Columbia January 2017

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU M BU S

J ANUARY 2017

COLUMBIA

“The law exists to protect the weak from the strong.”

– Henry Hyde

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU M BU S

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F E AT U R E S

10 Mobilizing for Life Eight years running, the K of C Ultrasound Initiative continues to advance its lifesaving mission.

BY ANDREW J. MATT

12 Grassroots Resistance A Maryland community works and prays together to close a late-term abortion facility and defend life.

BY LAWRENCE P. GRAYSON

16 Stephanie’s Fight to Live In the face of a growing movement to legalize assisted suicide, a terminally ill woman bravely advocates for the vulnerable.

BY CLARA FOX

20 ‘O Brave New World’ Advances in biotechnology bring new threats to human life at its earliest stages.

BY DAVID A. PRENTICE, PH.D.

23 The Legacy of a Pro-Life Giant Henry Hyde was among the most ardent, eloquent and effective defenders of the unborn in U.S. history.

BY O. CARTER SNEAD

A woman receives an ultrasound scan in a mobile unit belonging to Caring Families Pregnancy Services Inc. in Willimantic, Conn. The Connecticut State Council raised $13,000 for the machine, which was funded though the K of C Ultrasound Initiative.

D E PA RT M E N T S 3

Building a better world The Supreme Court’s infamous 1973 abortion decision remains an unsettling — and unsettled — issue.

BY SUPREME KNIGHT CARL A. ANDERSON

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Learning the faith, living the faith

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Legal efforts to promote doctorassisted suicide are dangerous and deceptive threats to human dignity.

BY SUPREME CHAPLAIN ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM E. LORI

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Knights of Columbus News Midyear Meeting Underscores Membership Growth and Sustainability • Knights Provide Kids With Warmth for Winter • Order Donates Food for Families During Holidays • John Paul II Film Wins Two Emmys • Polish Knights Give Thanks During Pilgrimage to Częstochowa • Catholic Distance University Honors Order’s Commitment to Education

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Fathers for Good A father honors the memory of his child lost through miscarriage.

BY RYAN VERRET

26 Knights in Action

PLUS: Catholic Man of the Month

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‘Conquer Evil With Good’ SINCE 1968, the Catholic Church has observed Jan. 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, as the World Day of Peace. In his message for the 50th World Day of Peace, which we celebrate this year, Pope Francis reflected on nonviolence as “a style of politics for peace.�

He argued, “If violence has its source in the human heart, then it is fundamental that nonviolence be practiced before all else in families.�

The pope’s message also reiterated these words of his predecessor, Benedict XVI: “For Christians, nonviolence is not merely tactical behavior but a person’s way of being, the attitude of one who is so convinced of God’s love and power that he or she is not afraid to tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth alone. Love of one’s enemy constitutes the nucleus of the ‘Christian revolution.’�

These principles of active nonviolence — that peace begins in the home and that we must “not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good� (Rom 12:21) — are directly relevant to our responsibility to build a culture of life, as we again approach the Jan. 22 anniversary of Roe v.

Wade. In fact, they are principles that have defined pro-life work for decades. The scale and consistency of the pro-life movement’s nonviolent protests — from 40 Days for Life and other peaceful vigils outside of abortion facilities to large-scale events such as the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. — are unparalleled. Consider also the compassionate support that thousands of pregnancy care centers, many of which operate ultrasound machines provided by the Knights

of Columbus, provide to women experiencing unplanned pregnancies, as well as the work of organizations such as Project Rachel in ministering to women who have had abortions.

By contrast, the culture of death is ultimately defined by violence; it has been responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of innocent lives by directly contradicting a fundamental principle of medicine: “First, do no harm.� In recent years, in both legislation and practice, this has gone far beyond abortion. It also includes the manipulation and destruction of human life at its earliest stages and the intentional killing of the terminally ill, the elderly and other vulnerable populations.

The irony is that our secular culture typically portrays the purveyors of abortion, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia and other crimes against humanity as messengers of mercy and compassion, while those who advance pro-life policies are characterized as cold, uncaring or even violent. In the face of this misinformation, what is the pro-life response? As the message for the World Day of Peace suggests, it is to speak the truth and to love our enemies (cf. Lk 6:27). We need to pray for the conversion of the physicians, judges and legislators who promote a culture of death, as well as our neighbors with whom we disagree. All the while, we must remember that “our struggle is not with flesh and bloodâ€? but with the powers of darkness, over which Christ is ever victorious (cf. Eph 6:12).♌ ALTON J. PELOWSKI EDITOR

Catholic Information Service Resource: Do No Harm Do No Harm: A Guide to Human Dignity and Morally Sound End-of-Life Care (#338) by Dominican Father Christopher M. Saliga provides clear Catholic moral principles for making decisions on behalf of loved ones who need long-term or end-of-life care. Part of the Veritas Series published by the Order’s Catholic Information Service, this booklet offers guidance on how to protect and promote human dignity while respecting people’s freedom. To download or order this resource, visit kofc.org/cis. ♌ COLUMBIA ♌

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COLUMBIA PUBLISHER Knights of Columbus ________ SUPREME OFFICERS Carl A. Anderson SUPREME KNIGHT Most Rev. William E. Lori, S.T.D. SUPREME CHAPLAIN Patrick E. Kelly DEPUTY SUPREME KNIGHT Michael J. O’Connor SUPREME SECRETARY Ronald F. Schwarz SUPREME TREASURER John A. Marrella SUPREME ADVOCATE ________ EDITORIAL Alton J. Pelowski EDITOR Andrew J. Matt MANAGING EDITOR Anna M. Bninski ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Venerable Michael McGivney (1852-90) Apostle to the Young, Protector of Christian Family Life and Founder of the Knights of Columbus, Intercede for Us. ________ HOW TO REACH US MAIL COLUMBIA 1 Columbus Plaza New Haven, CT 06510-3326 ADDRESS CHANGES 203-752-4210, option #3 addresschange@kofc.org PRAYER CARDS & SUPPLIES 203-752-4214 COLUMBIA INQUIRIES 203-752-4398 FAX 203-752-4109 K OF C CUSTOMER SERVICE 1-800-380-9995 E-MAIL columbia@kofc.org INTERNET kofc.org/columbia ________ Membership in the Knights of Columbus is open to men 18 years of age or older who are practical (that is, practicing) Catholics in union with the Holy See. This means that an applicant or member accepts the teaching authority of the Catholic Church on matters of faith and morals, aspires to live in accord with the precepts of the Catholic Church, and is in good standing in the Catholic Church.

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Copyright Š 2016 All rights reserved ________ ON THE COVER A detail of an ink sketch by Leonardo da Vinci, drawn c. 1511, depicts a child in the womb.

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E D I TO R I A L

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BU I L D I N G A B E T T E R WO R L D

The Future of Roe The Supreme Court’s infamous 1973 abortion decision remains an unsettling — and unsettled — issue

by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson AS A SPECIAL ASSISTANT to PresiRoe v. Wade will never be settled condent Ronald Reagan in 1986, I was priv- stitutional law as long as Americans say, ileged to work on the nomination of “It is not settled.”

Antonin Scalia to be a member of the This was precisely the approach PresiU.S. Supreme Court. At the time, I dent Abraham Lincoln took regarding “Raw judicial power” has not concould not imagine that 30 years later we the Supreme Court’s 1857 decision in vinced Americans that Roe v. Wade is would be considering a new nominee to the Dred Scott case and laws on slavery. It right. fill the vacancy resulting from his un- was the right approach then, and it reIn recent years, our Knights of timely death. mains the right approach today.

Columbus-Marist polling has consisPresident Reagan had pledged to apVirtually unrestricted abortion contin- tently shown that more than 8 in 10 point judges who respect “the sanctity of ues to be morally unsettling for a major- Americans would limit abortion — at innocent human life.” Americans knew ity of Americans. More than four decades most — to the first three months of his language was to be underpregnancy. Almost 6 in 10 stood in light of his repeated critwould limit it — at most — to icism of the Supreme Court’s cases of rape or incest or to save 1973 abortion decision in Roe v. the life of the mother, and that “Raw judicial power” has not Wade. With the nomination of includes the majority of Amerconvinced Americans that Justice Scalia, he kept his promicans who describe themselves ise, and Scalia was unanimously as “pro-choice.”

Roe v. Wade is right. confirmed by the Senate.

Almost two-thirds of AmerWhenever there is a Supreme icans say that our abortion rate Court vacancy, we are told by is too high. And 6 in 10 Amersupporters of Roe v. Wade that the deci- after the Supreme Court handed down icans continue to believe that abortion is sion is “settled law.” But such supporters its decision, abortion remains one of our morally wrong. face this difficulty: Roe v. Wade will never most controversial issues.

During my address to last year’s be settled law, because Roe v. Wade is At the time, Justice Byron White Supreme Convention, I stated that we founded on the lie that we do not know called the court’s decision in Roe v. Wade will never build a culture of life if we conthat the victim of every abortion — an an exercise of “raw judicial power.” His tinue to elect public officials who defend unborn child — is a human being. dissenting opinion remains one of the a legal regime of unrestricted abortion.

There is another difficulty as well: strongest critiques of the case. Appointed The same must be said of those who are Since Roe v. Wade, millions of women by President John F. Kennedy, Justice appointed as our judges. have concluded that instead of being White continued to be a strong critic of As we look ahead to how the new preshelpful, abortion is deeply hurtful.

Roe v. Wade during the 20 years he re- ident will keep his promise to be pro-life, In America, judicial decisions that are mained on the Supreme Court. we remember the words of the current contrary to the dignity of the human He later wrote, “The Judiciary, in- occupant of that office who at the beginperson simply cannot be sustained over cluding this Court, is the most vulnera- ning of his administration famously said, time. This is the lesson we learned long ble and comes nearest to illegitimacy “Elections have consequences.” ago from those tragic court decisions when it deals with judge-made constituWhen it comes to defending the lives which held that African-Americans were tional law having little or no cognizable of millions of unborn children, we sinnot entitled to the equal protection of roots in the language or even the design cerely hope so. our laws.

Vivat Jesus! of the Constitution.”

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L E A R N I N G T H E FA I T H , L I V I N G T H E FA I T H

Respecting the Lives of the Sick and Elderly Legal efforts to promote doctor-assisted suicide are dangerous and deceptive threats to human dignity

by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori SHAKESPEARE PLACES on the lips VOICES FOR LIFE of the star-crossed lover Juliet a question: Let us make no mistake: Compassion & “What’s in a name?” She goes on to say, Choices is out to legalize doctor-assisted “That which we call a rose by any other suicide throughout the United States. name would smell as sweet.”

We can also be sure that these propo- has entrusted to us” (Catechism of the We may ask ourselves this same ques- nents of what Pope Francis calls the Catholic Church, 2280). tion — “What’s in a name? — about a “throwaway culture” will share their To be sure, many people, if asked, powerful group that now goes by the playbook, so as to spread their deceptive would support physician-assisted suicide because they value the ability to control name “Compassion & Choices.” Judg- message throughout the world. ing only by the name, it sounds like a As we prepare once again to march for one’s destiny — and because they think good-hearted organization. After all, the cause of life, let us also focus on how it is the only way to end suffering. But who would oppose compassion or help- we should respond to this unfolding many others rightly believe that life is God’s precious gift to be respected ing people know and underand that we are called to live each stand their options? day with dignity. Helping those In reality, Compassion & True compassion seeks to ease who are handicapped, sick or dying Choices is not a new organizasuffering while accompanying to take their own lives is morally tion but an old one that forunacceptable.

