01-17-2019, 07:12 AM
I thought it was because the knights were associated with the Catholic religion.
Yes they are, but the Knights are entirely separate from the church. They have generously donated a great amount of money to charities and other causes over the years, but it can come at a cost to those who accept their help. They are powerful and won't hesitate to influence either church or state. This doesn't necessarily disqualify a member of the Knights from an appointment on the federal bench as a judge, but it's not inappropriate for Mazie to question a nominee about their role in the organization and how it might influence their decision making process.
According to the National Catholic Reporter:
For more than a decade and a half, under the leadership of a former political operative, the Knights of Columbus has increasingly used its enormous wealth to influence the direction of the church, underwriting think tanks and news outlets while gaining entrée to some of the highest levels of decision-making in the church. Its capacity for funding has given the Knights of Columbus an inordinately loud voice, potentially drowning out that of others, and no other lay group can match the Knights' ability to leave its mark on the church. Some worry that such influence can actually distort the church's ecclesiology, its structure and its governance...
https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountab...-influence
Yes they are, but the Knights are entirely separate from the church. They have generously donated a great amount of money to charities and other causes over the years, but it can come at a cost to those who accept their help. They are powerful and won't hesitate to influence either church or state. This doesn't necessarily disqualify a member of the Knights from an appointment on the federal bench as a judge, but it's not inappropriate for Mazie to question a nominee about their role in the organization and how it might influence their decision making process.
According to the National Catholic Reporter:
For more than a decade and a half, under the leadership of a former political operative, the Knights of Columbus has increasingly used its enormous wealth to influence the direction of the church, underwriting think tanks and news outlets while gaining entrée to some of the highest levels of decision-making in the church. Its capacity for funding has given the Knights of Columbus an inordinately loud voice, potentially drowning out that of others, and no other lay group can match the Knights' ability to leave its mark on the church. Some worry that such influence can actually distort the church's ecclesiology, its structure and its governance...
https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountab...-influence
“We do this thing not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.”