Group slams Knights of Columbus

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- They give millions of dollars to charity every year, but one Catholic group is slamming the Knights of Columbus.

The Catholic United Education Fund is calling on the Catholic fraternal organization to stop funding opposition to same-sex marriage.

Catholics United says the church has a right to preach against gay marriage, but they shouldn't tell people who aren't Catholic what they can and can't do, and they don't want them spending money on these partisan issues.

They set their sights on the Knights of Columbus in New Haven Tuesday, two members of the Catholics United Education Fund submitted a petition to the Knights of Columbus headquarters. That petition had 7,500 signatures on it. They are asking Supreme Knight Carl Anderson to stop spending money, trying to stop gay marriage. They say the Knights spent more than $600,000 fighting against gay marriage in the last election cycle. The group says, the Knights have gotten too involved in partisan politics and they want them to instead focus on serving the poor and vulnerable.

"We think the Knights of Columbus is a good organization, they do good work, we're not trying to alienate, we're not trying to be divisive," said Patrick Carolan, Catholics United Education Fund, "we're just trying to get a message across that as Catholics, we're all Catholics, we need to get back to the message that Jesus taught us in Matthew 25."

The Knights of Columbus released a statement Tuesday saying, "The Knights of Columbus supports Catholic Social Teaching, including on moral issues. Our first concern has always been charity, and over the past 10 years we have donated more than $1.4 billion and 664 million hours to charitable causes."

Catholics United had originally planned to do a protest outside the Knights of Columbus headquarters, but they decided they didn't want to be that confrontational, so they just handed over the petition. Catholics United says, the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Church are driving away the younger generation with their stand on social issues. They would like to see them get back to the basics of helping the poor, taking care of the sick.