UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
EDITORIAL
The Knights of Columbus have been a fixture in the American church for the past 135 years, the friendly uncle of the family who oversees the Friday fish fries, occasionally going off to secret ceremonies and, at a certain level of membership, breaking out odd costumes replete with cape, sword and plumed hat for special occasions that often involve members of the hierarchy.
But as our recent examination of the organization’s spending on the national and international levels shows, the Knights are far more than parish helpers and a ceremonial presence (See link below). The Knights of Columbus organization has moved well beyond its original mission of rescuing widows and children from penury and giving young Irish lads a path to assimilation into American culture.
Related: Knights of Columbus’ financial forms show wealth, influence (May 15, 2017)
The degree of wealth the organization has amassed from its insurance business and other ventures, and the influence it exerts within the church and in shaping the Catholic narrative in the public square raise serious questions for 21st-century Catholicism. Those questions should be pursued, from the highest levels of the Vatican to the Knights’ local chapters — about the nature of spending, about exorbitant salaries of Knights’ executives, about the increasingly political nature of the organization’s involvement in the culture and the influence of that ideological approach within the church.
Though the organization donates abundantly to charity, and members volunteer countless hours for good causes, its funds also fuel some of the most divisive agents in society and some of the most strident and acrimonious voices within the church. …
We cringe for the future of the Catholic community having arrived at the point where the leader of one of the most influential Catholic organizations in the world can describe as “pro-life” an administration that, among other regrettable anti-life initiatives:
* Brutalizes refugees and migrants, tearing families apart by deporting people who have no greater wish than safety, opportunity and hard work;
* Is willing to rip health care from tens of millions of people;
* Denies climate change and jeopardizes creation itself with retrograde policies on the environment;
* Intends to increase defense spending more than $50 billion while cutting social welfare programs for the most vulnerable;
* And whose leader, the president, boasts openly of sexual conquests that many would describe as assault.
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