In the ultra-liberal newspaper of my native place, the Star-Tribune, there is a wacky article trying to turn Catholics against the Knights of Columbus, because the KCs are donating to help the Marriage Amendment to the Minnesota constitution. Here is an interesting paragraph:
In the last four years, the group has given at least $3.6 million to groups leading marriage fights across the country. Now the group is trying to make its mark in Minnesota, and has directly given more than $130,000 to the fight.
$130K! THAT MUCH! WOWWWWWWWIE!
Think of the tens of millions that liberals and homosexual activists pour into the advancement of contrary-to-nature immorality.
But the KCs! Well! The Catholic Knights of Columbus gave $130,000 dollars to something for which the Catholic Bishops of Minnesota have asked for help.
Who do they think they are?
It seems to me that the whole STrib article is thinly-veiled anti-Catholicism.
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As a Knight myself, I can only ask: Are my rights to protest less than those of a teacher? Is my right to participate in the political process less than that of a union member? Both of those groups are major contributors to the Democrats.
One of the four main principles of the KofC has always been patriotism. Doesn’t the left believe that protest is the highest form of patriotism?
Holy Spirit, please lead a much needed infusion of young, on-fire Catholics to the Knights.
wmeyer, thank you for being a Knight (and thanks to all others) and being willing to stand up for our rights. One method of the enemy is to try to silence our voices while the left screams loud and long about their pet projects. We must steel ourselves against their complaints and carry on.
STrib=Star Tribune. Not NLM. I was confused at first glance.
Sissy, it is little enough that I do. We cannot allow our voices to be silenced, else the country ceases to be the hope it once was.
FrJim4321 will chime in with the empty-headed phrase “full marriage rights” in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
Those who are so enamoured with censorship of free speech if it conflicts with their own opinions should move to North Korea, where everyone “agrees”, or else are shipped off to a labor camp to suffer untold anguish and die .
There are , of course, other options. Cuba and Venezuela for starters.
I am quite proud that our efforts were successful enough to draw the disdainful eye of the Star Tribune.
By the way, our leadership had set the goal to give $50,000 to the effort, so the fact it was $130,000 means that individual members and Councils decided, on their own, to give more. Obviously, this matters to people.
FrJim4321 will chime in with the empty-headed phrase “full marriage rights” in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
It’s nice to be missed.
The K-of-C can do what they want with their money. They have a branch at the neighboring parish and keep wanting to get something going here but it will be over my dead body as long as Carl Anderson is the chief knight / grand dragon or whatever they call him. [THAT, Father, is way over line. The Klan? Really?]
Under Anderson the K-of-C has become a PAC for the RNC and little more. I really don’t have much use for them. My grandfather and great uncle would be sad to see what has happened to this once proud organization.
“My grandfather and great uncle would be sad to see what has happened to this once proud organization.”
I am a member of the Saint Clement of Rome Council, and I am very PROUD that the Knights of Columbus supports Marriage, the Right to Life and the Roman Catholic Church!
robtbrown: only took one message. :)
IMO, the KoC is, for whatever reason, passed its usefulness. My parish has a council, I think (since you never see them, though they did pay to convert the former garage into a meeting space and have done a lot of hands-on work around the grounds.
But, as a fraternal organization which was partially founded as an antidote to the Masons (needed, since Masonic associations and their gnosticism is antithetical to Catholicism), I’ve found them to be more interested in collecting $$$, running the pancake breakfasts, and wearing funky hats than doing anything really useful. Like an old boy’s club, I think, in most parishes.
Not denigrating them, mind you, but I do think they need to get a bit more back to their roots.
“but it will be over my dead body as long as Carl Anderson is the chief knight / grand dragon or whatever they call him.”
How utterly predictable and pathetic can you be to use a term associated with the Klan, given the historical clash between Knights and the KKK?
” My grandfather and great uncle would be sad to see what has happened to this once proud organization.”
You mean the proud organization that supported their fellow Knights against an oppressive secularist government in Mexico in the 1920s? You mean the proud organization that petitioned the U.S. government to insert “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance as part of an anti-communist agenda that the Knights forwarded at the height of the Cold War?
