    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II)]
    [August 3, 2004]
    [Pages 1469-1474]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Knights of Columbus Convention in Dallas, Texas
    August 3, 2004

        Thanks for the warm welcome. Welcome to Texas. And thanks for
    inviting me so I can come home. [Laughter] I really appreciate the
    Knights of Columbus. This strong organization believes in families and
    faith and compassion for those in need. And I'm honored you'd invite me
    to the 122d Convocation of this great organization.
        I appreciate Carl Anderson and his
    leadership. I've gotten to know Carl because, you see, he's more than
    just an introducer of Presidents. [Laughter] He's a person who works
    with Presidents--at least this President. And I'm proud to have his
    help. It's good to see my family friend Virgil Dechant. Virgil, it's good to see you, sir. Thank you for such
    a warm greeting in the photo op line and reminding me of some great days
    gone past.
        I'm proud to be here with Cardinal McCarrick. It's good to see you, sir. He's a neighbor in my
    temporary residence. [Laughter] I appreciate Cardinal Egan. I appreciate Cardinal Rigali of the great city of Philadelphia, Cardinal Francis
    George of Chicago, Cardinal
    Keeler of Baltimore, Maryland. I'm
    honored you all are here. I thank you for your presence. I'm honored to
    be in the presence of Cardinal Macharski, the Archbishop of Krakow, who
    succeeded the Holy Father in that role. Welcome to the United States.
    Appreciate you coming, sir. I appreciate Bishop Wilton Gregory's
    leadership of the Conference of Catholic Bishops.
        I appreciate Your Eminences and Your Excellencies, reverends,
    monsignors, fathers, and deacons. Nuestros amigos de Mexico. I
    appreciate the officers and directors, State deputies, board of
    directors, delegates, ladies and gentlemen, Knights, and my fellow
    Americans. Thanks for having me.
        Two months ago, I had the privilege of visiting His Holy Father Pope
    John Paul II at the Vatican. It was my
    third meeting with His Holy Father since I took office, and for those of
    you who have ever met him, you know I'm telling you the truth when I
    tell you being in his presence is an awesome experience. He is a true
    presence. On the occasion, I had the special honor of presenting him
    with America's highest civil award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
    It was my chance to express our Nation's respect for a devoted servant
    of God and a true hero of our time.
        Pope John Paul II has been a unique and
    commanding voice for the cause of the poor, the weak, the hungry, and
    the outcast. He has challenged our Nation and the entire world to
    embrace the culture of life. He's called upon us to uphold and affirm
    the dignity of every person, rich and poor, able and disabled, born and
    unborn. He's called us to love and serve our neighbors in need. Few
    organizations have worked harder and done more and met this challenge
    than the Knights of Columbus. I know you're proud of your organization,
    and you should be.
        The Knights were born in New Haven, Connecticut. Come to think of
    it, so was I. [Laughter] From your foundations in a small church
    basement, you have raised up one of the great America organizations
    dedicated to charity and mutual assistance and the fight for civil
    liberties.
        I'm proud to say that my family has contributed to your ranks. A few
    years ago, Governor Jeb became a Knight. [Applause]
    And he--yes--and he recently took his Third Degree. I'll see him this
    weekend. His son is getting married. I'll
    pass on the word, aim for the Fourth. [Laughter] Jeb knows, as I do,
    that your works of mercy are making our society more compassionate,
    changing the lives of millions of citizens. Compassionate work changes
    our society one heart and one soul at a time.

    [[Page 1470]]

