Is Masonry just a harmless fraternity?Posted on 09/20/2006 9:58:54 PM PDT by Coleus
Is Masonry just a harmless fraternity?
In the past century, enrollment in the group has plunged in both Europe, where it was once a huge threat to Catholicism, and the U.S., which now has over half of the world's Masons (despite the closing of its halls in many cities). It is not a movement on the upswing. And the average member of Freemasonry, as it is more formally known, is not aware of the deeply occultic origin of its rituals. Many don't even know that the Catholic Church has consistently condemned them. Freemasonry had its origins in masons who built the great cathedrals in the Middle Ages, developed esoteric rites of membership based on old mystery religions, and came into the modern way with a "grand lodge" in London before spreading to America, where it has functioned less like a cabal than a fraternal organization.
That seems innocent enough -- along with the Masonic "Shriners," who ride about in fezzes on tricycles, raising money for hospitals -- but in fact the history of this organization is one of a spirit, if not an actual membership, that has had a surprising effect on the world and still does. While Masonry itself has fallen on hard times -- deemed so little of a threat that many Masons who are Catholics are no longer excommunicated -- the damage has been done and the air of its secularism hangs thickly in the global air, with what may be dramatic future implications. As documented by a lawyer, John Salza, a Catholic and also a former Mason, the Scottish Rite of Masonry -- an appendage body of the group -- has been a key fighter in the move to secularize the U.S., particularly its educational system.
Indeed, in 1922, the Supreme Council and the Imperial Council of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine successfully lobbied for a bill outlawing parochial schools in Oregon -- until the law was overturned by the Supreme Court, which in this case was not controlled by justices who were enrolled in Masonry. That, writes Salza, in Masonry Unmasked, An Insider Reveals the Secrets of the Lodge, was to change under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a member of the "craft."
"Beginning in his second term, President Roosevelt began to pack the Supreme Court with Masons," writes Salza. "From 1937 to 1944, Roosevelt appointed nine justices, six of whom were Masons, and the other three espoused Masonic philosophy. From 1945 to 1953, Roosevelt's successor, President Harry S. Truman, another 33-degree Mason, appointed four justices, all Masons. Hence, of the thirteen appointments to the Supreme Court made by Masonic presidents over this period, ten were Freemasons. The next two appointments to the court, made by President Eisenhower, were also Masons." Many of those warning not to read too much into Masonry say that leaders such as Roosevelt did far more good than harm and were not actively pursuing a hidden agenda, even if they were affected by the cult-like group to which they belonged. Indeed, whether prominent or regular laymen, Masonry is nothing more than their small local lodge, with fraternity-like rites that are "harmless." Politicians often join a number of organizations. But the loyalty in the past to this organization has been striking and Masonic dominance of the Supreme Court at the behest of Masonic leaders went as follows: five to four from 1941 to 1946, seven to two between 1946 and 1949; eight to one in 1956-1957, and six to three from 1962 to 1969.
Among the Masons was Hugo L. Black, who was also linked to the Ku Klux Klan.
"Most of the leaders of the Ku Klux Klan were Masons," asserts Salza, who left the organization when he realized it ran counter to his Catholic faith (despite members who claimed the Church was okay with it). "Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Klan and its first Imperial Wizard, was a freemason. Albert Pike held the office of Chief Justice of the Ku Klux Klan at the same time as he was the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction." Although the rank and file are rarely aware of its past influence -- and although that influence, at least in formal Masonic style, has waned -- the organization long "pursued its goal of de-Catholicization of society," notes Salza. The campaign for secularization was often done through its periodical, New Age, a magazine published by the Scottish Rite (later changing its name so as not to be draw publicity with a link to New Age ideologies).
Among the "accomplishments" of Masonic Court Justices: the striking down of a Maryland law requiring state official to declare their belief in God; the banning of a New York Board of Regents recommendation that classes recite a prayer to "Almighty God"; and the declaring as unconstitutional of a state law that sought to have ten verses of the Bible read at the start of each public school day. It was also the Mason-laden Court that prohibited public funding for parochial school teachers and struck down a statue reimbursing parents for tuition at parochial institutions -- the death knell for many Catholic schools. We are now seeing the devastating effect of a group that depersonalized God and mixed Eastern and ancient occult religions with Judaism and Christianity to form its ritual -- with God now a distant, detached deity called "The Great Architect."
From banning Ten Commandments on the walls of public classrooms to redefining the meaning of obscenity -- which opened the floodgates of pornography -- the effect, in the guise of separating Church and State, "has caused irreparable damage to our country," writes Salza. "The Scottish Rite Supreme Council, along with Masonic presidents, congressmen, and Supreme Court justices, have played the most significant part in the secularization of our country." Beyond this, argues Salza -- who was initiated into a lodge in Wisconsin -- freemasonry has also played a role in establishment of a "new world order" and "one-world government." "In the 32nd-degree of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, the candidate is told that 'Masonry will eventually rule the world,' and the brethren are to pray for the 'universal dominion of the true principles of Masonry,'" says the lawyer and former 32-degree Mason, adding that its philosophy has reverberated as an undertone in organizations such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the United Nations, NATO, the Trilateral Commission, and the World Council of Churches.
Seventeen U.S. presidents have been Masons, and Congress always had a considerable such influence. The Great Seal of the U.S., which made its appearance on the reverse side of the dollar bill (during the Roosevelt years) included Masonic wording and symbolism. "This seal features the Masonic All-Seeing Eye and bears the inscription Novus Ordo Seclorum ("new Order of the Ages," or "New World Order")," points out the author. In the U.S., says Salza, local Masonic lodges are often viewed as the local "boys' club," where men perform trivial rituals, learn secret handshakes, and conduct fund-raising activities. "The organization does not seem much different from the Lions Club or the Knights of Columbus," he says. And in recent years, American lodges have not had a history of anti-Catholic agendas aimed at undermining the Church, as have European counterparts. Moreover, Mason are often given more credit that they deserve; it is a similar spirit that controls this organization and many others, not that Masonry controls everything else. The conspiracy is at a spiritual -- not a human -- level.
But there is still a wide membership, an occult bearing, and a past that is now haunting the U.S, in a powerful way -- forming too a template for the new European Union and a new world order devoid of the same spirituality that was cast and is still being cast, now by other organizations such as the ACLU, from public life in the United States.
Who keeps Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We Do! We Do!
Who holds back the electric car?
Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star?
We Do! We Do!
Incoming!
Does that book have its own thread. It would be very interesting.
Didn't we just do this a few days ago?
"Didn't we just do this a few days ago?"
Yeah - in the fall of 1832...
http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0017460-00&templatename=/article/article.html
Sound the ALARM! Hide your women & children!
They know NOW
CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19831126_declaration-masonic_en.html
DECLARATION ON MASONIC ASSOCIATIONS It has been asked whether there has been any change in the Church’s decision in regard to Masonic associations since the new Code of Canon Law does not mention them expressly, unlike the previous Code. This Sacred Congregation is in a position to reply that this circumstance in due to an editorial criterion which was followed also in the case of other associations likewise unmentioned inasmuch as they are contained in wider categories. 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 enrol in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion. It is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to give a judgment on the nature of Masonic associations which would imply a derogation from what has been decided above, and this in line with the Declaration of this Sacred Congregation issued on 17 February 1981 (cf. AAS 73 1981 pp. 240-241; English language edition of L’Osservatore Romano, 9 March 1981). In an audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II approved and ordered the publication of this Declaration which had been decided in an ordinary meeting of this Sacred Congregation. Rome, from the Office of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 26 November 1983. Joseph Card. RATZINGER Prefect
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