Supreme Knight summons a new generation of Catholic men: “Days of easy faith are over”

The “days of easy faith are over,” and a “new generation of Catholic men” are needed in the church, said the head of a global Catholic men’s society at its annual gathering.

Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly of the Knights of Columbus addressed more than 2,500 fellow Knights—along with their families, special guests and close to 60 bishops and cardinals from around the world, including Cuba, Korea, Nigeria, the Philippines and Ukraine—at the fraternal organisation’s 142nd Supreme Convention 6-8 August in Quebec City.

Founded in 1882 by Connecticut parish priest Blessed Michael McGivney, the Knights of Columbus now count more than 2.1 million members in over 16,800 local councils across the globe.

In 2023, Knights donated over 47 million service hours and more than $190 million to those in need. In his opening address 6 August, Kelly surveyed the breadth of the Knights’ work, which spans an array of humanitarian and spiritual initiatives designed to witness to the Gospel.

That mission requires Knights to be “resolute, undaunted (and) zealous” amid a world beset by secularisation, religious persecution, poverty and conflict, he said.

Yet the Knights’ commitment to both concrete charitable action and deep spiritual formation, all centred in the Eucharist, offers an energising hope, he said. “This is our call, to be Knights of the Eucharist, to serve Our Lord in all we do,” he said.