Catholic Priest Leaves Church After Revelations Of His Anti-Semitic KKK Past
(JTA) — A Washington-area Catholic priest who left his post because of revelations of his Ku Klux Klan past never apologized or paid court-ordered restitution to two Jewish institutions for burning crosses on their property.
Bill Aitcheson, a priest at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Fairfax City, Virginia, acknowledged his college days in the KKK and said his Catholic faith saved him in an essay published a week ago in the Arlington Catholic Herald, the Washington Post reported.
He referenced the white supremacist rally earlier this month in Charlottesville, Virginia, writing “racists have polluted minds.”
Aitcheson temporarily stepped down from his post within the Arlington Diocese at his own request following the publication of the essay, according to the Post.
The Washington Post reported that the essay glossed over Aitcheson’s tenure in the KKK, saying he was a “violent ringleader” of the white supremacist group in Maryland while a student at the University of Maryland and served jail time for burning crosses, threatening to kill Coretta Scott King, and plotting to take down water systems, military installations and launch an armed revolution for which he had stockpiled bombs and guns.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
