Can catholics be masons?

[DallasTexas]

Fellow Catholics are really trying to help… It would be terrible if on judgement day, God said" So, getting back to this masonic business-- Son I know you got the memo, so my hands are kinda tied here…"

Coda,

Once again thank you very much for your posting. This is a very good point that you bring up.

Please correct me if I am in any way misstating what your are saying above in my summary. “If one does not do what the Pope says, she/he is going to hell.”

It’s a little more direct and to the point.

Is this what is implied in the previous post?

Thank you for your help.

 

[thistle]

Coda,

Once again thank you very much for your posting. This is a very good point that you bring up.

Please correct me if I am in any way misstating what your are saying above in my summary. “If one does not do what the Pope says, she/he is going to hell.”

It’s a little more direct and to the point.

Is this what is implied in the previous post?

Thank you for your help.

Why are you continuing with this? You know very well what the Church teachings are on this and its irrelevant if you disagree or not.
Catholics cannot be Freemasons (active or passive). For a Catholic to be a Freemason means they put themselves in a state of mortal sin and cannot receive Communion. A Catholic dying as an unrepentent Freemason will go to Hell.

 

[DallasTexas]

Why are you continuing with this? You know very well what the Church teachings are on this and its irrelevant if you disagree or not.
Catholics cannot be Freemasons (active or passive). For a Catholic to be a Freemason means they put themselves in a state of mortal sin and cannot receive Communion. A Catholic dying as an unrepentent Freemason will go to Hell.

Dear Bro. Thistle,

The last thing that I intend to do is to upset you with my postings. If this is the effect they are having, I believe it would be best if you just ignore them.

I realize what the Church says about Freemasons and assure you that if I thought that I was placing my soul in jeopardy of eternal damnation in any way I would run away from the Freemasons at lightening speed!

I believe that the Church is made an error in it’s ruling on Freemasonry.

I also do not believe that all writings of the Pope are necessarily right–or even good for that matter. A few other of the papal bulls I have disagreed with are:

Ad abolendam
Ad exstirpanda
Unam sanctam
Dum Diversas
Cum nimis absurdum

What I have asked I will ask again. Why is the Church against Freemasonry?

The only substantial reason I may conjure up is that prohibition stems more from almost 1,000 year old historical event than any type of moral or theological reason.

Freemasonry has been a topic of threads on CAF for at least a year–probably more. During my tenure on this wonderful forum, many have said–and fairly so–why question the teachings of the Church?

Quite simply I would prefer to go to mass if I was just going to ditto the teachings of the Church. It is in CAF that I can ask for answers.

Please accept my apology if you see this as a bad thing.

As for the question of eternal damnation (ie going to hell). My soul is at ease and my conscious is clean. I hold to the claim that being a Freemason is not a sin anymore than being an accountant or being an American.

I pray more for the souls of those who, all while knowing the truth, wrongly accuse (and many unjustly profiting from) false allegations against Freemasonry (or any other person or organization for that matter) because bearing false witness is a sin.

Once again I thank you for reading my posting–if it in any way bothers you–my feelings will not be hurt if you choose to ignore it.

Thank you–your brother in Christ,

 

[thistle]

Dear Bro. Thistle,

The last thing that I intend to do is to upset you with my postings. If this is the effect they are having, I believe it would be best if you just ignore them.

I realize what the Church says about Freemasons and assure you that if I thought that I was placing my soul in jeopardy of eternal damnation in any way I would run away from the Freemasons at lightening speed!

**I believe that the Church is made an error in it’s ruling on Freemasonry. **

I also do not believe that all writings of the Pope are necessarily right–or even good for that matter. A few other of the papal bulls I have disagreed with are:

Ad abolendam
Ad exstirpanda
Unam sanctam
Dum Diversas
Cum nimis absurdum

What I have asked I will ask again. Why is the Church against Freemasonry?

The only substantial reason I may conjure up is that prohibition stems more from almost 1,000 year old historical event than any type of moral or theological reason.

Freemasonry has been a topic of threads on CAF for at least a year–probably more. During my tenure on this wonderful forum, many have said–and fairly so–why question the teachings of the Church?

Quite simply I would prefer to go to mass if I was just going to ditto the teachings of the Church. It is in CAF that I can ask for answers.

Please accept my apology if you see this as a bad thing.

