For more than thirty years, the Knights of Columbus in Nebraska has sponsored an annual fundraising project known as One Rose One Life (OROL). Conducted on or around the anniversary of Roe v Wade (Jan. 22), this project takes its name from the paper roses that were handed out by the Knights as part of this project.
Several years ago, the Knights replaced the paper roses with a prayer card. In addition to a pro-life prayer, this prayer card features a winning poster from the Knights-sponsored pro-life art contest for students in kindergarten through the eighth grade.
According to the Knights, an impressive 94 percent of all the funds raised from OROL go to support various pro-life organizations and projects in Nebraska. My office, from its inception 23 years ago, is a major beneficiary of these funds. And, in the last six years, more than 50 other pro-life organizations, events and initiatives throughout Nebraska have received funding from OROL.
These recipients include numerous pregnancy-help centers, Lincoln Right to Life, MavCatholics Students for Life (Univ. of Nebr. at Omaha), Pope Paul VI Institute, McCook Right to Life, Thomas More Society, Pro Life Billboards throughout Nebraska and the Virtue Media pro-life television ad campaign.
In addition, the Knights provide significant funding each year to help underwrite the cost for students going to the March for Life in Washington, D.C. And the Knights have recently funded the purchase of 4-D ultrasound machines for pregnancy-help centers in North Platte, Kearney, Grand Island and Omaha. The positive results of these new machines are extraordinary.
According to the Collage Center (Kearney and Grand Island), many lives have been saved because of the ultrasound machine. In fact, the Center has found that 90 percent of abortion-prone women who have an ultrasound decide against abortion.
There are no formal pro-life collections conducted by the Church. Consequently, the Knights’ OROL project provides an excellent opportunity to donate to not only the Church’s pro-life efforts, but many pro-life efforts outside the Church as well.
There are two ways that Catholics can give. First and foremost, those who attend Mass at a parish where a Knights of Columbus council is present should have an opportunity to donate at Masses on or around the 18th and 19th of January. Check with your parish KC Council for the exact dates when they will be conducting One Rose One Life.
If your parish does not have a Knights Council, it can still participate by requesting and distributing donation envelopes and prayer cards in the parish. Envelopes and prayer cards can be obtained from Bob and Anita Finger, the state Culture of Life Chaircouple for the Knights, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 402-953-7181.
A second way to donate to One Rose One Life is to simply write a check payable to: Knights of Columbus Culture of Life Foundation of Nebraska and send it to: Knights of Columbus, One Rose One Life Campaign, PO Box 451157, Omaha, NE 68145. Please put One Rose, One Life on the memo line. The Knights of Columbus Culture of Life Foundation of Nebraska is a 501(c)3 charitable organization.
On behalf of the many pro-life organizations and projects that have and will receive funding from the Knights of Columbus, I extend our profound gratitude to the Knights for their extraordinary generosity and commitment to the pro-life cause. And I encourage everyone to be as generous as possible toward One Rose One Life.
