James 2:14, 17 asks “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works” and proclaims “…faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
To that end, the Knights of Peter Claver (KPC), a historically Black Catholic fraternal organization, strives to serve others.
Today, the KPC is in both the United States and Columbia. The Diocese of Richmond has two units: the Father Lloyd F. Stephenson-St. Vincent de Paul Council and Court 362 serving St. Vincent de Paul, Newport News and the Barrett-Newell Council and Court 279 which serves the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Norfolk. Plans are underway to expand to more parishes, said Grand Knight Eric Labat, Council 279.
KPC is not a parish ministry but rather a separate organization dedicated to serving a particular parish. Because units can have a council, court (Ladies Auxiliary) and Junior Knights and Junior Daughters, Derek Howell, Council 279 deputy grand knight, called it a family organization which is “very engaging, energizing within your own parish.”
Kermit Ashby, Council 362 grand knight, said, “We are kind of the go-to party in the church. When they need something, they come to the Knights of Peter Claver and the Ladies Auxiliary.”
For example, some of the activities that Unit 362 does are collecting and distributing blankets to the homeless, participating in a prison ministry, and supporting the parish’s Backdoor Ministry, which provides a hot lunch to the underprivileged each weekday.
They also participate in the parish’s Downtown Christmas Party, which provides gifts for hundreds of local residents in need each year. The council established and contributes to a scholarship, now turned over to the parish, for all graduating high school students in the parish who will pursue further education, Ashby said.
In serving the greater community, the council makes donations to the Peninsula Food Bank and Peninsula Rescue Mission. Both the council and court donate to the American Cancer Society and participate in its annual Relay for Life. The council is also a sponsor of the annual Bon Secours Foundation golf tournament, Ashby said.
Activities of Council 279 include volunteering with the basilica’s food pantry and soup kitchen. The council also administers the annual Leonard Barks Sr. Scholarships, given to a middle school and high school basilica student attending an area Catholic school, Labat said.
Both units volunteer at their area’s revolving winter shelters, wherein different churches in the area take turns hosting homeless individuals overnight during the cold weather months.
The Ladies Auxiliaries support the KPC in time and treasure, but they also have initiatives of their own. Court 279 works with foster children in Norfolk at the Up Center, providing them school supplies and Christmas presents, and award scholarships annually, reported Janice Davis, grand lady.
Court 362 offers a John Otto Book Scholarship which awards high school seniors at St. Vincent who are entering college and trade schools, said Shirley Patterson, vice grand lady and a charter member.
The Junior Daughters at the basilica are collecting socks for seniors and bibs for babies at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk.
The list of service goes on.
Ferenzo Gainey, a former Council 362 grand knight, said, “I like the camaraderie with the guys in the church. I also like the fact that as an individual, I can do things for the church, but as a group we can do a lot more in supporting the needs of the church, the functions of the church.”
In addition to serving the community, the organizations turn out (assemble) in regalia at a Mass on St. Peter Claver Day in September, Founders’ Day in November and Divine Mercy Sunday during Easter – alternating each year between the basilica or St. Vincent de PaulThe KPC was founded in 1909 in Mobile, Alabama, at a time when Black men were not allowed in the Knights of Columbus. The Ladies Auxiliary was authorized August 1922, and the Junior Knights and Junior Daughters, open to children from their first Communion to age 18, were authorized in 1917 and 1926 respectively.
The organization was named after Peter Claver, a Jesuit missionary sent to South America in 1616. Moved by the “miserable condition” of slaves aboard ships and in the pens of Cartagena, South America, he worked to alleviate their suffering, calling himself the “slave of slaves forever.” Canonized in 1896, he is the patron of slaves, African missions, and interracial justice.
Both Council 279, now boasting 45 members, and the Ladies Auxiliary, 37 members strong, were chartered in 1986. The unit also has five Junior Knights and seven Junior Daughters, Labat reported.
The St. Vincent Council, which has 11 knights, and the court, now with 21 ladies, were established in 2000, Ashby said.
Msgr. Walter Barrett, who was the basilica pastor at the time he helped establish Unit 279, said something he finds “attractive” about the group is that it led more men and youth to become involved in parish ministry, and it offered women more opportunities to serve the parish while connecting them to a national organization.
Msgr. Barrett, who was presented with his 35-year pin this summer, said KPC is another expression of the faith, as it is oriented to Catholicism and the teaching of the faith and is a form of evangelization.
“I’ve gotten a deeper sense of commitment to my parish particularly. I feel like I’ve grown closer to the Church in a service role. It has deepened my faith with the fellowship that I have with the other knights as well,” Howell said.
Similarly, Patterson said, “It makes me a better part of the Catholic Church, I think, because we are international. I have people who are doing the same thing all over the country and South America. I feel like I am doing God’s will. I’m supposed to give back. And I’m doing it through my faith through my church.”