The U.S. presidential election is less than half-a-year away. Though most of the nation’s attention is presently focused on the coronavirus panicdemic, one can well expect that persons of influence will begin leveraging their positions to shape, however they might, the priorities and opinions of both candidates and constituents.
Among them, Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus.
My purpose in this exposé is to highlight the nature and impact of Anderson’s activities in this regard, most notably as it concerns the sanctity of human life. At the conclusion, I will pose a very important question to rank and file KofC members:
Are you satisfied with what you are receiving in return for all of your good faith efforts on behalf of the Knights of Columbus, the same that serve to finance the Supreme Knight’s considerable influence?
In 2016, in the months before the election, Anderson penned an editorial for The Hill in which he wrote:
[The late New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, in a speech at Notre Dame in 1984] said: “As a Catholic I accept the church’s teaching authority. … I accept the bishops’ position that abortion is to be avoided.” …
Still, he maintained that abortion should be protected legally.
About this, Anderson concluded:
Such an argument by a Catholic politician was bogus then, and it is untenable now.
One cannot but agree with Anderson’s assessment of Cuomo’s position, one most unworthy of a Catholic (self-proclaimed, at any rate) politician.
More reprehensible still, however, would be the leader of a Catholic fraternal organization some 2 million members strong blatantly misrepresenting Church teaching on the matter, and that is precisely what Anderson went on to do.
After arguing that science itself confirms that abortion is the taking of a human life, Anderson then went full bore Americanist, stating:
There is a second more serious problem. The argument rests on the assumption that legally restricting abortion is the minority view. That simply is not true.
Think about what you just read.
Carl Anderson would have the naïve and ill-informed believe that the Catholic politician’s opposition to the voice of the majority is a “more serious problem” than his support for an intrinsic evil, which is nothing less grave than opposition to the Divine Law!
As if what has been stated thus far hasn’t sufficiently alerted the reader to Anderson’s stunning lack of sensus Catholicus, he went on to state:
The Catholic position – that abortion takes a human life, is morally wrong, and should be substantially restricted — is not only backed up by science, it is now the public’s consensus by a wide margin.
And what exactly does Anderson mean by “substantially restricted”? He tells us:
According to Marist polling we commissioned, about eight in ten Americans want substantial restrictions on abortion. A solid majority would limit abortion at most only to rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
Are you paying attention, Knights? Carl A. Anderson is using his lavishly compensated position in order to broadcast a dangerous lie, namely: The Catholic position is that abortion should be substantially restricted at most only to rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
And this, he declares (as if it is cause for celebration) “is now the public’s consensus by a wide margin.”
Anderson went on to make his own position crystal clear: He insisted that Catholic politicians, “should embrace the American consensus on abortion restrictions.”
At this, please spare me the foolhardy notion that aborting innocent human beings in a limited number of cases is “a step in the right direction;” it is always evil, and Catholic teaching is perfectly clear on this point. Exceptions, no matter how few or far between, are seeds of the diabolical that will most certainly flourish in time. Either every human life is sacred, or it is not.
Fast forward three years.
In May of 2019, Anderson penned a similar essay for the Des Moines Register that has since found a permanent home on the Knights official website titled, The Silent Democratic Majority on Abortion. In it, he once again set about promoting his disgustingly anti-life, un-Catholic view of abortion.
Anderson writes, among other things:
…earlier this year, the Marist Poll – one of the country’s most respected surveys – found a broad consensus among the American people. By about three-to-one, Americans oppose abortion after 20 weeks – or don’t want it at all. This includes about eight in 10 Republicans and independents and nearly six in 10 Democrats.
This survey also found that 80 percent of Americans support limiting abortion to at most the first three months of a pregnancy. This included nearly two-thirds of those identifying as pro-choice and a similar number of Democrats (64 percent). The poll was commissioned by the Knights of Columbus.
Let’s stop here for a moment. The poll was commissioned by the Knights of Columbus. In other words, Marist was paid to conduct this poll with money earned on the backs of member Knights and other Catholics of good faith who contribute to their efforts. Moving on, Anderson states:
Given what the polling has revealed about attitudes toward abortion among Democrats, it seems obvious that a strong majority of Democrats, including Catholics and working-class voters, would have good reason to prefer a candidate who supports substantial restrictions on abortion.
