Super Bowl Champion Matt Birk, Brother Knight Who Keeps God at the Center
- Thu, Nov 5, 2026 2:05 PM
Matt Birk at Baltimore Ravens training camp, August 5, 2009. Photo by Jeff Weese, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Football fans remember Matt Birk as the St Paul native who anchored the offensive line for his hometown Minnesota Vikings and then finished his career as a Super Bowl champion with the Baltimore Ravens. What many fans may not know is that the six-time Pro Bowl center is also a brother Knight of Columbus, and today one of the most sought-after Catholic speakers for men in the country.
A Harvard economics graduate, Birk was a sixth-round pick of the Vikings in 1998 and went on to earn six Pro Bowl selections and two first-team All-Pro honors. He joined the Ravens in 2009, and on February 3, 2013, he helped Baltimore beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans before retiring that month. A year earlier, he received the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, recognizing his work off the field, including the literacy programs of his HIKE Foundation.
His faith was not always so central. "In my 18 years at home, I never missed Sunday Mass," he told the National Catholic Register. "Once I left for Harvard, however, that changed." It was his wife, Adrianna, who helped bring him back. "She was a devout Catholic, and she helped me to see what I was missing out on by separating myself from the Church," he said. "Thanks to my wife and then others who followed, I now realize the importance of practicing the faith. That's what life is all about."
The Knights of Columbus describes Birk as a member of the Order, and he has given it his time generously. He delivered the keynote at the 2018 College Councils Conference in New Haven, appeared in the Knights of Columbus documentary "St Joseph: Our Spiritual Father," and spoke at a Haiti benefit dinner hosted by St Joseph the Worker Council 13359 in Maple Grove, Minnesota. "My vocation is to be a husband and a father, and there's no better example of that than St Joseph," Birk said. At that council dinner, he put it simply: "At the end of life, we need to answer three questions. Did I love God? Did I love my neighbor? Did I use the talents God gave me to further his glory? That's it."
Birk and Adrianna are the parents of eight children and parishioners of St Joseph Parish in Minnesota. He has served on the board of a local pregnancy care center, spoken at the March for Life, and helped found Unity Catholic High School in Burnsville. "I try to keep God at the center of my life with everything I do," he has said, from his marriage and fatherhood to his friendships and his business.
Michigan Knights have heard his message in person. In March 2025, Birk gave the keynote at the IGNITE Catholic Men's Conference at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, presented by the Diocese of Lansing, the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Knights of Columbus. "We weren't built to go it alone," he told the Diocese of Lansing before the event, adding that men "were built for communion."
Brothers, that is exactly what our councils offer: men who pray together, serve together and stand together. If you know a Catholic man who is looking for that kind of brotherhood, invite him to join us at kofc.org/joinus.
Vivat Jesus!