Bringing Christ to others

Annual Knights of Columbus convention Mass challenges all Knights to be eucharistic

By Peter Jesserer Smith OSV News

Amid the swirl of incense and the fanfare of brass orchestra and choir singing a triumphal Te Deum , several hundred clergy processed into the opening Mass for the Knights of Columbus 2023 annual convention, escorted by uniformed fourth-degree Knights.

“I welcome all of you to this place and home of faith,” said Bishop John G. Noonan of the Diocese of Orlando, Fla., the chief celebrant of the Aug. 1 Mass, in welcoming the 2,300 Knights and family members in the temporary sanctuary where an icon of Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd looked out over the gathering.

The Knights of Columbus’ 141st Supreme Convention, held Aug. 1-3 in Orlando, gathered Knights, both lay and clergy, from all over the globe at the Orlando World Center Marriott, showing its international reach and “Catholic” nature of the brotherhood, encompassing men of diverse cultures, languages, and continents held together by their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Knights and their families came from seven countries the United States, Canada, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Ukraine, and South Korea and the U.S. territory of Guam. The prayers of the faithful were given in five languages: English, French, Tagalog, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

The music, provided by the Choir and Brass Ensemble of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, included beautiful eucharistic hymns with music from Poland and France.

It also gave a significant nod to the Irish heritage of the Knights’ founder, Blessed Michael McGivney. The choir sang “Ag Criost an Siol” (“To Christ the seed”) in Gaeilge, Ireland’s indigenous language, and “St. Patrick’s Breastplate.”

More than 50 bishops and archbishops were in attendance, which also included three cardinals: Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York; Cardinal James M. Harvey, a U.S. prelate who is archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls; and Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.

The Mass showed Catholic bishops and faithful of the Eastern Churches, including the Ukrainian, Chaldean, Maronite, and Syriac Churches, alongside their brothers of the Latin Church. In fact, the highest-ranking Catholic prelate at the Aug. 1 Mass was not a bishop of the Latin Church but the head of the Syriac Catholic Church: Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan of Antioch.

Flanked by the Knights’ own

Homeschool continued from page A22 ing a normal and welcome part of typical parish life. They are also increasingly viewed as another educational option for Catholic families alongside and not necessarily in competition with Catholic schools.

“One of the blessings of COVID is that more people began to recognize what homeschooling is and can be, and it became less weird,” Ms. Bales said with a laugh. “Understanding maybe became more openness, and I’ve seen more of that, which has been really beautiful.”

Ms. Bales said that the pandemic was a pivotal time for homeschooling, but “whether that was beneficial for homeschooling or not remains to be seen.” In the past, many families approached homeschooling steeped in educational philosophies and approaches that often differed from traditional school models, she said.

Ms. Bales has noticed many newer homeschooling families “pretty patrons, Blessed McGivney on the left, and the Virgin of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, on the right, Bishop Noonan gave the homily based on the two readings taken from the day’s Mass.

The first reading, taken from parts of Exodus 33 and 34, spoke about Moses speaking with the Lord “face to face, as one man speaks to another,” praising the Lord’s mercy and justice, while fasting and interceding for the people of God, and writing down the Ten Commandments.

In the day’s Gospel reading, which was from Matthew 13, Jesus explains to His disciples the parable of the weeds in the field, where the “children of the kingdom” are the good seed planted in the field; while the weeds are the “children of the Evil One” who are sown by the devil. At the end of the world, Jesus says, the Lord will send out his angels to separate the weeds from his harvest, with the evildoers going to punishment and the righteous enjoying the Father’s kingdom.

“We, too, have been struggling, struggling for these last few years,” Bishop Noonan said. “Our world and our nation have gone through the experience of weeds and deserts. We have felt lost and forsaken, like the people of Israel and yet Jesus reminds his disciples to be cautious and patient with dealing with the weeds and weeds growing in our midst.”

Bishop Noonan reminded the much doing school at home, because everybody did that during COVID, and it’s what they know.”

Ms. Bales said she supports that approach if it truly works for a family, but she wonders what could be gained by those families if they took a wider view, studied pedagogy, and tailored education to each child.

Ms. Bales said that alternative homeschool-hybrid models, such as micro schools and learning pods, are also becoming more common, along with homeschooling co-ops. The traditional sense of homeschooling has “changed so much that the definition is now very, very different,” she said.

Maureen Wittmann, co-founder of Homeschool Connections, a Catholic homeschool curriculum provider, and author of several books on homeschooling, said homeschooling is also growing among minority families. Homeschool Connections is seeing more Hispanic and African American families choosing homeschooling,

Knights the U.S. Church is called in its 2022-25 National Eucharistic Revival “to celebrate the sacredness, the beauty, and the presence of Christ in the Eucharist.”