As for the question of eternal damnation (ie going to hell). My soul is at ease and my conscious is clean. **I hold to the claim that being a Freemason is not a sin anymore than being an accountant or being an American. **

I pray more for the souls of those who, all while knowing the truth, wrongly accuse (and many unjustly profiting from)** false allegations against Freemasonry** (or any other person or organization for that matter) because bearing false witness is a sin.

Once again I thank you for reading my posting–if it in any way bothers you–my feelings will not be hurt if you choose to ignore it.

Thank you–your brother in Christ,

Then my friend you are committing heresy.
You are publicly declaring yourself to be a Freemason while being a Catholic.
You are publicly declaring the Church teaching is wrong.
You are stubbornly rejecting the Church teaching (definition of heresy) on Freemasonry.
The Church has made it clear you are in a state of mortal sin and cannot receive Holy Communion.
I will pray for you because its sad when a person puts himself above the Church which Christ established and gave authority to.

 

[coda]

why are you continuing with this? You know very well what the church teachings are on this and its irrelevant if you disagree or not.
Catholics cannot be freemasons (active or passive). For a catholic to be a freemason means they put themselves in a state of mortal sin and cannot receive communion. A catholic dying as an unrepentent freemason will go to hell.

ditto—am now shaking the dust from my feet…

 

[c659smith]

ditto—am now shaking the dust from my feet…

Coda, that is the problem, they are making a choice of a club over Jesus Christ.

The Catholic Church as the Body of Christ right or wrong to include the Pope, clergy, and layity as the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church has made a decision on this subject.

They may disagree with this decision but to be a practicing Catholic one must abide by the decisions of the whole Body.

They can work to change this if a practicing Catholic but if you decide to leave than you stand no chance of making change.

The Catholic Church is a family and as such if a vote is taken and the Family as a whole makes a decision one does not like I still must abide by their decision or leave the house.

Can everyone imagine if one makes their own rules you would be a member of a protestant sect that is in excess of 20,000 different splinter groups and continues splintering by the hundreds everyday. It is a broken and dysfunctional family.

I will pray for them to make the right decision.

oops !!! Not meant for you Coda but the Masons trying to also be practicing Catholics.

 

[Jerry_Marino]

i think it would be cool to be a mason simply cause you could have a sword plus you get to were those really cool rings and be a part of the lodge.

 

[c659smith]

i think it would be cool to be a mason simply cause you could have a sword plus you get to were those really cool rings and be a part of the lodge.

If you are part of a denominational protestant I bet it bans you also from being a freemason or at least discourage it

 

[Jerry_Marino]

i wouldn’t say they ban me from joining such a group but why would i want to join a cult? the Bible tells us discern what is truth or false, to test the spirits.

where i go to church it is not ruler type of church that doesn’t mean that i could go in there and have beer bash.

now i hope you can see my humor in my previous posts.

 

[Daedelus76]

What is the Catholic Church’s story on the Knights Templar and Jacques De Molay?

I asked my dad about this once, because he is a Mason, why they have a somebody who is a Catholic heretic, and the Templars, as “heroes”, and they said it is because it was a misunderstanding, the Templars had too much money and the French king and conspired against the Templars and made up stories about worshipping the Devil. From what I’ve heard, the Templars actually invented the modern concept of banking in Europe due to the Crusades, people needed a way to transfer wealth as credit on their trips to the holy land. So they acquired alot of money, but after the crusades, they started making enemies because of the wealth they had created. The Templars were also involved in looting and trading alot of relics from Constatinople, as well.

 

[c659smith]

i wouldn’t say they ban me from joining such a group but why would i want to join a cult? the Bible tells us discern what is truth or false, to test the spirits.

where i go to church it is not ruler type of church that doesn’t mean that i could go in there and have beer bash.

now i hope you can see my humor in my previous posts.

So your Church does not have a heirachy. Your minister does not report to anyone within your denomination. I say this in fun too

There is no were in Scripture that wine or beer is evil as a matter of fact it is filled with reports of it’s use.
.
It was Jesus’s first miracle.

Now Drunkiness, Glutony, etc… are

 

[afriendofGod]

What is the Catholic Church’s story on the Knights Templar and Jacques De Molay?

