My pastor who is also the Chaplain of my Knights of Columbus Council explained the penalty we would incur if any us us joined the Masons. This was last month. We were very surprised.
forgot about that, knights of columbus was started as a “catholic” fremason group.
has anyone been penalized? publicly in a documented location that can be referenced. (IOW not some anecdote)
In 1967 at SheaStadium the NY Mets had a nite to announce a joint effort by NY area Masonic lodges and KofC chapters to raise charitable donations for IIRC children’s medical care. The representatives of both orbs were in their formal organizational attire.
Found this Wiki about the KoC.
“The primary motivation for the Order was to be a mutual benefit society. As a parish priest in an immigrant community, McGivney saw what could happen to a family when the breadwinner died, and wanted to provide insurance to care for the widows and orphans left behind. He had to temporarily leave his seminary studies to care for his family when his father died.[8] In the late 19th century, Catholics were regularly excluded from labor unions and other organizations that provided social services.[9] In addition, Catholics were either barred from many of the popular fraternal organizations, or, as in the case of Freemasonry, forbidden from joining by the Catholic Church itself. McGivney wished to provide them an alternative. He also believed that Catholicism and fraternalism were not incompatible and wished to found a society that would encourage men to be proud of their American-Catholic heritage.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Columbus
So the KoC is a fraternal organization like Freemasons. The KoC has Supreme Knight, a Supreme Chaplain, four degrees in the order, officers, emblems, particular types of regalia to wear, and even junior level versions of the organization (similar to DeMolay and Eastern Star for the the Masons).
It seems that it is permissible for Catholic to be a member of a Mason-like organization as long it is under the aegis of the Catholic Church. Fascinating!
I guess