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Knights of Columbus won't march in St. Patrick's Day parade; calls on Catholics to go to church instead

The Massachusetts chapter of the Knights of Columbus vaguely blames somebody for forcing it to stay away:

We deeply regret that some have decided to use this occasion to further the narrow objectives of certain special interests, which has subjected this occasion to undeserved division and controversy. In addition, certain groups have chosen to misrepresent our reason for marching, insisting that we were participating in the parade to support another group or for political reasons. Such allegations are complete fabrications and have no basis in reality whatsoever. Because the parade has become politicized and divisive, and because of the misrepresentation of our motive for participating, we will not be marching in this year’s parade. Instead we invite Catholics to join us in prayer to celebrate St. Patrick during the hours of the parade.

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Comments

seems like you can do both and not have to choose between them

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ugh.. they are as relevant as a 8 track tape these days.

I love how they try to play victim here and how there's "special interests groups" who have objectives who is driving them to do this?

Really and the KofC is not?

By not marching they are throwing themselves into the fire and now, themselves, are a 'special interest' group with a political agenda. If they just marched, then their point would have been valid. But by not marching, they are in return making themselves one with a political agenda to push.

What a joke.. and I'm sure they wonder why they are losing members left and right. Who wants to be apart of a group that pulls crap like this. It's not 1970 anymore, time to move into the 21st century.

Sorry I don't buy the "we're the martyr" BS they are trying to pull. They aren't, they are just a bunch of homophobes who refuse to accept that the world is changing. But it's their loss, they can just be extinct in a few years when all the old farts die off and no new members join because of their homophobic beliefs.

(and folks, I'm well aware that they never say anywhere about 'the gays', but its pretty clear who they mean)

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What a joke.. and I'm sure they wonder why they are losing members left and right. Who wants to be apart of a group that pulls crap like this. It's not 1970 anymore, time to move into the 21st century.

You mean, I shouldn't be deeply touched when some old guy with a cash can wants me to give him money because he's so deeply concerned with what I do with my uterus?

The KofC doesn't stop at mere homophobia,my friend!

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We aren't a homophobic group, we just don't want to get involved in the politicization of the parade. Every year leading up it's become about which group is marching and which is not and it's not worth our time any more. It's barely even about the parade anymore.

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Everyone who believes that, stand on your head. Oh, I see at least one person.
Thanks for your expressing your deeply held beliefs. I'm SO glad the rest of us can express ours, too :+)

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Did you attend the meeting? And what deeply held beliefs are you talking about? That we don't want to get involved because the point of the parade and the excitement is always being marred by controversy?

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Do publish them here, darling.

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No I did not, and don't be so condescending. I know you're just waiting to call me a gay bashing bigot or something because I belong to the KoC but I'm not and our reasons have nothing specific to do with the lgbt group marching or their orientation. Have you ever ceased participating in an activity because of too much advertising or disliked an artist you previously liked because of overplaying of their songs? Same sort of thing.

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I don't need to call you a "gay bashing bigot". The organization you belong to does not have a great record in this area. Perhaps there's a difference between a local and national group office? As for "condescending", I'm not sure how you expect people to believe what you're saying. But that's you. So, Happy Pi Day and
have a nice rest of the weekend.

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If they had withdrawn years, nay, decades ago. What is different about the controversy this year? The parade is now less exclusionary. Are you victims of tragic coincidence? Doubtful, but if you honestly wanted to avoid the appearance of being an out-dated, bigoted group you should have participated this year, then withdrawn next.

Instead the timing of your (in)action says it all.

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"Have you ever ceased participating in an activity because of too much advertising or disliked an artist you previously liked because of overplaying of their songs? Same sort of thing."

Fair point, generally speaking, but announcing that the KofC won't going to be marching in the parade the day after Boston Pride announced that they will be marching (and the day before the parade) appears to be a direct and specific response to the latter and not to the general over-politicization of the event as a whole.

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Not that I want to get involved in a pissing contest, but since you're a member gotdatwmd, if you don't want get involved with the politicization of the parade, why not march anyways? Just because you're in the parade, does not mean you support gays or gay rights. You're there for the same reason the gays are, to honor St Patrick's day. Isn't this the original point of the parade? It's not like we're asking you to March in the gay pride parade, and/or carry rainbow flags in the St Patrick's day parade. You can still march and support St Patrick's Day just as you always did.

