Family is reason Knights of Columbus exist, says advisor to Supreme Knight

Mexico City, Mexico, Jan 29, 2009 / 11:56 am

Luis Guevara, assistant to the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, D. Carl Anderson, spoke with CNA earlier this week about the purpose of the Catholic men’s fraternal organization, saying, “The family is the reason the Order exists.”

In exclusive statements to CNA, Guevara said, “The family is reason the Knights of Columbus exist as it is the domestic church, the first Christian community.”

“By making committed laymen the foundation of the order, Father McGivney (founder of the Knights) sought to effectively and concretely safeguard the life of the family as the foundation of the community, conscious that it is from the parish where the family also gives itself to the world with Christ,” Guevara explained.

He went on to emphasize the role the Knights played at the Sixth World Meeting of Families that took place in Mexico and was attended by 150 families from the Order. Guevara said the main challenge the Knights of Columbus see for the family in Mexico is the social transformation that the country is experiencing and suffering “as part of its desire to become a democratic and inclusive society.”

Likewise, he pointed out that “the only response is the committed participation of Catholics, conscious that it is precisely through their testimony and daily effort at work, home and school and of course in the family, that will transform society to make it reach its ultimate good, which is Christ.”

Guevara also addressed Mexicans and Americans by recalling that both countries “share one future due to the demographic integration they are experiencing, and that on these two countries depends the future of not only Latin America but of the entire continent.”

This “makes it even more crucial that Catholics on both sides of the border establish bonds of fraternal collaboration, and the Order of the Knights of Columbus is a good example of collaboration between people of different nations,” Guevara said.