15 college students from Detroit Catholic Campus Ministry start Blessed Carlo Acutis Council, among youngest councils in state
DETROIT — Michigan’s newest Knights of Columbus Council makes a pretty good case for having the youngest members on average.
Fifteen college students involved with Detroit Catholic Campus Ministry formed the Blessed Carlo Acutis Knights of Columbus Council after their exemplification ceremony Feb. 1 at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Detroit.
The young men were sworn in as third-degree members of the Knights of Columbus as Christopher Kolomjec, former state deputy for the Knights of Columbus, conferred upon them the duties and privileges of the Knights under the three degrees: charity, unity and fraternity.
The formation of the Blessed Carlo Acutis Council gives young men involved with Detroit Catholic Campus Ministry a more formal way of contributing to the life of the Church and an avenue to continue their faith formation long after they leave campus, said Shaun McGrath, a junior nursing student at Wayne State University who will also serve as the council’s first grand knight — the title given to council presidents.
“At first, we thought about joining up with another council at another parish, either another local parish in Detroit, maybe the cathedral," McGrath told Detroit Catholic.
But as the prospective members considered their options over the summer and fall, during a Bible study one day at the campus ministry headquarters, "we started thinking, 'Why not form our own council?'" McGrath said. “We asked around to see if there was an interest, and we had 20 to 25 guys who wanted to know more.”
The college council is comprised of students from Wayne State, the College for Creative Studies, University of Detroit Mercy and the University of Michigan. The new council — which has yet to be assigned a council number — is the second college-based Knights of Columbus council in the state, following Michigan Technological University in Houghton in the Upper Peninsula.
Detroit Catholic Campus Ministry, based out of Our Lady of the Rosary Church on Woodward Avenue in Detroit's Midtown, has a robust ministry for college men and women, but McGrath said having a group dedicated to men’s fraternity was a need.
“We definitely have a lot of events as part of our ministry, but not fraternity or fellowship that surrounded the guys,” McGrath said. “I asked the guys if there was interest during a men’s night and then asked the Knights of Columbus what it would take to start our own council and how we could do more with a council. It will allow us to do more on campus and help the guys connect with a brotherhood at their parish when they graduate because they’ll already be Knights.”
Fr. Matthew Hood, chaplain for Detroit Catholic Campus Ministry, will serve as the first chaplain for the new council. Fr. Hood said he was taken aback by how organically the college-based council formed. By its very nature, campus ministry has a temporary setting, Fr. Hood said; it’s designed to minister to students who will be on campus for anywhere from one to six years, depending on the degree they are pursuing.
That means the Blessed Carlo Acutis Council will always deal with turnover, but the impact of joining the Knights will be significant after the young men leave campus.
Fr. Hood said the regular turnover will "definitely be a challenge" for the new council, but the impact the experience will have on young men as they leave campus will remain long after they've graduated.
“It is a council that is meant to have a lot of turnover, but that’s the nature of campus ministry," Fr. Hood said. "Our mission is not just to have a transformative impact while they are here on campus, but to form them for the rest of their lives. In that sense, having a Knights council here on campus is a great point of connection for all the guys here who won’t be here forever.”
Establishing a Knights of Columbus council on campus also helps in the fight against rising disaffiliation and isolation among young people growing up in a world in which institutions and formal structures are increasingly de-emphasized, Fr. Hood said.
“Especially as students, young people become more disaffiliated and don’t associate themselves with particular groups,” Fr. Hood said. “The Gospel is an antidote to that. We can’t be Christians alone. The life of the Church is a life that we move through together. Something as simple as having a Knights council on campus can provide part of the community all of us are created for, to have that place where these guys can feel connected with their brothers and feel connected with the larger community here at DCCM.”
During the exemplification ceremony Feb. 1, representatives of the Knights of Columbus' state council spoke of the history of the Knights, an organization founded by Fr. Michael J. McGivney of New Haven, Conn., to serve as a fraternal order of charity for Catholic men.
The 15 young men present at the exemplification were each presented with a rosary, a coin and a Knights of Columbus pin as signs of their faith, fidelity to the Knights, and the fraternity they have with one another and the surrounding community.
The Blessed Carlo Acutis Council shows the Knights of Columbus’ best days are yet ahead, McGrath added.
“For guys looking to stay in the local area, this can be a community to be involved with down the line,” McGrath said. “The Knights have been around for a long time. There is a lot we can learn from our older gentlemen, older and wiser, the networking they can offer, and the relationships that can foster. They show us what it's like to be a man of faith starting a career, a business, or a family.”
As the new council elects officers and begins conducting its ordinary business, Fr. Hood has been impressed with the zeal and self-starting nature of the founding members.
“I’ve been very hands-off with the whole process, as this is something (the young men at DCCM) have wanted to start, and I’m here to support them,” Fr. Hood said. “They really took it and ran with it, which is great to see, the guys wanting to take up a role in leadership and following through with eagerness, zeal and inviting others to become Knights. It’s encouraging to see this get off the ground.”
McGrath said naming the council after Blessed Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager whom Pope Francis is set to canonize during the Jubilee for Teenagers April 25-27, made complete sense for a council comprised of college students.
“We thought long and hard about the name,” McGrath said. “Some votes were held; at first we thought we would go with ‘Collegiate Knights of Detroit.’ But when Fr. Matt suggested Carlo Acutis — who was a teenager and very tech savvy — it made sense to have him, a young, modern-day saint, represent our council. He's someone we can look up to as young men to see what it means to be a committed Catholic in today’s world.”
