The country’s oldest predominantly Black fraternal Catholic organization, the Knights of Peter Claver, held its annual national convention in Rockville, Maryland from July 17-23.
According to Grant Jones, executive director of the Knights of Peter Claver, approximately 1,400 knights and members of the Ladies Auxiliary registered for the convention, which was held at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center.
“Keep growing, keep inviting, keep representing this order in a way that makes others want to say,” they want to join, Hilda L. Wiltz, the Ladies Auxiliary’s Supreme Lady, told the opening session of the organization’s senior division convention on July 21. There are significantly more female members of the Knights of Peter Claver, with at least twice as many junior daughters than their male counterparts.
One of the unique aspects of the Knights of Peter Claver is that an entire family may join the organization.
The Knights of Peter Claver was founded in 1909 by four Josephite priests and three laypeople in Mobile, Alabama, at a time when Black men were not permitted to join other Catholic fraternal organizations. It was incorporated in 1911. The Junior Knights were authorized in 1917 and recognized as a Division of the National Council in 1935. The Ladies Auxiliary was authorized in 1922 and recognized as a Division of the National Council in 1926. The Junior Daughters were established in 1930
“I didn’t see anyone who looked me,” in other Catholic organizations, Tracey Boyd-Vega, a Ladies Auxiliary member, said of why she joined the Knights of Peter Claver.
While Boyd-Vega attends St. Joseph Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia –a predominantly Black parish where she is parish pastoral council chair – many Knights of Peter Claver members attended churches that are not predominantly Black. Boyd-Vega described her experiences as an active member for a dozen years as “very spiritual and family oriented” and “sisterly.”
Children as young as 7 years old can join the Junior Division, and Boyd-Vega appreciates her granddaughter MacKenzie Vega’s membership, which she hopes will accentuate the importance of Church when compared to other distractions, such as social media.
“They need to know that Church comes first,” Boyd-Vega said.
The Junior Division held its convention from July 17-20, with the Senior Division convening from July 20-23. Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky is the national chaplain for the Knights of Peter Claver and offered daily Mass at the convention.
The Knights and Ladies Auxiliary members, spread out over 36 states, heard good news at the convention about the Order’s finances. Through raising its membership dues in 2024, benefitting more from financial investments and cutting some costs, is has gone from running a more than $182,000 deficit in 2023 to having a budget surplus of more than $166,000 in 2024, according to Oliver Mahone, national treasurer of the organization.
Grant told the opening session attendees that he restarted the Saint Peter Claver Foundation 15 years ago with $3,000 in assets and has increased its assets to $200,000. In addition to serving as executive director of the Knights of Peter Claver, Grant is also executive director of the Saint Peter Claver Foundation.
Clinton Burks, a rising junior at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans and third generation member, was elected Junior Supreme Knight at the convention. He said he hopes to use social media, such as TikTok, to recruit new members.
Josephite Brother Cursey Calais II attended the convention representing the Knights of Peter Claver Council at St. Joseph Seminary in Washington, which has about 60 members. He grew up at Holy Ghost Parish in Appaloosas, Louisiana, and said meeting with seminarians, priests and religious at his Knights of Peter Claver Council helped promote his vocation and connect with his African-American roots. He made his final profession as a Josephite in 2022.
Speaking after the July 20 Mass celebrated by Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese of Military Services and chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Gabrielle St. Andre, a junior division member from Lafayette, Louisiana, said she enjoyed visiting Washington, D.C.’s national monuments while in town for the convention.
The Knights of Peter Claver is also interested in advancing social justice, in alignment with Catholic social teaching, particularly regarding racism, criminal justice reform, and human trafficking.
Supreme Knight Christopher Pichon, Sr. said that Knights of Peter Claver members at the convention showed particular interest in fighting human trafficking after they learned that Black people are disproportionately victimized by human traffickers, with one source claiming that up to 70 percent of such victims are Black.
In the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, there are Knights of Peter Claver Councils at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Seat Pleasant, Maryland; St. Peter Claver Parish in St. Inigoes, Maryland; and St. Joseph Seminary in Northeast Washington, D.C.
