A proud tradition, looking towards building for the future

Many Catholics know little about the good work of the Knights of St Columbanus. The incoming leader tells Michael Kelly he is keen to redress this

When the Order of the Knights of St Columbanus was established in Belfast in 1915, it was a very challenging landscape. Many businesses in areas like Belfast were effectively ‘closed shops’ where Catholics had no chance of employment.

The shipyard – which just a few years earlier had built the ill-fated RMS Titanic – was a case in point. The few Catholics who occasionally manged to find work there were routinely expelled once their religious affiliation was clear.

It was in this cultural context that the need was established for a Catholic fraternal organisation that would both support men in the exercise of their Faith and also to provide a space where knights who were getting ahead could give their brethren a hand up.

More than 100 years later, the context has changed but the challenge of the order – to restore all things in Christ – remains the same. Members are now engaged in an ambitious drive to encourage younger Catholic men to take up the task of evangelising their fellow young people.

Elected

Co. Armagh man Brendan McCann was recently elected Supreme Knight and he says the challenge is clear: if more young men are not attracted to the values of the order then the knights are in trouble.

One green shoot that Mr McCann points to is the recently established council at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) where more than 20 young students are now members engaging in charitable and other outreach work across the city.

It is a model he is keen to roll out to other universities in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Derry and other centres of third-level learning.

“You can’t do it in hours, days, or months. It probably is years in the making,” he says of the Belfast venture. “But what we are seeing now is the fruits of that, and the fruits of that could be substantial for the Church in Ireland going forward.”

Perhaps the best-known of the knights’ initiatives in the annual Christmas Day dinner in Dublin where hundreds of homeless and other vulnerable people are given a dinner and a Christmas gift to brighten their day. It is just one of the more high-profile events, but members of the order are engaged in charitable and other evangelisation work wherever they find themselves.

Projects

Mr McCann says that in his home parish in Portadown “one of the outreach projects that we’re involved in is Radio Housebound, where we give devices to people who cannot attend church. They could be CB radios that receive the audio, or actually tablets so people can watch Mass”.

In Belfast, the QUB knights are very engaged with homeless people offering practical and material support like food parcels.

“We’re not afraid to get our hands dirty,” Mr McCann says of his fellow members.

He said he has been heartened by the reaction at QUB to know that the values of the order are being embraced by a new generation of young Catholics. “They grabbed it with both arms. People like to be involved in a fraternity and talk about their faith, so that is good to see,” he says.

He said that the third level initiative is aimed at giving young men a space where their faith can grow together.

But, what about the challenge of Covid-19, I wonder. If a key part of the ethos of the knights is fraternity, how do social distancing rules and a ban on gatherings affect this?

“Initially it was a huge challenge,” Mr McCann admits. “We had to convince people to speak online. But, we got over that hurdle and in some ways it has brought us closer to the monastic roots of our patron.”

Members

He insists that members in councils across Ireland “are now praying more than they ever did before” with some councils embracing weekly rosaries online and others taking on lectio divina via zoom.

“We’re also using this time as an opportunity for reflection: Where are we? Where are we going? How do we attract a new generation? It’s a very healthy reflection,” he says.

Mr McCann says it gives him and his fellow members of the new executive time and space to “examine our current model and see where the weaknesses are and where our strengths lie to move forward,” he says.

In short, the knights have had to adapt. He cites the example of funerals where family members of knights have died where other members of the order would have in the past formed guards of honour. “Now, we are supporting people in different ways. A knight whose mother died recently told me he had been overwhelmed by all the messages and prayers he was receiving from knights – the fraternity lives on, just in a different way,” Mr McCann says.

He believes that the mission of the knights in helping members stand up for their faith is as vital as ever. “We’re proud to be Catholic, and it’s important to say that…maybe some people might not like that, but we have to have the courage of our convictions,” he says.

Mr McCann sees the knights as having an important part to play in the work of evangelisation. “You can’t batter the people into the Church. You have to show them that the Church is a welcoming place, and a place for children and a good place to grow up,” he says of trying to encourage people in the Faith.

Mr McCann is keen to shine a light on the order, not to gain praise and affirmation but to show to a new generation the benefits of such an organisation. “I think in the past we were a bit too discreet in what we did so people weren’t even aware that the order was doing anything,” he admits.

One of the ways that the order has been engaging with young people in recent years has been the highly-successful public speaking competition aimed at getting second-level students to have the confidence to talk about their faith and Church teaching in public.

The pandemic has made that impossible this year, and so it has morphed in to an essay-writing competition instead (see right).

Another Co. Armagh man Colm O’Farrell has taken on the task of Supreme Communications Officer. It is his responsibility to ensure that the knights are better known both within the Church and the wider society.

“I think the order, for too many years, has kept its light under a bushel. I think part of the problem was the knights were very happy doing great charitable work, but were not great at promoting this work.

“That’s one of the problems that we’re actually facing now: many people don’t know the great works that go on behind the scenes,” he admits.

Task

Mr O’Farrell is clear in the key task ahead. “One of the biggest challenges that we have now at the moment is to try and encourage young men to come and be part of the order, and to give something back.

“And really – that’s what the order is about: it’s about giving something back, it’s about living your faith through works of charity.”

“The biggest challenge for us is to try and get the message out there. We’re a brotherhood, we’re a fraternity. We’re giving you that option to come and talk about your faith in comfortable surroundings. And make friends, it is ultimately a fraternity,” Mr O’Farrell says.

That sense of fraternity is key to people feeling comfortable, Mr O’Farrell believes. “As men we are terrible about talking about our faith…It’s almost seen as not a manly thing when you talk about your faith. But, when you look at other faiths – you look at Islam, different faiths like that – it is very much the men who are the forerunners, the leaders of promoting the faith,” he says.

Backseat

He believes that too many men in Ireland have traditionally taken a backseat in the transmission of the Faith with disastrous consequences. If I’m a young Catholic man and I’m growing up in the Faith and want to talk to someone about my faith, my options are very limited,” Mr O’Farrell says.

This is something that he believes passionately that the knights can offer. “It’s a great outlet, a great faith outlet. We’re a community of brothers within the order that will come together and openly discuss everything that you might be almost afraid to talk about even inside your own home,” Mr O’Farrell believes.

It’s almost like there is a crisis in Catholic masculinity, I put it to him. “Absolutely. I think one of the greatest problems that we have is – and let’s face it – the fact that fathers have stopped going to Mass…And once a father stops going to Mass, their children generally follow. The mother can go to Mass, but the chances are that the children will drop off.

“The father is still seen as the head of the household in many respects, and once that bond between the Church and father is broken we’re in trouble,” he says.

Both men are confident and articulate in speaking about their faith. To what extent, I ask, has the order been instrumental in building this confidence?

Mr O’Farrell takes up the point: “Hugely, because in my own personal return to my faith back in 2008 – after being absent from it for many years – one of the things that I started was to study theology. But I couldn’t find an outlet or, who to talk to.

“Outside of Mass on a Sunday, my options were really limited. There were different charitable orders I became part of, but there was really very little on offer for me as a male Catholic. That’s where the order came in and I knew on my introduction to the knights, I had found a home of like-minded men and brothers throughout Ireland that was really a breath of fresh air for me,” he says.

Mr McCann agrees. “It’s not for the ‘holier than thou’, we are from every background. I’d say to any young man, if you are serious about your faith and want a place where you can do good work but also talk about your faith and grow in your faith the order is for you.”

For more information email: koc@knightsofstcolumbanus.ie