Should Catholics Protest or Boycott Free Masons?

[Fets]

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.

I disagree with this. I don’t think they are a legitimate religion. How can you lump them in the same sentence as those actual religions? Are they ever invited to interfaith prayer/ ecumenical gatherings? No, because they’re not a religion in the same way.

 

[Fets]

If all the Masons do now is act as a service organization and drink beer, why can’t they do that somewhere else? Maybe some pressure from local communities might make them ditch the Free Masons.

I liked your response to the Rabbi. But you could’ve gone even more recently than the 1800s. In Mexico between 1910 and the 1920s there was the Mexican Revolution, which had violent anti-Catholic persecution. Led by the Masons. The President of Mexico at the time was a Mason. The American Knights of Columbus sent money (and probably some arms) to the Catholics in Mexico. That was only 100 years ago.
I doubt they’ve changed so much from then. Shouldn’t we do more to make sure they die out?

Someone claimed the Masons are irrelevent. I mean, I see their temples and bumper stickers all over the place. Which prompted my post actually. And commercials for their Shriners Hospital
Any link or news story proving that they’re declining at all? Doesn’t seem that way to me.

I doubt a campaign by the Church would increase their membership. Don’t y’all believe in the power of prayer? This is the Evangelization forum, which I felt a fitting place to put this.

 

[Londoner]

I think this is currently true in the USA. However, I think in some parts of Europe, Freemasonry may still have some ominous overtones.

Certainly it still has these overtones in Britain, although because of the secrecy involved nobody is really sure how justified they are. Around ten years ago it was known that 5.4 percent of judges and 6.4 percent of magistrates (Justices of the Peace) in England and Wales were Freemasons. You also have to take into consideration that 54 percent of magistrates are women, but that membership of Freemasonry is overwhelmingly male (there are a small number of lodges for women). Therefore you are probably looking at something like 12 or 13 percent of male magistrates being Freemasons.

Influence is supposed to be greatest among the police. I certainly know of one retired chief superintendent who was also the right worshipful provincial grand master in a branch of Freemasonry. Of course, this is not in itself evidence of corruption.

The Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England is HRH The Duke of Kent, a grandson of King George V and a first cousin of the Queen (and a member of Greek, Danish, and Russian royal and imperial families, among others), which I suppose does reflect that in Britain Freemasonry seems to have more in the way of social cachet and genuine and ongoing links to the Establishment.

Also, from having talked British Freemasons, they seem to take the philosophical and theological aspects and the rituals very seriously. They very much see Freemasonry as a means of self-improvement and as a way of structuring and interpreting their journey through life.

 

[TheLittleLady]

We should not join the Free Masons, or any of their subgroups. We should warn our Catholic friends not go join. We should pray for those who have been enmeshed.

 

[TheLittleLady]

And commercials for their Shriners Hospital

Shriner Hospitals have helped many poor families get medical treatment. I would encourage you to donate to your nearest Children’s Hospital, where they also treat children at no cost to the parents, as a way to increase their ability to care for these children and someday make Shrine Hospitals obsolete.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’ve been advised by priests recently, like in the last few months, that these days we seek to build bridges with those of other faiths, rather than focusing on that which divides us.

I’m okay with a live-and-let-live policy, especially since the Masons in many areas are dying out pretty well on their own with no help from us, simply because younger men aren’t that interested in joining or there is too much competition from too many different service organizations. It’s one service organization out of a dozen similar organizations. I simply throw my support and my dollars at the Knights of Columbus, VFW, American Legion, Kiwanis, Elks, Lions, etc. and let the Masons go and do where they will.

If I wanted to focus on wiping out anti-church groups, some of the actual Protestant churches in USA would fit the bill better than Masons. I’m much more bothered by the presence of certain evangelicals or SDA in my community than I am by the Masons running a booth at the city street fair selling pizza or whatever. But like I said, the clergy nowadays will tell us that trying to crush these separated brethren is not the way to go.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I have to also ask, why are you so bent on finding something to crusade against? Abortion clinics, I can understand. People are being killed in there. Drastic action like boycotts and public marches and homilies is needed.

However, the Masons aren’t doing much of anything objectionable these days where I live. Why create a big target of hostility? What’s the point of that? Most of us have lives and would like to get along with our neighbors and not constantly be trying to crush this and crush that. Why not just pray for them instead? You get more flies with honey.

By the way, I also find it rather distasteful that you would trash the Shrine Hospital. You’re going to make a fuss over an organization that helps poor people and poor children get medical care? C’mon man. You’re making Catholicism look really bad when you do that. It’s not like they make everybody sign an occult oath to come get treatment.