        Last year, the Knights raised and donated a record $130 million to
    charity. That's a phenomenal record. You also volunteered for an
    unprecedented 61 million hours of community service. You obviously have
    heard the call.
        I was pleased to hear this story about the Knights in Corpus
    Christi, Texas, at the Mother Teresa Day Shelter. They're a daily
    presence there. They're mopping the floors, collecting laundry soap,
    blankets, and food for 130 homeless men and women. They're not giving
    the orders; they're serving the people. Patricia Henry, the shelter director, put it this way: ``If I need
    help, I just give the Knights a call''--such a powerful example.
    Americans across this great land know that they can do the same, that
    they can serve our country by helping someone in need.
        We're grateful for your service to the men and women in uniform and
    to our Nation's veterans. You've sent hundreds of thousands of prayer
    books to those working to make our country more secure and to bring
    freedom in parts of the world that are desperate for freedom. You bring
    comfort and strength to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. I
    want to thank you for taking time to visit our wounded and disabled
    veterans, for providing comfort to their families, to give them a word
    of thanks.
        See, you're--the Knights are soldiers in the armies of compassion.
    You're foot soldiers. You've heard the call. You're helping this Nation
    build a culture of life in which the sick are comforted, the aged are
    honored, the immigrant is welcomed, and the weak and vulnerable are
    never overlooked. You have a friend in this administration. You have
    somebody who wants to work with you to change America for the better.
        We have a responsibility in Government to do things to help overcome
    recession and corporate scandal. It's easier to be a hopeful society
    when people are working. That's why I put forth an economic stimulus
    plan to encourage small-business growth, a plan that will help get jobs
    moving so people can work and do their duty as a mom or a dad and put
    food on the table. And we're making progress.
        When I came to Washington, I was concerned about a school system
    that simply shuffled children through grade after grade, year after
    year, and hoped for the best. Oftentimes, what we found out was kids
    with great hearts were graduating from schools but couldn't read. I
    challenged the soft bigotry of low expectations by raising the bar,
    insisting on high standards, by making sure the money we spent--and we
    did spend more money--went to help those who needed extra help early,
    before it was too late. I believe you've got to measure in order to
    know. If you believe a child can read, you've got to measure to
    determine whether or not that child is reading, and if not, get them
    help early, before it's too late.
        Because we measure, we know that now more minority children are
    learning to read at grade level, and that's good for America. I want to
    thank the Knights for their help in--helping low-income parents in
    Washington, DC, escape from schools--have their children escape from
    schools that will not teach and will not change. Because of the work of
    the Knights of Columbus and other concerned citizens in our Nation's
    Capital, poor parents now have a choice. They will have a $7,500
    scholarship so they can afford to send their school--their child to a
    private school or parochial school--their choice to make.
        You know, one of the great statistics of this modern era is the fact
    that more people are owning their own home. It seems like to me an
    optimistic society is one that encourages ownership, more people owning
    their own business, people being able to own and manage their own health
    care account, people being--own a piece of their retirement policy that
    they can pass on from one generation to the next, and people owning
    their own home. I love a society in which more and more people are able

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    to say, ``Welcome to my home; come to my home.'' This country has added
    more than 1.6 million minority homeowners in the past 2 years. Today,
    the American homeownership rate is the highest ever--and the highest
    ever for minorities. When you own something, you have a vital stake in
    the future of your country.
        I want to work with the Knights for reasonable and compassionate
    immigration reform, to bring good, hard-working people out of the
    shadows of American life and to ensure that America is always a
    welcoming nation. I recognize, like you recognize, that amidst the great
    prosperity of America, amongst our great wealth, there are pockets of
    despair in this country, and we've got to do something about it. We must
    address despair so America is hopeful for every single person. See, we
    got fellow citizens who are trapped in the misery of drugs and gang
    violence, collapse of the family.
        Our society and our Government have a responsibility. You have a
    responsibility. Those of us honored to hold high office have a
    responsibility. We're doing some practical things. We've got a
    community-wide effort to help educate kids to the dangers of using
    drugs. We believe in collaborative efforts; people all throughout
    society must work to reduce the demand for drugs. Listen, we'll do all
    we can to bust the thugs, interdict the drugs coming in from foreign--
    overseas. But we've got to work on demand. And teen use of drugs is down
    by 11 percent from 2001 to 2003. That's a hopeful sign. A hopeful
    America is where our children are learning--[applause].
        There's a lot of work to be done on health care, but one place I
    know we can continue to work together on is health care for the poorest
    of the poor. We've expanded and built over 600 community health centers
    in America. I want to double the number so the 16 million poor Americans
    can get primary health care without putting a strain on the emergency
    rooms of our hospitals, whether they be public or private.
        We've got to pay for--we've got to work on additional welfare
    reforms to help people find a job, help them have the skills necessary
    to work so they realize the dignity that comes from being independent
    from Government and, at the same time, strengthen marriage and the
    family as part of welfare reforms.
        But I believe one of the most effective ways our Government can help
    those in need is to help the charities and community groups that are
    doing God's work every day. That's what I believe Government ought to
    do. I believe Government needs to stand on the side of faith-based
    groups, not against faith-based groups, when they come to saving lives.
        Government can hand out money, and of course there will be arguments
    whether we're handing out enough or not. But what Government can never
    do is put love in a person's heart or a sense of purpose in a person's
    life. You see, in order to heal--help the lonely, it works every time
    when a loving soul puts their arm around and says, ``What can I do to
    help you? How can I help you in your life? What can I do to make your
    life better?'' Many are called by God to do so, and Government must
    stand on the side of those millions of acts of mercy and kindness that
    take place on a daily basis.
        And so the Faith-Based Initiative that I've launched recognizes the
    need there be separation of church and state. The state should never be
    the church, and the church certainly should never be the state. But the
    state should never fear the good works of the church. And the truth of
    the matter is, there's a culture inside Government which resents and
    fears religious charities and has discriminated against them. We're
    changing that. I want to thank the Knights for their help in changing
    that attitude in Washington, DC.
        Our goal is to end the unfair discrimination against faith-based
    charities by the

