What is KofC jewelry doing on a Masonic supply website?

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Those don’t look like authentic KofC lapel pins (for example, the PGK pin is wrong – there should be a rhinestone atop for that style for the real deal). They look like cheap knock offs to me.

Also, they’re charging nearly $40+ for “their” pins, where the real KofC pins are less than $10.
 
DavidFilmer said:
Why would a Masonic supply company stock Knights of Columbus merchandise?
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They’ll sell to anybody? 🤷

However: Concur with [user]JMJ_coder[/user] – Their prices are pretty gouge-y. :eek:

Personally, a couple of years ago I bought a ring on eBay from an artisan who also catered to masons – Didn’t bother me a bit. Why did I go to eBay? Because she works in silver – When I see the $300-$400+ gold jobs in the official catalogs, it makes me woozy. If I had a couple of hundred dollars falling out of my pockets, I would sooner give it to our charitable causes than wear it on my finger. But ~$25 for a silver signet*? I can justify that. :twocents:

(* I also always think the enameled emblems on official rings look goofy :p)

tee
 
DavidFilmer said:
Are some Knights ignorant of the fact that faithful Catholics may not be Freemasons?

Why would a Masonic supply company stock Knights of Columbus merchandise?strange…
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The prohibition, however, does not work both ways; that is, KofC membership does not disqualify one from becoming a Mason as far as I know, and Masons will tell you that many Masons are also Knights, and they are probably correct. I’m not disputing that the RCC prohibits Masonic membership, just as it prohibits many other things that its members do anyway.

One thing on which the Knights agree is that once a Knight’s enough.
 
beeliner said:
The prohibition, however, does not work both ways; that is, KofC membership does not disqualify one from becoming a Mason as far as I know, and Masons will tell you that many Masons are also Knights, and they are probably correct. I’m not disputing that the RCC prohibits Masonic membership, just as it prohibits many other things that its members do anyway.
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Yes, but it is a lie on their part. It is the same category as a Protestant minister inviting all, even Catholics, to partake in their communion service. Of course, they don’t have a problem with it, but a Catholic cannot participate.
beeliner said:
One thing on which the Knights agree is that once a Knight’s enough.
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Huh?
 
JMJ_coder said:
  1. Yes, but it is a lie on their part. It is the same category as a Protestant minister inviting all, even Catholics, to partake in their communion service. Of course, they don’t have a problem with it, but a Catholic cannot participate.
  2. Huh?
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  1. A lie on whose part? You may have lost me here.
The only basis I can imagine for the Catholic prohibition of Masonic membership in modern times is that the Masons accept men of all religions without differentiation. The only exception is that the York rite is exclusively Christian.

The United States of America is also religiously neutral, even accepting atheists, which the Masons do not. I don’t know of any Catholic prohibition on US citizenship.
  1. Well, several Knights have told me that, and I assume that it is a little joke, a play on words if you will.
 
beeliner said:
  1. A lie on whose part? You may have lost me here.
The only basis I can imagine for the Catholic prohibition of Masonic membership in modern times is that the Masons accept men of all religions without differentiation. The only exception is that the York rite is exclusively Christian.

The United States of America is also religiously neutral, even accepting atheists, which the Masons do not. I don’t know of any Catholic prohibition on US citizenship.
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It is a lie (actually a half-truth) on the part of the masons.

For an understanding of the reason why Catholics cannot be masons, I suggest you read up on the historic papal documents concerning masonry. Here seems to be a somewhat good list to get started.
beeliner said:
  1. Well, several Knights have told me that, and I assume that it is a little joke, a play on words if you will.
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No, I mean – what does that mean?
 
JMJ_coder said:
  1. For an understanding of the reason why Catholics cannot be masons, I suggest you read up on the historic papal documents concerning masonry. Here seems to be a somewhat good list to get started.
  2. No, I mean – what does that mean?
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  1. Oh, I am well aware of the history. That’s why I stipulated ‘in modern times’.
  2. Ask your spouse.
 
