One of the main aims of our Order is to promote our Catholic faith. Indeed, our Order’s motto is Instaurare Omnia in Christo, which means to restore all things in Christ. As Knights, we undertake a lot of charitable works; however, while these activities fundamental, they are not absolute as there are many works of the Order, which are varied and wide-ranging. One of our primary aims is to promote our Catholic faith and Christian values, and we also try to monitor and assess the socio-cultural changes within society in the light of faith.
As Knights, we also try to highlight the relationship between faith and life, pointing to the value of the social teaching of the Church. We encourage adults to participate in and assume responsibility for the Church’s mission to evangelise and give Christian witness in society. Within our Order, we try to promote an accurate understanding of the Gospel and Church teaching, and we support the clarification of current moral and religious questions in society.
Some of our current activities include:
- Spiritual formation and prayer commitment in all our communities.
- Involvement at a local and national level in many various pastoral, community, and civic projects.
- Through the Northern Area Committee (NAC), the Knights of Saint Columbanus continue to lobby our politicians on Pro-life & Political issues. We seek to inform, notify and help keep all Brothers in our Order up to date with the various political parties, events, and organisations in divergence with our Catholic faith. We continue to petition multiple political parties on their policies and stances, which we find are at variance with our Christian beliefs.
- Continual Involvement with our youth and various works of charity.
- The continual pursuit of justice and charity throughout Irish society.
- The support for Marriage, the family, and the rights of the unborn.
- Working against aggressive secularism, which continues to erode the very principles of our Catholic faith on this Island and eroding religion from public life in various formats, as we listen to politicians stating religious virtues can have no place in politics or public life.
- A stance against faith intolerance. We are increasingly moving into an era that does not respect freedom of religion and conscience and which continually tries to reduce freedom of religion to freedom of worship only.
- Defending Catholic education as we witness continual attacks on Denominational schools.
- The defence of the Unborn both North and South of the Border.
- The push for religious vocations. We are struggling with a fall in religious vocations, a fall in Church attendance, and an ageing prelate.
- Encouraging families to return to their faith. We witness the fall in Church attendance and note that Children of all ages are no longer being brought to Church by parents who no longer want to attend. What chance do they have, or does our Catholic faith have if we continue to bear witness to all of these issues?
- We continue to help all those affected by Recession, Unemployment, social deprivation.
- We continue to help all those affected by Alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness, and poverty. These issues are on the increase and have been made so much worse by the recent government lockdowns.
These issues must be addressed by an informed and committed laity at every level through schools, the shop floor, community, and national media networks. Our Order seeks to supply the necessary impetus to aid in this fight.
We need men to join our Order and help us to restore all things in Christ in areas such as:
- Ongoing family and community catechesis.
- Ongoing engagement with the sacramental life of the Church.
- Liturgical formation and vocations.
- Building up the local Christian community.
- Support for members of Catholic school boards of management.
- Support for Christian initiation of children.
- Supporting education in Scripture, Theology and Church History
- Reflection on justice and peace issues leading to Catholic action
- Participation in liturgy and liturgical music initiatives
- Retreats, spiritual direction, prayer-groups
- Charitable works
- Brotherhood and Fraternity