I write to you regarding a matter of utmost importance to the Catholic Church in the United States.

On January 20th, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), made a final decision that would force Catholic institutions to provide health insurance that includes all FDA-approved contraceptive methods and sterilization procedures, including several drugs that cause an early abortion by interfering with the implantation of a newly-conceived human being.  This mandate poses a very serious threat to the religious freedom of Catholics and Catholic institutions.

You will recall that the delegates at our 129th Supreme Convention in Denver last year unanimously passed a resolution pledging our support for freedom of conscience in health care.  Now is the time to make that pledge of support a reality.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging Catholics and all citizens to contact their elected leaders to let them know they want religious liberty and rights of conscience restored and the administration’s contraceptive mandate rescinded.

Please encourage all Knights and their families in your jurisdiction to send an email to their elected representatives in Congress by visiting www.kofc.org/rights.  Sample language has been provided urging elected leaders to co-sponsor the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179 / S.1467).  This bi-partisan legislation will ensure that federal mandates do not penalize or discriminate against religious believers.

The Knights of Columbus will never waver in our opposition to any governmental action or policy that forces our citizens to violate their deeply-held moral and religious convictions.

Fraternally,

Carl A. Anderson
Supreme Knight

Atheist Michael Newdow had filed the lawsuit against the school system in Hanover, New Hampshire on behalf of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, in a case that mirrored his earlier lawsuit against schools in and near Sacramento, California.

As with the California case, the Knights of Columbus sought and received permission from the court to become a “defendant intervenor,” allowing attorneys representing the Order (from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty) to participate directly in the court proceedings.

The California case, argued before a panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December 2007, has still not been decided. Read the New Hampshire court decision.

Read the Knights of Columbus Fact Sheet about the Pledge of Allegiance and recent litigation.

Dear Brother Knight:

It is probably fair to say that no other single activity has defined the Knights of Columbus over the past half century as much as the pro-life movement.

Following the shock of the Supreme Court’s decision to preempt all state and federal laws regulating abortion in Roe v. Wade in 1973, we launched a long-term battle to fight legalized abortion. While achieving the ultimate goal of overturning Roe remains somewhere in the future, we have been able to achieve many small successes along the way:

• the Hyde Amendment, which restricts federal funding for abortions;
• the federal law banning partial birth abortions, which was finally upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2007;
• the “Mexico City Policy,” which has barred the use of federal taxpayers’ money to pay for abortions in other countries;
• laws in 44 states that preserve a parental role when children under 18 seek abortions;
• laws in 40 states that restrict late-term abortions;
• laws in 46 states that protect the right of conscience for individual health care providers;
• laws in 27 states that protect the right of conscience for institutions;
• laws in 38 states that ban partial birth abortions;
• laws in 33 states that require counseling before having an abortion;
• and laws in 16 states that provide for ultrasounds before an abortion.

All of these restrictions on abortion – all of the progress we’ve made over the past 35 years in trying to limit and reduce abortions in the United States – would be invalidated with the stroke of a pen if the next Congress passes, and the next president signs, the so-called “Freedom of Choice Act” (FOCA).

Before you cast your vote on Tuesday, please take the time and effort necessary to learn whether candidates for whom you might vote favor or oppose FOCA.

The House sponsors of FOCA are listed here

The Senate sponsors of FOCA are listed here

Obviously, if a candidate in your area is not listed among the sponsors, you may have to ask his or her campaign for their position on FOCA.

We have gathered much additional information about the Freedom of Choice Act, including links to material from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and on life issues generally on a special Knights of Columbus web page:

Remember, all that we’ve done together since Roe to save the lives of the unborn is at stake. Please pass on this message to your pro-life friends.

Supreme Knight Anderson unveils poll in live webcast from Rome

The Knights of Columbus will release the results of a nationwide survey of Catholic voters at a news conference at the National Press Club on Tuesday, October 14, 2008. Supreme Knight Carl Anderson will describe the results via a live satellite hookup from Rome, where he is serving as an auditor for the World Synod of Bishops being held at the Vatican this month.

The poll provides insights into the ways in which Catholic voters differ from the voting public at large, as well as information about differences and similarities between practicing and non-practicing Catholics. It also provides an unusually detailed look at which kinds of abortion restrictions are favored by Catholics and the population at large. And it examines attitudes on a wide range of issues, including the economy, the Iraq war, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, the death penalty, global warming, and school choice.

The survey of 1,733 adults was conducted between September 24 and October 3 by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. An oversample of American Catholics was done to provide statistically significant data on Catholic attitudes during this election year.

Watch the news conference live on the web!

Tuesday’s news conference will be webcast live beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, October 14. You can view it either by going to the Knights of Columbus website, www.kofc.org, or at a special URL, www.visualwebcaster.com/catholic-vote-101408

Pass the word to your brother Knights!

“Vote Pro-Life” radio ad begins airing nationwide today

Knights of Columbus spot features beating heart of 10 week old unborn child

New Haven, CT – September 23, 2008 -

A 30 second radio spot encouraging people to “vote pro-life” in the November elections begins running on radio stations around the United States today. It will continue to air until the November 4 election.

The ad features the sound of an unborn baby’s heartbeat at 10 weeks, and the voice of a woman saying, “Listening to this makes me wonder – why would anyone question that her life has begun?” It concludes with the words, “Vote your heart. Vote Pro Life.”

“The fact that the child whose heartbeat we hear is alive is simply a matter of science,” Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said in announcing the beginning of the ad campaign. “We believe that it is vital that America’s pro-life community make it clear that they will reserve their votes for candidates of either party who are committed to protecting life from conception to natural death.”

Anyone can listen to or download the ad from the Knights of Columbus website, www.kofc.org.

A similar ad is planned for broadcast in Canada, where general elections are set for October 14, 2008.

The Knights of Columbus is the world’s largest lay Catholic organization, with more than 1.75 million members in North and Central America, Asia and Europe. Last year, Knights donated $145 million and more than 68 million hours of volunteer time to charitable causes.

Writing “as a fellow Catholic layman,” Anderson said that “statements that suggest that our Church has anything less than a consistent teaching on abortion are not merely incorrect; they may lead Catholic women facing crisis pregnancies to misunderstand the moral gravity of an abortion decision.”

Anderson noted that the founders of the United States “believed that we are ‘endowed by [our] creator with certain unalienable rights,” and that first among these is ‘life,’” and he appealed to Biden, “as a Catholic who acknowledges that life begins at conception, to resolve to protect this unalienable right.”

Faithful Navigator Jim Vote, while a labor research intern at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a political think tank, discovered an issue that will affect a ballot proposal called ‘Reform Michigan Government Now’. Jim uncovered the true essence of who is behind this proposal, and more important, who this proposal helps… and guess what, it’s not you and me!

Read more about it by going to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy to see our Faithful Navigator’s comments. What he discovered is being seen nationally and internationally!

Thanks Jim for keeping it bright for Liberty’s sake!