Confessions of a Former Freemason Officer, Converted to Catholicism

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Wow…

Apparently most of the members are not aware of this organization’s allegiance. Wonder how many would leave if they did know because they’re probably mostly good people who think it’s an actual Christian men’s group, like the Knights of Columbus.
 
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I get the distinct impression that Freemasonry can potentially open a lot of doors for men who adhere to it. Only problem is, there’s that very last door that all of us will sooner or later have to go through…

When I had just started in a new job, one of the senior higher-ups, either one of the owners or an executive who had been there forever, I don’t know, had to be at least 80 if he was a day, came into my office cubicle and welcomed me to the organization. He offered his hand, and when we shook hands, I felt his thumb going over my knuckle, in the Masonic fashion. I did not return the thumb gesture.

I never did get much further in that company than I was when I entered it, and it was 18 years. I had the credentials, but alas, I was passed over time and again. I’ve always wondered how things would have gone if I had been a Freemason.

For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? — Mark 8:36, Douay
 
Does anyone really know what freemasonry is or what they really believe and embrace? It’s a secret society, so how can we know?
 
My similar experience, it was right after we lost everything in the .com/telecom bust. I’d finally found a couple of part time jobs at local parishes when a co-worker died. Her husband, not a Catholic, had a business that used the same database program as the Church did, and it was very obscure tech.

Since I knew that software, he asked if I would come work for him, part time, setting my own hours, paid in cash. When I first walked into the office, it was Masonic world. Ends up the business was a business that served Masons only.

At that time in our lives, $20 was like $200 and it was one of the hardest things I ever did to say “no” to that job.
 
TheLittleLady said:
My similar experience, it was right after we lost everything in the .com/telecom bust. I’d finally found a couple of part time jobs at local parishes when a co-worker died. Her husband, not a Catholic, had a business that used the same database program as the Church did, and it was very obscure tech.

Since I knew that software, he asked if I would come work for him, part time, setting my own hours, paid in cash. When I first walked into the office, it was Masonic world. Ends up the business was a business that served Masons only.

At that time in our lives, $20 was like $200 and it was one of the hardest things I ever did to say “no” to that job.
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I would have found that just as repugnant as you did, but I have to think that software tech support, would be sufficiently remote material cooperation, and not sinful in itself, that it would be acceptable. Did the organization actively promote Masonry, or was it just a secular, morally neutral business run “by Masons for Masons”? Providing ancillary services even to an organization that promotes heresy, let alone merely an organization that serves heretics, might not be cooperation in their heresy — plumbing or electrical work for a heretical church, for instance.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
Did the organization actively promote Masonry
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Yes.

It was more than tech support, it was all of the clerical work as well, billing, collecting payments, reporting to each “district” or whatever they called them.
 
TheLittleLady said:
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HomeschoolDad:
Did the organization actively promote Masonry
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Yes.

It was more than tech support, it was all of the clerical work as well, billing, collecting payments, reporting to each “district” or whatever they called them.
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Again, the clerical work seems to me, to be morally neutral, but you were much closer up to the situation, so you would know best. At the end of the day, I would defer to the confessor. There is also the factor of “this is an evil organization and I don’t want to do one single thing to make their task any easier”. I could totally understand that.
 
JanR said:
Does anyone really know what freemasonry is or what they really believe and embrace? It’s a secret society, so how can we know?
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Yes because of ex freemasons who convert and repudiate freemasonry, as I did.

It is important to distinguish between Grand Orient freemasonry, which is practised in France, Italy and generally in Europe which openly denies the existence of God, and anglo-saxon freemasonry for which belief in a suprene being (any supreme being will do, including the devil) is a requirement.

In the latter, Masonic ritual is carefully phrased so that nothing is said which obviously contradicts the doctrine of any creed. Therefore a great many christians are convinced that freemasonry is compatible with their faith. This technique of ambiguity is very effective and only if you are well versed in doctrine is it possible still to see the problems.

