The Knights of Columbus: An Extremist Organization?

In a recent conversation with a liberal acquaintance of mine, he asked if the Knights of Columbus were an “extremist hate” group. I asked why he thought that and where did he get his information to support that? He made the usual progressive arguments and language about the Knights public and political stand against “equality and human rights” such as being against a women’s right to choose, assisted suicide, and marriage equality. He brought up the points made by two Democratic Senators in a Senate hearing on a judicial nominee in 2018.

That extremist accusation against the Knights gained public notoriety when Senator Kamala Harris (California) and Senator Mazie Hirono (Democrat of Hawaii) called the Knights “extreme” in confirmation hearings of Brian Buescher for a federal judgeship. They were worried that the beliefs of the Knights would influence his future legal pronouncements.  Harris described the Knights as “an all-male society” which is “opposed a woman’s right to choose” and against “marriage equality. “Did he intend to end his membership “to avoid any appearance of bias”?

They suggested that his Catholic beliefs as well as his membership in the Knights could be enough to disqualify him from serving as a judge at all. Senator Hirono went so far as to demand that he drop his membership. Follow-up questions included “Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed marriage equality when you joined the organization?” and “Have you ever, in any way, assisted with or contributed to advocacy against women’s reproductive rights?”

There were further accusations in response to the controversy brought on by those Senators.  Jill Filipovic, a fellow at the New America Foundation, claimed that that the Knights of Columbus was a “right-wing extremist” group. Her claim, the Senators accusations, and my liberal acquaintance assertion demonstrated that the opinion of the Knights as being extremist is not just a fringe idea held by political progressives, but a perception that may be held by many others.

Others have noted that the criticism of the Knights is but a veiled criticism of the Catholic Church.  The senators used Buescher’s Knights membership as a pretext to insinuate that opposition to abortion, a core Catholic teaching, or gay marriage that goes against another core teaching of the Church on the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, disqualifies an individual from a judicial post.

The Knights of Columbus

As I expressed in a previous post, defending the faith and the faithful is a strongly held obligation and I cannot remain quiet when the fraternal order I belong to and their pro-life actions are being accused of being a right-wing “extremist” organization. As a 4^th degree Knight that has been active in our pro-life ministries for many years, I see the need to set the record straight.

At one level, I can agree we are an extremist organization but not in the way as insinuated by those mentioned above. The 1.9 million Knights worldwide could be considered extreme in the fidelity to our faith and as a philanthropic organization serving our fellow man. While the Knights of Columbus are humble and quiet about all their “good works” there are times such as now when their activities need to be brought to light.  It would take many pages to describe all the contributions the Knights of Columbus have made over the years so only a brief overview highlighting some major efforts and actions can be provided.

Extremists in Charity

The Knights first principle is charity and it was a major purpose for its founding, Charity has been the major focus of their efforts for over 100 years and their charitable actions are unparalleled.  There are approximately 16,000 Councils worldwide that provide thousands of local and small scale Knights’ charitable projects every year like sandbagging levees in flood zones, providing parish fundraising events, manning soup kitchens, serving parish ministries for the poor such as the St. Vincent Depaul Society, to fixing a church’s roof. A recent example is all the aid Knights Councils provided to the victims of Hurricane Laura. Then, there have been large scale major efforts such as supplying over 75,000 wheelchairs to hospitals, clinics, and rehab centers. The list could go on and on. In 2019 alone, the Knights donated 187 million dollars for charitable causes such as Habitat for Humanity, food banks, Special Olympics, and its members provided over 77 million volunteer hours.

Extremists in Social Activism

The Knight’s history indicates strong advocacy for racial justice. Some Councils possessed black members in their ranks fifteen years before the NAACP was founded. In the 1920s, the Knights spoke out, confronted, and defended blacks as well as Catholic parishes from the KKK. The order established a Historical Commission to combat prejudice and discrimination, publishing books honoring the contributions of maligned minority groups and funded black education programs in several states. The Knights funded programs for interracial justice, distributed social justice literature, and established scholarships for black students who pursued a Catholic education.

The Knights have always been supporters of immigrant and religious rights. The order set up councils to support immigrant and refugee communities for Cuban, Vietnamese, and other exiles and have been active in supporting southern border parishes to serve Latin American refugees. The Knights have also been advocates for those persecuted for religious reasons. As far back as 1938, they supported Jewish refugees seeking refuge in Palestine. Most recently, they have led the way in supporting Christian refugees from the Middle East and lobbying our government to provide needed assistance. In 2019 alone, the Knights contributed 3.3 million dollars toward aiding Christian survivors of ISIS genocide.

Their support for the pro-life movement has been monumental. Besides advocating for the “right to life” through participating in the pro-life marches and prayer vigils the Knights actively support adoption services and crisis pregnancy centers and have provided over 1000 ultrasound machines to those centers. As part of the commitment to the right to life from conception to natural death, the order has actively lobbied to prevent assisted suicide and euthanasia from becoming legal in many states.

Extremists in Defending Catholic Teaching

The Knights have been leaders in defending Church teaching on the sanctity of marriage as being between a man and a woman and in the support of strong families. Since 2008, when states were attempting to legalize same-sex marriage, the Knights and its local councils supported ballot campaigns to effectively block same-sex marriage in many states. Even though the federal law now allows same-sex marriage, the order still advocates for and is a voice for traditional marriage.

Ever since the Vatican rebuked socialism and communism in the late 1800s, the Knights have been very vocal in condemning those ideologies with very strong anti-communism and socialism policy statements. During the cold war, the order lobbied the UN to restrain the Soviet Union during the Hungarian revolution and in the 1960s advocated for the Catholic Church to prevent the spread of communism in Latin America. Associated with these efforts the order was instrumental in getting “One nation under God” inserted to the Pledge of Allegiance in the 1950s.

Anti-Catholic bigotry still exists in the United States and the Knights respond to such instances as well as supporting efforts to educate the public about the Catholic Church (our teachings and practices) to offset the myths and false assumptions about our faith. An additional education focus of the Knights has been a wide variety of services that Knights provide to support the teaching of the faith. The order is a major supporter of Catholic schools and seminaries in providing advocacy and funding for many students and seminarians.

Practicing the Theological Virtues

In conclusion, I would answer the concerns about the Knights raised by those two Senators and others expressing anti-Catholic attitudes by stating – Yes, the Knights are an all-male society. Yes, as Knights, the organization and the faith it professes does and should influence our opinions and actions in the world. As a final point – Yes, the Knights of Columbus can be considered as extremists but only in practicing the theological virtues of faith (defending Catholic teaching), hope (social activism), and charity.

So now faith, hope, love (charity) abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).