AUGUST 8, 2012 f N U M B E R 3

KNIGHTLINEKNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS In Service to One. In Service to All.

NEWS FROM THE 130TH SUPREME CONVENTION Knights of Liberty, Knights of Charity Annual Report of the Supreme Knight showcases impressive year

s Supreme Knight Carl A. The Order’s Healing Haiti’s AAnderson took to the Children, Food for Families and podium at the 130th Supreme Coats for Kids programs Convention in Anaheim, Calif., continued to grow and reach more to deliver his annual report, the of those in need, and jurisdictions good works and deep faith of the Orderwide continued to innovate more than 1.8 million Knights of and create programs to address Columbus were on display. their communities’ needs. Underscoring first the recent Also growing in the past year challenges to religious liberty in was Knights of Columbus the United States and highlighting Insurance, adding $5 billion of the role that the Knights of insurance in force, bringing the Columbus has taken whenever total to $86 billion and yielding a religious freedoms have been 6.9 percent increase in total assets. threatened, the supreme knight Speaking on the recent U.S. called on his brother Knights to Department of Health and take to heart the theme of this Human Services’ contraception year’s convention and echo the mandate, which would require words of America’s founding Catholic employers like the fathers, matching their dedication Knights of Columbus to pay for or and their resolve to “proclaim be complicit with contraception, liberty throughout all the land.” sterilization and abortifacients, “The history of Catholics in the Supreme Knight Anderson noted, United States is a history of “Catholic voters have the power to working for religious freedom,” transform our politics.” Anderson said. “And the work of “Is it not time,” he asked, “for the Knights of Columbus on Catholic voters to say ‘no’ — no to behalf of religious freedom is a key every candidate of every political part of that history.” party who supports such intrinsic Religious liberty was also a evil?” topic of Pope Benedict XVI’s letter But saying “no” is not the only of greeting to the convention, way that Catholics can transform signed by Vatican Secretary of politics, Anderson said. Toward State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. the end of his remarks, he The letter offered the pope’s discussed the latest initiative of the encouragement of Knights’ work Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson delivers his annual report during the 130th Supreme Knights of Columbus, a for religious liberty and expressed Convention. nationwide Campaign for Civility confidence that the Order will in America, which exists in an continue to lead the laity “to counter reductive secularism which would online petition drive that will “give the American people a voice in delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about issues speaking up for a respectful public discourse.” More than 16,000 people which are determining the future of American society.” have already signed the petition at www.civilityinamerica.org. Knights’ defense of religious liberty is a natural outgrowth of their Reflecting on the Order’s founder, Venerable Michael McGivney, and charitable activities. Their work for religious freedom “has always been the first men who became Knights of Columbus, the supreme knight motivated by and inseparable from our commitment to charity,” closed with an inspirational message for the future. Anderson said. “[Father McGivney] knew their faith and he knew their aspirations,” That commitment was on display this year as the Knights of Columbus Anderson said. “He knew what they were capable of. I also believe our — once again — shattered records, donating more than $158 million to saintly founder sees into the hearts of his brother Knights today and charity and 70 million hours of their time to charitable work. According there he finds those same qualities. One-hundred years from now, he to Independent Sector, which calculates the value of volunteer time each will not be surprised by what his brother Knights continue to year, those 70 million hours are valued at $1.5 billion. accomplish.” The annual States Dinner was a festive gathering of hundreds of delegates and their wives. On the dais were dozens of cardinals, archbishops, bishops and other dignitaries who joined Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson and other members of the Order’s Board of Directors and their wives.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York, delivered the event’s keynote Giovanni Alemanno, mayor of Rome, presents Supreme Knight Anderson with a statue address, thanking the Knights for their support of traditional marriage. of the Lupa Capitolina (Capitoline Wolf) in gratitude for the Order’s presence in the City of Rome for nearly a century.

A mariachi band leads the procession into the states Knights and their families, filling nearly 200 tables at Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle of Manila, dinner at the 130th Supreme Convdntion. the States Dinner, wave flags representing the Order’s Philippines, attending the supreme convention for the 72 jurisdictions. first time, delivers remarks.

A number of bishops, together with members of the Knights Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup (center) waves the flag Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson, accompanied by of Columbus Board of Directors and wives, stand during of New Mexico. members of the hierarchy and board of directors, the national anthem of the Dominican Republic. waves the flag of the Order during the States Dinner.

A flag of Mexico and the Supreme Chaplain Arch- Metropolitan Cathedral of the bishop William E. Lori of Assumption of Mary of Mexico Baltimore gives the closing City are shown on screen as benediction. members of the hierarchy and the K of C Board of Directors recite Mexico’s national anthem, along with the anthems of other nations where the Order is present.