Ideas Have Consequences (Droleskey)

Seattle Catholic
(www.seattlecatholic.com / seattlecatholic@hotmail.com)
June 14, 2004

Ideas Have Consequences

by Thomas A. Droleskey

Although it has become au courant to minimize the influence of Freemasonry in American politics and culture, the evidence for the overwhelming influence of the ethos of Freemasonry in this country is massive.

The essence of Freemasonry is as follows: that it is necessary to convince men of "good will" that denominational religion in general-and Catholicism in particular-is divisive. Men must see each other as brothers, working by means of natural virtue to pursue the common good without doing or saying things that might divide a nation needlessly along denominational lines. Thus, all matters of religion are reduced to "opinions" that are best left unaddressed in public while men of "good will" pursue social and economic progress in the framework of the modern state, which is thus indifferent to the Incarnation and the Redemptive Act of the God-Man. Men of "good will" must find some "common ground" upon which to agree, thereby assuring themselves that they can build a new world order (novus ordo secolorum) founded on man's natural abilities, absent any advertence to the Deposit of Faith Our Lord entrusted to the Catholic Church and absent any reliance upon sanctifying grace, to redeem the world according to the varying needs of the times.

As Pope Leo XIII noted in Humanum Genus, the philosophy of Freemasonry seeks to separate the Church from the State. It deifies man and embraces moral and theological relativism as virtues upon which to pursue the common good. It seeks to imbue an ethos of naturalism in every aspect of a nation's social life, making it more difficult for men to seek out the truth of their identity as redeemed creatures and to pursue their eternal destiny through Christ's true Church. It is an especially important goal of Freemasonry to undermine the sanctity and the stability of the family by a variety of means, including the state control of education.

When these truths are done away with, which are as the principles of nature and important for knowledge and for practical use, it is easy to see what will become of both public and private morality. We say nothing of those more heavenly virtues, which no one can exercise or even acquire without a special gift and grace of God; of which necessarily no trace can be found in those who reject as unknown the redemption of mankind, the grace of God, the sacraments, and the happiness to be obtained in heaven. We speak now of the duties which have their origin in natural probity. That God is the Creator of the world and its provident Ruler; that the eternal law commands the natural order to be maintained, and forbids that it be disturbed; that the last end of men is a destiny far above human things and beyond this sojourning upon the earth: these are the sources and these the principles of all justice and morality.

If these be taken away, as the naturalists and Freemasons desire, there will immediately be no knowledge as to what constitutes justice and injustice, or upon what principle morality is founded. And, in truth, the teaching of morality which alone finds favor with the sect of Freemasons, and in which they contend that youth should be instructed, is that which they call "civil," and "independent," and "free," namely, that which does not contain any religious belief. But, how insufficient such teaching is, how wanting in soundness, and how easily moved by every impulse of passion, is sufficiently proved by its sad fruits, which have already begun to appear. For, wherever, by removing Christian education, this teaching has begun more completely to rule, there goodness and integrity of morals have begun quickly to perish, monstrous and shameful opinions have grown up, and the audacity of evil deeds has risen to a high degree. All this is commonly complained of and deplored; and not a few of those who by no means wish to do so are compelled by abundant evidence to give not infrequently the same testimony.

Moreover, human nature was stained by original sin, and is therefore more disposed to vice than to virtue. For a virtuous life it is absolutely necessary to restrain the disorderly movements of the soul, and to make the passions obedient to reason. In this conflict human things must very often be despised, and the greatest labors and hardships must be undergone, in order that reason may always hold its sway. But the naturalists and Freemasons, having no faith in those things which we have learned by the revelation of God, deny that our first parents sinned, and consequently think that free will is not at all weakened and inclined to evil. On the contrary, exaggerating rather the power and the excellence of nature, and placing therein alone the principle and rule of justice, they cannot even imagine that there is any need at all of a constant struggle and a perfect steadfastness to overcome the violence and rule of our passions.

Wherefore we see that men are publicly tempted by the many allurements of pleasure; that there are journals and pamphlets with neither moderation nor shame; that stage-plays are remarkable for license; that designs for works of art are shamelessly sought in the laws of a so-called verism; that the contrivances of a soft and delicate life are most carefully devised; and that all the blandishments of pleasure are diligently sought out by which virtue may be lulled to sleep. Wickedly, also, but at the same time quite consistently, do those act who do away with the expectation of the joys of heaven, and bring down all happiness to the level of mortality, and, as it were, sink it in the earth. Of what We have said the following fact, astonishing not so much in itself as in its open expression, may serve as a confirmation. For, since generally no one is accustomed to obey crafty and clever men so submissively as those whose soul is weakened and broken down by the domination of the passions, there have been in the sect of the Freemasons some who have plainly determined and proposed that, artfully and of set purpose, the multitude should be satiated with a boundless license of vice, as, when this had been done, it would easily come under their power and authority for any acts of daring.

What refers to domestic life in the teaching of the naturalists is almost all contained in the following declarations: that marriage belongs to the genus of commercial contracts, which can rightly be revoked by the will of those who made them, and that the civil rulers of the State have power over the matrimonial bond; that in the education of youth nothing is to be taught in the matter of religion as of certain and fixed opinion; and each one must be left at liberty to follow, when he comes of age, whatever he may prefer. To these things the Freemasons fully assent; and not only assent, but have long endeavored to make them into a law and institution. For in many countries, and those nominally Catholic, it is enacted that no marriages shall be considered lawful except those contracted by the civil rite; in other places the law permits divorce; and in others every effort is used to make it lawful as soon as may be. Thus, the time is quickly coming when marriages will be turned into another kind of contract -- that is into changeable and uncertain unions which fancy may join together, and which the same when changed may disunite.

With the greatest unanimity the sect of the Freemasons also endeavors to take to itself the education of youth. They think that they can easily mold to their opinions that soft and pliant age, and bend it whither they will; and that nothing can be more fitted than this to enable them to bring up the youth of the State after their own plan. Therefore, in the education and instruction of children they allow no share, either of teaching or of discipline, to the ministers of the Church; and in many places they have procured that the education of youth shall be exclusively in the hands of laymen, and that nothing which treats of the most important and most holy duties of men to God shall be introduced into the instructions on morals.

The point of the Church's concern over the influence of Freemasonry in the world is not necessarily about attempting to chart and document this or that conspiracy. No, the Church's consistent condemnation of Freemasonry is rooted in her understanding that ideas have consequences; ideas that are inimical to the Faith will always have bad consequences for men and for their societies. It is thus important to be aware of these false ideas and that there are people who hold them who have tried quite mightily to use them in their own positions of political and/or social influence.

To wit, a piece on my own www.christorchaos.com website ("We Must Resist This") discussed a bill introduced on January 7, 2003, by Senator Ernest F. Hollings (D-South Carolina) to require a period of "universal national service" for all Americans, both men and women, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six. Although the bill, numbered S. 89, has no co-sponsor in the Senate at present, the May 31, 2004, issue of The Howard Phillips Issues and Strategies Bulletin indicates that the Selective Service System does indeed have it own plans to push for the passage of such legislation after the 2004 Congressional elections. Included in the Selective Service System's plans are efforts to require Americans between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five to keep the government informed as to any extraordinary "skills" they might develop over the course of time.

