Address to the Catholic Press by S.K. Anderson

Address to the Catholic Press by S. K. Anderson
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Monday, July 23, 2012

Significant excerpts in the address to journalists gathered for the 2012 Catholic Media Conference in Indianapolis on June 22, by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson of the Knights of Columbus: No to “candidates who advocate policies that are intrinsically evil.”

“All of us have at one time or another lamented the sad state of today’s political environment: the intransigence and partisanship that disfigure nearly every national policy debate and make the search for solutions virtually impossible…

“Catholics are uniquely positioned to offer as solution to our current dilemma. We have an extraordinary rich tradition of social teaching and the experience that much of American history has been shaped by Catholics…

“Catholics can truly transcend partisanship and transform our nation’s politics. I would propose four steps by which we may do so.

1) Civility in America’s National Discourse

“We must hope that even our most strident adversaries may one day join us as saved souls together in heaven…

“I concluded [in my most recent book) Beyond a House Divided by quoting from Robert Kenney’s speech following the announcement of Dr. King’s death, “What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the U.S. is not hatred; what we need in the U.S. is not violence or lawlessness, but is love, wisdom, compassion toward one another… We need to embrace this attitude not only after a national tragedy. This attitude should be normative of our national life.

2) Charity as a Distinctive Catholic Contribution to National Life

“This is the lesson, we should learn from the religious brothers and sisters and other Catholics who by their sacrifice built our schools and hospitals, or orphanages and universities. They did so much to make America a more humane society.

“Catholic charity is not simply a mechanism for the more efficient or cost-effective delivery of social services.

“As Pope Benedict XVI reminds us in Deus Caritas Est, Catholic charity arises from “a heart that sees where love is needed” and responds appropriately. It arises from a religious tradition that understands that caritas is the pre-requisite of justice, And as Pope Benedict observed, there is no society so perfect as to have escaped the need for love…

3) Consistent Commitment to the Church’s Social Teaching

“Since 2008, the Knights of Columbus has worked with the Marist Institute for Public Opinion on a series of surveys on the ethical attitudes of Americans. We call it our Moral Compass Project. Our polling - as illustrated in my book Beyond a House Divided - has shown that Americans attraction to Catholic social teaching transcends party lines. Americans share a broad moral and even spiritual consensus that often tracks closely with Catholic social teaching…
“One of the great obstacles to forming a successful Catholic coalition on the life issue was the position of Gov. Mario Cuomo articulated in a 1984 speech at the University of Notre Dame. He defended his position of being personally opposed to abortion but unwilling to take a position opposing abortion because this would mean imposing his beliefs on his fellow citizens.

“Those of us who disagreed saw a fatal flaw in his argument. We understood Catholic teaching on abortion to have nothing to do with faith per se. Medical science has concluded that being alive in a mother’s womb is a human being irrespective of one’s religious convictions. Therefore, the protection of innocent human life that is a fundamental legal principle of every civilized society should apply to protect unborn children… to be continued … George H. Kubeck