Social Crisis

During the 1960s and 1970s, decades of degeneration and social chaos, the Knights of Columbus, behind Supreme Knight John McDevitt and Supreme Knight Virgil C. Dechant, stood as a tower amidst societal crisis to promote racial equality and love of country. Against a tide of dissension, the Order championed Church teaching on divorce, birth control, abortion and pornography.

Since the late 1970s, the Supreme Council has fostered devotion to the Church and the Blessed Mother, and pledged the Knights' support for the Holy Father, the cardinals, bishops and all the clergy and religious. Deep loyalty to the Vatican is represented by the Order's contributions to the pope's charities and the Vatican's needs for architectural restoration and artistic beautification.

In 2000, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson was elected to office. Continuing the tradition of devotion to the Church and the Blessed Mother, he rededicated the Order to its role as "strong right arm of the Church" in the renewal of society. He especially promised new vigor in the fight for the culture of life over the culture of death as the Order moves into the 21st century.