... In a Facebook post Wednesday evening, the Knights of Columbus said it would allow the reception after all. It posted “Council 934 regrets that there was some confusion over the hall rental request and that no contract was ever signed. We are happy to accommodate Taylor’s request to hold her reception there and we will waive the usual hall rental fee, given the misunderstanding that occurred.”As a Knight myself, I find this appalling. Are we going to see the Knights continue to succumb to the pro-gay values of the bourgeois mainstream to such an extent that they are more beholden to the sensibilities of their bourgeois class than to the historic teachings of the Catholic Church? Fr. McGivney must be spinning in his grave.
The Knights of Columbus, a tax-exempt fraternal benefit society, calls itself the “strong right arm” of the Catholic Church and has spent millions to oppose LGBT equality, abortion, euthanasia, and pornography. But while the national organization explicitly prohibits the rental of Knights’ facilities to those who “who do not support the legal protection of unborn children, or who advocate the legalization of assisted suicide or euthanasia,” it has not done taken that stand on the issue of same-sex marriage. Neither the local council nor its Grand Knight responded immediately to a ThinkProgress inquiry about its policies.
[Hat tip to CMTV News]
Shameful.
ReplyDeleteAs a brother knight, I am disturbed by this development, though I am loathe to be too harsh with this council. Since the decision in the bakery case where Christian bakers lost when sued over refusing to bake for a same sex wedding, many institutions are going to be forced to capitulate or face legal difficulties. The knights may be able to avoid this in the future by adopting policies now that limit rentals to members or members and immediate family. That takes their facilities out of the public realm. When operating as a secular, public entity they would likely get stuck the same way the bakers did. By making rental a benefit of membership the use of the facility is no longer public but private. This will, of course, cause waling and gnashing of teeth for some councils that rely on that income to maintain their council homes. That may not be a bad thing, as the Knights have acquired a reputation as a Catholic mens drinking club. Were we forced to shutter some of our bars we would probably not be worse off as a result.
ReplyDeleteWe would run into a problem if a member then tried to force the issue by renting for such an event, but that would then be a matter for the council to revoke the membership on the grounds that the person is no longer a "practical Catholic" as defined in or by-laws.
Vivat Jesu.
"Are we going to see the Knights continue to succumb to the pro-gay values of the bourgeois mainstream to such an extent that they are more beholden to the sensibilities of their bourgeois class than to the historic teachings of the Catholic Church?"
ReplyDeleteYes you are.
Unless of course the stalwart Knights can be persuaded to give up their tax exemption. Then they would be in a much stronger position to tell Trixie and Trudie to take their bridal lustrations across the street to the Masons lodge.
In other news, another Council of the Knights of Columbus is sponsoring a Solemn High Traditional Latin Mass as an act of reparation for our country's public crime of abortion.
ReplyDeleteWe are now to the point where we need year-long campaigns *within* the Church to hype the benefits of marriage, where we sponsor rallies featuring testimonies of people opposed to abortion "pills," where we preemptively bite our tongues in anticipation of encyclicals on the moral imperatives of environmentalism and feminism, and where we are pleased if we simply don't here anything offensive from Rome or if a Pope simply sounds like he believes in the stories in the Bible. It's exhausting.
ReplyDelete