Instead, we are enmerly went by the name those who are suffering. We seek to couraged to alleviate their sufferHemlock Society. Hemlock was ings and to walk with them in love the poisonous drink that ended kill the pain, not the patient. until the moment of natural death. the life of the philosopher Socrates. The old name tells us So, let us be bold, courageous much more about the nature of the or- threat to the life and dignity of the frail and loving in pointing out how uncomganization, which is dedicated to legal- elderly, the terminally and chronically ill, passionate doctor-assisted suicide really is. izing doctor-assisted suicide. The the handicapped, and those who suffer compassion it offers is suicide. The choice from depression. Just as we seek to pro- TRUE COMPASSION it offers is death. tect the lives of unborn children and to True compassion — literally, sufferingWearing its new, Orwellian moniker, reach out to their mothers with genuine with — seeks to ease suffering while acCompassion & Choices has mounted a compassion, so too we must reach out as companying those who suffer. We seek formidable campaign to legalize doctor- never before to the vulnerable, protecting to kill the pain, not the patient. True assisted suicide throughout the United their lives and dignity against the on- compassion also requires us to speak plainly, not using camouflaged terms States and beyond. The group turns up slaught of doctor-assisted suicide. in community health fairs and public liThe starting point for our efforts is such as “aid-in-dying” but rather pointbraries. Well-funded and politically confidence in the Church’s teaching on ing out that Compassion & Choices adsavvy, it has recently succeeded in Cali- the dignity of human life from the mo- vocates for “doctor-prescribed” or fornia, Colorado and Washington, D.C. ment of conception until natural death. “doctor-assisted” suicide. When people In 2017, the organization is targeting This teaching corresponds to a deep- realize that the real issue here is suicide, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Con- seated instinct in every person to preserve their minds and hearts are often changed.

Second, legalized doctor-assisted suinecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Min- his or her own life. Indeed, “we are the stewards, not the owners, of the life God cide sends a message to the suffering. It nesota and Hawaii. ♦ COLUMBIA ♦

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L E A R N I N G T H E FA I T H , L I V I N G T H E FA I T H

tells them that their lives are a burden to society and that the world would be better if they were dead. Is there a message more likely to make the suffering feel isolated, hopeless and disconnected? Their pain is surely compounded when family members and friends send this signal.

Third, assisted suicide can also traumatize loving families. The very thought that a sick, elderly or disabled member could take his or her own life without their even knowing about it horrifies many families, and there is no requirement that they be notified before the lethal dose is prescribed.

POPE FRANCIS: CNS photo/Evandro Inetti, pool — ST. ZYGMUNT GORAZDOWSKI: Photo courtesy of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Joseph

H O LY FAT H E R ’ S P R AY E R I N T E N T I O N

Offered in Solidarity with Pope Francis CHRISTIAN UNITY: That all Christians may be faithful to the Lord’s teaching by striving with prayer and fraternal charity to restore ecclesial communion and by collaborating to meet the challenges facing humanity.

Fourth, studies show that in places where doctor-assisted suicide is legalized, commitment to palliative care declines.

Government programs and insurers save money when the life of the suffering patient is simply ended. In other words, suicide is a cheap answer to pain. We should demand that health care programs provide truly compassionate care that eases the pain of the sick and dying.

Fifth, the promise of freedom of choice is an illusion. doctors can prescribe lethal doses of drugs without knowing whether the patient is clinically depressed. Also, once the lethal drugs

leave the pharmacy they are within easy reach of those who would abuse the elderly and the disabled, since no oversight or witnesses are required.

Finally, studies show that once suicide is legalized as good for some, the overall number of suicides dramatically increases.

The Order is blessed to number among our members many medical professionals and those who work with and advocate for the disabled and elderly. I encourage you, as well as all Knights, to oppose doctor-assisted suicide legislation in your jurisdictions. That’s true compassion. That’s the right choice.♦

C AT H O L I C M A N O F T H E M O N T H

St. Zygmunt Gorazdowski (1845-1920) THe SeCONd of seven children, Zygmunt Karol Gorazdowski was born in Sanok, in southeastern Poland, Nov. 1, 1845. Raised in a devout Catholic home at a time of social and political turmoil, Gorazdowski narrowly escaped death during the Galician Massacre of 1846 — a violent uprising against serfdom — when his nurse reportedly hid him under a mill wheel.

This left him with a lung ailment that plagued him all his life but also made him sensitive to the suffering of others.

In 1851, the family moved to Przemyśl. At age 18, Gorazdowski joined in the January Uprising against the Russian occupation; after its failure, he enrolled in the faculty of law in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine). Two years later, he felt a powerful call to the priesthood, left law school and entered Lwów’s Latin Catholic seminary.

Ordained in 1871, Father Gorazdowski served in various parishes. At 3 p.m. each day he contemplated Christ’s agony on the cross, often before the Blessed Sacrament. His interior life bore fruit in countless acts of charity, including tending to the sick

and dying during a cholera epidemic.

In 1877, Father Gorazdowski was assigned to St. Nicholas Parish in Lwów, where he developed numerous apostolates. He published books for youth, parents and teachers; a popular catechism; and a daily newspaper for the poor. He also opened a shelter and soup kitchen for those in need, a hospice for terminally ill patients and the Child Jesus Institute for single mothers and abandoned babies.

To carry on this charitable work, in 1884 Father Gorazdowski founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Joseph, which now counts approximately 500 sisters. Renowned as “the father of the poor,” Father Gorazdowski died Jan. 1, 1920, and was canonized in October 2005.♦

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Midyear Meeting Underscores Membership Growth and Sustainability

STATE DEPUTIES from throughout the Order gathered in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 18-20 for their midyear meeting, which focused on membership recruitment and retention, together with a renewed commitment to unity. “Our responsibility as the leaders of the Knights of Columbus is to assure the continued growth and sustainability of our Order. This is our first and primary responsibility,� said Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson during the Saturday business session Nov. 19. “While we have other goals and activities that are necessary, everything we do depends upon membership.�

A key challenge facing the Knights, he said, is the need to recruit younger men and fathers of young families. “Our councils need to emphasize programs more relevant to families with young children,� he said. “It is necessary to recruit younger members in ways that respect the more limited time they have to dedicate to activities outside the home.�

The supreme knight also encouraged councils to provide the First Degree in the new DVD format, ensuring that candidates may join without a lengthy wait before taking the admission degree. “Let’s remember this: Father McGivney was not yet 30 when he founded the Knights of Columbus with what was described at the time as the ‘young go-ahead men’ of New Haven,� Anderson continued. “Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus for the young working men of his day, to protect their families.�

Parishes are the natural home of K of C councils and where they thrive best, he added. Parish-based councils can promote new charitable initiatives and Catholic family life within the parish while calling men to greater spiritual formation and evangelical action. “Our Building the Domestic Church While Strengthening Our Parish initiative combines two great traditions of the Knights of Columbus: building up Catholic family life ♌ COLUMBIA ♌

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and strengthening parish life,� Anderson said.

He also introduced the new Fraternal Training Portal, which was developed to help train council officers and make volunteer efforts more efficient. These training programs, which will roll out to all council officers over the coming months, promote fraternal leadership skills and instill organizational awareness of Father McGivney’s mission and legacy.

The three-day meeting also included a variety of discussions and breakout sessions, with topics including charitable programs, the Building the Domestic Church initiative and safe environment resources.

The final day of the meeting began with Mass celebrated

by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore for the Solemnity of Christ the King, which was also the closing day of the Year of Mercy. “The Knights of Columbus is founded on God’s merciful love for us and on the works of charity and mercy we are called to do for others,� the supreme chaplain said in his homily. “May Father McGivney’s vision live on in us as we attract young men and their families to the Order so that they might be a part of Christ’s kingdom of charity and mercy.�

Following the Mass, Supreme Knight Anderson thanked the state deputies and Archbishop Lori for their leadership and encouraged them and all members to participate in the annual March for Life Jan. 27. “This coming year, I ask every Knight that can make it to Washington, D.C., to please do so for this event, which is a true witness to the devotion we and so many others hold to support a culture of life.�

In addition, the 700th ultrasound machine funded through the Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Initiative was presented during the meeting. Archbishop Lori blessed the machine, which was sponsored by Father Howard J. Lesch Council 7667 in Niceville, Fla., for the Fort Walton Beach Center for Women.♌

Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson addresses state deputies gathered in Orlando, Fla., for the midyear meeting of the 2016-17 fraternal year.

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Knights Provide Kids With Warmth for Winter

Stephen Lowery of Blessed Sacrament Council 11001 in Lincoln, Neb., helps a child with a new winter coat during a Coats for Kids distribution at a Catholic Social Services center Nov. 12 in Lincoln. At the event, the Nebraska State Council and local councils teamed up with first responders, University of Nebraska-Lincoln student athletes and former NFL players to provide more than 1,000 new coats to children in need.

Knights across the United States and Canada took part in the Coats for Kids program in late 2016. In Connecticut, councils coordinated distributions Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving, making it a day of giving rather than Black Friday shopping. Since the program was launched in 2009, more than 300,000 new coats have been distributed to children by Knights of Columbus.

Order Donates Food for Families During Holidays Art Carroll (left) and Grand Knight Jim Dummer of Mid-Columbia Council 7292 in Hood River, Ore., prepare a cart for client use at FISH Food Bank, where members volunteer year-round. Numerous councils throughout the Order sponsored Food for Family projects during the recent holiday season.

Since 2012, the Supreme Council has offered rebates to K of C units that donate food or money to local food pantries, community food banks and soup kitchens. Last fraternal year saw record participation, with more than 2,000 units donating nearly $3.5 million, 671,000 service hours and over 7.5 million pounds of food to Food for Family projects. For more information, visit kofc.org/food.

John Paul II Film Wins Two Emmys

THE DOCUMENTARY Liberating a Continent: John Paul II and the Fall of Communism received two regional Emmy awards in Chicago Dec. 3, 2016.

Executive producer Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, together with producers Justyna Czyszek, Szymon Czyszek, David Naglieri and Michèle NuzzoNaglieri, were awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement for Documentary Programs – Historical. George Hosek, the film’s director of photography, was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Crafts Achievement Off-Air. “We are honored to receive these awards and grateful for the recognition it gives to this important film, which tells the story of how Eastern Europe regained its freedom without violence and by calling forth the best in the human spirit,â€? said Supreme Knight Anderson.

The 90-minute film recounts St. John Paul II’s role in the fall of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and explores how his spiritual leadership affected Poland’s Solidarity movement, which contributed to the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989.

Narrated by actor Jim Caviezel, with original music by renowned composer Joe Kraemer, the documentary features rare archival footage and exclusive interviews with several heads of state; papal biographer George Weigel; and John Paul II’s lifelong assistant Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, archbishop of Kraków, among others.

