Controversy surrounding Members of Knights of Columbus in American Politics: A Federal Judge & U
- Jul 30, 2019
- 5 min read
Does being a member of an extreme, secret religious order preclude a person from being a federal judge in the United States in 2019? No it doesn’t! “The Senate on Wednesday [July 24] voted to confirm Brian Buescher, a judicial nominee grilled by two senators last year over his membership in the Knights of Columbus. Buescher will now become a U.S. District Judge in Nebraska…The Senate on Wednesday voted 51-40 to confirm Buescher, with nine senators not voting.” Why is this important from a prophetic standpoint, one may be inquiring. First, a little background. President Trump nominated the Omaha-based lawyer in December of 2018, which immediately drew criticism from Democratic senators, with one of them asking the question, “whether his membership in the Knights of Columbus would prevent him from hearing cases ‘fairly and impartially' and, if confirmed, whether he would end his membership in the Roman Catholic charitable organization.” In January of 2019, the Senate passed a “religious test” resolution on Knights of Columbus stating that it would be “‘unconstitutional’ to consider membership in the Knights of Columbus a disqualifying criteria for public office. The resolution passed by unanimous consent, meaning it went unopposed by seniors of either party.”
The “religious test” resolution that passed the senate seems unnecessary considering that a high ranking member of the Knights of Columbus already serves as the United States’ “top cop” or attorney general, who also was in recent news for reinstating the federal death penalty. Imagine that, a Roman Catholic member of the Knights of Columbus serving as the Attorney General and bringing back the death penalty! From an article on Religion News under the headline, “Death penalty decision answers lingering questions about how Barr’s faith affects his politics,” the following can be read, “U.S. Attorney General William Barr is, by all accounts, a very committed Catholic. He’s a Knight of Columbus and served for several years as a member of its Supreme Board. He served on the board of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C. until 2017…Barr’s Catholicism is so well known that it came up in his confirmation hearing for attorney general…But Barr himself has long been criticized by secular groups for mixing church and state, particularly for his declaration that ‘society’s moral culture is based on God’s law,' in a speech to a Catholic group in 1992… The only moral possibility for the death penalty comes from, as St. John Paul II put it, a situation where it is the only way to ‘defend society.’” Crux News also ran an article stating the same, “Let’s be honest: Catholic teaching doesn’t always forbid the death penalty” in which the following was stated, ‘the death penalty can sometimes support the common good. St Thomas Aquinas makes this point: ‘Therefore if a man be dangerous and infectious to the community, on account of some sin, it is praiseworthy and advantageous that he be killed in order to safeguard the common good.’”
Since Brian Buesher has been confirmed as a federal judge in the United States and William Barr is serving as US attorney general without having to renounce their membership in the Knights of Columbus, the precedent has been set for a Jesuit to be able to serve in the highest office in the nation, the President of the United States, if (s)elected.
Of course the Knights of Columbus derive its name from Italian explorer and navigator, Christopher Columbus, who was sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, known as the Catholic Monarchs who, along with the Pope at the time, established the Spanish Inquisition. Incidentally, many of the torture techniques presently employed by the United States were inspired by and borrowed from the Spanish Inquisition, such techniques that President Trump said on record that he wants to expand. And now, the federal death penalty has been reinstated by a Roman Catholic member of the Knights of Columbus.
Back to the confirmation of Brian Buescher. In spite of his confirmation, there were many senators however that came to Buescher’s defense claiming anti-Catholic bigotry and hostility. “Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) also defended Buescher in a July 18 statement, saying that ‘this has been a long process and we’ve had to fight everything from political smears to outright anti-Catholic bigotry.’ On Wednesday, he called the opposition to Buescher’s confirmation, along with the questioning of the religious beliefs of other nominees, a ‘weird rebirth of McCarthyism,’ according to Jason Calvi of EWTN News Nightly. In the Senate on Wednesday, Sen. McConnell noted, tongue-in-cheek, that the ‘negative bombshell’ on the nominee was that he ‘is a practicing Catholic.’ ‘My goodness. Imagine that, in the United States of America: a person of faith, serving in government,’ McConnell said.”
Do you wonder whether Mr. McConnell and others would have similarly defended a Muslim appointed as a federal judge, or attorney general or whether such a person would have even been nominated for those positions. One of the founding fathers of America and the first Secretary of the Treasury, had much to say about Roman Catholic office holders. Taken from America Magazine, “Alexander Hamilton was not always a defender of Catholics. After coming to New York City in 1774 from the West Indies as a young man, he plunged into the escalating crisis between Britain and the North American Colonies. Joining the patriot cause, he denounced the Quebec Act, in which Britain recognized the preeminent position of the Catholic Church in Canada and allowed officeholders to take oaths without renouncing their allegiance to the papacy.” Hamilton wrote in 1775 of the British: ‘If they had been friends to the Protestant cause they never would have provided such a nursery for its greater enemy.’”
Although Mr. Buescher and Mr. Barr have been sworn into office as a federal judge and attorney general respectively, and have pledged to serve this country, they have not only pledged to the Roman Catholic Church but also to the Knights of Columbus, both of which supersede their oath to government office. Since Mr. Buescher has now been confirmed as a judge, without having to renounce his Knights of Columbus membership, the way has been paved for a Jesuit to assume any position in the United States government, including that of the President, even though it is their studied aim to destroy the constitution and reestablish Papal rule. Notwithstanding the Jesuits have secretly climbed their way into public office acting as spies and even counselors to kings thus shaping the policies of nations. The Knights of Columbus are intimately connected with the Jesuits and work closely with the Pope. Pope Francis is a Jesuit as most already know. Pope Francis in 2015 met with the leaders of the Knights of Columbus. On the front page of the Knights of Columbus’ official website, the following can be read under the heading of “solidarity” alongside a picture of Pope Francis and the “Supreme Knight:” “The Knights of Columbus work in solidarity with Pope Francis as the Order continues its tradition of fulfilling the Church’s evangelization mission.”
In light of all that was stated, consider the following: “The Roman Catholic Church, with all its ramifications throughout the world, forms one vast organization under the control, and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of communicants, in every country on the globe, are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government, they are to regard the authority of the church as above all other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loyalty to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her interests.” Now, should Mr. Buescher have been confirmed as a US federal judge and should Mr. Barr be able to serve as the attorney general?
[if !supportFootnotes]
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/donald-trump-we-need-to-change-law-to-allow-torture-waterboarding/
https://www.kofc.org/en/news/releases/pope-francis-meets-kofc-leaders.html
Ibid
White, Ellen. The Great Controversy (1911), page 580
Comments