The Knights of St Columba (KSC) is an Order of Catholic laymen dedicated to the service of the Church and their fellow men.  The Order exists to support the mission of the Catholic Church and at the same time to work for the spiritual and material good of the members and their families.

Essentially Knights must be lay apostles seeking to promote the Church’s social teaching and looking how they can help the clergy of the Parish and, when called on, to give help in Deanery or Diocesan activities.

On 5th October 1919 twenty four men met in Glasgow to consider starting an organisation, modelled on the Knights of Columbus, an American Catholic men’s organisation, whose work in supporting US army personnel sent to Europe in 1917 had been seen and admired.  The idea met with great enthusiasm and by St Patrick’s Day 1920 hundreds of applications for membership had  been received.  

This originally Scottish idea quickly came to England where it spread rapidly and there are now over 8,000 members around the UK.

The founders chose St Columba as the Patron, since he was the missionary who brought the Faith to Scotland and Northern England.

The basic unit of the Order is the Council, usually based on one or two parishes.   These are grouped  in Provinces for easier administration, and Provinces send representatives to the Supreme Council which is the governing body of the Order. There is an office in Glasgow.

Fr Tom asked Peter Wurr, who he knew to be a member of the Order in Council 261 at Palmers Green, if he knew why there was no Knights Council in this Parish. The answer seems to be that by the time this Parish had become established Councils of the Order had been established in Finchley and Palmers Green and several parishioners belonged to one or other of these Councils. These included Tom McMenamy who was very active in the Parish in the 1930s and 1940s and became Supreme Knight of the Order in 1952/5, at that time living in Cockfosters. In fact the KSC were present at the laying of the foundation stone because Peter Wurr remembers being brought to the church by his father, a member of Cl 178 Finchley, and there were a lot of other Knights present.

As a result of this conversation Peter Wurr asked Brothers of Palmers  Green Council to promote the Order at all Masses on the weekend 27/28th January 2007. Interested men have been meeting regularly since then and on 25th November, The Feast of Christ the King, 8 new members will be enrolled into the Order and a new Council will be inaugurated with Peter Wurr as Grand Knight, Tony Bianco as Secretary and Felipe Dias as Treasurer.