For more information, visit www.jp2film.com.♌

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Polish Knights Give Thanks During Pilgrimage to Czestochowa ‘ More than 350 Knights, along with family members, participated in the Poland State Council’s third annual pilgrimage to CzÄ™stochowa nov. 2526, 2016. organized under the theme “Family: the School of Mercy,â€? the pilgrimage was an occasion of thanksgiving for the 1050th anniversary of Poland’s baptism, the order’s 10th anniversary in Poland, the holy Year of Mercy and the World Youth Day celebration in KrakĂłw. the Knights gathered before the image of our Lady of CzÄ™stochowa at the Jasna GĂłra Monastery for evening prayer nov. 25 and again the next morning for Mass celebrated by Bishop henryk tomasik of radom. at the conclusion of Mass, Poland State Deputy andrzej anasiak led the Knights in a prayer entrusting the order to our Lady: “Intercede for us, o Mother, that we, your Knights and their families, may be united even closer with Christ....â€?

Poland State Deputy Andrzej Anasiak (at microphone) leads more than 500 Knights and family members in a prayer of entrustment to Our Lady of Czestochowa. ‘ the pilgrimage included an afternoon of conferences, and featured special guests from the Sisters of our Lady of Mercy and the World Youth Day Committee, a First Degree exemplification, and outdoor Stations of the Cross.

as a charitable component to the pilgrimage, participants also brought with them packages of adult diapers, filling two trucks in support of hospices in Lviv, Ukraine, and Vilnius, Lithuania.♌

at ItS annUaL DInner and awards ceremony nov.

5 in arlington, Va., Catholic Distance University (CDU) bestowed its Founder’s award on Supreme Knight Carl a. anderson and Supreme Chaplain archbishop William Lori for their contributions to Catholic education.

Bishop emeritus Paul S. Loverde of arlington, chairman of the CDU board, presented the award to anderson “for his inspiring, courageous leadership of the Knights of Columbus and generous support of Catholic Distance University to educate the domestic church in a digital world.�

Bishop Loverde likewise praised archbishop Lori “for his wisdom, his courage, his example ‌ and as a supreme teacher of the Church.â€?

In his remarks, Supreme Knight anderson emphasized the need for “Catholic education that forms the entire person� and CDU’s importance for the future of the Catholic community. archbishop Lori noted that the awards belong to the entire order because of its commitment to Gospel principles. he also highlighted the need for education on the issues of religious freedom.

Dr. Marianne evans Mount, CDU president, recalled that when the university began in 1983, the Knights sup ♌ COLUMBIA ♌

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Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson receives the Catholic Distance University Founder’s Award from Bishop Emeritus Paul S. Loverde of Arlington, Va., and CDU President Marianne Evans Mount. ported its courses by mailing its materials to students.

CDU now has certificate, undergraduate and advanced degree students in all 50 states and more than 60 countries.♌

Catholic Distance University Honors Order’s Commitment to Education

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FAT H E R S F O R G O O D

Always With Us A father honors the memory of his child lost through miscarriage

by Ryan Verret

W

hen I held my fourth child for the first time, the experience was much different from what I had felt with our first three children. Little John Paul had passed away in my wife’s womb, and I was carrying the boy’s remains in a pathology lab jar that I had wrapped in a blue receiving blanket.

The word “miscarriage” sounded strange to me. True, something had gone wrong with the pregnancy, but as a father I was doing everything I could, with help from my wife, to “carry” this child home.

Many fathers have asked me about coping with such a loss. I advise them not disengage just because they never held the child in their arms. I urge them to take up their fatherly role by naming the child, praying for the child, and keeping him or her as part of the family. This is what my wife, Mary Rose, and I have done together.

In the early stages of her fourth pregnancy, we looked forward to the ultrasound, when we would see the baby’s heartbeat for the first time.

After our doctor searched for signs of life, he switched off the machine and turned toward us. “Mary Rose and Ryan,” he said, “I’m sorry, but I think you’ve had a miscarriage.”

We were shocked and confused. Was the joy that we had felt the previous weeks — and even minutes before — really over? The doctor said there was nothing we could do until after another ultrasound in a few days.

As a father and a man, not being able to do something or fix a problem was difficult. But we had no choice but to wait.

During our next visit, the doctor confirmed that my wife’s pregnancy hormone levels had dropped significantly.

However, when he performed the ultrasound, we saw a very faint flicker on the screen that looked like a heartbeat.

The doctor had no explanation. He prayed with us, advised us to put this tiny life in the Lord’s hands and scheduled for us to come back in three days.

When we returned again, it was confirmed that little John Paul had died. I believe that previous flicker of a heartbeat was a brief sign that we were parents of a child who was no longer with us but with God. Still, the loss hurt deeply. I never even considered the well-meaning advice to just move on and focus on our other three kids.

Rather, I resolved to take every opportunity as a husband and father to give thanks for the mother of my child and honor the memory of our John Paul.

The night before the D&C procedure, I held Mary Rose with my hand over her womb, praying together for our deceased child as we had done throughout his short life.

After receiving the precious remains the day after the surgery, I left in tears. I wanted to be alone with John Paul, hold him as best I could and carry him home.

Mary Rose greeted me outside our home with a candle.

She led me to the temporary altar set up for the Mass that would be offered before the burial in the prayer garden we had prepared for him. This was a difficult but meaningful time for our family, and I am glad that I remained connected to my wife and children throughout the ordeal.

A father has a great opportunity to express in service and kind words what many mothers feel intuitively after experiencing a miscarriage: that this little life, though brief, was truly a human being and is forever one of our children. Each night, I look at the glowing little light we placed in John Paul’s garden, thanking God for each of our children and remembering John Paul’s time with us.

As a father, I join my wife in keeping alive his memory until the day when we all hopefully will be together in heaven.♦ RYAN VERRET is a member of Breaux Bridge (La.) Council 2398. He and his wife, Mary Rose, are founders of Witness to Love, a Catholic marriage preparation and enrichment program.

FIND ADDITIONAL ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FOR CATHOLIC MEN AND THEIR FAMILIES AT FATHERSFORGOOD. ORG .

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Mobilizing for Life Eight years running, the K of C Ultrasound Initiative continues to advance its lifesaving mission

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ince the Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Initiative launched Jan. 22, 2009 — the 37th anniversary of Roe v.

Wade — hundreds of state and local councils have assisted qualified pregnancy care centers (PCCs) to obtain ultrasound machines. Because of the high percentage of abortion-minded women who experience a change of heart after seeing their preborn child’s heartbeat or moving body via ultrasound, the machines play an important part in the PCCs’ lifesaving work.

When a council raises half the cost of an ultrasound machine — which starts at roughly $20,000 — the Supreme Council matches that amount through the Order’s Culture of Life Fund.

To date, the initiative has funded more than 750 ultrasound machines — valued at over $36 million — in all 50 states, as well as in Canada, Jamaica, Guatemala and Peru. Jurisdictions with the most machines funded are Florida (59), California (48), Texas (48), Missouri (43) and Michigan (37). “Our Ultrasound Initiative gives an expectant mother a light that enables her to see the reality, and often the personality, of ♌ C O L U M B I A ♌

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her child in the womb,� affirmed Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson in his annual report last August.

An increasing number of PCCs are putting this technology on wheels to reach more women in need. Mobile ultrasound units offer PCCs increased flexibility, outreach and effectiveness.

They can park right outside an abortion facility, on or near a college campus or military base, or travel to remote areas.

This past November, Msgr. James H. Willett Council 7847 in Hopkinsville, Ky., donated an ultrasound machine to Alpha Alternative Pregnancy Care Center for the center’s new ICU Mobile RV bus. “For many women, transportation is an issue, as well as not knowing about us,� said Amanda Westerfield, director of Alpha Alternative PCC. “Now we can go to them, bringing our services to underserved populations. Plus, we’re like a moving billboard saying ‘Free Ultrasound and Pregnancy Test’ along with our phone number, which attracts further interest.�

Life Choices Pregnancy Center in Carson City, Nev., recently equipped its Save the Storks “Sprinter bus� with a new K of C-

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TOP: Photo by Lemaire Photography — OTHER: Photo by Kustom Dezigns Photography

Above: Laura Brown, a registered nurse and sonographer at Life Choices Pregnancy Center in Carson City, Nev., performs a scan of a woman’s unborn baby in the center’s new Save the Storks “Sprinter bus,” equipped with an ultrasound machine funded by the Nevada State Council. • Left: Past Grand Knight Dick Dymek (left) stands with Frank Amaro and Bob Marko of Msgr. James H. Willet Council 7847 in Hopkinsville, Ky., at the Nov. 30 commissioning of a new ultrasound-equipped ICU Mobile RV bus for Alpha Alternative Pregnancy Care Center.

Opposite page: Kimberly Burchiel, director of Life Choices Pregnancy Center in Carson City, stands with staff members beside the center’s Storks bus. funded ultrasound machine — the second that the Nevada State Council has provided for the center, and the fourth in the state.

The center’s director, Kimberly Burchiel, said, “Our goal is now to go where women need our services — in rural parts of Nevada where they don’t have a pregnancy center at all, as well as Lake Tahoe and the University of Nevada, Reno, campus.”

Mark Foxwell, the Nevada K of C culture of life chairman, described a collaborative effort now underway for local councils across the state.

“Nevada is huge, so we’ve identified councils that will be ready to host Life Choices’ mobile unit in all those areas, advertising when it’s coming so people will know how to get the services,” Foxwell explained. “We’re going to help maximize the utility of that lifesaving vehicle.”

Motivated by the growing movement among PCCs to purchase mobile ultrasound units, the Supreme Council recently announced a new component of the Ultrasound Initiative: Mobile Medical Unit Funding.

For state and local councils that raise all of the funds needed to purchase a vehicle — bus, RV, van, truck, etc. — outfitted to serve as a mobile unit for a PCC, the Supreme Council will provide up to 100 percent of the cost of an ultrasound machine for use in the unit.

For more information about the Ultrasound Initiative and Mobile Medical Unit Funding, visit kofc.org/ultrasound.

ANDREW J. MATT is managing editor of Columbia and a member of Father Kuster Council 3037 in Chester, Conn.

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Grassroots Resistance A Maryland community works and prays together to close a late-term abortion facility and defend life

by Lawrence P. Grayson | photos by Jaclyn Lippelmann

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n a chilly Monday morning, Nov. 14, 2016, more than just going to be a provider, I was going to be an activist.”

50 people gathered outside a small business park in subWhen Nebraska passed a law banning partial-birth aborurban Maryland. They came to pray and protest near the of- tions, Carhart sued the state’s attorney general, and in 2000 fice of LeRoy Carhart, one of only five known facilities in the the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the statute. Carhart again United States that will abort a preborn child at any point dur- brought suit when the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act ing pregnancy. Prayerful witness has continued every Monday of 2003 was enacted. The Supreme Court, however, reversed for six years — rain or shine, snow or summer sun. its earlier stance and upheld the ban.

