JAN 20 E COVERS 10_16 FINAL.qxp_Layout 1 12/16/19 8:24 PM Page 1 JANUARY 2020 KNIGHTSOFCOLUMBUS COLUMBIA Jan Columbia 20_EN.qxp 12/13/19 2:40 PM Page 1 A toast to your family, your faith & your financial security this new year. LIFE INSURANCE • DISABILITY INCOME INSURANCE • LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE • RETIREMENT ANNUITIES Find your agent at kofc.org/faa JAN 19 E 12_16 FINAL.qxp_Mar E 12 12/17/19 7:05 PM Page 1 KNIGHTSOFCOLUMBUS ♦ ♦ COLUMBIA FEATURES 10 Voices of the Pro-Life Generation Young leaders speak about the impact they are having in the preeminent human rights battle of our time. 16 A Passionate Pioneer Remembered Dr. Mildred Jefferson’s ardent witness on behalf of the unborn remains a powerful model and inspiration. BY MARY HALLAN FIORITO 19 An Enduring Consensus For more than 40 years, Americans have supported the Hyde Amendment’s ban on federal funding of abortion. BY HELEN M. ALVARÉ 20 Canada’s Fight for Life An interview with Jeff Gunnarson, national president of the Campaign Life Coalition, about the Canadian pro-life movement today. 22 ‘Champions for the Unborn’ A young pro-life advocate rises above the crowd at the 2018 K of C councils are promoting pro-life legislation all across the United States. March for Life rally in Washington, D.C. BY KEVIN J. JONES 26 Standing Firm Before SPECIAL REPORT a Slippery Slope 6 ‘This Crisis Calls for Knights’ Religious leaders, doctors and disability advocates The Order will strengthen the Church by forging speak out against physician-assisted suicide. new paths that stay true to the founding vision BY PETER WOLFGANG of Father McGivney. BY SUPREME KNIGHT CARL A. ANDERSON DEPARTMENTS 34Building a better world Learning the faith, 9 Knights of Columbus News Our works of charity, beginning living the faith New Book Illustrates K of C History with defense of the most defense- My parents have been faithful and • Order Honored for Service to Per- less, bear witness to the sacred dig- loving examples to me and others for sons with Disabilities • ‘Spread the nity of every human life. many decades. Light of Christ’ BY SUPREME KNIGHT CARL A. ANDERSON BY SUPREME CHAPLAIN ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM E. LORI 27 Knights in Action PLUS: Catholic Man of the Month JANUARY 2020 ♦ COLUMBIA ♦ 1 JAN 19 E 12_16 FINAL2.qxp_Mar E 12 12/18/19 8:01 AM Page 2 EDITORIAL COLUMBIA PUBLISHER Knights of Columbus Abortion and the ‘Infinite Game’ ________ SOME GAMES are finite: They have intimate relationships and made choices SUPREME OFFICERS Carl A. Anderson well-defined rules, objectives, opponents that define their views of themselves and SUPREME KNIGHT and endpoints. Baseball and bingo have their places in society, in reliance on the Most Rev. William E. Lori, S.T.D. clear winners and losers — but as author availability of abortion in the event that SUPREME CHAPLAIN Patrick E. Kelly Simon Sinek observes in his bestselling contraception should fail.” DEPUTY SUPREME KNIGHT new book The Infinite Game, most From 1992 to 2017, the number of Michael J. O’Connor things in life are not so simple. In busi- surgical abortions reported annually in SUPREME SECRETARY Ronald F. Schwarz ness, for instance, parameters and players the United States fell by nearly a half SUPREME TREASURER are constantly changing, and the “game” million, from 1,359,145 to 862,320. John A. Marrella SUPREME ADVOCATE doesn’t end. Effective and visionary lead- There are various reasons for this decline, ________ ership, Sinek argues, requires an infinite including life-saving legislation, but one EDITORIAL mindset, looking beyond finite goals and key factor is infinite-minded leadership. Alton J. Pelowski staying focused on a “just cause,” even if Consider, for example, all of the life- EDITOR it may never be fully realized. affirming medical clinics and pregnancy Andrew J. Matt MANAGING EDITOR As I was reading Sinek’s book, the centers that today empower abortion- Cecilia Hadley pro-life movement came to mind almost vulnerable women to choose life — in SENIOR EDITOR immediately. For nearly five decades, many cases with help from ultrasound Margaret B. Kelly ASSOCIATE EDITOR one of the movement’s primary goals has machines funded by the Knights of been to reverse the 1973 U.S. Supreme Columbus. As many pro-life leaders have Court decision Roe v. Wade. To be sure, said, the goal is not simply to make abor- overturning Roe is a critical step that tion illegal, but to make it unthinkable. would save many lives — but to think In the end, the heart of the abortion that the victory would then be won, debate is deeper than a question of sci- Venerable Michael