Knights, Minnesota archbishop endanger church neutrality

I would like to say clearly, Catholic Charities should lose their tax-exempt status if they move to political action.

In a heartbeat!

and much that goes on in Catholic Charities, like the Red Cross, has little to do with providing charity to the poor, the homeless, or the aged. If they want to become an arm of the bishops propaganda machine, they deserve to lose their tax exempt status.

Be careful?
If you are afraid of being lumped together with politicalized bigotry, then it's up to you/ your organization to distinguish yourself and your positions. Of course if you are or are a member of a Catholic organization you will be judged by the banner you stand under.

Be careful? Or do you mean be scared? What are you afraid of? A tax? You must be trying to make God laugh! As if God cares if these men are taxed. Men who like to put their heads in bags to join a group, men who like secret handshakes, men who wear feathers on their head, and men who spend countless hours wringing their hands over abortion but not much time helping the single moms. Please.....tax them. If they are truely guided by God they'll survive a tax. If not, so be it and good ridence.(Gee I think they said that about The Way.)

Though The Way had better leaders......they listened to each other.As for Mr. Anderson,not many of the members, of which I regretI am one, like him any way because he never listens to will of God expressed through the membership.(Almost like a Bishop he thinks he is!)

And the same goes for all the other good self rightous religous groups that cross over the line....tax them. The tax would be the only way many of these groups help the poor.......

Anonymous: It's all well & good to say "Be careful" when referring to K of C, the Diocese and Catholic Charities. Where were you when Campaign for Human Development and Acorn were vilified not so long ago? Isn't what's good for the goose also good for the gander?

While in graduate school in 1973 I did a research project that found that 18% of the land in the county where my instition resides was off the tax rolls. We have always subsidized the promotion of ideas of the organized, political elites. The Black Baptist church, where I was reared, promoted certain ideas at the expense of others. For anyone to suggest that social organization are politically benign is a misrepresentation of the facts on the ground. Apparently, some Catholics do not know the history of the Catholic church, or the Protestant Reformation.

Actually, I would say when Jesus spoke of a man leaving his family and clinging to his wife he was making a statement on marriage. He didn't speak of cleaving to one's life partner, soul mate, etc. While Jesus didn't address the issue very much, I don't believe there was a push in his day - or over the last 2000 years -- for same sex couples to marry.

Regardless of what the majority of American Catholics believe, the Church shouldn't alter it's teachings. In standing up for the traditional family, the Knights of Columbus are serving the mission of the Church and that of families, particular the young.

Of course, I'm sure that those who are crying for the Knights and the Church to lose their tax-exampt status certainly have no problem with groups such as the Women's Ordination Conference, NOW, NARAL, and other radical politically-charged organizations with maintaining theirs.

This article is written by a misguided, albeit well-intentioned, individual who is yet another victim of poor catechesis and watered-down Catholicism.

Well said. One wonders if Ms. Sotelo and her allies on the left would be so quick to condemn the Knights and His Grace the Archbishop if they were producing ads to promote the moral legitimacy of same-sex "marriage". I suspect if the add supported this cause, rather than opposed it, Ms. Sotelo would be cheering the Knights on.

Endorsing a candidate by the USCCB or the Knights is one thing, but when they cross the line as the USCCB does repeatedly by maintaining one of the most powerful lobbying efforts in Washington, or provides Church funds or staff directly to aid political groups, that is something else entirely and it deserves close scrutiny by the Feds.

If the bishops and the Knights want to lie down with the dogs, they must expect to get up with fleas.

The KC is the right arm of the RCC according to JPII. Together they spend millions to effect legislation re civil marriage equality. This genre of political arrogance and disrespect encroaches waaaay beyond the sphere of religion. Conducting politics as religious practice is a misnomer. It further rots the constitutional foundation of church/state separation in our country.
The RCC and the KCs are deeply embedded in politics. They thumb their nose at the law because they have big bucks and influntial friends. They speak holy words begging for donations at Mass while doing everything they can to pull the rug of equality out from under women and gays. It is important that they reap the civil justice they have earned for engaging in politics when in fact it is junk religion.

One question here is, Has the KC crossed the impermissible line into PARTISAN politics? If it has done so, I think it should lose its tax-exempt status. I'd like to see an IRS review of its involvement, if any, in this matter. As you've noted, the KC is legally free to advocate for/against a POLITICAL cause as long as the KC steers clear of partisan politics.

I am an insurance member as well. The Knights' ceremonials, particularly their 3rd degree ceremonial, which is a teaching lesson about how to conduct yourself as a Christian gentleman in your council, teaches us not to bring POLITICS into our council as it harms UNITY and it is divisive. Carl Andersen needs a remedial 3rd degree ceremonial and needs to sit in the sweat box which is part and parcel of that degree until he gets the lesson. Politics is insidious within this fraternal organization.

