Higher Purpose in the opening lines of Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), His Holiness Pope Francis invites “Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ” (3). The Faith in Action program model extends that same invitation to Knights of Columbus members and their families. It is a renewed personal invitation to live out the calling of their faith, the call to service of their neighbor and to answer the age old question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gn 4:9).
Today, a man’s work can follow him home through his smartphone. At the same time, he is picking up a larger share of household responsibilities and striving to meet more intense demands of fatherhood as the pace of kids’ activities has accelerated. Despite this, many men are drawn to opportunities to be hands-on and to express their faith by working alongside peers in service to others. They want to spend precious free time involved with their families while also building bonds of friendship and fraternity that will last a lifetime.
As supreme Knight Carl Anderson said, “If we can’t meet young Catholic men where they are, they will go somewhere else. and in this era, it is too easy to go somewhere else when we need them to be home. Home in the Catholic Church, home in their parishes, and home with their families.” as leaders and brother Knights who care about the long-term sustainability of the order, we are excited about men’s desire to serve and the opportunity to consistently adapt to meet the demand of a changing world and the needs of future members. We know that the chance to roll up our sleeves and demonstrate our faith through service is as powerful as it is rewarding. The calling is a fundamental part of the order’s history and genesis for our new program model, Faith in Action. This mission-driven platform is an excellent way to express our service program, as it speaks to our own efforts and to the interests of prospective Knights.
The Faith in Action model is a realization of the changing needs of men in the twenty-first century. it seeks to balance all of our key priorities with theirs — Faith, Family, Community and Life — and present them in a way that is clear to our leaders, members and prospective Knights. The simplicity of Faith in Action is that it fully integrates Building the Domestic Church programs as a foundational part of the model, limits the number of required programs to earn the Columbian award and, most importantly, allows councils to concentrate on implementing quality faith-filled family programs. our goal is for men to lead their family in service — not leave their family for service. The focus of this streamlined program is quality, not quantity.