Knights of Columbus Battle To Expel Pro-Abort Politician Members

DALLAS — As the American Catholic Church hierarchy contends with notorious pro-abortion Catholic politicians — who publicly defy Church teaching in their political lives while flaunting their Catholicism by receiving Communion — state delegates of the Knights of Columbus are contending with a proposal to expel member Knights in politics who support abortion rights.

This issue has been simmering in the Knights of Columbus for decades. But this year, as delegates meet in Dallas from August 3 to 5 for their national convention, a determined group of Knights from California and other states was expected to force the issue at the national convention.

Resolution N. 48 was submitted by ten KC councils in California; it was passed at the California KC State Convention in May. The resolution requires ipso facto forfeiture of membership for any public official who promotes abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, or assisted suicide.

As The Wanderer went to press on July 29, proponents of the measure were planning to go public to the international media covering the conference, and even to engage in public demonstrations to denounce any efforts to suppress the measure.

In California, two examples that Knights focused on were Los Angeles Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez and Orange County Assemblyman Lou Correa, both of whom have long public voting records supporting abortion and even celebrating the Roe v. Wade decision in legislative acts.

Bermudez publicly lists on his web site that he is a member of the Norwalk Knights of Columbus as he compiles a nearly perfect pro-abortion voting record. He has been recognized by Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California for his "unwavering 100% commitment to reproductive choice and family planning during the 2002 legislative year."

Correa, a member of the Garden Grove Council voted in four recent legislative sessions to give $200,000,000 to unrestricted Medi-Cal funding for abortion.

On a national level, the collaboration of Knight-politicians — who enjoy the privileges, honors, and benefits of the Knights of Columbus membership — in the "culture of death" machine is a scandal not only to all Knights, but to the entire Church in the United States.

For years, charges have flown that the Knights have an operative "house rule" on the matter of pro-abortion Knights who hold political office, which requires members not to raise the issue of a member’s personal or even public position on abortion.

Several years ago, a Massachusetts Knight obtained a tape recording featuring KC member Joe Mauro, now retired but then executive vice president of agencies and marketing for the national office, stating: "The house rule is anybody who writes you, or talks to you about it [abortion], I’d prefer you kept silent on the issue."

The tape surfaced after an outspoken pro-life insurance field agent, John O’Gorman, was forced out of the Knights following his pro-life activism.

One decisive action against a pro-abortion Catholic politician was taken by the late Bishop James McHugh, when he was bishop of Camden, N.J. He forced the state’s pro-abortion Gov. Jim Florio to resign from the Knights.

In 2001, when the Supreme Council of the International Knights of Columbus met in Toronto, with 2,000 members in attendance, a New York chapter called on the Knights to take more vigorous action against politicians who are pro-abortion. Ed McKee, co-chairman of this New York Council, said that they were getting nowhere with tactics employed at the time.

However, Canadian Phil Zakoor, chief administrative officer of the Ontario State Council, objected to the New York resolution calling for such things as advertisements at election times to encourage pro-life voting.

In a speech to the organization the next day, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson acknowledged that the order has the resources to do more to defend life than it has done; the Knights of Columbus would continue its "defense of human life at all stages, from conception to natural death."

The battle likely to be waged in Dallas is closely related to the hierarchy’s own stance, since the Knights and the hierarchy have appeared to be passing the buck back and forth on this matter for years, and now the buck seems to be stopped in both camps.

Supreme Knight Anderson, on his way to Dallas, was unavailable for comment, as was his spokesman Paul McGlinchey.

History

Growth of the Knights of Columbus
On Oct. 2, 1881, a small group of men met in the basement of St. Mary's Church on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut. Called together by their 29-year-old parish priest, Father Michael J. McGivney, these men formed a fraternal society that would one day become the world's largest Catholic family fraternal service organization. They sought strength in solidarity, and security through unity of purpose and devotion to a holy cause: they vowed to be defenders of their country, their families and their faith. These men were bound together by the ideal of Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of the Americas, the one whose hand brought Christianity to the New World. Their efforts came to fruition with the incorporation of the Knights of Columbus on March 29, 1882. They were Knights of Columbus.

The Order has been called "the strong right arm of the Church," and has been praised by popes, presidents and other world leaders, for support of the Church, programs of evangelization and Catholic education, civic involvement and aid to those in need.

Father McGivney's founding vision for the Order also included a life insurance program to provide for the widows and orphans of deceased members. The Order's insurance program has expanded substantially to serve more effectively the Knights' growing membership. Year after year, the Knights of Columbus has earned the highest possible quality ratings for financial soundness from A.M. Best and Standard & Poor's. The Order provides the highest quality insurance, annuity and long-term care products to its members, along with many other fraternal benefits.

The Supreme Council is the governing body of the Knights of Columbus and is responsible for the development of the organization as a whole. Supreme Council duties include establishing the Order in new regions and setting up regional authorities, defining and advancing its values and goals, undertaking organization-wide initiatives, promoting awareness of the Knights' mission worldwide, and protecting the families of members through its extensive insurance program. Members working in local, or subordinate councils, however, carry on the majority of the Knights' beneficial work.