The bishop pointed out that all things are in God’s hands: “Jesus is the master of the harvest,” and “He will separate the wheat from the weeds.”

But Bishop Noonan challenged the Knights to think of the parable, and Moses’ preparation of the people to enter the Promised Land, and connect it with what they are doing in their lives with respect to “the greatest gift of all: receiving Christ in the Eucharist.”

“Are we prepared to receive Christ, the Eucharist, by separating ourselves from the evil that sometimes contaminates us and our world?” he said. “By separating the weeds from the wheat, by allowing Christ to separate the sin from the sinner?”

“The grace of the Eucharist transforms lives,” he said. “The sacrament of reconciliation purifies us; helps us; separates us from the sin; preserves and increases and renews the life of the grace we receive at baptism.”

He added, “We’re called to be renewed. We’re called to be made whole. We’re called above all to be renewed with Christ in the Eucharist.”

Bishop Noonan then recalled the Knights to the witness of their founder, Blessed Michael McGivney (1852-1890), the parish she said. And while in many families mom directs the homeschooling, more dads appear to be taking the lead, she said.

The up-close view that traditional-school parents have of their children’s curriculum during the pandemic prompted some to search for something better, she said. “As the pandemic is ending, we’re also seeing more concerns about social engineering, violence, other things happening in public schools” that compel parents to look at other options, she said.

Ms. Wittmann decided she wanted to homeschool her future children after being tutored at home at age 13 while recovering from surgery. She went on to homeschool all seven of her children, now ages 21 to 33, and now her grandchildren are homeschooled.

“For me, homeschooling was never about running away from something, like ‘our local schools are bad,’” said Ms. Wittmann, who lives in Michigan. “It was always about, ‘I want my kids to have a priest who started the fraternal order in 1882 that has its headquarters in New Haven, Conn.

“He was challenged; he was entrusted to preach the Gospel; he was entrusted to bring the Eucharist, Christ, to others,” he said.

Bishop Noonan reminded the Knights that Blessed McGivney also faced a world that was “troubling, difficult, and harsh.”

“And in those moments, he saw hope. Despite the failings of humanity, he wanted to bring hope to others,” the bishop said. “And he did bring hope by allowing Christ to help him. Let us be mindful of Father Michael McGivney, a man who saw the needs of the people and reached out to heal them, to separate the weeds from the wheat.”

“We, too, can do great things, if we allow the Lord into our lives; if we let Him heal us, guide us, and above all, teach us,” the bishop said, concluding his homily. “So today, as we begin this convention, may it be a time for us to be eucharistic, to be above all, Christfilled, so that we, too, can bring Christ to others.”

During the convention, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly had a message for the 2,300 Knights and family members gathered Aug. 1 to hear his report on the state of the world’s largest Catholic fraternal order.

“As Knights, what we do reflects who we are. We are faithful Catholics and disciples of Jesus Christ,” he said.

In his address for the 141st Supreme Convention, Mr. Kelly illustrated how the Knights’ goal of being “first in faith, first in charity” drew its source from a commitment to follow Jesus Christ.

For 2 million Knights of Columbus, the $185 million given to charity, 49 million hours of volunteer service, and a record $121 billion dollars of life insurance in force over the past year sprang from the “one mission” their founder, Blessed McGivney, gave them: “to follow Christ. And He called us to fulfill it through faith and charity,” Mr. Kelly said.

Mr. Kelly shared the new programs the Knights were rolling out to develop further discipleship as the heart of a Knight’s Catholic identity. He emphasized various examples of how charity coming from this faith in Christ is also personal: from Knights giving out aid and planting trees in the Philippines after a natural disaster or driving charity convoys into Ukraine’s warzone.

“We will continue to take up the mission of evangelization in our hearts and in our communities,” he said. “And we will continue our mission of charity a charity that evangelizes. ■ beautiful childhood.’ I want education to be an integrated family thing. I want them to have a joy for learning, and I don’t want to suck that joy out of them by being in a classroom in a chair all day. We can homeschool anywhere. We can homeschool outside under a tree in the woods.”

The pandemic “brought that to people who had never thought about it before, or people who were on the fence but never had the courage to make the jump,” she said.

In the Hudson Valley, Mrs. Faverio has a year of homeschooling under her belt and said she feels confident about the year ahead.

“The most rewarding aspect has been watching my kids make connections between lessons, watching concepts click,” she said. “I can see it in their eyes when they understand something, and it’s such a powerful, amazing moment. Realizing that going at our own pace is just as valid as anyone else’s method was so freeing.” ■