Political activity of the Knights of Columbus

A photograph of a placard at the March of Life that reads "Defend life" on the bottom with the emblem of the order in a blue band on top.
Tens of thousands of Knights of Columbus placards are handed out at the March For Life.

Political activity of the Knights of Columbus concerns any involvement of the Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization, to try to influence public and government policy. While the Knights of Columbus support political awareness and activity, United States councils are prohibited by tax laws from engaging in candidate endorsement and partisan political activity due to their non-profit status.[1]

During the 20th century and especially the Cold War, the order had a history of anti-socialist, anti-communist crusades.[2] It also established the Commission on Religious Prejudices and the Knights of Columbus Historical Commission to combat racism.[3] It was supportive of trade unionism and published the works of men including George Schuster, Samuel Flagg Bemis, Allan Nevins, and W. E. B. Du Bois.[3]

More recently it has been active in defense of religious liberty,[4] promoting faithful citizenship,[5] and defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.[6] In their document "Building A Culture of Life," they state that those "who do not support the legal protection of unborn children, or who advocate the legalization of assisted suicide or euthanasia" cannot be invited to Knights of Columbus events, or have honors bestowed upon them.[7]

Regarding attempts to characterize the Knights' politics, the historian Christopher Kauffman has argued that "[i]f the Knights displayed a conservative tenor, it was not political conservatism but rather cultural conservatism."[8] Supreme Knight John W. McDevitt said that the Knights were both progressive, conservative, and neither.[9]

Background

The Knights of Columbus were active politically from an early date. In the years following the Second Vatican Council, however, as the "Catholic anti-defamation character" of the order began to diminish as Catholics became more accepted, the leadership "attempted to stimulate the membership to a greater awareness of the religious and moral issues confronting the Church."[10] That led to the creation of a "variety of new programs reflecting the proliferation of the new social ministries of the church."[10][11]

The 1960s was a time of transformation both within the church and within the larger society.[12] The civil rights movement was calling for greater legal rights for African Americans, and Lumen gentium renewed the universal call to holiness within the church. Responding to this, the Knights embraced "the challenge of authentic ecclesial and societal reform, while remaining faithful to timeless truths and traditional values."[12] In so doing, the order says, "the Knights transcended the political divide."[12]

Political philosophy

As a non-profit charitable organization, the order is legally prohibited from endorsing political candidates in the United States, but is permitted to engage in issue-specific political campaigns. Its political activity is therefore limited to such campaigns, typically dealing with issues that touch upon Catholic social teaching or insurance issues.[13] Kauffman has described the Knights as "progressive on social issues but conservative on cultural issues,"[9] positions that are "a reflection of those expressed by the papacy and the majority of the American hierarchy."[14]

In their public policy efforts, and "in accord with the Catholic bishops, the Knights of Columbus has consistently maintained the Church's positions by promoting the building of a civilization of love, in which the law honors the dignity of every human being from natural conception to natural death."[15] They state that

In addition to performing charitable works, the Knights of Columbus encourages its members to meet their responsibilities as Catholic citizens and to become active in the political life of their local communities, to vote and to speak out on the public issues of the day. ... In the political realm, this means opening our public policy efforts and deliberations to the life of Christ and the teachings of the Church. In accord with our Bishops, the Knights of Columbus has consistently maintained positions that take these concerns into account. The order supports and promotes the social doctrine of the Church, including a robust vision of religious liberty that embraces religion's proper role in the private and public spheres.[16]

At the 1968 Supreme Convention, Supreme Knight John W. McDevitt posed the question of whether the Knights were conservative or liberal. He answered by saying that the order was "both progressive and conservative and we are neither."[9] The Knights' progressive credentials were rooted in their "efforts to shake the country free from any prejudice ... to create conditions which will give every American a chance to obtain decent money ... to eliminate poverty ... [and to foster] interreligious dialogue and interracial understanding."[9] Their conservative efforts consisted of their promotion of a Judeo-Christian morality, anti-secularism, patriotism, and their loyalty to the pope and bishops.[9]

Leadership

The leadership of the order has been, at times, both liberal and conservative. Martin H. Carmody and Luke E. Hart were both political conservatives. John J. Phelan was a Democratic politician prior to becoming Supreme Knight.[17] John E. Swift's "strong support for economic democracy and social-welfare legislation marks him as a fairly representative New Deal anti-communist,"[8] and Francis P. Matthews was a civil rights official and member of Harry Truman's cabinet. The current Supreme Knight, Carl A. Anderson, previously served in Ronald Reagan's White House. Following his service in the White House, Anderson served on the US Commission on Civil Rights.

