Imagine walking out of adoration to find a gang of hooded Klansman burning a cross at your parish. This happened at the Shrine of St. Anne In Arvada in September 1925. Klansmen, including recent gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton’s grandfather and one-time Denver Mayor Benjamin Stapleton, had taken over the state. Similar to how many see Latino immigrants today, the Klan saw Catholic Italians and Irish as lazy, immoral immigrants who refused to assimilate to Protestant American values.
The cross they burned at the Shrine of St. Anne was an announcement and a warning — they were planning a massive march to the parish to show the Irish and Italians that the klan ruled Colorado. Fortunately, a brotherhood stood in their way against the KKK’s hatred, for the truth, and for the Catholic way of life.
The Knight of Columbus came to Denver at the turn of the century and offered sanctuary and solidarity for Catholic men still spurned by many Protestants as backward and even sub-human. When they heard of the plan to burn to burn the parish, the Knights led the Denver Catholic community to organize. Ten thousand marched from Regis Jesuit University to the Shrine of St Anne ready to protect the true Church, come against them what may. This was the first Catholic pilgrimage in Denver history.
Fortunately for the Klan, their leader John Galen Lock called off their march. The ten thousand-man march the Knights organized marked the beginning of the end for Klan dominance in Colorado.
Today the Knights of Columbus are again involved in controversy. Improved historical understanding has made clear that Columbus was genocidal, greed-driven, and actively acted against spreading the Catholic faith. Many call on the Knights to change the name, and the author personally (not speaking for TRECC) agrees such action is long overdue. Nonetheless, in this challenging time in the Church and in our nation, we must remember the strength and virtue of the Knights who took on the KKK and won.
