US priest temporarily steps down after revealing he was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan

US priest temporarily steps down after revealing he was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan 

 The Tablet

23 August 2017 | by Rose Gamble

'We must condemn, at every opportunity, the hatred and vile beliefs of the KKK and other white supremacist organisations'

A US Catholic priest has said he is temporarily stepping down after writing an editorial on Monday (21 August) in which he revealed he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) 40 years ago.
Father William Aitcheson, writing in The Arlington Catholic Herald, said the recent Charlottesville violence had prompted him to revisit his “despicable actions.”
The Charlottesville images “brought back memories of a bleak period in my life that I would have preferred to forget,” Father Aitcheson wrote in the editorial.
“The reality is, we cannot forget, we should not forget. Our actions have consequences and while I firmly believe God forgave me — as he forgives anyone who repents and asks for forgiveness — forgetting what I did would be a mistake.”