He did this over the strenuous objections of Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory. He took both photos without the consent of either the Episcopal or Catholic bishops. On June 2, Trump took his campaign show across town to have his photo taken in front of a statue of Pope John Paul II. That was the 'evangelical' campaign photo. On June 1, Trump, through attorney general William Barr used violence to clear away peaceful protestors along streets near Lafayette Square in Washington so he could walk across the square and hold a Bible aloft like some sort of alien object. The context of this Knights of Columbus photo op cannot be ignored. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., as a prop. They did it at a moment of national crisis, the day after he had used St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., as a prop for a photo for his political campaign. They invited President Donald Trump to use the St. They politicized the order and took the side of racial bigotry and the violation of the constitutional and human rights of American citizens. I am quitting.īecause the top brass of the Knights of Columbus (known as the Supreme Council) injected the Knights into a partisan campaign at a moment of crisis in our national life. I graduated from and taught at the Columbus School of Law, founded by the Knights of Columbus, at the Catholic University of America. I have paid premiums on my Knights of Columbus life insurance for three decades. I have been to scores of meetings and ceremonies. I have been chaplain to our local council and 'faithful friar' to the local fourth degree assembly. I am a fourth degree Knight, which is as far up the ranks as I can go. I have been a member of the Knights of Columbus for 33 years.

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