Last in a series.

By Larry Striegel

The leader of one of the largest factions of Ku Klux Klansmen in Georgia says he thinks Pope John Paul II is a great man.

"I consider myself to be a member of the Catholic Church and a supporter of the pope," Dr. Edward Fields, grand dragon of the New Order Knights of the KKK, said in a recent telephone interview with The Southern Cross.

His statement, one no Klansman would have dared utter in public even 20 years ago, is a sign of how far the pendulum has swung for the Klan's perception of Catholics -- despite the Church's clear and core opposition to racism.

Earlier in the century, Klansmen openly described themselves as defenders of the United States of American and immigrant Catholics and their pope, a man the Klan said was bent on world domination.

"In the 20s," explained Klan leader Bill Wilkinson, "the predominant mood in America was that if a Catholic was elected to public office he would be taking orders from the pope."

"As that was disproved in the '60s we began to accept Catholics as members," Wilkinson said.

He added, "We have many Catholics as members … I would say it is equivalent to the general percentage of Catholics in the population."

A significant Catholic membership is also claimed by Fields, who boasts that he attended Marist High School in Atlanta and was an altar boy.

Bishop Raymond Lessard of Savannah has warned of the Klan's new recognition of Catholics repeatedly in the past several months. He also calls racism "the paramount social problem affecting our area."

Are there many Catholics in the Klan?

There may be many in klaverns of Wilkinson's Invisible Empire in Louisiana, a heavily Catholic state. Yet in Georgia, Catholic membership would appear to be miniscule.

Neither Fields nor Wilkinson would offer concrete proof of such membership. According to Sister Mary Laurent, chancery administrator in Savannah, there have been no reports of Catholics in the diocese joining the Klan. But she conceded that pastors would have no way to know.

"If somebody becomes a Mason, that becomes general knowledge," she said. "But I don't think people who join the Klan go out and advertise it."

Sister Laurent said a different problem was that of Catholics watching Klan marches for amusement. "Some went to marches and were going home and laughing at the things they saw -- the theatrics -- and not realizing the depth of the meaning of the Klan," she said.

The position of the Catholic Church on racisms was clearly stated by a 1979 pastoral letter of U.S. bishops.

"Racism is a sin: a sin that divides the human family, blots out the image of God among specific members of that family and violates the fundamental human dignity of those called to be children of the same father," the letter said.

It called racism "a denial of the truth of the dignity of each human being revealed by the mystery of the incarnation."

In the interview, Fields said: "I think we've got one of the best popes ever in that he is anti-Communist … He is one of the best things to happen to the people of Poland …"

"I can't see any conflict between the Klan and the Catholic Church whatever," Fields said.

With such statements, Fields subtly allies himself with Catholics. Yet, from there he proceeded to say that blacks should be stopped from gaining political power.

Another version of the obvious contradictions between Klan and Catholic teachings comes from Wilkinson, a Protestant, who said in an interview that he is "not anti-black or anti-Hindu or anti-Mexican."

"We just don’t want them as members," he said.

You're not anti-black?

"We're anti-integration," he replied. "We're opposed to being integrated with black people or yellow people or brown people. The Bible teaches that interracial mixing is wrong."

In fact, the Bible teaches no such thing, although some have discerned such teachings from bits and pieces of scripture. Numerous theologians of many denominations have roundly rejected "Biblical theories" that whites are some kind of chosen people.

Fields -- who said he attends Mass at Christ the King Cathedral in Atlanta "when I can," but could not name a priest there -- admitted that his views and those of the Catholic Church contradict.

"The element in charge (of the Catholic Church) believes in racial equality," he said, "but perhaps in the future they will change their minds."

Apparently, his support for the pope is not as full as he would first lead one to believe.