Of particular interest to me when researching the facts for my article was to confirm my recollection that Hollings is a Freemason. I typed in his name and the word "Freemasonry" into a search engine, coming up with a list of prominent Masons on a Masonic website. Hollings's membership in the Lodge is relevant to the bill he introduced as a system of universal national service would doubtless include mandatory participation in various educational programs designed to indoctrinate in all manner of political correctness those young people who had been home-schooled or were sent by their parents to schools that kept such rot out of their curricula. Hollings's bill thus proposes to develop a system that would force young people who have been shielded from the evil influences of religious indifferentism and social relativism into being subjected to those influences for a period of at least two years. Hollings's bill thus demonstrates a desire to increase the power of the state over the lives of young citizens, which is of the essence of Freemasonry.

The Masonic website on which Hollings's name was found listed people from all over the world. The Americans listed on the site came from all walks of society. Included are thirty-five Supreme Court Justices, a subject discussed in Paul Fisher's Behind the Lodge Door. It is no accident that the flurry of egregious Supreme Court decisions from 1945 to 1973 occurred when a number of Freemasons were on the Court at various points (Fred Vinson, Wiley Rutledge, Harold Burton, Robert H. Jackson Tom Clark, James Byrnes, Earl Warren, Hugo Black, William Douglas, Potter Stewart, Thurgood Marshall). Eight of the nine justices serving on the Court between 1949 and 1954 were Masons. All but three of the thirty-third degree Mason President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's nine court appointees were Masons, as were four of the Mason Harry Truman's. There was a period between 1967 and 1969 when five of the nine justices were Masons (Warren, Black, Douglas, Marshall, Stewart). These Masonic justices ruled in cases that established "precedents" that are now honored without question by at least four, sometimes five or six, justices on the Supreme Court at present (John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, joined frequently by Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy).

One of the proofs of the utter triumph of the legally positivist and morally relativist ethos of Freemasonry in American government and law is that the wretched legacy of these Roosevelt and Truman justices now binds their ideological fellow-travelers who do not belong to the Lodge. Just as Masons do not need one of their own on the Throne of Saint Peter to have popes speak in ways that reflect the Masonic ethos, as Father Paul Kramer notes in The Devil's Final Battle, so is it the case that they no longer need one of their own on the Supreme Court to respect the ground-breaking decisions (pornography, contraception, abortion) rendered when the Court was their private preserve. The decisions have been preserved as sacrosanct under the legal principle of stare decisis, something that was known by the Masonic justices when they were using the very fungible nature of a written document, the Constitution, that admits of no higher authority above its own text to attempt to impose a veritable social revolution while the public was mesmerized by the novelty known as network television entertainment programming in the 1950s and 1960s.

Also included on the list were fifteen Presidents of the United States of America and the current Vice President of the United States of America, Richard N. Cheney. Senators, financiers, industrialists, movie moguls (Darryl Zanuck, Walt Disney, Cecil B. DeMille), revolutionaries and a whole host of others were found on the list. An entire book or two could be written on the cultural influences exercised just by the entertainers on the list. For present purposes, it is important to note that Disney, who left instructions for his body to be frozen after his death so that he could be resuscitated when science discovered a "cure" for death, left behind quite a Masonic legacy at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, that lives on to this day. There is a "Club 33" restaurant at Disneyland. A dues-paying member's membership was canceled shortly after he brought a priest, Father Patrick Perez, as a guest to the club.

All of this is important not because these individuals have worked or conspired together, although instances of same are not be discounted as frivolous. This is important because most men act on what they believe. A man who believes in the lies of Freemasonry is going to give expression to his beliefs in the course of his life's work. If such a man has the ability to influence the course of social life, then it is important to point out the nature of his beliefs and how they are incompatible with the true Faith-and thus the good of any nation, including our own. What is harmful to man's Last End is harmful to society. And the belief that man can act in this life without any regard to the Deposit of Faith and without relying upon sanctifying grace is harmful to man's Last End and fatal to society. Masonry does not merely wish the Church "ill," as some have contended; it seeks to eradicate the expression of the Faith in all quarters of public life. It has done so violently in the Catholic countries of Europe and Latin America, doing so more insidiously in the United States as a result of its prominence in all aspects of our social life. To recognize Freemasonry's pervasive influence and to rebut its false premises is not to engage in conspiracy-mongering. It is to alert Catholics that we must not succumb to any degree of religious indifferentism in any aspect of our national life.

Several Masonic websites list Edmund Burke, generally credited as the father of classical conservatism, as a member of the brotherhood. This makes perfect sense. Although this will anger a lot of people, the fact is that Burkean conservatism was and remains an effort to try to find some inter-denominational or non-denominational way to "conserve" the "heritage" of the West without acknowledging the Catholic Church as the repository and explicator of the Deposit of Faith and without submitting to the Social Reign of Christ the King as it was exercised by the Church during the era of Christendom. Burke's own indifferentism is cited favorably by a Fred C. Kleinknect, a "Supreme Grand Commander" of Masonry, in the context of a commentary on the ethos of Freemasonry:

Unfortunately, our purpose as well as our very existence is questioned by the uninformed. They fail to see that Masons are invariable churchgoing men who extend the precepts of their faith beyond their sabbath to every day of their lives. They work within their churches and in their communities for the betterment of their fellowmen. Masons, in fact, go beyond narrow sectarianism and limiting dogma. They agree with the statement of the famous statesman and writer Edmund Burke: "The body of all true religion consists, to be sure, in obedience to the will of the Sovereign of the world, in a confidence in His declarations, and in imitation of His perfection."

But what are "His declarations"? They are not, Masons believe, the passing credos of religious sects or cults. Rather, they are the inspired wisdom contained in the Bible, the Talmud, the Koran, the Bhagavad-Gita or any of the other Great Books of Faith that have been universally recognized as man's best guides to happiness on this world and reward in the next. Freemasonry, therefore, welcomes to its ranks Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and all good men of whatever religion who truly aspire to live accordingly to the Creator's will.

Because it is universal in scope and inclusive in membership, Masonry provides a philosophy and a Fraternity where good men can "meet on the Level and part on the Square." It binds all men in a mystic tie of sincere brotherhood and mutual love. Faith and work, soul and body, heart and hand are united as Masons everywhere labor through Freemasonry in peace and harmony to honor the Creator and serve mankind.

Kleinknect's summary of Masonry can be applied to any and every political philosophy or ideology that is founded in whole or in part on a rejection of Catholicism as the foundation of personal and social order. That one of this country's chief popularizers of conservatism, the late Barry Goldwater, whose first wife was an active ally of Margaret Sanger, was himself a Mason, also makes perfect sense. Masonry desires potential political allies to set aside whatever denominational differences they have to concentrate on the "trees" in the forest rather than seeing that the forest is made up of trees that have their proximate roots in the errors of modernity itself. Thus, good people wind up spinning their wheels and rending their garments over the symptoms of modernity rather than recognizing our problems are the result of the overthrow of the Social Reign of Christ the King and can only be ameliorated by the restoration of Christendom as the fruit of the Triumph of Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. This is all the natural result of thinking and acting as though man can philosophize and theorize like the pagans who lived before the Incarnation of the Co-Eternal Word as man in Our Lady's virginal and immaculate womb. It is a rejection of the authority that the God-Man entrusted solely to His true Church to teach and to govern all men in all nations until the end of time.

