To the Heights Together

May 1, 2026

In an age of loneliness and isolation, authentic friendship and fraternity help men discover and live their God-given mission

By Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly

May 1, 2026

Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly (Photo by Michael Collopy)

One of the biggest problems of Blessed Michael McGivney’s time was young men leaving the Catholic Church. He built our brotherhood, in part, to address that crisis, seeing that when Catholic men come together in fraternity, they can become who God made them to be.

This was one of Father McGivney’s great insights — not only that men desire fellowship, but that they need it to find and fulfill their mission. This remains true today, yet we live in a time of isolation.

One man in particular puts a face on this crisis: Luigi Mangione. In December 2024, he allegedly killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — taking another’s life and ruining his own. Mangione is just 27 years old, and by all accounts had much going for him: academic success, opportunity, a Catholic upbringing. Yet something fundamental was missing.

Father McGivney built this brotherhood so that we could be guides for one another. We were never meant to go it alone. God created us for communion — with one another and with him.

In the aftermath of the murder, it became clear that Mangione was deeply isolated. He had cut off contact with friends and family. Alone with his thoughts, he turned toward a destructive end.

There are, of course, complex factors behind such a tragedy. But there is no question that a lack of real friendship made things worse. Mangione had no one to guide him.

Most disturbing of all, his story is not unique. It reflects a broader pattern among young people today — especially men.

A 2021 Harvard study found that 61% of 18- to 25-year-olds feel lonely most or all of the time. About one in four people under 30 report having no close friends. And over the last 35 years, the share of men who say they have no good friends has increased fivefold.

Catholics are not immune. In many of our parishes and schools, young men are searching — often in the wrong places — for purpose, identity and belonging.

But there is another young man who shows what is needed today: Pier Giorgio Frassati. Living in early 20th-century Italy, he took the opposite path from Mangione — a contrast that goes to the heart of what Father McGivney calls us to do.

Like Mangione, Frassati had much going for him — a good family, a strong education and an awareness of the challenges of his time. He refused to be indifferent to injustice and suffering, and he sought to take action. But while Mangione directed that drive toward evil, Frassati devoted himself to doing good.

Frassati’s mission was to serve the poor. He gave them everything he had, including friendship, meeting them not as a volunteer but as a friend. He died at just 24, after contracting polio from those he served and loved.

What Mangione lacked, Frassati had: a strong Christian community. He surrounded himself with friends he called “precious guides,” who helped him discover the mission God had chosen for him. Canonized last year by Pope Leo XIV, he remains a powerful witness today.

Frassati famously wrote on a photograph of himself climbing a mountain, “Verso l’alto” — “To the heights.” And that is where he went. With the help of his friends, he continually sought God’s will and, by his grace, climbed to the heights of heaven.

Father McGivney founded our Order to help us follow that same path. He built this brotherhood so that we could be guides for one another. This is what Blessed Michael McGivney calls us to in this time of isolation: to provide the friendship Catholic men need to find their mission.

We were never meant to go it alone. God created us for communion — with one another and with him. And his plan is that we follow that path together, so that we may climb “to the heights” in this life and the next.

Vivat Jesus!

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is pictured in an undated photo.

To the Heights Together

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