An interview with Carl A. Anderson
Traces interviewed Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus. Anderson was a special guest and speaker at the Meeting in Rimini this past August

edited by Michelle Riconscente

It is striking that Fr. McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus in response to the concrete needs of his parishioners, rather than with the goal of founding an international organization.
The Knights of Columbus is a good example of how Providence works. Here is a young priest, ordained just a few years, who sees a concrete problem for the families of his parish, and so in the basement of his church, with ten men, begins to organize this association to meet those needs. During the rest of his life, he struggled to put together the organization, which started to spread throughout Connecticut where it had begun. Within 25 years after his death, the organization spread to every state of the United States, into Canada, Mexico, and the Philippines (in 1905). It’s incredible the way Providence will take the very simple pastoral work of a priest and then use it to meet a need throughout a country and beyond.

What did Fr. McGivney see as the place of the Knights of Columbus in society and the life of the Church?
One of Fr. McGivney’s great spiritual legacies is the fact that although he was founder of this organization of Catholic men, he refused to be the leader. He always insisted that a layman be in the leadership position, so he became the secretary and then chaplain, but never the one who directed the organization. That has had a very strong influence, particularly through the idea that this is an association of men who voluntarily seek to be in unity with their priests, bishops, and Pope, to assume the authentic role that laity have in service to the Church, without attempting to substitute for the work of the priest. We have always felt a strong solidarity with bishops, priests, and the Holy Father.

What ideas were fundamental to Fr. McGivney in his initiative?
His principles in organizing the Knights were charity and unity–the center of Catholic life and parish life. We soon added a principle of brotherhood which we call fraternity and then, later on, patriotism, given the historic situation in the United States where Catholics were often seen as unpatriotic or not really fully citizens. One of the things that we’ve seen over the past hundred years is that our members in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and the Philippines can all be very patriotic for their own countries, and yet can still be unified in one particular Catholic organization. This is something we have promoted quite a bit, that patriotism–as Pope John Paul II said in his last book, Memory and Identity–is a love of country, which also, if it’s authentic, respects the other person’s love of his country. To be authentic, patriotism needs the other virtues that the Catholic Church teaches, such as charity and unity and brotherhood.

When the Knights of Columbus began, the immigrant population, especially in Connecticut, was largely Irish. Today, there are many sources of immigration, particularly those from Hispanic communities.
One of the most important issues that the Knights of Columbus met in the 19th century when Fr. McGivney founded the organization was the question: can you be a good American and a good Catholic? Today, the same question arises with the new immigrants. Will Catholics from Latin America, for example, have to give up their Catholic heritage in order to become successful Americans?
The Knights were successful in being able to say, “You can be a good American, you can be a good citizen, and you can be a good Catholic. You don’t have to sacrifice your Catholic identity to be integrated into American society.” And this is now part of our mission today with the new immigrants, to give them a path, a tradition, by which they can become fully American and at the same time retain their Catholicity.

Do you see a link between the struggle to attain an American identity and the fact that many Hispanic immigrants are being drawn to some of the Protestant evangelical churches?
There’s no doubt that American culture is predominantly a Protestant culture. And so for newcomers to the United States, there is an attraction, especially when Protestant churches are so clearly identified with the prevailing culture. In addition, many of the Protestant churches are going out of their way to reach out to the new Hispanic immigrants. For many years, on the way to work, I used to drive by St. George’s Episcopal Church, built in a very English Gothic manner. A few months ago, I drove by and found that they had changed the name of the church to “St. George and San Jose”!

A very clear example!
Interestingly, many Protestants now are rediscovering–or discovering for the first time–Mary. It’s not an unusual circumstance to go to a Protestant church and see a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe. We can hope that Our Lady will be a powerful influence on the Protestant churches that do this perhaps in ways they don’t expect.

Can you discuss some of the contemporary issues the Knights of Columbus are responding to today?
The contemporary economic and political situation in North America is marked by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Yet, the Knights of Columbus has anticipated this idea for more than one hundred years because we have been active in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. We consider it very important that the Catholic community demonstrate that it transcends these borders. As John Paul II said during the Synod of America: it’s not “the Americas”–it ought to be seen as “America,” with a common spiritual heritage of Christianity. He also argued that Europe too has a common spiritual heritage. So we think part of our mission as Knights of Columbus is to demonstrate that this common heritage transcends our borders.

I understand that this is your first time attending the Meeting. What are some of your thoughts as you’ve walked around and attended various exhibits and panels?
Well, I had a great opportunity to attend World Youth Day in Cologne and come immediately from that experience to the Rimini Meeting. I also had the privilege of being at the installation Mass for Benedict XVI and hear him say, “The Church is alive!” Now, how do you demonstrate that? Not necessarily by writing a book; rather, you demonstrate it by a World Youth Day, you demonstrate it by a Rimini Meeting, where you see the enthusiasm and the genuine spirit of a living community of Christians. My initial impression of having experienced Rimini is that it is “THE CHURCH IS ALIVE” written in capital letters.

Do you think something like the Rimini Meeting could happen in the United States?
I’m new to this work, but I have the deep sense that Fr. Giussani did in a profound way anticipate the renewal of the Church sought by the Second Vatican Council, and therefore much of what you see at the Rimini Meeting is an expression of what John Paul II described as “the Springtime of the Gospel.” It’s an unleashing of the creativity of Christian life. And, therefore, I think that this way of life, where the laity are called to be themselves as Christians and to go out and renew society in various ways, must be translatable into every culture.