It would be better for America – and for the unborn – if Democratic candidates listened to the electorate again … It’s time to say that abortion isn’t a matter of party politics – it’s a matter of national consensus.
Did you get that? The Supreme Knight (who happens to live more like a king) is calling for politicians to embrace the will of the people, over and against the Divine Law, in favor of merely limiting abortion.
But wait, that’s not all member Knights are getting in return for their labors.
In 2019, Catholic News Agency reported:
According to Supreme Knight and CEO Carl A. Anderson, when the March for Life began in the early 1970s, the Knights of Columbus was one of the first groups to lend a hand. Anderson told CNA that the Knights now play a part in “just about everything that needs to be done” on the days leading up to, and during, the march.
Sounds terrific until one takes a closer look.
Each year, Knights of Columbus Charities USA donates over $500,000 to the March for Life, and this doesn’t include donations made directly by individual Councils, nor does it account for the manpower it provides for the event.
Along with all of those millions of man hours and dollars comes a great deal of influence.
As such, it may perhaps come as little surprise that the March for Life has sold its soul to the Supreme Knight by embracing the stance promoted by its major benefactor, mimicking Anderson’s decidedly un-Catholic position in favor of abortion in certain cases.
Don’t take it from me, check it out for yourself in the following video produced by March for Life. You may have already seen it as the video was used for an ad campaign, reportedly costing more than six figures, that ran on television during the Democrat presidential primary debates:
Once again, I ask, were you paying attention? The video states:
Abortion should happen only during the first three months of pregnancy. At most. That’s consensus. It’s time for politicians to stop working for the pro-abortion lobby. And join the national consensus. – March for Life, citing Knights of Columbus financed polling and the position taken by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson
On the Knights of Columbus website is a page under the title, in large, bold, capital letters:
TO BE A KNIGHT IS TO BE PRO-LIFE
What follows is a list of “five major ways in which the Knights of Columbus stand up to defend unborn human life.” Number one on that list is… you guessed it, the March for Life, which thanks to the nefarious activities and influence of Carl A. Anderson is boldly promoting the diabolical notion that Abortion should happen only during the first three months of pregnancy.
With all of this having been exposed for your consideration, member Knights, I ask you:
Are you satisfied with what you are receiving in return for all of your good faith efforts on behalf of the Knights of Columbus, the same that serve to finance the Supreme Knight’s considerable influence?
If you answered “no,” as any Catholic of good will must, I implore you to demand the ouster of Carl Anderson as Supreme Knight, making it clear that, apart from this, you are perfectly willing to rescind your membership.
Please be sure to forward this article to each and every Knight with whom you have contact, confident in the words of Our Blessed Lord who is the Life, The truth shall make you free.
The whole “pro-life” thing here in the USA has devolved nothing more than a self-congratulatory industry…dare I even say a sort of religion or church unto itself. I wouldn’t even bother trekking to the March for Life.
As if simply “over-turning Roe vs. Wade”, much less “restricting legal abortion”, will solve anything in the long-term. It’s a farce. Widespread legally sanctioned abortion such as we have here in the USA and so many other nations, frankly, is just one of the ugliest manifestations of a much more profound sort of rot in a society. It’s not the other way around. It seems to me that far too many “pro-lifers”, in all their busybody-ness, tend to get it all backward and mixed up.
Since when is the Knights of Columbus Catholic? Hasn’t it been co-opted by the New Religionists of Vatican II? Aren’t pro-life activities ecumenical in nature? Why would any of this be surprising?
The Knights of Columbus
Well let me think for a minute.
In Merchantville St Peters parish the Knights cover the windows of the Parochial school gymnasium with black cloth. In comes the beer truck and when the “meeting” is over the Knights race around the parking lot much to the disdain of the former DRE who worried one of her CCD students waiting for their ride home, would be flattened.
Down the road, in the town of Maple Shade NJ , the wife of a KoC begged me at a Rosary meeting to please come and speak to her Grand PooBah KoC husband who was considering melding his KoC lodge with the local Freemasonic Lodge. What fools !
