which otherwise would be bereft in the event of the death of the breadwinner’s death.
Not everyone believed the young priest’s new fraternal society had a future. Some felt it was too much like the secret societies then in vogue that lured Catholic men away from their faith. Others thought it preposterous that a young priest would attempt to found, in effect, a life-insurance company. Still others thought the young priest had clever ideas, but that, in the end, his plans would amount to nothing.
But others did believe in the young priest, including the Bishop of Hartford, Lawrence McMahon. Not long thereafter, James Cardinal Gibbons would lend his support to the fraternal organization the young priest he ordained had created. Not only did he champion the new organization among his brother bishops, he also enthusiastically approved the establishment of Knights of Columbus Councils in Maryland – including Council No. 205 in Baltimore in 1897, Calvert Council No. 352 in 1898, Marquette Council No. 370 also in 1898, and the Santa Maria Council No. 370 in 1899. Then, with Cardinal Gibbons’ approbation, the Maryland State Council was established on March 2nd, 1899. It is this anniversary that we celebrate tonight, and we do so with deepest gratitude to our brother knights who have gone before us and have set the Knights of Columbus in Maryland on firm foundations.
The Firmest of Foundations
What gave young Father McGivney the confidence needed to found such a unique undertaking, something so new as to be considered audacious? What prompted Cardinal Gibbons and our forebears in Maryland to believe that the Knights of Columbus had a future and to work so hard for its establishment in the land where in 1634 Fr. Andrew White had planted the Cross of Christ?
Historians and philosophers may give us many answers to that question, but the ultimate answer is found in today’s Gospel. Here we find ourselves in the Upper Room with the Apostles when suddenly, the Risen Lord Jesus appeared in their midst and greeted them with the words, “Peace be with you!” To say that the Apostles were frightened would be an understatement. But Jesus goes on to reassure them that he is not a ghost or phantom. He asks them to look at his hands and feet still bearing the nail marks of the Cross on which he had hung. They saw and realized that it really was the Lord Jesus, their beloved Master, that he was alive, back from the grave, glorified in his flesh but nonetheless real . . . And as if to prove the point, Jesus ate a piece of cooked fish in their midst. The Lord of glory who defeated sin and death did not discard the humanity, the flesh, he received in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. No, while remaining very real, it shared in the glory that the Son of God shared with his Father from all eternity. The Risen Lord then proceeded to open the minds and hearts of his Apostles to everything in the law and the prophets and psalms that pointed to him.
Dear friends, I submit to you that the truth and reality of the Resurrection is the firm foundation upon which Bl. Michael McGivney started the Knights of Columbus and upon which our Maryland State Council is built. For like the Apostles in the reading from the Acts of Apostles, Bl. Michael McGivney bore courageous and loving witness to the Risen Lord, and not only that, he created a pathway for the laity to grow in holiness and to bear witness in their own lives to the truth and reality of the Resurrection, the source of new life, the reason for our hope, the cause of our joy.
Words of Gratitude and Challenge
As we celebrate this anniversary, we are grateful to those who went before us, those who labored through the decades to grow the Order here in Maryland, those who accomplished the Order’s mission of charity, those who made the Order in Maryland “the strong right arm of the Church.” Let us entrust brother knights and family members who have died to the tender mercies of the Risen Lord Jesus. Together with my brother bishops in Maryland – Cardinal Gregory, Archbishop Broglio, and Bishop Koenig – I am deeply grateful for what the Maryland State Council continues to do – your works of charity, your support for priestly vocations, your untiring efforts in membership growth, placing ultrasound machines in pro-life pregnancy centers, Coats for Kids, delivering 8,000 Christmas boxes to needy families. Above all, I thank you for participating in the Order’s Cor pilot program, which helps men go to the heart of what really matters – namely – their relationship with the Risen Lord – the foundational relationship that shapes how they live their vocation of marriage and family, contribute to the building up of the Church, strengthen fraternal bonds, and bear witness to the Risen Lord in the wider society.
The source of our leadership, our mission, and our work is indeed the Risen Lord whom we receive in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, the Lord Jesus whose Spirit fills us with the light and strength we need to live our principles robustly – charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism. Through the intercession of Bl. Michael McGivney, may the Maryland State Council continue to write new and glorious chapters in its history – for the glory of God, the good of the Order, and the salvation of souls. Vivat Jesus!