College Councils

While most Knights of Columbus Councils are located at parishes or near multiple parish communities, many men first join the Knights while in college. Over 14,000 Knights are members of 199 College Councils worldwide. College Knights are full members of the Order.

The first College Council was at The Catholic University of America, Keane Council 353 (it has since moved off-campus).  The Catholic University of America has a new council, number 9542.  Today, the University of Notre Dame Council 1477 has the longest continually running College Council in the country.  In 1937, the University of Illinois became the first public university with a Knights of Columbus Council, The Illini Council Number 2782.  The Crusader Council No. 2706 at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, chartered in 1929, is the oldest College Council in New England and the oldest council established on a Jesuit college or university campus.

Some College Councils hold a unique form of the Knights Membership Blitz styled "Go Roman Week".  The name is a play on the fact that most fraternities on college campuses are given Greek alphabet designations, while the Knights of Columbus is a Catholic organization.  At some Catholic universities, such as the University of St. Thomas, the Knights are the only fraternity permitted on campus.

Each September, the Supreme Council hosts a College Council Conference at their headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut.  Awards are given for the greatest increases in membership, the best Youth, Community, Council, Family and Church activities and the overall Outstanding College Council of the year.  In 2005, the Outstanding College Council award went to Msgr. Cornelius George O'Keefe Council 8250 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  In years of an international World Youth Day the Order is represented by members of the College Council Conference Coordinating Committee, who travel with the diocese of the Supreme Chaplain (currently Bishop William E. Lori of the Diocese of Bridgeport).

Emblems of the Order

At the second Supreme Council meeting on May 12, 1883 Supreme Knight James T. Mullen introduced the emblem of the Order.  It consists of a shield mounted upon a Formée cross.  The Formée cross, with its arms expanding at the ends, is an artistic representation of the cross of Christ.  The shield harkens back to medieval knights and the cross represents the Catholicity of the Order.  Mounted on the shield is a fasces with an anchor and a short sword crossed behind it.  The fasces is a symbol of authority while the anchor is the mariner's symbol for Columbus.  The sword, like the shield it is mounted on, was used by knights of yesteryear when engaged upon an errand of mercy.  Each Knight receives the emblem as a lapel pin.

Three elements form the emblem of the Fourth Degree.  A dove floats over a globe showing the Western Hemisphere, the New World Columbus is credited with discovering.  Both are mounted on the Isabella cross, a variation of the Maltese cross with knobs at the end of each of the 8 points.  This cross was often found on the tunics and capes of the crusading knights who fought for the Holy Land.

Spiritually, the symbols of the emblem symbolize the three persons of God.  The Globe represents God the Father, Creator of the Universe.  The Cross is symbolic of God the Son, who redeemed mankind by dying on the cross, and the Dove represents God the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier of Humanity.  The colors of the emblem, the red cross, white dove and blue earth are the colors of the flag of the United States, where the Order was founded.  The elements serve as a reminder that the principle of the Degree is patriotism but also that the Order is thoroughly Catholic.

Additionally only officers elected to the chief position in either a council (GK), assembly (FN), chapter (President), or state/territory (State or Teritorial Deputy) are referred by the title "Past" once they have left office.  All other members having previously held a chief position are referred by the title "Former", the distinction being made between having been elected (Past) and having been appointed (Former).

Political activities

In 1954, lobbying by the Order helped convince the U.S. Congress to add the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.  President Dwight Eisenhower wrote to Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart thanking the Knights for their "part in the movement to have the words 'under God' added to our Pledge of Allegiance."  Similar lobbying convinced many state legislatures to adopt October 12th as Columbus Day and led to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's confirmation of Columbus Day as a federal holiday in 1937.

While the Knights of Columbus support political awareness and activity, United States councils are prohibited by tax laws from engaging in candidate endorsement and partisan political activity due to their non-profit status.  Nevertheless, President George H. W. Bush appeared at the annual convention during the election year of 1992 and President George W. Bush sent videotaped messages before he attended in person at the 2004 election year convention.  Public policy activity is limited to issue-specific campaigns, typically dealing with Catholic family and life issues.

In the United States, the Knights of Columbus often adopts socially conservative positions on public issues.  They have adopted resolutions advocating a Culture of Life, defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and protecting religious expression in public schools, government, and voluntary organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America.  The Order also funded a postcard campaign in 2005 in an attempt to stop the Canadian parliament from legalizing same-sex marriage.

On April 9, 2006 the Board of Directors commented on the "U.S. immigration policy [which] has become an intensely debated and divisive issue on both sides of the border between the U.S. and Mexico."  They called "upon the President and the U.S. Congress to agree upon immigration legislation that not only gains control over the process of immigration, but also rejects any effort to criminalize those who provide humanitarian assistance to undocumented immigrants, and provides these immigrants an avenue by which they can emerge from the shadows of society and seek legal residency and citizenship in the U.S."

Famous Knights

Many famous Catholic men from all over the world are Knights of Columbus.  In the United States several of the most notable include John F. Kennedy, Samuel Alito, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Jeb Bush, the Governor of Florida and brother of President George W. Bush.  Daniel Daly, a two-time Medal of Honor winner once described by the commandant of the Marine Corps as “the most outstanding Marine of all time” was also a Knight of Columbus.

Many notable clerics are also Knights, including William Cardinal Levada, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Sean Patrick Cardinal O'Malley, the Archbishop of Boston and Cardinal Jaime Sin, the former Archbishop of Manila.  In the world of sports, Vince Lombardi, the famed former coach of the Green Bay Packers, James Connolly, the first Olympic Gold Medal champion in modern times, and baseball star Babe Ruth were Knights.