Around New England

Knights of Columbus Student Leader Was Forced To Resign After Showing Up To College Dance With Boyfriend

May 16, 2018

The chaplain of the Knights of Columbus council at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire pressured the student leader to resign after he showed up at the organization’s formal dance with his boyfriend.

As grand knight of the council, the student was expected to uphold Catholic teachings, including the one that calls same-sex sex acts “intrinsically disordered.”

“He knew that this was the expectation but decided to act otherwise,” wrote the chaplain, Father Benedict Guevin, according to The Union Leader. “So it was because of the confusion and doubt regarding Church teaching that I asked for his resignation. To do otherwise would have implicated me in this confusion, something that my conscience could not allow.”

The student, a senior who is planning to graduate this weekend, said he was surprised by the request to resign because of his accomplishments as grand knight, including recruiting 12 new members, according to The Union Leader.

A spokesman for the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic fraternal order, said the organization doesn’t judge the Catholicity of its members and did not seek the resignation of the student.