The Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus will return to Nashville and the Opryland Hotel in August 2022.
“I received a letter from Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly informing me that we have been chosen as the host for 2022,” Nashville Bishop J. Mark Spalding said. “It’s an honor to have the Supreme Convention of the Knights here.”
As the host, Bishop Spalding is expected to be the main celebrant and homilist for the convention’s opening Mass.
The 140th Supreme Convention is expected to draw about 3,000 Knights, their families, Supreme Council staff, cardinals, bishops and priests from around the world, said Tennessee State Deputy Michael McCusker of the Memphis suburb of Germantown, who will chair the Supreme Convention Committee for the Tennessee State Council. “It’s major,” he said.
“Nashville is going to see much of the episcopacy from throughout the United States gathering here” for the convention, Bishop Spalding noted.
Tennessee has hosted the Supreme Convention twice before; in Memphis in 1941 and in Nashville in 2007.
After the success of the 2007 convention, which also was held at the Opryland Hotel, the Tennessee State Council decided about eight years ago to apply to host another Supreme Convention, said McCusker. Convention sites are scheduled years in advance.
The 2022 convention was originally scheduled to be held in Florida, but was recently moved to Nashville, McCusker said.
Normally, the hosts have two years to prepare, but in this case, the Tennessee State Council has only one, McCusker noted.
While the programming and speakers for the convention are arranged by the Supreme Council, the local hosts are responsible for some of the logistics, such as providing transportation for the cardinals and bishops while they’re in town, planning outings for the Knights and their families, organizing an opening night party, and providing convention souvenirs, McCusker said.
The Tennessee State Council will need about 400 volunteers to help keep the convention running smoothly, he said.
The Knights of Columbus is an international fraternal service order for Catholic men founded by Blessed Father Michael McGivney in 1882 in New Haven, Connecticut. Today, The Knights have more than 2 million members around the world.