Inside the park, two similar townhouses face each other In 2009, his friend and colleague, George Tiller, a late-term across a horseshoe drive. One is Germantown Reproductive abortionist in Kansas, was murdered by an anti-abortion faHealth Services, Carhart’s abortion facility. The other is Ger- natic. Carhart promptly announced that “he would carry on mantown Pregnancy Choices, a pro[Tiller’s] legacy by performing some life resource center for women later-term abortions in his clinic,” acexperiencing unplanned pregnancies. cording to The New York Times. NeAccording to Dick Retta, a sidewalk braska lawmakers, not wanting the state counselor at the center and member of to become an abortion mecca, passed a E DO NOT KNOW Mater Dei Council 9774 in Rockville, law in 2010 banning most abortions 20 GOD’S PLAN, BUT WE the two facilities “symbolize the strugweeks after conception. While maingle between life and death.” taining his Nebraska facility, Carhart DO KNOW THAT IT IS From the day Carhart opened his opened a second in Germantown, Md., doors Dec. 6, 2010, a year-round vigil where abortions can be performed durOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO of prayer and peaceful public witness ing all nine months of pregnancy. In rehas taken place near his facility. Knights cent years, Carhart has flown every few BE HERE.” of Columbus councils, Catholic days to perform abortions at both locaparishes and Protestant congregations, tions each week. bishops, priests and Christian pastors, Since opening his three-day-a-week national and local pro-life leaders, and people of all ages have facility, Carhart has aborted an estimated 50 to 60 children a come to pray for an end to the killing. month, according to The Washington Post. Many of them were in an advanced stage of gestation, when the child can feel pain LIFE V. DEATH and has a significant chance of survival if delivered.

LeRoy Carhart received a medical degree while serving in the Describing his gruesome business in 1997, Carhart testified U.S. Air Force and opened a walk-in facility in Omaha, Neb., in a U.S. district court that when he dismembered late-stage in 1985. Shortly after a fire at his home in 1991, allegedly infants, he could “see the fetal heartbeat on the ultrasound.” started by an anti-abortion protester, he began performing Upon Carhart’s arrival in Germantown in 2010, several abortions full-time as a display of defiance. In a 2011 inter- community members gathered to protest his presence and met view with The Washington Post, he said, “I decided I wasn’t to determine what more could be done.

“W

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Grace Morrison, a parishioner at St. John Neumann Parish in Gaithersburg, Md., leads a group in a prayer walk outside of the Germantown Reproductive Health Services facility Nov. 14.

As there was a vacant office across from the clinic, the prolife activists decided to lease it and establish Germantown Pregnancy Choices. Maryland Coalition for Life was created to sign the lease, and a local evangelical church contributed the first month’s rent. For six years, the center has survived through donations and a volunteer staff.

Father Horace B. McKenna, S.J. Council 11024 in Germantown has regularly donated funds from its baby bottle campaign, contributing more than $3,200 to Pregnancy Choices last year.

Eugene de Ribeaux, a member of Our Lady of Guadalupe Council 12127 in Gaithersburg, leases the building adjoining

the abortion clinic.

“When the facility opened, my first reaction was to move away from the evil next door,” de Ribeaux said. “Then I thought that perhaps God wanted me to be here. My wife, Mary Beth, suggested that we allow Mass to be celebrated in the office each Saturday for an end to abortion on the other side of the common wall.” Weekly Masses have continued ever since.

Grace Morrison, a homeschooling mother of seven, also began an ongoing weekly vigil when Carhart’s facility opened.

Two of Morrison’s sons, who were among the first to participate, are now seminarians for the Archdiocese of Washington.

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Mark Rummel, a member of Father Horace B. McKenna, S.J. Council 11024 in Germantown, holds a sign and rosary during a prayerful protest outside the Germantown Reproductive Health Services facility.

The ecumenical public witness has also included periodic rallies incorporating the celebration of the Mass, other Christian services, rosary processions, eucharistic adoration and presentations by prominent pro-life advocates. And when Carhart’s clinic has been open, continuous sidewalk counseling has ensured that no baby and mother are completely abandoned at the final moment.

Many others soon joined Morrison’s family.

“I felt that God was calling my family to pray at the clinic every Monday morning when the several-day late-term abortion procedures begin,” Morrison said. “We could not just continue in our daily routine, knowing that innocent lives were being killed a few miles away.”

A 40 Days for Life campaign was first organized in the spring of 2011. This prayerful presence, 12-18 hours a day for 40 days, has been repeated twice each year. “In the first three years, over 2,000 people from 30 churches prayed for some 4,500 hours, and 125 babies were saved,” said Andrew Glenn, who organized the effort.

On Dec. 5, 2011, marking the one-year anniversary of Carhart’s arrival, more than 2,100 people, including 17 priests and 10 Protestant ministers, gathered for public prayer and witness. Jim McFillin, a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Council 9968 in Lexington Park and the Maryland State Council culture of life team, led an effort to install 720 crosses nearby. “They represented the number of children Carhart aborted during that year,” he explained.

Five days later, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, celebrated Mass at nearby Mother Seton Church. The liturgy was followed by a candlelight procession to the clinic.

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FIRST, DO NO HARM In the past four years, there have been 13 reported emergencies in which ambulances transported patients from Carhart’s Maryland and Nebraska abortion facilities to a hospital. Of the 10 incidents in Germantown, five happened in less than 120 days, from Dec. 15, 2015 through April 4, 2016.

In 2005 and 2013, patients of Carhart died following thirdtrimester abortions. In the latter case, the young woman returned to her hotel as Carhart was leaving town. That evening, her condition worsened, and she was taken to a nearby hospital where she died, having suffered massive internal bleeding, as reported by USA Today.

In late January 2016, another woman, who recently filed malpractice suits against Carhart, nearly lost her own life after undergoing a two-day abortion procedure. In recovery, she had severe pain and bled heavily. She required extensive emergency surgery in a nearby hospital, continues to suffer permanent disability and will likely never bear another child.

The abortionist has other legal concerns as well. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services inspected his clinic in Bellevue in August 2015 to determine how he handles the remains of aborted children. The results of the investigation have not been released.

On May 11, 2016, the Congressional Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives issued subpoenas to Carhart, his clinic, numerous hospitals, emergency dispatchers and medical facilities for information related to his suspected involvement in the illegal trafficking of aborted fetal remains and possible incidents of infants born alive and left to die. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who chairs the panel, said: “Reports regarding the Germantown clinic are deeply troubling, both for the sake of babies whose lives are ended so close to — and possibly even after — birth and for the sake of the women who have been rushed from that clinic to the hospital with increasing frequency.”

Centro Tepeyac Women’s Center, a pregnancy support center based in Silver Spring, Md., will soon launch a new component to the Germantown effort: a pregnancy care van staffed with a nurse-manager, sonographer and bilingual counselor. It will offer free sonograms to pregnant women, using an ultrasound unit donated by Father Rosensteel Council 2169 in Silver Spring through the K of C Ultrasound Initiative.

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Jean Evans, a counselor at Centro Tepeyac Women’s Center, provides pregnancy counseling and advice at the Silver Spring clinic. The center’s new “MetroStork Bus,” a mobile onsite ultrasound clinic, uses an ultrasound machine funded through the Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Initiative.

Mariana Vera is executive director of Centro Tepeyac.

“Since we began in 1990, more than 20,000 women in unplanned pregnancies have come to our center for help,” she said. “Now we are excited to soon be able to go where women need us most, virtually at the door of abortion centers.”

In the past six years, Carhart has been responsible for the abortion of more than 3,000 children. During the same time, approximately 370 children have been saved thanks to the pro-life efforts in Germantown.

Janet Kotoski, a volunteer at Germantown Pregnancy Choices, recounted the story of one woman seeking a lateterm abortion.

“She could not find the abortion facility and asked me where it was, although it was clearly visible from where she parked,” Kotoski said. “I shared alternatives to abortion with her, and then she left. Less than an hour later, she returned with her husband to say they had joyfully changed their minds.”

As people gathered in peaceful prayer outside of Carhart’s facility in mid-November, little did they know that Carhart was not present that day. According to several news reports in

late November, Carhart had not set foot in Maryland since Nov. 8 and was not expected to return to the clinic again. It is rumored, however, that another late-term abortionist may assume the Germantown practice.

The news of Carhart’s departure came as an answer to prayer for Grace Morrison, but as the battle for life continues, she and others will continue to pray and witness until the business of killing in Germantown is no more.

“We do not know God’s plan or the effects of our presence, but we do know that it is our responsibility to be here,” Morrison explained. “We have seen that there is an abundance of grace available at this place of great darkness, as we have witnessed many miracles and conversions. As St. Paul tells us in Romans 5:20, ‘where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.’”♦ LAWRENCE P. GRAYSON, a visiting scholar in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America, is a member of Rock Creek Council 2797 in Bethesda, Md. He and his wife, Mary Susan, serve as pro-life chair couple of the Maryland State Council.

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Stephanie’s Fight to Live In the face of a growing movement to legalize assisted suicide, a terminally ill woman bravely advocates for the vulnerable

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even-year-old Savannah is eager to talk about how she takes care of her mother, Stephanie Packer, 34, who has a terminal disease affecting her lungs and other organs. “I’m her nurse. I help her and bring her medicine when she asks me to,� Savannah said as she balanced on an exercise ball at her grandmother’s house in Orange, Calif., last November. “I’m my mom’s favorite,� she added with a smile, prompting a good-humored uproar from her siblings: Brian, 13, Scarlett, 12, and Jacob, 10.

Stephanie’s husband, Brian Packer, 38, is Stephanie’s caregiver during the week. A member of Father Peter J.J. Juba Council 4922 in Orange, he works weekends as a handyman at Holy Family Cathedral to keep the family financially afloat.

Brian’s fellow council members occasionally provide groceries or drop by the house to help, and life insurance would never have been an option for Brian and Stephanie if the Knights hadn’t stepped in and paid for both of their policies. “The Knights are a lifeline,� Stephanie said.

Faced with Stephanie’s terminal prognosis, the tight-knit family from Santa Ana has been determined to do everything possible to keep her around.

One week after California’s physician-assisted suicide law went into effect June 9, 2016, the Packers encountered a major hurdle when Stephanie received a disturbing letter from her health insurance company. Stephanie was told her doctor-recommended chemotherapy treatment that the company had previously promised was now being denied. However, she was later informed that her plan would cover a lethal dose of suicide pills — at the incredibly low cost of $1.20. “It was like someone hit me in the gut,� Stephanie recalled. “The most cost-effective solution was now assisted suicide.�

Hearing this news, a reporter friend set out to cover the story and asked the insurance company for comment, which they declined. “The next morning I got a phone call saying the drug was now approved,� Stephanie said. While grateful for her victory, she was well aware that “most dying patients don’t have media contacts� and became determined to become an advocate.

main proponent was the Hemlock Society, which rebranded itself Compassion & Choices in 2004.

In 2014, Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old from California with terminal brain cancer, became the face of the so-called “right-to-die� movement. Funded by wealthy donors and groups such as billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Foundations, Compassion & Choices launched a multimedia campaign promoting Maynard’s “right to die on her own terms.�

In the words of Stephanie Packer, “It glamorized suicide as a heroic event.�

On Nov. 1, 2014, Maynard swallowed a lethal dose of narcotics in Oregon. At the time of her death, an estimated 100 million people had heard her story, and soon some 25 jurisdictions in the country were considering physician-assisted suicide, including California, where momentum was growing.

In early 2015, Stephanie Packer stepped into the media spotlight as a reverse image of Brittany Maynard. When Stephanie was diagnosed in 2012 with scleroderma, an autoimmune condition that was attacking her lungs, she was told she had three years to live — a prognosis she has outlived.

