Posted on 02/16/2009 9:37:41 AM PST by GonzoII
In 1789, America got its first President, George Washington, and its first R.C, Bishop, John Carroll. At the time of the former’s death in 1799, Bishop Caroll gave the following eulogy on the Founding Father’s passing:
(Excerpt) Read more at irishcatholichumanist.blogspot.com ...
Ping.
If only Americans could return to what Bishop Carroll said.
I found a story once that George Washington died a Catholic. Anyone?
Everyone dies a Catholic. ;^)
Beautiful. And succinct.
There is no evidence to support this, but the rumour does date back to the 19th century.
“May these United States flourish in pure and undefiled religion, in morality, peace, union, liberty, and the enjoyment of their excellent Constitution, as long as respect, honor, and veneration shall gather around the name of Washington; that is, whilst there still shall be any surviving record of human events!”
___________________________________________________
Yes, well, there are those who are busy euthanizing the record of human events...
Don’t think so. I think the Jesuits say he venerated Mary to some degree. But never heard that he died a Catholic. That’s not to say his thinking wasn’t Catholic in character.
He was Anglican, so he was a “catholic” but not “Roman Catholic.”
Washington was a committed Freemason, which does not object to Roman Catholism, but RC objects to Freemasons, so I would strongly doubt it.
As an aside, after the revolution, Washington would leave prior to communion in Church. Enquiries were made, and the explanation was essentially that he could not forgive someone for something, so he deemed himself unfit for Communion.
You're out of date on that. RC's are now allowed to belong to masonic lodges.
Cool beans. I did not know that.
This makes sense, as the differences were historical/mutual misunderstandings.
>> You’re out of date on that. RC’s are now allowed to belong to masonic lodges. <<
No, it’s just some have become inattentive.
Frankly, I think it’s downright disingenuous to say RC objects to Freemasonry but Freemasonry doesn’t object to RC. I’d say that Freemasonry is subersive to Catholicism, and therefore, Catholicism excludes Freemasonry to prevent that subversion.
I doubt it.
If he had done so, he would have been buried as a Roman Catholic, which he was not.
The Rev. Thomas David, rector of Christ Church, Alexandria VA, John Addison, St John’s Broad Creek, MD and 2 other Anglican clergy officiated over the service which was conducted according to the prayerbook of the Episcopal Church.
Martha Washington asked the members of her husband’s Masonic Lodge to conduct Masonic rites at the funeral. Of the six pallbearers all but one were masons. Colonel Philip Marstellerwas the lone non-Mason to be a pall bearer.
I’m Anglican and I have a Marian icon and a small statue.
I have never heard that he was unforgiving toward anyone, do you have a source?
I have read that he was low church and was not accustomed to frequent communion. The Bishop of Philadelphia who took him to task for leaving early was high church and celebrated communion more fequently.
In Philadelphia, when he was president, George escorted Martha to services but he would leave after morning prayer before communion, Martha would remain to receive. The Bishop took exception to this becasue when George left, many of the other worshippers followed. After being chastized George continued to escort Martha to church but waited on her outside in their carriage.
An interesting study of colonial Anglicanism in VA is A Blessed Company by John Kendall Nelson.
” have never heard that he was unforgiving toward anyone, do you have a source?”
It was a biography I read long ago, so no, not really.
“I’d say that Freemasonry is subersive to Catholicism, and therefore, Catholicism excludes Freemasonry to prevent that subversion.”
That’s just not true (in the USA, anyway).
To the extent it dealt with religion (which, despite the rumors to the contrary, it does not) the fraternity is decidedly non-denominational, which forms the core of the issue, as it conflicts with the RC belief that it, alone, is the valid Christian church.
No, we still get the boot; Roman Catholics are still excommunicated for becoming Freemasons:
The Church has imposed the penalty of excommunication on Catholics who become Freemasons. The penalty of excommunication for joining the Masonic Lodge was explicit in the 1917 code of canon law (canon 2335), and it is implicit in the 1983 code (canon 1374).
Because the revised code of canon law is not explicit on this point, some drew the mistaken conclusion that the Church's prohibition of Freemasonry had been dropped. As a result of this confusion, shortly before the 1983 code was promulgated, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement indicating that the penalty was still in force. This statement was dated November 26, 1983 and may be found in <Origins> 13/27 (Nov. 15, 1983), 450.
Copyright (c) 1993 Catholic Answers. Reprinted with permission from the June 1993 issue of <This Rock> magazine.
|
Provided Courtesy of: |
That’s unfortunate, and, IMHO, out of date with reality.
I am sorry but that is not what the church teaches. What is the Catholic Church’s position on Freemasonry?
The Church, through its Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has formally declared that Catholics who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion. This declaration, which is the most recent teaching of the Church, has affirmed nearly 300 years of papal pronouncements against Freemasonry on the grounds that the teachings of the Lodge are contrary to Catholic faith and morals.
The Church’s declaration on Freemasonry exposes Catholic Masons to a number of penalties under canon law. For example, a Catholic who is aware that the Church authoritatively judges membership in Freemasonry to be gravely sinful must not approach Holy Communion (c. 916). The Church imposes the duty upon all grave sinners not to make a sacrilegious communion. Such a Catholic Mason who is aware of the grave sin must receive absolution in a sacramental confession before being able to receive communion again, unless there is a grave reason and no opportunity to confess (c. 916). This confession, in order to be valid, also requires the Catholic Mason to renounce his Masonic membership.
