CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore argued that it is an \u201cinjustice\u201d to imply that the Knights of Columbus\u2019 support for defending religious freedom creates a sense of partisanship.<\/p>\n\tAt a June 13 press conference at the U.S. bishops\u2019 spring general meeting in Atlanta, the archbishop was questioned by Jerry Filteau of the National Catholic Reporter about funding for the bishops\u2019 campaign to defend religious liberty.<\/p>\n
\tFilteau said that he had heard \u201crumors\u201d that much of the funding for the bishops\u2019 effort is coming from the Knights of Columbus, whose head, Carl Anderson, is a former Reagan administration official.<\/p>\n
\tHe suggested that there may be \u201ca partisanship aspect to the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cOh my goodness, Jerry,\u201d Archbishop Lori responded.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThink of what the Knights of Columbus does for the Catholic Church and for many other humanitarian causes,\u201d he said. \u201cTo try to say that is in some way partisan is, in my opinion, sort of an injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt seems to me the Knights have been very generous to a whole variety of causes,\u201d the archbishop observed.<\/p>\n
\tHe acknowledged that the organization has contributed to the bishops\u2019 religious freedom efforts but added that \u201cother groups have as well,\u201d including Our Sunday Visitor, the Order of Malta and many others.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSo it is not just one group,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not in any way partisan, either in its spirit or in its funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tArchbishop Lori added that \u201cthe generosity that we\u2019ve experienced has been heartening.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tRecent months have united Catholics from across the country in efforts to defend religious liberty from numerous threats, including a federal mandate that will require employers to offer health insurance that covers contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs.<\/p>\n
\tThe mandate has drawn widespread criticism for violating religious liberty. The bishops have worked with individuals and groups of various faiths to speak out against the regulation and ask the Obama administration to respect the rights of those with religious objections.<\/p>\n
\tAmong the bishops\u2019 efforts to protect religious liberty is the upcoming \u201cFortnight for Freedom\u201d event in which Catholics and other believers are invited to engage in prayer, education and advocacy for a restoration of respect for fundamental religious rights.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe question that we\u2019re addressing is a question of religious liberty,\u201d said Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City. \u201cIt\u2019s not a question of birth control.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cAnd the only reason we\u2019re addressing it now is because it came up now,\u201d he added in response to questions about it being an election year.<\/p>\n
\tHe explained to the media that the bishops did not choose to raise the subject now, but rather, the Obama administration did by issuing the mandate.<\/p>\n
\tThe bishops are \u201csimply responding\u201d to a single, \u201cvery focused point, and that is that the government cannot define religion for us,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about us mandating birth control or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBishop Wester acknowledged that the topic \u201cis certainly political,\u201d but added that \u201cthat\u2019s not something that we intend it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tInstead, he said, the bishops and other Catholics are \u201cvery grateful\u201d for the religious liberty they enjoy in America, and they realize the \u201cneed to be vigilant\u201d and to \u201caddress these issues as they come up\u201d in order to prevent \u201ca slippery slope.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman of the bishops\u2019 Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, also commented on the question of partisan intent.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe are trying to speak about principles, but principles do have traction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tWhether the topic is religious freedom or the economy, the bishops must address issues as they arise and cannot wait for \u201ca perfect, non-political time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tBishop Blaire observed that \u201cit is always a challenge to bring the Gospel into the real world\u201d so that it connects with people\u2019s \u201ceveryday experiences as individuals, as a society, as a government.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHowever, it is the job of the bishops to \u201ctry to bring Catholic social teaching to bear on the real world,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
\tUnfortunately, when the bishops do this, Bishop Blaire said it often happens that some people\u00a0 create \u201can interpretation that maybe is not intended.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\")
<\/a>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/uiUjnwLJDSE\")
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Atlanta, Ga., Jun 14, 2012 \/ 01:20 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore argued that it is an “injustice” to imply that the Knights of Columbus’ support for defending religious freedom creates a sense of partisa…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
Archbishop Lori: labeling Knights of Columbus partisan is an 'injustice'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Atlanta, Ga., Jun 14, 2012 \/ 01:20 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore argued that it is an “injustice” to imply that the Knights of Columbus’ support for defending religious freedom creates a sense of partisa...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Archbishop Lori: labeling Knights of Columbus partisan is an 'injustice'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Atlanta, Ga., Jun 14, 2012 \/ 01:20 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore argued that it is an “injustice” to imply that the Knights of Columbus’ support for defending religious freedom creates a sense of partisa...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-14T19:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/\",\"name\":\"Archbishop Lori: labeling Knights of Columbus partisan is an 'injustice'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-14T19:20:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-14T19:20:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Atlanta, Ga., Jun 14, 2012 \/ 01:20 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore argued that it is an “injustice” to imply that the Knights of Columbus’ support for defending religious freedom creates a sense of partisa...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Archbishop Lori: labeling Knights of Columbus partisan is an ‘injustice’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Archbishop Lori: labeling Knights of Columbus partisan is an 'injustice'","description":"Atlanta, Ga., Jun 14, 2012 \/ 01:20 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore argued that it is an “injustice” to imply that the Knights of Columbus’ support for defending religious freedom creates a sense of partisa...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Archbishop Lori: labeling Knights of Columbus partisan is an 'injustice'","og_description":"Atlanta, Ga., Jun 14, 2012 \/ 01:20 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore argued that it is an “injustice” to imply that the Knights of Columbus’ support for defending religious freedom creates a sense of partisa...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2012-06-14T19:20:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/","name":"Archbishop Lori: labeling Knights of Columbus partisan is an 'injustice'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-06-14T19:20:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-14T19:20:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Atlanta, Ga., Jun 14, 2012 \/ 01:20 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore argued that it is an “injustice” to imply that the Knights of Columbus’ support for defending religious freedom creates a sense of partisa...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/archbishop-lori-labeling-knights-of-columbus-partisan-is-an-injustice\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Archbishop Lori: labeling Knights of Columbus partisan is an ‘injustice’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}