Like Maynard, Stephanie was also 29 when she found out that she had a terminal illness. But rather than advocate for suicide, Stephanie joyfully spoke of her choice to live and enjoy her remaining time with her family, while speaking out for the vulnerable who would be victimized if assisted suicide were legalized. “Compassion & Choices,� she said, “doesn’t acknowledge the value that a terminal patient has, especially after they are sick.�

Stephanie’s outspokenness soon brought her to the attention of the national media. NPR, CNN, The Washington Post and other news outlets covered her story, and one media executive told her that her story had sent their ratings “through the roof.�

However, some responses were brutally unkind; after NPR ran Stephanie’s story, her husband received death threats. “They just ate us alive after that. It was just comment after comment of nasty stuff,� Stephanie said. “People told me that I should just off myself and that they feel bad for my kids.�

THE VALUE OF LIFE Until 2014, the movement to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the United States had succeeded in only four states — by referendum in Oregon and Washington, a state legislature vote in Vermont and court decision in Montana. Its

Stephanie Packer and her husband, Brian, a member of Father Peter J.J. Juba Council 4922 in Orange, Calif., are pictured with their four children at the home of Stephanie’s mother Nov. 14, 2016. Stephanie suffers from a terminal illness that makes it difficult to breathe.

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by Clara Fox

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Brian and Stephanie were unfazed by the negative comments online, but they did make sure that their children stopped reading them.

Less than a year after Maynard’s death, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the End of Life Options Act into law Oct. 5, 2015. The next day, a signature-gathering campaign backed

by California’s bishops was launched to place a referendum on California’s November 2016 ballot to overturn the bill. Campaign leaders had 90 days to collect 365,880 signatures.

Mark Padilla, the culture of life chairman for the California State Council, coordinated the parish-based signature-gathering drive. “Ours was an effort run all by volunteers,” Padilla explained. “And the Knights gave it a wonderful shot.”

Although more than 200,000 signatures were collected, the effort fell short of the goal.

RESOURCE: THE EUTHANASIA DECEPTION A NEW DOCUMENTARY, The Euthanasia Deception, features personal testimonies from Belgium and Canada and details the numerous abuses that follow the legalization of euthanasia. It also exposes the main deceptions about euthanasia and assisted suicide: that they are forms of compassion and promote autonomy; and that safeguards can protect vulnerable people.

The 52-minute documentary, produced by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and partially funded by the Knights of Columbus in Canada, is available to rent and buy at vulnerablefilm.com.♦ 18 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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‘THE BEGINNING OF TYRANNY’ On the day before the assisted suicide bill went into effect, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles reflected on its devastating ramifications.

“The logic of assisted suicide leads inevitably to the government and corporate administrators essentially deciding which lives are worth saving and caring for and who would be better off dead,” the archbishop said. “The criteria for such decisions will always be arbitrary and the process will always mean the strong and powerful deciding the fate of those who are weak and less influential in society. This is the beginning of tyranny.”

The following day, Pope Francis addressed health care professionals with these words: “We cannot give in to the functionalist temptation to apply quick and drastic solutions, stirred by false compassion or by simple criteria of efficiency and economic saving. The dignity of human life is at stake; the dignity of the medical vocation is at stake.”

Colorado became the sixth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide after Proposition 106 passed on the November 2016 ballot. Despite the efforts of the Knights of Columbus to raise awareness, the End of Life Options Act passed 65 to 35 percent.

“The TV commercials funded by Compassion & Choices sank us,” said Colorado State Deputy James D. Caffrey.

Less than a week earlier, on Nov. 2, the Washington, D.C., city council voted 11 to 2 to legalize assisted suicide.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, noted that this was the most extreme assisted suicide legislation in the United States.

“It goes beyond assisted suicide by allowing third parties to

Photo by Rob Stothard/Getty Images

In opposition to assisted suicide, an advocate for the terminally ill holds a placard outside the Houses of Parliament in London, England, Sept. 11, 2015.

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Stephanie Packer has become an outspoken advocate for terminally ill patients, the elderly and all who are vulnerable to physician-assisted suicide.

administer the lethal drugs, opening the door even further to coercion and abuse,� Cardinal Dolan said in a November statement. “Every suicide is tragic, whether someone is young or old, healthy or sick. But the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide creates two classes of people: those whose suicides are to be prevented at any cost and those whose suicides are deemed a positive good.�

In November 2016, Stephanie Packer flew to New Jersey and testified before legislators, asking state senators to reject the proposed Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act. Her testimony in Trenton made the state legislators think twice about the issue, according to Marie Tasy, the executive director for New Jersey Right to Life, the organization that funded Stephanie’s trip. “She has an indomitable spirit, and she wants to do everything she can to live and to spend as much time with her family as possible,� Tasy said.

New Jersey state senators have until January 2018 to vote on the assisted suicide measure, which could be scheduled for a vote at any time.

A WORLDWIDE CRISIS The United States is far from the only country where the movement promoting “medically assisted suicide� has grown.

In June 2016, Canadian lawmakers passed legislation legalizing the practice nationwide.

A recent policy left doctors and nurses in Ontario under pressure to either perform assisted suicide or make an “effective referral,� sending the patient to another physician who is willing to assist. A similar law is in place in Vermont.

According to Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, this referral is the moral equivalent of participating in the act.

Many countries around the world feel increased pressure to legalize not only physician-assisted suicide, but also euthanasia — the intentional killing of one person by another. “You have this new attitude that it’s OK for a doctor to kill a patient just because they are suffering,� said Schadenberg, who is a member of Rev. John McMaster Council 6495 in West Lorne, Ontario, and former culture of life chairman for the Ontario State Council. “But suffering is part of the human condition. The question is how do we as a society deal with those who are going through a difficult time in their life?�

Colombia, Switzerland and Luxembourg now allow euthanasia. In the Netherlands, where the Dutch Supreme Court legalized euthanasia in 1984, the government is pushing to expand euthanasia to people who are neither sick nor dying, but merely think their “life is complete.�

It was in the Netherlands that a Catholic nun was euthanized against her will by a doctor in 2004. The doctor argued that his patient was dying of cancer and was hindered by her religious beliefs from making the best decision — so he made it for her.

Belgium has the most liberal euthanasia laws, allowing mentally ill patients to receive lethal injections. It is also the first country to allow terminally ill children to request euthanasia.

Eighty-one-year-old Christine Nagel in Calgary, Alberta, saw where the laws were going and decided to get her first tattoo: the words “Don’t euthanize me.� She told Canadian news outlet Globalnews.ca, “It’s drastic, but this very clearly says, ‘I’m going to live until God’s ready for me.’�

Nagel said the cost of caring for the aging population, known as the Silver Tsunami, was behind the government’s push for assisted suicide. “Our government and Supreme Court do not of course mention anything about money,� Nagel said. “But they do warn us that within a few years, seniors will outnumber the rest of the population and will need an army of caregivers to cope with them.�

Although Compassion & Choices has never raised the financial issue, Hemlock Society founder Derek Humphry openly wrote in his book Freedom to Die that “in the final analysis, economics, not the quest for broadened individual liberties or increased autonomy, will drive assisted suicide to the plateau of acceptable practice.�

Meanwhile, Stephanie Packer stays focused on her family and her fight to keep herself — and others — alive. “I just want to see tomorrow,â€? she said.♌ CLARA FOX is a staff writer for Angelus News, the multimedia news platform of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

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‘O BRAVE NEW WORLD’ Advances in biotechnology bring new threats to human life at its earliest stages

by David A. Prentice, Ph.D.

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I

n recent years, threats to the dignity of human life, and to the very idea of human beings as creatures made in the image and likeness of God, have rapidly multiplied and taken new forms that read like the most fanciful science fiction.

What used to sound like cinematic nightmares are now becoming reality.

A Catholic response to these threats must now take into account not just abortion, but a range of experiments and technologies that compromise the gift of life in subtler but perhaps more far-reaching ways.

Though usually couched as “medical advances,� these new experiments are more properly characterized as abuses of science and ethics.

As Pope Francis wrote in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, we must hold to “the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development. Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other problems� (213).

To maintain this conviction — that no one exists to be used by others — requires that we reaffirm core principles about human dignity in the face of the new bioethical challenges.

embryo, it needs to be added that this only takes place in the context of in vitro fertilization and thus runs up against all the ethical objections to such procedures. For these reasons, therefore, it must be stated that, in its current state, germ line cell therapy in all its forms is morally illicit� (26).

The document then went on to say, “Finally, it must also be noted that in the attempt to create a new type of human being one can recognize an ideological element in which man tries to take the place of his Creator� (27, emphasis in original).

The Church does, in fact, recognize legitimate uses of gene editing tools. These morally licit uses focus on benefiting born human beings and thus avoid the creation, manipulation and destruction of human embryos.

One example is gene editing to supercharge immune cells.

In 2015, doctors in London helped save the life of a young child with intractable leukemia, attacking her cancer while maintaining a functional immune system. The same year, University of Texas Southwestern researchers successfully treated a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal genetic disease that often affects young boys.

Since ethical gene-editing techniques offer real promise to patients, pro-life legislation has been advanced EDITING HUMANITY to channel science into ethical, lifeT’S TIME TO CHANNEL The world’s first “three-parent baby� was saving efforts. born in Mexico in April 2016. The boy The New York fertility doctor reEFFORTS INTO SCIENCE was conceived in a laboratory environsponsible for the first three-parent ment, using genetic material from two baby worked in Mexico to avoid THAT VALUES EACH AND mothers and one father. The laboratory legal restrictions imposed by the technique, a form of cloning, is supposU.S. Congress in 2015. The AderEVERY HUMAN LIFE. edly designed to “treat� potentially lethal holt Amendment, which became law genetic mutations in mitochondria, little in 2016, effectively prohibits threeenergy factories in every cell that contain parent and gene-edited embryo extheir own DNA. Since all mitochondria periments but allows ethical genetic are inherited from a mother’s egg cell, this form of artificial re- therapies or trials to proceed. production recombines parts of multiple eggs or embryos in Such legislation is essential, as proponents of cloning and the laboratory to create new human beings, free of mutated embryo manipulation technologies continue to push ahead on DNA. Yet there is a tremendous ethical flaw: No one is actually radical and morally problematic ideas. treated. Instead, new, “better� individuals are constructed as reOF MICE AND MEN placements for those carrying any defect.

Gene editing of embryos is also proposed as a way to rid the An essential ingredient in the creation of an embryo, no mathuman race of terrible genetic conditions. Specific enzymes ter how many parents or types of DNA are involved, is a are added to the early embryo, to cut and replace particular human egg. For cloning and three-parent embryo creation, DNA regions. Genetic engineering was attempted in the past, many eggs are needed because the egg and embryo manipulabut new, more accurate enzymes have brought human gene tions often fail. editing closer to reality.

Pushing the frontiers of both science and ethics, scientists Genetic manipulation of embryos treats human life instru- have now created artificial mouse eggs, starting with just a bit mentally rather than as an end in itself. Numerous young lives of the rodent’s skin. The process began with an ethical techare destroyed in the experiments, and human life becomes a nique — creation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, commodity to be constructed based on desired “features.� which look and act like embryonic stem cells but do not involve Moreover, embryo genetic changes are “germline� — heritable the destruction of an embryo. These cells were formed by alterations that can be passed on to future generations, with adding a few genes to a normal skin cell, reprogramming it as unknown consequences. if reprogramming a computer. Next, specific proteins were Dignitas Personae, a 2008 Vatican document on bioethical added to the iPS cells, stimulating them to form immature egg questions, noted, “In the hypothesis of gene therapy on the cells in the laboratory. Finally, the immature eggs were incu-

I

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bated with fetal tissue, which matured the eggs. Some of these, when fertilized with mouse sperm, produced born mice.

