The Center for Ethics and Culture was pleased to bestow the 2015 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal on Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and the Knights of Columbus at the fifth annual Evangelium Vitae Medal banquet Sunday evening, April 26.

“The Evangelium Vitae Medal is the most important lifetime achievement award for heroes of the pro-life movement, and is one of the most tangible and most high profile manifestations of Notre Dame’s institutional witness to the inalienable dignity of unborn human life,” Center Director O. Carter Snead said. “This year’s recipients, the Knights of Columbus and Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, perfectly embody the spirit of the award. The Knights and their leader have worked tirelessly on behalf of pregnant women and their unborn babies on a worldwide scale, offering their time, material support, and prayers.”

The evening began with mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, with Bishop Kevin Rhoades (Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend) presiding, and continued with a reception, presentation of the medal, and dinner in South Dining Hall. Rev. William M. Lies, C.S.C., vice president for Mission Engagement and Church Affairs at Notre Dame, offered the closing blessing.

Calling Notre Dame a “national treasure” in his remarks, Supreme Knight Anderson accepted the award on behalf of the Knights of Columbus and donated the $10,000 prize to the Charles E. Rice Fellowship at the Notre Dame Law School, “so that it may continue to serve the university he loved so much.”

Anderson has served as leader of the Knights since 2000. Over the past decade, the Knights of Columbus has donated more than 664 million hours of service and $1.4 billion to charity, including the donation of more than 268 ultrasound machines valued at more than $14 million to pregnancy resource centers in 44 states and Canada.

Past Evangelium Vitae Medal recipients include Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities; Helen M. Alvaré, associate professor of law at George Mason University; Mother Agnes Mary Donovan and the Sisters of Life; and U.S. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey and his wife, Marie Smith.

The Center was honored to welcome hundreds of Knights, leaders of the prolife movement from the U.S. and abroad, elected officials, Bishop Rhoades, and members of the extended Notre Dame family to join us in this joyful celebration.