Dearest Deacon: I am afraid this will not work although I appreciate your gesture. As a Past Grand Knight of my council, while I was Grand Knight, I tried to remove inactive members from our membership roles as our Council had to pay a per annum fee to Supreme in Connecticut for each member on our roles. If we removed inactive members who were not paying their annual dues to the council, then we could save a little money for ostensibly charitable purposes. Well, the long and short of it is, Supreme will not allow Councils to remove members from the roles, or, they make it extremely difficult to do so and require an onerous amount of administrative tasks to do so. If you think about Supreme, they want to inflate the membership so they can say" 1.8 million members world wide. The other reason for inflating membership is the insurance business. I am not an underwriter but the more bodies an insurance pool has, the risk is spread over more units. Thus, there is a built in bias at Supreme to retain people on the roles.

So, what else can we do within the organization to de-politicize it? I don't know but there are a couple of things I have tried. In the Columbia magazine we receive, there have been anti-Democratic Party statements and articles. Whenever I see this, I immediately contact the editors at Columbia and file a formal complaint that they "have brought politics into our brotherhood". So, one way is for many members to be vigilant about the politicization that does occur.

At my council meetings, the District Deputy's Report to the Council often bordered on political rant. When this occurs, I file a formal complaint with the State Deputy.

If more of us were doing this from the inside, over time, we could limit or stop the hijacking of our organization and return to brotherhood and charity.

In fact, most are. In surveys within the church of the clergy and religious more than 85% report being homosexual.

may we say then
violently suppressing?

Oh, I'm sorry, you don't know. I did not know myself for 65 years of my life. I refused to believe it. After a time of working for the church on the inside, I found out. It is not just speculation. There are some credible public surveys, too. And, of course, the priests and bishops know. Mind you, I am not condemning any gay priest, many of whom have actually been more Christ-like than some of the heterosexual priests. I am saying, too, that the church is in a hyprocritical role on this topic. I don't understand in this day and age why so many gay priests remain in the closet and mask their real selves.

The Knights are not supposed to bring political issues into their meetings and order work. At least that is what I was told when I completed the third degree. That appears to be a persistent violation of their own rules.

The late North Carolin Republican, Jesse Helms, knew how to use people beautifully. The old hypocrite couldn't stand most of them and came out of a culture that was about as anti-Catholic as you can find in America today.

So, what is Anderson's real motive here?

The motivation of the present “Supreme Knight” in his generosity of spreading money in Rome is suspect on its face. From the evidence I read (COLUMBIA Magazine) “his” generosity to Rome is calculated in its link to the political agendum of having the founder of the Knights, Fr McGivney, canonized. What a talking point that would be for insurance salesmen of the Knights to have a patron saint they could claim as their own.

Follow the money. Rome stands to gain equally from such “canonization.” There is a “symbiotic” purpose in hewing to religious right theology, for modern medievalists to circle the wagon together. Politicized religion, active in the secular realm, should pay taxes on the same bases as other secular money-making interests.

Your message is very misleading! You give no particulars about nuns not being practicing Catholics anymore? What type of statement is this - just so called facts! YOUR statements are just plain NONSENSE. There are over 1 BILLION Catholic through out the world. The Catholic Church has changed very little through the 2000+ years since JESUS started the CATHOLIC CHURCH. WHAT Gives you the right to try to destroy an Institution that GOD made? Very interesting - trying to destroy what GOD made! You know what that makes you a follower of???
I do not believe you were driven away from the Catholic Church but walked or ran because not being Catholic is a lot easier!!!!

A good example of how the bishops are driving Catholics out of the Church and into either total indifference or,into America's Civic Religion. Founded during the Miracle at Philadelphia in 1776 and it's tenets arrived at during the Constitutional Convention.

It is THIS faith that represents the greatest threat to the RCChurch everywhere, not the evangelicals, Lutherans, Mormons, or any other religious body.

Excellent posting Ladybug, I agree, when the shepherds are more concerned with politics, rules, laws and image than with spiritual matters, compassion and the welfare of their flock, we have a real problem.

Maybe your local KoC group calls itself a "charitable organization" because that's what the LOCAL level does.

Do any of you actually know what your local Knights of Columbus does? They do a lot of service in their local parishes, help out with a lot of events and things, and put on events of their own. The point of being in Knights of Columbus is to be part a group that DOES things, and everyone who joins does so because they want to be a part of those activities.

Judge your local Knights by what they do. Not what their dues do. Their dues are something they pay every once in a while as a necessary part of being a Knight and being able to serve with their fellow parishioners and friends.

What an absurd comment. Let's see, the Knights should give money to people behaving in open contradiction to the Gospel and the teaching of the Church? They should support people who are breaking the law, again in open defiance of Sacred Scripture (both the Old and New Testaments, Our Lord, St. Peter, St. Paul tell us to obey secular authority, obey the law)?

Is the Church nothing more than a big social outreach institution, like the Red Cross or the local welfare office? Is that all it means to be a Catholic -- do nice things for people and believe in nothing at all?

This was one of the offensively political lines in the letter! if the bishop believes strongly that Catholics should believe as he is teaching, how can he say, "whether or not you agree with me, I hope you agree that Minnesotans should decide"? Really?