Amid much fanfare, Knights of Columbus and family members from across the United States and beyond assembled in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on Feb. 22 to mark the 125th anniversary of the Fourth Degree. Many of them, including the board of directors and other K of C leaders, proudly wore uniforms adorned with the Fourth Degree emblem and medals of office. Every seat in the Gothic Revival edifice, still sparkling from its 2015 restoration, was filled as Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, welcomed the Knights to the cathedral, which was uniquely suited to the historic event.
“It’s especially fitting that we are here in New York, where the Fourth Degree was born,” Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly explained in remarks during the stirring celebration. “And today, we are privileged to be in St. Patrick’s Cathedral — the ultimate symbol of Catholicism in America.”
The celebration began with the unveiling and blessing of a bronze statue of the Order’s founder, Blessed Michael McGivney, commissioned for the cathedral by the Supreme Council and gifted by the Fourth Degree. It continued with the premiere of a revised Exemplification of Patriotism, during which more than 650 candidates for the Fourth Degree pledged fidelity to God and love for country before being dubbed Sir Knights. Cardinal Dolan then presided at a vigil Mass, which was concelebrated by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and 20 priests.
At remarks at the banquet that followed, Supreme Knight Kelly said the Knights of Columbus has always known the answer to two questions many Americans were asking at the time of the Fourth Degree’s establishment: “Could a Catholic really be a good citizen? Did not we, as Catholics, owe our allegiance to a foreign power — the pope — more than to our own country?”
The supreme knight explained, “The Knights of Columbus, of course, knew that there was no conflict between our love for our faith and our allegiance to our country. And for 125 years we have clearly shown that Catholics are indeed patriots.”
LEADING WITH CHARITY
On Feb. 22, 1900, the first Fourth Degree exemplification was held for 1,100 candidates at the Lenox Lyceum in New York City. Until then, a Knight could only receive degrees in charity, unity and fraternity. But just a year earlier, the board of directors began the process of establishing a new degree, to foster love of country and to impress upon its members the duties of citizenship.
The virtue of patriotism, nonetheless, was part of the Knights’ DNA from the time Father McGivney founded the Order in 1882. Cardinal Dolan, in his vigil Mass homily Feb. 22, noted, “Father McGivney responded [to anti-Catholic prejudice] as he formed his Knights of Columbus for God and country, teaching them that loyal citizenship as Americans and fidelity to the one holy Catholic faith were not at odds, but intimately allied.”
Exactly 125 years after the first Fourth Degree exemplification, just 10 blocks away from where the Lyceum once stood, 650 more men became Fourth Degree Knights through a the new ceremony at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, fittingly known as “America’s Parish Church.”
The cathedral celebration began with the dedication of a larger-than-life bronze statue, crafted by artist Chas Fagan, depicting Blessed Michael McGivney imparting his priestly blessing.
In introductory remarks, Cardinal Dolan referenced a statement Supreme Knight Kelly made at the 142nd Supreme Convention last August and asked, “Isn’t it about time that America’s Parish Priest is in America’s Parish Church?”
The cardinal, together with Supreme Knight Kelly and relatives of Father McGivney, the unveiled the statue in the sanctuary to sustained applause. Archbishop Lori led the congregation in the Litany of Blessed Michael McGivney before joining Cardinal Dolan in blessing the statue with holy water.
The inaugural presentation of the Exemplification of Patriotism immediately followed, the fruits of the first complete revision of the ceremonial in 125 years, which was overseen by the board’s Ceremonial Committee and led by its chairman, Past Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. The format flowed seamlessly from honor guard-led marches in procession with patriotic hymns to expositions of the U.S. Constitution and Catholic history, from accounts of the leading role Catholics played in founding the United States and establishing the free exercise of religion to the Order’s advocacy for the inclusion of the words “under God” to the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.
Supreme Master Michael McCusker, who led the exemplification team, addressed the newly inducted Fourth Degree Knights and their guests, saying, “Please know that this day we have played a significant role in a great moment in the history of the Knights of Columbus. However, it is simply not enough for us to have been here. Now begins the real challenge to go back to our homes and to honor those who gave us our great Catholic heritage by living lives worthy of their sacrifices.”
Knights from across the country and around the world participated in the anniversary events, including military service members and veterans for whom patriotism is a way of life.
Twenty cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, received their Fourth Degree at St. Patrick’s, and seven marched in the ceremony’s color guard.
“Our council really focuses on service to others,” said Grand Knight Alex Douglas, who is a fourth-year cadet. “We are really trying to build a framework for doing that consistently throughout the year,” including by setting up an annual Midnight Run to help the less fortunate of New York City.
The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, was likewise well represented as 12 midshipmen advanced to the Fourth Degree, among them sophomore David Farrell, grand knight of Commodore John Barry Council 14534.
“We’re very thrilled to be here,” said Farrell, whose Catholic faith inspired him to enroll in the Naval Academy and join the Knights. Underscoring the idea of protecting others, whether at home or abroad, and “leading with love,” he said, “This unification of patriotism and my faith truly presents itself as a Knight of Columbus at the Naval Academy, and I’m very happy and thrilled I was given the opportunity to let my faith flourish.”
‘OUR SPECIAL CALLING’
In his homily during the vigil Mass, Cardinal Dolan asserted that Blessed Michael McGivney’s service as a parish priest didn’t subscribe to the sentiment of the Gilded Age, which dictated that men who worked hard each day and suffered an injury or died on the job should be ignored or left alone.
“He assembled the men of his parish to begin a simple, but effective system … for the injured worker or his widow and orphans,” Cardinal Dolan explained. “We’re called to be lights to the world, as his Knights [responded] to the universal call of holiness [with] heroic acts of charity in this country and around the world.”
Cardinal Dolan invited Archbishop Lori to join him in imparting the final blessing by doing so with a first-class relic of Blessed Michael McGivney.
Capping the festivities was a banquet at the New York Hilton Midtown, a short walk from the cathedral.
During remarks at the banquet, Supreme Knight Kelly noted, “What we’ve done in the United States, we have done in every country we call home. From Canada to Korea, from the Philippines to France, Knights of Columbus stand for the truth that being a good Catholic means being a good citizen. And our countries are better off for it.”
He continued, “And yet, we are still faced with a critical question. Today, the question is not whether Catholics can be patriots. Many now pose a different question — whether anyone should be a patriot.
“The Church reminds us that patriotism is a duty that flows from a sense of gratitude — gratitude to God, gratitude to our family and gratitude to our nation for the gifts that we have been given, the gifts that shape and sustain us: hearth and home, culture and community.”
Archbishop Lori, in remarks before he delivered the blessing concluding the banquet, offered several insights about the virtue of patriotism.
“First,” he noted, “our true homeland, our true native land is heaven, where the kingdom of God is in full bloom.”
“Second, we must love our country as it is, not as we may wish it to be,” he explained. “This doesn’t mean we should be complacent or settle for the status quo. It only means we can’t defer love of country until everything is shipshape.”
This love of country, the supreme chaplain added, is tied to “the truth about the human person, about the family, about society,” and “patriotism bids us to pray for our country and its leaders.”
Supreme Knight Kelly, in his remarks earlier in the evening, expressed similar sentiments about the duty of authentic patriotism.
“We know in our hearts that patriotism is a virtue. In fact, patriotism is an obligation, not an option — it is a duty that falls to all of us,” the supreme knight concluded. “This is our task, our special calling. To protect the good of our nation from anything that threatens it. To build on that good, righting the wrongs that certainly exist in pursuit of an even better society. To hand on our love of country to the next generation, so that our children, like us, can make our homeland greater still.”