The New Jersey State Council is the governing body for the Knights of Columbus in the state of New Jersey. We have over 300 Councils comprising over 58,000 members. We are a welcoming group of Catholic gentlemen, striving to be better men of faith, husbands and fathers by serving others in works of charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism fulfilling the vision of our founder, Blessed Michael McGivney, to aid one another to strengthen our faith, our families and our parishes in order to truly be the "Charity that Evangelizes" and the "Strong right arm of the Church."
From its humble beginnings in the basement of Saint Mary's Church in New Haven, Connecticut begun with a parish priest and a small group of dedicated men, the Knights of Columbus has grown into the largest lay organization of Catholic men located throughout the world. We now number more than 1.9 million members in more than 15,000 councils, serving in the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Poland, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Cuba, Guatemala, Guam, Saipan, Lithuania, France, Ukraine, and South Korea.
I welcome you to our online home and am proud to boast of our continuing efforts of practicing our Order’s principles of charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism. These are the principles established by that parish priest, Blessed Michael J. McGivney, 139 years ago. Throughout our state we conduct numerous programs that directly benefit our church, councils, communities, families and youth. We are working to build a bridge back to faith. There is much good and necessary work to be done in this world, and that's what Knights do every day. Our Supreme Knight, Patrick Kelly, recently emphasized that Faith is the WHY behind everything we do as Knights, quoting from Pope Francis he said that the Knights MUST be the spiritual leaders of the Church. As we have often said: “if not us—who?”
This website is updated on a regular basis to provide you with both written and pictorial examples of how we practice these principles every day to demonstrate that we are indeed, a Catholic, family oriented, fraternal service organization. Please explore it and forward to us any comments you might have so that we can continue to provide you with information you might want about our wonderful jurisdiction, New Jersey.
If you would like to join our ranks and grow in your own spirituality and faith, please go to www.kofc.org/joinus using the promotional code of MCGIVNEY2020 to receive a full year of membership at no cost.
Fraternally,
Jim Stoever
New Jersey State Deputy
Founded by Father Michael J. McGivney, curate at St. Mary's Parish in New Haven, Connecticut, the Knights of Columbus was chartered on March 29, 1882, in the State of Connecticut.
As the Priest explained to a small group of men at a meeting in the basement of St. Mary's Church in October 1881, his purpose in calling them together was manifold: to help Catholic men remain steadfast in their faith through mutual encouragement, to promote closer ties of fraternity among them; and to set up an elementary system of insurance so that the widows and children of members in the group who might die would not find themselves in dire financial straits.
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