War and peace issues

World War I

A Knights of Columbus poster from WWI

On April 14, 1917, soon after the United States entered World War I, the board of directors passed a resolution calling for

for the active cooperation and patriotic zeal of 400,000 members of the order in this country to our Republic and its law, pledge their continued and unconditional support to the President and Congress of the Nation, in their determination to protect its honor and its ideals of humanity and right.[18]

The order also instituted a per capita tax on the membership to raise $1 million to provide for the welfare of the troops fighting in Europe.[19] Local councils undertook their own fundraising drives which resulted in an additional $14 million to support the effort.[19] Canadian knights took up the cause earlier, reflecting their earlier entry into the conflict.[20] It was said it was their "finest hour" as Catholics and as Canadians.[20]

In 1918, just before the war ended, the Knights and other organizations undertook another effort to raise funds to support the welfare of the men fighting abroad.[19] The amount apportioned to the order and the National Catholic War Council totaled $30 million which, when combined with earlier efforts funded efforts to support troops both in the United States and overseas.[19]

Staff and chaplains were sent to every Army camp and cantonment.[19] A total of 260 buildings were erected and 1,134 secretaries, of which 1,075 were overseas, staffed them.[19] In Europe, headquarters were established in London and Paris.[19] The order's motto for this effort was "Everyone welcome, everything free."[19][21] The order continued this work until November 1919, at which point the effort was taken over by the federal government.[19] The remaining $19 million was used to establish educational programs for returning servicemen.[19]

According to Supreme Knight Flaherty, "The war provided us with an opportunity to put ourselves before the public in a most favorable light."[22] In Canada, it was an opportunity for Knights to show that in addition to being Catholic, they were also loyal Canadians.[20]

Cristero War

Following the Mexican Revolution, the new government began persecuting the church. To destroy the church's influence over the Mexican people, anti-clerical statutes were inserted into the Constitution, beginning a 10-year persecution of Catholics that resulted in the deaths of thousands, including several priests who were also knights of Columbus. Leaders of the order began speaking out against the Mexican government. Columbia, the official magazine of the Knights, published articles critical of the regime. After the November 1926 cover of Columbia portrayed Knights carrying a banner of liberty and warning of "The Red Peril of Mexico," the Mexican legislature banned both the order and the magazine throughout the country.[23]

In 1926, a delegation of Supreme Council officers met with President Calvin Coolidge to share with him their concerns about the persecution of Catholics in Mexico. The order subsequently launched a $1-million campaign to educate Americans about the attacks on Catholics and the church in the Cristero War.[24] The organization produced pamphlets in English and Spanish denouncing the anticlerical Mexican government and its policies. So much printed material was smuggled into Mexico that the government directed border guards be aware of women bringing Catholic propaganda into the country hidden in their clothes.[25][26] Twenty-five martyrs from the conflict would eventually be canonized, including six knights.[27][28]

Supreme Treasurer Daniel J. Callahan, a well known civic leader in Washington, convinced Senator William E. Borah to launch an investigation in 1935 into human rights violations in Mexico.[29] The order was praised for their efforts by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical, Iniquis afflictisque.[12]

Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War, the Church in America supported General Francisco Franco and the other rebels.[30] The Knights, and other Catholic groups, fell into the same stance.[30] When a group of American intellectuals formed the Board of Guardians for Basque Refugee Children and proposed shipping children from Spain to the United States, the Knights and other Catholic groups opposed the plan.[31] It would be better, they said in telegrams to President Theodore Roosevelt and other government officials, to send the children to live with Basque families who had fled to France so that the children could speak their own language and practice their own religion.[31] If the children did come to the United States, the Knights and the Catholic Order of Foresters said they would try to place the children in Catholic homes.[31]

The Knights supported the embargo on all arms into Spain.[32] To remove it, they said, would be to aid a "vicious and despotic government" who had forced their own citizens to flee to escape "annihilation or slavery."[32] They also opposed the screening of documentaries that were used to recruit volunteers and raise funds for the loyalists.[33] The Knights believed these films were pro-Marxist and anti-Catholic, and as a result wrote to Will H. Hays, chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, demanding that these films be preceded with a note identifying them as propaganda.[34]

World War II

Shortly after entering the Second World War, the order established a War Activities Committee to keep track of all activities undertaken during the war.[35] They also, in January 1943, established a Peace Program Committee to develop a "program for shaping and educating public opinion to the end that Catholic principles and Catholic philosophy will be properly represented at the peace table at the conclusion of the present war."[36] The committee conferred with scholars, theologians, philosophers, and sociologists and proposed a program adopted at the 1943 Supreme Convention.[37][38]

Middle East

During the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars, the Knights lobbied Congress to provide humanitarian relief to the victims of genocide perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the Syrian civil war and the Iraqi Civil War.[39][40][41] In 2017, they praised the decision of the US government to provide direct US aid to persecuted Christians in the Middle East who were suffering at the hands of the Islamic State.[42] They also led the effort to get the Secretary John Kerry and the United States Department of State to declare the atrocities a genocide.[43][41]

They also worked with Democratic Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Republican Congressman Jeff Fortenberry to get the United States Congress to unanimously declare that Christians in the region were victims of a genocide.[41] The Knights alerted the White House when an ancient Christian town in Iraq was threatened by the ongoing civil war, and worked with them to deescalate the conflict and save the town and its residents.[41] At the end of 2017, the Knights and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recognized a "Week of Awareness" for persecuted Christians.[42]

At a Solidarity Dinner for the Washington-based group In Defense of Christians, Vice President Mike Pence singled out the order for their "extraordinary work caring for the persecuted around the world."[42] The Knights are working with Pence to ensure that aid reaches the victims.[41] Archbishop Bashar Warda has said that the Knights' support has helped to ensure that Christianity did not die in Iraq.[41]