Yes, Masons often fight each other, sometimes violently. Edmund Burke was a fierce critic of the Masonically-inspired French Revolution. American Masons fought Mexican Masons during the Mexican-American War. Mexican Masons engaged in fratricidal warfare for nearly a century. Republican Masons in this country have vied for office against Democrat Masons. There is, obviously, little honor among these thieves. What unites them all, though, is this: the theft of the true heritage of the West, Catholicism, and the imposition of a variety of sterile substitutes (political ideologies, various forms of nationalism that present themselves to the public as "patriotism," educational theories stressing evolutionism and moral relativism) as its state-sponsored substitute.

There is another aspect, though, of this matter that needs to be addressed in light of a discovery made when researching Senator Hollings's Masonic membership. Also included on the list on the Masonic website is the name of one Charles B. Rangel, a member of the United States House of Representatives from the Borough of Manhattan and, much more importantly, a Roman Catholic. Rangel, who is the Ranking Minority Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, is a notorious pro-abort who invokes the old Masonic canard of the "separation of Church and State" to justify his support for the systematic destruction of over 4,000 innocent human beings under cover of law by means of surgical abortion alone, not including those babies killed by chemical abortifacients. True, very few Catholics in public life who invoke the Masonic canard of the "separation of Church and State" are Masons. However, this is proof of the success of the Masonic ethos. As noted earlier in the context of the Supreme Court, Freemasonry does not need initiated members to speak its language in order to embrace its ethos of religious indifferentism and legal positivism. That Rangel, though, is listed as a member of the Lodge poses a direct challenge to his archdiocesan ordinary, Edward Cardinal Egan, the Archbishop of New York.

It is still a mortal sin for a Catholic to belong to a Masonic lodge. As is the case with much else in the postconciliar era, there is ambiguity in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as membership in Masonic lodges is not listed as an excommunicable offense as it had been in the 1917 Code. An attempt to clarify that ambiguity was made by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Faith, on November 26, 1983:

It has been asked whether there has been any change in the Church's decision in regard to Masonic associations since the new Code of Canon Law does not mention them expressly, unlike the previous code.

This sacred congregation is in a position to reply that this circumstance is due to an editorial criterion which was followed also in the case of other associations likewise unmentioned inasmuch as they are contained in wider categories.

Therefore, the Church's negative judgment in regard to Masonic associations remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and, therefore, membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful, who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.

It is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to give a judgment on the nature of Masonic associations which would imply a derogation from what has been decided above, and this in line with the declaration of this sacred congregation issued Feb. 17,1981.

In an audience granted to the undersigned cardinal prefect, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II approved and ordered the publication of this declaration which had been decided in an ordinary meeting of this sacred congregation. Given at Rome, from the Office of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Nov. 26, 1983. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect. Father Jerome Hamer, O. P. Titular Archbishop of Lorium, Secretary.

Cardinal Egan has thus far refused to publicly state his position about Catholics in public life who support the slaughter of the preborn under cover of law. He has a veritable stable of prominent Catholics of both major political parties, including Rangel and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and current New York State Governor George Pataki, who present themselves for Holy Communion week after week after week. While the American bishops argue amongst themselves about denying Holy Communion to these Catholic reprobates, Cardinal Egan can make a very clear public statement about Mr. Rangel's Masonic membership by referring to Cardinal Ratzinger's 1983 letter. Charles Rangel is to be denied Holy Communion as a result of his Masonic membership. It will be quite interesting to see if Cardinal Egan will firmly and publicly acknowledge that membership in a Masonic lodge is incompatible with being a Catholic in good standing.

If Cardinal Egan does nothing, as he has shown to be his wont in the past four years since succeeding the late John Cardinal O'Connor, then he will demonstrate all too clearly that the false ideas of Freemasonry, which promotes social "peace" as the single most important "virtue" in society, continue to intimidate some American Catholic prelates in the Twenty-first Century just as surely as it intimidated at least a few prelates now and then in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. It is when the Church herself refuses to raise the voice of her Divine Bridegroom against the purveyors of false ideas, no less enshrines those ideas in the language of her own documents and in her own Sacred Liturgy, that those ideas become harder for the average Catholic to recognize as evil, no less resist with all of his might.

All Catholics, both those in the clergy and the laity, would do well to read the works of Saint Maximilian Kolbe and to read about the life and the work of Blessed Miguel Augustin Pro. Saint Maximilian Kolbe had no less than twelve publications in Europe and in Japan opposing Freemasonry and Zionism and all other secular ideologies, promoting total consecration to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart and the prominent wearing of the Miraculous Medal as the antidotes to the poisons promoted by Freemasonry and its nefarious allies. Blessed Miguel Augustin Pro gave up his life to plant the seeds for the restoration of the Social Reign of Christ the King in Our Lady's beloved country, Mexico. These great heroes of the Faith in the Twentieth Century were not goofy conspiracy theorists. They recognized full well the dangers of religious indifferentism and secularism in all walks of life, knowing that there is no inter-denominational or non-denominational way to fight these and other, inter-related evils. We must invoke their help from Heaven and follow their example of apostolic zeal to fight such foes in our own national life today.

Our Lady has told us that her Immaculate Heart will triumph in the end and a period of peace will be given to the world. This will happen after some Pope actually consecrates Russia to her Immaculate Heart. In the meantime, as we pray and fast for this to happen, we never lose heart as we point out the errors that plague both Church and State. Indeed, we unite ourselves more fully to the Immaculate Heart and to Heart formed therefrom, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. It will be by entrusting ourselves more and more completely to these two Hearts that we will be emboldened to run whatever risks we need to run in order to plant the seeds for the conversion of this nation and the world to the Social Reign of Christ the King and of Mary our Immaculate Queen. The false ideas that hold some sway at present will become but a distant memory of the history books as people live and work once more in the shadow of the Holy Cross.

Apart from the papal encyclical letters on Freemasonry, including Humanum Genus, there are superb summaries of the ethos of the Lodge in Father Denis Fahey's The Mystical Body of Christ in the Modern World and in the Father E. Cahill's The Framework of the Christian State. Father Cahill devotes an entire section to so-called "White Masons," fraternal organizations, such as the Lions and the Rotary Clubs, that help to proselytize Masonic principles of brotherhood and indifferentism. And all one has to do to find some very cogent summaries of the ethos of Freemasonry is to go to their own websites. The one containing Fred C. Kleinknect's commentary above has a number of statements from Masons proving the points made in this article. The web address is: http://www.srmason-sj.org/council/fmrel.htm .

This article seems to be a response to one printed earlier that was critical of the conspiracy-minded:

Causes of Unrest: The Spiritual Roots of Rebellion
http://www.seattlecatholic.com/article_20040517.html

It also misses the mark as far as Edmund Burke, as this letter to the editor shows:

Edmund Burke: A defender of truth, not a Freemason (6/15/04)

Dear Editor:

Thomas Droleskey's articles never fail to delight and instruct me, but his latest article, "Ideas Have Consequences," runs seriously afoul of historical reality in its unwise attack on the eighteenth-century statesman Edmund Burke. Droleskey borrows for his title the name of a famous book by Richard Weaver, the Southern agrarian writer. I daresay Weaver would be more than a little confused by at least one of the article's assertions.

Droleskey writes as follows: "Several Masonic websites," always to be considered authoritative sources, "list Edmund Burke, generally credited as the father of classical conservatism, as a member of the brotherhood. This makes perfect sense." Burke's Masonic affiliation, he says, may "anger a lot of people," but, after all, Burkean conservatism boils down to trying to "find some inter-denominational or non-denominational way to 'conserve' the 'heritage' of the West" while shunning Catholic Christendom. And what could be more Masonic than that?

