If you have been to a 3rd Degree with our PSD Jim St. John in attendance have heard him discuss the state of attack on our faith.  Well I have one more concrete example of how Catholic charities must ‘run from the faith’ in order to survive or grow.

Catholic Healthcare West, one of the nation’s largest hospital systems, is ending its governing board’s affiliation with the Catholic Church and changing its name, two steps intended to help the system expand throughout the states in which it operates. In the past few years, proposed mergers between Catholic and secular hospitals have collapsed in part because of concerns about the church’s bans on abortions, in-vitro fertilizations and sterilizations. Other mergers have succeeded only where a separately licensed maternity ward free from Catholic doctrine was created on the second floor of a hospital taken over by a Catholic system and where a Planned Parenthood office was opened next door to hospital to quell objections about its planned affiliation with a Catholic system.

Really?

As Knights we cannot allow this to continue.  We must speak out to help those who seek to promote Catholic values and not allow them to be vilified for their beliefs.  We are pro-life but we live in a pro-choice culture.  Therefore it is up to us to encourage others to CHOOSE LIFE when making their choice under the current rule of law.  This is why Operation Ultrasound is so important and was so successful.

This spring we will once again rise to help those who battle daily to protect the life of the unborn.  Please do all you can to aid us in this effort.

Pope Benedict XVI named 22 new cardinals Friday, including two Americans: Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the former archbishop of Baltimore.  For more information read on . . .

As we look toward new opportunities in the 2nd half of our Fraternal Year, it is heartening to know that with our order, volunteering is inherently an optimistic activity.

Archbishop Donoghue passed away on Friday evening. The arrangements for the funeral can be found here.

It should be noted that the Archbishop was a strong supporter of the Knights and we will miss our "Brother" very much. 

You have got to be kidding?  Wish we were.  It seems that NBC cut the part of the Pledge of Allegiance that we worked so long and hard to put into it a number of years ago.

Here's the story and NBC's "apology:"

One in every seven workers can expect to be disabled for five or more years before retirement. If you do not currently own paycheck protection in the form of disability insurance, and you have a job, you need it. And it is not easy to get from outside insurance companies.

Here's something we bet you didn't know . . .

There are 300,000 Catholics serving in our U.S. military and there are only 281 Catholic Chaplains there to serve them. They need our help.