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Thanks, I read it and will look into the book from Ignatius Press.

But once again, mass hysteria is the rule. The good father misinformed the questioner. The ceremony at a funeral is a very PUBLIC one, no secrets and nothing supernatural. I went to a wake last year of a person I knew from the Scouts, a protestant and mason, and there were the masons with the lambskin aprons which represented purity and holding an evergreen branch which I forgot what that symbolism meant. I think priests and others who were never masons should not talk about them since they are misinforming people and lying.

Fine, if the Church is against it, great, so let it be. I have no problem with that. But priests should not lie and tell false stories about the masons in regard to funeral services. Nothing of what the priest said in that article went on at the service I attended which was at the wake in full view of everyone. THere were no masonic ceremonies at the funeral or gravesite.

I've also seen the 4th-degree Knights at Funeral Services as well. And as a Knight let me tell you, we have our secrets from our 4 degree ceremonies as well. Since we are an organization with secrets, does the same Canon Law apply to us?

Masonic secrets cannot be told even to a priest in the Confessional, so it is a question of where one's ultimate loyalty lies. You may have heard about the anti-masonic party that was started in the United States in the 1830s, which included John Quincy Adams. Modern day Masons may not but the Masons of that time were deeply into political conspiracy.

Dear Coleus,

"But once again, mass hysteria is the rule. The good father misinformed the questioner. The ceremony at a funeral is a very PUBLIC one, no secrets and nothing supernatural."

I suppose that you're responding to the information given by Fr. William Smith at the link provided by CG in post 44.

I think that you misread Fr. Smith's response. He didn't say that the masonic funeral rituals were secret, or were supernatural. He said that it is likely that they didn't occur DURING a Catholic funeral, but rather, likely took place AFTER the Catholic services were completed, at the gravesite.

He said that only masons could engage in the actual ritual, not that the ritual was secret.

He said that masonry forbids the performance of the ritual during the religious services of another religion.

Where is Fr. Smith in error?

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