UNITED STATES
Associated Press
By MATTHEW BARAKAT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Phillip and Barbara Butler hadn’t given much thought to the man who burned a cross on their front lawn 40 years ago.
Then they heard the startling news Tuesday that the perpetrator had become a priest and was ministering to Catholics not far from their home.
“I didn’t know what to say. It was unbelievable,” Phillip Butler said Wednesday at a news conference.
The priest, the Rev. William Aitcheson, went public with his old Klan affiliation Monday, writing a column in the diocesan newspaper.
He said his past was not a secret, but he felt compelled to make it more public after seeing images of violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.
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