Politics
Thursday January 5, 2006
Knights of Columbus Letter to 239,000 Canadian Members says Vote Pro-life and Pro-family
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By John-Henry Westen
TORONTO, January 5, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Knights of Columbus (KofC), a Catholic fraternal organization which boasts two million members in the United States, Canada and abroad, has sent a letter to its 239,000 members in Canada urging them to vote pro-life and pro-family in the upcoming federal election. The open letter, signed by Deputy Supreme Knight Jean Migneault and Dennis Savoie President of the KofC Canadian Association, strongly reminds the Canadian membership of their duty to vote after making themselves aware of the stands of their candidates.
The KofC bases their direction to vote pro-life and pro-family on the words of Pope Benedict XVI prior to his elevation to the pontificate. According to the KofC letter, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote a doctrinal note, approved by then-Pope John Paul II, which stated: "[A] well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals." The doctrinal note added, "laws must defend the basic right to life from conception to natural death . . . Analogously, the family needs to be safeguarded and promoted based on monogamous marriage between a man and a woman."
LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Dan Heffernan, the Life and Family Values Chairman for the Ontario State Council of the KofC about the impact of the letter. Heffernan noted that in addition to the 239,000 members in Canada, the KofC letter would also impact their families and friends. "Every knight has a circle of influence which is somewhere between eight and ten people," said Heffernan. "Therefore there is the potential here to impact a couple of million Canadians."
"These basic questions about life and marriage are central to the current issues," says the KofC letter which arrived by mail to most KofC members in Canada this week. "Political leaders, using all their personal convictions must truly serve the common good by crafting legislation respecting freedom of religion and conscience."
See the full text of the letter at
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006_docs/Knights.pdf
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- "Manhattan Declaration" Embodies U.S. Christian Pushback against Abortion, Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Hoffman Loses Final Tally of NY-23 Race; Alleges ACORN Tampering and Fraud
- Abortion Activist Judge Hamilton Confirmed with Help of Ten Republican Senators
- CDC Reverses Gardasil Vaccine Requirement for Immigrants
- Germany Faces Economic Downturn with Plummeting Birth Rate and Aging Population
- CCHD in Archdiocese of Chicago Says it is Working to Fix Problems
- Rejection of Washington DC Marriage Referendum Challenged With Legal Suit
- Obama-Supporting Homosexual Activist to Out Sexually Involved Priests Unless they Support Gay 'Marriage
- Austrian Catholic Bishops Issue Bland Response to Govt's Homosexual Partnership Bill
- Interim Report on Catholic Sex-Abuse Says "Homosexual Identity" Not a Predictor of Sex Abuse
- Commentary on Nov 20 NewsBytes
- LSN NewsBytes - US Health Care Reform
- LSN NewsBytes - Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)
- LSN NewsBytes - Life Issues, Religion, Swine Flu, US Politics, Sarah Palin, Miscellaneous
- LSN NewsBytes - Climate Change/Global Warming
- 59 Bishops Contributed Financially to Maine Bishop's Effort to Oppose Maine Same-Sex "Marriage" Law
- Pro-Abortion Lawmakers Shower Praise on Senate Bill's Phony Abortion Compromise
Most Read this Week
- Largest U.S. Homosexual Publisher Shuts Down, Closing Major Gay Newspapers
- EWTN's Arroyo Hosts Reform CCHD Reps Who Reveal Shocking Evidence Against USCCB Anti-Poverty Arm
- Italian Mayors Order Crufixes Put in Classrooms in Revolt against European Court Ruling
- Nat'l Organization for Marriage Responds to Miss California "Sex Tape" Scandal
- Obama Evades Questioning on Stupak Amendment in FOX Interview
- "Manhattan Declaration" Embodies U.S. Christian Pushback against Abortion, Same-Sex "Marriage"
- French Judge Finds Hospital Guilty of "Unreasonable Obstinacy" in Saving Newborn's Life
- EU Leaders to Choose President today in Secret "Soviet Style" Meetings
- Hoffman "Unconcedes" Battle for NY-23: Recount Provides Hope for "Miracle" Victory
- CCHD Responds to Reform Movement
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.