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    Federal Government. And we're making substantial progress. In December
    2002, I issued an Executive order--I was hoping, frankly, that Congress
    would pass a law. I got tired of waiting. [Laughter] I got tired of the
    process debate. See, I'm focused on results. I want there to be positive
    results. I want lives to be saved as best as possible. The process
    bogged down. For those of you who pay attention to Washington, you know
    what I'm talking about when I say the process bogs down.
        So I signed an Executive order mandating equal treatment for faith-
    based charities in the Federal grantmaking process. What that means is,
    is that faith-based groups ought to be allowed to apply for Federal
    grants just like everybody else should be allowed to apply. Faith-based
    groups will not be allowed to discriminate against who they serve, and
    they won't use the Federal money to proselytize. But they're allowed to
    use the money to change hearts and souls, to help save lives, to
    embetter the world we live in.
        And so here's the principle we've established: Religious charities
    that are effectively helping the poor should have a fair and equal
    chance to compete for Federal money. That's the new--those are the new
    rules. And this--in 2003, discretionary grants to faith-based programs
    was over a billion dollars. We're making progress. We're using Federal
    taxpayers' money for effective use in helping to save lives. We're
    providing a social network of loving--helping loving souls interface
    with people so they can realize a better tomorrow.
        Three years ago, I established the Compassion Capital Fund. It's an
    innovative idea. It was a--the fund gives money to intermediary
    organizations that provide faith-based and community organizations with
    training, technical assistance--what it is, is like a little incubator:
    ``If you want to access Federal money, here's how you do it. If you want
    to start up a faith-based program, here's some of the lessons learned.''
    In other words, what we're trying to say is not only are we going to
    allow those faith-based programs that already exist to access Federal
    money, we want to help others spring up and understand the pitfalls to
    succeed. The fund provides grants to faith-based and community
    organizations as well to help them fund their programs for the poor and
    the hungry and the homeless. We've awarded $56 million under this
    program. Today I release another $43 million to the compassionate
    Federal grant program.
        We're moving forward on another initiative, which is mentoring for
    the children of prisoners. I mean, if the job of Government is to try to
    set priorities, a priority is to help children of prisoners find love.
    Imagine what a tough life it is for a young boy or girl to go see his or
    her mom or dad behind prison bars. These are children who need help.
    They're vulnerable to gangs and crime and despair. They're desperate for
    responsible adults in their life who can give them what many of them
    long for, which is love and tenderness.
        The best way to do that is to encourage all groups, including faith-
    based groups, to provide mentors. And it's happening in America. For
    those of you who are mentoring the children of prisoners, thank you for
    what you're doing to make America a more welcoming place. We've awarded
    grants--today we've unleashed another $45.5 million of grants to
    programs, all aimed at doing this.
        I'll tell you another program that's important is to help the
    addict, is to help the person so stuck on drugs that they can't realize
    the great human potential that God has given them, and they need
    desperate help. I believe that some counseling programs work, no
    question about it. But I also know programs that change the heart works.
    When a person changes their heart, they change their habits. Government
    is not good at changing hearts. The Almighty God is good at changing
    hearts, which happens to be the cornerstone of effective faith-based
    programs. And therefore, when it