Between 2014 and 2017, the Knights of Columbus Christian Refugee Relief Fund gave over $20 million for humanitarian relief work in the area.[41][42] That includes $2 million to rebuild the primarily Christian town of Karamles in Iraq.[42][41]

Exhibits and media

Shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq began, a new exhibit entitled "John Paul II: A Passion for Peace" opened at the Knights of Columbus museum.[44] In it were several artifacts on loan from the Vatican highlighting the work Pope John Paul II had made in the name of world peace.[44] The order also commissioned and produced the 2018 film, John Paul II in Ireland: A Plea for Peace.[45]

Labor and social justice issues

Pro-labor activities

President Harry S. Truman supported the Crusade for the Preservation and Promotion of American Ideals

In 1914, the order paid the salaries of David Goldstein, who was born Jewish but converted to Catholicism after reading the pro-labor papal encyclical Rerum novarum, and Peter W. Collins, the general secretary of the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, to lecture around North America.[46][12] The pair traveled more than 27,000 miles.[12] Local councils were instructed to open up the lectures to the public free of charge.[46] More than 2,000,000 people attended the lectures, and more than 800,000 questions were answered.[47]

In 1946, in his first address to the Supreme Convention as Supreme Knight, Swift proposed a new program eventually called The Knights of Columbus Crusade for the Preservation and Promotion of American Ideals.[48][12] It was similar to the 1943 Peace Program, except it highlighted Catholic philosophy and Catholic social teaching regarding the working man.[48] This was one part of a larger Catholic anti-communist effort.[49]

The crusade listed the workingman's rights as including the right "to a job, to a family living wage, to collective bargaining and to strike, to Joint-Management, enroute to Joint Ownership of Industry."[50] Until joint ownership happened, workers were also entitled to all forms of social security, including unemployment, disability, and old-age insurance, according to the crusade.[50] The crusade's plan also listed 10 "Abuses of Unrestrained Capitalism."[51]

The crusade officially launched in December 1946 and was endorsed by President Harry Truman.[52] By August 1948 over 1,300 local councils had established discussion groups based on the topics. As part of the crusade, several hundred radio stations played segments produced by the order on the evils of communism and the harshness of life in Russia.[53] It also took out advertisements in newspapers and distributed copies of Fulton Sheen's Communism and the Conscience of the West.[54]

Social justice and anti-communism

In the early 1920s, Supreme Knight James Flaherty gave speeches in which he "lashed out at the social irresponsibility of the moneyed classes."[55] During the Great Depression, when President Herbert Hoover established a Commission on Employment, Supreme Knight Martin Carmody wrote to him pledging the services of the Knights.[55] Carmody had already encouraged the 2,600 councils to have "strong and active employment committees."[55] By the end of July 1931, a total of 43,128 unemployed people had been placed into jobs, in addition to those placements made by local councils who were working under the auspices of other organizations.[55] In less than two years, the order would provide more than 100,000 jobs.[12] In October of that year, Hoover appointed Carmody to the President's Organization for Unemployment Relief.[56]

The order launched a Crusade for Social Justice in 1938 as an outgrowth of their anti-communist efforts.[57] It was declared that "the public must be aroused to realize that only by the application of Christian principles, in private and public affairs, will there be eliminated, so far as humanly possible, the distress and suffering upon which these forces thrive."[57] Among the social justice issues the Supreme Council recommended local councils take on were a living wage, credit unions, and the cooperative and social responsibilities of employers, bankers, and property owners.[57] The Supreme Council also supplied local councils with a great deal of material to encourage members to study the social encyclicals.[57]

One of the first actions new Supreme Knight John E. Swift took in 1945 was to take out five full page newspaper advertisements warning of the dangers of communism.[12] In the early 1950s, the Supreme Convention adopted several anti-communist resolutions.[2] However, Columbia magazine also published thinly veiled critiques of McCarthyism and the techniques of Senator Joseph McCarthy.[58]

In 1965, the order co-sponsored a conference on human rights with the Archdiocese of Hartford at Yale University.[12] In collaboration with the John LaFarge Institute, the Knights worked on programs to promote social justice and ecumenical outreach in the 1960s.[12] At the end of the decade, in 1969, the Knights donated $75,000 to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Task Force on Urban Problems.[12]

Anti-discrimination efforts

During the nadir of American race relations in the 1920s, the state councils established lobbyists in state capitals and in Washington DC to protect the rights of Catholics.[59] They also engaged, along with other Catholic groups of the period, in letter writing campaigns to protect Catholic interests.[59] In 2012, the Knights supported the US bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty.[12] The group addressed issues and challenges related to religious freedom and conscience in the United States.[12]

Religious and racial discrimination

From 1914 to 1917, the Knights of Columbus Commission on Religious Prejudice combated discrimination.[12][3] A similar organization, the Knights of Columbus Historical Commission, was created in 1921 to counter racial discrimination.[60][12] The group published books highlighting the contributions of Jewish-, African-, and German-Americans.[12]

