History: Phi Kappa Theta
The Early Days | Theta Kappa Phi
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Before 1915, there existed at Lehigh University a Newman Club for Catholic students. At the beginning of each school year it came to life, but usually died before its end. Several of its members, in the search for a way to provide continuity to the Newman Club, came upon the idea of a social fraternity. What linked these enthusiasts together was the belief that religious and scholarly ideals could be fostered in a homelike environment. Furthermore, the group was motivated by the idea that there was virtue in the mystic rites associated with Greek letter fraternities. Thus, the idea of a new fraternity evolved.
The group did not immediately adopt an official name, nor did it establish an organization apart from the Newman Club. But they carried on the idea of someday forming a social fraternity. Of the original group, three went on to form Theta Kappa Phi at Lehigh, becoming the first brothers of the Fraternity, August Concilio (1918), Peter J. Carr (1920), and Raymond J. Bobbin (1923).
In 1917, a group of non-fraternity men from the Newman Club associated themselves with these three Founders for the purpose of living together in a house as a fraternity. The entry of the United States into World War I ended this plan, and the 'old guard' disbanded as the several members went off into the armed services. In 1919, when August Concilio, the sparkplug of the original group, returned to school, he had all but given up the idea of forming a fraternity. All his friends of pre-war days had graduated or left school. Through the efforts of Peter J. Carr, the idea of a fraternity had been transferred to a group of new men in college. This new group gathered in Concilio's room, heard his story about the pre-war 'enthusiasts' on the Lehigh campus and then and there resolved to form a social fraternity. About thirty men attended this meeting and, for want of a better name, called their association the 'X Club'. This symbol for unknown quantity (x) served until their ideas could take on more definite form. The date of this meeting, October 22, 1919, is recognized as the official founding of Theta Kappa Phi.
During the first month of its existence, the Fraternity took several important actions. They elected Concilio president, and he led the local Lehigh fraternity through the first steps of nationalization by uniting with Kappa Theta of Penn State on March 24, 1922. Second, the fraternity selected the name 'Theta Kappa Phi' at a meeting on November 12, 1919, on a recommendation of a committee co-chaired by Brothers Brother George S. Thompson (1921) and Martin J. Keely (1922). At the time of adoption, the letters stood merely for 'The Catholic Fraternity', and it was not until later that they were given a secret meaning.
A third important step taken that year was the selection of Rt. Rev. William I. McGarvey as chaplain of the group. Monsignor McGarvey was then pastor of Holy Infancy Church in Bethlehem, near the Lehigh campus. His inspiring leadership, zeal and untiring efforts piloted the young fraternity through the troublesome days of its early life and made him most worthy of being counted among its founders.
An important development of the fraternity was its nationalization by uniting with Kappa Theta local fraternity at the Pennsylvania State College as Beta Chapter of Theta Kappa Phi. Kappa Theta had been founded in January 1920 by a group of twenty-two students at Penn State who were dissatisfied with existing Catholic fraternity conditions at that institution. August Concilio and Edmund J. Whims (Lehigh, 1922) of the Lehigh group visited Penn State to discuss the possibility of forming a new national fraternity. The idea was accepted by Kappa Theta, and on March 22, 1922 the two groups united to form the National Fraternity of Theta Kappa Phi. The delegates of Kappa Theta who participated in the amalgamation meeting were Patrick J. Roche (Penn State, 1923) and Daniel L. Harmon (Penn State, 1922).