I actually know of a home schooled boy who attended Christendom College, who settled in one of these towns because the priest was soooo “traditional” ,unbeknown to him and his fellow KoC’s that priest is an actual active sodomite listed on Bishop Accountability who buggered seminarians and altar boys , while still managing to keep his activities smothered for the majority of easily fooled Faithful.
Roman Catholics are THE most gullible people I have ever known, for that matter , so are many Eastern Catholics.
I wish I could scream at all of them to WAKE UP!
Since the KoC is associated with the Novus Ordo false religion, they too need to be avoided at all costs.
Louie,
In the interest of fairness, it’s disingenuous to imply that “Abortion should happen only during the first three months of pregnancy. At most.” is the viewpoint being espoused by the video as what *should* be done (which seems to simply be ‘restrict abortion’ in general), when it explicitly notates prior to this quote that this is the *opinion* of “6 out 10 ‘pro-choice’ Americans”.
That being said, this entire article does highlight a self-destructive manner of argumentation being utilized by Carl Anderson and self-espoused pro-lifers: namely, argumentation by consensus. Presumably, if a majority of Americans approved of abortion, then I suppose we would have no choice but to go along, correct? In like manner, if a majority of Americans support contraception or homosexual marriage, I guess that’s that, then.
Truth is not subject to a popularity contest or democratic vote.
Killing an unborn child during the first three months of pregnancy or the barbaric partial birth abortion at the end of pregnancy results in the same thing—–a dead baby. Evil is evil.
Bad attitude. Those fighting the ongoing holocaust of legalized fetal infanticide are to be commended, not condemned. True, some may need to be reminded that this particular fight is not an end unto itself but is part of the larger fight against Satan and his minions. But they should be gently reminded, not with the acid you display here.
Pro Life was never really their thing , just a banner to wave to prove their orthodox existence to “mommy” (wives and parents) . Joining the KoC serves to feed egos with ceremonial plumes , capes and swords and an excuse for a monthly beer fest
while schmoozing with “friends” for job openings and promotions just like in the Freemason Lodge.
KoC is nothing but a good ole boys club that quietly turns over it dues to defense funds for clerical sodomites and to keep the seriously corrupted church institution financially afloat.
Some have said that the KofC makes huge amounts of money in the insurance business. Is that true?
I was involved in the “Knights” up until ten years ago. I joined as a means to manifest my faith outside of Holy Mass and daily prayer life. I figured we would be focused on doing good works in and out of the Church, and standing for Catholic truth in a society all too often opposed to it. I was interviewed by a couple of members before I joined and I was real clear about my expectations. They signed me up.
The council I was involved with was not what I envisioned the Knights to be. There really wasn’t anything genuinely Catholic about it at all. Any Catholicity that found it’s way into this or that proceeding seemed perfunctory.
As it turns out, their raison d’etre was nothing more than the next clam bake. Some of you guys are probably old enough to remember that tv show “The Honeymooners” with Jackie Gleason (Ralph) and Art Carney (Ed); a favorite of mine. Ralph and Ed were members of some lodge called the “Loyal Order of Raccoons” or some such. It was an organization whose only point was to give the guys the excuse to get away from the wives, hang with their buddies, wear funny uniforms, shoot pool, play cards, drink beer, smoke cigars… That, in a nutshell, was the KofC council I belonged to. Nothing at all wrong with guys wanting to be around other guys from time to time and do guy type things. I’m very fond of that actually. But if that’s your intent, call yourself a Raccoon, not a Catholic Knight.
I was at Mass one Sunday and afterwards Father allowed a lady to speak to the congregation. She was from the local Catholic pregnancy center. After Mass I went up to her in the vestibule to introduce myself because I wanted to see if I could help her out. I was wearing a KofC pin on my lapel. She noticed it and asked me about the possibility of coming to speak to my KofC council. I thought that was a great idea but I told her I was not the poobah so I’d have to run it by the guy running the council to set it up. I got her contact info and so forth.
Next council meeting I bring it up to the head guy (grand knight) after the meeting to see if the lady could come to speak to us. I’ll never forget the look on his face. He had this slack jawed, blank stare as if I were asking him to donate a kidney.