It is the intellectual heirs of BOTH the Mexican secularists and the communists who are forwarding the HHS mandate and the push for same-sex “marriage,” and, as you might expect, the Knights are on the front lines again.
“The K-of-C can do what they want with their money. They have a branch at the neighboring parish and keep wanting to get something going here but it will be *over my dead body* as long as Carl Anderson is the chief knight / grand dragon or whatever they call him.”
Sheesh, and the Fishwrap keeps insisting that clericalism ended with Vatican II?
Yeah, sure.
frjim, what a fine example of Christian charity.
Bryan, I believe the Knights are still needed, and I think some of the work they do behind the scenes to support Catholic men and families is extremely necessary. My husband (a convert) joined when our son was quite young and I believe he found much-needed friendship and support from the strong Catholic men who were members of his chapter. He certainly became more devoted to his faith and to us. His fellow Knights were quick to assist whenever I needed help during his deployments…a real blessing!
Our Catholic men need friends who will support their vocations as husbands, fathers, single men, priests and religious. In this time of male-bashing and anti-Catholic sentiment, the Knights of Columbus are truly important.
You mean the proud organization that petitioned the U.S. government to insert “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance as part of an anti-communist agenda that the Knights forwarded at the height of the Cold War?
(Well, that would be opening a can of worms, but to respond to you [and not to drag everyone down a rabbit hole]).
Actually I’m not really a big fan of the Pledge of Allegiance nor do I believe that school children should be forced to recite it every day. How many countries have a Pledge of Allegiance to a Flag? Last time I checked the Constitution does not require citizens to pledge allegiance to the flag, and as far as I can tell USCIC requires an oath of allegiance to the Constitution, not to the flag, for new citizens.
The Pledge of Allegiance is a recent innovation and – like singing “God Bless America” at a baseball game – is really about people making themselves better than other people.
[Fr. Jim, ladies and gentlemen! He’ll be appearing next week at “Ha Ha”‘s in Cleveland. Be sure to tip your waitresses….]
My hubby (age 35) has been a Knight for about 9 months now, and we are so blessed! They are helping to support a seminarian, raised over $7000 for Catholic disability charities, organized a Blue Mass (hubby is also a police officer), maintain our beautiful grotto, and sponsored a Mass for the baby we lost in July… Among tons of other activities. As for the fraternal part, we have no family in the area, but have had people watch our kids for us, as well as house-sit and dog-sit for us. We truly feel that we have found people that we can rely on when our family cannot be there for us. My husband also now has like-minded friends who won’t give him a hard time about not getting “fixed” and truly mourned and prayed for us when our baby died. Because the Knights take care of so much business around the church, our priests are free to do the important things for priests, like offer 6 confession times per week. Although the funny hats and titles are a bit archaic, I believe the council at our church is maintaining the mission with vigor.
frjim4321 said: “The K-of-C can do what they want with their money.”
Father Jim, if you had stopped right there, you would have been far more charitable. The rest of your comment was insulting and inflammatory. Yes, many other countries have a “pledge of allegiance”.
Yes, many other countries have a “pledge of allegiance”.
To their flag?
Father Jim, our flag is a symbol of our country and Constitution. You’re over-thinking this. If the pledge said “I pledge allegiance to my country”, it wouldn’t be any different. The Supreme Court has refused to overturn lower court rulings uphold the pledge as Constitutional. So it is.
uphold = upholding
Even though we pledge to the flag, we really pledge allegience ‘to the republic for which it stands’.
And if you don’t like to say ‘under God’, you can silently omit those words. I still choke up when I hear children say the Pledge.
I heard tell of an old nun who didn’t like to say ‘hell’ in the Apostles Creed because she feared it would cause her to say it in her private life, so she would say ‘ descended into’ *silence* while picturing flames. If people are freaked out about saying ‘under God’, they can also remain silent. They might also want to picture flames, though….
Giuseppe, we don’t always agree, but this time we do! Great comment.
Anyway, this is about K-of-C. As I said I was responding to another person’s comment and had not intention of opening of a rabbit hole regarding the Pledge of Allegiance.
frjim4321 says:
Under Anderson the K-of-C has become a PAC for the RNC and little more. I really don’t have much use for them. My grandfather and great uncle would be sad to see what has happened to this once proud organization.
