Knights of Columbus: false “smear campaign” forced them to withdraw from Boston parade

From Catholic News Agency: 

The Massachusetts Knights of Columbus withdrew from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Boston on Sunday, saying that their motives for participating in the parade – which this year included a gay activist group – have been misrepresented.

The Knights asked people to pray during the march in honor of St. Patrick, who was famous for bringing Christianity to pagan Ireland.

A statement released by the Knights said that they had intended to march in the parade “as a Catholic witness, to honor this great Catholic saint, and in gratitude for the contributions of Irish Americans to our country.”

The organization said that it had wanted to run a float with both pro-life signs and other posters encouraging participation in charitable activities.

However, a source close to the situation told CNA that the Knights were ambushed by a campaign that smeared their motives and created confusion.

C.J. Doyle, executive director of Boston’s “Catholic Action League,” alleged that the Knights were acting “treacherously” and that their actions were actually “helping (the activist group) spread their message.”

Doyle said that the Knights were colluding to give cover to the parade’s organizers and Boston’s mayor for the parade’s inclusion of a homosexual advocacy group. He pointed to the fact that the mayor’s hometown of Dorchester was also the town in which the Massachusetts leader of the Knights of Columbus resided.

But CNA’s source said that the allegations were false and that the Knights had not been contacted about the situation or asked for clarification.

…“The lack of charity by these people who called themselves Catholics was stunning,” someone who knew several of the Knights receiving the calls told CNA. “And it didn’t help that groups like MassResistance and the Michael Voris’ Church Militant picked these allegations and ran them uncritically.”

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