During the First World War, the order established a series of "huts" to offer rest and recreational facilities for Allied servicemen under the banner of "Everyone Welcome, Everything Free." Civil rights activist and author Emmett Jay Scott praised the order, saying that "to its credit," and "unlike the other social welfare organizations operating in the war, it never drew the color line. ... The Negro soldier needs no other countersign than his khaki uniform to gain for him every advantage offered by the Knights service."[21]

In the 1960s, the Knights took steps to eliminate discrimination both within the order and within society.[12] In the spring of 1963, Hart attended a conference at the White House led by Knight and President John F. Kennedy to discuss civil rights.[61][12]

Pierce v. Society of Sisters

The ACLU joined with the Knights to oppose the Oregon Compulsory Education Act

After the First World War, many native-born Americans had a revival of concerns about assimilation of immigrants and worries about "foreign" values; they wanted public schools to teach children to be American. Numerous states drafted laws designed to use schools to promote a common American culture, and in 1922, the voters of Oregon passed the Oregon Compulsory Education Act. The law was primarily aimed at eliminating parochial schools, including Catholic schools.[62][63] It was promoted by groups such as the Knights of Pythias, the Federation of Patriotic Societies, the Oregon Good Government League, the Orange Order, and the Ku Klux Klan.[64]

The Oregon Compulsory Education Act required almost all children in Oregon between eight and sixteen years of age to attend public school by 1926.[64] Roger Nash Baldwin, an associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union and a personal friend of then–Supreme Advocate and future Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart, offered to join forces with the order to challenge the law. The Knights of Columbus pledged an immediate $10,000 to fight the law and any additional funds necessary to defeat it.[65]

The case became known as Pierce v. Society of Sisters, a seminal United States Supreme Court decision that significantly expanded coverage of the Due Process Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment. In a unanimous decision, the court held that the act was unconstitutional and that parents, not the state, had the authority to educate children as they thought best.[66] It upheld the religious freedom of parents to educate their children in religious schools.

Immigration

From the founding of the order to roughly the time of the First World War, "the Order's goals were most visibly expressed in its assertion of the social legitimacy and patriotic loyalty of Catholic immigrants."[67] During the Progressive Era, the Knights supported many Progressive policies, but rejected those who called for restricting immigration or those who advocated for Anglo-Saxon superiority.[68] This opposition to immigration restrictionists would continue through the middle of the 20th century.[69]

The 1921 establishment of the Knights of Columbus Historical Commission was driven by Edward F. McSweeney, a former Assistant Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island and pro-immigrant activist and author.[60] The goal of the commission was to accurately present the role of immigrants, and particularly Catholics, in the founding and history of the United States.

The Knights called the tendency to set up a caste system based on when your ancestors arrived in the country "a travesty of democracy."[70] James Malone, then Kansas State Deputy, railed against bigots who claimed that immigrants and Catholics were inferior to native born Americans and protestants.[71]

During Pope Francis' 2016 visit to Mexico, the pontiff visited Ciudad Juárez, on the US–Mexican border. The Knights provided funding to the Diocese of Ciudad Juárez and to the Diocese of El Paso for the trip, which highlighted "the plight of migrants and the determination of the Church in the United States and Mexico to work together to help these individuals and families," as well as the need "for just immigration laws."[72]

The order hailed the creation of an Arab Christian Council near Toronto as adding "new meaning to the international fraternal organization’s outreach and support of immigrant communities."[73] The council is largely made up of first-generation Canadians from Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Iraq.[73]

Other councils established for immigrant communities include one in Miami for Cuban exiles, and a Ukrainian council and a Vietnamese council in Toronto.[73] Many state councils have multicultural or diversity committees whose mission it is to support immigrant knights who do not speak the local language.[73]

Conventions

At the 129th Supreme Convention in 2011, Archbishop José Gómez criticized the United States' immigration policy as not being "worthy of our national character."[74] He told the delegates to approach the immigration issue as Catholics, not as Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives.[74] "Our perspective on this issue will change if you begin to see these 'illegals' for who they really are--mothers and fathers, sons and daughters--not much different from yourselves," Gomez said.[74]

In 2013, at the 131st Supreme Convention Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio, Texas, the site of the convention, quoted Supreme Knight Carl Anderson in saying that the city was special because the city's history of “evangelization, immigration, and the quest for freedom.”[75] He called on the Knights to bring the light of the Gospel to the "desolate places" such as immigrant detention centers.[75]

Also at the 2013 convention, Supreme Chaplain William Lori said that the Knights' mission in regards to immigration is “definitely growing.”[75] He cited their involvment in Ecclesia en America, a summit held in the Vatican in 2012, as a way they protect, love and help immigrants.[75] The Knights see the issue, according to Lori, as "a partnership of the North and South Church."[75] He said the order was working to enact "immigration laws that are truly just, and truly merciful."[75]

At the 2017 convention, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said that Christ teaches that "there is no more boundary when it comes to 'who are you neighbor to?'"[76] DiNardo added that the Knights live this teaching by helping anyone in need, including immigrants, refugees, and Christians displaced from their homes.[76]

