Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Update on the Casey Function Center, NARAL and the Knights of Columbus (and Mr. Spead)

Clergy leaves Knights of Columbus over NARAL event

Two priests at St. James Church have resigned from The Knights of Columbus over the NARAL scuffle in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

"Some faithful Catholics may assume that the decision to rent the hall to NARAL means that members of the Knights of Columbus, including us, are indifferent to NARAL's stated purposes," according to a statement provided to the Herald by Kerper. "As a result, we find ourselves compelled to resign immediately from Council 140."

In addition, Kerper told followers that "as long as Council 140 continues to own and operate its hall in a way that seriously jeopardizes the peace of this parish and the reputation of the Catholic Church, Corpus Christi Parish will suspend all cooperation with the Knights of Columbus."

"This event was very much at odds with that," Korten said.
Despite the fact that the Knights of Columbus and the Casey Home Association are considered to be separate legal entities, Korten said, generally speaking, the hall takes directive on policies from the council.



Woo-hooh!

Nice witness on behalf of the unborn.

It's a little more than "generally speaking" the hall takes directives on policies from the council though.   The Knights of Columbus is the legally controlling entity of "the hall".

But somehow, a President of the Knights of Columbus entity that legally controls the hall believes his election has wiped out the By-Laws and structure of the corporation:


Richard Spead, president of the Casey Home Association and member of the Knights of Columbus, said he became president of the association nine months ago and insisted the center has continually been operated "without regard to any political or religious beliefs or otherwise."
Spead said the way the linked membership works is that once a person becomes a member of the Knights of Columbus, they automatically become a member of the association.
Spead confirmed the cancellation of the June 9 event and said steps are now being taken to completely sever any and all relationships between the Catholic fraternal organization and the function center.
"Frankly, in doing so, we will be operating as a nonprofit without regard to color, race or creed," said Spead.
The president said he would rent to any group, without regard, because "that's what it means to be a good Christian."
Spead said he fully intends on following through with the separation.
"I really want to make sure the function center survives and the Knights of Columbus survive and go their own way," he said.
After following through on his promise to completely separate the two entities from any affiliation, Spead said he intends on withdrawing from the Knights of Columbus organization and could possibly leave the Catholic church as well.
Calling it a "hypocrisy," Spead said he's astonished the church made such a big deal over the issue, while, Spead said, it continually pays little to no consideration to problems with pedophilia within the church.


That's quite a straw man Spead uses, i.e. he's astonished that Catholics who are actually pedophiles would get bent out of shape about sex, abortion and candy conference.  Spead, also by the by told a woman who called to speak to him about the event that she was an "idiot" and that she should bring "pedophile priests with her" when she came to the Hall to protest the event.

How tragic this man is so hurt and confused.

Again, kudos to all who worked on this project.   

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How tragic this man is so hurt and confused.

I think he is neither hurt nor confused nor is he Catholic.

Charlie F. said...

Thank God for good priests like these two. Their witness is so important.
Mr. Spead isn't quite up to speed on the knowledge of his faith, is he?
It's the Christian thing to do to rent your Catholic fraternally affiliated hall to an organization that vehemently pushes the intrinsic evil of abortion? He's surprised a "big deal" is made of this? Good grief. He's already left the church in terms of agreeing with its tenets.
Also, it's kind of scary that he's been in charge of running the hall, since being a Knight in that chapter automatically makes you part of the association that runs the hall, which Spead has managed without regard to petty things like ethical and moral considerations?
Perhaps this event will be a wake-up call to how some Knights have allowed the group's focus to deteriorate. Perhaps.

Anonymous said...

K of C major concern: Is the Beer flat?