Earlier this year I joined the Knights of Columbus, the world’s oldest Catholic fraternal service organization. Specifically, I joined the Fr. McCafferty Council in Yardley, PA. I was living in New York at the time, and it seemed to make sense to join in Yardley so I could stop in between visits to Philadelphia. In practice, that never really worked, so last night I joined the Fr. John E. Doyle Council closer to family.

When I was initially trying to join a year or two ago, I was amazed at the total lack of councils in Center City Philadelphia. Other than the far Northeast, there simply weren’t any. After attending council meetings, I tend to understand why. The Knights councils seem to rely on a level ofneighborliness and personal investment of time and organizational capacity that probably just doesn’t exist among the right age groups in the city right now. I hope that changes, because as beautiful as the suburbs are, the Knights should also be active in the heart of the city.

I plan to go through the second degree process before the end of the year, which I think is focused around the “unity” aspect of the Knights’ four principles.