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them know they want religious liberty and rights of conscience restored and the administration’s contraceptive mandate rescinded.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.

Representatives from Holy Cross Assembly will be with him this weekend at his first provincial meeting in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

Good luck and God Bless!

Phoenix, AZ - Three Catholic television networks and a Catholic satellite radio channel will be providing coverage of the opening day of the 2009 Knights of Columbus annual convention on Tuesday, August 4.

EWTN will broadcast convention proceedings via its cable and satellite affiliates throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Pacific Rim of Asia. News Director Raymond Arroyo will be onsite Tuesday, Aug. 4, with live TV interviews and updates on convention activities. EWTN Radio Network’s Thom Price will also broadcast live from the convention site and provide live audio of the opening Mass and business session.

Canada’s Salt & Light TV will cover the convention events live to its audience of over two million people in Canada alone, and tens of thousands of people the world over viewing the live streaming on the Salt and Light website www.saltandlighttv.org, with English and French-language reports by Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, David Naglieri, Michele Nuzzo, Alicia Ambrosio and Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre.

Boston-based CatholicTV returns for its second year of broadcast coverage to its national audience. News anchor Kevin Nelson will provide live reports, activities and interviews from the convention site throughout the opening day’s events.

All three TV outlets will broadcast Men of Faith Who Made a Difference: The Knights of Columbus. This new hour-long documentary chronicles the history of its 127-year history and profiles several of its prominent members and charitable initiatives.

SiriusXM satellite radio’s The Catholic Channel (159) will air Busted Halo with Paulist Father Dave Dwyer on Aug. 3 and 4. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York will record his weekly program, A Conversation with the Archbishop, hosted by Rob Astorino, from the convention site.

Please check local listings for exact broadcast coverage and times.

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.”

“Involved Father” is the new topic. Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, a Catholic psychiatrist, explains why fathers must be involved with their wives and children to fulfill their vocation and achieve personal happiness.

Also featured is a concise article, “8 Habits of Highly Effective Fathers.”

The Fathers for Good Web site also includes:
· A video message from Supreme Knight Carl Anderson
· Podcasts by experts on love, marriage and family life
· Father’s Forum for your comments and questions
· A “Good for Mothers” section
· A ballot to cast your vote for next month’s topic.

Visit www.fathersforgood.org today, and tell all your friends about this new Web site sponsored by the Knights of Columbus!