2011-08-03 13:14:22

Pope praises Knights of Columbus witness to Christian hope


With more than 2,500 delegates and their families attending, the 129th Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention opened on Tuesday in Denver, Colorado, with the celebration of Holy Mass and a special message from Pope Benedict XVI.

Penned by Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the message expresses the Pope’s “deep gratitude to the Knights of Columbus for their continuing contribution to responsible public debate about the great ethical issues which will shape the future of our democratic societies”.

Founded by Father Michael J. McGivney in New Haven in 1882, the KOFC is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. There are more than 1.8 million members in 15,000 councils, with nearly 200 councils on college campuses.
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, the Archbishop-designate of Philadelphia and current diocesan administrator of Denver, presided over Mass. This was followed by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson’s presentation of the Annual Report. In the 2010 fraternal year, the Order gave over 154 million US dollars directly to charity and performed over 70 million man-hours of voluntary service.

Commenting on the theme of this year’s Supreme Convention –“So That The World May Know New Hope”– Cardinal Bertone writes that Pope Benedict “sees in this valued service to the common good an outstanding example of the lay apostolate”. “Such a clear and courageous moral witness is all the more necessary in the light of a proliferation of legislative initiatives which not only undermine such basic institutions of society as marriage and the family, but also threaten the fundamental human rights of conscientious objection and religious freedom. As part of its response to these increasingly serious challenges”.


Pope Benedict, thinks especially of the “impressive witness to hope given by the Knights of Columbus as they help so many young men to grow to Christian maturity, teaching them to let their lives be shaped by the things that really matter (cf. Phil 1:10) and offering countless quiet examples of the masculine virtues of fidelity, hard work, generosity and self-sacrifice”.


The message concludes “This commitment has always been shown first and foremost on the level of the local Councils, in the many quiet ways in which Knights have always sought to help one another, especially in difficult times such as the present economic downturn. It has also found privileged expression in your Order’s institutional programs of insurance and financial planning, which have brought stability and hope to so many individuals and families, and in your charitable outreach to the poor throughout the world, particularly in the wake of disasters such as those which recently struck Haiti and Japan. His Holiness is likewise grateful for the unswerving support which the Knights have given to the Successor of Peter in his ministry to the universal Church. He sees in this great symphony of charity a testimony to the catholicity of our faith and to the breadth and depth of our hope in Christ’s saving promises”.








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