Speaking as a Mason with strong Catholic sympathies...
We’re not out to get you. Honestly. There are predominantly two strains of Freemasonry in the world — Regular Masonry, which is rooted in the Grand Lodge of England, and “Oriental Masonry”, which is based in Continental Europe. Regular Masonry is the predominant form.
You cannot join a Regular lodge of Masons without a firm belief in God. It’s not something to which we allow people to pay lip service — it’s central to the whole thing. Communists are simply not welcome among us. Furthermore, I can plainly state that any Regular Mason who attacked a church would find himself kicked out of the fraternity faster than a wink — we frown on behavior that brings disdain to our Creator.
Unfortunately, Continental Masonry is different from Regular Masonry in some notable ways. They allow atheists into their ranks, as well as women. They have traditionally been anti-clerical and have had strong antipathy against the Church, mainly due to that atheist enlightenment presence. Mexican Masons would most likely draw their heritage from those Continental roots — but don’t think for an instant that they reflect the broad majority of Masons. These are two very different traditions we are talking about.
Regular Masons don’t hate the Church. Nothing in Freemasonry prevents a Mason from becoming a Catholic or forbids a Catholic from becoming a Mason. Nothing that is ever said or done in a Lodge of Master Masons has ANYTHING to do with the Catholic Church in any way. What we do respect is that the Catholic Church forbids Catholics to be Masons — I personally would warn a Catholic seeking to join of the Church’s prohibition, sad as I find it.
Please don’t think that all Masons are evil or are part of something evil based upon the actions of a vile group of people that don’t even have much in common with us or what we practice. Catholics are misrepresented in similar ways all the time and I try make it a point to correct the record when it comes to your beliefs, your practices, and your Church — we really are on your side more than you know.
Still, THEY mean you ~ and don't seem to differentiate between the two brands.
This little discussion highlights a problem FR has in attracting Hispanic members (other than Cubans). We really don't speak the same "history". Sure, the words are similar, and some of the meanings are comparable, but really, neither RC nor Mason mean the same thing in the US as they do in the minds of the Mexican Reds or the Mexican Traditionalists.
This occurs with dozens of other very important ideas.
It's a really good reason to build a really big wall BTW. There's little chance for a Mexican to successully assimilate in the US given the shibboleths they live with in their minds.
Except that if a believer states he believes in God through faith in Christ, he will be denied membership into Freemasonry. Such manifestation of their thinking begs the question, what god do they really worship?
There is a famous story of Saint Padre Pio.
Basically, it occurred in Italy, and a Freemason wanted to convert/confess his sins at this death. Brother freemasons surrounded the house to not allow the mason to convert.
However, the wife was pregnant, and gave birth. A priest was allowed to come to the house to baptize the baby.
This gave the man the chance to convert to Catholicism on his death bed, confess his sins, and receive the last rites.
Why his brother Freemasons opposed this, I do not know.
But this occurred in Italy.
I had no idea about the two different groups. That’s a lesson for me. Thank you. I come here to learn! :-)