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‘My actions were despicable’: Catholic priest steps down after revealing he was a Ku Klux Klan member decades ago

By 

Dana Hedgpeth

 and 

Michelle Boorstein

 

August 22, 2017 at 5:58 PM 

Forty years ago, William Aitcheson was a University of Maryland student and Ku Klux Klan member who burned a cross in the front yard of a black newlywed couple’s home. He was sentenced to jail time and ordered to pay about $20,000 to the family. Then he found God.

Aitcheson went on to attend seminary in Rome, became a reverend and was ordained as a Catholic priest. He returned home to the East Coast and served in several Virginia churches, including his most recent post at St. Leo the Great in Fairfax City, where he’s been for four years.

The Rev. William Aitcheson. (

Arlington Catholic Herald

)

Seeing images from the deadly white supremacist and white nationalist rally in Charlottesville spurred Aitcheson to make a confession of his own. He wrote an editorial published Monday in the 

Arlington Catholic Herald about his KKK involvement and burning crosses before joining the clergy. He said he’s temporarily stepping down from his post.

In his editorial, Aitcheson described himself as “an impressionable young man” when he became a member of the hate group. He wrote that images from the rally in Charlottesville “brought back memories of a bleak period in my life that I would have preferred to forget.”

It isn’t clear how many at his church knew of his KKK involvement, although officials at the Catholic Diocese of Arlington said they “learned of his past as well as his sincere conversion of heart.” They said no accusations of racism have been lodged against him while at the diocese.

“My actions were despicable,” wrote Aitcheson, 62. “When I think back on burning crosses, a threatening letter, and so on, I feel as though I am speaking of somebody else. It’s hard to believe that was me.”

In a statement, Catholic Diocese of Arlington Bishop Michael F. Burbidge called Aitcheson’s past “sad and deeply troubling.”

Aitcheson served with the Catholic church in Nevada before being transferred to Arlington, where he is originally from, church officials said in a statement. He was ordained in 1988 and has served in a variety of positions at parishes in Nevada; Arlington; Fredericksburg, Va.; and Woodstock, Md. His latest assignment was as parochial vicar, or assistant to the pastor, at St. Leo the Great in Fairfax City.

The Arlington diocese said Aitcheson would not be available for comment. Attempts to reach him Tuesday were unsuccessful.

According to a March 1977 story in The Washington Post, Aitcheson, then a 23-year-old University of Maryland student, was identified as an “exalted cyclops” of a KKK lodge. He was charged in several cross-burnings in Prince George’s County, one count of making bomb threats and two counts of manufacturing pipe bombs.

According to the 1977 Post story, state police in Maryland said Aitcheson was a leader of the Robert E. Lee Lodge of the Maryland Knights of the KKK, which had planned to recruit people to blow up facilities at Fort Meade.

When officers searched his home in the 1970s, they found nine pounds of black powder, weapons and bomb parts in Aitcheson’s bedroom and basement. His parents told authorities they didn’t know about the explosives and weapons.

At the time of his arrest, Aitcheson’s father, William W. Aitcheson, said his son was a member of the hate group, adding, “My son, along with others, are just caught up in it. … I don’t know what their thoughts are.”

Aitcheson pleaded guilty to several cross burnings, including one in the front yard of an African American family in the College Park Woods neighborhood and others at B’nai B’rith Hillel at the University of Maryland and the Beth Torah Congregation in Hyattsville. He was convicted, sentenced to 90 days and ordered to pay a judgment of about $20,000.

The African American couple, who were newlyweds at the time, declined to talk Tuesday about the burning cross from 40 years ago. A woman who answered the door at their Silver Spring home said it was so long ago and that thinking about it would bring back difficult memories.

Five years after Aitcheson’s involvement in the cross-burning incident at their home, President Ronald Reagan visited the couple and their young daughter, saying it was “is not something that should have happened in America,” according to a May 1982 article in the Post.

Steve Fennell, a partner at Washington law firm Steptoe and Johnson, represented the family in a civil case against Aitcheson. The said the cross burning had an “enormous impact” on his former clients, although we hasn’t spoken with them in decades.

“The hurt was profound, but the closure they got from the president of the United States was just as profound,” he said.

Aitcheson also pleaded guilty to charges that he 

threatened to kill

 Coretta King, the widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He told a U.S. District Court judge that he wrote to King in February 1976, telling her to “stay off the University of Maryland campus or you will die.” Investigators said he wrote “Africa or death by lynching, take your pick, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.” He was a U-Md. student studying broadcasting at the time.

He told a judge he was pleading guilty because “well, ah, because I’m guilty.” He was convicted in U.S. District Court in Baltimore of mailing threatening communications. A judge sentenced him to 60 days in prison and four years of probation.

In his editorial published this week, Aitcheson apologized and said the recent violence in Charlottesville prompted him to share his past. He called the images from Charlottesville “embarrassing,” adding that “for those who have repented from a damaging and destructive past, the images should bring us to our knees in prayer.”

Aitcheson went on: “Racists have polluted minds, twisted by an ideology that reinforces the false belief that they are superior to others.” Aitcheson also wrote that “the irony that” he “left an anti-Catholic hate group to rejoin the Catholic Church is not lost on me. It is a reminder of the radical transformation possible through Jesus Christ in his mercy.”

Billy Atwell, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, said the diocese had received information about Aitcheson’s history when he was accepted for ministry under former Bishop John Keating. He didn’t provide details on what information was known.

He said Aitcheson’s background check upon coming to Arlington indicated he hadn’t been convicted of a “barrier crime” under Virginia law, which includes crimes such as murder, robbery, sexual assault or crimes against children.

Atwell said Tuesday that Aitcheson’s “story of repentance is authentic.”

