Posted on 10/30/2009 9:01:19 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
A few years ago I was told that at the ceremony of induction of the vicar of one of the local Anglican churches, the Bible which was handed to him had embossed on its front cover the emblem of the Freemasons, the square and compasses. It subsequently came to light that nearly all the male members of his Parochial Church Council were "on the square", and his predecessor as vicar had been a Mason as well. This is not a "low", or Evangelical, church, but very firmly in the Anglo Catholic tradition, where a number of clergy and lay people over the years have talked of becoming Catholics.
Why is all this a problem? The reason is that the Catholic Church teaches that Freemasonry and Christianity are incompatible. The Holy See in 1983 reiterated the traditional position that Catholics who are Freemasons are in a state of grave sin and may not receive the sacraments - the Declaration on Masonic Associations was signed by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and makes it clear that local bishops cannot dispense from its provisions. There were two reasons for this document: first, the new Code of Canon Law, which came out at the same time, no longer mentioned Freemasonry by name in its list of organisations which Catholics are forbidden from joining; second, mistaken advice had been given in the late Seventies in Britain and America which suggested that Catholics could be Freemasons if local lodges were not anti-Catholic; the 1983 rescript corrected that advice. Consequently, Anglicans or others who are Freemasons wishing to become Catholics will have to discard their aprons: this may keep the numbers of potential converts down.
It is often claimed by Freemasons and others that the reasons for the Catholic Church's hostility to Freemasonry are to do with politics - the political hostility between the Church and what is known as "Grand Orient" Freemasonry in the rest of Europe and Latin America; English Freemasonry is completely different, it is claimed; unlike the "Grand Orient" it has retained belief in the "Supreme Being". But this is nonsense: the Church's original condemnations from the 18th century related to English Masonic lodges in Florence and elsewhere in Italy.
The reasons for our teaching, expounded in teaching from many popes since the 18th century, are theological. In the first place, Freemasonry is a naturalistic religion. Its rituals and constitutions present the member as a man who is able to advance towards enlightenment through his own efforts - a good parable of this is the depictions of the trials of Tamino in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. The Mason can earn his salvation through rites of initiation and the activities of the lodge (including charitable giving); it is thus, in a way, the perfect religion for the "self-made", middle-class professional man. It is totally at odds with the Christian vision, in which we need God's grace, through the death and resurrection of Our Lord, to grow in holiness.
Second, the prayers in its rituals specifically exclude reference to Our Lord. They are often prayers of Christian origin which have been vandalised.
In order to encompass adherents of other faiths the Saviour of the world is simply removed and set aside: he is not important. How can any Christian go along with this?
Third, the oaths required in the initiation rites require the new Mason to promise to keep secret the organisation's rituals, even though he does not at that point know what they are. These oaths are what Christian moral theologians call "vain" - they are not acceptable and cannot bind the person making them, even if they are done in the name of God. This is the problem with the oaths, not (as is sometimes claimed) the dire penalties which used to be referred to in the rituals.
These are the principal reasons why we teach that Freemasonry and Christianity are not compatible. In addition, we could cite the reactionary world view espoused in the rituals, supportive of the status quo and urging members to "keep to their station" in society. This, coupled with the make-up of lodges and the mechanisms of social control identified in exposés written in the Eighties reveal the movement as being somewhat at odds with the social teaching of the Catholic Church and our witness for justice and peace in the world. The "preferential option for the poor" would not find a place in the lodge. One could also point to the exclusion of women from lodge membership and the strain placed on many marriages by the commitments demanded of Freemasons: in spite of claiming to be a "system of morality" infidelity and adultery seem often to be viewed with some indulgence.
It is important that Catholics rest their challenge to Freemasonry on the clear theological arguments which I have advanced and that we are well-informed about the subject: sometimes criticisms of Freemasonry are inaccurate and frankly hysterical, and we should avoid conspiracy theories. It is also true that it is somewhat weaker than it was, partly as a result of the books written 20 years ago and pressure for Freemasons to reveal their membership, particularly in the police and the legal profession. Because of the decline, Freemasonry is very conscious of its public image and superficially less secretive than in the past.