Our Founder: Father McGivney
Father Michael J. McGivney was a parish priest at St. Mary's Church in New Haven, Connecticut, when he founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882. The love and respect he generated enabled the Order to succeed beyond his greatest dreams.

Father McGivney's Life:

The Story of Father Michael J. McGivney's Life
Life and Legacy of Father McGivney Video (ram, 15 min.)
Spirituality of Father McGivney
Cause for Canonization of Father McGivney:

Canonization Guild News
Postulator's Column
Prayer for Canonization
Participation in the Guild
Devotional Items
Contact the Guild
The Founder of the Knights of Columbus
Over a century ago, in mid-August 1890, one of the largest funerals in the history of Waterbury, Connecticut, took place. The throngs who attended were grieving the death, at age 38, of Father Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus.

Delegations were present from almost every one of the 57 Knights of Columbus councils that had been chartered in the Order's first eight years. The bishop of Hartford and more than 70 of Connecticut's Catholic priests were joined by many civic leaders. It was reported that every available carriage within miles had been rented for the great procession.

Father McGivney's funeral was an indication of the love and respect the people felt for this hard-working, holy, parish priest. It also reflected the deep personal appeal that immigrant Catholics immediately found in the Knights of Columbus. Since that time, the Order's growth has never stopped. Today, the Knights of Columbus is the largest society of Catholic men in the world, with more than 1.6 million members in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines and several Central American and Caribbean countries.

To mark the Order's 100th anniversary in 1982, the Knights of Columbus brought the remains of Father McGivney from Waterbury back to St. Mary's Church in New Haven, where he founded the Order. There he now rests in a setting in which daily Mass is offered for deceased Knights and prayers are said in his honor. His cause for canonization is proceeding.

Cause for Canonization
In 1997, Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin of Hartford, Connecticut, formally opened the cause for canonization of Father Michael J. McGivney. Dominican Father Gabriel B. O'Donnell was named the postulator, or promoter, of the cause.

The Knights of Columbus has established a Guild to advance the cause of Father McGivney. The McGivney Guild gathers evidence on its namesake's life and character, collects information about favors people have received as the result of his intercession, promotes his canonization cause, and offers spiritual benefits to its members.

Knights Report Record Giving
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6/23/2004

Donations to charities totaled $130 million. Hours of volunteer service exceed 61 million.

The charitable gifts of the nearly 1.7 million members of the Knights of Columbus reached all-time record highs in 2003. According to the organization's annual Survey of Fraternal Activity, Knights at all levels reported raising and contributing to charity $130 million. For 2002, the figure was $128.5 million.

The total includes $21.5 million disbursed by the Knights’ international office through various foundations, including funds earmarked for the pope, Christians in the Holy Land and the programs of the bishops’ conferences of the United States, Canada and Mexico, among others. In 2003 the Knights partnered with the Wheelchair Foundation to send several thousand wheelchairs to landmine victims and people with disabilities in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries. Additionally, working with the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, the Knights published 200,000 copies of a Catholic prayer book for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

"Charity is the first lesson a member learns when he joins the Knights, and these figures show how much that means to him," said Carl A. Anderson, supreme knight of the Catholic fraternal benefit society and chief executive officer.

Knights of Columbus gifts went beyond money, as members reported volunteering an all-time high of 61 million hours of time in 2003. The 2002 figure was 60.8 million.

"We are committed to our communities," said Anderson. "Whether it is volunteering at Special Olympics games, visiting veterans in hospitals, or helping out in our local Catholic parishes and schools, we seek to better the lives of our neighbors."

The annual Survey of Fraternal Activity was filed by close to 12,000 state and local units of the Knights, or approximately 73 percent of all officially chartered groups.

Other 2003 fraternal survey statistics show that 381,128 Knights were blood donors and that members made 5.7 million visits to the sick and bereaved.

"OK, can you describe the rituals involved? The last time I asked I was told NO."

Rituals? As in Knights offering Masses for the end of abortion? Or Knights leading Parishes in the Rosary for the end of abortion? Or Knights in Regalia at large functions as Honor Guards such as Papal Masses?

We don't have secret handshakes or anything of the type. The ONLY thing that can be considered "secret" is the initiation ceremony. I can say that it is a fully Christian ceremony and I am glad to have gone through it. We learn about our Faith and some Church history and are tested on our understanding of our Faith.

Local Councils have monthly meetings. We begin with the Lord's Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. The meetings normally run an hour and we plan that months activities, activities that are public and throughout the community. We normally end with a Hail Mary. Our meetings are closed, much like a company board meeting, but there is nothing secretive about them. Sometimes we have a guest who is not a Knight make a presentation.

After the meetings we generally eat meals prepared by ourselves wives and families. Down here in Louisiana those meals are da' best!

Here is an example of a Knight project: Years ago our Pastor was frustrated at the low attendance at stations of the cross during lent. We decided to help by having Fish Frys starting before and lasting past the Stations. The attendance went up 10 fold. half the proceeds went to the parish and half went to the Knights progams such as help w the handicapped.

The KofC is a Catholic family organization. We live and work throughout Catholic communities around the US.

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