Resolutions

On 9 April 2006 the board of directors commented on the "U.S. immigration policy [which] has become an intensely debated and divisive issue on both sides of the border between the U.S. and Mexico."[77][78] They called

upon the President and the U.S. Congress to agree upon immigration legislation that not only gains control over the process of immigration, but also rejects any effort to criminalize those who provide humanitarian assistance to illegal immigrants, and provides these immigrants an avenue by which they can emerge from the shadows of society and seek legal residency and citizenship in the U.S.[77]

At the 136th Supreme Convention in 2018, the Order adopted a resolution criticizing the Trump administration family separation policy.[79] The Supreme Council called on the administration to "equitably balance the legitimate rights of persons to emigrate in order to seek better lives for themselves and their children, with the duty of governments to control migration into their countries so that immigration policy serves the common good."[79]

Refugees

At the request of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, Supreme Knight Martin Carmody wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 to support Jewish refugees seeking refuge in Palestine.[80] During the 2008 International Eucharistic Congress, a donation was made to Cardinal Marc Ouellet's foundation to support long-term programs to aid immigrants and refugees.[81]

Canada

In Canada, Knights promoted the idea that being a good Catholic was being a good Canadian, and they helped immigrants assimilate.[82] In the years prior to World War I, Canadians Knights established an immigrant aid bureau.[82] After the war, and with the Catholic Women's League, they promoted a "Canadianization of the Newcomer" program.[82]

Cultural issues

Marriage and family life

As part of their public policy efforts, the Knights of Columbus "promotes the dignity and the irreplaceable value of the family founded on the Church's understanding of marriage as the faithful, exclusive, and lifelong union of one man and one woman joined in an intimate partnership of life and love."[16]

Since 2005, the Knights have given at least $14 million to legally define marriage as the union of one man and one woman in the United States.[10] In 2008, they were the largest single donor in support of California's Proposition 8.[83] In 2012, the Knights and its local councils contributed $1 million to support similar ballot campaigns in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington. In Massachusetts it led the drive to collect the 170,000 petition signatures to amend the Massachusetts Constitution to include this definition.[84][85] In a 2005 attempt to stop the Canadian parliament from legalizing same-sex marriage with the Civil Marriage Act, the order funded a campaign that included 800,000 postcards encouraging members of parliament to reject the measure.[86]

The order also supports the church's teaching on divorce,[87][88][89] and the Supreme Council gave their "strong support" to a 1976 address by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin in which he denounced the "increasing practice of divorce."[90] The order has a number of initiatives to support and strengthen families as part of their Building the Domestic Church program[91][92] and sponsors of Fathers for Good, an initiative to support men "in becoming the best fathers they can be."[93] The promotion of fatherhood and marital harmony dates back to the founding era of the order.[94]

Culture of life

As part of their commitment to building a culture of life,[lower-alpha 1] the Knights oppose any governmental action or policy that promotes abortion, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, euthanasia, assisted suicide, unjust wars, the death penalty, or other things they consider offenses against life.[97][98][7][99]

The Knights have consistently donated to pro-life causes, including millions annually to their Ultrasound Initiative in the United States and Canada.[100][101][98][7] The Knights believe that, because ultrasound machines are so expensive, without their active financial support many pregnancy care centers would not be able to afford them.[98] During a pregnancy, ultrasound exams are medically necessary for a variety of diagnostic reasons, and the sonograms they produce help women better visualize their foetus.[98] Research shows that women are less likely to obtain an abortion after seeing ultrasound images, particularly as the child's gestational age increases.[102][98] The order also supports women in crisis pregnancies with alternatives to abortion, including adoption.[98]

They have also called for national healing and reconciliation following a series of violent mass murders including the Pulse nightclub massacre and 2015 San Bernardino attack.[103][104] Supreme Knight Carl Anderson has also said that the United States owes the victims of the Charleston church shooting in 2015 "a debt of gratitude for showing us a noble path," calling them "courageous Christians."[104]

Domestic policy

During the early part of the 20th century, both the Supreme and local councils found themselves in agreement with the principles of the Progressive movement.[13] Senator Albert J. Beveridge, an intellectual leader of the Progressive movement, was the featured speaker at "a grand patriotic demonstration" at Carnegie Hall in 1906, and James C. Monaghan, the Supreme Lecturer, frequently spoke out in favor of progressive causes in Columbiad and elsewhere.[13]

In the 1980s, the Knights supported an amendment to the United States Constitution permitting prayer in public school.[105] When president Ronald Reagan attempted to tax fraternal insurance companies such as the Knights of Columbus, then–Supreme Knight Virgil Dechant used White House connections to scuttle the effort.[106] In addition, local councils set up phone banks and letter writing campaigns to oppose the measure, which would have diminished the Knights' ability to make charitable contributions.[106]

Pledge of Allegiance

The Order was influential in the early stages of the movement that eventually led to the decision by the US Congress to add the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.[107] Though others had proposed the idea before,[108] the idea bubbled up in the order from Fourth Degree assemblies.[109][110][111] In April 1951, the Supreme Board of Directors adopted a resolution directing the Fourth Degree to add the words to their recitations.[109] The Knights were the first group to voluntarily do so on a regular basis.[107]

