The Vatican's Secretary of State's Interesting Visit With the Knights of Columbus and How this Relates to the Hersey of " Americanism"

Update- The Full Homily that the Secretary of State Gave is here.


The Knights of Columbus are having their annual convention and boy did they have a nice guest and speaker. That is Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone the Vatican Secretary of State.

This News Article tell us some details.

First this:
"Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the second highest ranking official at the Vatican, told members of the Knights of Columbus that he is taking a personal interest in the beatification process for the order's founder, Father Michael McGivney."I hope this recognition (of sanctity) will arrive soon, and I'll personally work on this, so that this day will come soon," Cardinal Bertone said during his homily, delivered in Italian, at the Aug. 7 opening Mass of the Knights of Columbus' 125th annual national convention at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville".

That is pretty exciting. I think the Knights are our hidden jewel here in America.

As for opening mass in which he presided:
Cardinal Bertone, who celebrated the Mass in Latin, used his homily to praise the work of Father McGivney, who died in 1890 at age 38.

That is interesting in light of recent events.

Here is the EWTN article.

What does this have to do with this heresy of Americanism we hear about that is often associated with us silly patrotic Catholics all deluded with this silly Civic religion?.

Russell Shaw has a piece on Americanism that is quite good in which I will interact with more in the future.

For those that are from abroad, the Knights of Columbus is the premier Catholic Men's organization in the Americas. In this piece he talks about the Knights of Columbus and how it relates to combatting the true heresy of Americanism(which is of course disputed often what that is). It should be noted that the Knights not only have as one of their missions patriotism but it is a degree.

Question? If American Catholics follow the ideals of a possible future Saint Fr. Michael McGivney can they be construed as being involved in a heresy. The whole article is a good read and how he ties the Knights of Columbus in is important. Heree is some excerpts:

"1.2 million members in the United States, this organization of American origin occupies a position ofgreat importance in Catholic life. More than any other Church institution (with the possible exception of the parochial school), it is a distinctive expression of American Catholicism-one that tellsmuch about the Church in this country. The Knights of Columbus were founded in 1882 in New Haven, Connecticut, by a young Irish-American priest, Father Michael J. McGivney, and a group of Irish-American laymen. Their choice of Columbus as patron was a true indicator of their intentions: a conscious symbolic affirmation of the compatibility of Catholicism and Americanism"
Note that word is not always in reference to the heresy .

In the years that followed, the Knights not only remained true totheir original inspiration-the vision of their Church and their country forever linked-but the organization also functioned,practically speaking, as a powerful engine for the assimilation of several generations of Catholic immigrants into American culture.Irishmen, Germans, Poles, Italians, Slovaks-all became American as well as Catholic partly through the good offices of the K of C.Writes Kauffman:From its origins to World War I, the Order's goals were most visibly expressed in its assertion of the social legitimacy and patriotic loyalty of Catholic immigrants [a striking instance of that is theKnights' "patriotic" Fourth Degree]. By accepting-indeed,extolling-the religious and ethnic pluralism of American society, by portraying Catholic citizenship as the highest form of American citizenship, by promoting American- Catholic culture...and by expressing a firm belief that the American Catholic experience has had a transforming effect upon Catholicism and upon American society,the Knights generally reflected the optimism characteristic of several ecclesiastical leaders associated with the "Americanist" posture in American Catholicism.

HMMMMM

THe rest of the article is good. It goes into how even as the Culture has become more hostile to the faith that the Knights have fought that.

Responding in 1968 to the question, "Are the Knights progressive orconservative?" McDevitt argued that they were both: progressive onmatters of social policy, "conservative in our reaction to those who lobby for causes which would rob our country of its ties to Judeo-Christian morality."The inroads of secular humanism became a frequent McDevitt theme. In 1976, in one of his last major addresses as Supreme Knight, he lashed out at the Supreme Court as a source of much of the trouble."Contrary to the original intent of a benign tolerance of all religions," he said, "the current court philosophy has forced government to take a position of negative neutrality on allreligion." As a result, "we do have an established religion...the religion of irreligion-secular humanism, established and decreed bythe courts." We have come a long way here from John Ireland's"glorious future... beneath the starry banner."

Again it is all a good read. The point is that again the United States is not a heresy. It's Government structure or its basic ideals is not a heresy. What the heresy is often a culture in places that is so not just confined to America. Anyone been to Europe lately? I shall be getting into Americanism and what the role of an American Catholic is. However to be a good Catholic by definition is too be a good American citizen.

I am not ready to go the catecombs yet. In fact our faith seems to say we should fight that urge.