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<h3><span style="color:#808080;"><strong><em>“The images from Charlottesville are embarrassing”. </em></strong></span><br />
<span style="color:#808080;"><strong><em>“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.”</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="color:#808080;"><strong><em>“Racists have polluted minds, twisted by an ideology that reinforces the false belief that they are superior to others.”</em> &#8211; Fr. William Aitcheson</strong></span></h3>
<h6><span style="color:#030000;"><strong>Catholic priest in Northern Virginia regrets his KKK past</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color:#030000;"><strong>Fr. William Aitcheson, admitted to being ex-KKK leader in his college &#8211; 40 years ago, before he was saved by turning to God</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color:#030000;"><strong>In the wake of Charlottesville violence Fr. Aitcheson, 62, expressed remorse for his past and urged others not to take up the KKK&#8217;s cause </strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color:#030000;"><strong>The Roman Catholic priest is stepping away from public ministry after admitting his past of cross burnings in the 1970s</strong></span></h6>
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<h2 class="ra-caption"><img class="alignnone wp-image-240717" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/fr-william-aitcheson-1.png" alt="Fr. William Aitcheson 1.png" width="770" height="837" /></h2>
<h6>Fr. William Aitcheson expressed remorse for his past and urged others not to take up the KKK&#8217;s cause.</h6>
<p>A Roman Catholic priest in northern Virginia is stepping away from ministry after admitting he was deeply involved with the Ku Klux Klan during his college days in Maryland, in the 1970s.<br />
“When I think back on burning crosses, a threatening letter, and so on, I feel as though I am speaking of somebody else,” Father William Aitcheson <a href="http://catholicherald.com/News/Local_News/Moving_from_hate_to_love_with_God_s_grace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote in the Arlington Catholic Herald</a>. “It’s hard to believe that was me.”<br />
The 62-year-old priest discussed how he joined the anti-Catholic hate group as an “impressionable young man,” but was brought back to his faith “through Jesus Christ in his mercy.”<br />
And while Aitcheson found a new path, the recent violence in Charlottesville, Va., resurrected his dark past.<br />
“The images from Charlottesville are embarrassing,” he wrote. “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.”<br />
“Racists have polluted minds, twisted by an ideology that reinforces the false belief that they are superior to others.”<br />
Aitcheson was the subject of a March 1977 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1977/03/03/md-student-charged-in-6-pg-cross-burnings/68f00ce2-5f21-4634-b2a7-5d04df150c61/?utm_term=.0261df4ce6f6">Washington Post story</a> when the then-23-year-old was charged with six cross burnings in the Washington, D.C. area.</p>
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<div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow wp-amp-block wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__autoplay wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__autoplay-playing" id="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__1"><div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_container swiper"><amp-carousel width="1121" height="767" layout="responsive" type="slides" data-next-button-aria-label="Next Slide" data-prev-button-aria-label="Previous Slide" controls loop autoplay delay=3000 id="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__amp-carousel__1" on="slideChange:wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__amp-pagination__1.toggle(index=event.index, value=true)"><div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide"><figure><img width="1121" height="767" src="https://i0.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/antifa-protesters-in-charlottesville-aug-19.png?fit=1121%2C767&;ssl=1" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image" alt="" object-fit="contain" /></figure></div><div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide"><figure><img width="1081" height="767" src="https://i0.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/antifa-protesters-in-charlottesville-2.png?fit=1081%2C767&;ssl=1" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image" alt="" object-fit="contain" /></figure></div><div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide"><figure><img width="652" height="522" src="https://i0.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/anti-supremacist-protesters-2.jpg?fit=652%2C522&;ssl=1" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image" alt="" object-fit="contain" /></figure></div></amp-carousel><a aria-label="Pause Slideshow" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause" role="button" on="tap:wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__amp-carousel__1.toggleAutoplay(toggleOn=false),wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__1.toggleClass(class=wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__autoplay-playing,force=false)"></a><a aria-label="Play Slideshow" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-play" role="button" on="tap:wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__amp-carousel__1.toggleAutoplay(toggleOn=true),wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__1.toggleClass(class=wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__autoplay-playing,force=true)"></a><amp-selector id="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__amp-pagination__1" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_pagination swiper-pagination swiper-pagination-custom amp-pagination" on="select:wp-block-jetpack-slideshow__amp-carousel__1.goToSlide(index=event.targetOption)" layout="container"><button option="0" class="swiper-pagination-bullet" tabindex="0" role="button" aria-label="Go to slide 1" selected></button><button option="1" class="swiper-pagination-bullet" tabindex="0" role="button" aria-label="Go to slide 2" ></button><button option="2" class="swiper-pagination-bullet" tabindex="0" role="button" aria-label="Go to slide 3" ></button></amp-selector></div></div>
<h6><strong>Scenes from Charlottesville protests in cities around the world</strong></h6>
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<h6><span class="ra-title"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-240728" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/antifa-protesters-in-charlottesville-aug-19.png" alt="Antifa protesters in Charlottesville, Aug 19.png" width="1121" height="767" />&#8216;The images of Charlottesville are embarrassing&#8217; &#8211; Fr. Aitcheson</strong></span></h6>
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<p>Aitcheson was enrolled at the University of Maryland studying radio, television and film, but state police said he was the “exalted cyclops” or a leader of the Robert E. Lee Lodge of the state’s KKK chapter.<br />
Police told the newspaper the hate group’s presence<br />
The lodge was planning to recruit bombers to attack facilities in Ft. Meade — home to an Army base and the National Security Agency.<br />
State police found nine pounds of black powder in Aitcheson’s parents’ Ellicott City, Md. home when they arrested the future priest. They also found pieces to make bombs in his bedroom and the basement.<br />
Aitcheson’s father told the Washington Post his son was a member of the Klan, but couldn’t explain why.<br />
&#8220;My son, along with others, are just caught up in it &#8230; I don&#8217;t know what their thoughts are,&#8221; he said.</p>
<h6 class="ra-caption"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-234802" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/james-fields-5.jpg" alt="James Fields 5" width="901" height="510" />The hate and open racism portrayed in Charlottesville prompted Aitcheson to come forward about his past and condemn hatred</h6>
<h6 class="ra-caption"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-234732" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/more-tear-gas-more-unlawful-assembly-orders1.jpg" alt="More tear gas. More unlawful assembly orders" width="1028" height="762" />The images in Charlottesville prompted Fr. Aitcheson to come forward about his past and condemn hatred</h6>
<p>But the son has since owned up to his misdeeds.<br />
“My actions were despicable,” he wrote.<br />
“If there are any white supremacists reading this, I have a message for you: you will find no fulfillment in this ideology. Your hate will never be satisfied and your anger will never subside.”<br />
Aitcheson was first ordained to serve in the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas, but was later relocated to the Diocese of Arlington — near his native Maryland.<br />
A note from the diocese said Aitcheson voluntarily stepped away from public ministry “for the well being of the Church and parish community.”<br />
Bishop Michael Burbidge, head of the diocese, called Aitcheson’s past “sad and deeply troubling” in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/08/22/my-actions-were-despicable-catholic-priest-steps-down-after-revealing-he-was-a-ku-klux-klan-member-decades-ago/?utm_term=.50d491fe1673" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement to the Washington Post</a> on Tuesday.<br />
But, he added, “there have been no accusations of racism or bigotry against (Aitcheson) at the Arlington diocese during his time.”</p>
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