You just re-affirmed my original point in my post above.. if you don't want to get involved, just march and release no statement. We're aware of what the KofC's beliefs already, so it's a given they aren't thrilled with the gays. So why not march anyways? By protesting, you're now taking a stand, and becoming apart of the so called "politicization" of the parade.

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I'm personally going to march with other veterans anyway since I already moved my schedule around for it. I was just trying to clear the air about the KoC since it's not about "there are gay people here and we hate them so we don't want to be involved."

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It's more about "Mass Resistance and the Catholic Action League started complaining, so we folded like a lawn chair."

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Our own local 13th century ISIS affiliate. Let's immolate everyone we don't agree with!

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The original point of the parade was to mark Evacuation Day. It's turn from celebrating that occasion to becoming a St Patrick's Day parade was when it became politicized, to demonstrate the rise, then dominance, of Irish-Americans in Boston politics. At no point ever was it primarily any sort of religious event - until the Council needed to create a revisionist history to justify the exclusion of GLIB. It was politicized before the KoC even started participating.

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So, this vote didn't happen until the long-held-aside gay group was allowed to march. It follows years of political football including a Supreme Court decision! But somehow *now* is a river too far for the KoC?

If you said that for the past 15 years the KoC had this vote but they never had a majority vote not to march or if you backed out months ago when groups were lining up to march but decided this year was when the controversy had gone too far. Then you might not be shown to be full of shit and rationalizing your ass off. Whatever bullshit reason you all agreed to and put on paper as the reason, the real reason is that you just learned you would have to share the parade with gay groups. That may not have been YOUR rationalization but the whole group didn't all of the sudden become gay-accepting but still want to make a statement about all the controversy..by stirring up MORE controversy in not marching!

Good riddance. Oh, and my family used to be deeply involved with its KoC hall. They were all homophobic assholes.

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The disingenuousness is as obvious as a fluorescent red side of a barn 10 feet away. Disingenuousness is a close cousin to lying.

Every year the same controversy has risen. If the kofc was so concerned about being in a parade that has a controversial why have they not pulled out earler? What makes this year different?

In the public sphere special interest means Gay people. The phrase is not used about any other minority. That the poobahs of kofc think that most people are so unintelligent to not recognize the coded language says something about how they perceive anyone who reads their statement. Or they realize that the coded language would be interpreted correctly but they don't have the balls to be honest.

Either way they are lying. What would Jesus say about followers who lie?

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want. There are words, and there is action. The action is suddenly deciding to opt out of the parade minutes after OUTVETS and Mass Pride were allowed in. Nothing you can say will speak louder than that action. But please: do go on about how it's not about homophobia.

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OUTVETS had been allowed into the parade weeks ago. As I mentioned earlier, this is about groups like Mass Resistance and the Catholic Action League getting people to call into the various KofC offices and protest.

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the Knights not to march in the parade to protest against the presence of gay groups, and so the KofC lived up to its legacy of helping gays by taking the brave stand to withdraw from the parade?

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They took the path of least (Mass) Resistance

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They seem pretty damn misogynist, too!

When I see an appeal by K of C that does not involve telling other people what to do and not do with their personal bits, I will be willing to believe that the organization is maybe about something beyond policing the penises and vaginas of other people.

In the meantime, maybe a few of those members will have a chance to go to church and contemplate why it is that their organization is so hung up on what other people are doing with their reproductive organs, and maybe how it isn't any of their business so long as they themselves observe doctrine.

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If the K of C doesn't want to get involved in divisive politics, then why did they spearhead the drive to insert religion into the Pledge of Allegiance?

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A 2012 report by a coalition of four Catholic organizations— Call To Action, DignityUSA, Fortunate Families and New Ways Ministry — notes that "In 2006, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson summarized the Knights' view of same-sex marriage as being antithetical to all that is right and
true in the world—as he saw it: 'If homosexual 'marriage' is not wrong, then nothing is wrong.... We will never accept the destruction of the institution of marriage.'" The Knights has subsequently donated more than $7 million to anti-same-sex marriage ballot initiatives across the country. It contributed $1.153 million to ProtectMarriage.com, which promoted California's anti-marriage equality Proposition 8 in 2008, and later another $500,000 to the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund.

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This parade is a big neighborhood event and many of my neighbors in Southie are gay. Why should they not be represented in a Parade that traditionally also observes evacuation day and veterans?

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Quite right! They were only created to oppose Freemasonry anyway (which, by the way, is quite cool with allowing openly gay members to join). No sense in the KoC existing today :-)

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So that gives the gays the right to invade every parade that come along, You do know they have their own, But they must always make sure that America knows they are out there, So you are gay, Well good for you Now shut up about it And leave the rest of us alone.

