Editing Knights of Labor (section)

===Catholic Church===
The Knights of Labor attracted many Catholics, who were a large part of the membership, perhaps a majority. Powderly was also a Catholic. However, the Knights's use of secrecy, similar to the Masons, during its early years concerned many bishops of the [[Catholic Church|Church]]. The Knights used secrecy and deception to help prevent employers from firing members.

After the [[Archbishop of Quebec]] condemned the Knights in 1884, twelve American archbishops voted 10 to 2 against doing likewise in the United States. Furthermore, Cardinal [[James Gibbons]] and Bishop [[John Ireland (bishop)|John Ireland]] defended the Knights. Gibbons went to the [[Holy See|Vatican]] to talk to the hierarchy.<ref>James Hennesey, American Catholics, Oxford University Press, 1981, page 188.</ref>

In 1886, right after the peak of the Knights of Labor, they started to lose more members to the [[American Federation of Labor]]. It has been believed that the fall of the Knights of Labor was due to their lack of adaptability and beliefs in the old-style industrial capitalism.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Future of the American Labor Movement|url=https://archive.org/details/futureamericanla00whee|url-access=limited|last=Wheeler|first=Hoyt|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/futureamericanla00whee/page/n106 85]}}</ref>