Tag: Carl A. Anderson

Pope Francis and Knights of Columbus meet

Several weeks ago now Carl Anderson, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus met with the Holy Father. This week the Board of Directors of the KofC are meeting in Rome and they had an opportunity to meet Pope Francis. Here’s what the Pope had to say:

I am pleased to welcome the Board of Directors of the Knights of Columbus on the occasion of your meeting in Rome. I thank you once again for the prayers which you, and all the Knights and their families, have offered for my intentions and the needs of the Church throughout the world since my election as Bishop of Rome.

On this occasion I also wish to express my gratitude for the unfailing support which your Order has always given to the works of the Holy See. This support finds particular expression in the Vicarius Christi Fund, which is an eloquent sign of your solidarity with the Successor of Peter in his concern for the universal Church, but it is also seen in the daily prayers, sacrifices and apostolic works of so many Knights in their local Councils, their parishes and their communities. May prayer, witness to the faith and concern for our brothers and sisters in need always be the three pillars supporting your work both individually and corporately. In fidelity to the vision of the Venerable Father Michael McGivney, may you continue to seek new ways of being a leaven of the Gospel and a force for the spiritual renewal of society.

As the present Year of Faith draws to its close, I commend all of you in a special way to the intercession of Saint Joseph, the protector of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who is an admirable model of those manly virtues of quiet strength, integrity and fidelity which the Knights of Columbus are committed to preserving, cultivating and passing on to future generations of Catholic men.

Asking a remembrance in your prayers, and with great affection in the Lord, I now willingly impart to you, and to all the Knights and their families, my Apostolic Blessing.

Ecclesia in America at 15, Carl Anderson reflects


Hard to believe that 15 years have passed since John Paul’s post synodal exhortation Ecclesia in America. It is a remarkable document in my opinion, even though it touches on many very serious problems that we need to face from Alaska to Argentina. We hear nothing of this document these days. Every so often we hear a reference to it when a hierarch wants to say something intelligent about the situation at hand in America. Perhaps we could go back to EA with fresh eyes. What is clear is to work on ways for greater communion and solidarity with the Christians across the boarders.

We need to continue to answer the thematic of the “Encounter with the living Jesus Christ: The way to conversion, communion and solidarity in America.” We can’t set tight with only what John Paul gave us to think on, and to work on. The strength of the Church in America rests not merely on our own solution to the matters at hand but also to our persistent call to holiness.

To honor the publication’s anniversary events have been scheduled in Rome from 9-12 December. Among the presentations/dialogue we have:

  • the event in Guadalupe as the origin of evangelization in the New World
  • the post-Synodal Exhortation: prophecy, teaching and commitment
  • the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America with the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, star of the new evangelization and mother of the civilization of love
  • the meaning of the Year of Faith
  • Scenarios and proposals for communion and co-operation between Churches of the Americas and for solidarity among their peoples.
There will be Masses celebrated, rosaries said and other devotions prayed.

Happy to see that Carl Anderson, supreme knights of the Knights of Columbus was chosen as one the presenters for today’s conference. He gives gravitas coupled with reasonableness. You may want to listen to Carl Anderson’s interview with Vatican Radio it is here.

English: My photograph of an image of the tilm...

Mr Anderson’s remarks:


It is indeed an
honor for the Knights of Columbus to have the opportunity to help organize this
conference on Ecclesia in America – together with the Pontifical Commission for
Latin America – under the patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

As a lay
organization that has been in the United States, Canada, Mexico – and other
parts of Latin America – for more than a century, we are particularly aligned
with the vision presented in Ecclesia in America, and are working with the
Church in our hemisphere on the project of the New Evangelization.

In
re-reading Ecclesia in America 15 years after the close of the Synod for
America held here in Rome in November and December 1997, three things stand out
to me as particularly important to our discussion here and at the conference
next week.

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Proclaim Liberty: Notes on the Next Great Awakening in America –Carl Anderson’s new book



Proclaim Liberty.jpgCarl Anderson, Supreme
Knight of the Knights of Columbus, published Proclaim Liberty: Notes on the
Next Great Awakening in America. 