There’s an easy way to change the RNC orientation: Let the Dems adopt Catholic positions on abortion and gay unions.
Since it is October, the month of rosary miracles and graces, perhaps we should call upon Our Lady for aid in defense of marriage.
Thanks, Sissy. We actually agree a lot, but I usually only post when I’m perplexed or confused or on those infrequent times when I think you are off your rocker! ;)
Giuseppe said: “those infrequent times when I think you are off your rocker! ;)”
Those times are more frequent than you might think! But I’m not so far off my rocker as to not recognize what a blessing the Knights of Columbus are!
I’ve found them to be more interested in collecting $$$, running the pancake breakfasts, and wearing funky hats than doing anything really useful.
If they were doing just that (on which I don’t know anything), including I suppose spending the said dollars, they’d already have proven that they are useful. An old boys’ club, especially a decidedly Catholic old boys’ club, is useful.
If they’re still more useful, that’s of course even better.
Sissy, you crack me up! Agree re. K of C. There are a lot of good men involved who do good things.
A few years ago I heard someone talking about K of C and saying how they hadn’t been to one in a long time and had forgotten how delicious they were. I was a little perplexed… Then I realized they were talking about KFC.
There are a lot of good men involved who do good things.
This is what I hear all the time.
PP does some good things too, such as mammograms and PAP smears, but I’m certainly not going to endorse PP.
K-of-C has become a partisan organization, and from reading the detail of their annual report it is clear that they do more than Special Olympics and parish steak roasts.
[Did I just see you draw a moral equivalence between Planned Parenthood and the Knights of Columbus? Is that what I saw? If that is what I saw, I shall be very cross, indeed.]
frjim4321 said: “PP does some good things too, such as mammograms and PAP smears”
Just for giggles and grins, try to schedule a mammogram at a PP sometime, Father Jim. Well, ok, try to schedule one for a female relative. You might be surprised. Don’t believe everything you hear on MSNBC ; ).
As rbtrbrown so ably said above, K-of-C is only partisan to the extent that they work to uphold Catholic teachings. I’m sure as soon as Democrats bring their party platform into alignment with the Church, the K-of-C will be happy to support their efforts.
We wouldn’t be a “partisan organization” if the Democratic Party hadn’t been trying to do its darnedness to transform itself into a gaggle of godless secularists, besides that, we aren’t really partisan anyway. It would be great to be able to really have a choice in elections, not between one group that is at least ostensibly pro-life and one group that actively supports evil. We are not like PP or the KKK, we do not advocate for anything explicitly or implicitly, in reality or only in principle, anything that is contrary to the Catholic Faith. Thus, one cannot imply that we do a little bit of good (like PP and some women’s health services) but its all ruined by the enormities we also supposedly support.
Care to outline what those enormities might be? Would it look like something one of the hacks at the National Catholic “Reporter” trotted out to try to “discredit” us? Things like supporting Vox Clara, the Becket Fund or Catholic Information Services? Yes, the enormites of the Knights of Columbus are staggering. My my, someone needs to inform the bishops or the pope of the rogue group of radicals-they actually dare to put some monetary clout into Catholic things! The horror!
dominic1955 said: “one cannot imply that we do a little bit of good (like PP and some women’s health services) but its all ruined by the enormities we also supposedly support.”
There is no need to defend K -of-C’s track record, in my opinion. Father Jim’s false equivalence between K-of-C and PP is not even grounded in reality. See this letter from HHS confirming that not a single PP in America is licensed to perform mammograms: http://www.adfmedia.org/files/DOC702.pdf
There is NO comparison between K-of-C’s work to help AIDS orphans in Africa, amputees in Haiti, and defense of our religious freedom here at home with the wholesale murder that goes on inside of PP clinics. It’s insulting for Father Jim to mention them in the same breath.
frjim4321 thinks Planned Parenthood provides mammograms???
Hahahaha!
Let’s ask Planned Parenthood!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIBHID10Ntg
Fr Jim, do you feel the same way about other Catholic organizations like the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Knights of St John, etc?