I asked my dad about this once, because he is a Mason, why they have a somebody who is a Catholic heretic, and the Templars, as “heroes”, and they said it is because it was a misunderstanding, the Templars had too much money and the French king and conspired against the Templars and made up stories about worshipping the Devil. From what I’ve heard, the Templars actually invented the modern concept of banking in Europe due to the Crusades, people needed a way to transfer wealth as credit on their trips to the holy land. So they acquired alot of money, but after the crusades, they started making enemies because of the wealth they had created. The Templars were also involved in looting and trading alot of relics from Constatinople, as well.

A. The question of Freemasonry and why is it evil is far more complex than you can imagine. That’s not about the Templars only. Templar history, and thousand other like histories, is a screen (cloud), to conceal the real agenda of Freemasonry! Here is what I have written to a Scottish Grand Lodge representative a couple of days ago (I conceal the name for security): You will never find the answer, if you are a low-level mason. Moreover it would be useless for me to seek the answer asking low-level masons. The secret is covered by “clouds.” The “clouds” are the outer secondary ring of endless blabberers, protecting the secret. The secret is to destroy the papacy, and to dominate the world! The claim that “Freemasonry isn’t a religion” is one of the lying “clouds” propagated by the outer eschalons! Freemasonry is the most ancient antireligion in the world, composed by magai, sorcerers, alchemists, and all such pseudo “scientists”, protecting the “secret.” The secret is also all ancient religions and myths in the world, allied against the One God rightful religion! The ancient secret is to wrestle the power from the One God religions! This is why I mentioned the devil. The "secret core of Freemasonry, protected by unaware “builders” like you, is diabolic! This person, this VIP mason, like Dallas Texas, was trying to convince me that “Freemasonry is a totally innocent, inocuous social club.” I never bought it, and never will! And let me tell you this: the fact that we are searching answers and discussing this question, is itself a “cloud” devised by Freemasonry, protecting Freemasonry! So I will abstain wasting my time on this stuff any further.

 

[DallasTexas]

Dear Bro. Thistle,

The last thing that I intend to do is to upset you with my postings. If this is the effect they are having, I believe it would be best if you just ignore them.

I realize what the Church says about Freemasons and assure you that if I thought that I was placing my soul in jeopardy of eternal damnation in any way I would run away from the Freemasons at lightening speed!

I believe that the Church is made an error in it’s ruling on Freemasonry.

I also do not believe that all writings of the Pope are necessarily right–or even good for that matter. A few other of the papal bulls I have disagreed with are:

Ad abolendam
Ad exstirpanda
Unam sanctam
Dum Diversas
Cum nimis absurdum

What I have asked I will ask again. Why is the Church against Freemasonry?

The only substantial reason I may conjure up is that prohibition stems more from almost 1,000 year old historical event than any type of moral or theological reason.

Freemasonry has been a topic of threads on CAF for at least a year–probably more. During my tenure on this wonderful forum, many have said–and fairly so–why question the teachings of the Church?

Quite simply I would prefer to go to mass if I was just going to ditto the teachings of the Church. It is in CAF that I can ask for answers.

Please accept my apology if you see this as a bad thing.

As for the question of eternal damnation (ie going to hell). My soul is at ease and my conscious is clean. I hold to the claim that being a Freemason is not a sin anymore than being an accountant or being an American.

I pray more for the souls of those who, all while knowing the truth, wrongly accuse (and many unjustly profiting from) false allegations against Freemasonry (or any other person or organization for that matter) because bearing false witness is a sin.

Once again I thank you for reading my posting–if it in any way bothers you–my feelings will not be hurt if you choose to ignore it.

Thank you–your brother in Christ,

Then my friend you are committing heresy.
You are publicly declaring yourself to be a Freemason while being a Catholic.
You are publicly declaring the Church teaching is wrong.
You are stubbornly rejecting the Church teaching (definition of heresy) on Freemasonry.
The Church has made it clear you are in a state of mortal sin and cannot receive Holy Communion.
I will pray for you because its sad when a person puts himself above the Church which Christ established and gave authority to.

Thistle,

Once again thank you very much for your posting. I appreciate the time you have spent in replying.

After reading what a heretic is and what heresy is, I suppose the title which you have given me to be an accurate one because I do disagree with the Church.

Not being brought up in the Catholic faith–I was raised Baptist–this must not have quite the sting to it that it would for someone who lives in fear of the label.