McGivney (1852-90) and the mission complete, would be a ence (when life begins) or of law (a so- Apostle to the Young, Protector of Christian Family Life and grave mistake. In a “post-Roe world,” called right to abortion). Rather, it is a Founder of the Knights of Columbus, abortion would remain unrestricted in question about the very nature of free- Intercede for Us. ________ many states. According to a July 2019 dom, sexuality and what it means to be study conducted at Middlebury Col- human. An adequate response requires HOW TO REACH US MAIL lege, the short-term effect would be the proclamation of the Gospel of Life COLUMBIA only a 12.8% reduction in the abortion in word and deed — a mission that is 1 Columbus Plaza rate nationwide. beautifully expressed in the work of the New Haven, CT 06510-3326 ADDRESS CHANGES It is important to remember that laws Sisters of Life and others, but which is 203-752-4210, option #3 have an impact on culture, and they are also the responsibility of us all. There is [email protected] COLUMBIA INQUIRIES also a reflection of it. This was apparent no greater just cause than building an 203-752-4398 when Roe v. Wade was nearly overturned authentic culture of life — and even K OF C CUSTOMER SERVICE once before, with the Supreme Court when Roe is eventually overturned, our 1-800-380-9995 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey in work will have only just begun.♦ EMAIL [email protected] 1992. The court’s opinion noted that INTERNET “for two decades of economic and social ALTON J. PELOWSKI kofc.org/columbia ________ developments, people have organized EDITOR 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 Fatal Flaws: Legalizing Assisted Death 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, The gripping documentary Fatal Flaws: Legalizing Assisted and is in good standing in the Catholic Church. Death chronicles personal stories of assisted suicide in the ________ United States, Canada and Europe. Directed by Kevin Dunn, Copyright © 2020 All rights reserved a member of St. Ann Council 10009 in Ancaster, Ontario, the ________ 56-minute film was produced in association with the Euthana- ON THE COVER sia Prevention Coalition and partially funded by the Knights A Knight witnesses to the sanctity of life amid the of Columbus in Canada. Fatal Flaws will make its world tele- massive crowd during the 2019 March for Life. Each January, the march follows Constitution Ave. vision premiere Jan. 15 on EWTN. Visit fatalflawsfilm.com. and ends at the U.S. Supreme Court building. ♦ COLUMBIA ♦ JANUARY 2020 2 JAN 19 E 12_16 FINAL.qxp_Mar E 12 12/17/19 7:05 PM Page 3 BUILDINGABETTERWORLD ‘Seek the Kingdom of God’ Our works of charity, beginning with defense of the most defenseless, bear witness to the sacred dignity of every human life by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson LAST NOVEMBER, the U.S. Confer- for the unborn and ignore the plight of ence of Catholic Bishops reaffirmed and others. But Pope Francis rightly opposed reissued its document on political re- this lie in Gaudete et Exsultate. sponsibility, titled Forming Consciences The Knights of Columbus likewise for Faithful Citizenship. Accompanying refutes this argument every day, by a sensitivity towards the acceptance of the it was a letter that read in part: “The thousand acts of charity that help new life is lost, then other forms of ac- threat of abortion remains our preemi- “the destitute, the abandoned and the ceptance that are valuable for society nent priority because it directly attacks underprivileged.” also wither away’” (120). life itself, because it takes place within The Second Vatican Council re- When speaking of these matters the sanctuary of the family, and because minded us that “the laity, by their very during our Supreme Convention in of the number of lives destroyed.” vocation, seek the kingdom of God by Minneapolis last August, I noted that, Our bishops are right: The ongoing engaging in temporal affairs and by or- for us, charity is a matter of principle, destruction of innocent human lives — dering them according to the plan of not politics. more than 50 million since Roe v. Wade God” (Lumen Gentium, 31). The In our pro-life efforts and in our acts — must be “our preeminent priority” if Knights of Columbus seeks to do this of charity, we must resist the tendency Catholic social justice teaching is to re- through our fraternal life insurance pro- to politicize every activity — a ten- tain its coherence. gram, our charitable activities, and our dency that leaves everything prey to the It has been suggested that more atten- advocacy of basic human rights.