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    comes to spending Federal money to help addicts, I've asked the
    Congress, and the Congress has agreed to allow us to use vouchers to go
    to the person who is seeking help. That person can use that voucher at
    any kind of program he or she chooses, including faith-based programs,
    to help heal hearts and save lives.
        In other words, some of these are the ways that--what I'm telling
    you is, things are changing in the Nation's Capital when it comes to
    invigorating the Faith-Based Initiative, and the Knights have helped a
    lot. I appreciate your efforts to level the playing field when it comes
    to grantmaking. And because of your efforts, America is changing for the
    better.
        I needed someone to lead this program, so guess who I turned to? The
    Knights. I found Towey. Jim Towey
    is the Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community
    Initiatives. He's with me. You know what his job is? His job is to help
    the faith community--by the way, all faiths--all faiths, Christian, Jew,
    or Muslim--all faiths understand what is possible now. His job is also
    to make sure the Federal Government is a hospitable place for faith
    programs to work with. Let's be frank about it. Many faith-based
    programs don't want to interface with Government. You know why? They're
    afraid of losing the ability to practice their faith. How can you be a
    faith-based program if you're not allowed to practice your faith?
    Towey's job--so Towey has got a big job. It's to change a culture, a
    suspicious culture, and we're making progress--a suspicious culture in
    Washington, a suspicious culture in the grassroots.
        Here's Towey's story. He goes
    to meet Mother Teresa for the first time. He shows up at one of her
    homes for the dying in India, and the sister who greeted him assumed he
    was there to work. [Laughter] That's what I assume every day that Towey
    shows up. [Laughter] So she gave Jim some cloth and said, ``Go clean the
    sores of a dying man.'' He says it changed his life, that experience. He
    went on to work full-time for the Missionaries of Charity. Incredibly
    enough, Jim Towey, Director of the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives in
    the White House, was Mother Teresa's lawyer. I ask you, what kind of
    society is it where Mother Teresa needs a lawyer? [Laughter] It's a
    society that needs tort reform. [Laughter] I appreciate your good work,
    friend. Thanks for coming today.
        The Knights of Columbus are transferring lives with works of
    compassion, and, just as importantly, you're defending the values of
    faith and family that bind us as a nation. I appreciate your fight to
    protect children from obscenity. I appreciate your working to protect
    the Pledge of Allegiance, to keep us ``one Nation under God.'' I want to
    thank you--I want to thank you for the defense of the traditional
    family. That is a most fundamental institution for our society. I
    appreciate the fact you're promoting the culture of life.
        We're making progress here in America. Last November, I signed a law
    to end the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion. This law is
    constitutional. This law is compassionate. This law is urgently needed,
    and my administration will vigorously defend it in the courts. I was
    pleased to sign the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. I want to thank
    the Knights on that piece of legislation. I signed the Unborn Victims of
    Violence Act. Common sense and conscience tells us that when an
    expectant mother is killed, two lives are ended, and the criminal should
    answer for both crimes.
        I was pleased to sign legislation supporting maternity group homes.
    We'll continue to work to help crisis pregnancy centers. We'll work
    together to strengthen incentives for adoption and parental notification
    laws. The Knights have been helpful, and I appreciate your help. My 2005
    budget, I proposed to more than triple Federal funds for abstinence
    programs in schools and community-based programs above 2001 levels.

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        I'll continue to work with Congress to pass a comprehensive and
    effective ban on human cloning. Human life is a creation of God, not a
    commodity to be exploited by man.
        I look forward to working with the Knights to defend the sacred bond
    of marriage. A few activist judges have taken it upon themselves to
    redefine the institution of marriage by court order. I support a
    constitutional amendment to protect the sanctity of marriage by ensuring
    it is always recognized as the union of a man and woman as husband and
    wife. I appreciate the Knights' stand on this issue.
        I also appreciate the Knights of Columbus' stand on the Federal
    judiciary. I have a responsibility as President to make sure the Federal
    judicial system runs well. I have nominated superb men and women for the
    Federal benches who will strictly and fully interpret the law, not
    legislate from the bench.
        In all these areas, caring for the poor and protecting the
    vulnerable, affirming life, and defending the family, we're depending on
    the goodness and compassion of the American people. And that's good,
    because the American people are good and compassionate. See, the
    strength of this country is not our military might. It's not the size of
    our wallet. The strength of this country is the hearts and souls of the
    American people. And it is an incredible honor to be the President of
    such a nation, a President of a nation of compassion and decency and
    honor and such powerful values that we're able to bring people from all
    walks of life under the rubric of being an American.
        I appreciate the prayers of the people of this country. People I'll
    never get to say thanks to in person, lift Laura
    and me up in prayer. It's a remarkable aspect of the Presidency. More
    significantly, it's a remarkable aspect of the life of the United States
    of America. I'm grateful for your prayers. I'm grateful for your great
    service and the example you set for our country.
        Thanks for having me today. May God bless your organization, and may
    God continue to bless our great country. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:05 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Dallas. In
    his remarks, he referred to Carl A. Anderson, supreme knight, and Virgil
    Dechant, past supreme knight, Knights of Columbus; Theodore Cardinal
    McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, DC; Edward Cardinal Egan,
    Archbishop of New York; Justin Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop of
    Philadelphia, PA; Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, IL;
    William Cardinal Keeler, Archbishop of Baltimore, MD; Franciszek
    Cardinal Macharski, Archbishop of Krakow, Poland; and Gov. Jeb Bush of
    Florida.