Furthermore to your point, I would be called a heretic for being against the Papal Bulls listed below:
**Ad Exstirpanda **(May 15, 1252 by Pope Innocent IV) - the use of torture for obtaining a confession,
**Romanus Pontifex ** (January 8, 1455 by Pope Nicholas V) - permission to enslave and take land from non-Christians,
Cum nimis absurdum (July 14, 1555 by Pope Paul IV) - reinstates the economic restrictions on Jewish people in the Papal States,
I am most certain that there are a few others that I have missed.

Speaking of being a Baptist. As I have said before, the preacher at the Baptist church I grew up in was a mason (may he rest in peace) along with about half of the deacons of the church. The congressman from my hometown, Hon. Ralph M. Hall, is a mason (he’s still the congressman there too). Most of the leaders of the town were also masons.

The founding fathers of my state were also masons–Stephen Austin, Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, Lorenzo de Zavala, Juan Seguin, James Bowie, and many more.

The founding fathers of my country were also masons–George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Handcock, and once again many more.

The leaders of the last century were also masons–Theodore Roosevelt, FDR, Trumen, Ford, etc.

There is nothing trivial or trite about the organization of Freemasonry. It is neither a religion nor cult.

I stand by what I have said and until shown differently, the Church has made it a mistake on it’s prohibition of Freemasonry (I think it also made a mistake on the issuance of the other above listed Papal Bulls as well–which I hope have since been retracted).

The only reason(s) I have seen for the Church to be against Freemasonry deal(s) more with history (ie Templar Knights), and appears to be more of vindicative reasons, than anything that affects us in the modern era.

Once again thank you for your time and for reading my post.

 

[DallasTexas]

A. The question of Freemasonry and why is it evil is far more complex than you can imagine. That’s not about the Templars only. Templar history, and thousand other like histories, is a screen (cloud), to conceal the real agenda of Freemasonry! Here is what I have written to a Scottish Grand Lodge representative a couple of days ago (I conceal the name for security): You will never find the answer, if you are a low-level mason. Moreover it would be useless for me to seek the answer asking low-level masons. The secret is covered by “clouds.” The “clouds” are the outer secondary ring of endless blabberers, protecting the secret. The secret is to destroy the papacy, and to dominate the world! The claim that “Freemasonry isn’t a religion” is one of the lying “clouds” propagated by the outer eschalons! Freemasonry is the most ancient antireligion in the world, composed by magai, sorcerers, alchemists, and all such pseudo “scientists”, protecting the “secret.” The secret is also all ancient religions and myths in the world, allied against the One God rightful religion! The ancient secret is to wrestle the power from the One God religions! This is why I mentioned the devil. The "secret core of Freemasonry, protected by unaware “builders” like you, is diabolic! This person, this VIP mason, like Dallas Texas, was trying to convince me that “Freemasonry is a totally innocent, inocuous social club.” I never bought it, and never will! And let me tell you this: the fact that we are searching answers and discussing this question, is itself a “cloud” devised by Freemasonry, protecting Freemasonry! So I will abstain wasting my time on this stuff any further.

afriendofGod,

Thank you for your post.

Wow… I don’t even know how to begin on this one.

I know a lot of good masons; they are some of the best men I know. They are smart, hardworking, devout husbands and fathers… I could go on about their qualities. I would have no problem trusting them with my own life.

However, even with my brothers being as smart and hardworking and faithful as they are, I assure you that you’re in no risk of us taking over the world any time soon. It is unfortunate but most of us either have day jobs that prevent us from global domination or are up in years and no longer have the ambition.

May your day be sunny and free of clouds.

Thank you again for your posting.

 

[afriendofGod]

afriendofGod,

Thank you for your post.

Wow… I don’t even know how to begin on this one.

I know a lot of good masons; they are some of the best men I know. They are smart, hardworking, devout husbands and fathers… I could go on about their qualities. I would have no problem trusting them with my own life.

However, even with my brothers being as smart and hardworking and faithful as they are, I assure you that you’re in no risk of us taking over the world any time soon. It is unfortunate but most of us either have day jobs that prevent us from global domination or are up in years and no longer have the ambition.

May your day be sunny and free of clouds.

Thank you again for your posting.

A. I am sorry, but I have to attend to my Catholic priorities, which involve my present doctoral work on Pope John Paul II. Let us know what your friends think about this Pope.