Further, because membership in Freemasonry is an external or public condition, the Catholic Mason can be refused Holy Communion by the pastors of the Church for obstinately persevering in his Masonic membership (c. 915). Such a Catholic Mason would also be forbidden from receiving the Anointing of the Sick (c. 1007) as well as ecclesiastical funeral rites if public scandal were to result (c. 1184, §1, °3).
Canon 1364 also imposes an automatic excommunication upon apostates, heretics, or schismatics. This canon could also apply to Catholic Masons. If, for example, a Catholic Mason embraced the theological teachings of Freemasonry that the Church has condemned (indifferentism, syncretism), he would be in heresy by virtue of his belief in these teachings. Further, if a Catholic Mason knew the Church opposes membership in Freemasonry, and yet adamantly and persistently refused to submit to the pope’s authority in precluding his membership in the Lodge, he may also find himself in schism. Catholic Masons could also be subject to canon 1374 which imposes an interdict or just penalty upon those who join associations that plot against the Church.
For the canonical penalties to apply, the Catholic Mason would have to act in a gravely imputable way (that is, the Catholic would have to be aware of the Church’s teaching on Freemasonry and, after being warned about it, choose to disregard it). In my personal experience, a fair number of Catholic Masons do act in a gravely imputable way in regard to their Masonic membership. In these cases, the canonical penalties, including excommunication, apply. The Church’s penalties are not meant to alienate the person on whom the penalty is levied. Instead, the penalties are meant to communicate to the person the gravity of his conduct, encourage his repentance and reconciliation with the Church, and bring him back into the one fold of Christ. After all, the mission of the Church is the salvation of souls.
Ego absolvo te.
>> To the extent it dealt with religion (which, despite the rumors to the contrary, it does not) the fraternity is decidedly non-denominational, which forms the core of the issue, as it conflicts with the RC belief that it, alone, is the valid Christian church. <<
This is exactly true. Freemasonry opposes disputes between denominations. Since the differences between denominations are significant, this makes it inherently oppositional to the Catholic faith, which gets its name from the belief which it holds that all truth is universal.
Given that there is inherent inconsistency between the two groups, which is more “enlightened”? The group which makes its membership secretive, but permits its members to join the other in spite of the fact that their presence, by nature of this inconsistency alone, must be subversive, or the group which publicly proclaims its members and its doctrines and acknowledges the differences?
By the way, by calling its membership secretive, I do not mean to imply that all Masons are secretive about their membership. This is obviously not true, since Washington is an example of someone who was buried according to Masonic rites. I only mean that the organization has customs for the deliberate purpose of allowing members to conceal their membership to non-members.
“Freemasonry opposes disputes between denominations.”
Kinda/sorta.
Within the lodge meeting, such distinctions are to be put aside.
Outside the lodge, all bets are off (but you should be polite about, or we’ll burn your pancakes).
I am afraid I was hoping that both my "Catholic," yet intensely anti-clerical, Masonic Grandfathers had been forgiven the association and released from Purgatory (hopefully, considering that both married Episcopalians, they at least made it that far.)
I promise to abstain from the theological misdirection of the faithful for the remainder of Lent.
And yet Nancy Peolsi receives communion and gets an award from the Pope.
It’s much ado about nothing.
When did she receive an award from the Pope?
It’s happening this weekend. I am holding out for him to strike her and tell her to “get behind him.”
But I am an opptomist.
There was no such mention. There was a rumor that she was meeting with him. That is all.
Well, we’re both half right and half wrong.
There is a meeting with the pope, but the award is from some group, not the pope.
http://drudgereport.com/flashpr.htm
I found a story to that effect here: http://www.topix.com/forum/religion/catholic/T6G9D7LBHFG9JAAN8
But that particular telling of the story is at least poorly reported, since it states that Washington, a former Episcopalian, was baptized into the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church will not baptize Episcopalians, or any member of any trinitarian denomination of sect, since they are already baptized.
HOWEVER, the story may simply be repeating the misunderstanding of its knowledgeable sources. Washington’s conversion to Catholicism was reported by his slaves who were Baptist and could have misunderstood his confirmation or last rites.
Given the private nature of his alleged conversion, we may never be able to definitely assert the truth, but it does appear that many people in our nation’s early history sincerely believed it to be true.
It does seem quite certain that Washington had very high regard for Catholics in general, and was a close friend of Bishop Carroll. Also, he did attend public Catholic mass, although at least until the end of his life he abstained from Catholic communion. (There seems to have been very strongly divided opinions after his death as to whether he was a frequent Anglican communicant, or always refrained.)
According to Wikipedia, Washington was buried according to the rite of the Episcopal Church, with the Rev. Thomas David, rector of Christ Church, Alexandria, officiating. Masonic rites were also performed by members of his lodge.
You are sadly mistaken.
The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita
As Humphrey Bogart said about the curative waters of Casablanca
Where is this beautiful pix of St. Michael from? An engraving? A statue against real clouds? tx
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
