Building Domestic Church

As we begin to implement the Building the Domestic Church While Strengthening Our Parish initiative announced at the Midyear Membership Meeting in San Antonio, I want to advise you of two new related activities that will be announced in my February Columbia column.

First, the Supreme Chaplain has composed a Consecration to the Holy Family. A new prayer card featuring this consecration is being developed and samples will be sent to you in the coming weeks.

As  we  continue  Implement  the  Building  the Domestic  Church  While Strengthening Parish  Initiative,  am  writing  to ask  every  State  Council  to  expand  our  Holy  Family  Prayer Program by hosting a  diocesan-wide "Holy Family Celebration.

These  celebrations  should  be  based  on  the  existing,  rosary-based  Holy  Family Prayer Program (#5050)  already In  use  by councils,  but should  also be expanded  to  Include  the Consecration  to the  Holy  Family  (#10371)  and  period  of  adoration  and  solemn  Benediction  of  the  Blessed Sacrament.  The  program  can also be supplemented  In  other ways, such  as by  Inviting  a Knights of Columbus  family  -  perhaps  your jurisdiction's  Family  of the  Year -  to  give  a  witness  talk. These  celebrations  could  be  held  In  a  cathedral,  major  church  other  suitable  to facilitate  the  greatest  participation  posslble,  both  by  brother  Knights  and  their  famllles,  by the broader  Catholic  community

Because God is the Father of orphans and widows, we want to reach out to all those who are lonely and abandoned.

For Families

God takes care of us; he is our guardian. In a special way, he is the “Father of orphans and Defender of widows” (Ps 68). In the ancient world, orphans and widows were the weakest elements of society. Without parents or a husband taking care of them, they were defenseless. God takes care of us by sending us Jesus Christ, his only Son. Like the Good Samaritan, Jesus was especially close to the sick, hungry, lonely and poor. In this way, he gives us the answer to Cain’s question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen 4:9). Every man is his “brother’s keeper.” God has entrusted us to one another.