This was in October. He told me we wouldn’t be able to invite the lady just yet because we had the end of year black tie banquet to plan, and right after that the Mardi Gras shindig to plan (I’m in New Orleans), and so I should ask him again after all that. Again, we’re in October. Mardi Gras was late February so basically he was blowing the lady off for four months because, you know, party time. And I think he was afraid she might ask us men to get out there and actually do something to help the babies and their mothers. Heaven forbid.
I left the meeting discouraged but unfortunately not surprised. A couple of weeks later I get the regular email from the poobah alerting us of the next meeting and what’s on the agenda. And guess what? We’re going to have a guest speaker. That’s right, someone whose presentation, unlike that of the Women’s Center director, rates enough to take valuable time away from the important business of planning the year end banquet and the Mardi Gras festivities.
So who will be our guest? One of the local sports radio talk show hosts to discuss all things about New Orleans Saints, LSU, and Tulane football. Now I like football like the next guy and I’m a Tulane alum to boot but that’s beside the point. Again, Raccoons not Knights.
I never went to another meeting. I was done with that council on the spot.
But to be fair, I thought “Don’t condemn the entire organization over one lousy council.” I figured maybe one day I might come across a good council and I could attach to them.
Right in the wake of that the controversy over Carl Anderson’s and the Knight’s policy on pro-abort Knights appeared in the Catholic press. Basically, despite the member requirement of being a “practical Catholic man,” their official position was that local councils were not allowed to expel pro abort members from their councils, but that those decisions needed to be passed along to “supreme” on the specious grounds that expulsion of a member affects the whole organization, not simply the local council performing the action.
So what does “supreme” do about it? Nothing. Their stand is that if the pro abort member’s ordinary does not excommunicate him, the Knights have no grounds upon which to terminate the pro abort’s membership. Now I’m not a lawyer but I know weaselly lawyer contortions when I see them. Pretty brave of the Knights, wouldn’t you say?
That’s when I realized it wasn’t just that worthless council I belonged to. It’s the whole organization. They’re not serious except when it comes to the next shindig and probably insurance revenues. Are there good councils out there? Probably so, despite their leadership. But I had seen more than enough.
I decided it was time to write a letter renouncing my “Knighthood” to Carl Anderson, and enclosed my membership card, cut in half for dramatic effect.
That was 10 years ago.
Sorry for the length of this.
https://krestaintheafternoon.blogspot.com/2010/05/knights-of-columbus-wont-expel-pro.html
Dear JT,
Your account is illustrative of the widespread death of Catholic culture Where are the brave men who will stand down the widespread slaughter of unborn children? No longer among the Knights it appears. Instead weasel words are the order of the day.
No problem with the length; interesting and informative post.
The Phantom Knights in the insurance scheme.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-phantom-knights-of-columbus-insurance-fraud/
Amen. It was Zippy Catholic who observed that the Pro Life movement is pro abortion in that it always -ALWAYS – describes the perp-prego woman who hires a doctor to kill her baby – as a victim.
If ABS paid a killer to ice his irksome neighbor, would any organisation describe ABS as victim?
Nope, the only victim sin the pro life movement are the dead baby and the killer Mommies who conspired with another to kill her unborn child
Agreed. Women who commit fetal infanticide, whether by hiring a surgical hitman or through a pill, should be prosecuted for first-degree murder.
ABS king of the pseudo Cath trolls who supported his cover up Bishop in destroying the reputation of one Fr John Gallagher who blew the whistle on a fellow priest grooming a fourteen yr old parishioner with porn.
The perp confessed adding that the Bishop knew he sodomized children in his country ( India) and Bishop Barbarito had his file.
Yes ABS , you know how to victimize yourself and smear a good priest in the process.