 

[DallasTexas]

A. The question of Freemasonry and why is it evil is far more complex than you can imagine. That’s not about the Templars only. Templar history, and thousand other like histories, is a screen (cloud), to conceal the real agenda of Freemasonry! Here is what I have written to a Scottish Grand Lodge representative a couple of days ago (I conceal the name for security): You will never find the answer, if you are a low-level mason. Moreover it would be useless for me to seek the answer asking low-level masons. The secret is covered by “clouds.” The “clouds” are the outer secondary ring of endless blabberers, protecting the secret. The secret is to destroy the papacy, and to dominate the world! The claim that “Freemasonry isn’t a religion” is one of the lying “clouds” propagated by the outer eschalons! Freemasonry is the most ancient antireligion in the world, composed by magai, sorcerers, alchemists, and all such pseudo “scientists”, protecting the “secret.” The secret is also all ancient religions and myths in the world, allied against the One God rightful religion! The ancient secret is to wrestle the power from the One God religions! This is why I mentioned the devil. The "secret core of Freemasonry, protected by unaware “builders” like you, is diabolic! This person, this VIP mason, like Dallas Texas, was trying to convince me that “Freemasonry is a totally innocent, inocuous social club.” I never bought it, and never will! And let me tell you this: the fact that we are searching answers and discussing this question, is itself a “cloud” devised by Freemasonry, protecting Freemasonry! So I will abstain wasting my time on this stuff any further.

afriendofGod,

Thank you for your post.

Wow… I don’t even know how to begin on this one.

I know a lot of good masons; they are some of the best men I know. They are smart, hardworking, devout husbands and fathers… I could go on about their qualities. I would have no problem trusting them with my own life.

However, even with my brothers being as smart and hardworking and faithful as they are, I assure you that you’re in no risk of us taking over the world any time soon. It is unfortunate but most of us either have day jobs that prevent us from global domination or are up in years and no longer have the ambition.

May your day be sunny and free of clouds.

Thank you again for your posting.

afriendofGod,

Thank you again for your posting.

A. I am sorry, but I have to attend to my Catholic priorities, which involve my present doctoral work on Pope John Paul II.

Wow that sounds really interesting and impressive; I would love to read it whenever you have it completed.

Let us know what your friends think about this Pope.

I am assuming that you are referring to my friends who are masons, and I suppose the answer would be that there are as many different opinions as there are masons.

My opinion is that I love Pope John Paul II.

Thank you again for your posting.

Saludos hermano,

 

[jpm1977]

This is an interesting forum. I’m a Catholic, and not a Mason. I won’t join if the Church says I shouldn’t, and frankly, I’m not that interested in joining anyway, but I have to say, most of the Masons I see are old vets driving old Cadillacs (often a little bit in disrepair) with “Ask One to Be One” bumper stickers. If these guys were running the world, wouldn’t they all be cruising around the world in Bentleys and private jets? Maybe its different at Masonic lodges in Rome and Paris, but in Dallas, the organization seems to have fallen on hard times, much like all other kinds of fraternal societies (Eagles, Elks, etc.).

I don’t mean to sound sarcastic, but I think its a fairly legitimate point.

 

[afriendofGod]

afriendofGod,

Thank you again for your posting.

Wow that sounds really interesting and impressive; I would love to read it whenever you have it completed.

I am assuming that you are referring to my friends who are masons, and I suppose the answer would be that there are as many different opinions as there are masons.

My opinion is that I love Pope John Paul II.

Thank you again for your posting.

Saludos hermano,

A. Como he dicho previamente, you soy una persona muy ocupada y no tengo mucho tiempo para esta clase de discusiones. El hecho de que Ud. no tiene nada en contra de Papa Paulo II es edificante, pero, repito, no tiene efecto a lo dicho anteriormente: *Los masones, historicamente han sido contra el papado! * Lo que Ud. ha dicho solo refuerza mi conviccion de que Ud. y sus amigos estan siendo usados como “nube” (el termino proviene de la doctrina de rosacruces donde es central). Es un truco antiguo de la magia que tiene por objeto esconder el secreto de la magia. Cada vez que nosotros hablamos de la masoneria, probamos que no sabemos … y la plana mayor de la masoneria se esconde comfortablemente en la nube del nuestro no saber! En ingles, se puede decir asi: The cloud of our unknowingness about the Freemasonery is the Freemasonery’s best protection! BJS

 

[DallasTexas]