Unfortunately for Droleskey, this is akin to saying that St. Ignatius Loyola was secretly a Protestant. "Yes," Droleskey explains, "Masons often fight each other, sometimes violently," and that fact suffices to excuse Burke's intemperance (from a Masonic standpoint) in opposing the French revolutionaries. Protestants fought Protestants after 1517, too, so claiming Ignatius for the revolutionaries can't be too off base. Of course, it would be monstrous, and entirely irreconcilable with history, to argue St. Ignatius Loyola was a Protestant. No one familiar with the sixteenth century could do such a thing. Similarly with Edmund Burke: it doesn't take scholarly depth to chuckle at the allegation that Burke was a Mason. Why not declare him an out-and-out Jacobin?

Droleskey's attack on Burke is more substantial, though. He blithely writes off a man whose genius was hailed by Pope Pius VI, and whose contribution to conservative political thought is unmatched. Burke did not try to "find some inter-denominational . . . way" to preserve Christendom. Rather, he explained why revolutions go against the order of things, why gradual change is preferable to drastic, why the traditional hierarchies (inherited from the Middle Ages) serve society well -- and a host of other matters traditional Catholics should be loath to ignore. The problem with modernity, one learns from reading Burke, extends from a rejection of Christ to even further areas: the very purpose of politics has been obviated, our connection to history severed, our sense of order in the universe flattened. To recover Christendom will require more than simply proclaiming Christ's kingship.

But just to confirm my suspicions about Burke's relationship with Masonry, I consulted several friends in the scholarly Edmund Burke Society of America, including its president. None of them had so much as heard the suggestion that Burke was a Mason. I think if he were, it would lend credibility to the claim that ideas _do not_ have consequences: how could a Freemason so resolutely fail to act on the ideas to which he adhered, particularly when Freemasonry is an organization not known for leniency, or toleration of counterrevolutionaries?

Burke was born an Irishman in 1729; his mother was a Catholic from the landed Nagle family, whose holdings were threatened by the anti-Catholic laws of the day. Burke's father was a practicing Anglican, and it is quite possible he had "conformed" to Anglicanism to preserve his law career -- not that such an act could be justified, but at any rate Burke did not grow up in an anti-Catholic household. Far from it, he even received education in Greek and Latin from Catholic priests. All his life, Burke showed an extraordinary favor to Catholics in the British Isles -- in certain ways acting even more Catholic than the Catholic bishops. His leniency made no sense from the perspective of establishmentarian Anglicans, who thought Catholics a nuisance at best and a pestilence at worst. Still less did it make sense from the rationalist Enlightenment perspective of the Freemasons, who viewed all religion as mysticism, and harbored especial distaste for the Church.

This supposed Freemason was instrumental in advocating the repeal of anti-Catholic laws in Britain and Ireland, even suffering an attack on his house during the Gordon riots against the repeal (Burke stepped out of his house and delivered a frightening speech against the mobs, who then left him alone). When John Hyland, an Irish Catholic soldier in the British army, faced court-martial for refusing to attend Anglican worship services, Burke argued in his defense. Burke even prodded the soldier's bishop, Thomas Hussey, to do the same: the bishop had expressed concern that defending the soldier would cause greater backlash against Catholics. Burke was also relentlessly critical of the Protestant establishment in Ireland. In one letter, Burke encouraged Catholics not to give up their arms till the Protestants ceased oppressing them, for they appeared to lack all other recourse.

Burke's lifelong defense of Catholics caused him great public embarrassment. Cartoons of the day regularly portrayed Burke in a cassock and Roman collar -- depicted not just as a Catholic sympathizer, but as a Catholic priest! If any other Mason has ever been accused of being a Jesuit, I should like to hear about it. Burke biographer Conor Cruise O'Brien has gone so far as to suggest that Burke converted to Catholicism on his deathbed. Few would take Burke's "affair" with Catholicism to such an extent, but that historians could wonder about it shows the degree of his closeness to the Church.

As for the suggestion that Burke was an "indifferentist" who rejected the reign of Christ the King, one need not look further than 1790s France for disproof. Although he was probably not Catholic, and certainly did not favor the establishment of the Catholic Church in Protestant England, nevertheless he strongly supported the rights of the Church in France. He denounced its dethronement by the revolution: instead of ignoring the role of Christ's social kingship in shaping the ancien régime, Burke defended it.

Pope Pius VI personally sent a letter of commendation to Burke ("Nobili viro Edmundo Burke") in September 1793, hand delivered by Card. Charles Erskine of Scotland, thanking Burke for defending the Church so often in his political career. Among those who "have exerted the force of their genius that they might write in defence of the cause of right," Pius wrote, "you have stood out as one of the foremost." The pontiff acknowledged that "you have composed a famous work to overthrow and utterly destroy the fictions of the new philosophers of France, and have exhorted your fellow-countrymen not only to render help to the above-mentioned ecclesiastics in which they are pre-eminent, but also to show indulgence to Catholics born in the realm of Great Britain." Pius gives Burke "our congratulations and praises, which have this especial object -- that you should more and more exert yourself to protect the cause of civilization."

Traditional Catholics should join Pius VI in acknowledging their debt to Burke, intellectual and political, and should not shy away from his thought simply because he was (probably) not Catholic. Burke once wrote that, as the organizing principle of all man's attitudes, "the first, last and middle object of their [the revolutionaries'] hostility is Religion." Not the natural religion of the Freemasons, but classical, institutional, public, liturgical Christianity. Burke identified God and established religion as the chief enemy of the revolutionaries, and so the primary good to be defended. In his work toward that end, he bequeathed to future generations a sophisticated understanding of the nature of politics and its relation to the principles of order, history, tradition and prudence. Then as now, the traditional arrangements of society were under threat from revolutionaries bent on the destruction of all that had come before. If Burke did not sprinkle his works with references to the Immaculate Conception, we cannot fault him for it. But by reading him we can learn, in an erudite way, the panoply of threats with which modernity confronts tradition -- not only in religion, but in world-view and philosophy.

"We fear God; we look up with awe to kings; with affection to parliaments; with duty to magistrates; with reverence to priests; and with respect to nobility." "Why?" Burke asks. "Because when such ideas are brought before our minds, it is _natural_ to be so affected; because all other feelings are false and spurious, and tend to corrupt our minds, to vitiate our primary morals, to render us unfit for rational liberty." What more sublime statement could one want of conservative political philosophy? Far from being a "threat" to recapturing the political order of Christendom, Edmund Burke is a necessary first step toward understanding history, action, and our place within them.

I suggest Droleskey read Burke -- and retract his allegations.

Regards,

Gladden J. Pappin
New York, N.Y.

The following is a purported list of Masons reprinted with some updates from the Bulletin de l'Occident Chrétien Nr.12, July, 1976, (Directeur Pierre Fautrad a Fye - 72490 Bourg Le Roi.) All of the men on this list, if they in fact be Masons, are excommunicated by Canon Law 2338. Each man's name is followed by his position, if known; the date he was initiated into Masonry, his code #; and his code name, if known.

