Should Catholics Protest or Boycott Free Masons?

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I’ll just post some brief questions I have and avoid ranting.

The Catholic Church has condemned Free Masonry. Every thread on here condemns it in no uncertain terms. Here then, are my questions:

If there is no abortion clinic near a Catholic parish, but there is a den of Free Masonry, should that parish consider campaigning against that Masonic lodge? Praying/ protesting, passing out leaflets, perhaps at a different location then the lodge itself.

Is the Free Mason a Christian? If someone is a member of the Free Masons, is it possible to still view them as a Christian?

When I see a car with a Mason sticker, I always pray for them. If Catholics encounter a Free Mason in public, should we rattle our Rosary beads in their general direction?

Would it be wrong for a Catholic to conduct business with them? If it is known that a business is owned by a Free Mason, should Catholics boycott it? Protest outside of it? Distribute leaflets? Issue condeemnations from the pulpit?

If we really regard this organization as being so evil, how come we don’t do anything against them? Perhaps if we put some pressure on them, it would give the less committed ones a reason to think about leaving the Masons. And it would educate the ignorant American public about them.
 
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Masons are very influential in the U.S. and other countries.

For instance a sizable number of American presidents have been Masons.
Here’s a partial list:
George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Gerald Ford.
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Lots of Masons identify as Christians. The Church’s opposition is well known. Unless the Church calls on us to protest, I wouldn’t worry about.

I hope that helps. 😃
 
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Freemasons have actively sponsored trying to subvert and destroy the Catholic Church. Freemasons have financed many secular revolutions and movements that are anti-Catholic have they not?

Additionally, several popes are on record of condemning Freemasons. Attending a Freemason meeting is a violation of the 1st Commandment if you look in some Catholic prayer books.

Unfortunately, so many Catholics today are so poorly catechized they don’t know any of this.
 
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@Scott84: Thanks for your enlightening post. 😃

So, in reference to the OP’s question, should Catholics engage in anti-Masonic protests?
 
Catholics are called NOT to participate / join any freemasons lodge. Also knowing why this is so, would be helpful.
 
In recent decades in USA, the Freemasons haven’t done anything particularly anti-Catholic and they tend to operate similarly to other local “service groups” that have a bunch of local businessmen in them who like to get together and hang out for beer night. The only big difference is that Catholics tend to avoid joining if they’re aware of the prohibition (big “if”, some of them truly don’t know about it) and instead will join some other group like the Knights of Columbus, Kiwanis, Lions, Elks, Jaycees etc.

My boycotting of Freemasons consists of me skipping the Mason’s annual Lenten fish fry and going to the Catholic or Orthodox church fry instead. They honestly don’t do anything that would command a boycott. My town is too big to have shop owners whose club memberships are known/ cared about at the local level. The town where I work is a bit smaller and more folksy, but it’s so heavily Catholic that I wouldn’t even know where the Masons spent time. All I ever see are the Knights of Columbus who have a big hall on the main street right next to the equally big and busy Catholic Church.
 
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I’d say three things:
  1. As far as their philosophical or theological beliefs and their ritual practices are concerned, we should no more protest or boycott Freemasons than we should protest or boycott Jews, Muslims, Protestants, sedevacantists, pagans, or atheists. Freedom of belief and worship are fundamental human rights.
  2. If we find evidence that Freemasons are involved in some kind of misconduct, that should be addressed in the same way that we’d address misconduct in any other area of life. In the UK it is widely believed that Freemasons have influence in the police and the judiciary. If there is evidence for this, we can report it to the police or tip off a reputable investigative journalist.
  3. The Orange Order and related groups aren’t strictly speaking Freemasons, but they are closely connected. These organisations are actively discriminatory against Catholics and even against people who are married to Catholics. They help to fuel bigotry and sectarianism in Ireland. You may feel that opposing them is something that you ought to do on a political level.
 
There is a Mason Lodge sandwiched between our local post office and the Southern Baptist church I attended for many years. I only notice them when they’re having their pancake breakfasts and fish fries because of their huge signs.

I avoid them like the plague.
 
Scott84 said:
Unfortunately, so many Catholics today are so poorly catechized they don’t know any of this.
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Probably because it’s not that relevant today. The masons have anti-Catholic roots, and Catholics should avoid joining.

That said, the organization today is a lot different than it was in the 1700s. Most Masons today probably aren’t even aware they’re supposed to be anti-Catholic. At this point, they’re basically just a fraternal organization for guys who like beer and ping pong, with a lot of secret society mumbo-jumbo mixed in for fun. There’s no need to be dramatic or make it more sinister than it is.
 
Rabbi said:
Free Masons are evil? I think you have to rethink that.
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Do you have any knowledge of the history of European Freemasonry and its organized and virulent opposition to the Catholic Church?

In the late 1800s they were essentially out to destroy the Church. They would have huge demonstrations and riots, saying so. It was a real problem. There were plenty of Popes and saints who personally lived through this, and plenty of historical records about it.

Even in the early history of the USA, many of the original founders were Freemasons and they hated Catholics back in the 1700s and early 1800s. When the Washington Monument was being built, leaders from around the world sent stones for it. The Pope sent a stone and the Freemasons dealing with the building of the Monument were so upset that they all got together and pushed the Pope’s stone into the Potomac River. After reading that I felt guilty going up in the Washington Monument.

There’s a good historic basis for Catholics being forbidden to join, and for some bishops excommunicating Catholics who join.
 
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LawyersGunsAndMoney said:
That said, the organization today is a lot different than it was in the 1700s. Most Masons today probably aren’t even aware they’re supposed to be anti-Catholic. At this point, they’re basically just a fraternal organization for guys who like beer and ping pong, with a lot of secret society mumbo-jumbo mixed in for fun. There’s no need to be dramatic or make it more sinister than it is.
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I think this is currently true in the USA. However, I think in some parts of Europe, Freemasonry may still have some ominous overtones.

As I noted above, in the USA there are so many alternatives to Freemasonry for people who want to be involved in a fun fraternal organization that there is not much reason to be a Mason specifically.
 
My husband and I used to sing that around the house, mostly because my last engineering job before I changed careers was building and testing electric cars and there was definitely a lot of political “holding back” in that field and I got frustrated and chucked engineering altogether. So when I heard that song, I knew who to blame! 🤣
 
A Free Mason, by nature, rejects Christianity and all that God is. Their beliefs are completely incompatible with ours. So no, one cannot be a Free Mason and a Catholic–whether or not they say they can. And frankly, I would find it almost inconceivable to think they would legitimately believe they could hold such opposing things as true, or not know they could not do so.
 
Fets said:
If there is no abortion clinic near a Catholic parish, but there is a den of Free Masonry, should that parish consider campaigning against that Masonic lodge? Praying/ protesting, passing out leaflets, perhaps at a different location then the lodge itself.
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No, don’t protest or leaflet or anything like that. It just gives undue attention to an increasingly irrelevant group. Why should we provide free publicity?

Praying at abortion clinics is a completely different thing, and something we should do. As Abby Johnson related, their deferral rate nose dives when women are driving up and see protestors praying.

God bless all who protect the unborn,
Deacon Christopher
 
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