Knights of Columbus Letter to 239,000 Canadian Members says Vote Pro-life and Pro-family

Life Site News ^ | 01.05.06 | John-Henry Westen

[Coleus]

The Knights of Columbus (KofC), a Catholic fraternal organization which boasts two million members in the United States, Canada and abroad, has sent a letter to its 239,000 members in Canada urging them to vote pro-life and pro-family in the upcoming federal election. The open letter, signed by Deputy Supreme Knight Jean Migneault and Dennis Savoie President of the KofC Canadian Association, strongly reminds the Canadian membership of their duty to vote after making themselves aware of the stands of their candidates.

The KofC bases their direction to vote pro-life and pro-family on the words of Pope Benedict XVI prior to his elevation to the pontificate. According to the KofC letter, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote a doctrinal note, approved by then-Pope John Paul II, which stated: "[A] well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals." The doctrinal note added, "laws must defend the basic right to life from conception to natural death . . . Analogously, the family needs to be safeguarded and promoted based on monogamous marriage between a man and a woman."

LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Dan Heffernan, the Life and Family Values Chairman for the Ontario State Council of the KofC about the impact of the letter. Heffernan noted that in addition to the 239,000 members in Canada, the KofC letter would also impact their families and friends. "Every knight has a circle of influence which is somewhere between eight and ten people," said Heffernan. "Therefore there is the potential here to impact a couple of million Canadians."

"These basic questions about life and marriage are central to the current issues," says the KofC letter which arrived by mail to most KofC members in Canada this week. "Political leaders, using all their personal convictions must truly serve the common good by crafting legislation respecting freedom of religion and conscience."

[Theoden]

Ping!

[AlaninSA]

Please FReepmail me if you'd like to be added to or removed from the KofC ping list.

[ElkGroveDan]

I wish we would get frequent letters like this from the Supreme here in the US. When ever I try to bring these issues up, many of my brothers tell me I am violating the prohibition of introducing politics into the order. Of course, I know this is no more "politics" than the Pledge of Allegiance, but I wish our less informed brother Knights would hear this message clearly and often.

Vivat Jesus.

[AlaninSA]

Right on target with that, Dan. It's not political if it's a moral issue. We Knights would just as likely attack a Republican, Conservative, Liberal or Democrat if there's a moral issue -- party makes no difference.

Sadly, some councils do not understand this.

My former council in San Antonio was just the opposite. They allowed a liberal candidate for city council to distribute campaign lit at the general meetings (even though our libby member did not ever attend meetings himself).

[Coleus]

Our democrat brothers don't know what they are talking about. Seems they will do anything to protect the democrat party.

tell them that these are "issues" and are not political. Political is when you endorse a candidate, donate to a candidate or have one candidate there without the other. Elected officials are allowed to attend church events provided the don't politic and sit with everyone else.

Vouchers, homosexual marriage, stem cells, abortion, IVF, the pledge, etc. are all issue-oriented topics which can be talked about at the meetings. Knights are encouraged to write to their elected officials. We help the church obtain signatures for various issues.

Vivat Jesus

[RKBA Democrat]

"Our Democrat brothers don't know what they are talking about. Seems they will do anything to protect the Democrat party."

Current company excepted, I hope.

I think the issue here boils down to tax exemptions. You can't get involved in partisan politics so long as your church is tax exempt. The good news is you get a tax exemption. The bad news is it comes at a price with regard to your ministry. So it's OK preach so long as you don't say something that could be construed as supporting or opposing a political party or candidate.

[ElkGroveDan]

So it's OK preach so long as you don't say something that could be construed as supporting or opposing a political party or candidate.

But that doesn't apply to this discussion. Faith organizations are free to speak out on ISSUES. That means it's OK to talk about abortion or perversion and it's OK to say that it is wrong to support or vote for candidates that support those issues. It's a tenet of the faith -- it doesn't matter who the candidate or party is. Initiatives, propositions and constitutional amendments are all fair game as well.