I believe that Archbishop Bugnini had this idea in mind when he was redisigning the Mass. His dream was that an anglican or Lutheran should be able to go to a valid Catholic mass and not find in it any words that would make them uncomfortable.

Regarding whether freemasonry opens doors for one’s career, in 20 years as a mason during which I was master of four lodges I was never approached with any improper proposal. On the other hand, all networking opportunities are useful and I met some important people as a result.

The most dangerous idea which freemasonry disseminates is that all reliigions are equally valid. This idea has been widely accepted all over the world, which is hardly surprising when you consider that most US Presidents have been freemasons, as well as a great many British politicians and and huge numbers of influential writers.

Ps: I do not consider myself bound by any oaths I took as a freemason so feel free to ask me about supposed masonic secrets. Passwords, signs, ritual, I don’t care
 
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Maximian said:
Ps: I do not consider myself bound by any oaths I took as a freemason so feel free to ask me about supposed masonic secrets. Passwords, signs, ritual, I don’t care
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Does the vulture have any significance? If so, what about a symbol of one with wings down?
 
@Maximian

Could it be an eagle or buzzard?
 
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No. Freemasonry doesn’t use any bird as a symbol, at least, not in any mainstream lodges that I know of. I suppose it’s possible that some obscure branch of freemasonry has used such a symbol but not in my (quite extensive) experience.

If you are referring to the presence of masonic symbolism iused by the US, there are two instances that a mason can easily recognize: the phrase “In God We Trust” with the all-seeing eye on banknotes, and the custom of placing your hand on your heart while the National Anthem is played.
 
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“In God we trust” sounds righteous to me. We SHOULD always trust God.

Placing one’s hand on one’s heart during the National Anthem is simply patriotic. It represents a love of one’s country (which doesn’t necessary mean country over God).

The all-seeing eye can mean that God sees and knows everything, which is fine. If He didn’t see and know everything, He wouldn’t be God

OR the all-seeing eye can have a more sinister, Big-Brother connotation. Especially today, when tracking a citizen’s every move and spying on people wherever they go and whatever they do is rapidly becoming the norm. It’s already being widely done, and most of us don’t realize the full extent of it.

What about the eagle? Isn’t that part of Masonic symbolism? It has been designated our national bird. (Old Ben Franklin wanted the turkey).
 
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JanR said:
“In God we trust” sounds righteous to me. We SHOULD always trust God.
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Of course. The point is not that it is objectionable. The point is that ever freemason recognises it as a reference to his initiation.

It alludes to the opening words of the initiation ceremony: The candidate is led into the lodge and the following dialogue follows:

Master: In all cases of difficulty and danger, in whom do you put your trust?
Deacon, prompting Candidate: In God
Candidate: In God
Master: Right glad am I to find your faith so well founded.
 
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“In God we trust,” is derived from the fourth verse of the Star Spangled Banner:
O thus be it ever,
When freemen shall stand,
Between their loved home,
And the war’s desolation,
Blessed with victory and peace,
May the Heaven-rescued land,
Praise the Power that hath made
And preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must,
When our cause it is just,
And this be our motto:
"In God is our trust."
And the Star Spangled Banner
In triumph shall wave,
O’er the Land of the Free
And the Home of the Brave.

There is no evidence of Francis Scott Key being a freemason, and in his previous song, “When the Warrior Returns,” he referred to the Muslim pirates as infidels, “stained the blue waters with infidel blood.”
 
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Please comment on Freemasons serving Lucifer, as is stated in OP’s link.
 
If you mean, invoking Lucifer by name, no, that does not happen in mainstream freemasonry.

But unwittingly doing the devil’s work, absolutely. Catherine Emmerich once had a vision of ordinary masons demolishing a church wall. None of them could see the significance of the work they were doing. Only from a way off was it possible to see the total effect.
 
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