IWKnights Corner for September 3, 2023

Did you know this about the IW Knights of Columbus? 

    The Knights of Columbus 141^st Supreme Convention took place during the first week of August.  We are publishing some of the annual Convention Resolutions.  The resolution we feature in this week’s column is a long but important document.  It is entitled: Building a Culture of Life.  In order to publish the entire resolution it will spread over two columns and conclude next weeks.

“WHEREAS, the Knights of Columbus has a deep and historic commitment to oppose any government action or policy that promotes abortion, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, euthanasia, assisted suicide, or other offenses against life; and

WHEREAS, the Order supports programs that provide women facing crisis pregnancies with alternatives to abortion, including adoption, and that we support projects that provide spiritual support to those women suffering from the traumatic emotional and psychological aftereffects of abortion; and

WHEREAS, our Ultrasound Initiative has provided a window into the womb by placing more than 1,745 ultrasound machines in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, and nations around the world; and

WHEREAS, in July 2022 the Supreme Council launched the ASAP (Aid and Support After Pregnancy) Program which has now provided more than $6 million of support to over 1,000 pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes—facilities collectively serving nearly two million expectant mothers, parents, and babies; and

WHEREAS, we reaffirm our commitment to building a “culture of life” by promoting policies that favor the family, and by recognizing that it is within strong and healthy families that moral values are taught and the spiritual heritage of the nation is transmitted; and,

WHEREAS, the Knights of Columbus has a long history of supporting marches and rallies for the cause of life in the countries where we have a formal presence and throughout the United States in state capitals and other major cities; and

WHEREAS, in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court returned the question of abortion to the citizenry and their elected representatives in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, nearly half of the state legislatures in the United States have passed laws to curtail abortion despite continued activist judicial rulings and growing hostility to advocates and elected officials that promote pro-life practices and policies; and

WHEREAS, the Knights of Columbus has joined with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, and the Eternal Word Television Network in requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court consider the case of Rhomberg v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America and protect the rights of all pro-life organizations to speak about the sanctity of human life without fear of unjust legal consequences; and

WHEREAS, in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis reminded us that, “Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenseless and innocent among us…this defense of unborn life is closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right. It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development;” and

WHEREAS, in his encyclical, Laudato Si', the pope reiterated that “Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion;” and.........”

To be concluded in this column next week, find a list of the resolutions at  facebook.com/IWknights9981on IWKnights9981.com/bulletin, on facebook.com/IWknights9981, on Twitter at twitter.com/IwKnights and now in the Friday Flocknotes.