PHOENIX (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, called upon the Knights of Columbus Aug. 5 to bear witness to the necessity of God in an increasingly secular America. “Our nation has been blessed with many gifts and resources, and at times that abundance can blind people to our utter dependence on God and the need to seek to do his will,” Cardinal Levada said during a homily at the Knights’ 127th annual supreme convention.

More than 80 bishops as well as delegates and their families from around world were attending the Aug. 4-6 convention in Phoenix. The congregation for the Aug. 5 Mass numbered 2,000, and the evening before 2,200 people attended the States Dinner, where Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, delivered the keynote address.

In his homily Cardinal Levada encouraged his listeners to work with all people of good will “to improve the lots of others,” and he exhorted them never to lose their Christian character.