The Kenosha Knights of Columbus organizations are leading a Rosary Procession in Kenosha on June 19 in honor of the Year of St. Joseph and Father’s Day.
The Rosary Procession, sponsored by Men of Christ, begins at 9 a.m. at St. James Parish, 5804 Sheridan Road, with a concert given by local singer/songwriter Anna Nuzzo, a member of St. Anne Parish in Pleasant Prairie. A Eucharistic Procession beginning at 9:45 follows the concert.
Because fatherhood is under attack, Men of Christ developed Catholic Father’s Day to help offset the growing confusion and chaos in the world.
“Catholic fathers can help their families, their parishes and the world find greater peace in Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Catholic Church,” said Kevin O’Brien, executive director of Men of Christ. “We want to recognize and honor the noble vocation of fatherhood. There is a crisis of fathers in society, and we want to help them. When you are constantly beating on someone, they die, so we need inspired men to lift and embrace the cross of leadership, to lay their lives down for the family. We need to inspire them and unite fathers with bishops and priests. A study shows that 93 percent of mothers and children will follow the father to Christ if he leads them. We are helping lead families to Christ.”
Pope Francis declared 2021 to be the year of St. Joseph, and since God the Father Almighty created the first man, O’Brien said he has called men to the heroic role of fatherhood. These are men who sacrifice themselves to lead, protect and provide for their wives and children.
“In recent times, the vision of heroic fatherhood has sometimes been lost. With the Catholic Church’s celebration of the Year of St. Joseph, it is a great time to inspire Catholic men to their great and noble call to be Catholic fathers,” he said. “Returning to the origins of Father’s Day, a day first celebrated to honor St. Joseph and Catholic fathers, 2021 will be the launch of an annual celebration of Catholic Fatherhood during June. All the faithful are invited to take part in these processions.”
According to Rich Mich, district deputy and grand knight of Divine Mercy Council 16022, they expect approximately 2,000 to participate in the procession, which is open to all who wish to pray.
“St. Joseph is the spiritual father of all fathers, and we pray for his guidance. We plan to pray especially for all the Brother Knights who are fathers,” he said.
Bishop James T. Schuerman, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, will lead the procession with the Blessed Sacrament and process through the streets to Civic Park, where they will have Benediction, followed by a picnic.
“We’ll gather at St. James Parish. Bring your rosary, picnic lunch and family games to play at the park. There will be local food trucks also available,” said Mich. “There will be a film crew filming the event.”
According to O’Brien, this event is the first in what he hopes will be an annual Father’s Day celebration across the country.
“The Knights in Kenosha have been phenomenal, and we are trying to get all of the Councils on board throughout the state,” he said. “This past summer, about three weeks before we launched the Aug. 15 Unite Wisconsin, my wife began crying. We saw the riots, which are contrary to our vision, and she wondered what was going on in our world. We had this beautiful Eucharistic procession, where so many people were praying; we had children praying the rosary in their First Holy Communion clothes, and (we) made a video of it and saw the power of it. There is such an attack on fathers. Satan knows if you take out the father, the family loses the authority, which then destroys the mother and children. Satan wants to divide, and we want to unite.”