Head of Largest Catholic Fraternal Organization Says “No Higher Calling” than Pro-Life

DALLAS, August 5, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) –  The head of the Knights of Columbus, the largest Catholic fraternal organization with 1.6 million members throughout the United States, Canada, and half a dozen other countries, has told the membership that the pro-life fight is their supreme calling.  Speaking Tuesday at the 122nd annual convention in Dallas, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson reminded the 2000 delegates of Pope John Paul’s encyclical on the Gospel of Life, in which he calls Christians to be “a people of life and a people for life.” Anderson declared, “We Knights have no higher calling. We must fight for laws that unconditionally protect the right to life!”  Anderson noted, “It is now more than three decades since we first took up the cause of restoring legal protection to unborn children.” However the Knights remain committed to the fight.  “And we will not rest until the culture of death has been replaced by a culture of life!”  The Knights will also continue to defend the traditional family, says Anderson.  He outlined the strategies of the Knights in combating homosexual ‘marriage’ initiatives in both Canada and the U.S.  He urged, “We Knights must step forward and make the defense of marriage a major public issue. And we will fight as long as it takes to make sure that marriage and the family survive!”  Addressing the scandal of Catholic politicians who do not support life, Anderson said, “Sadly, one of the reasons so little progress has been made is the efforts of Catholic legislators who defend the unrestricted availability of abortion.”  He warned such legislators, “Catholics in public office who defend legal abortion will increasingly find themselves at the margins of the Catholic community.  Today, they are no longer in the center.  The discussion now is whether they have become so marginalized as to be no longer in communion with their fellow Catholics – and whether they should admit this themselves or be told so by their bishop.”  See the full address:  https://www.kofc.org/news/supreme/detail.cfm?id=3912   jhw