The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-03-09
IN DIsFAvoR OF cArHoLrossi
Yelled Warming To knights OF
Columbus.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
New Haven. March 5-Roman Ca.
tholics III Connecticut and generally
throughout New England have been
aroused the past week owing to a
thinly yelled attack on the Knights of
Columbus. which has appeared in the
Catholic Transcript, the official organ
of the diocese of Hartford.
Importance is always attached to
what the Transcript says on matters
of this nature, because it's policy is
controlled by Bishop Tierney. A priest
appointed by the bishop is the edi-
tor, and at the head of the editorial
page is a signed Endorsement of the
paper by the bishop. 1t is also known
that his interest in the paper is not
of a perfunctory character,
The reference to the knights of Co
lumbus was worked into a leader in
last weeks issue, on the general SUBJ
ject of the church's stand toward
Free Masonry. A correspondent had
asked for information on this point
and the editor gave it in a studious
and carefully prepared editorial arti-
Gle of a column and half. It's closing
paragraphs were:
THE ends and means of Free Mas
onry, where it receives it's full logical
development, are evil. The society is
condemned by name and the Catholic
who affiliates with it is by that very
act, communicated from his church.
There is no compromise between the
two camps, no squirting allegiance. If
you are Free Mason, you are no
longer Catholic, whatever your pre-
tensions, and if you are a man, YOU
should abide by the consequences of
your own free and deliberate choice.
Toward the end of his great en-
cyclical on Free Masonry, Leo XIII
recommends the bishops of the Uni
versal Church to organize and foster.
as an offset to it's evil, Catholic guilds
and confraternities. We have here i'm
America societies established for this
same end. But what is to be said of a
Catholic organization which takes to
its bosom and places in its seats of
honor those who defy bishop and
pontiff, laugh at the penaly of mere
communication, and makes friends
with those whose ultimate aim is to
overthrow and annihilate the religion
of Christ? Does it require prophet
to foresee the final outcome of such a
course?"
This is the most startling thing that
has yet come from high church cir
cleS regarding the knights of Column
bus Although the order is not NAM
ed in so many words, there are few
who will not know what is meant,
and for these the information can be
given that it Is the knights of Column
bus.
The reason for such an editorial ar
ticle at this time is to be found in
Bridgeport. Three weeks ago Patrick
Coughlin, a well known citizen of
Bridgeport, died. He was also a mem
Der of the knights of Columbus being
one of the charter members of the 10
cal council. He posed as an Irishman
and Catholic, was Mayor once a
candidate for sheriff at another time
and an assessor at the time of his
death. All this time he was also a
Mason, and he was buried not with
the Catholic mass, but with Masonic
rites.
Now the constitution of the knights
of Columbus says distinctly that all.
members must be practical Catholics
and, of course, a man cannot be a
practical Catholic unless he receives
Holy Communion at least once a year.
No Mason in good standing could re-
CeiVe Holy Communion. Therefore a
man cannot, according to the rules of
the knights, be a member of their
order and also Mason. Yet there are!
many other cases as notable assfhat of
Patrick Coughlin. In Hartford there
one of the ruling spirits in the local
Knights of Columbus Council, and he
is also an active member of a lodge
of Knights of Pythias, which, like the
Masons, is put under the ban by the
Catholic Church. There is Siam
ford politician who has been for years
influential in Republican circles who
boasts of being Knight of Columbus,
and who, according to common report
about the state, is a Mason. 1t is
notorious that he is not practical
Catholic in the sense in which that
term is used in the constitution of the
knights of Columbus.
1t is such cases as these-and many
more might be cited-which have
brought the order into disfavor with
In Connecticut disfavor is too mild
term to use, as the feeling now has al
most reached the point of out-and-out
antagonism.
The closing sentence in the Trans
cript'S article, Does it require
prophet to foresee the final outcome of
such q course?" is a clear warning
that the church, at least here in Con-
necticut, expects a decided change of
attitude on the part of the knights or
else there will be an open rupture.
This state of affairs is of especial in
terest as the Knights of Columbus was
founded in Connecticut. It's founder
was the late Father Mckinney of New
Haven. 1t has spread out over our
entire country now, and in some cities,
especially New York, is strong. Ger
tain tendencies, which are now caus-
ing open criticism, have long been
looked upon with disfavor by the
hierarchy. For instance, several years