Priest Steps Down After Revealing Ku Klux Klan Membership

A Virginia priest is temporarily stepping down after revealing he was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Rev. William Aitcheson published an editorial Monday, detailing that over 40 years before becoming a Catholic priest, he had burned crosses and written a threatening letter while associated with the hate group.

Aitcheson, 62, is a priest based in Arlington, Virginia, and wrote the piece in reaction to the events in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“The images from Charlottesville brought back memories of a bleak period in my life that I would have preferred to forget. The reality is, we cannot forget, we should not forget,” wrote Aitcheson in the Arlington Catholic Herald. “The images from Charlottesville are embarrassing. They embarrass us as a country, but for those who have repented from a damaging and destructive past, the images should bring us to our knees in prayer.”

Earlier this month neo-Nazis, KKK members and white supremacists participated in a rally in Charlottesville protesting the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The weekend ended in violence when a man with connections to white supremacy slammed a car into counter-protestors, killing one woman.

“Racists have polluted minds, twisted by an ideology that reinforces the false belief that they are superior to others,” wrote Aitcheson. “We must condemn, at every opportunity, the hatred and vile beliefs of the KKK and other white supremacist organizations.”

The paper, printed by the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, pointed out in an editorial note that Aitcheson was leaving of his own accord and was not forced out by the church.

As a 23-year-old University of Maryland student, Aitcheson was charged with several counts of cross-burning in Maryland and making bomb threats and manufacturing pipe bombs, according to the Washington Post Tuesday.

A 1977 Post article identified Aitcheson as an “exalted cyclops” and leader of the Robert E. Lee Lodge of the Maryland Knights of the KKK.

Maryland State Police at the time said that the lodge was being investigated for plans to bomb National Association for the Advancement of Colored People offices and facilities at Ft. Meade, a Maryland army base that is also home to the National Security Agency.

Aitcheson apologized for his previous life in the editorial and asked for forgiveness.

“While 40 years have passed, I must say this: I’m sorry. To anyone who has been subjected to racism or bigotry, I am sorry. I have no excuse, but I hope you will forgive me,” he wrote.

A statement from the Catholic Diocese of Arlington called Aitcheson’s past “sad and deeply troubling.”

Before settling back in Virginia, Aitcheson served in a variety of local churches in Nevada, Virginia and Maryland. Aitcheson was ordained in 1988. Before he stepped down, he was a parochial vicar or a priest who assists a church’s pastor.