He said more in-depth background reviews have been done routinely on staff and priests since the mid-2000s. The checks are conducted using a national criminal check system of FBI and fingerprint-tracking databases. It wasn’t clear if Aitcheson’s criminal record would have eliminated his ability to become a priest, either in Nevada or Virginia.

“The question as to whether someone is fit for ministry is answered within that process,” Atwell wrote in an email. After that, he said, a formal recommendation is made to the Bishop and his advisers.

In Nevada, a spokesman for the Diocese of Reno said he only had “general files” about Aitcheson and that those who had made decisions on him becoming a priest have since died.

“The diocese accepted him, for whatever reason,” said the Rev. Robert Chorey. “I have no record of their thought process of anything.”

Asked if the diocese knew about Aitcheson’s KKK and criminal background when they accepted him as a priest, Chorey said, “it seems they understood at least part of his background.” What would disqualify someone from becoming a priest was hard to say, Chorey said, adding that it would be decided on a case-by-case basis. He said he didn’t know why Aitcheson decided to go to Nevada.

At Fairfax’s Saint Leo the Great, Al Leightley, the church’s head usher, said Aitcheson never discussed his involvement with the KKK. Leightley found out about his past Tuesday morning, but said Aitcheson repented appropriately in his letter.

“He is a very good priest, very dedicated to his profession,” he said. “It’s hard to see all the commotion going on with the gentleman.”

Some public Catholic figures began speaking out on Aitcheson on Tuesday, including conservative legal scholar Matthew Franck, a Princeton University lecturer.

“I hope this evidently good man returns to active ministry,” Franck tweeted. “He could do important work, especially with his history.”

On the diocese’s Facebook page, supporters of the priest praised his decision to go public and called him a gifted pastor. “A true story of redemption. May God continue to work in and through Fr. Aitcheson,” one wrote.

In a phone interview, Franck said, “Sometimes people get involved in a hate group and then have been reborn, and have an interesting story to tell … It would be a loss for him to just vanish.”

Some commenters disagreed. One woman, Linda Sun, wrote on the comment section of the Arlington Catholic Herald website that while Aitcheson may “feel good” after putting his story more into the public, it’s a “kind of self-indulgence that does little good.”

A note at the bottom of Aitcheson’s editorial Monday said he had “voluntarily asked to step away from public ministry, for the well being of the Church and parish community.”

Ellie Silverman, Justin Jouvena, Magda Jean-Louis and Peter Hermann contributed to this report.

=====================================================================================

Md. Student Charged in 6 P.G. Cross Burnings

By Vernon C. Thompson

March 3, 1977

A 23-year-old University of Maryland student identified as “exalted cyclops” of a Ku Klux Klan lodge, was charged yesterday with six cross-burnings in Prince George’s County, one count of making bomb threats and two of manufacturing pipe bombs.

Maryland State police who made the arrest, said the lodge was planning to bomb homes of blacks and the offices of the NAACP in Prince George’s and planned to recruit persons to blow up communications facilities and a generating plant at Ft. George G. Meade near Laurel.

A Prince George’s County grand jury has summoned witnesses in an investigation of KKK activities. Arrested at his parents’ home in Ellicott City, Md., at 6 a.m. was William M. Aitcheson, a University student studying radio, television and film who was identified by State Police as “exalted cyclops” – leader – of the Robert E. Lee Lodge of the Maryland Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

State Police spokesman Bill Clark said the arrest resulted from tips from undercover investigators who had infiltrated the Klan. He said officers searched home and found nine pounds of black powder and “several” weapons and bomb components in Aitcheson’s bedroom and the basement of the house.

“The KKK has been a stable group over the last few years, but recently there has been a dramatic increase in activity,” said Clark, who said cross-burnings are on the increase.

He estimated that the Robert E. Lee Lodge had a dozen members. United Press International quoted official estimates that there are 500 members of various KKK groups in Maryland.

Of the Robert E. Lee Lodge, Clark said: “It appears that this particular group was just getting organized and developing a scheme to place explosives and five bombs at specific locations.”

He did not say why Ft. Meade might be a target for bombing. The facility is both First Army headquarters and home of the supersecret National Security Agency.

Clark said the Prince George’s grand jury has summoned a Marine guard at Ft. Meade, a Baltimore prison guard and a Klan “grand wizard” from Montgomery County.

At a press conference yesterday, Prince George’s County Fire Chief Frank P. Briguglio said his fire investigators had solved more than half of the 17 cross-burning incidents that occurred in the county in the past two years.

Briguglio also said more arrests are expected in connection with cross-burnings. “The investigation is not over yet,” he said.

The cross burnings with which Aitcheson is charged allegedly occurred at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville last March 14, Beth Torah Synagogue on March 26, at home in University Park on April 9, the University of Maryland Adult Education Center on April 22, the Hillel Foundation in College Park on Sept. 3 and a private home in College Park on Jan. 30.

The penalty for unlawful cross burning, according to Prince George’s County fire officials, is 90 days and or a $500 fine.

The suspect’s father, William W. Aitcheson, acknowledged that his son was a member of the Klan. He said he would not comment on his son’s beliefs because: “If you aired the issues, it wouldn’t help because those with beliefs contrary to the Klan . . . would believe it was a white wash.”

The father, who also said he did not believe in the tenets of the Klan, said his son recently had joined the organization. “My son, along with others, are just caught up in it . . . I don’t know what their thoughts are.”

[TEXT OMITTED FROM SOURCE] little boy the KKK was quite a thing. little boy th GGG was quite a thing. They used to hold carnivals in the Beltsville area. Everybody but colored people, Catholics and other minorities attended. I don’t know if their sympathies were for the movement, but they had a good time.”

Taken from the
Washington Post
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