Albondi, Alberto. Bishop of Livorno, (Leghorn). Initiated 8-5-58; I.D. # 7-2431.
Abrech, Pio. In the Sacred Congregation Bishops. 11-27-67; # 63-143.
Acquaviva, Sabino. Professor of Religion at the University of Padova, (Padua). 12-3-69; # 275-69.
Alessandro, Father Gottardi. (Addressed as Doctor in Masonic meetings.) President of Fratelli Maristi. 6-14-59.
Angelini Fiorenzo. Bishop of Messenel Greece. 10-14-57; # 14-005.
Argentieri, Benedetto. Patriarch to the Holy See. 3-11-70; # 298-A.
Bea, Augustin. Cardinal. Secretary of State (next to Pope) under Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI.
Baggio, Sebastiano. Cardinal. Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops. (This is a crucial Congregation since it appoints new Bishops.) Secretary of State under Pope John Paul II from 1989 to 1992. 8-14-57; # 85-1640. Masonic code name "SEBA." He controls consecration of Bishops.
Balboni, Dante. Assistant to the Vatican Pontifical . Commission for Biblical Studies. 7-23-68; # 79-14 "BALDA."
Baldassarri Salvatore. Bishop of Ravenna, Italy. 2-19-58; # 4315-19. "BALSA."
Balducci, Ernesto. Religious sculpture artist. 5-16-66; # 1452-3.
Basadonna, Ernesto. Prelate of Milan, 9-14-63; # 9-243. "BASE."
Batelli, Guilio. Lay member of many scientific academies. 8-24-59; # 29-A. "GIBA."
Bedeschi, Lorenzo. 2-19-59; # 24-041. "BELO."
Belloli, Luigi. Rector of Seminar; Lombardy, Ita- ly. 4-6-58; # 22-04. "BELLU."
Belluchi, Cleto. Coadjutor Bishop of Fermo, Italy. 6-4-68; # 12-217.
Bettazzi, Luigi. Bishop of Ivera, Italy. 5-11-66; # 1347-45. "LUBE."
Bianchi, Ciovanni. 10-23-69; # 2215-11. "BIGI."
Biffi, Franco, Msgr. Rector of Church of St. John Lateran Pontifical University. He is head of this University and controls what is being taught. He heard confessions of Pope Paul VI. 8-15-59. "BIFRA."
Bicarella, Mario. Prelate of Vicenza, Italy. 9-23-64; # 21-014. "BIMA."
Bonicelli, Gaetano. Bishop of Albano, Italy. 5-12-59; # 63-1428, "BOGA."
Boretti, Giancarlo. 3-21-65; # 0-241. "BORGI."
Bovone, Alberto. Substitute Secretary of the Sacred Office. 3-30-67; # 254-3. "ALBO."
Brini, Mario. Archbishop. Secretary of Chinese, Oriental, and Pagans. Member of Pontifical Commission to Russia. Has control of rewriting Canon Law. 7-7-68; # 15670. "MABRI."
Bugnini, Annibale. Archbishop.Wrote Novus Ordo Mass. Envoy to Iran, 4-23-63; # 1365-75. "BUAN."
Buro, Michele. Bishop. Prelate of Pontifical Commission to Latin America, 3-21-69; # 140-2. "BUMI."
Cacciavillan, Agostino. Secretariat of State. 11-6-60; # 13-154.
Cameli, Umberto. Director in Office of the Ecclesiastical Affairs of Italy in regard to education in Catholic doctrine. 11-17-60; # 9-1436.
Caprile, Giovanni. Director of Catholic Civil Affairs. 9-5-57; # 21-014. "GICA."
Caputo, Giuseppe. 11-15-71; # 6125-63. "GICAP."
Casaroli, Agostino. Cardinal. Secretary of State (next to Pope) under Pope John Paul II since July 1, 1979 until retired in 1989. 9-28-57; # 41-076. "CASA."
Cerruti, Flaminio. Chief of the Office of the University of Congregation Studies. 4-2-60; # 76-2154. "CEFLA."
Ciarrocchi, Mario. Bishop. 8-23-62; # 123-A. "CIMA."
Chiavacci, Enrico. Professor of Moral Theology, University of Florence, Italy. 7-2-70; # 121-34. "CHIE."
Conte, Carmelo. 9-16-67; # 43-096. "CONCA."
Csele, Alessandro. 3-25-60; # 1354-09. "ALCSE."
Dadagio, Luigi. Papal Nuncio to Spain. Archbishop of Lero. 9-8-67. # 43-B. "LUDA."
D'Antonio, Enzio. Archbishop of Trivento. 6-21-69; # 214-53.
De Bous, Donate. Bishop. 6-24-68; # 321-02. "DEBO."
Del Gallo Reoccagiovane, Luigi. Bishop.
Del Monte, Aldo. Bishop of Novara, Italy. 8-25-69; # 32-012. "ADELMO."
Faltin, Danielle. 6-4-70; # 9-1207. "FADA."
Ferraioli, Giuseppe. Member of Sacred Congregation for Public Affairs. 11-24-69; # 004-125. "GIFE."
Franzoni, Giovanni. 3-2-65; # 2246-47. "FRAGI."
Gemmiti, Vito. Sacred Congregation of Bishops. 3-25-68; # 54-13. "VIGE."
Girardi, Giulio. 9-8-70; # 1471-52. "GIG."
Fiorenzo, Angelinin. Bishop. Title of Commendator of the Holy Spirit. Vicar General of Roman Hospitals. Controls hospital trust funds. Consecrated Bishop 7-19-56; joined Masons 10-14-57.
Giustetti, Massimo. 4-12-70; # 13-065. "GIUMA."
Gottardi, Alessandro. Procurator and Postulator General of Fratelli Maristi. Archbishop of Trent. 6-13-59; # 2437-14. "ALGO."
Gozzini, Mario. 5-14-70; # 31-11. "MAGO."
Grazinai, Carlo. Rector of the Vatican Minor Seminary. 7-23-61; # 156-3. "GRACA."
Gregagnin, Antonio. Tribune of First Causes for Beatification. 10-19-67; # 8-45. "GREA."
Gualdrini, Franco. Rector of Capranica. 5-22-61; # 21-352. "GUFRA."
Ilari, Annibale. Abbot. 3-16-69; # 43-86. "ILA."
Laghi, Pio. Nunzio, Apostolic Delegate to Argentina, and then to U.S.A. until 1995. 8-24-69; # 0-538. "LAPI."
Lajolo, Giovanni. Member of Council of Public Affairs of the Church. 7-27-70; # 21-1397. "LAGI."
Lanzoni, Angelo. Chief of the Office of Secretary of State. 9-24-56; # 6-324. "LANA."
Levi, Virgillio (alias Levine), Monsignor. Assistant Director of Official Vatican Newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. Manages Vatican Radio Station. 7-4-58; # 241-3. "VILE."
Lozza, Lino. Chancellor of Rome Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas of Catholic Religion. 7-23-69; # 12-768. "LOLI."
Lienart, Achille. Cardinal. Grand Master top Mason. Bishop of Lille, France. Recruits Masons. Was leader of progressive forces at Vatican II Council.
Macchi, Pasquale. Cardinal. Pope Paul's Prelate of Honour and Private Secretary until he was excommunicated for heresy by Pope Paul VI. Was reinstated by Secretary of State Jean Villot, and made a Cardinal. 4-23-58; # 5463-2. "MAPA."
Mancini, Italo. Director of Sua Santita. 3-18-68; # l551-142. "MANI."
Manfrini, Enrico. Lay Consultor of Pontifical Commission of Sacred Art. 2-21-68; # 968-c. "MANE."