Although it is weaker than in the past, Freemasonry still seems to have some influence in the Church of England. A study written by Caroline Windsor, Freemasonry and the Ministry (Concilium publications 2005), has shown that it is still quite strong in cathedrals (a big Masonic service was held in St Paul's Cathedral in 2002, with the Dean preaching) - and also that many parishes where Freemasons are active are weak in terms of Christian witness. If we are serious about ecumenical dialogue, the issue of Freemasonry has to be addressed; the same is true of interfaith relations, as Freemasons are sometimes involved in interfaith organisations - if they are there, we are talking about dialogue which is three-way, not two-way.
The overriding problem is that in spite of what Freemasons claim, their way of life is a religion, with all of religion's hallmarks. You can no more be a Freemason and a Christian than you can be a Muslim and a Christian. Catholics are committed to inter-faith dialogue and mutual respect, but this requires Freemasons to be honest about what they are. For Catholics, thinking about the reasons for the gulf between us can deepen our understanding of the Christian faith.
I did, your post is a classic example. Very sad, very ignorant.
No, but clearly you keep attacking. Why? Is that a Mason thing?
You included me in the address of your post, but I don’t see where it applies to the discussion I was having.
Fess up. Are you Barrack Obama?
“Degree work” has to do with the ceremonials performed by masons when they take their successive degrees. It comprises the rituals, the ceremonies, the scripts, the replies, the physical trappings of the degree, and the actual performance of the degree, etc.
It is similar to the degree work of each degree of the Knights of Columbus (at least as it gives structure to the degree, as opposed to content).
I know a little bit about masonry. A friend of mine is a mason, and has done quite a bit of research on masonry. He has, for some years, tried to persuade me that there would be nothing wrong for a Catholic to become a mason. He's given me books of their ceremonials, and spent many hours explaining things in the most favorable light.
From all these talks, I take a few points:
1. Many masons are very decent fellows, many of them are committed, like Catholics, to building up the community through good works of charity;
2. As a whole, most masonic organizations take reasonably seriously a commitment to charitable works;
3. The current ceremonials of masonry aren't anti-Catholic, are not especially obnoxious (although some of the oaths are rather silly), and do not have to be interpreted as religious rites or as a religious catechesis;
4. Most masons are not especially anti-Catholic and;
5. Masons often stick together in a way that folks who belong to other voluntary organizations often do not.
Having said that, I absolutely believe that no Catholic man should ever become a mason under any circumstances for any reason. Here are the two principle reasons:
1. Much of masonry's history, both in Europe and the United States, has been anti-Catholic. Even today, there are anti-Catholic Grand Lodges in Europe (although my friend says that these lodges are “excommunicated” from the “real masonic Grand Lodges,” but in that my friend also denies that there is any central or binding authority in masonry, that assertions rings somewhat hollow).
In the United States, the masons were in part for the campaigning for and passage of amendments to various state constitutions, especially in the Northwest, known as “Blaine Amendments,” which were aimed against the Catholic Church, forbidding any assistance whatsoever to religious schools, even to by secular textbooks or to provide bus transportation at public cost. In one state, I think it was Washington, but may have been Oregon, through masonic instigation, the government actually passed a law banning private schools, to undo the Catholic school system in that state. These evildoers were ultimately undone by the Supreme Court (and as a side note, the case had the unintended benefit of providing some constitutional protections to homeschoolers).
American masonry also supported the anti-Catholic revolutionaries in Mexico during the Mexican revolution in the 20th century. It helped give the revolution its anti-Catholic attribute, which resulted in the severe oppression of the Catholic Church, including the brutal murder of many priests and devout laity.
As a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus, I know that many of my Brother Knights were murdered for their Catholicism, and some of them are canonized saints of the Church.
