May 2018: Building the Domestic Church: The Family Fully Alive

Lead article from the May 2018 bulletin, online now.

By Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson

In founding the Knights of Columbus, Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney sought to respond to the crisis in family life affecting Catholics in 19th-century America. As a young man he witnessed firsthand the challenges his widowed mother faced with seven children at home. Later, as a priest, he confronted on a daily basis the problems affecting the families of his parish community due to poverty, violence, alcoholism, immigration, anti-Catholic prejudice and discrimination.

Father McGivney’s vision for family life was not only that each family might find financial and material aid. He understood that holiness is the calling of all baptized Christians. And considering that two brothers followed him into the priesthood, we can understand how truly important the sanctuary of the home was to the McGivney family.

His family was a living example of what the second Vatican Council later taught: each man, woman and child is called to holiness through proclaiming the Gospel and communicating the divine gift of love in the activities of their daily lives.

When Christian families respond in this way to the design of the Creator, they become a “domestic church” that, as Pope Paul VI explained, mirrors “the various aspects of the entire Church.” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 71).

The modern family recently has been a topic of particular focus for the Church, with the two-year synod on the family and the post-synodal exhortation by Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love). During this time, the Knights of Columbus has been involved in supporting families in their Christian vocation through our new Building the Domestic Church While Strengthening our Parish initiative. This initiative, which includes The Family Fully Alive program, is designed to help families become more centered on their task of serving God, neighbor and parish.

Since the second Vatican Council, and especially during the pontificate of St. John Paul II, it has become clear that the family is “the way of the Church.” In one sense, this obviously means that the family is the object of the Church’s evangelization efforts.

But the Christian family too has its own indispensable mission. As St. John Paul II wrote in Familiaris Consortio, “The family has the mission to guard, reveal and communicate love.” This mission is at the heart of the “community of life and love” that begins with the married couple in the sacrament of matrimony.

To lead us in that mission we are fortunate to have a guidebook — Pope Francis’ exhortation Amoris Laetitia— to help us build the Catholic family as a domestic church. In Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis describes the Church as “a family of families.” He reminds us to view the family as the sanctuary of life and love that is at the heart of the domestic church. Our Knights’ families can take special guidance from Pope Francis as he calls us to a new “family apostolate” based upon “joy-filled witness as domestic churches.” Our parish-based councils also have a role in connecting men and their families with the parish.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, “Conjugal love involves a totality, in which all the elements of the person enter. … It aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul.” In other words, sacramental marriage involves not just an agreement between the spouses but a radical transformation of the spouses.

As Pope Benedict XVI wrote in Deus Caritas Est, “Marriage based on an exclusive and definitive love becomes the icon of the relationship between God and his people and vice versa. God’s way of loving becomes the measure of human love.”

In this way, the witness of husband and wife within the daily life of the family can guard, reveal and communicate love as they make their own the gifts of marriage — unity, indissolubility, faithfulness and openness to new life.

A Vatican document on the role and mission of the family states, “The family needs to be rediscovered as the essential agent in the work of evangelization” (Instrumentum Laboris, 103). It also points to the necessity to better understand the “missionary dimension of the family as a domestic church” (Instrumentum Laboris, 48).

These observations echo those of St. John Paul II, who said, during a meeting with the Latin American bishops in 1979, that “in the future, evangelization will depend largely on the domestic church.” (Pope John Paul II, Address to the Third General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate).

Clearly, the role of the family in the work of evangelization is not primarily a matter of programs, projects or strategies. These all have their place, but they are secondary. Their place is to be at the service of what is essential — the love between a husband and wife that, sanctified through the love of Christ, radiates to each member of their family.

The family as domestic church is a place of encounter with Christ within the community of a particular Christian family — a place where each member of the family has an important role.

The “mission” of the family in the task of evangelization is to be what it is called to be — that is, to live its daily life as a Christian family. As St. John Paul II said so often, “families, become what you are!”

The family’s mission to “guard, reveal and communicate love”— like the parish community — does not exist in an ideal place. The truth and beauty of the family must be communicated to every Christian family, even those that are fragile, wounded or broken. These families too may read the words of St. Paul with confidence: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom 8:35). And they may find in that confidence a path of hope and healing.

During his visit to the Philippines, Pope Francis cited the need for “holy and loving families to protect the beauty and truth of the family in God’s plan and to be an example for other families” (Pope Francis, Address to Families at the Mall of Asia Arena. Our Building the Domestic Church initiative and The Family Fully Alive monthly devotions are concrete ways that Knights of Columbus, in solidarity with Pope Francis, can offer holy and loving families for the Church’s mission of evangelization in our time.

September 2013 Bulletin: Make Time to Pray

Grand Knight's article from the September 2013 bulletin.

As the Year of Faith is drawing to a close, I was reflecting on if I had made any sustainable changes in my faith life. To my surprise the answer smacked me right in the face as I watched the news on my lunch break.

