St. Augustine Knights decry the anti-Catholic bigotry perpetrated by those who vilify Christopher Columbus

Council reacts to recent acts of vandalism in Columbus Park, Providence

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The St. Augustine Council (#10557) of the Knights of Columbus was outraged, disgusted and appalled to see the national Columbus Day celebrations marred again this year by the desecration of statues of Christopher Columbus. One of the more serious acts of vandalism took place right here in Rhode Island; it was reported that the statue located in Columbus Park at the intersection of Reservoir and Elmwood Avenues in Providence was doused with red paint by cowardly protestors. What is worse is that one of the City’s councilwomen, sworn to uphold the laws and constitution, defend our values, sustain our history, applauded the acts of vandalism and noted her support for future acts of civil disobedience against historical figures demonized by revisionist history.
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, the Providence statue was designed by renowned sculptor Frederic Bartholdi, whose other works include the Statue of Liberty. That statue has stood at this site since 1892, unharmed until recent years. The K of C Council 10557 finds these acts disturbing for many reasons, but two stand out more prominently than others. First, there appears to be a venomous hatred directed toward anything Christian from our society and a misguided attempt to stamp it out. Second, there also appears to be a maleficent desire to change our culture and destroy the traditional family unit, the cell of society.
In recent years, political activists and partisan academics have tended to misrepresent Christopher Columbus’ legacy. However, the reality is that Columbus was a courageous man. While some have accused Columbus of “perpetrating acts of genocide, slavery, ‘ecocide’ and oppression,” as reported by writer Gerald Korson in the September 2017 edition of Columbia Magazine — a Knights of Columbus publication — historical facts say otherwise. In a 2017 interview for that article, Carol Delaney, a former professor at Brown and Stanford universities who is an expert on Columbus, noted that the explorer found the native peoples to be “very intelligent” and his relations with them “tended to be benign.” At his arrival, Columbus strictly instructed his crew “not to do things like maraud or rape, and instead [were] to treat the native people with respect,” Delaney said. Some of Columbus’ men, however, rebelled and disobeyed his orders, particularly during his long absences.
Delaney has read all Columbus’ writings that are extant and points to many examples of such instruction and rebellion within them. She notes that Columbus wasn’t even there when these atrocities occurred, and that most deaths among the native population emanated from disease, something for which Columbus could hardly be blamed. Delaney’s own understanding of Columbus changed “the more [she] read of his own writings and [those] of his contemporaries,” she said. Delaney chronicles all her research in her 2011 book entitled “Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem,” and is quick to point out that none of her research even suggests that Columbus ever owned a slave despite the fact that slavery was the common practice of the times.
Delaney said that the explorer, “fervently believed it was the duty of every Christian to try to save the souls of non-Christians, [a passion that] led him on a great adventure, an encounter such as the world has never seen.” So, if history tells a different story about Columbus, what motivates today’s activists to villainize him? Anti-Christian bias or a gross ignorance of historical facts seems to be the only logical answer.
The modern-day attacks on Columbus question his integrity and his intentions purporting that Columbus intended nothing good, but rather intended to destroy an innocent population of Native Americans. Real history does not support this characterization of Columbus. It would seem fair and logical to research, study, ruminate about and grasp a historical event before taking issue with it. Whomever takes the time to do this would never villainize this fine man so cruelly. Therefore, the St. Augustine Council of the Knights of Columbus invites all those who seem to have a problem with Columbus to please put the efforts necessary to discover who that man was and what he represented before embarking in vicious acts against his legacy.
The Knights of Columbus supports the position of the popes who have praised Columbus’ mission of evangelization since the late 19th century. We support the view of Saint Pope John Paul II who, in a 1992 celebration of Mass at a Columbus monument in the Dominican Republic, noted that the cross shaped memorial “means to symbolize the cross of Christ planted in this land in 1492, for where the Cross is raised, the Good News of Man’s salvation has reached that place through Love. Where the cross is raised, a new day has dawned — a day of hope, love, forgiveness, respect, justice and freedom.” We also stand with Pope Francis who, in a presentation to young people in Genoa in May of this year, said that a disciple of Christ needs the “virtue of a navigator,” pointing out that Columbus, “though facing great challenges, showed great courage, a quality essential to becoming a good missionary.”
The St. Augustine Knights of Columbus will continue to pray that people will stop using the divisiveness of political correctness as a weapon in the self-serving promotion of their specific agendas.
Gambardella is the Grand Knight of the St. Augustine Knights of Columbus Council #10557.