The Knights also began lobbying Congress to make the change.[107][109][112] At the urging of five state councils, the Supreme Council adopted a resolution in 1952 encouraging Congress to officially insert the words into the pledge.[109] Adding the phrase, the Order believed, would acknowledge "the dependence of our Nation and its people upon the Creator of the Universe."[110] New York Congressman Edmund Radwan entered the resolution into the Congressional Record on March 25, 1953.[110][109] Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart, the then-president of the National Fraternal Congress, got the other 110 fraternal societies to adopt the resolution as well.[109]

After signing the change into law, Eisenhower wrote to Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart thanking the Knights for their efforts to get the phrase added.[109] In his letter, Eisenhower praised the order's patriotism[113] and said "For the contribution which your organization has made to this cause, we must be genuinely grateful."[114] In October 1954, the National Executive Committee of the American Legion adopted a resolution thanking the Knights for initiating, sponsoring, and bringing about the amendment.[114]

In 2014, lawyers from the Knights and other organizations joined the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District to defend the daily recitation of the pledge in a lawsuit brought by the American Humanist Association.[115]

Promoting Christopher Columbus

At the behest of the Knights, Congress appropriated $100,000 to construct the Columbus Fountain in front of Union Station in Washington, DC, in 1912.[116][117] The Supreme Knight was made a member of the committee to erect it.[116][117]

Similar lobbying convinced many state legislatures to adopt October 12 as Columbus Day, and led to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's confirmation of Columbus Day as a federal holiday in 1937.[118][119][120] While they had long been active proponents of Catholic Social Teaching and its application to public policy, the efforts to honor Columbus marked the order's first efforts at direct lobbying of government officials on specific issues.[121]

Other

Foreign policy

During the Cold War, the foreign policy of the United States and the Knights' promotion of Catholic Social Teaching frequently intersected.[122] At the outbreak of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Supreme Knight Hart spoke with President Dwight Eisenhower's Chief of Staff, Sherman Adams, urging him to have the president press the issue before a special session of the United Nations.[122] Hart hoped the UN would "take action with reference to the massacre of the people of Hungary by the Communist government of the Soviet Union."[122] The Supreme Board of Directors adopted a resolution "expressing the sympathy of our Order for the Uungarian people" and urged the UN to "take immediate steps to restrain the murderous assault of the armed troops of the Soviet Union."[122]

In the 1950s, rumors began circulating that Eisenhower would invite Josip Broz Tito, the dictator of Yugoslavia, to visit the United States.[122] In late 1956, Hart wired Eisenhower to express "amazement that he should consider inviting to this country the jailer of Cardinal [Aloysius] Stepinac, the tyrant of Yugoslavia, the persecutor of religion, and the accomplice of the murders of Budapest."[122] Shortly after the new year, Hart requested a meeting with Eisenhower but, as the president was traveling at the time, he met instead with Undersecretary of State Robert T. Murphy instead.[122] By the end of the month Eisenhower announced that Tito would not be visiting, and Hart declared victory.[123]

The Supreme Council adopted a resolution in 1969 endorsing the aims and justice of the Vietnam War, but as the war progressed Columbia magazine began to question the effectiveness of the United States' military effort.[124]

Canada

In Canada, by 1910 the Knights were seen as "those laymen who could successfully defend the Church from external opposition when required and, more importantly, could voice the opinions and teachings of the Church, bringing them to bear of the problems of Canadian society."[125] Toronto Council 1388 established a public affairs committee in 1912 that was mandated to increase the interest of Catholics in public affairs and to promote their participation in political life.[82]

Notes

  1. ↑ "More than a rhetorical flourish,"[95] the phrase "culture of life" refers the belief that human life at all stages from conception through natural death is sacred. It encompasses opposition to a number of bio-ethical practices that are destructive of human life, including physician assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research, and abortion,[95] and the promotion of policies that "lift up the human spirit with compassion and love."[96] The term was made popular by Pope John Paul II.