The KofC is a good organization. Are they perfect ? No, but then i seem to recall someone saying that where man is there is sin. This news story is nothing more than another attempt to expel ALL religious reference, in any form, from the public square. In Thomas Jefferson’s memorial, the walls tell us that “The God who gave us life, gave us liberty. One of the most pernicious effects of the purging of God from the public square isn’t even about religion, per se, but about our rights. If our rights come from Nobody higher than the State, then the State has the power and authority to remove those rights, should they wish. This is a prospect that everyone, religious or not, should be troubled by.
Fr.Jim–” is really about people making themselves better than other people.” you know fidel castro puts that in just about every speech. Its old tired communist rhetoric and its amazing how many people it fools.
Perhaps frjim would welcome the Knights of Peter Claver?
Getting back to the original topic…
Is it surprising that the Star-Tribune would be upset about anyone defending marriage?
I guess what I mean is this: sure, the Star-Trib attacked the Knights, but would it attack the Knights if it handed out wheelchairs to the handicapped? Will the Star-Trib attack ANY organization which defends marriage?
It’s easy to assume that the Star-Trib is attacking the Knights because this Catholic fraternal organization is Catholic. Is that the source of the animus?
“Anyway, this is about K-of-C. As I said I was responding to another person’s comment and had not intention of opening of a rabbit hole regarding the Pledge of Allegiance.”
The rabbit hole was opened when you likened the head of the Knights to a leader of the Klan.
Funny this is brought up, just yesterday I heard an interview by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City Kansas Diocese interviewing the Knight who was the Supreme Knight for twenty three years, I think, from Kansas. (Forgive me, I cannot remember his name). I think the Knights of Columbus are a wonderful organization.
Why is the Star Trib. so upset about this now? The Knights have had a track record of promoting traditional marriage since at least 2005, the story of the Canada council being fined for refusing to rent out a their hall for a homosexual wedding reception. They were fined “for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect” for the gay couple. One of the Knights was even fired from his job because one of the women was his co-worker. It’s really sad for someone to have to suffer for standing up for his religious convictions. Hehe, sound familiar?
Did Fr Jim just compare the Knights of Columbus to Planned Parenthood? Pretty safe to assume he’ll be voting for Obama in three weeks.
As many have pointed out, Anderson needs to do something about the pro-abort politicians who remember members in good standing in the Knights of Columbus. Lots of talk; zero action.
*remain members…
As a side commment: Men can get breast cancer too, but t’s very rare. When I last went for my routine biannual breast X-ray at the mammogram clinic in our hospital, I asked the nurse why they had so many car magazines on the racks. She told me, that they had some male patients too.
Back to the knights!
“it will be over my dead body as long as Carl Anderson is the chief knight / grand dragon or whatever they call him.”
Really? The Klan? That’s what you think the KofC is? I feel truly sorrowful for your flock to have such an ignorant and classless pastor.
Dear Fr. Jim,
It pains me to read your comments on this and other threads regarding the amendment. As the outreach coordinator for the amendment in Minnesota, I’ve met a handful of priests, like you, who wish to make support for this amendment a Left/Right issue. I’m sorry you feel this way. If you had an opportunity to attend one of my presentations on the marriage amendment I think you would change your mind. If anyone cannot be accused of partisanship that would be me, as some of the readers on this site are well aware.
The response I normally receive from Catholics voting no is they believe this is our Archbishop’s crusade. My response is they should visit the Catechism sometime because defending marriage is every Catholic’s crusade.
Some Catholic priests prefer to crusade for the wants and desires of adults, but I, along with hundreds of clergy, crusade every day for the weakest and most vulnerable. After all, marriage is a child-centered institution. And children have a right to grow up with a mother and father.
I should know. I grew up without a dad. So did the pimp on the corner. So did the three guys selling drugs on the street. Mental gymnastics will not change the reality that 40% of our kids are raised in fatherless homes. Redefining marriage institutionalizes fatherless or motherless homes and intellectual pride will not redress the disadvantages we suffered or they will.
I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to the KoFC of this great state about the amendment. I’m grateful for their efforts. God bless them. They recall the words of Pius XII who said, “[Catholics] must exercise a profound influence on the social, economic and political life of the country.”
+AMDG
Dear Richard Aleman,
Thank you for that very charitable and wise comment. Our prayers are with you in Minnesota as you work to safeguard every child’s right to be raised in a home with a mother and a father.