“Killer mommies”???? What about fornicating and adulteress killer daddies??? As usual you pant a lop sided picture of sin ABS , blacking out your own culpability.
i
Poor, poor sorry miserable feeble-minded grotesque whimpy sadboy spineless fool JTLizard, your implicit rejection of the mighty Flying Spaghetti Monster seeps through the cracks and becomes perfectly visible to me, Inn Caritas, the supreme genius of the AKA Catholic comment section. Your criticism of the KoC ignores the essential fact that this “fraternal organization” has long since excommunicated itself by assent to the accession of Cappellini-eating Angelo Roncalli as Pope in 1958, a year that will live in infamy in the annals of Spaghettiology. In fact, there is no longer an extant Catholic hierarchy, and no valid sacraments anywhere in this big wide flat earth, including the apostate SSPX as “Archbishop” Lefebvre willfully assented, with all the other bishops priests religious and laymen, to the systematic assault against the mighty Flying Spaghetti Monster that commenced with the election of Cappellini-eating Roncalli. That this is the case is declared I-N-F-A-L-L-I-B-L-Y in Pope Paul IV’s bull, “Cum ex Spaghetticus Officio,” reminding us that even the slightest, briefest spurning of the faith of Spaghettiology renders one excommunicate (even retroactively, duh), and condemned irreversibly to the cauldrons of boiling tomato sauce that await them in the bowels of this fair flat earth. In caritas, Inn Caritas 🙂
Dear Sleepy. Your repeated lies in support of an insane lying priest reveals what is really in your heart.
You do not know one – NOT ONE – person who was a member of Holy Name Church (ABS DOES( and so you do not know of his many weird actions, his racial hatred of hispanics, his turning of his residence int a bar so he and his pals could party and he had his staff serve drinks to them
He did not report the perv priest to the cops as he was required to do so.
The father of the boy reported the incident to the cops.
The priest did not tell Bishop Barbarito of the incidence as it was his duty to do so. The Bishop learned of it from the cops.
Every single lie by the insane priest (locked out of his church etc) is a bald faced lie
It was the insane priest who invited the perv priest to mjhistyer there, not Barbarito.
Sweepy you have a disordered mind that is so concretised in binary thinking that you are blind to facts
ABS…………Oh what a tale you weave.
Fr John Gallagher called the Bishop’s office and informed them of the perv priests actions. He was told they do NOT call the police in matters like this hey just give the offender a plane ticket home. I do know the priest liked to play the piano in his residence and have friends over.
Shame on you for repeatedly calling this good priest “insane” !
It is you who do nor know the facts .
“Hatred of Hispanics?”
Why ?Because he did not stand outside after Mass shaking hands?? YES sir ,that’s what these “raaaaaaaaaaacist”victim Hispanics were complaining about !
Sorry bub , I also know the real facts from disgusted parishioners , not to mention the KNOWN perv from the PA Grand Jury Report who lived in Boca that Barbarito used as a supply priest on Palm Beach Island .
A BIG FYI Brainless one ……Every Bishop has a file on every priest serving in his Diocese and the one you claim Fr Gallagher invited in, ( Fr Gallagher had no such file )
but Bishop Barbarito knew ALL about because the perp said his bishop in India knew all about his proclivities and it is, “part of their culture”.
Fr John Gallagher called the Bishop’s office and informed them of the perv priests actions. He was told they do NOT call the police in matters like this hey just give the offender a plane ticket home. I do know the priest liked to play the piano in his residence and have friends over.
LIE. That was the false claim made by the insane priest. It never happened and there i snow police report to that effect
It is you who do nor know the facts .
“Hatred of Hispanics?”
Why ?Because he did not stand outside after Mass shaking hands?? YES sir ,that’s what these “raaaaaaaaaaacist”victim Hispanics were complaining about !
U R a dope on steroids. There are public records of hispanics interviewed by the Diocese. THEY are the ones who reported multiple examples of his racism and teh interviews were conducted because the diocese received so may complaints about him.
p has a file on every priest serving in his Diocese and the one you claim Fr Gallagher invited in, ( Fr Gallagher had no such file )</I.
The Bishop asks for and received information on the perv priest and the diocese that sent it did not include the damning information.
It was the insane priest who invited the perv priest to minister there
but Bishop Barbarito knew ALL about because the perp said his bishop in India knew all about his proclivities and it is, “part of their culture”.
Put up or shut up you. Post any evidence you have. You have NO evidence for any of your false claims. You have decided to support a priest who is literally insane and you believe all of his lies and all you do is to echo the lies of the insane priest.
You are a dangerous combination of arrogance and ignorance