The dictionary defines “Unity” – the 2nd principle of our order – as “the state of being united or combined; a oneness of mind or feeling . . .” and there is no question that the Knights of Columbus are a united “band of brothers” standing for certain values and with certain feelings.  But how did that come to be?  What lead our founder, Father Michael J. McGivney, to choose “UNITY” as the second precept of the organization?  The answer is historical in nature.

What was it like being Catholic in America in the mid-1800s? To put it mildly, being Catholic in Protestant America was challenging.  History tells us that the tide of immigrant Catholics, overwhelmingly Irish, that had been surging across the Atlantic were regularly excluded from labor unions and other organizations that provided social services.   In addition, Catholics were barred from many of the popular fraternal organizations of the day.  Our faith was suspect and even scorned. Catholics were routinely denied opportunities for work and kept out of certain social circles altogether.

Father McGivney’s encounters with anti-Catholic bigotry and working men with destitute families touched him deeply. As a simple parish priest in an immigrant community, McGivney saw what could happen to a family when the breadwinner suddenly died and he wanted to provide what we call today a “safety net” of insurance to care for the widows and orphans left behind.  He saw these injustices as affronts to what it means to be a fully human person. Father McGivney’s vision for the Knights was based on his belief that Catholic men had an inherent dignity which would find its full flowering only as these men grew in holiness together through their vocation as husbands, fathers, providers and protectors.

He struggled to ascertain how might the Church keep men from drifting away from the faith and into the competing rituals of the secret societies that were so popular? How might he and the Church help the families left behind when fathers were felled by hard jobs and heart-straining worries at the bottom of the economic ladder? How might he help Catholics become better Catholics at the same time that they became better Americans?

The answer was to found an organization which bound men and families together – in unity – to take care of one another, to improve their communities and their church. When members cooperate with one another in any project for the good of others, they are implicitly acknowledging the worth of their brother. In every case, the beauty and dignity of our brothers are affirmed as we organize and share in the responsibility for every council project – “IN SERVICE TO ONE. IN SERVICE TO ALL.”