Marchisano, Francesco. Prelate Honour of the Pope. Secretary Congregation for Seminaries and Universities of Studies. 2-4-61; 4536-3. "FRAMA."
Marcinkus, Paul. American bodyguard for imposter Pope. From Cicero, Illinois. Stands 6'4". President for Institute for Training Religious. 8-21-67; # 43-649. Called "GORILLA." Code name "MARPA."
Marsili, Saltvatore. Abbot of Order of St. Benedict of Finalpia near Modena, Italy. 7-2-63; # 1278-49. "SALMA."
Mazza, Antonio. Titular Bishop of Velia. Secretary General of Holy Year, 1975. 4-14-71. # 054-329. "MANU."
Mazzi, Venerio. Member of Council of Public Affairs of the Church. 10-13-66; # 052-s. "MAVE."
Mazzoni, Pier Luigi. Congregation of Bishops. 9-14-59; # 59-2. "PILUM."
Maverna, Luigi. Bishop of Chiavari, Genoa, Italy. Assistant General of Italian Catholic Azione. 6-3-68; # 441-c. "LUMA."
Mensa, Albino. Archbishop of Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy. 7-23-59; # 53-23. " MENA."
Messina, Carlo. 3-21-70; # 21-045. "MECA."
Messina, Zanon (Adele). 9-25-68; # 045-329. " AMEZ."
Monduzzi, Dino. Regent to the Prefect of the Pontifical House. 3-11 -67; # 190-2. "MONDI."
Mongillo, Daimazio. Professor of Dominican Moral Theology, Holy Angels Institute of Roma. 2-16-69; # 2145-22. "MONDA."
Morgante, Marcello. Bishop of Ascoli Piceno in East Italy. 7-22-55; # 78-3601. MORMA."
Natalini, Teuzo. Vice President of the Archives of Secretariat of the Vatican. 6-17-67; # 21-44d. "NATE."
Nigro, Carmelo. Rector of the Seminary, Pontifical of Major Studies. 12-21-70; # 23-154. "CARNI."
Noe, Virgillio. Head of the Sacred Congregation of Divine Worship. He and Bugnini paid 5 Protestant Ministers and one Jewish Rabbi to create the Novus Ordo Mass. 4-3-61; # 43652-21. "VINO."
Palestra, Vittorie. He is Legal Council of the Sacred Rota of the Vatican State. 5-6-43; # 1965. "PAVI."
Pappalardo, Salvatore. Cardinal. Archbishop of Palermo, Sicily. 4-15-68; # 234-07. "SALPA."
Pasqualetti, Gottardo. 6-15-60; # 4-231. "COPA."
Pasquinelli, Dante. Council of Nunzio of Madrid. 1-12-69; # 32-124. "PADA."
Pellegrino, Michele. Cardinal. Called "Protector of the Church", Archbishop of Torino (Turin, where the Holy Shroud of Jesus is kept). 5-2-60; # 352-36. "PALMI."
Piana, Giannino. 9-2-70; # 314-52. "GIPI."
Pimpo, Mario. Vicar of Office of General Affairs. 3-15-70; # 793-43. "PIMA."
Pinto, Monsignor Pio Vito. Attaché of Secretary of State and Notare of Second Section of Supreme Tribunal and of Apostolic Signature. 4-2-70; # 3317-42. "PIPIVI."
Poletti, Ugo. Cardinal. Vicar of S.S. Diocese of Rome. Controls clergy of Rome since 3-6-73. Member of Sacred Congregation of Sacraments and of Divine Worship. He is President of Pontifical Works and Preservation of the Faith. Also President of the Liturgical Academy. 2-17-69; # 32-1425. "UPO."
Rizzi, Monsignor Mario. Sacred Congregation of Oriental Rites. Listed as "Prelate Bishop of Honour of the Holy Father, the Pope." Works under top-Mason Mario Brini in manipulating Canon Law. 9-16-69; # 43-179. "MARI," "MONMARI."
Romita, Florenzo. Was in Sacred Congregation of Clergy. 4-21-56; # 52-142. "FIRO."
Rogger, Igine. Officer in S.S. (Diocese of Rome). 4-16-68; # 319-13. "IGRO."
Rossano, Pietro. Sacred Congregation of Non-Christian Religions. 2-12-68; # 3421-a. "PIRO."
Rovela, Virgillio. 6-12-64; # 32-14. "ROVI."
Sabbatani, Aurelio. Archbishop of Giustiniana (Giusgno, Milar Province, Italy). First Secretary Supreme Apostolic Segnatura. 6-22-69; # 87-43. "ASA"
Sacchetti, Guilio. Delegate of Governors - Marchese. 8-23-59; # 0991-b. "SAGI."
Salerno, Francesco. Bishop. Prefect Atti. Eccles. 5-4-62; # 0437-1. "SAFRA"
Santangelo, Franceso. Substitute General of Defense Legal Counsel. 11-12-70; # 32-096. "FRASA."
Santini, Pietro. Vice Official of the Vicar. 8-23-64; # 326-11. "SAPI."
Savorelli, Fernando. 1-14-69; # 004-51. "SAFE."
Savorelli, Renzo. 6-12-65; # 34-692. "RESA."
Scanagatta, Gaetano. Sacred Congregation of the Clergy. Member of Commission of Pomei and Loreto, Italy. 9-23-71; # 42-023. "GASCA."
Schasching, Giovanni. 3-18-65; # 6374-23. "GISCHA," "GESUITA."
Schierano, Mario. Titular Bishop of Acrida (Acri in Cosenza Province, Italy.) Chief Military Chaplain of the Italian Armed Forces. 7-3-59; #14-3641. "MASCHI."
Semproni, Domenico. Tribunal of the Vicarate of the Vatican. 4-16-60; # 00-12. "DOSE."
Sensi, Giuseppe Mario. Titular Archbishop of Sardi (Asia Minor near Smyrna). Papal Nunzio to Portugal. 11-2-67; # 18911-47. "GIMASE."
Sposito, Luigi. Pontifical Commission for the Archives of the Church in Italy. Head Administrator of the Apostolic Seat of the Vatican.
Suenens, Leo. Cardinal. Title: Protector of the Church of St. Peter in Chains, outside Rome. Promotes Protestant Pentecostalism (Charismatics). Destroyed much Church dogma when he worked in 3 Sacred Congregations: 1) Propagation of the Faith; 2) Rites and Ceremonies in the Liturgy; 3) Seminaries. 6-15-67; # 21-64. "LESU."
Trabalzini, Dino. Bishop of Rieti (Reate, Peruga, Italy). Auxiliary Bishop of Southern Rome. 2-6-65; # 61-956. "TRADI."
Travia, Antonio. Titular Archbishop of Termini Imerese. Head of Catholic schools. 9-15-67; # 16-141. "ATRA."
Trocchi, Vittorio. Secretary for Catholic Laity in Consistory of the Vatican State Consultations. 7-12-62; # 3-896. "TROVI."
Tucci, Roberto. Director General of Vatican Radio. 6-21-57; # 42-58. "TURO."
Turoldo, David. 6-9-67; # 191-44. "DATU."
Vale, Georgio. Priest. Official of Rome Diocese. 2-21-71; # 21-328. "VAGI."
Vergari, Piero. Head Protocol Officer of the Vatican Office Segnatura. 12-14-70; # 3241-6. "PIVE."
Villot, Jean. Cardinal. Secretary of State during Pope Paul VI. He is Camerlengo (Treasurer). "JEANNI," "ZURIGO."
Zanini, Lino. Titular Archbishop of Adrianopoli, which is Andrianopolis, Turkey. Apostolic Nuncio. Member of the Revered Fabric of St. Peter's Basilica.

