Carl A. Anderson
Supreme Knight – Knights of Columbus
As supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, Carl A. Anderson is the chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the world’s largest Catholic family fraternal service organization, which has more than 1.8 million members.
Mr. Anderson has had a distinguished career as a public servant and educator. From 1983 to 1987, he served in various positions of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, including special assistant to the President and acting director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. Following his service at the White House, Mr. Anderson served for nearly a decade as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. biography...
News
Supreme Knight Announces New Initiatives for Knights
August 3, 2011
New Program Makes Prosthetics Available to All Haitian Children Who Lost Limbs in Earthquake
August 4, 2010
Knights of Columbus Sets New Records for Charitable Contributions
June 4, 2010
A World Saved by Beauty
May 27, 2010
March for Life in Canada
May 14, 2010
Knights of Columbus Donates Wheelchairs to Victims of Haiti Earthquake
April 27, 2010
Statement on the Death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski
April 10, 2010
Statement on Appointment to the Board of Superintendence of the IOR
September 23, 2009
Statement on the Death of Eunice Kennedy Shriver
August 11, 2009
Statement on Meeting Between Pope Benedict and President Obama
July 10, 2009
Message Regarding the Nov. 4 Election
November 3, 2008
Speeches
Every Economic Decision Has a Moral Consequence: Toward a New Personalist Capitalism
October 13, 2011
The Pope of Mercy: The Role of Blessed John Paul II in the Lives of the Laity - Address at Divine Mercy Conference in Poland
October 4, 2011
Making God’s Work Our Own – The Importance of President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address 50 Years Later
April 7, 2011
’To be a Pilgrim Today is Also to be an Evangelist and Patriot,’ Supreme Knight Tells Huge Crowd
May 30, 2010
Keynote at 8th Knights of Columbus Philippine National Convention
April 16, 2010
CMSWR Eucharistic Congress: Called to Love: A Common Vocation, an Uncommon Joy
September 11, 2009
Knights of Columbus: An American Story - Communion and Liberation, Italy
August 28, 2009
International Marian Congress
August 2009
Closing Remarks - Summit on Volunteerism
February 27, 2009
Opening Remarks - Summit on Volunteerism
February 27, 2009
Call for U.S. Summit on Volunteerism
January 23, 2009
Family and Solidarity - World Meeting on Families, Mexico
January 16, 2009
Columns
From Columbia Magazine
Preserving His Legacy
September 1, 2011
“I Have Looked for You”
August 1, 2011
An Answered Prayer
July 1, 2011
Why John Paul II Was Beatified
June 1, 2011
Called to Change the World
May 1, 2011
Accepting the Mission
April 1, 2011
A Model for All
March 1, 2011
Fulfilling the Gospel of Life
February 1, 2011
'We Dare Not Forget'
January 1, 2011
A Life-Changing Faith
December 1, 2010
The Reality of Happy Marriages
November 1, 2010
Healing Haiti’s Children
September 1, 2010
In Service to One, in Service to All
August 1, 2010
Our Pilgrimage of Faith
July 1, 2010
Received and Given
June 1, 2010
My Brother’s Keeper
May 1, 2010
Living the New Evangelization
April 1, 2010
The Spiritual Side of the Suffering in Haiti
March 1, 2010
A Strong Shield
February 1, 2010
Health Care, Politicians and the Catholic Conscience
January 1, 2010
A Season of Hope
December 1, 2009
Christian Conscience and the Future of Politics
November 1, 2009
The Catholic Hemisphere
September 1, 2009
True Charity
August 1, 2009
From Zenit - The World Seen from Rome
Putting the 'Care' Back in Health Care
March 15, 2010
The Marriage Generation
February 15, 2010
Americans Looking for Real Political, Economic Change
February 01, 2010
The Spiritual Side of the Suffering in Haiti
January 18, 2010
Health Care, Politicians and the Catholic Conscience
December 07, 2009
Business and Government Career Highlights
Carl A. Anderson
Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus
Mr. Anderson has had a distinguished career as a public servant and educator. From 1983 to 1987, he served in various positions of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, including special assistant to the President and acting director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. Following his service at the White House, Mr. Anderson served for nearly a decade as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Mr. Anderson served as assistant supreme secretary and supreme secretary of the Knights of Columbus until becoming supreme knight in October 2000. Prior to that, he served as the Order vice president for public policy from 1987 to 1997. He has also served as grand knight, district deputy, state advocate, state secretary and state deputy for the District of Columbia jurisdiction.
Since Mr. Anderson assumed the responsibilities of supreme knight in 2000, the Knights of Columbus has achieved new heights in charitable giving, providing in its latest year $155 million directly to charity and more than 70 million hours in volunteer service.
In over a decade as the chief executive officer of the Order, Anderson has overseen strong growth in the Knights’ financial resources — many of which have nearly doubled during his tenure. Life insurance in force has doubled from $40.4 billion to approximately $82 billion — an increase of nearly 7% a year. Annual life insurance sales have also increased — from $4.0 billion in 2000 to $7.77 billion in 2010 — an annual growth rate of 6.8%.
