Start a Knights of Saint John Paul II chapter in your town: Join Today
(LifeSiteNews) — The depravity and insanity of society has descended to such levels that it feels like we’re living out a dystopian novel: Authority figures are sanctioning child mutilation; women are celebrating their “right” to kill their children; families are breaking down and increasingly not being formed at all; population collapse is looming; the very fabric of society is unraveling to such an extent that its repair can seem an impossible task.
That there is a need to fight evil in society is clear; but where and how the battles need to be fought is not necessarily so obvious. This is where the Knights of JPII step in: bringing men together to fight spiritual warfare and reclaim Christendom, city by city and town by town. Their mission is to build the “civilization of love and truth” championed by Pope St. John Paul II.
What fuels their fight is the power of God through prayer, without which no fight against evil can be successful.
The group’s founder, Daniel Potvin, told LifeSiteNews in an exclusive interview that the idea for the fraternal organization has been “rolling around” in his mind for years. His friend, Deacon Bruce, had already been encouraging him to get the Knights going when one day, as he was driving home from work, he was thinking about how there used to be five churches and three Catholic schools in the area. Now, “all the schools are closed down, and there’s one Catholic church hanging by a thread,” Potvin said.
“I remember saying, ‘Lord, when are you going to do something about this?’ He said, “I don’t have visions and I don’t hear voices, but I just felt very strong in my heart the Lord saying back to me, ‘When are you going to do something about it?’”
Six months later on the Feast of St. Joseph, the Knights of JPII were founded.
On their website, the Knights say their goals are to “Become the men God created us to be: saints,” as well as “to reclaim Christendom throughout the world” for “our King and Queen, Jesus and Mary.”
Potvin told LifeSiteNews he was inspired to launch the Knights because he wanted to “get in the battle” to confront the seriousness of “what’s going on in the world.”
“There’s a huge spiritual battle and men need to be on the front lines,” he said.
The male-exclusive group already has about five or six chapters and is dedicated to fighting evil on the local level, within but autonomous from the parish.
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The Knights wear their rosaries openly and engage with local Catholic efforts. They’re not street evangelists, but they promote first Saturday devotions, provide security for processions, and engage in evangelization in their own personal spheres – even in the local pub.
“A buddy of mine brought five people into the church,” Potvin said. Of the five, four were “from the pub.”
He shared with LifeSite his vision for establishing a JPII lodge run by “solid Catholic intellectuals” in every town in order to “counter the masonic lodges” and put “boots on the ground.”
If each town had “at least two knights going out on the street,” he said, “you’re summoning an army the likes of which the world has never seen.”
Potvin said the choice of Pope St. John Paul II as the group’s namesake was made in large part due to the former pontiff’s vocal and stalwart opposition to communism, which Potvin said is “alive and well and flourishing” in the modern western world. He pointed to the freedom-squashing COVID-19 lockdowns and the totalitarian globalist agenda promoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as evidence.
And the men interested in joining the Knights have a background in fighting to protect what’s dear to them.
Many who are attracted to becoming members are veterans who have already “put their lives on the line for the country” and “know the concept of battle,” he said.
Potvin, who said he “wrestled for six years” and “love[s] close combat,” argued that demons are running amok in modern institutions and “somebody’s got to go out and engage them:” a task Catholic veterans are uniquely qualified to take on.
“I think the veteran has that warrior spirit, and wants to engage in that,” he said.
READ: Yes, the rosary is a mighty weapon against evil. It’s the solution, not the problem
Potvin told LifeSite it’s important that men, who are “wired” by God to be protectors, have a male-exclusive fraternal group because they “need to be around men” and to become “warriors.”
He said he has turned down women who were interested in joining the Knights because he believes it’s necessary for men to have an organization that is exclusively their own.
If a “man is having trouble in his marriage” or “somebody’s having trouble with porn,” Potvin explained, he will only be able to truly open up about his unique struggles around fellow men. “As steel sharpens steel,” he said, paraphrasing Proverbs 27:17: “Men sharpen men.”
The establishment of a male-only organization is also hoped to help a generation of young boys who have been too “coddled,” and grown men who “have gotten so wimpy” and “feminized” in modern culture.
Potvin noted that “70 percent of men in our country are not fit to serve in the military,” and many men in the younger generations have shifted “away from manual labor” which “builds character.”
Regardless of the struggling state of modern masculinity, however, he’s hopeful that authentic manliness in the service of God can be rekindled if even a small number of “men step up with courage,” pointing out that Gideon “had only 300 men” and “it’s God’s battle to begin with.”
On October 9, Bishop Joseph Strickland formally consecrated the Knights of JPII and asked for “all the holy saints, souls, and angels to protect and assist the Knights of John Paul II in fulfilling their mission in these dark times.”
Learn more about the Knights, their mission, and how to start a local chapter in your own town by visiting their website here.