Life

To foster adoption as an option to abortion and to educate and influence others that children are a gift from God that come through families for guidance and support, regardless of whether the parents are biological or not.

The ASAP program (Aid and Support After Pregnancy) is specifically established to change hearts and minds about abortion by showing that the Knights of Columbus loves both mother and child before and after birth. Councils can provide material, financial, labor and other support to pro-life pregnancy centers that help women during pregnancy and following the birth of their newborn children.

Help persecuted and at-risk Christians facing genocide all over the world, even in the US, but particularly in the Middle East, North Korea, and Africa. The Knights of Columbus strives to bring awareness and support to those who have suffered for their faith through various parish-based programs and fundraisers. Over the past several years, protecting our US churches, pregnancy centers and Christian homes and places of work, although improving since the beginning of 2025, have become critical.

The Gospel of Life program encourages Knights to educate themselves and others on the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. The goal of the program is to equip Catholic men and their parish communities with the knowledge they need to defend human life, especially by studying St. John Paul II’s historic encyclical Evangelium Vitae (Latin for “Gospel of Life”). Available here: https://www.catholicsociety.com/documents/john_paul_ii_encyclicals/Evangelium_vitae.pdf

The Holy Hour for Life with Our Lady of Guadalupe program calls upon councils to organize adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and ask for Our Lady of Guadalupe’s intercession for the pro-life cause.

To increase blood donations and organ donors within our councils, their parishes and their local communities. This is the one NC KofC Life Program component where there is no KofC Supreme component. The NC State Council felt it important enough to create our own. Suggestion is to have an Organ Donation signup once per year or two at your parish; suggestion is to have 1-4 Blood Donation Drives per year at your parish. Please consider June 14th, Blood Donation Day to conduct a Blood Drive and February 14th, Organ Donation Day, to hold an organ donation signup after weekend Masses.

This program is intended to help those who are near end-of-life , both by influencing legislative action on euthanasia within North Carolina and the US, and in directly assisting the homebound and institutionalized who are elderly and/or near death. The Chairman has the responsibility to work with the government agencies to ensure protection of life until natural death, hence working to ensure euthanasia, medically assistance in dying (MAID) or physician assisted suicide does not become law. The Chairman also has the responsibility to provide resource options for councils to work with parish elderly or others near death, particularly homebound and institutionalized, to assist with their emotional and spiritual health and education in accepting Catholic principles for end-of-life. The councils have the responsibility to work with the pastor to assist fellow Knights and parishioners who are elderly or others near death to accept life in it's fragile state, understanding the principles their Catholic Faith provides.

Show public support for the right to life. Knights of Columbus councils are encouraged to participate in or sponsor local, state/provincial, regional or national Marches for Life. Councils that coordinate at least 25 participants or who organize a local March for Life will receive featured credit for this program.

It is recommended that Councils sponsor a distinct Mass, conducted annually, for people with special needs . This can include other Christians and be held in conjunction with a Healing Mass with the Sacrament of the Sick administered.

To promote active prayer among Knights across the state to help build a culture of life. Knights and their families will come together in both public and private acts of prayer to promote the protection of life.

Share the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe and promote respect for life by participating in this meaningful pilgrimage. The Silver Rose (SR) program demonstrates the unity between Knights of Columbus in Canada, the United States and Mexico, through a series of prayer services promoting the dignity of all human life and honoring Our Lady. The Silver Rose has historically come to North Carolina during April/May each year, usually from Tennessee or Virginia and passed on to South Carolina, or the reverse. We are targeting the western part of NC in 2026 since the Silver Rose did not pass through there in 2025. The Silver Rose State Chairman will work with the DD’s and RDD’s to assist in deciding timing and councils involved. It is the DD’s responsibility, together with the Councils’ GK’s to accept the handoff, secure the SR, coordinate a Mass with rosary service for respect life with the parish pastor, ensure formal handoffs between councils in the district, and finally to hand off the SR to another DD’s council. Note that the SR, if routed through NC, will not pass through all districts and may not be passed through all councils within a district, based on the timing that the SR would be available. A Mass with rosary and prayers for Respect Life is an important part of the ceremony at each council parish accepting the SR, as well as private veneration. After the Mass, parish congregation refreshments and social time, perhaps with video shown of the KofC SR program, could be added to the experience. The Supreme site for the Silver Rose is: https://www.kofc.org/en/what-we-do/faith-in-action-programs/life/silver-rose.html?1tab=1tab0

Celebrate the worth and dignity of every human being through the Special Olympics. Knights of Columbus NC Councils and Districts work with Special Olympics county representatives to determine how best to fund, sponsor or volunteer for events in the local community. Special Olympics is a national program, significantly supported by our Supreme Council, with three ways to help: 1. Donate; 2. Volunteer to help at Events or in ongoing roles within their structure; and 3. Participate in a Special Olympics fundraising event, such as Rapelling in Raleigh, to raise money. The Special Olympics North Carolina (SONC) local support is typically handled through the County Parks and Recreation Centers as an additional repsonbility.

Save lives by helping women and men choose life by giving them the opportunity to view their unborn children on ultrasound machines at pro-life pregnancy centers. This initiative is funded by Knights of Columbus state and local councils with matching grants from the Supreme Council’s Culture of Life Fund.