To be honest, the more I think about this, this sort of “let’s go get somebody!” mentality is not the sort of Catholicism I want to identify with at all.

 

[LawyersGunsAndMoney]

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.

I don’t think anyone is arguing that Catholics should become Masons.

That said, I highly doubt that most Masons would agree that they are “totally rejecting Christianity.” Most Masons, at least in the US, identify as mainline Protestants.

 

[dochawk]

If all the Masons do now is act as a service organization and drink beer,

And fix children’s spines, and cancer, and burns . . .

For those calling for a boycott, should I have rejected the Shriners when they did the surgeries to correct a 107 degree curvature in my daughter’s spine? And refused to take a penny for it . . .

(had we had her treated locally, the results would not have been comparable . . . the new surgery she got wasn’t even used outside their hospitals yet; they pioneered most of the pediatric techniques for scoliosis and such)

hawk

 

[Bon_Croix]

You don’t know this. What they do is so under the light that it is not known to common folks. It is the devil at his best (deception–just under the radar of the masses).

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I prefer to combat the devil through prayer, not through shunning.

 

[Bon_Croix]

ked British Freemasons, they seem to take the philosophical and theological aspects and the rituals very seriously. They very much see Freemasonry as a means of self-improvement and as a way of structurin

Freemasonry has spilled out into the secular world.

 

[TheLittleLady]

If we are supposed to protest and boycott, we need to be protesting divorce proceedings and boycotting every physician/medical clinic/pharmacy that dispenses contraception. We need to boycott and protest opinion broadcasts and articles because they often encourage detraction and calumnity. We will be so busy with boycotts, when do we find time to evangelize??

 

[esieffe]

I think we have bigger fish to fry than the masons. The chief danger they represent would be the random uninformed Catholic who unwittingly joins their ranks and signs up to their secret oaths etc. European masons might be darker, but the US masons look like they might be asleep at the wheel.

My job had the mason over once to help parents register their kids hand and foot prints, sort of a child protection /identification thing. Whenever I passed this group of masons, I must have cast an unwary eye at them one time too many and one got up and seemed to want to have a discussion with me, which my employer might have considered as being rude.

I am sure many of their efforts are noble, but we all have to keep in mind, as far as we know, the blue orders are ignorant of any dark global agenda. It does not matter to me what they do, my faith has said plainly that they are off limits. That is good enough for me.

In the meantime there is much that needs to be addressed elsewhere. The masons have my prayers that they leave the lodge, avoid hell and turn towards God through his Holy Mother.

 

[Londoner]

I don’t think they are a legitimate religion.

You are right that Freemasonry isn’t a religion, but I don’t think that that invalidates my point. The Freemasons themselves would say that their way of life can encompass all religions, including Catholicism (I asked them about this, and they said that while Catholics tend not to join because of Church teaching, the Freemasons themselves are perfectly happy to allow Catholics to join). The only requirement that they have is that people wanting to become Freemasons have to profess belief in a supreme being. They will never ask in exactly what supreme being people believe, and they do not discuss religion during lodge meetings.

From what I have found out about Freemasonry by visiting the United Grand Lodge of England and talking to people who are Freemasons, it could be characterised as a system of beliefs and practices based on belief in a supreme being and the use of myths, symbols, and rituals to express their guiding principles.

I don’t think that a set of beliefs, a way of life, or a community of people necessarily has to be what you call ‘a legitimate religion’ for it to enjoy the right to be treated with tolerance and respect. The Scouts are not a religion, but they share a number of characteristics with Freemasons. The Scouts, for example, make it a requirement that members should profess belief in God or something similar to belief in God, e.g. Buddhism. However, the precise nature of this belief is not prescribed, and people practising a wide variety of religions are able to become Scouts. The Scouts also use symbols and rituals, such as the Scout sign, the Scout salute, saluting and honouring the flag, and using phrases such ‘Be prepared’ and ‘Do your best’. Scouts have an initiation ritual involving the making of a promise and being invested with insignia appropriate to membership and rank. Cubs use a mythology based on Kipling’s The Jungle Book, in which every Cub is identified with Mowgli and the adult leaders are identified with the animals who in the original story help to guide Mowgli towards manhood.

I would only be inclined to be concerned about Freemasonry if I thought that they were involved in conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, perverting the course of justice, etc.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Our Holy Father, and Cardinal Ratzinger, have suggested we read:

Lord of the World by RH Benson

It is in public domain, so, you can find it for free on Gutenberg or LibriVox.

 

[lilypadrees]

I never said they were evil. But they do have a reputation throughout history for being anti-Catholic. I try to avoid anyone who is anti-Catholic.