THE FOLLOWING CLERGY WERE EXPOSED AFTER THE ABOVE LIST WAS COMPILED:

Fregi, Francesco Egisto. 2-14-63; # 1435-87.
Tirelli, Sotiro. 5-16-63; # 1257-9. "TIRSO."
Cresti, Osvaldo. 5-22-63; # 1653-6. "CRESO."
Rotardi, Tito. 8-13-63; # 1865-34. "TROTA."
Orbasi, Igino. 9-17-73; # 1326-97. "ORBI."
Drusilla, Italia. 10-12-63; # 1653-2. "'DRUSI "
Ratosi, Tito. 11-22-63; # 1542-74 "TRATO."
Crosta, Sante. 11-17-63; # 1254-65. "CROSTAS.

"Not one, we say, not one of the accused Vatican prelates has ever had anything to do with Freemasonry."

While widespread involvement of the Vatican hierarchy in freemasonry may be impossible to prove, to say that not a single prelate has anything to do with freemasonry may be a little naive.
Here's an excerpt from an interview with Alice von Hildebrand (entitled "Present at the Demolition": http://www.latinmassmagazine.com/articles/articles_2001_SU_Hildebran.html
TLM: From our conversation throughout this afternoon, I must conclude that you don’t believe that the accelerating loss of the sense of the supernatural is an accident of history.

AVH:: No, I do not. There have been two books published in Italy in recent years that confirm what my husband had been suspecting for some time; namely, that there has been a systematic infiltration of the Church by diabolical enemies for much of this century. My husband was a very sanguine man and optimistic by nature. During the last ten years of his life, however, I witnessed him many times in moments of great sorrow, and frequently repeating, “They have desecrated the Holy Bride of Christ.” He was referring to the “abomination of desolation” of which the prophet Daniel speaks.

TLM: This is a critical admission, Dr. von Hildebrand. Your husband had been called a twentieth-century Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII. If he felt so strongly, didn’t he have access to the Vatican to tell Pope Paul VI of his fears?

AVH:: But he did! I shall never forget the private audience we had with Paul VI just before the end of the Council. It was on June 21, 1965. As soon as my husband started pleading with him to condemn the heresies that were rampant, the Pope interrupted him with the words, “Lo scriva, lo scriva.” (“Write it down.”) A few moments later, for the second time, my husband drew the gravity of the situation to the Pope’s attention. Same answer. His Holiness received us standing. It was clear that the Pope was feeling very uncomfortable. The audience lasted only a few minutes. Paul VI immediately gave a sign to his secretary, Fr. Capovilla, to bring us rosaries and medals. We then went back to Florence where my husband wrote a long document (unpublished today) that was delivered to Paul VI just the day before the last session of the Council. It was September of 1965. After reading my husband’s document, he said to my husband’s nephew, Dieter Sattler, who had become the German ambassador to the Holy See, that he had read the document carefully, but that “it was a bit harsh.” The reason was obvious: my husband had humbly requested a clear condemnation of heretical statements.

TLM: You realize, of course, Doctor, that as soon as you mention this idea of infiltration, there will be those who roll their eyes in exasperation and remark, “Not another conspiracy theory!”

AVH:: I can only tell you what I know. It is a matter of public record, for instance, that Bella Dodd, the ex-Communist who reconverted to the Church, openly spoke of the Communist Party’s deliberate infiltration of agents into the seminaries. She told my husband and me that when she was an active party member, she had dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican “who were working for us.”

Many a time I have heard Americans say that Europeans “smell conspiracy wherever they go.” But from the beginning, the Evil One has “conspired” against the Church – and has always aimed in particular at destroying the Mass and sapping belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. That some people are tempted to blow this undeniable fact out of proportion is no reason for denying its reality. On the other hand, I, European born, am tempted to say that many Americans are naïve; living in a country that has been blessed by peace, and knowing little about history, they are more likely than Europeans (whose history is a tumultuous one) to fall prey to illusions. Rousseau has had an enormous influence in the United States. When Christ said to His apostles at the Last Supper that “one of you will betray Me,” the apostles were stunned. Judas had played his hand so artfully that no one suspected him, for a cunning conspirator knows how to cover his tracks with a show of orthodoxy.

TLM: Do the two books by the Italian priest you mentioned before the interview contain documentation that would provide evidence of this infiltration?

AVH:: The two books I mentioned were published in 1998 and 2000 by an Italian priest, Don Luigi Villa of the diocese of Brescia, who at the request of Padre Pio has devoted many years of his life to the investigation of the possible infiltration of both Freemasons and Communists into the Church. My husband and I met Don Villa in the sixties. He claims that he does not make any statement that he cannot substantiate. When Paulo Sesto Beato? (1998) was published the book was sent to every single Italian bishop. None of them acknowledged receipt; none challenged any of Don Villa’s claims.

In this book, he relates something that no ecclesiastical authority has refuted or asked to be retracted – even though he names particular personalities in regard to the incident. It pertains to the rift between Pope Pius XII and the then Bishop Montini (the future Paul VI) who was his Undersecretary of State. Pius XII, conscious of the threat of Communism, which in the aftermath of World War II was dominating nearly half of Europe, had prohibited the Vatican staff from dealing with Moscow. To his dismay, he was informed one day through the Bishop of Upsala (Sweden) that his strict order had been contravened. The Pope resisted giving credence to this rumor until he was given incontrovertible evidence that Montini had been corresponding with various Soviet agencies. Meanwhile, Pope Pius XII (as had Pius XI) had been sending priests clandestinely into Russia to give comfort to Catholics behind the Iron Curtain. Every one of them had been systematically arrested, tortured, and either executed or sent to the gulag. Eventually a Vatican mole was discovered: Alighiero Tondi, S.J., who was a close advisor to Montini. Tondi was an agent working for Stalin whose mission was to keep Moscow informed about initiatives such as the sending of priests into the Soviet Union.

Add to this Pope Paul’s treatment of Cardinal Mindszenty. Against his will, Mindszenty was ordered by the Vatican to leave Budapest. As most everyone knows, he had escaped the Communists and sought refuge in the American embassy compound. The Pope had given him his solemn promise that he would remain primate of Hungary as long as he lived. When the Cardinal (who had been tortured by the Communists) arrived in Rome, Paul VI embraced him warmly, but then sent him into exile in Vienna. Shortly afterwards, this holy prelate was informed that he had been demoted, and had been replaced by someone more acceptable to the Hungarian Communist government. More puzzling, and tragically sad, is the fact that when Mindszenty died, no Church representative was present at his burial.