It may be that much of American masonry is no longer anti-Catholic. I don't know. I'm not a mason and never plan to be one. But for me, it's enough that this institution has a fairly anti-Catholic past.
2. I've known six Catholic men who were also masons. I knew them during the time that they became fully aware that the Church really doesn't permit Catholic in good standing to be masons. I'm not talking about the misrepresentations of Church teaching by individual Catholic priests or other hierarchs. I'm talking about what the Church really teaches.
In the final analysis, when these men came to understand that they really had to choose between masonry and Catholicism, five of the six men chose masonry and apostasized from the Holy Church of Jesus Christ. This just about broke my heart.
What I found most disheartening was the reasoning of these five men. Although many masons say that masonry is not a religion, and thus they discount the idea that masonry promotes naturalism and indifferentism, this is what these five men told me:
a. That I shouldn't expect them to believe all that Catholic mumbo-jumbo, like transubstantiation and the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary, or in some cases, even the idea of the Virgin Birth, the Incarnation or the Resurrection.
b. That the Catholic Church wasn't really an organization of divine institution, but rather just a corrupt human institution.
c. That the Church isn't any big deal. Belonging to any church, or any religion is good, as long as one is worshipping God and doing one’s best.
All the things that the Church teaches us to fear from masonry - naturalism, indifferentism, hostility toward the true Bride of Christ - I found in these men.
I'm not entirely sure where it came from. Perhaps these men became masons and even before that were indifferentists, naturalists, and nurtured an anti-Catholicism in their hearts. I've read through their modern ceremonials, and I don't find much to support the idea that masonry firmly teaches naturalism and indifferentism.
Nonetheless, it appears to me that these are the fruits of masonry. At least for the those Catholic men who join the lodge.
I will not condemn masonry, per se. It's far beyond my knowledge or my ability to judge to say that it is intrinsically evil. I've met masons who seemed to be good men, and interested in using their time, treasure and talents to do good for other people.
But I do believe that it's rightfully forbidden that Catholic men should join the lodge. Masonry appears to take Catholic men into apostasy, and that is a very grave evil.
sitetest
Thanks for the Ping, Uglybiker!
In the final analysis, when these men came to understand that they really had to choose between masonry and Catholicism, five of the six men chose masonry and apostasized from the Holy Church of Jesus Christ.That is the issue. Very sad.
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
“The reason this doesn’t make sense to you is that you’re a hater and your attacks ...”
Wrong. I do not hate. I have not attacked. I ask questions. Masons then attack me. Very odd behavior.
Try this question, what obligations have you undertaken as a Mason of the Third Degree?
Nope, never heard anything like that or read it, either.
No, he said not to make fake or misleading oaths.
Learn to read in context.
God himself made oaths (covenants). Obviously, He did not break His will.
“Islamic symbolism.”
That’s the Shriners. They’re a drinking club, to give evidence of how serious the “Islamic” connection is.
Smith was kicked out of the masons for being a crook.
Masons are not “Pelagian.” It’s a fraternity, not a religion.
“Indifferent.” This is true. Like the Boy Scouts or the Marines, or Wal-Mart, the fraternity (as a whole) is indifferent to religion, in that it is not a religion.
Now, does any given lodge have a position on religion (i.e., are most of a given lodge’s members Baptist or something, sure. And that would color the character of that Lodge, just like a Baptist church that sponsors a Boy Scout troop would color that troop.)
That’s not in any “Masonic Manual” I’ve seen.
By the way, the “lambskin” is (to any Christian mason), the symbol of Jesus Christ, a gift to the mason, unearned, whose sacrifice makes us acceptable to God, through fiath in him and not works of our hands.
That would be apparent to any actual Christian would really read the initiation ceremony.
Yeah this whole concept of a “Masonic Manual” really misses the mark. Especially since there are Grand Lodges like Tennessee that don’t allow a single word or even a single letter of their degree work to be printed. It’s all passed down orally.
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