Editor’s Note: The following post includes excerpts from a news article published on the Knights of Columbus Supreme website.
St. Mary of Sorrows Council 8600 established Marian Homes nearly 30 years ago to open group homes for individuals with intellectual disabilities. In 1998, just two years after Marian Homes was founded, the first home opened for five women with intellectual disabilities.
The Father Bob Cilinski, then president of a similar charity called Gabriel Homes, as well as chaplain of nearby George Mason University and its K of C council, became a mentor to the Knights of Council 8600. Fairfax County administrators shepherded the Knights through the process and introduced them to Chimes Virginia, an organization that signed on to run the first group home. KOVAR, a Virginia Knights of Columbus nonprofit dedicated to the needs of Virginians with intellectual disabilities since 1971, also supported the initiative with grant money.
Marian Homes opened its second group home in 2010, later followed by a quick succession of new Fairfax County homes in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Since then, Marian Homes has opened homes in other locations in Northern Virginia.
Jim McHugh, a District Deputy and Past Grand Knight of Council 8600, is the current President of Marian Homes. The need for these kinds of group residences is enormous, said McHugh.
In Virginia alone, “there’s a waiting list of over 15,000 people [with disabilities] looking for affordable housing in a group-home setting,” he explained. “We know that we’re not going to be able to fulfill that need for all 15,000, but we’re going to do our little part to make a difference in the world.”
McHugh believes the work of Marian Homes is the kind of work Blessed Michael McGivney would have envisioned for the Knights of Columbus.
“We’re committed to changing the world for the better,” he affirmed. “When we knock down walls, we’re knocking down barriers in the community. And in every community that we’ve been in, we’ve changed hearts and minds.”
See below for a YouTube video about Marian Homes and its positive impacts on the communities it serves.
