However, I think that the Catholic “ban” on Masonry is NOT monolithic, and it is, in the end, up to local Bishops. However, I think the Church does discourage participation in the higher degrees.
Frankly, though the Catholic Church has MUCH to be proud of, not the least of which is preservation of the Faith and the protection of many of the founding Christian documents over the centuries -—
I suspect that most of the Church resistance to Masonry is the fact that Masonry, itself, claims roots in the Knights Templars.
The Knights Templars might well have “lost their way” when they sacked Constantinople, and attacked the Eastern Church.
However, there is NO doubt that without the Knights Templars, Islam would have conquered much more of Europe, much earlier than they did.
The King of France, at the time, owed large sums of money to the Knights Templars.
Instead of paying up, the King of France made false charges against the Knights: heresy, idolatry, etc.
This was a shameful time in CHRISTIAN history, as nobody seemed willing to stand up for or protect the Knights from these false charges.
Sadly, even the Pope stood silent, and allowed this persecution.
Demolay was the leader of the Knights, at the time. The Mason's youth group is named after him. He was burned at the stake as a heretic.
To me, these are the real reasons the Catholic Church has historically resisted the Masons, whose basic tenant is that religion is a good thing, but that religious wars have caused more pain than any other human problem on Earth.
I do think that the Mason's insistence on making all religions “equal” is weird.
Some Masonic groups, today, do not even allow the name of “Jesus” to be used, sometimes not even in an EASTER service!
This has more to do with the radical Unitarians, Agnostics and other lefties taking control of Masonry, than anything else.
However, the goal of finding the “common denominators” in faith is, I think, a worthy goal.
I simply do not believe that anyone must suppress his or her own faith, in order to agree on common ideas with other faiths.
Well, you asked, hope I was not too windy!
“As a Catholic, I have been recruited several times to join the Masons, and I have politely decline.”
Interesting comment.....I thought that Masons were not allowed to recruit....you have to request membership on your own free will. This is a question, I am curious on the contradiction.
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I have another question. If religion and politics are not to be discussed in the “lodge”, how does this obviously political group conduct business? Is the “lodge” a seperate room in their buildings or only during ceremonies? Do they only talk about it in private meetings?
AFAIK, the KT had nothing particular to do with the Fourth Crusade that conquered Constantinople.
The history of that event is also not nearly as one-sided as the general perception.
When a different faith demands that I submit or die, I find it irrelevant that we can agree to like chocolate, or agree to drive on the right side of the road. And that 'submit or die' is a central idea in the Koran, possibly the central idea, since Islam translates as 'Submission'.
Masons recruit?
what did they do? set up a table with pamphlets?
last time at the airport I don’t remember seeing any freemasons recruiting. (now that would be a sight...)