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as reported in the Arlington Catholic Herald |
MINNEAPOLIS - Delegates for the 1.6 million Knights of Columbus worldwide reiterated their long-standing policy against inviting to Knights' events "public officials or candidates for public office who do not support the legal protection of unborn children or who advocate the legalization of assisted suicide, euthanasia" or partial-birth abortion.
The policy also precludes such politicians from renting Knights' facilities, speaking at events sponsored by the Knights' facilities, speaking at events sponsored by the Knights or receiving any honors from local councils.
The stand was reiterated in a resolution on the "crusade for Life," one of 10 resolutions approved by acclamation at the close of the Knights' Aug. 3-5 international convention in Minneapolis.
The life resolution also pledged that the Knights would "continue to oppose vigorously any governmental actions that in any way promote, legalize or finance the performance of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia or assisted suicide" and condemned efforts by the U.N. Fund for Population Activities to "advance, encourage or promote contraception or abortion" abroad.
It also deplored "the marketing of all abortifacient drugs, and in particular RU-486 and Preven; the performance of late-term abortions and especially such barbaric practices as partial-birth abortion; the use in research of tissue from aborted babies; and stem cell research, which fails to recognize the inherent dignity and value of every human life."
The life resolution made no mention, however, of capital punishment. In an Aug. 3 address to the convention, Bishop Joseph A Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged the Knights to fight the death penalty with the same enthusiasm they have devoted to fighting abortion.
Charles Pucie, a Washington based spokesman for the Knights of Columbus, said the resolutions for the international convention are drawn up months in advance from resolutions passed by state or regional gatherings of Knights. This "extended process" does not allow for a quick response to specific issues raised at the convention, he said.
"But the Knights of Columbus take pride in their solidarity with the Holy Father and his bishops," Pucie added.
Other resolutions approved at the convention dealt with decency in media, education, support for Catholic doctrine, family life, U.S. flag desecration, the Vatican's permanent observer status at the United Nations, vocations funding, and "Ex Corde Ecclesiae," Pope John Paul II's 1990 apostolic constitution on Catholic higher education.
The U.S. bishops are to vote on norms implementing "Ex Corde Ecclesiae" at their November meeting. The Knights' resolution encouraged "the trustees, presidents and administrators of Catholic colleges and universities to conform their policies to 'Ex Corde Ecclesiae.'"
In another resolution, the Knights urged people involved in the media to "voluntarily refrain from producing morally offensive and socially and psychologically injurious forms of communication, particularly those attacking family life, undermining religious faith, destroying Christian purity, and cheapening appreciation for God's gift of human sexuality."
On education, the Knights said educational choice programs --- including vouchers for students at public, private or church related schools --- "serve the interests and needs of parents and children alike," while both are ill served by programs that distribute contraceptives and promote "both abortion and the alleged legitimacy of a variety of 'sexual lifestyles.'"
The resolution backed vouchers and other means of educational choice, and called on Knights to defend "the right of Catholic schools to operate according to the teachings and beliefs of the Catholic Church without state interference, coercion or control."
The resolution on flag desecration urged passage of Senate Joint Resolution 14 and House Joint Resolution 33, which would amend the U.S. Constitution to allow Congress "to prohibit physical desecration of the flag of the United States."
On the Vatican's U.N. status, the Knights criticized "the vindictive and baseless attacks against the Holy See by Catholics for a Free Choice, International Planned Parenthood Federation and other pro-abortion groups" and the efforts by those groups "to eliminate the positive and moral influence of the Holy See at the United Nations."
Catholics for a Free Choice has been working with other groups to end the Vatican's permanent observer status at the United Nations, saying it is the only religious body with such status. Permanent observer status gives the Vatican a voice but no vote in most U.N. proceedings.
Copyright ©1999 Arlington Catholic Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
This article was published in the Arlington
Catholic Herald,
200 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 607, Arlington, VA 22203; Vol 24, No 35,
page 12, dated September 2, 1999.
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A note from the Web Master:
It is noteworthy and honorable that some folks are willing to stand up for a ban on Partial-Birth Abortion. Let us not forget that ordinary everyday run of the mill abortion is also murder. We must understand that aborting the life of a baby is murder no matter the method. Because one method of abortion seems to be horrible does not make the other methods less so. We should be horrified and sickened by any abortion regardless of the method. The Fifth Commandment spells it out clearly:
"Thou shalt not kill."
A fetus is a person, a human being with a God given soul.
Imagine the pain the Lord must feel when any abortion occurs. Please
contact both of your Senators and Representative, via letter or phone,
to let them know how horrified you are that abortions are legal and to
stop, once and for all, Partial-Birth abortions and all other abortions
as soon as possible.
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