While it is unlikely that humans will be born via artificial eggs anytime soon (the artificial mouse eggs produced mostly abnormal animals, with a successful birth rate of less than 1 percent), some scientists see this as having potential for large-scale human experiments. This goal of mass production of laboratory-generated human beings is completely against the foundational principles of human dignity. It treats human life as a manufactured commodity, not as something of inherent worth.

Laboratory-constructed human embryos already exist, and there is now a push to gestate them in artificial wombs. Scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom have succeeded in growing human embryos in the laboratory for far longer than ever achieved before, and are now pressing to go further — bringing to mind the hatcheries of Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World.

With normal procreation, human embryos implant into the uterine lining at about seven days after conception, establishing their umbilical link to their mother for nutrition and oxygen. Laboratories have now grown human embryos well past that point, to 13 days after conception. Such experiments treat human beings as research fodder; embryos are destroyed once the research results are achieved. Current U.S. law does not regulate human embryo research other than restricting federal funding, but this type of unethical abuse needs to be addressed legislatively or by executive order.

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Pope Francis blesses a woman in a wheelchair during a conference on ethical adult stem-cell research at the Vatican April 29. periments. Though most comments opposed the experiments, NIH may yet move ahead with its plan.

Congress has proposed legislation to prohibit unethical chimera creation in the past, but the bills still have not become law.

It’s time to foreclose unethical research and channel efforts into scientifically valid, ethically framed alternatives — to science that values each and every human life, rather than harming or even killing some to advance the well-being of others.

For the sake of the common good, it is our duty to raise our voices in defense of the most vulnerable — those who, as St. John Paul II reminded us, are “completely at the mercy of others and radically dependent on themâ€? (Evangelium Vitae, 19).♌ DAVID A. PRENTICE, PH.D., is vice president and research director at the Charlotte Lozier Institute in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2011 by Chuck Donovan, former legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee and a member of George Brent Council 5332 in Manassas, Va., CLI provides key scientific and ethical information to the pro-life community. Visit lozierinstitute.org.

STRANGER THAN FICTION Anyone who is familiar with another literary classic — H.G. Wells’ novel The Island of Dr. Moreau — knows that combining animal and human DNA creates a “chimera,� a creature that is a mixture of two or more species. But chimeras are no longer just fictional. Scientists are creating human-animal chimeras right now in the United States, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposes to fund more such experiments, pushing beyond ethical boundaries.

Not all chimeras are unethical — licit examples include pig heart valves transplanted into humans, or the “oncomouse,� which contains human genes in mice for study of cancer. But current NIH plans for human-animal chimeras violate ethical barriers, all the while based on questionable science. Some propose trying to grow transplantable human organs in farm animals, while others want to study human cells developing in animals. While such experiments could be done following noncontroversial procedures, NIH proposes adding the human cells to very early-stage animal embryos. At such an early stage of development, the human cells could become anything, including human eggs or sperm, or even a complete human brain.

These experiments clearly cross the line. What is the moral status of an animal with a human brain? What could happen if two animals producing human gametes breed and gestate a human? What other aspects of humanity could be breached and sow ethical confusion? NIH received more than 21,000 comments on its proposal to fund human-animal chimera ex-

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The Legacy of a Pro-Life Giant Henry Hyde was among the most ardent, eloquent and effective defenders of the unborn in U.S. history

by O. Carter Snead

I

t is no exaggeration to say that the late U.S. Representative Henry J. Hyde was the greatest American champion in the most important human rights struggle of our time — namely, the fight for equal justice under law for the unborn child.

Though he died in 2007, and the legislative achievement bearing his name was enacted by Congress more than 40 years ago, Henry Hyde’s work and witness remain as vital as ever in the continuing effort to build a world in which every child, born and unborn, is protected by law and welcomed into life.

As the United States inaugurates a new president and Congress this month, it is fitting to reflect upon Hyde’s extraordinary legacy as a public servant and to consider what lessons it might hold for the future.

THE RIGHT PLACE, THE RIGHT TIME Henry John Hyde was born in Chicago, Ill., April 18, 1924, the third of four children of Henry Clay Hyde, a telephone company coin collector, and Monica Kelly Hyde. During the Great Depression, the family lost its home and was forced to live above a tavern. Young “Hank� worked at his Catholic elementary school to pay the $1-a-month tuition. He continued to work his way through St. George High School in Evanston, loading freight cars, delivering eggs and cleaning as a janitor. Hyde’s early struggles gave him a deep understanding and sympathy for those with little money or power.

The 6-foot-3-inch Hyde won a basketball scholarship to Georgetown University, where he was dubbed “Georgetown’s

Little Giant� by the press after the Hoyas came within one game of the 1943 NCAA championship. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1944 and saw combat in the Philippines. Returning to Georgetown two years later, Hyde received a B.A. degree in history in 1947. He married Jean Simpson in Chicago later that year and enrolled in Loyola Law School. After graduating, Hyde began his career as a trial lawyer, and his family soon included three sons and a daughter.

Born and bred a New Deal Democrat, Hyde switched parties in 1952 out of concern about communism and voted for Eisenhower.

In 1955, he joined the Knights of Columbus as a member of Father McDonald Council 1911 in Elmhurst, Ill. He won a seat in the state legislature in 1966, and in 1974 he won a race for the Sixth Congressional District of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served for the next 22 years.

As a state legislator he was once inclined to co-sponsor a bill legalizing abortion, because he had never fully considered the issue.

Once he studied the bill, Hyde changed his mind and led the opposition to defeat it. By the time he arrived in Washington, D.C., he was an ardent defender of the unborn. Indeed, in the eyes of pro-life supporters, Hyde was the right man at the right place at the right time.

Just one year earlier, in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade declared that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution — enacted in 1868 to reverse America’s shameful failure to respect the inalienable dignity of all human beings JANUARY 2017

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— precludes extending the equal protection of the laws to the unborn child. Specifically, Roe fabricated a constitutional right to abortion (nested in a larger “right to privacy”) and simultaneously declared that the unborn child is beyond the reach of the U.S. Constitution’s basic protections.

Read with its lesser-known companion case decided the same day, Doe v. Bolton, Roe in effect held that the Constitution forbids meaningful limits on abortion throughout every stage of pregnancy. The consequences of Roe v. Wade and its jurisprudential successors have brought corrosion and corruption of the rule of law — and a death toll approaching 60 million — to the Unites States.

mother’s life; later exceptions were added for pregnancies resulting from rape and incest.

After the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the Hyde Amendment, the limit on abortion funding became a permanent fixture of Medicaid and was reauthorized with every new appropriations bill.

Helen M. Alvaré, professor of law at George Mason University and former spokesperson for the USCCB’s Secretariat for ProLife Activities, recalled celebrating with Hyde in the early 1990s after a successful struggle to pass his amendment yet again.

“After a day and night of umpteen consultations with the House parliamentarian, victory was achieved!” Alvaré wrote in the National Review Online in 2007, recounting her favorite memory of Hyde. “Immediately, a group of us associated with Feminists for Life tromped down to his office on the hill where champagne was being served at some ungodly hour in the morning. … The joy, the eloquence, the zest for life that made him the advocate that saw the movement through some of its darkest days was on full display that morning.”

‘THE PROMISE OF AMERICA’ Henry Hyde understood that law not only reflects the principles of justice of a given society, but also shapes people’s understanding of justice. He grasped that a society is to be judged by how well (or poorly) it cares for and protects the least among us, and that Roe v. Wade and the abortion regime it imposed on the nation reflected the antithesis of the human A ‘TRULY GREAT dignity and basic equality at the core CONGRESSMAN’ of America’s identity. As he famously The Hyde Amendment entrenched in HE PROMISE OF said, “The promise of America is not law the commonsense notion that, at a just for the privileged, the planned minimum, taxpayers should not be made AMERICA IS NOT JUST and the perfect.” to pay for abortions, nor should the fedFOR THE PRIVILEGED, Hyde also understood that the evil of eral government incentivize abortion abortion is not a matter of private for those in poverty. Not surprisingly, THE PLANNED AND THE morality but a violation of basic justice the law continues to enjoy wide public and our duty toward our neighbor. Acsupport; a July 2016 K of C-Marist PERFECT.” cordingly, he understood that it is moral poll showed that 62 percent of responnonsense for elected officials to claim dents (including nearly half of those that they are “personally” opposed to self-identifying as “pro-choice”) oppose the law’s failure to protect the innocent public funding of abortion. Efforts to from lethal violence on a massive scale while publicly support- eliminate the Hyde Amendment as unduly restrictive appear ing the exclusion of the unborn from the law’s protections. to have failed as a political strategy.

Though the Supreme Court had just usurped the power of Recent studies have shown that the Hyde Amendment is rethe political branches to protect the unborn child directly, sponsible for saving more than 2 million lives — 60,000 lives Congressman Hyde nevertheless moved to limit the damage annually. The Guttmacher Institute — a research organization of newly authorized federal funding for abortions. From 1973 dedicated to promoting abortion “rights” — has lamented that to 1977, the federal government spent $50 million on cover- the Hyde Amendment limits access to abortion. age for 300,000 abortions under Medicaid, a program jointly Hyde built his extraordinary career on honesty, integrity funded by the federal and state governments. and a bipartisan spirit that is sadly rare in the halls of ConConfronted by the double evils of incentivizing abortions gress today. He dedicated his life to remedying the gravest inthrough funding and coercing the cooperation of Americans justice of our time: the denial of equal justice under law for whose tax dollars funded Medicaid abortions, Hyde declared the unborn child. It is a cause at the core of the mission of that we “cannot in logic and conscience help fund the execu- the Knights of Columbus. tion of these innocent, defenseless human lives.”

In August 2007, the Knights of Columbus Board of DirecHis wit, warmth, fair-mindedness, honesty and intelligence tors, assembled at the Supreme Convention in Nashville, enabled him to work across the aisle like few others could. In Tenn., passed a resolution that honored Hyde as “the unri1976, he crafted a bipartisan amendment to the bill appropri- valed champion of the right to life of children before birth” ating federal funds for Medicaid that effectively prevented such and called his pro-life achievements “the personification of funds from being used to cover abortions. Known as the Hyde the right to life movement.”

Amendment, the original version had an exception for circumA few months later, on Nov. 29, 2007, Hyde died at a stances where carrying the baby to term threatened the Chicago hospital at the age of 83.

“T

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Illinois Congressman Henry Hyde (front row, left) receives the Lantern Award, the highest honor of the Massachusetts State Council, April 20, 1987. Joining Hyde are (clockwise from top): Supreme Advocate W. Patrick Donlin; Supreme Chaplain Bishop Thomas V. Daily; Supreme Director Leslie Lemieux; Carl A. Anderson, special assistant to President Ronald Reagan; Supreme Knight Virgil C. Dechant; and Massachusetts State Deputy Walter L. Almond.

Upon hearing of Henry Hyde’s death, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson called the former Congressman “a proud brother Knight for 52 years� and “a dedicated defender of human life.� The supreme knight also described the Hyde Amendment as the “most important pro-life statute ever enacted by Congress� and “a singular achievement,� adding that Hyde “will be remembered as one of the truly great congressmen of his generation.�

Today the American pro-life movement finds itself presented with surprising and unprecedented opportunities.