Despite two serious market corrections during his tenure, the Knights has remained financially strong. Today, there is no more highly rated insurer than the Knights of Columbus in North America. The organization has earned the top rating from A.M. Best (A++) for 36 consecutive years, and its assets under management have increased from $8.5 billion in 2000 to nearly $18 billion today.
In 2009, in the midst of one of the worst economic crises, the Knights’ position relative to the U.S. life insurance industry actually improved, and the Order’s investment portfolio earned a very competitive 5.75%. In fact, A.M. Best cited: "consistently positive statutory earnings, excellent persistency and an exceptional level of risk-adjusted capitalization” when they gave the Knights their top rating of A++ (Superior) this year - for the 34th consecutive year.
In addition, during Mr. Anderson’s tenure the Knights of Columbus established the $1 million Heroes Fund to provide immediate assistance to the families of rescue workers killed in the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001; the $2 million Pacem in Terris Fund to assist efforts for peace in the Middle East by the Catholic Church; and was financial sponsor of the 2004 Papal Concert of Reconciliation.
Mr. Anderson holds degrees in philosophy from Seattle University and in law from the University of Denver. He is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia and is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Catholic Biographical Highlights
Carl A. Anderson
Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus
As supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, Carl A. Anderson is the chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the world’s largest Catholic family fraternal service organization, which has more than 1.75 million members.
For more than 20 years, Mr. Anderson has been active in a variety of Catholic leadership roles.
From 1983 to 1998, he taught as a visiting professor of family law at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. In 1988, became the founding vice president and first dean of the Washington, D.C., session of this graduate school of theology now located at The Catholic University of America.
He is the author of the New York Times bestseller, A Civilization of Love: What Every Catholic Can Do To Transform The World; co-author (with Msgr. Eduardo Chávez) of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love, also a New York Times bestseller; co-editor (with Livio Melina) of The Way of Love: Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical Deus Caritas Est; and (with José Granados) Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.
Mr. Anderson was the only Catholic layman from North America to serve as an auditor at the World Synod of Bishops in 2001, 2005 and 2008.
Pope John Paul II appointed Mr. Anderson as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life (1998); and the Pontifical Council for the Laity (2002) and as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (2003). Pope Benedict XVI has appointed him as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications in 2007 and as a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family (2008). He is a Board of Superintendence of the (I.O.R.) (Institute for the Works of Religion - Vatican Bank) (2009) and has served as a consultant to the Pro-Life Committee of the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) since 2002.
Mr. Anderson is a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Sylvester; a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great; and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
He serves as a member of the International Scientific Council of the Studium Generale Marcianum of Venice. In 1994, he was a member of the Vatican delegation for the Fifteenth Meeting of the International Jewish Liaison Committee held in Jerusalem.
Mr. Anderson currently serves on the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. He has received honorary doctorates from The Catholic University of America, The Pontifical Theology Academy of Krakow and St. Vincent’s Seminary, Latrobe, Pa.
Mr. Anderson served as assistant supreme secretary and supreme secretary of the Knights of Columbus until becoming supreme knight in October 2000. Prior to that, he served as the Order vice president for public policy from 1987 to 1997. He has also served as grand knight, district deputy, state advocate, state secretary and state deputy for the District of Columbia jurisdiction.
Mr. Anderson holds degrees in philosophy from Seattle University and in law from the University of Denver. He is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia and is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court.
He and his wife, Dorian, are the parents of five children.
Charitable Highlights
Carl A. Anderson
Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus
As supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, Carl A. Anderson is the chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the world’s largest Catholic family fraternal service organization, which has more than 1.75 million members. The Knights of Columbus is one of the most active charitable groups in the United States.
He is the author of the New York Times bestseller, A Civilization of Love: What Every Catholic Can Do To Transform The World; co-author (with Msgr. Eduardo Chávez) of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love, also a New York Times bestseller; co-editor (with Livio Melina) of The Way of Love: Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical Deus Caritas Est; and (with José Granados) Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.
Mr. Anderson has served as assistant supreme secretary and supreme secretary of the Knights of Columbus until becoming supreme knight in October 2000. Prior to that, he served as the Order vice president for public policy from 1987 to 1997. He has been grand knight, district deputy, state advocate, state secretary and state deputy for the District of Columbia jurisdiction.
Since Mr. Anderson assumed the responsibilities of supreme knight in 2000, the Knights of Columbus has achieved new heights in charitable giving, providing in its latest year more than $150 million directly to charity and 68 million hours in voluntary service.
In addition, during this time the Knights of Columbus established the $1 million Heroes Fund to provide immediate assistance to the families of rescue workers killed in the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001; the $2 million Pacem in Terris Fund to assist efforts for peace in the Middle East by the Catholic Church; and was financial sponsor of the January 17, 2004, Papal Concert of Reconciliation.
Mr. Anderson holds degrees in philosophy from Seattle University and in law from the University of Denver. He is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia and is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court.
He and his wife, Dorian, are the parents of five children.