Another of Don Villa’s illustrations of infiltration is one related to him by Cardinal Gagnon. Paul VI had asked Gagnon to head an investigation concerning the infiltration of the Church by powerful enemies. Cardinal Gagnon (at that time an Archbishop) accepted this unpleasant task, and compiled a long dossier, rich in worrisome facts. When the work was completed, he requested an audience with Pope Paul in order to deliver personally the manuscript to the Pontiff. This request for a meeting was denied. The Pope sent word that the document should be placed in the offices of the Congregation for the Clergy, specifically in a safe with a double lock. This was done, but the very next day the safe deposit box was broken and the manuscript mysteriously disappeared. The usual policy of the Vatican is to make sure that news of such incidents never sees the light of day. Nevertheless, this theft was reported even in L’Osservatore Romano (perhaps under pressure because it had been reported in the secular press). Cardinal Gagnon, of course, had a copy, and once again asked the Pope for a private audience. Once again his request was denied. He then decided to leave Rome and return to his homeland in Canada. Later, he was called back to Rome by Pope John Paul II and made a cardinal.

TLM: Why did Don Villa write these works singling out Paul VI for criticism?

AVH:: Don Villa reluctantly decided to publish the books to which I have alluded. But when several bishops pushed for the beatification of Paul VI, this priest perceived it as a clarion call to print the information he had gathered through the years. In so doing, he was following the guidelines of a Roman Congregation, informing the faithful that it was their duty as members of the Church to relay to the Congregation any information that might militate against the candidate’s qualifications for beatification.

Considering the tumultuous pontificate of Paul VI, and the confusing signals he was giving, e.g.: speaking about the “smoke of Satan that had entered the Church,” yet refusing to condemn heresies officially; his promulgation of Humanae Vitae (the glory of his pontificate), yet his careful avoidance of proclaiming it ex cathedra; delivering his Credo of the People of God in Piazza San Pietro in 1968, and once again failing to declare it binding on all Catholics; disobeying the strict orders of Pius XII to have no contact with Moscow, and appeasing the Hungarian Communist government by reneging on the solemn promise he had made to Cardinal Mindszenty; his treatment of holy Cardinal Slipyj, who had spent seventeen years in a Gulag, only to be made a virtual prisoner in the Vatican by Paul VI; and finally asking Archbishop Gagnon to investigate possible infiltration in the Vatican, only to refuse him an audience when his work was completed – all these speak strongly against the beatification of Paolo VI, dubbed in Rome, “Paolo Sesto, Mesto” (Paul VI, the sad one).

That the duty to publish this depressing information was onerous and cost Don Villa great sorrow cannot be doubted. Any Catholic rejoices when he can look up to a Pope with boundless veneration. But Catholics also know that even though Christ never promised He would give us perfect leaders, He did promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail. Let us not forget that even though the Church has had some very bad popes, and some mediocre ones, she has been blessed with many great popes. Eighty of them have been canonized and several have been beatified. This is a success story that does not bear parallel in the secular world.

God alone is the judge of Paul VI. But it cannot be denied that his pontificate was a very complex and tragic one. It was under him that, in the course of fifteen years, more changes were introduced in the Church than in all preceding centuries combined. What is worrisome is that when we read the testimony of ex-Communists like Bella Dodd, and study Freemasonic documents (dating from the nineteenth century, and usually penned by fallen-away priests like Paul Roca), we can see that, to a large extent, their agenda has been carried out: the exodus of priests and nuns after Vatican II, dissenting theologians not censured, feminism, the pressure put on Rome to abolish priestly celibacy, immorality in the clergy, blasphemous liturgies (see the article by David Hart in First Things, April 2001, “The Future of the Papacy”), the radical changes that have been introduced into the sacred liturgy (see Cardinal Ratzinger’s book Milestones, pp. 126 and 148, Ignatius Press), and a misleading ecumenism. Only a blind person could deny that many of the Enemy’s plans have been perfectly carried out.

One should not forget that the world was shocked at what Hitler did. People like my husband, however, actually read what he had said in Mein Kampf. The plan was there. The world simply chose not to believe it.

But grave as the situation is, no committed Catholic can forget that Christ has promised that He will remain with His Church to the very end of the world. We should meditate on the scene related in the Gospel when the apostles’ boat was battered by a fierce storm. Christ was sleeping! His terrified followers woke Him up: He said one word, and there was a great calm. “O ye of little faith!”

Here are some books on related subject matter:
http://www.tanbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=346&
http://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/217/

As a well written response to Dr. Drolesky was posted earlier, I thougt it only fair to provide his response to that letter.
___________________________________________________

Letter to the Editor (6/16/04)
To the editor:

The well-written defense of Edmund Burke by Gladden Pappin makes many fine points. However, his own response demonstrates the very point I was making in my reference to Burke:

"Burke once wrote that, as the organizing principle of all man's attitudes, 'the first, last and middle object of their [the revolutionaries'] hostility is Religion.' Not the natural religion of the Freemasons, but classical, institutional, public, liturgical Christianity. Burke identified God and established religion as the chief enemy of the revolutionaries, and so the primary good to be defended. In his work toward that end, he bequeathed to future generations a sophisticated understanding of the nature of politics and its relation to the principles of order, history, tradition and prudence. Then as now, the traditional arrangements of society were under threat from revolutionaries bent on the destruction of all that had come before. If Burke did not sprinkle his works with references to the Immaculate Conception, we cannot fault him for it. But by reading him we can learn, in an erudite way, the panoply of threats with which modernity confronts tradition -- not only in religion, but in world-view and philosophy."

The principal revolt against the modern order that created the world in which Burke lived--and the revolt that gave rise to Freemasonry over the course of time--was Protestantism. The Protestant Revolt opened the door to the "panoply of threats with which modernity confronts tradition." "Classical, institutional, public liturgical Christianity" is not something generic, however. Yes, Burke's defense of the Catholic Church and the rights of Catholics is well-known, as is Pope Pius VI's praise of his efforts in this regard. Burke, though an advocate of the rights of Catholics, was not urging a restoration of Christendom under the Catholic Church, instituted by God to govern man both individually and collectively. And there is no way to retard the evils of modernity absent a return of men and their nations to the true Church, thus the fundamental flaw of conservatism as a political philosophy. It is not a generic Christianity but Catholicism that must be the basis of social order, as the popes have noted consistently in the great social encyclical letters.

Burke's arguments in defense of traditional hierarchies in Europe were similar in many respects to those made by Jonathan Boucher, an Anglican preacher who preached both in England and in Virginia between 1761 and 1775, against efforts on the part of some American colonists to break from England. Boucher argued that man should accept the hierarchy God had instituted. It is a very interesting argument, especially so since the church in which Boucher was "ordained" owed its creation to a revolt against God Himself. The confusion of the modern political order is the result of the Protestant Revolt, which thus gave rise to permutations within its own ranks and permitted other movements, including Freemasonry, to arise and exercise their influence upon world events.

Edmund Burke's name is indeed listed on at least thirty websites as having been a member of the Craft. One even listed his Lodge. I invite Mr. Pappin and others to put the name "Edmund Burke and Freemasonry" into a search engine. They will see the number of results that come up. If these numerous references on both Masonic and anti-Masonic sites are factual, then it must be remembered that not all members of Freemasonry are given to know the full aims of their brotherhood. Masons on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean were on both sides of the American Revolution, no less the French Revolution.

Finally, Mr. Pappin assumes that I have not read Edmund Burke. As one who has taught political science and political philosophy for thirty years, I would like to assure him that his assumption is most mistaken. One can read Edmund Burke and come to the conclusion that there are weaknesses in his arguments that are the result of the events wrought some two hundred years before he lived and wrote.

Sincerely yours in Christ the King and Mary our Immaculate Queen,

Thomas A. Droleskey, Ph.D.

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