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Masons do not have ceremonies by the gravesites. Funerals are during the day when many masons are working, they offer a small ceremony, yes by masons, just like the 4th degree of the Knights of Columbus do with their brothers, at the wake by the casket. There are no Masonic pall bearers at funerals for masons just like there are no 4th Degree Knights as pall bearers either. They wouldn't have any jobs if they took days off to carry coffins. As a matter of fact, I have never been to a funeral where the pall bearers were other than the employees of the funeral parlor. It would look like a circus to have it any other way and you have to be trained to carry and to know when and where to move it.

I was throwing in some comments which I've read on other threads, re: secret rituals, etc. I'm just tired of seeing people throwing in these false allegations about bishops and priests being masons without any evidence.

And I think the person asking the question was asking a loaded question. I don't think any priest in the USA would allow masons to pose as pallbearers (and once mass starts, what do you expect a priest to do, have them drop the casket on the floor and leave?)and no bishop has joined a masonic lodge to my knowledge. And once again, show me something (anything, a picture, an envelope with the lodge stationary and the bishops name on it) where a priest or bishop is a member.

Dear Coleus,

I'm unfamiliar with the rituals of masons. However, even giving you that the rituals are at a wake, rather than gravesite, that doesn't make Fr. Smith's statement that likely this DID NOT happen during a Catholic funeral Mass any less true.

I think that the complaints you have about Fr. Smith's Q&A have more to do with the person who posed the question, not Fr. Smith's answers. He didn't say that there are bishops who are masons, or any of that. In fact, Fr. Smith points out that a bishop or priest who became a mason would be subject to ecclesiastical penalties.

Fr. Smith's answer is, in the main, truthful, accurate, and not making any allegations at all, really, false or otherwise.

If you wish to complain about the question, or the questioner, remember that it's the job of someone like Fr. Smith to take questions that may have false premises, and to correct those false premises. Fr. Smith seems to have done a good job of that.

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