Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
A statue of George Washington, in a Masonic apron, stands in the New York
Grand Lodge Headquarters.
Posted on 10/04/2006 3:35:05 AM PDT by Pharmboy
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
A statue of George Washington, in a Masonic apron, stands in the New York
Grand Lodge Headquarters.
For more than two centuries, the Freemasons and their grandiose rituals have played a secretive, mysterious role in American life. One of the Masons’ symbols looks a lot like the all-seeing eye on the back of every $1 bill. And look whose picture is on the other side.
George Washington was not the first Mason, and not the only famous one. Mozart worked thinly disguised touches of Masonry into operas. Fourteen presidents and everyone from the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale to the comedian Red Skelton belonged. Masons presided when the cornerstone was laid at the Statue of Liberty.
But the Masons’ numbers have been steadily dwindling — whatever their secrets are, they apparently do not have one for avoiding death — and their ranks have been graying. So the New York State Masons have followed other state Masonic societies in doing something that they would have once considered heretical: they are actively reaching out for new members. And, in the process, a famously reticent fraternal organization that now puts a premium on its community service has lifted its veil of secrecy just a bit.
The Masons are not giving out the secret words that members are supposed to say to get into meetings (although these days, simply showing a dues card might do). But the Masons are giving public tours of the New York Grand Lodge Headquarters.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I've considered joining just so that I can be President of the USA.
The secret underwear itches.
Interesting. Thanks for posting.
--But the Masons’ numbers have been steadily dwindling
Sorry to hear that..I think.
Why?
:-)
For later review (after I read this month's Trestle Board).
Not a bad plan...
You wouldn't let me join, would you, you blackballing bastards. Well I wouldn't become a Freemason now if you went down on your lousy stinking knees and begged me!
Saved Daniel & Peachy's butt more than once...
The first question one must always ask, upon reading anything in the New York Times, is, "what are they trying to make me think?"
Man you made me laugh! can't sleep..tired as heck, and you go and pull a sweet little monty python quote like that out ..I was sort of thinking of the skit, and slap, upside the head (like an obscure fish dance) it hit me!
Excellent, just what I was thinking.
I guess the New York Slimes has run out of Republicans and prolifers to libel.
The Masonic Societies are service groups, like Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions. Always have been. The Masons do wonderful things for those children afflicted with Juvenile Diabetes, and run the Shriners Hospitals. The Masons, through the Hospitals, train most of our pediatricians and provide all of their care for FREE.
The only "secret" to the Masons is that they don't evangelize or recruit, you ask. You are generally admitted, they require only that you believe in a higher power.
Our newspapers can't get anything right. But then, they're run by liberals, who believe charity begins with someone else's paycheck
I nearly got in at Hendon.
Do I recall that in one supposed version of a Masonic ceremony, you have to bow before a stool with three obscure names on it? (Ya, Set, and something else?)
Let's see that handshake in slow motion...
I guess I am out. They dont accept Catholics ,I am told.
I do know a few members, they are fine men and the Shriners hospitals and the rides they give kids to those hospitals are good deeds.
Well, of course, this is just the sort of blinkered Phlistine pig-ignorance I've come to expect from you non-creative garbage. You sit there on your loathsome spotty behinds squeezing blackheads, not caring a tinker's cuss for the struggling artist!
My dad's a mason. He's the 'master of the lodge' this year, woo hoo. They had to replace the carpet in the lodge, so they've been doing all these fundraisers.
My stepmom says thet there are square patterns worn into the carpet, I guess from repeated rituals, tightly choreographed apparently. Weird.
He's been trying to get me to join in the worst way. I don't think so, I'm serving my fellow man through my church. I told him that I refuse to take blood oaths for anyone or anything besides my Lord Jesus, who purchased me with His own blood anyway.
I don't know that they don't, but I believe some of the ceremonial aspects are framed without an allegiance to Jehovah-God, and it would create an internal conflict for me, at least. I believe the Knights of Columbus were formed to allow Catholic men to have an alternative society centered around the Trinity, or at least not in conflict with it.
That said, I don't dispute the good they do. But of course, if they did anything on a grand scheme, we wouldn't know about it. For you regular-Joe (Abram?) Masons, thank you for the good works. 42
That is not true. There has been some bad blood since that Jacques De Molay nastiness, but there are certainly Catholic Masons...
Wow, you fell for it. That's exactly what they wanted you to think! ;>)
First, there was Canon 2335 of the Code of Canon Law. This has since been replaced, but just for reference, it reads as such:
Can 2335: Affiliation With Masonic or Similar Societies. Those who join a Masonic sect or other societies of the same sort, which plot against the Church or against legitimate civil authority, incur ipso facto an excommunication simply reserved to the Holy See.Replacing Canon 2335 in 1983 was Canon 1374. Canon 1374 states,
Can. 1374 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.Note that it does not specifically mention the Freemasons. However, canon 1374 was "clarified" by then-Cardinal Ratzinger's 1983 declaration Quaesitum est, which states:
Therefore the Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.
As far as I know, these are still in effect. I'm slightly skeptical that Masonic principles are irreconcilable with Church beliefs, but until this is changed...I'll have to stick with Knights of Columbus, I suppose.
I thought about the masons, but joined the raccoon club instead.
They've accepted Catholics throughtout their history. For a brief period, the Catholic Church forbid its members from being Masons, but that ban was overturned hundreds of years ago.
The rivalry started more as a ChurchofEngland/Britain vs Catholic/Spain thing, when the two countries were warring.
They're just a service club that values education (G stands for Geometry), they have the same types of rituals as Rotary.
The NYT is just race baiting and stoking class warfare. Like the scorpion who wanted help crossing the river, it's what it does. And yes, women can be Masons. Each lodge usually sponsors a Saturday breakfast, when you see the sign out front, stop in and say hi.
I was thinking that it was the Catholic Church that frowned upon Masonic membership for their flock. Something about belonging to a secret society whose activities can't be (or should not be) confessed?
What did they give as a reason? Or don't they have to give one? I used to be in Rainbow Girls many years ago and we took everyone who wanted to join, as I recall.
Carolyn
LOL! However, some still seek the treasure...(IMO, prolly in some cave in France).
You might also have considered the Mystics Knights of the Sea.
Royal Order of WaterBuffelos, myself.
I imagine you have seen "National Treasure"? Dang fine movie.
What did they give as a reason?
...nice though the abattoir is....
They wanted a block of flats, not an abattoir.
Former Job's Daughter here. In my experience Masons are good guys and do lots of good works. Just sayin'
I almost got in at Hendon...
So you are a traveling man?
Indeed. Although Nicholas Cage makes my skin crawl, I thoroughly enjoyed that flick, as silly as it was. Mixing fact and fiction and great history can be terrific theatre...
Heh...heh...heh!
No, I think that is the initiation rite of the NOW.
Did a FreeMason run over your puppy when you were little?
You might also have considered the Mystics Knights of the Sea.
Or way better - the Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau!!
You think I'm bad. You should see the guy at post #21.
I do?
Correct. Masons accept Catholics, but the Church has traditionally told Catholics not to join the Masons. If you are interested, Freemasons for Dummies is a good source.
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