Anderson’s “eBook shows how Catholics — by voting
in a manner consistent with Catholic social teaching — can transcend our broken
politics and excessive partisanship. It lays out a roadmap to truly
transforming our country.” Moreover, Proclaim Liberty brings together “the issues
confronting us in political races and ballot initiatives large and small into
focus, using the lens of Catholic social teaching.”

Carl Anderson’s new work
complements the US bishops’ document Forming Consciences for Faithful
Citizenship, in which they call “Catholics to form their consciences in the
light of their Catholic faith and to bring our moral principles to the debate
and decisions about candidates and issues.”

More information, as well as links
to eBook sellers, is available here.

America’s Voice in the World’s New Evangelization

The Holy See has appointed 45 persons as Experts and Observers for the forthcoming Thirteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, 7 to 28 October on the theme: “The new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith.”

While they are not the full members of the Synod of Bishops (they’re not bishops) these people do have an essential role in that they will contribute to the conversation and will help to frame the outcome. Noteworthy are the number of women invited: 10 experts and 19 observers.

There will be seven US bishops and ten other Americans at the Synod.

The is the list of non-bishops from the Americas which ought to be noted (more noted here):

Sr. Sara Butler M.S.B.T., professor, St. Mary of the Lake University, Mundelein, and member of the International Theological Commission

Sr. Paula Jean Miller F.S.E., professor, Department of Theology of the University of St. Thomas, Houston

Sr. Mary Lou Wirtz F.C.J.M., president of the International Union of Superiors General

Marylee J. Meehan, president of the International Catholic Committee of Nurses and Medico-Social Assistants

Fr. Jeremy Driscoll O.S.B., professor, Theological Faculty of Rome’s St. Anselm Pontifical Athenaeum, and professor, Mount Angel Seminary, St. Benedict, OR

Edward Peters, professor, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit

Ralph Martin, director of graduate theological programs in the new evangelization at the Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit

Carl Albert Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus

Curtis A. Martin, founder and president of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students – Focus Missionaries

Peter Murphy, executive director of the Secretariat fo Evangelization and Catechesis, US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Carl Anderson: we are called to transform society — looks to JFK, sets path

Thumbnail image for Anderson with US flag.jpgCarl A. Anderson, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, gave a lecture in Boston’s famed Faneuil Hall on President John F. Kennedy’s faith known in the inaugural address. The President was a KofC member. Anderson uses history, philosophy and theology to demonstrate that our human rights come from God, thus they are sacred rights. The location of the talk was brilliant given the tensions between Church and secularism. Anderson’s talk follows:

Your Eminence, Cardinal O’Malley; Your Excellencies, Archbishop Wenski, Bishop Lori and Bishop Kennedy; Reverend Fathers; Seminarians; Members of the Board of Directors and State Officers of the Knights of Columbus; Members of the Boston Leadership Forum; Brother Knights; Ladies and Gentlemen – fellow Citizens…

Here at Faneuil Hall, in this historic setting, the injustices of the colonial system were first addressed. It was here that the Sugar Act was protested more than a decade before the Declaration of Independence. Here that the Tea Tax was protested. And here the Boston Massacre was recounted. Here too was born the idea that there should be “no taxation without representation.”

Continue reading Carl Anderson: we are called to transform society — looks to JFK, sets path

Annunciation of the Lord


Annunciation Fra Angelico 1451-2.jpg

What happened
here in Nazareth, far from the gaze of the world, was a singular act of God, a
powerful intervention in history, through which a child was conceived who was
to bring salvation to the whole world. The wonder of the Incarnation continues
to challenge us to open up our understanding to the limitless possibilities of
God’s transforming power, of his love for us, his desire to be united with us.
Here the eternally begotten Son of God became man, and so made it possible for
us, his brothers and sisters, to share in his divine sonship. That downward
movement of self-emptying love made possible the upward movement of exaltation
in which we too are raised to share in the life of God himself (cf. Phil
2:6-11).