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"Invade every parade" or "join in the festivities"? Why can't they celebrate when you celebrate? They have their own parade? It doesn't have to be just their parade. If you want to join the festivities, you should. I bet they'd let you.

They'd love to leave the rest of us alone...if they could get the same treatment from you. The rules are rigged against them existing. They had to fight in court to marry. They don't get guarantees on the same benefits and assumptions from the system, from government to healthcare to employment protection to public accomodation equality.

They need to leave you alone?

Ha.

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Father Joe White of Southie could preach and teach the Knights that the Catholic church stands up and fights for the rights of the homeless, immigrants, teenagers who are in trouble and gays and lesbians. Saint Patrick and Father Joe and millions more will stand and cheer for Boston Pride,all our veterans and hopefully the largest cheers will be for the men and women in blue who have been shot,beaten, taunted and labeled as racists and uncle toms by the media and poverty pirates.

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Knights of Columbus pull out of St. Patrick’s Day Parade

And of course, the first thing I though of was old school Catholic birth control. And I could have lived the rest of my life without that image in my head.

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the narrow objectives of certain special interests..."

"Some", huh? "Special", huh? "Narrow objectives, huh?"

I'm going to send out an invitation to the Knights Who Say Ni.

I can only imagine they''ll be immensely more entertaining than the
Knights Who Say "I'm not marching with those Icky Gays."

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that of all the things to object to about that parade, it comes down to the icky gays. How about the icky drunks? Or the icky piles of vomit everywhere or passed out kids on the Red Line? Or heck--how about ALL of the other sinners marching along--the divorcees, the adulterers, the fornicators...I mean come on!! To object to this from a standpoint of alleged Catholic feeling is beyond absurd.

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IMAGE(http://www.eyeofthetiber.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Knights_of_Columbus_salute_during_the_welcoming_ceremony_for_Pope_Benedict_XVI.jpg)

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Some of you haters are just as bad as the haters.

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It's been marred for more than 20 yrs by controversy and politicization and this just happens to be the year they pull out? While it swung their way I guess they could look the other way on the controversy but not any more.

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"We deeply regret that some have decided to use this occasion to further the narrow objectives of certain special interests"

projecting much?

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Instead we invite Catholics to join us in prayer to celebrate St. Patrick during the hours of the parade.

Ans where will that prayer being held? In the majority of KoC halls that are nothing more than hangouts for old basos with an appreciation for vintage wood paneling and pictures of JFK with 2 inches of nicotine on them?

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Nicotine is colorless. You're thinking of tar. ;)

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my only frame of reference is leftover resin.

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When I pulled down the visors, I learned the interior used to be white.

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This will most likely be the last time I have read about this on UHub. Now if bikes had never been invented!

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They want the Knights of Columbus back.

Who even knew the "Knights of Columbus" was still a thing.

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parades were supposed be, like, fun?

Every year it's something new with this stupid parade. One childish group against another. Miss me with that. Why do they even pretend anyone actually cares about who marches in this bullshit? The only people who care that this parade happens are the 20-somethings from the South Shore visiting their friends who just moved to Southie to get shitfaced.

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... without annual controversy:

Allston-Brighton Day
Roslindale Day
Dorchester Day
Bunker Hill Day - Charlestown
Columbus Day - North End or East Boston (alternating years)
Memorial Day - Somerville
Patriots' Day - Arlington and Lexington

what the hell is wrong with South Boston?

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Are those equivalent? Those are all secular in name.

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This isn't a St. Patrick's Day parade but an Evacuation Day parade.

At least that is the secular "kids out of school" cover story, and they are sticking to it.

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some (noticed I said some) in South Boston need another group to pick on.

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The Knights of Columbus refuse to march in a parade which honors veterans and St. Patrick's Day because parade organizers have finally made the decision to honor veterans who are gay instead of excluding them? That's disappointing. I never really knew what the KoC was about, but now I have an idea.

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so the KoC will celebrate the inclusion of gays
by getting down on their knees in a show of
solidarity with the cause

that's awesome!

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Adam is it now Ok to be sexually suggestive if it's against pc approved groups?

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Although it was on an unrelated topic, it reminded me of this one.

If you want a rainbow, you have to put up with some rain.

.

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one of KoC's Extra Crispy chicken wings, you would not be talking ill of this group. Shame on all of you.

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