I believe SVD was thinking of the “Knights Templar”, a Jesuit society.
The KofC may be viewed by some OUTSIDE the Roman tradition as a heretical “church within a church”, they do mouth loyalty to Il Papa, Rome and the Vatican.
KofC is not among the Gnostics listed by SVD.
Is there some reason you didn’t reply to me when responding to my post? You had to deliberately erase my name. Why?