The Knights of Columbus’s Luzon North Jurisdiction announced that it has expanded the scope of its programs to include persons with intellectual disabilities or PIDs.
“[PIDs] are the symbol of God’s love to mankind,” said Roger Garma, state auditor of the KOC jurisdiction during the “March for Life” event of the organization on March 25.
The “March For Life” aims promote the importance of life from womb to tomb. This year it is dubbed “Walk For God’s Creation,” which Garma described as “an occasion to thank God for His gift of creation and the gift of life.”
“We brought [the PIDs] here with us to join us in our March For Life to prove that they are loved, they are not disregarded in society, that they are our siblings who also have the right to live, to be happy, and to contribute to the development of society,” said Garma.
KOC’s Johnny Flameño said the organization has decided to go beyond its original fight against abortion.
“We expanded the coverage of our advocacy. We are against abortion. We are pro-life,” he said in a message during Mass at the Sto. Nino De Congreso parish in Bagumbong, Caloocan City.
“The Knights of Columbus is a pro-life organization and we expanded that to include [PIDs], with autism, with cerebral palsy, and with Down Syndrome,” said Flameño.
Garma said this year’s celebration underscores the importance of PIDs “as part of God’s creation and as God’s gift of life.”
“They are also God’s creation like us. Through them, God makes us feel the importance of life, the importance of helping one another, of being united, of respecting one another, and, most of all, the importance of love and of the love God gives us,” he said.
He said PIDs are now a part of the priority programs of KOC, especially in Northern Luzon.
Father Job Callarackal, MS, parish priest of Sto. Nino De Congreso, lauded the parents of PIDs for “upholding life because God is the giver of life.”
“The Lord gave His life to save us. So my brothers and sisters, let us continue to uphold life, let us continue respecting life from womb to tomb,” said the priest.
The “March For Life” coincided with the Solemnity of the Annunciation, which is regarded by the Church as the Feast of the Incarnation when the Word of God, Jesus Christ, became man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