Given the ages of sitting Supreme Court justices, it is possible that soon there may be a majority on the court that will dispatch Roe v. Wade to the dustbin of historical injustices alongside cases such as Dred Scott v. Sandford and Plessy v. Ferguson.

During this time of political transition in the United

States, the pro-life movement must continue to demand that the government respect the intrinsic dignity of every member of the human family. Those charged with making, enforcing and interpreting the law have the opportunity to further the work of Henry J. Hyde — transforming America into a nation that embraces and defends all its people, great and small, born and unborn.♌ O. CARTER SNEAD is director of the Center for Ethics and Culture and a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, and a member of Our Lady of Victory Council 11487 in Washington, D.C. In 2015, the Center for Ethics and Culture awarded Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and the Knights of Columbus the University of Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal, which recognizes lifetime achievement in the pro-life movement.

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KNI GHTS IN ACTION

REPORTS FROM COUNCILS, ASSEMBLIES AND COLUMBIAN SQUIRES CIRCLES CLEARING GROUND

Msgr. Peter M.H. Wynhoven Council 3091 in Westwego, La., responded to a request from the pastor of Our Lady of Prompt Succor Parish to clean up the grounds of the rectory so that the area could be used for church and family gatherings. With help from Boy Scout Troop 18, the council removed more than 10 truckloads of trash and debris, as well as swept and powerwashed the area.

To complete the project, two council members donated a barbecue pit.

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SERVING ALTAR SERVERS

St. Padre Pio Council 14191 in Hammonton, N.J., welcomed the young altar servers of St. Mary of Mt. Carmel Parish and their families to a “Thank You Party.� The youth each received a certificate of appreciation for their service to the parish.

Ind., used the proceeds of its fund drive for individuals with intellectual disabilities to construct a canopy at Parkview Primary School.

With additional funding from another grant, the roof now shelters special education children on their way between school buses and the building’s entrance.

DISTRICT FUNDRAISER

NEW ROBES

St. William Council 4732 in Fort Lupton, Colo., held three fundraisers to replace 16 15-year-old altar server robes at Our Lady of Grace mission church in nearby Wattenberg. Leftover funds were used to purchase three prayer benches, which were placed outside the parish hall.

During the midyear congress of New Brunswick, the spouses of officers and deputies organized a silent auction that raised $500.

With an additional $500 donated by an officer, the district was able to send five athletes to the national Special Olympics.

A NEW LIFE

CANOPY FOR KIDS

Father William P. Garrity Council 1166 in Bedford, ♌ C O L U M B I A ♌

Holy Family Council 11675 in Litchfield Park, Ariz., converted a dirt and rock

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drainage area beside Saint Thomas Aquinas Church into a meditation garden that provides a spot of greenery and flowers for quiet prayer. The council spent many volunteer hours refurbishing the rocky area with donations of plants, benches and a statue of Jesus kneeling in prayer that was set at the center of the garden’s crossshaped gravel pathway.

Good Shepherd Council 8857 in Hope Mills, N.C., made a gift of the Good News by donating study Bibles to the confirmation students of Good Shepherd Parish. When presenting the books, the council thanked the 12 youth for their dedication to serving the community through food drives.

VOCATION APPRECIATION

Santa Maria Council 4999 in North Palm Beach, Fla., thanked 35 priests, sisters, deacons and members of religious orders in the northern part of the Palm Beach Diocese at its 29th annual Religious Appreciation Dinner. At the event, the council donated $5,000 to the Diocesan Office of Vocations and Seminarians.

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N HEALING MINISTRY

St. Joseph of Arimathea Council 14025 in Lakeway, Texas, raised $500 for Project Rachel, a post-abortion healing ministry of the Diocese of Austin that offers confidential retreats and spreads the message of Divine Mercy. The council also organized a collection of furnishings for the retreat center, such as sofas, tables, rugs and lamps.

THANKING FIRST RESPONDERS

Piedmont Council 939 in Greensboro, N.C., thanked emergency responders with an Italian dinner. The council has been recognizing emergency responders since 1973 and now also gives awards to individuals selected by their departments for outstanding service.

CAUGHT IN A STORM

St. James Council 14355 in Port Arthur, Texas, donated $14,000 to seven seminari-

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ans of St. Joseph Abbey and Seminary College in St. Benedict, La., which had recently suffered a devastating flood. The funds, raised by the council’s Lenten fish fry

dinners, will help replace clothing and furniture destroyed by the flooding.

ULTRASOUND INITIATIVE

TOWEL DONATION

St. Vincent de Paul Council 9618 in East Fort Myers, Fla., joined forces with St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and the Supreme Council to purchase an ultrasound machine for Immokalee Pregnancy Center through the K of C Ultrasound Initiative. Through a series of breakfast and dinner fundraisers, a golf outing, raffles, 50/50 drawings and a fund drive, the council raised over $15,000. &'*#)(, &) $'%, #+"+) +, $) $ ) +%, #( , *&, *'$ +'+, *', '$+ (!+&)& , %+%%)(&, ( , '$+, !+")* , !)"%, &'*#)(, "$(( $* !)(&%$)!% , $+, &) $'%,%+# + ,*%,*&,$(&(#, *# ,*& *%%)%'+ , )'$,(# *&) )& ,! )") )& ,*& ,#*)%)& , & %, (#,'$+ ' ( * ,+ +&' , $)"$, *%,*''+& + , ,( +#, ,*'$ +'+% "(*"$+%,*& ,%'* , +* )& , !,'(,'$+,"$* !)(&%$)! , )%'#)"'% '(( ,!*#',)&,*, * ,#+ * ,'$*', #( $',%) , !+")* , !)"% * %, *"#(%%, &'*#)(, *& , '( +'$+#, (#, '$+, (!+&)& , "+#+ (&)+%,*', #$* , ( + +

donated clothing, blankets, diapers and $413, which will be distributed by the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

BABY SHOWER

Father Baraga Council 2934 in L’Anse, Mich., assisted by the ladies’ auxiliary, held a baby shower dinner which gathered donations of money and supplies for local shelters and children’s support groups. Attendees of the spaghetti and chicken dinner

Msgr. Newman Council 4665 in Shively, Ky., donated 400 much-needed towels to the St. Vincent de Paul Center of Louisville, which provides meals, housing assistance, recovery and support programs to people in need.

RAFFLE FOR SCHOLARSHIPS

Holy Eucharist Council 15791 of Falmouth, Maine, designed a cash calendar raffle to fund its Youth Scholarship program. With permission, the council sold raffle cards after Mass at all the churches in the local cluster. Daily drawings were held the following month. The raffle brought in $5,450 to begin the next year of the scholarship program.

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N

Parish to construct an altar of repose for the Holy Eucharist and a sacrificial altar for the celebration of the Mass. Over three weeks, volunteers gave over 300 hours of work to complete the donation-funded project, constructing altars that resemble cut marble at a minimal cost.

TAKING TO THE HIGHWAY

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VOTER EDUCATION

St. Francis Xavier Council 5937 in Nasugbu Batangas, Luzon South, sponsored a “Know Your Candidate� program leading up to local elections. Coordinated together with several civic organizations, the activity allowed citizens to learn more about candidates for local office.

FOOD FOR FAMILIES Cardinal Bellarmine Council 4849 in Aurora, Ill., donated over 1,500 pounds of food and $500 to the Holy Angels Food Pantry in Aurora as part of the Food for Families program.

YEAR OF MERCY PILGRIMAGE

St. Francis Council 5080 in Toronto, Ontario, coordinated a Jubilee Year of Mercy plenary indulgence pilgrimage. Coming from two parishes, 150 participants traveled to enter the Holy Door of St. Paul’s Basilica and attend Mass, and then ♌ C O L U M B I A ♌

to St. Patrick’s Church to pass through the Holy Door there as well and pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. The council gave 250 volunteer hours to organize the event.

CRUSTACEANS FOR VOCATIONS

Cathedral of St. John Berchmans Council 10728 in Shreveport, La., held a crawfish boil to benefit local seminarians. Knights cooked and served over 700 pounds of crawfish at the event, which raised over $2,000 to support vocations.

DRIVE FOR A BUS

Father William O’Byrne Council 3574 in Jacksonville, N.C., raised $30,000 over three years of fundraising for people with intellectual disabilities. The money raised enabled Carobell, a community service provider, to purchase a “Carebus,� which will help transport clients to the organization’s programs.

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Each month from April to October, Immaculate Heart of Mary Council 9968 in Lexington Park, Md., takes part in the state Adopt-aHighway program and removes trash from a two-mile stretch of Maryland Route 5.

The council takes the opportunity to combine service to the community with a healthy outdoor walk together.

FM RADIO

Bishop Haas Council 4362 in Grand Rapids, Mich., made a $5,000 donation toward local Holy Family Radio’s pledge drive to raise $75,000. The goal is to upgrade from a limited AM station to 24/7 FM broadcast in the Grand Rapids metro area.

TEAMING UP FOR LUNCH

Father Felix Ullrich Council 5869 in New Port Richey, Fla., joined forces with St. Michael’s Council 10377 in Hudson and the St. Vincent de Paul Society to provide a Sunday lunch at the council hall each week for the homeless population. The meal is funded by the St. Vincent de Paul Society and supported by the work of the two councils.

NEW ALTARS

Sacred Heart Council 4937 in Sidney, N.Y., joined with the men of Sacred Heart

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N MONTHLY MEAL

St. Antoine Daniel Council 10340 in Burlington, Ontario, began a monthly meal program at St. Philippe Parish in Burlington. With help from several Catholic school students and volunteers, the council welcomed 80 people to the first free Sunday dinner.

running the hamburger stand at Our Lady of Lourdes School Family Fun Days carnival fundraiser. The Knights provided $500 for the purchase of food and donated all profits to the school. Council members rotated in and out over the weekend and introduced bacon-wrapped hot dogs as a new menu item.

PLAY THERAPY

DeSales University Roundtable in Center Valley, Pa., coordinated with four area councils to raise money for Kelsey’s Dream, which provides educational play therapy to children undergoing treatment for cancer. The children receive “Hopper the Cancer Crusher,� a fuzzy stuffed frog with a mediport like those the children get during chemotherapy. Together the councils raised $725 to make the first Kelsey’s Dream donation for children at Lehigh Valley Hospital.

CARNIVAL STAND

Our Lady of Lourdes Council 4438 in Tujunga, Calif., continued the tradition of

MAKE A JOYFUL SOUND

Following the audible malfunctioning of the historic Schulmerich Carillons at St. Dominic’s Parish, Council 3606 in Orland, Calif., contributed to the restoration of the bell system. The updated carillon returns a musical atmosphere to the town.

BASIC NEEDS

St. Peter Council 10440 in Lamitan City, Mindanao, donated 200 pairs of slippers to families in need. This took place a few weeks after the council welcomed 120 children to a meal, supplementing the sparse diet of struggling families in the city.

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SENIOR CITIZEN SOCIALS

Charny (QuĂŠbec) Council 6852 donated $1,000 to the Elizabeth and Roger Parent Foundation, which offers activities for senior citizens at their site in Saint-JeanChrysostĂ´me. Seniors can visit the foundation center for a variety of free programs, including dinners, walks on the property, concerts and afternoon music.

APPRECIATION DINNER

WHOLE HOG

The councils of District 18, joined by James Joseph McLean Sr. Council 8551 in Jasper, Ala., organized a successful pork-based fundraiser.

