Knights of Columbus: Vote for Life and Family

Nearing the close of their 126th Supreme Convention in Quebec City on Thursday, the Knights of Columbus approved resolutions calling for the legal protection of marriage and asking Catholics holding elected office to “be true” to their faith by acting “bravely and publicly in defense of life.”

In one resolution at the fraternal charitable organization’s annual convention, the Knights called for “legal and constitutional protection ... for the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.” The resolution declares that marriage is a “natural institution based on ancient human values” that over time has become a “unique and deeply rooted social, legal and religious institution.”

Marriage, the resolution said, provides the best environment in which to protect children and also “reflects the natural biological complementarity between man and woman which predates the state and which is woven into the social and religious fabric of every major culture and society.”

Another resolution passed by the Knights advocates building a “culture of life” and opposing “any governmental action or policy that promotes abortion, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, euthanasia, assisted suicide and other offenses against life.”

Knights of Columbus delegates also exhorted “our fellow Catholics who are elected officials to be true to the faith they claim to profess by acting bravely and publicly in defense of life.” Such officials, the resolution advised, should affirm with Pope Benedict XVI that “there can be no room for purely private religion.”

The resolution reaffirmed the organization’s policy of not inviting to any Knights of Columbus event persons “who do not support the legal protection of unborn children.”

In his opening convention address delivered earlier this week, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson urged Catholic voters to “stop accommodating pro-abortion politicians” and to “say ‘no’” to every political candidate who supports abortion.

Other resolutions passed at the convention addressed religious freedom, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, decency on the internet and in the media, Catholic education, and the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance.

The Knights of Columbus, the world’s largest organization of Catholic laymen, was founded in 1882 and has more than 1.75 million members around the world.

Religious Freedom and Same-sex "Marriage"

Homosexuality is a very sensitive issue. Rightly so, it involves a very intimate aspect of humanity for many men and women. The moral position one takes in regard to same-sex attractions either invites homosexuals to love one another romantically or a life of mandated celibacy (or change of sexual orientation for certain fundamentalist Christian groups).

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, reminded Catholics of the authentic Christian position on the question of marriage and homosexuality. He said in an interview back in 2004, "Above all, we must have great respect for these people who also suffer and who want to find their own way of correct living. On the other hand, to create a legal form of a kind of homosexual marriage, in reality, does not help these people."

At present, one U.S. state legally recognized same-sex unions. Two more may join in as California and Connecticut battle it out in their Supreme Courts where judicial activists are legislating from the bench (despite the fact this violates their constitutional powers). The article below shows us what the Holy Father warned us about in regard with the legalization of same-sex "marriage." There are unforseen side-effects that undermine religious liberty and perpetuate moral depravity in secular society.

The Unintended Consequences of "Same-Sex Marriage"

Also read the Pope Benedict's Interview:

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger: An Aggressive Secular Ideology Which Is Worrying

"The obscuring of the difference or duality of the sexes has enormous consequences on a variety of levels. This theory of the human person, intended to promote prospects for equality of women through liberation from biological determinism, has in reality inspired ideologies which, for example, call into question the family, in its natural two-parent structure of mother and father, and make homosexuality and heterosexuality virtually equivalent, in a new model of polymorphous sexuality." - Pope Benedict XVI