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Caplin; Drysdale (Winter 1999). "Voter Education vs. Partisan Politicking: What a 501(c)(3) Can and Cannot Do". The Grantsmanship Center Magazine. Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 15 April 2003. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 Kauffman 1982, pp. 364–365.
  3. 1 2 3 Kauffman 1982, pp. 366–367.
  4. ↑ "In Defense of Religious Liberty". Knights of Columbus. 133rd Supreme Convention Resolutions. Philadelphia: Supreme Council, Knights of Columbus. 4–6 August 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  5. ↑ "Resolution on Faithful Citizenship". Knights of Columbus. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "Resolution on Defense of Marriage". Knights of Columbus. 123rd Supreme Convention Resolutions. Chicago: Supreme Council, Knights of Columbus. 4 August 2005. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 "In Support of a Culture of Life". Knights of Columbus. 133rd Supreme Convention Resolutions. Philadelphia: Supreme Council, Knights of Columbus. 4–6 August 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  8. 1 2 Kauffman 1982, p. 367.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Kauffman 1982, p. 405.
  10. 1 2 3 Roberts, Tom (15 May 2017). "Knights of Columbus' Financial Forms Show Wealth, Influence". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  11. ↑ Kauffman 1982.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "A Growing Legacy". Columbia. Vol. 92 no. 8. April 2012. p. 2.
  13. 1 2 3 Kauffman 1982, p. 166.
  14. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 415.
  15. ↑ "Public Policy". Knights of Columbus. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  16. 1 2 "Catholic Citizenship and Public Policy" (PDF). Knights of Columbus. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  17. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 62.
  18. ↑ Sweany 1923, p. 2.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sweany 1923, p. 3.
  20. 1 2 3 McGowan 1999, p. 180.
  21. 1 2 Scott 1919, pp. 407–408.
  22. ↑ Dumenil 1991, p. 23.
  23. ↑ Pelowski, Alton J. (June 2014). "Remembering Mr. Blue". Columbia. Knights of Columbia. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  24. ↑ "A Growing Legacy". Columbus. Knights of Columbus. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
  25. ↑ Young 2015, pp. 108–109.
  26. ↑ Young, Julia G. (23 July 2015). "Smuggling for Christ the King". OUPblog. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  27. ↑ "History of the Knights of Columbus: Priest Martyrs of Mexico" (PDF). Knights of Columbus. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
  28. ↑ Meyer 1976.
  29. ↑ Kauffman 1982, pp. 301–302.
  30. 1 2 Crosby 1971, p. 95.
  31. 1 2 3 Crosby 1971, p. 97.
  32. 1 2 Dominic Tierney (July 2, 2007). FDR and the Spanish Civil War: Neutrality and Commitment in the Struggle that Divided America. Duke University Press. p. 128. ISBN 0-8223-4076-3.
  33. ↑ Robé 2010, p. 83.
  34. ↑ Robé 2010, p. 97.
  35. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 349.
  36. ↑ Kauffman 1982, pp. 349–350.
  37. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 350.
  38. ↑ "Peace Program Proposed by the Knights of Columbus" (PDF). Knights of Columbus. 19 August 1943. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  39. ↑ Von Dohlen, Josephine (9 June 2017). "House OKs bill to aid genocide victims; Senate urged to act quickly on it". Catholic News Service. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  40. ↑ "Knights of Columbus". Open Secrets. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  41. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Anderson, Carl A. "Our Work Continues". Columbia (September 2018). p. 3.
  42. 1 2 3 4 5 "Knights of Columbus CEO praises plan for U.S. aid to persecuted Christians". America. Catholic News Service. 30 October 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  43. ↑ "Knights of Columbus praise increased US aid for persecuted Iraqis". Catholic News Agency. 17 January 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  44. 1 2 Scarponi, Diane (20 April 2003). "Conn. Exhibit Chronicles Search for Peace by Pope John Paul II Display Includes Handwritten Note from the Pontiff". The Boston Globe. p. B6.
  45. ↑ "New film on St John Paul's visit to Ireland to be screened at Westminster Cathedral". Independent Catholic News. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  46. 1 2 Kauffman 1982, p. 178.
  47. ↑ John B., Kennedy (12 March 1921), The K. of C. and Radicalism, America Press, pp. 498–499, retrieved 11 July 2018
  48. 1 2 Kauffman 1982, pp. 360–361.
  49. ↑ Kazin 1995, p. 174.
  50. 1 2 Kauffman 1982, p. 361.
  51. ↑ Kauffman 1982, pp. 361–362.
  52. ↑ Kauffman 1982, pp. 362–363.
  53. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 363.
  54. ↑ Ceplair 2011, p. 114.
  55. 1 2 3 4 Kauffman 1982, p. 320.
  56. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 321.
  57. 1 2 3 4 Kauffman 1982, p. 336.
  58. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 365.
  59. 1 2 Dumenil 1991, p. 37.
  60. 1 2 Kauffman 1982, pp. 262–263.
  61. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 397.
  62. ↑ 268 U.S. 510 (1925)
  63. ↑ "Pierce v. Society of Sisters". University of Chicago Kent School of Law. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
  64. 1 2 Kauffman 1982, p. 282.
  65. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 283.
  66. ↑ Alley 1999, pp. 41–44.
  67. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. xiii.
  68. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 167.
  69. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 373.
  70. ↑ Dumenil 1991, p. 31.
  71. ↑ Dumenil 1991, p. 32.
  72. ↑ Lori, William E. (2017). "The Forest and the Trees". Columbia. Vol. 97 no. 7. New Haven, Connecticut: Knights of Columbus. pp. 4–5. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  73. 1 2 3 4 Mastromatteo, Mike (29 November 2011). "Many Cultures, One Faith". Columbia. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  74. 1 2 3 Dmytrenko, Kris (August 3, 2011). "129th Knights of Columbus Convention - Archbishop José Gomez on Immigration Policy". Salt + Light Media.
