Building a Culture of Life
Resolution on Building a Culture of Life adopted by the 128th Supreme Convention on Aug. 5, 2010.
RESOLVED, that the Knights of Columbus renew our deep and historic commitment to oppose any governmental action or policy that promotes abortion, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and other offenses against life and that we continue to speak out to our elected representatives about the need to enact legislation to oppose these practices and to protect human life in all its stages;
FURTHER RESOLVED, that we support programs that provide women facing crisis pregnancies with alternatives to abortion, including adoption, and that we support projects that provide spiritual support to those women suffering from the traumatic emotional and psychological aftereffects of abortion;
FURTHER RESOLVED, that we reaffirm our commitment to building a “culture of life” by promoting policies that favor the family, and by recognizing that it is within strong and healthy families that moral values are taught and that the spiritual heritage of the nation is transmitted;
FURTHER RESOLVED, that we call for the adoption of laws that recognize and protect in law the right of conscience for doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other medical personnel, guaranteeing that they may not be forced to provide medical services which violate their religious beliefs; and we insist on similar protection for Catholic hospitals;
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Knights of Columbus will continue to uphold the traditional teaching of the Church concerning the death penalty as explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and by the late Pope John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae;
FURTHER RESOLVED, that we reaffirm our long-standing policy of not inviting to any Knights of Columbus event, persons, especially public officials or candidates for public office, who do not support the legal protection of unborn children, or who advocate the legalization of assisted suicide or euthanasia, and of prohibiting such persons from renting or otherwise using facilities over which we have control, or speaking at Knights of Columbus events, or bestowing on them honors or privileges of our Order of any kind, or inviting them to serve as honorary chairpersons of events, celebrations, or committees, or hold any office in the Knights of Columbus; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, that we once again commit ourselves to praying the rosary frequently, to fasting and to doing penance in reparation for the evils perpetrated against the gift of life and that we seek the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who herself said “yes” to life, to intercede on our behalf for the establishment of a “culture of life.”