Knights of Columbus, cash cow of the Catholic right

[rug]

Knights of Columbus members watch a ceremony in 2008. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons/Robert F. Farmer

By Mark Silk | 3 hours ago

(RNS) The must-read religion story-of-the-week is Tom Roberts’ report in the National Catholic Reporter on the Knights of Columbus. Focusing on its IRS filings from the last three years, Roberts shows how the church’s preeminent fraternal organization has become a cash cow of the Catholic right.

Founded by a New Haven priest 135 years ago to help the widows and orphans of Catholic immigrants with direct aid and insurance, the Knights is now a multi-billion-dollar philanthropy-cum-insurance company. In 2015, the last available reporting year, it had revenues of $2.2 billion, of which it gave away $175 million, or 3.4 percent.

The organization has not turned its back on good works. In 2015, it donated nearly $1 million to the Special Olympics, $300,000 to Wheelchairs for the Needy, $75,000 to Habitat for Humanity. It spread modest “general support” grants to a dozen or so Knights charities around the country. Its 2 million members volunteer, on average, a work-week of hours a year.

But the Knights’ policy agenda cannot to be missed. Opposition to abortion is the overriding concern, followed by religious liberty — which, pursued largely as resistance to the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act, is intimately related to the former. The Knights gave millions to conservative outfits like the Susan B. Anthony List and the Becket Fund. Its preferred media outlet — to the tune of $500,000 in 2015, is EWTN.

http://religionnews.com/2017/05/16/knights-of-columbus-cash-cow-of-the-catholic-right/

[packman]

1. Old white men in their silly hats and robes

"I'm better than you because I got a silly hat, shiny pins, and fancy shit on my robes." Time for these type of groups to die out.

[rug]

2. The KofC was started, in some part, in response to the Masons.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. And now it's a full-blown multi-level marketing system.

[rug]

4. They have outperformed the Masons.