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freemasons
Interesting thread. Some good info and some very weird and very wrong info. The Masons are an ancient fraternity who require an absolute belief in God and who encourage you to serve your God according to your beliefs. Lots of info available on the Web. The primary difficulty between the Masons and the Catholic Church was based on a misunderstanding which came about during the French Revolution. Certain French lodges rejected belief in the Deity and actively sought the destruction of the Church during and after the revolution. Regular (legit) Masons rejected this approach and the Grand Master of Masons in England condemned these outlaw masons. The rest of the regular Masonic world followed suit and cut off communication with this irregular branch, known as the Grand Orient of France. Needless to say the Catholic Church was not too happy about a group trying to eliminate religion in France. Ofer the years Catholics were forbidden to join the Masons based on the belief that the Masons were their sworn enemies. During the 1960's a number of senior Masons began talking with a number of Cardinals and the Masons discovered that the Church was not opposed to them in principle but was under the impression that there was a deep animosity between the two. The Cardinals began to realize that while some Masons may not have particularly liked Catholics there was nothing in Masonry that conflicted with the Church, if fact there was rather a lot that both groups held in mutual high regard. This led to a meeting between the Duke of Kent, the Grand Master of Masons in England and Pope Paul VI. They found that they were in close agreement, that they both rejected the outlaw masons position, and that there was no real difficulty. Pope Paul VI then lifted the ban on Catholics joining the Masons and the Masons stated officialy that there was no objection to Catholics joining the Masons. The current Pope, John Paul II issued a pastoral letter about ten years ago reaffirming that there was no reason why Catholic laymen could not be Masons if they joined legitimate lodges and avoided the lodges that main stream Masons condemned as well. These outfits are certain French lodges, some other politically active european lodges, and some South American anti-clerical lodges.
My Grandfather was a Mason and a Catholic and assured me that there was nothing in Masonry that any one could find offensive to his religious beliefs. He also pointed out that Greek letter fraternities are directly decended from the Masons and that any fraternity man would recognize this immediately upon going through the degrees of Masonry. I have since been initiated into my grandfather's lodge in England, have become a Master Mason, and have gone through the York Rite degrees in the USA and have been received in Chapter in the United Kingdom. Wow, I saw what he meant. Would any other masonic greeks please join in and help set straight a lot of misunderstandings? While some things are private, mostly recognition issues and ritual specifics, there is a lot that Masons can, and are encouraged to, discuss openly. I think it is a very appropriate subject because the link between the Masonic world and the Greek world is rather like father and son.
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