The Spirit who “came upon Mary” (cf. Lk 1:35) is the same
Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of Creation (cf. Gen 1:2). We
are reminded that the Incarnation was a new creative act. When our Lord Jesus
Christ was conceived in Mary’s virginal womb through the power of the Holy
Spirit, God united himself with our created humanity, entering into a permanent
new relationship with us and ushering in a new Creation. The narrative of the
Annunciation illustrates God’s extraordinary courtesy (cf. Mother Julian of
Norwich, Revelations 77-79). He does not impose himself, he does not simply
pre-determine the part that Mary will play in his plan for our salvation: he
first seeks her consent. In the original Creation there was clearly no question
of God seeking the consent of his creatures, but in this new Creation he does so.
Mary stands in the place of all humanity. She speaks for us all when she
responds to the angel’s invitation. Saint Bernard describes how the whole court
of heaven was waiting with eager anticipation for her word of consent that
consummated the nuptial union between God and humanity. The attention of all
the choirs of angels was riveted on this spot, where a dialogue took place that
would launch a new and definitive chapter in world history. Mary said,
“Let it be done to me according to your word.” And the Word of God
became flesh.

When we reflect on this joyful mystery, it gives us hope, the
sure hope that God will continue to reach into our history, to act with
creative power so as to achieve goals which by human reckoning seem impossible.
It challenges us to open ourselves to the transforming action of the Creator
Spirit who makes us new, makes us one with him, and fills us with his life. It
invites us, with exquisite courtesy, to consent to his dwelling within us, to
welcome the Word of God into our hearts, enabling us to respond to him in love
and to reach out in love towards one another.

Pope Benedict XVI

14 May 2009

Basilica
of the Annunciation, Israel


As a way of deepening the Mystery of the Incarnation, here is  “Beyond the Clash of Absolutes: Abortion” taken from Carl A. Anderson’s 2010 book, Beyond A House Divided.

Carl Anderson addressed the Rimini Meeting ’09

The Rimini
Meeting, mentioned here before, invited Carl Anderson, the
Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus to address the more than 700,000
attendees on August 28, 2009. In his address he spoke about the common,
practical spirituality of the Knights as influencing works of Charity. Knowing
that “Christ plays in ten thousand places, Lovely in limbs, and lovely in
eyes not his”, Anderson advocated a life of charity that spurs all people –at least it ought to– to build a civilization of love based on real, lasting hope.

CAnderson RM 09.jpg

The point for
Catholics is not to set up another group of “do-gooder” structure no
matter of the brilliance of the idea which has no grounding in the dignity of
man and woman and/or with some vague understanding of Christianity, but to form
a companionship, friends who are rooted in Christ Jesus. Only then can we
truly, actually care for another. Many can argue rightly that people who have
no faith or don’t share faith in Christ can build a loving and caring society.
True and there are bountiful examples of this being done all around the world.
But for those who claim to be Christians, substance over sentiment is what
drives. I don’t do something and meet Christ. Rather, I have met Christ and
therefore I live differently with myself and with my brothers and sisters
around me. Otherwise we have beige Catholicism and we don’t need more of that
stuff.

In my opinion, Carl Anderson touches on this point: our Christian lives
are not sustained by a something but a someone: Christ who sacrificed himself
for us on the cross and then rose from the dead. This is the hope Christians
have. If we forget this point then we Catholics are no different than the Elks
lodge and that may be OK for some but I think being Catholic means something
more: that we come to know our God is a personal way through helping others.
Ask yourself: How am I different after I’ve done something for my neighbor? Has
my life in Christ changed, or not? Mr. Anderson draws on sacred Scripture &
Theology as well as the works of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Particularly
re-read Deus caritas
est.

Carl Anderson’s talk can be read here

CT’s Legislative Bill 1098 attacks Religious Freedom

The editors of Headline Bistro, the headline service of the Knights Columbus, posted an analysis of the current situation regarding legislative bill 1098 introduced by two Connecticut congressmen last week.

 

Keeping up-to-date:

 

Carl Anderson’s Op-Ed piece in the Stamford Advocate “Shredding the First Amendment in the Constitution State“

 

“Religious Freedom Under Attack in Connecticut“

 

The New Haven Register’s March 9th article on the subject

 

The bill’s chief proponent, Tom Gallagher, has an Op-Ed piece in the National Catholic Reporter.