JMJ_coder said:
  1. There’s no difference really.
  2. I’m not married, please spell it out as it is obviously going over my head.
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  1. Highly debatable, but one of the footnotes in your link mentions “religious indifferentism is one of the charges often leveled against Freemasonry in papal pronouncements”, which is what I said earlier. The USA is also religiously indifferent as are MANY civic and fraternal organizations from which Catholics are not excluded by their Church. Why single out the Masons based on ancient history, much of which is probably fanciful anyway?
  2. Use your imagiantion, think ‘homophones’.
 
tee_eff_em said:
They’ll sell to anybody? 🤷
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And that’s fine with me. But are Knights really visiting and buying from a Masonic website? No business offers merchandise which none of their customers will buy. They must have enough customers to create enough demand to justify the supply. Do Muslim websites sell KofC merchandise? What about Jewish websites? How about other anti-Catholic cults? Would a Knight actually buy a pendant from a Masonic website? I really hope not!
tee_eff_em said:
Personally, a couple of years ago I bought a ring on eBay from an artisan who also catered to masons – Didn’t bother me a bit.
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And it wouldn’t bother me either, if this was an artisan who catered to anybody. But the website I referenced is by Masons, for Masons. With the lone exception of the KofC.
 
DavidFilmer said:
Um, because I’m studying the symbols of Masonry (duh). Don’t many Catholic Apologists study anti-Catholic cults?
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Probably. Modern-day Masons are, however, neither anti-Catholic nor a cult (nor, for that matter, occult).
 
JMJ_coder said:
I’m not married, please spell it out as it is obviously going over my head.
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I was about to say, “If you don’t ‘get it’, you’re not LIKELY to be married anytime in the near future”, but I resisted the temptation - until now.
 
beeliner said:
The prohibition, however, does not work both ways; that is, KofC membership does not disqualify one from becoming a Mason as far as I know
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Well, apparently, you don’t know much.

The KofC insists that members be in union with the Holy See.

The Holy See has continuously forbidden Catholics from being Freemasons since 1738. This was most recently affirmed in “modern times” (1983) by the man who is now our current Pope, per the directive I cited in my original post.

The Holy See forbids Catholics from being Masons. And the KofC insists members be in union with the Holy See. Thus, it is impossible to honestly be a Knight of Columbus and also a Freemason.
 
DavidFilmer said:
And that’s fine with me. But are Knights really visiting and buying from a Masonic website? No business offers merchandise which none of their customers will buy. They must have enough customers to create enough demand to justify the supply. Do Muslim websites sell KofC merchandise? What about Jewish websites? How about other anti-Catholic cults? Would a Knight actually buy a pendant from a Masonic website? I really hope not!

And it wouldn’t bother me either, if this was an artisan who catered to anybody. But the website I referenced is by Masons, for Masons. With the lone exception of the KofC.
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Actually, I wondered about that myslef, & I checked their listings. They also sell Elks’ Lodge and Oddfellows’ Lodge items. My best guess, is that they are using “Masons” in a kind of generic way to mean lodges in general.:shrug:I suppose that there are folks who google for jewelry & don’t bother to check who is running things.
(Not saying this is right; just saying…I mean, for that matter, I know Masons who would be appalled at the idea of somebody making $$$$ off folks for what is most likely a knockoff of their jewelry, too…)
 
DavidFilmer said:
Well, apparently, you don’t know much.

The KofC insists that members be in union with the Holy See.

The Holy See has continuously forbidden Catholics from being Freemasons since 1738. This was most recently affirmed in “modern times” (1983) by the man who is now our current Pope, per the directive I cited in my original post.

The Holy See forbids Catholics from being Masons. And the KofC insists members be in union with the Holy See. Thus, it is impossible to honestly be a Knight of Columbus and also a Freemason.
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I don’t think you read my post closely enough, David.

I said that it is my understanding that the Masons do not prohibit Knights of Columbus from becoming Masons. If my wording was ambiguous or confusing I apologize.

That Masonic membership is prohibited by the Church I do not dispute, though I understand that under certain very narrow circumstances it is tolerated; for example, a recent convert to Catholicism retaining INACTIVE membership in order to keep his insurance benefits.
 
Zooey said:
Actually, I wondered about that myslef, & I checked their listings. They also sell Elks’ Lodge and Oddfellows’ Lodge items. My best guess, is that they are using “Masons” in a kind of generic way to mean lodges in genera
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The Oddfellows share a common history with the Freemasons, and the groups maintain close ties.

I don’t know of any Masonic ties of the Elks. So maybe there are two non-Masonic (or affiliated) groups that the site caters to. It still seems very strange. Are Knights OR Elks shopping this site???
 
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