Replies

Teofilo:

I have been a Knight of Columbus since 1964 and a Fourth Degree member since 1965.

Jack Hydrazine:

Both the Masonic Order and the Knights of Columbus are fraternal organizations. Both are charitable organizations. Both have rituals and degrees.

Despite these superficial similarities, the Knights of Columbus are most certainly NOT a Mason-like organization. The Knights of Columbus is a strictly Catholic organization. Therefore, it recognizes the Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, as the one true God. No deists or Buddhists or Hindus or Jewish folks or even Christians who are not Catholics although I am a bit confused lately as to Eastern Orthodox Christians who may be eligible without my understanding of the status between the Vatican and Eastern Orthodoxy in very recent times. I suspect that Eastern Orthodox Christians may not be entirely comfortable with us and vice versa for the reasons expressed in the mutual anathemas exchanged about a thousand years ago which may have been rescinded mutually without resolving the issues of the nature of the papacy and of the filioque question.

The Knights of Columbus is organized as a Catholic organization of men who have attained the age of 18 and have taken at least the 1st Degree (charity) and preferably but not necessarily the 2nd Degree (unity), and the 3rd Degree (fraternity). The 4th Degree which is entirely optional is patriotism, regarding one's loyalty to one's nation of origin or residence (United States, Canada, Mexico, Phillipines or Poland at the present time).

I don't know if Masons are, as an organization, devoted to any supranational world order (old or new). It has been my impression that the Masonic Order is quite favorable to religious liberty. I know that the Knights of Columbus will gladly settle for governments that reflect the principles of the Old and New Testaments and will insist upon religious liberty for the Catholic Church and its members and, in so doing, upon religious liberty for others as envisioned by the Founding Fathers of the USA. The K of C, of course, does NOT favor abortion or homosexual "marriage" or regard either as a matter of religious liberty even if practitioners of either pose as having a "religion" reflecting such views either for respectability and acceptance of such practices by society or for mere tax exemptions.

The Knights of Columbus regard any obligations to our order as strictly subordinate to our obligations as Catholics, as citizens, as husbands, as fathers. The Knights of Columbus regard as nonbinding any membership obligations that actually conflict with our individual obligations as Catholics, as citizens, as husbands, or as fathers.

The Knights of Columbus do not and never have require(d) the taking of any oaths that involve(d) sin such as calling for oneself to be murdered or mutilated for revealing secrets or otherwise.

Nor have he Knights of Columbus any degree that symbolizes sin such as the 30th Degree of the Masons in which candidates plunge knives into a mock papal tiara symbolizing Pope Pius III whom the Masons regard as somehow improperly responsible for the death by burning at the stake of Masonic Grand Master Jacques de Molay (3/18/1314) together with three of his major colleagues at a scaffold erected in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

I don't want to paint an overly one-sided picture in this comparison. The Masonic Order in the United States has been a magnificent source of works of charity. St. Jude's Hospital is one notable example. Another is the care displayed for many elderly and infirm folks who are provided with housing and medical care. 32nd Degree Masons (aka Shriners) are well known for entertaining children by donning clown costumes and performing before them and also by raising impressive amounts of funding for children's charities. Just as some Knights of Columbus have their faults, so it is also true that some of the finest human beings I know belong to Masonic Lodges. As much charity as the Knights of Columbus may engage in, we may only aspire at this stage to someday compete with the Masons.

That having been said, the Masonic concept of a "Grand Architect of the Universe" is not the equivalent of the one true triune God. If I understand it correctly, the GAOTU is essentially a deist concept for the Masonic organization and the Masons are willing to enroll anyone who recognizes a Supreme Being of whatever sort without modifying the specific beliefs of such candidates. In this manner, the Lodge is religiously "indifferent" except as to requiring belief in the existence of a Supreme Being (GAOTU). This is not a concept that Catholics are ever likely to find acceptable.

Catholic men have been enticed into the Masonic Order with reassurances by that order or its representatives that its principles are compatible with the Catholic as well as other faiths, that the Masons are glad to accept Catholics but only the Church stands in the way or that the Church no longer bans membership in the Masonic Order. Each of these propositions is wrong. The oaths of the Masonic Order are simply incompatible with Catholicism.

I believe that membership in the Masonic Order is also incompatible with membership in various other Christian churches: Eastern Orthodox Christian Churches, Missouri Synod Lutherans, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and very possibly others. I have enough trying to understand my own faith without trying to understand the others fully and I will gladly defer to any contrary opinion by practitioners of other faiths.

I would also note that the Knights of Columbus, Masonic Lodges and B'Nai Brith organizations have been known to join together in joint charitable activity compatible with all three in something called Brotherhood in Action. No one compromises their respective principles and everyone works together for good charitable causes. This exists in Connecticut where I lived most of my life but I have not seen it in Northwestern Illinois where I now live. Each of these groups has played an important role in their respective communities and there ought not be enmity among them.

Members or B’nai Brith will absolutely say the same that they are NOT a Masonic-like organization.

Why do you think B’nai Brith was started? Because it clashed with Jewish theology and practices. Who started it? Jews who had been members of Freemasonry. They modeled their organization on Masonic structure not necessarily the teachings.

Father Michael J. McGivney, who started KoC in 1882, wanted to give Catholics an alternative fraternal, Freemasonry-like organization since Catholics were excluded from organizations that provided social services or barred from many popular fraternal organizations like the Freemasons. I don’t know if Father McGivney was ever a Freemason but he somehow obtained information about inside, basic workings of Masons that he used to model KoC on sans the disagreeable aspects.

What I am saying is that both are Mason-like in structure and basic operations and social support but those things which are in conflict with Judaism and Catholicism have been excised.

The creation of these two fraternal organizations is similar to people starting new churches or denominations are NOT like them but you look at the basics and you find similarities. Catholic churches and Protestant churches are both churches but they change the names, change the practices up a bit, change the clothing for the leadership, vocabulary, rituals, regalia, etc., etc.

There are many fraternal organizations but they each have their own distinct way of doing business. All of them in one way or another model themselves on Freemasons.

Look at Mormonism. Joseph Smith was a Mason and stole a bunch of material from them and used it to start his Mormon church with. From everything I know about them I would consider them a fraternal organization with a basic Masonic structure, not just a church. But will Mormons say that they are NOT Mason-like at all! LOL!