PHILADELPHIA — The Knights of Columbus unveiled a major expansion of their campaign to aid the Middle East’s embattled Christians, calling on members to recall the same spirit that inspired them to assist Mexico’s persecuted Catholics and refugees during the Cristero War in the 1920s.

Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Catholic fraternal organization, announced the Knights’ new, massive push to raise money for the Christian Refugee Relief Fund at a news conference during the 2015 Supreme Convention in Philadelphia in early August.

The campaign will raise as much funds as possible to support Christians weathering the persecution and unrest that has gripped much of the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria, following the takeover of much of those countries’ territory by Islamic State militants.

Anderson made clear to reporters that he wanted Knights to respond with the same heroic sacrifice that their members and councils made when the 1926 Supreme Convention, also held that year in Philadelphia, asked them to come to the aid of Mexico’s Catholics, “who were being persecuted and killed there by their government.”

At the time, the Mexican government was engaged in a vicious persecution of Mexico’s Catholics. A revolution broke out against the government, from 1926 to 1929, called the Cristero War, or La Cristida, which at one time had 50,000 Catholics mobilized in armed rebellion.

“We raised awareness about the issue and financially helped many refugees who fled north. We were able to do much good for many people,” Anderson said. “Today, we are compelled as an organization to speak up for our brothers and sisters in the Middle East.”

Anderson mentioned that Pope Francis has called for “concrete action” to stop the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and added that Francis communicated his personal thanks to the Knights for the $3 million they have raised already (see related story on Vatican page).

“More of everything is needed by those who have, literally, nothing,” Anderson said.

The plan for the Knights consists of two parts: action at the national level, partnered with action at the local level.

Overall, 15,000 local Knights councils are raising awareness, educating people and fundraising at the local level. The national organization will provide olive-wood crosses crafted in Bethlehem, Palestine, which councils may sell at parish fundraisers, in addition to their other efforts.

A national television ad campaign will be ongoing. The Knights have also produced a new website called ChristiansatRisk.org, which provides current information on the crisis and how to donate. They are also promoting social-media activism using the hashtag #ChristiansatRisk to generate awareness about the threats to the Middle East’s Christians.

Anderson explained that the Knights will continue to identify key regional partners and assist them in providing general needs, housing, health care, food and education. The national organization will cover all of the administrative costs involved in the program.

“One hundred percent of the money raised will go directly to aiding those in need and to raising awareness on their behalf, so that even more people can assist them,” he added.

This aid is increasingly necessary, as Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of Erbil, Iraq, pointed out in testimony to Fides earlier in August: “We are hated because we persist in wanting to exist as Christians. In other words, we are hated because we persist in demanding a basic human right.”

 

Knights’ Mexican Legacy

The money raised from the 1926 convention’s appeal to support the Church in Mexico and Catholic refugees fleeing the persecution and violence exceeded more than $1 million. Adjusted for inflation in today’s currency, it would be approximately $13.5 million.

According to Matthew Redinger, author of American Catholics and the Mexican Revolution, 1924-1936 and a vice provost at Montana State University-Billings, the Knights’ 1926 national convention and the response to the call for the Mexican fund demonstrated how the annual convention could be a powerful vehicle for mobilizing the entire organization. 

“It was a tremendously significant amount at the time, and the initiative drew significant attention and donations from councils all over the country,” Redinger said.

At the time, the Knights faced a frustrating situation, as Catholics saw both an ongoing persecution of the Church in Mexico and a U.S. government that seemed to do little to intervene and end the conflict.

Redinger said the Knights’ leadership had to navigate difficult waters in responding to the crisis in Mexico. Some of the membership were calling for the supreme council to pass a resolution calling for a U.S. declaration of war on Mexico or direct military aid to the Cristeros. Others wanted the Knights to fund the Cristeros directly and were deeply critical of the supreme council for backing “the majority that advocated care for the refugees and doing everything possible politically, short of war.”

Redinger said that the Knights’ most effective response during this period was the Mexican fund, which helped construct a seminary in New Mexico that trained new priests for Mexico and supported U.S. Catholic dioceses at the Mexican border that were bearing the brunt of the refugee crisis.

Still, the Knights’ humanitarian response was nevertheless greeted with anti-Catholic uproar, Redinger said, “particularly with congressmen from the South,” who accused the Knights of Columbus of financially backing the rebellion.

However, Redinger said the U.S. Catholic hierarchy wrote a pastoral letter on the crisis in Mexico, in which they were “crystal clear that the money [sent by U.S. Catholics] could not be used to support the Cristeros.” The Knights abided by this directive, although some members privately dissented.

At the same time, the Knights also faced a deeply hostile anti-Catholic environment and had to “walk a very difficult diplomatic tightrope” with the Calvin Coolidge administration.

“The supreme council was caught between a rock and a hard place,” he said, adding, “Their most effective response was financial.”

 

A Great Need Today

Christians in the Middle East region who have suffered violence or persecution are facing both short-term and long-term needs. Michael La Civita, communications director for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), told the Register that besides food, water and clothing needs, many Christian refugees suffer from untreated post-traumatic stress disorder and need emotional and spiritual care.

La Civita said they also need economic support, as utter desperation puts many of them in danger of human traffickers.

“We know religious women are working with Catholic women who have been forced into prostitution,” he said.  

“The crisis is not over, and the long-term needs have not been addressed yet,” he said. “But Americans are very generous, and we’ve all seen an increase in the interest, care and solicitation for their Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East.”