Contact: Kenneth M. Fisher, Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc. (CRCOA), 714-491-2284

MEDIA ADVISORY, April 18 /Christian Newswire/ -- As the American people welcome Pope Benedict XVI to the United States on his visit from April 15 to April 20, 2008, we view the enormous task ahead of him.

Ken Fisher, President of Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc. (CRCOA), said: "With nearly 50 million abortions since Roe V. Wade in 1973, it is clear that the Catholic Church, with 65 million members out of a population of 300 million, has failed miserably in its God given duty to inspire its faithful to fight for  the unborn children. It ought to be the powerhouse of the pro-life, pro-family movement. Instead, too many in the Catholic Church leadership  have joined the lowest common denominator in American society."

The CRCOA has observed the enormous erosion of Catholic values over decades, not only among the bishops, but also among the laity and church-based organizations, in particular the Knights of Columbus. The K of C, with 1.7 million members, is the biggest Catholic family fraternal organization in the world. It has long claimed to be "the strong right arm of the Catholic church". Perversely, the K of C has welcomed to its ranks a great number of pro-abortion and pro-homosexual politicians and members.

Fisher added: "Supreme Knight Carl Anderson ignored the situation of 14/June/2007, when 25 members of the Knights of Columbus in the Massachusetts legislature defeated the efforts of 170,000 signatories to put traditional marriage on the ballot in 2008. At least 7 of these have the highest ratings from the USA's biggest abortionists, Planned Parenthood, who performed 289,000 abortions in 2006. The Knights of Columbus V.P. for Communications, Pat Korten, said that pro-abortion politicians are 'irrelevant' (Boston Herald, 11/August/2007). In August 2005, Past Supreme Knight Virgil Dechant told me that pro-abortion politicians will 'never' be expelled."

"The K of C, founded by Venerable Fr. Michael McGivney as a Catholic order, is in grave moral decay. Supreme Chaplain Bishop William Lori and the other bishops must excommunicate the pro-abortion and pro-homosexual members, and Supreme Knight Carl Anderson must expel them immediately - or resign in disgrace", concluded Fisher.