Through the sale of Boston butt and by soliciting donations, the councils raised $8,659 for the Dominican sisters who run St. Rose Academy, an elementary school in Birmingham. The donation will help the sisters furnish their living quarters at the school.

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Westminster Council 1283 in New Westminster, British Columbia, welcomed the priests, brothers and sisters of the area to its 24th annual Clergy and Religious Appreciation Dinner. Also invited were the widows of council members. Bishop Durieu

Assembly of New Westminster served the meal, which was also an occasion to thank the clergy and religious for all their service and to recognize the 50th anniversaries to the priesthood of two Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N

housing supplies, including kitchenware, furniture and small appliances, for the apartments that the veterans will move into. In addition to household goods, the assembly donated approximately $2,000 and 15 basic tool kits.

CONVALESCENT HOME CLEANUP

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YEAR’S DONATION

St. John of the Cross/Our Lady of the Rosary Council 13153 of Vero Beach, Fla., completed its series of weekly bingo games for the fraternal year. As the chief fundraiser for the council, these games spanned 35 weeks, included 3,900 players and required the volunteer efforts of over two dozen brothers. The net proceeds of approximately $20,000 will be used to support causes such as the Women’s Care Center, Special Olympics, Catholic Charities of Florida, annual college scholarship grants, the RSVP program and numerous parish needs.

St. Matthew Council 14360 in Norwalk, Conn., spent a Saturday working on the grounds of the Notre Dame Convalescent Home, a facility of the Sisters of St. Thomas of Villanova.

Knights laid down mulch donated by a council member, powerwashed statues, moved furniture and touched up interior paint. The workers were well rewarded with the sisters’ gratitude and continued prayers.

cil raised $1,000 for the center's counseling services and maternity home.

BAPTISM GIFT

Pokrova Council 13561 in Bristol, Pa., created an ongoing ministry that helps welcome children to the community of Mother of God Ukrainian Byzantine Rite Catholic Church. After the liturgy, in which an infant or child receives the sacraments of initiation, a council member thanks the mother for choosing life and gives her a rose with a rosary and a message from John Paul II’s writings.

SUPPLIES FOR VETS

POTATO PANCAKES

St. Josaphat Council 7530 in Washington, D.C., hosted a potato pancake brunch at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family to benefit the Northwest Center, a local crisis pregnancy center. The coun ♌ C O L U M B I A ♌

St. John Neumann Assembly in Utica, N.Y., supported Vets Returning Home, a new local shelter that assists homeless veterans in adapting to stable employment and individual housing. The assembly collected and purchased several car- and truckloads of

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K N I G H T S I N AC T I O N GROCERY GIFT

Santa Maria Council 4999 in North Palm Beach, Fla., made a donation of $2,000 to the St. Vincent de Paul of Palm Beaches Food for the Poor program. This program picks up food from major grocery distributors and churches and then assembles cases that are delivered to families in need. Knights volunteer to help organize and distribute the food.

DIVINE MERCY IMAGE

Our Lady of the Rosary Council 13272 in Oro Valley, Ariz., donated $1,500 to Sister Jose's Women's Center in Tucson, which provides services for homeless women. The donated funds were raised by selling Divine Mercy images and hosting a dinner dance for parishioners of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church.

HOMECOMING PREPARATION

Dupontaris Council 845 in Morris, Ill., was contacted by an Immaculate Conception Parish family in a moment of need. Following a stroke, their son was unable to access the door of their home. In the three weeks

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before the son returned from the hospital, the council supplied the materials and labor needed to construct a 50-foot ramp.

CHILD’S PLAY

St. Dominic Council 3729 in New Orleans, La., welcomed over 30 children and their parents to its fourth

annual Youth Fishing Rodeo. Exhibit guests included the Audubon Park Institute, Coast Guard and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Various prizes included awards for the biggest fish and highest number of fish caught. A few weeks later, the council volunteered to run the bocce competition at the Louisiana Special Olympics.

HOMETOWN HERO BANNERS

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Santa Clarita (Calif.) Assembly sponsored the city's “Hometown Hero� banner project. Using the proceeds of its annual golf tournament, the assembly funds 3by-6-foot banners that display a picture and description of a local hero's name, rank and military branch. The banners are flown for two weeks during Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Veterans Day.

HILL OF BEANS

Saint John XXIII Council 6250 in Charleston, S.C., supports the local James Island Outreach Center with monthly donations of canned goods. Known as the “Bean Bunch,� the council members donated 428 pounds of canned beans during 2015 for distribution to James Islanders in need. In addition to donations, the Knights volunteer to work at the Outreach pantry one Saturday, every other month, throughout the year.

kofc.org exclusive See more “Knights in Action� reports and photos at www.kofc.org/ knightsinaction

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P RO M OT I O NA L & G I F T I T E M S

K OF C ITEMS OFFICIAL SUPPLIERS IN THE UNITED STATES THE ENGLISH COMPANY INC. Official council and Fourth Degree equipment 1-800-444-5632 www.kofcsupplies.com LYNCH AND KELLY INC. Official council and Fourth Degree equipment and officer robes 1-888-548-3890 www.lynchkelly.com

A.

IN CANADA ROGER SAUVÉ INC. Official council and Fourth Degree equipment and officer robes 1-888-266-1211 www.roger-sauve.com

J O I N T H E FAT H E R MCGIVNEY GUILD

!

Please enroll me in the Father McGivney Guild:

A. Personalized Apron This extra-long apron offers protection from stains and wrinkles and looks great at the same time.

Measuring 25” wide and 34.6” long, it’s perfect for a fish fry, pancake breakfast, festival or any occasion that calls for an apron. The adjustable neck strap ensures a proper fit and the three pockets are very handy. Available in six colors (royal blue, navy blue, black, khaki, red or white), it is personalized with your council name and number embroidered around the Emblem of the Order, or with your assembly name and number embroidered around the Fourth Degree Emblem. Optional individual name personalization available for an additional $6 charge. Each item is personalized, so please allow 10-12 business days for production. $24

NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE/PROVINCE ZIP/POSTAL CODE Complete this coupon and mail to: The Father McGivney Guild, 1 Columbus Plaza, New Haven, CT 06510-3326 or enroll online at: www.fathermcgivney.org

B. Diamond Pattern Tie Navy blue silk woven tie with the Emblem of the Order or Fourth Degree Emblem repeated in a diamond pattern. $20 (long-length tie $21.) Manual bow tie is also available — not to be worn with regalia. $20

B.

OFFICIAL JANUARY 1, 2017: To owners of Knights of Columbus insurance policies and persons responsible for payment of premiums on such policies: Notice is hereby given that in accordance with the provisions of Section 84 of the Laws of the Order, payment of insurance premiums due on a monthly basis to the Knights of Columbus by check made payable to Knights of Columbus and mailed to same at PO Box 1492, NEW HAVEN, CT 06506-1492, before the expiration of the grace period set forth in the policy. In Canada: Knights of Columbus, Place d’Armes Station, P.O. Box 220, Montreal, QC H2Y 3G7 ALL MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOS, ARTWORK, EDITORIAL MATTER, AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES SHOULD BE MAILED TO: COLUMBIA, PO BOX 1670, NEW HAVEN, CT 06507-0901. REJECTED MATERIAL WILL BE RETURNED IF ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED ENVELOPE AND RETURN POSTAGE. PURCHASED MATERIAL WILL NOT BE RETURNED. OPINIONS BY WRITERS ARE THEIR OWN AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS. SUBSCRIPTION RATES — IN THE U.S.: 1 YEAR, $6; 2 YEARS, $11; 3 YEARS, $15. FOR OTHER COUNTRIES ADD $2 PER YEAR. EXCEPT FOR CANADIAN SUBSCRIPTIONS, PAYMENT IN U.S. CURRENCY ONLY. SEND ORDERS AND CHECKS TO: ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT, PO BOX 1670, NEW HAVEN, CT 06507-0901.

COLUMBIA (ISSN 0010-1869/USPS #123-740) IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, 1 COLUMBUS PLAZA, NEW HAVEN, CT 06510-3326. PHONE: 203-752-4000, www.kofc.org. PRODUCED IN USA. COPYRIGHT © 2015 BY KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT NEW HAVEN, CT AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO COLUMBIA, MEMBERSHIP DEPARTMENT, PO BOX 1670, NEW HAVEN, CT 06507-0901.

CANADIAN POSTMASTER — PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 1473549. RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, 50 MACINTOSH BOULEVARD, CONCORD, ONTARIO L4K 4P3 PHILIPPINES — FOR PHILIPPINES SECOND-CLASS MAIL AT THE MANILA CENTRAL POST OFFICE. SEND RETURN COPIES TO KCFAPI, FRATERNAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT, PO BOX 1511, MANILA.

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JANUARY 2017

C.

C. Navy Sweater or Vest A versatile addition to any wardrobe and good for work or fellowship, our finegauge v-neck sweater has fully-fashioned sleeves for strength, comfort and longer wear. 60/40 cotton/nylon with rib knit vneck, cuffs and hem. Also available as a sleeveless vest. Available in sizes small through 4XL, embroidered with the Emblem of the Order. $34

Order these and other items online at:

knightsgear.com

Questions? 1-855-GEAR-KOC (855-432-7562) Additional shipping costs apply to all orders.

Please call before mailing in an order.

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU M BU S

Building a better world one council at a time Every day, Knights all over the world are given opportunities to make a difference — whether through community service, raising money or prayer. We celebrate each and every Knight for his strength, his compassion and his dedication to building a better world.

Brother Knight and field agent José LebronSanabria of San Francisco de Asis Council 15849 in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, points to a truck of water ready for delivery to people in need in Haiti. Several councils teamed up with their agents to coordinate the delivery following Hurricane Matthew, which caused massive damage and increased risk of waterborne illness. The work of the Knights supplied hundreds of bottles of safe drinking water.

TO BE FEATURED HERE , SEND YOUR COUNCIL’ S “K NIGHTS IN A CTION ” PHOTO C OLUMBIA , 1 C OLUMBUS P LAZA , N EW H AVEN , CT 06510-3326 OR E - MAIL :

AS WELL AS ITS DESCRIPTION TO : KNIGHTSINACTION @ KOFC . ORG .

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Please, Do all you can to encouraGe Priestly anD reliGious vocations. your Prayers anD suPPort Make a DiFFerence.

K E E P T H E FA I T H A L I V E

‘EVERY PERSON IS WORTHY OF MY LOVE.’

Deacon Joshua altonJi sister Faustina oF MerciFul Diocese of Birmingham, Ala. love, ocD Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart Good Shepherd Council 11672 in Huntsville of Los Angeles

as a young adult, i have been blessed with family members, teachers and friends who have served as witnesses to me that every person — regardless of age, infirmity, race or beliefs — is worthy of my respect, love and attention. they have given me the courage to hear God’s call in my own life and to be attentive to the needs of others. attending the March for life for the first time as a seminarian, i was amazed by the sheer number of vibrant young faces at the vigil Mass. as i processed down the aisle with my brother seminarians, i felt overwhelming joy and peace. it was as if my entire generation had assembled to praise God, with hearts on fire to defend the most vulnerable members of our society. this experience of solidarity and joy was a great affirmation for my own vocation to the priesthood. i hope by God’s grace to become a holy shepherd of souls, making my life a true sign of God’s goodness and of his tender care for each and every person.