One of the obligations of the Pro-Life chairman or couple is to keep the council informed about matters that pertain to the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person. Ready news is made available from the Maryland Catholic Conference:
http://www.mdcathcon.org/main.asp
There is also a Knights of Columbus pro-life clearinghouse site:
http://www.knightlife.org/
The Knights of Columbus are politically active as Catholics but we do not bring partisan politics into the council chambers or into the innerworkings of the order. We deal with issues not individuals.
We already have a wonderful Memoral to the Unborn that was put up a number of years ago by our brother Knights from Mother Seton Council. We are entrusted now with the maintenance and upkeep of that sacred ground.
The director and volunteers (along with parishioners) should always encourage and make possible participation in the annual March for Life in Washington, DC as well as the Lobby Night in Annapolis. Councils and their Auxiliaries also support the local crisis pregnancy centers with donations and volunteers. We can work in union with the parish and the annual baby-bottle campaign. Many Auxiliaries offer baby showers to raise donations for the centers.
Father Jenkins told us that given the advanced age of men from his last council, the guys offered their hall for out-of-town marchers to spend the night. Before the march, the Knights served the kids and adults breakfast and prayed with them for a successful day.
Father Jenkins noted that his previous council was a participant in the Gabriel Project: a support network that provides practical, emotional and spiritual assistance to women and families facing crisis pregnancies, in a spirit of Christian solidarity. Members can also participate in prayer vigils outside of abortion clinics. He recommends working with the pro-life people in Upper Marlboro and SPX in Forestville who regularly practice such protest on Saturday mornings. We believe in an active but non-violent witness to the value of unborn human life.
We can also exhibit pro-life license frames and bumper-stickers. Knights can also wear the tiny feet pin or the rose pin as a sign to others of our solidarity with the Church and the most vulnerable among us.
Father Jenkins noted that he has been involved with councils which hosted “swim laps” and “walks” for life. There are many projects we can pursue, including participation with other councils and parishes with pro-life talks and rallies.
The Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family is here in Washington, DC. We might attend an open lecture and make a donation to the institute or to a student. Even our DRE Fran Scemenauer’s husband Kevin is working toward a doctorate in Catholic Moral Theology in Washington. His focus is upon the personhood and incommensurate value of the embryo.
October is Pro-Life month and a Respect Life Folder is passed out to thousands pro-life leaders in the Knights. March 25 each year is the Day of the Unborn Child. We could conduct a rosary for life next to the outdoor memorial and Mary’s statue. One of the things that Father Jenkins has recommended is that we make an individual commitment to say the Novena for the Protection of the Unborn that is listed on the Maryland State K of C homepage. We can also offer the prayer composed by the late Archbishop Sheen to spiritually adopt a child in danger of abortion. These prayers will be made available to us.
O great and glorious God, You imbued Your holy priest. Father Michael J. McGivney, with deep priestly virtue and especially with pastoral concern for the poor, the orphan, the widow, for the Christian education of youth, for the protection of the faith of the working man of his day.
Now that his priestly ministry continues to spread to countless millions throughout the world, through the efforts and influence of the Order of the Knights of Columbus, which Father McGivney founded, we beseech Your, Heavenly Father, to raise Your faithful servant, Michael, to the honors of the altar. We ask this favor through our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother, Mary and our Mother, Amen. 
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