Knights of Columbus

The sun was just about to rise over the horizon in Downtown St. Louis as more than 15,000 runners poised themselves to start the second annual TASK Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Oct 21.

Scattered throughout the masses were more than 250 members of LIFE (Living in Faith Exchange) Runners, a national organization dedicated to raising funding and increasing prayer and awareness for pro-life issues. They participated in the half and full marathons and a 5K run/1-mile walk in Forest Park later in the day. The group was the largest team participating in the half and full marathons.

The Knights of Columbus Developmental Center at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center is enrolling children between the ages of 6-12 months who have biological siblings diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for a study to learn more about the early signs of autism in siblings of children with the disorder.

It's almost time for the Knights of Columbus to man the streets and sidewalks around the St. Louis Archdiocese and the rest of Missouri, offering supporters a Tootsie Roll and asking for donations to help children.

The Meet Life campaign has kicked off in St. Louis. The goal of the campaign is reducing abortions in Missouri by 50 percent by the end of 2016.

It is a goal that Missouri's Knights of Columbus embraced by establishing the Meet Life campaign and has become a coordinated effort between the Knights, Vitae Foundation and In His Image Ultrasound. The first phase of ads appeared in mid-September.

 The start of the Year of Faith and our country's elections will take place less than a month apart. And we have an excellent opportunity as Catholics to apply the principles of our faith to our political system -- not only in how we vote, but in how we choose to influence our country's political discourse, too often marred by angry and hateful rhetoric.

In this effort, two themes from Pope Benedict's message announcing the Year of Faith are of great importance to Catholic Americans.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson called the number of attendees at the Knights of Columbus 130th supreme convention in Anaheim "a testament to the growth and development" of the international fraternal organization.

More than 2,000 Knights from around the world -- many of them with their wives and children -- along with 12 cardinals and more than 70 bishops attended the Aug. 6-8 convention.

Anderson made the comments at the States Dinner, a high point of the convention that brings Knights together in a celebration of patriotism.