A. Como he dicho previamente, you soy una persona muy ocupada y no tengo mucho tiempo para esta clase de discusiones. El hecho de que Ud. no tiene nada en contra de Papa Paulo II es edificante, pero, repito, no tiene efecto a lo dicho anteriormente: *Los masones, historicamente han sido contra el papado! * Lo que Ud. ha dicho solo refuerza mi conviccion de que Ud. y sus amigos estan siendo usados como “nube” (el termino proviene de la doctrina de rosacruces donde es central). Es un truco antiguo de la magia que tiene por objeto esconder el secreto de la magia. Cada vez que nosotros hablamos de la masoneria, probamos que no sabemos … y la plana mayor de la masoneria se esconde comfortablemente en la nube del nuestro no saber! En ingles, se puede decir asi: The cloud of our unknowingness about the Freemasonery is the Freemasonery’s best protection! BJS

¡Oralé amigodeDios!

Muchisimas gracias por tu nota. ¡Me cae bien que hablas el castilliano!

Yo sé que un gran caballero como tú andas muy ocupado con todos tus deberes y si no puedas contestar mis notas, no te preocupas no me vas a lastimar los sentimientos, pero dejame decir que me gusta mucho la platica.

Favor de explicarme como los masones han estado en contra del papado–porque yo no entiendo nada de lo que dices.¿Tendrías un ejemplo? No digo que nunca han tenido problemas, pero los masones como grupo no son en contra del papado.

Por lo de los nubes y magia… la verdad… no lo creo. Me parece mas a Harry Potter que a los masones. Si tengas informacion, me encantaria verlo.

Tu hermano en Cristo,

 

[MrS]

Much like your image of Don Diego DelLaVega, the Masons hide their true face from the public.

From this article…
ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/WHATMAS.HTM

The Catholic Church has difficulties with Freemasonry because it is indeed a kind of religion unto itself. The practice of Freemasonry includes temples, altars, a moral code, worship services, vestments, feast days, a hierarchy of leadership, initiation and burial rites, and promises of eternal reward and punishment. While in America most Masons are Christian and will display a Bible on their “altar,” in the same lodges or elsewhere, Jews, Moslems, Hindus or other non-Christian religions can be admitted and may use their own sacred scriptures. (In France, in 1877, the “Grand Orient” Lodge eliminated the need to believe in God or the immortality of the soul, thereby admitting atheists into their fold; this atheistic type of Freemasonry spread particularly in Latin countries.)

Perhaps you have not “advanced” in degrees in FreeMasonry, but this point is rather interesting too…

A strong Anti-Catholicism also permeates Freemasonry. The two traditional enemies of Freemasonry are the royalty and the papacy. Masons even believe that Christ, dying on Calvary, was the “greatest among the apostles of humanity, braving Roman despotism and the fanaticism and bigotry of the priesthood.” When one reaches the 30th degree in the masonic hierarchy, called the Kadosh, the person crushes with his foot the papal tiara and the royal crown, and swears to free mankind “from the bondage of despotism and the thraldom of spiritual tyranny.”

and this…

Since the decree “In Eminenti” of Pope Clement XII in 1738, Catholics have been forbidden to join the Masons, and until 1983, under pain of excommunication. (The Orthodox and several Protestant churches also ban membership in the Masons.) Confusion occurred in 1974, when a letter by Cardinal Franjo Seper, then prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was interpreted to mean that Catholics could join Masonic lodges that were not anti-Catholic; the same congregation declared this interpretation as erroneous in 1981.
On Nov. 26, 1983, with the approval of Pope John Paul II, the Sacred Congregation reiterated the ban on Catholics joining the Masons: "The Church’s negative position on Masonic association … remains unaltered, since their principles have always been regarded as irreconcilable with the Church’s doctrine.

Respecting your Baptist background, but reminding you that all that is a moot point now, please understand that:

Hence, joining them remains prohibited by the Church. Catholics enrolled in masonic associations are involved in serious sin and may not approach Holy Communion."

.

Also, how would you respond to:
ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/MAKECASE.TXT , specifically, :

*“Scottish Rite”, the journal of Freemasonry in what **is called the “Southern District, U.S.A.” The June, 1996 issue is replete with articles and letters attacking Bishop Bruskewitz for taking the action he **did in April which resulted in the formal **excommunication of any Catholics in the Lincoln **Diocese who retained membership in 12 organizations, **several of which are Masonic. What is most revealing **about the articles is their disclosure that a number of **high-ranking Masons believe that they have all manner *of friends within the Catholic Church in this country.
**
**
**
.