McLEAN, Va. (AP) – A Roman Catholic priest in Virginia is taking a leave of absence after disclosing he once burned crosses as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Father William Aitcheson, a priest in the diocese of Arlington, described how he belonged to the Klan as a young man in a column published Monday in The Arlington Catholic Herald, the diocese’s newspaper.
“My actions were despicable. When I think back on burning crosses, a threatening letter, and so on, I feel as though I am speaking of somebody else,” he wrote.
Aitcheson, 62, said that 40 years have passed since he was in the Klan, but the images from this month’s violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville reminded him that “we cannot forget, we should not forget.”
“While I firmly believe God forgave me — as he forgives anyone who repents and asks for forgiveness — forgetting what I did would be a mistake,” Aitcheson wrote.