Father Z, that is the case. The “Star and Sickle” as I’m sure you’ve heard it called in the Twin Cities has recently published a couple of articles concerning a certain priest in our archdiocese who is vehemently anti-marriage amendment and pro-homosexual relations. He has been quite vocal about his opposition to the Church’s teaching on this issue and the STrib decided to take sides. Not surprisingly, they took his side. They went so far as to portray the Archdiocese as trying to silence him and said that it was on account of this priest’s difference of opinion of the teaching of His Excellency, Archbishop Nienstedt on homosexuality. This put an unfair, and false, blame on Archbp. Nienstedt by making it seem like Nienstedt is an oppressor and it’s his teaching on homosexuality as opposed to the Church’s teaching
It is pretty silly to suggest that $130k is some sort of king’s ransom, considering the amounts of money spent on political campaigns these days. As an aside, it’s always irritating to me when newspapers use phrases like “over (x amount).” Apparently the suggestion is that it’s a really large number, but why not just report the facts and let readers decide that? Did the author not have an exact figure but somehow knew it to be at least $130k? Doesn’t he have a responsibility to find out a more exact figure? Technically “over $130k” could mean any number higher than 130,000, up to infinity. Likely it is supposed to mean something like “about $130k” but if so then why not just write that?
The KC’s are like any other large organization in that there are some that are very active doing lots of good works and others much less so. I suppose a lot of it depends on the holiness of their pastor. One KC council in our area has donated several thousand dollars to the seminarians at SPS.
For the life of me I can’t figure out why all the good folks commenting at this blog continue to let this “frjim4321” bait them.
Under Anderson the K-of-C has become a PAC for the RNC and little more. I really don’t have much use for them. My grandfather and great uncle would be sad to see what has happened to this once proud organization.
My uncle’s council in Tennessee makes weekly deliveries of food into the Appalachian poverty areas. He and his fellow Knights make collections form the local grocery stores of food which would otherwise be tossed, and load it into an SUV and a trailer. Each week, the pickups are about 2+ tons of food. He has done this every week for the last several years, though he just turned 80. Recently, they have enlisted other Knights from their council, as it had become a nearly full time job for the two who had managed it for so long.
They also operate a number of other ministries, all with benefits to the community.
As is so often the case, frjim4321, your comments are shallow, thoughtless, and hurtful. At least, I prefer to believe them thoughtless, as they would otherwise be malicious.
Patrick-K,
The news media loves sensationalism. When someone is accused of a crime, it’s almost always stated with the high end of possible punishment: “And if convicted, he could be sentenced to 95 years in prison.” Or probation.
TomG said: “For the life of me I can’t figure out why all the good folks commenting at this blog continue to let this “frjim4321? bait them.”
He represents himself as a priest, so we respect his status and do him the honor of taking his comments seriously. It’s true he often sounds and behaves like a troll. But we choose to contend with him on the chance he is misguided rather than malicious, as wmeyer put it so well in a comment above.
Speaking only for myself, I pray for him and actually feel a certain affection for him (or the person who claims to be frjim4321). I worry about him, I feel sad when he says something outrageous and hurtful, and I hope that by conversing with people here he’ll grow to love and accept all of the teachings of the Church.
frjim4321-
My sons are 4th generation Knights of Columbus
My daughter-in-laws’ grandfather is a Knight of St. Peter Claver
Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are among the kindest and most down-to-earth people of stature and influence I have ever met in my life.
Your comparing the K of C to the Klan in reprehensible.
For your edification I ask that you please visit:
http://www.kofc.org/en/news/releases/detail/created_equal.html
I thought the Knights of Columbus were basically an insurance company and a fraternal group with mutual aid as its main function? I don’t know that their politics are any more loathsome than other Catholic entities. I do know they more or less sustain the Military Archdiocese in the USA, about whose leadership I have strong feelings best not expressed here.
Anyway, to “Think of the tens of millions that liberals and homosexual activists pour into the advancement of contrary-to-nature immorality.” — Would that it could be so, but this liberal has only poured in a couple hundred this year.
I’m a registered Democrat and a Knight of Columbus, and think that robtbrown’s comment succinctly sums up the issue of why we Knights can sometimes seem to be boosters for the RNC. But within the Democratic Party, dissent on some issues really is the highest form of patriotism.