- I'm now joined by Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly
to discuss the remarkable success
of "Mother Teresa: No Greater Love" among other things.
Mr. Kelly, always great to see you.
Thanks for taking the time to be on "Knightcast".
- Hi, Jonathan, it's great again to be with you.
- So the movie is a smashing success, right?
So we've got two days,
it reached number two for some period of time there.
It's so far over $1 million come in on this.
Why is it so successful?
- You know, the movie says a lot
and I think it touches a lot of people in so many ways.
I mean, the witness of Mother Teresa
is one I think for every person, if you watch this film,
it touches each of us in a different way.
But I think in many ways, Mother Teresa, she lived her life
by following the two commandments that Christ gave us;
love of God and love of neighbor.
And so I think there's a purity to her witness
that really resonates with people.
But I think it's a little more than that too.
I think people see that, when you see Mother Teresa,
I mean, it is her life, she had a radical life.
It was a life of radical self-giving.
But we all can do that too in a way, right?
So we all are called to serve the poorest in our lives.
But when I say poor,
I mean, the poor come in many different disguises.
And we all have people in our lives that need help
in one way or another
and we can do those small acts of charity,
doing small things with great love
in the same way that Mother Teresa did and we can do that.
So I think that's one of the reasons why
the film has been such a success.
- Well, let's hope the movie keeps getting out there,
more people see it and that it changes a bunch of lives
even if small steps, small incremental steps of service.
So let me change the subject a little bit
because it's been busy a couple weeks for the Knights.
We recently had our college council meeting
where we bring leaders from all of the college councils.
I think we had over 50 campuses represented,
a couple hundred people there.
Great event, it's over weekend.
You've got awards you give away,
you've got a time of fellowship
but you've also got a time of formation.
So it's important what they hear and what they learned.
You were at this event, tell me how did it go?
What did you see at this?
- The college conference is really one of my favorite events
of the year 'cause as you say,
we get so many college knights into New Haven
and they're here for a weekend of faith formation,
of discussions and they bring so much energy with them.
I mean, these are young men on college campuses
and they are on fire for their Catholic faith
and they are motivated by being a Knight of Columbus.
It's so encouraging to be with them, you know?
And it's not easy.
It's not easy being a Knight of Columbus on campus.
It's not easy being a Catholic on a campus.
But what I find from them
is they're really energized about this.
They're energized about their faith.
And the whole college experience I think
is one where the Knights of Columbus
can make that college experience so much better
by bringing young men together of like mind
in a band of brothers and just really enhancing
the college experience.
I know that was the case for me
because I was a college knight.
I joined the Knights at Marquette University
and the guys I joined with were my friends
throughout college and many of them are still my friends.
So it was a very inspiring and hopeful event.
- One of the highlights was
and we were there together at this when we saw
our our good friend of the Knights,
his Eminence Cardinal Dolan gave this talk
on the Friday night, the keynote.
Powerful talk on what it means to be a soldier for Christ.
It seemed to resonate with the guys in the room.
What did you think of his talk
and what made it grab these guys?
- Well, you know, it was great
because Cardinal Dolan was there.
And as you know, as many people know,
he is a great communicator.
He's one of the great communicators
in the Catholic church today.
And we were in, just to set the scene for everyone,
we were in the basement of St. Mary's
where the Knights of Columbus were founded 140 years ago.
So the setting was great.
The setting was ideal for this Friday night dinner.
And Cardinal Dolan gave a wonderful talk as you say
about being a soldier for Christ.
And he talked about what we need to do
is we need to have courage, we need to have dedication
and we need to have unity, right?
We need to stay together.
And this is an interesting one.
We need to know,
we need to be clear about who our enemy is, right?
So that's the case for all soldiers, all military men.
But for us as Christians,
these examples apply to us as well.
I mean, there is, we as Christians,
as Catholics need courage,
we need dedication, we need unity.
And we need to know that there is a dark force out there,
the enemy of our soul trying to knock us off track.
So that was the talk that he gave.
And I really think the men there really appreciated it.
It was a substantive talk.
He was funny the way Cardinal Dolan always is
but he really left the guys with a sense of mission.
I was in the Navy so I'm a military man myself
and the mission is paramount when you're in the military.
But the point that Cardinal Dolan made was, as Christians,
as Christian and Catholic men, we have a mission.
And that mission is given to us by Jesus Christ.
And we need to be dedicated to that mission
and we need to be disciplined and we need to stay together.
So all in all, I think it was just a great evening
and I think there was a great sense of brotherhood there.
- There's another issue that we really need to persevere in.
And we've talked about this,
this is a very important moment for the pro-life movement.
Dobbs has been decided, Roe has been overturned
but that's by no means the end of the challenges
we have ahead of us.
We pray it's the beginning of an end as you said
but it's not the end.
We've got the March for Life coming up.
What do we need to be doing right now
for the pro-life 'cause?
- I think what we need to be doing is we need to realize
that what the Dobbs decision did for us, as you say,
it did not end abortion in America, right?
It overturned Roe but it did not end abortion.
What it has done is given us the opportunity
to win the fight for life.
But what we need to do is persevere, right?
Persevere in the fight for life.
Dobbs clearly was a victory
but the battle for life is not over.
And what that means for us is we need to be more involved
than ever in the March for Life in Washington DC
and our local state marches.
But the March for Life in DC is really, really important
because there is legislation in Congress
which is attempting to codify Roe v. Wade.
So yes, Dobbs overturned Roe but there is now legislation
in Congress attempting to codify,
make Roe the law of the land through legislation.
And we need to go to Washington
and we need to march with the March for Life this January
to make our voice heard to policy makers
and to everyone in Washington DC.
- It seems to me that there's two things we wanna avoid
if I'm hearing you right.
One is the sense that we've won and it's over.
That's no way the case.
Also to not be intimidated.
I mean, things have heated up after Dobbs
and we've seen genuine acts of vandalism
and real threats come out at the moment
and far from shine back, it seems like we really need to be,
gosh, more assertive than ever.
- I think you're right.
I think we do need to be assertive.
We do need to be diligent on this.
It goes back to what we were talking about, discipline.
Discipline in life, discipline in the Christian life.
We need to understand that we have been given a mission
as Catholics, as Christians and part of that mission
is to fight for life.
I mean, if not us who?
And we can't be intimidated by these tactics.
We need to stand up peacefully, march
and we need to make our voice heard.
And there's a lot of us, there's a lot of pro-lifers
and people who are committed to life and now is not the time
to step back or to be intimidated.
Now is the time to really be heard.
And so I would urge all our brother knights
and their families this January,
go to the March for Life in Washington DC,
that's a cause that has been really close to the heart
of the Knights for so long.
We were instrumental in the starting the march
nearly 50 years ago.
And also be active in our state marches.
State marches around the country are very important.
So again, Jonathan, I would say we need to persevere
and to run the race in the fight for life.
- Supreme Knight, always a delight to speak with you.
Thank you for your encouraging words
and we'll talk to you next time on "Knightcast".
Thank you.
- Okay, Jonathan, thank you very much.
- Thank you again to Mr. Kelly for joining us
on "Knightcast".
There will be an encore presentation
of "Mother Teresa: No Greater Love" in U.S. theaters
on November 2nd.
Further, the film will debut in Canada
and the United Kingdom on November 2nd and 3rd.
A Spanish dubbed version will also play in the U.S. theaters
on November 7th.
And additionally, it will even be released in Brazil.
So to buy tickets, visit motherteresamovie.com.
(bright upbeat music)