As I sat in the lunch room, a story came on that you may have heard. It goes something like this: a young woman was hit head-on by a drunk driver. She was barely clinging to life, and her vital signs were falling fast. The fire department’s equipment was failing, and they were having a hard
time getting her out. That’s when she asked them to pray with her.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a man dressed as a Catholic priest appeared, even though the road was blocked off for two miles. The priest prayed and gave the young woman the anointing of the sick as well as absolution. After this there was a calming on the scene, and the fire fighters equipment was working again. They were able to get her out and off to the hospital, and the priest had vanished.

That is when I realized what has been missing in my life. I have gotten so consumed in my hectic life, with work, a new baby, and my son’s sports. I was so consumed in all this that I didn’t leave time or was too busy to spend time in prayer.

Watching the news that day made me do some soul-searching: how could I be so busy as to not find time to pray? What is so important that I couldn’t spend some time talking to God our Father? Well, I will tell you what: nothing. I decided to make a change and get back to some time with our Lord.

And I will also tell you this: things don’t seem as chaotic, and I feel more relaxed. I am still busy with all the other things, but they don’t seem to consume me like they did before. If your life is anything like
mine, and you find yourself out of balance, I want to challenge you to spend some time in prayer with our Father.

“The Lord never tires of forgiving – never! It is we who tire of asking his forgiveness. Let us ask for the grace not to tire of asking forgiveness, because he never tires of forgiving. Let us ask for this grace”

 — Pope Francis

August 2013 Bulletin: Here to Serve In Charity

Grand Knight's article from the August 2013 bulletin. 

I want to start off by congratulating past Grand Knight Mike Engel on a great year—but why did it have to go by so fast? These last few years it was an honor and a privelege to learn from past Grand Knights Steve House and Mike Engel. They are hard acts to follow and I pray that I, too, can leave a mark on this great council.

For this fraternal year I would like to continue to grow this council in fraternity, unity and charity. I have to admit I really don’t know many of the men in this council, and I’m sure many of you don’t know or haven’t heard of me. So here is a brief overview: I am married and have two children, Jake (age nine) and Sophia (five months old). We have been members of the St. Michael parish for just over four years, which is about when we moved to the area. I have been a Knight for four years and am a fourth-degree member. My main reason for joining the Knights was to have a way to give back to such a warm, welcoming community.

To try to accomplish this, we are going to do a couple things: first after some constructive feedback, we are going to revert back to the old format for meetings—we will start the business meeting at 7 p.m. and have a light meal or snack afterward for those who want to hang around. The other idea is to bring back the Knight of Columbus family of the month. All that would be needed is a short intro like I offered above and maybe a picture. I would appreciate any feedback on how to do this.

We all joined the Knights for one reason or another, but a huge part of being a Knight is charity. In this council we are fortunate enough to have many activities in which we can participate. So I encourage you all to volunteer to help out in at least one event and maybe even show up to a business meeting. Along with that we are in need of some men to fill open directorships or to help lead some of the upcoming events. If you are interested or know of someone who may be, feel free to contact me or one of the officers for more information.

As a last thought I will leave you with these words from Pope Francis on the Christian life:

In this period of crisis, today, it is important not to turn in on ourselves, burying our own talent, our spiritual, intellectual, and material riches, everything that the Lord has given us, but, rather to open ourselves, to be supportive, to be attentive to others. Set your stakes on great ideals, the ideals that enlarge the heart, the ideals of service that make your talents fruitful. Life is not given to us to be jealously guarded from ourselves, but is given to us so that we may give it in turn.

April 2013 Grand Knight's Message: Prayers for Pope Francis

Grand Knight's article from the April 2013 bulletin: 

 My wife and I sat on the beach in Florida enjoying the beautiful weather and our children making sand castles on a beautiful afternoon. As we sat in our chairs, I overheard a couple of women talking about the day’s events. "Well, we have a new Pope! I think the Catholics will now be happy again."

Just how true her words are! To have the Vicar of Christ watching and praying for the Church should bring us great relief. With great excitement we announced to our children the good news, and were excited to learn more about who our new Pope was. We stopped for a moment and offered up a Glory Be in thanksgiving for our new Pope and for his Pontificate.

And so, this is a very simple article. I ask you all to pray for Benedict XVI in his retirement — in great thanksgiving for his sacrifice to Mother Church and for blessings on him in all his journeys yet to come. Let us also pray for Pope Francis. Please spend time in prayer for him as we begin to discover how God will use him to guide the Church. Certainly, we will see great scrutiny around the departure of Pope Benedict and the shortcomings of Pope Francis. Let us be their support through constant and continual prayer for them.

Please take a moment to offer up The Angelus for the intentions of Pope Francis:

• Leader: The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
• Response: And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
• All: Hail Mary, full of grace...

• Leader: Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
• Response: Be it done unto me according to thy word.
• All: Hail Mary, full of grace… 

• Leader: And the Word became flesh. 
• Response: And dwelt among us.
• All: Hail Mary, full of grace…

• Leader: Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
• Response: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
• Leader: Let us pray.
• All: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.