It is perplexing that one of the leaders of the opposition to the Maryland Dream Act is a Catholic politician whose biography includes membership in the Knights of Columbus. It’s a bit like having the president of the Lions Club poke you in the eye with a stick.
The Knights of Columbus is a Catholic service organization. They don’t drive little cars like the Shriners, but they have some wild feathers and some nifty swords. Toys and jokes aside, they serve. Their best-known charitable work in Maryland is raising funds to help kids with disabilities. But they started in the late 19th century as a support group for Catholic immigrants.
The Knights of Columbus was originally founded by a diocesan priest in Connecticut, Fr. Michael J. McGivney, to support immigrants. It is perplexing when a Knight is a leader of an organization set up expressly to oppose immigrants’ claims.
The Knights of Columbus describe themselves as “practical Catholics,” meaning that they put their faith into practice. It is perplexing when a Knight works against immigrants who are mostly Catholic.
The Knights of Columbus are completely loyal to the institutional church -- to the Pope, the bishops, the priests who lead the Church. It is perplexing when a Knight works against immigrants rights when the Church has made service to immigrants a high priority, internationally and nationally and locally.
The Knights of Columbus have always held Mary, the mother of Jesus, in high esteem, and have supported awareness of the different shrines related to Mary. The organization’s magazine, Columbia, is loaded with invitations to go on pilgrimages to Marian shrines, and reports about pilgrimages to Lourdes and Fatima and Guadalupe. In America, the most significant shrine related to Mary is in Mexico, where there is an image of the “Virgin of Guadalupe.” In this beautiful image cherished since 1531, it is hard to tell whether Mary is from Judea or from Central America. This image of solidarity with poor native Americans was a key to the evangelization of America. It is perplexing when a Knight rejects this heritage of solidarity with Latin American brothers and sisters.
Columbus did not speak English. He was from southern Europe -- a Latin European.
I don’t think that this prominent Knight has decided not to pay any attention to the clear teaching of the Bible, of Jesus Christ himself, of the Church throughout the ages, of the past several Popes, of the bishops today, of the bishops and priests of Maryland. I don’t think he means to walk away from the work of Fr. McGivney. I’m pretty sure he just never thought about it.
Brother! Can we put an end to this scandal?
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