The Catholic Church and Freemasonry

[ok_cpu]

I'm in a group of Knights of Columbus that do a prayer service for Knights who have passed away. Tonight we were preceded in our service by a Masonic service.

I thought that membership in Masonic associations is forbidden by the Church. Anyone have more info?

[rug]

1. It is.

http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/WHATMAS.HTM

I don't like the Knights either.

[ok_cpu]

2. Just out of curiosity

Why don't you like the Knights?

[rug]

3. A few reasons.

Politically, the modern Knights tend to be right wing across the board. Their original purpose of aid to widows and orphans seems to have receded or been replaced by their annuity programs. I don't know but I assume many of the Councils support Bush and at least are silent on the war.

Second, in many parishes the priests seem to rely on them as the voice of the laity, which is usually not the case. The sight of them in full regalia with their swords at public church functions strikes me as medieval, God and King claptrap.

Third, I personally dislike organizations like this. I don't like Donahue and the Catholic League either.

Last, I think their hats are silly.

I'm sure many of the members are fine but it's the organization I don't like.

[theredpen]

4. I know people who have been helped by the KoC

...so I don't know if they've abandoned their original goals.

I think your other criticisms are more substantial (especially about the hats :) )

[ok_cpu]

5. You make some very good points

Thanks for taking the time to elaborate.

I think the Knights are similar to the Church overall. They need work at the institutional level but both continue to do good in the parishes and local councils.

[hedgehog]

6. How better to help widows and orphans than by ensuring they are protected with an annuity program?

I think on the national level, the Knights are dominated by the right wing. On the local level, a lot of the memebers are more left wing.

[Drunken Irishman]

7. My neighbor's husband was a Freemason.

I grew up knowing the family quite well and when he died they held his funeral at the Masonic Temple in downtown Salt Lake. After the service, his wife, who I always considered a grandma like figure, approached me and asked if I would consider joining. I had to politely decline and tell her that the Catholic Church does not allow me to join the Masons. She was sure that they had changed their position on this, but after looking into it, they have not. But I doubt they would excommunicate me if I did, like maybe they would 40 or 50 years ago.

[Narraback]

8. Info Fro Wikipedia Freemasonry and the Chruch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholicism_and_Freemasonry

There is much more but I snipped this:

Post Vatican II

After Vatican II, the Church appeared to some to be easing its stance towards Masonry. In 1974 Cardinal Seper, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, signed a document that stated, in part, that

"The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith... has ruled that Canon 2335 no longer automatically bars a Catholic from membership of masonic groups... And so, a Catholic who joins the Freemasons is excommunicated only if the policies and actions of the Freemasons in his area are known to be hostile to the Church ..."<24>

This advice led some Catholics to believe that the prohibition was no longer in force,<25> and that the Church no longer had many of its traditional objections to Freemasonry.<26>

In 1983, the Church issued a new Code of Canon Law. Unlike its predecessor, Canon 1374 does not explicitly name Masonic orders among the secret societies it condemns. It states in part:

A person who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a just penalty; one who promotes or takes office in such an association is to be punished with an interdict.

This omission caused some Catholics and Freemasons to believe that the ban on Catholics becoming Freemasons may have been lifted, especially after the perceived liberalization of Vatican II,<27> and caused confusion in the Church hierarchy.<28> Many Catholics joined the fraternity, basing their membership on a permissive interpretation of Canon Law and justifying their membership by their belief that Freemasonry does not plot against the Church.<29> It is claimed that Catholic Freemasons in America ignore the 1983 clarification from the Vatican, looking to the 1974 pronouncement.<30>

Ratzinger's reply

However, in the 1981 letter, Clarification concerning status of Catholics becoming Freemasons to the United States Bishops from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith authored by the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), the matter was clarified, and the prohibition against Catholics joining Masonic orders remains.

This was followed by the 1983 document Quaesitum est, issued by Pope John Paul II. To quote:

"The faithful, who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion..."<31>

This is the authoritative interpretation of the Vatican's position on this subject.

The official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano went further, claiming that Freemasonry acted as a rival to Catholicism because of the competing symbolic forms and the designation of Catholic non-Masons as outsiders.<32>