  75. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Harris, Elise (August 6, 2013). "Archbishop lauds work of Knights, urges immigration reform". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  76. 1 2 "What a missionary to North Korea told the Knights of Columbus convention". The Catholic World Report. August 2, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  77. 1 2 "Resolution on U.S. Immigration Policy". Knights of Columbus. 11 April 2006. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
  78. ↑ "Knights of Columbus: Resolution on U.S. Immigration Policy". Eyes of Faith. April 13, 2006. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  79. 1 2 "IN SUPPORT OF AN EQUITABLE IMMIGRATION POLICY". Knights of Columbus. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  80. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 335.
  81. ↑ "Congress reaches out to immigrants, refugees". Knights of Columbus. 23 June 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  82. 1 2 3 4 McGowan 1999, p. 178.
  83. ↑ O'Loughlin, Michael (28 January 2014). "Report: Knights of Columbus Spends Millions to Fight LGBT Rights". Advocate.com. Here Publishing. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  84. ↑ Smith, Peter J. (6 July 2007). "Knights of Columbus Calls Pro-Gay 'Marriage' Knights 'Embarrassing'". LifeSite. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  85. ↑ Kurwitz, Darrin (12 March 2013). "Knights of Columbus: Standing on the Wrong Side of History, for a Change". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  86. ↑ Krauss, Clifford (31 January 2005). "Church Fights Gay Marriage Bill". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
  87. ↑ Kaufman, Louis (18 August 1976). "Bishop Warns of Euthanasia". The Boston Globe. p. 20.
  88. ↑ "Joseph Francis, State K.C. Head, Honored at Dinner". The Daily Boston Globe. 27 September 1946. p. 11.
  89. ↑ Bauernschub 1949, pp. 62–63; Kauffman 1982, pp. 228, 400.
  90. ↑ Kaufman, Louis (August 18, 1976). "Bishop Cronin hits euthansia (sic), abortion at K. of C. parley". The Boston Globe.
  91. ↑ "CIS – Building the Domestic Church Series". Knights of Columbus. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  92. ↑ "Domestic Church". Knights of Columbus. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  93. ↑ "About Us". Knights of Columbus. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  94. ↑ Koehlinger 2004.
  95. 1 2 Barry, Vincent (2011). Bioethics in a Cultural Context. Cengage Learning. p. 192. ISBN 9780495814085.
  96. ↑ Leonard, Mary (October 9, 2000). "Bush woos Catholics on abortion". The Boston Globe. p. 1.
  97. ↑ "Knights of Columbus Resolution Defends 'Gift of Life'". Knights of Columbus. 3 August 2006. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  98. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Building a Culture of Life". Knights of Columbus. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  99. ↑ "Culture of Life". Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  100. ↑ "Knights of Columbus – Ultrasound Initiative – Frequently Asked Questions" (PDF). Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  101. ↑ "Councils Provide Funds to Pregnancy Care Centers for New Medical Technology". Knights of Columbus. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  102. ↑ Gatter, Mary; Kimport, Katrina; Foster, Diana Greene; Weitz, Tracy A.; Upadhyay, Ushma D. (2014). "Relationship Between Ultrasound Viewing and Proceeding to Abortion". Obstetrics & Gynecology. 123 (1): 81–87. doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000000053. ISSN 0029-7844.
  103. ↑ "Resolution 348 – National Healing and Reconciliation". Knights of Columbus. 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  104. 1 2 Fournier, Keith (August 8, 2016). "The Right to Life: The Courage of Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and the Condescension of Michael Sean Winters". Catholic Online. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  105. ↑ Austin, Charles (16 August 1982). "Religious Right Growing Impatient with Reagan". The New York Times. p. A13. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  106. 1 2 Franklin, James L.; Vaillancourt, Meg; Wen, Patricia (3 April 1995). "Fraternal Group Uses Clout to Safeguard Its Interests". The Boston Globe.
  107. 1 2 3 Broadway, Bill (6 July 2002). "How 'Under God' Got in There". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  108. ↑ Baer, John W. (2007). The Pledge of Allegiance: A Revised History and Analysis, 1892–2007. Avrio Knowledge Group.
  109. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kauffman 1982, p. 385.
  110. 1 2 3 Canipe, Lee. "Under God and Anit-Communist: How the Pledge of Allegiance Got Religion in Cold War America". Journal of Church and State. 45 (Spring 2003): 305.
  111. ↑ Newsweek. June 21, 1954. pp. 2, 6. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  112. ↑ Jones, Jeffrey Owen. "The Man Who Wrote the Pledge of Allegiance". Smithsonian. No. November 2003. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  113. ↑ Kauffman 1982, pp. 385-6.
  114. 1 2 "How the words "UNDER GOD" came to be added to the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag" (pdf). Knights of Columbus. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  115. ↑ Hopkins, Kathleen (November 19, 2014). "Lawsuit challenges 'under God' in Pledge of Allegiance". USA Today. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  116. 1 2 Kauffman 1982, p. 162.
  117. 1 2 Pub.L. 59–267, H.R. 13304, 34 Stat. 1413, enacted March 4, 1907
  118. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 164; Sale, p. 359.
  119. ↑ United States House of Representatives (April 30, 1934). "36 USC 107, ch. 184, 48 Stat. 657". United States Code. Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Archived from the original (text) on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  120. ↑ American Memory (October 6, 2010). "Today in History: October 12". Today in History. Library of Congress (National Digital Library). Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  121. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 230.
  122. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kauffman 1982, p. 386.
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  124. ↑ Kauffman 1982, p. 412.
  125. ↑ McGowan 1999, p. 177.

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Further reading

Kauffman, Christopher J. (2001). Patriotism and Fraternalism in the Knights of Columbus: A History of the Fourth Degree. New York: Crossroad. ISBN 978-0-8245-1885-1.
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