"Their core beliefs such as realtivism and human perfection are totally incompatable with Catholocism."
What a strawman. Those are not remotely the "core beliefs" (or any beliefs) of the fraternity. Like the Boy Scouts (another masonic-founded fraternity), Masons do strive to become better men, but are taught that acceptability to God is only possible through the will of God and the sacrifice of the Lion of Judah.
Or so says the prayer at the end of every meeting.
The real historical reasons for the problems with the fraternity are four-fold:
(1) it was historically largely a protestant fraternity and encouraged the questioning of authority when authority seemed out of bounds (for example, certain freemasons were key in getting William Tyndale's english translation of the Bible printed);
(2) the underlying organization was a trade union of stone masons, the major customers being the nobility and the church (with the resulting financial tension and various lords pressuring the RCC into stomping them) and
(3) the portion of the Knight's Templar that fled to Scotland formed the core of the York Rite body.
(Just FYI on this: the Knights went at least three ways on that Friday the 13th when the weak France-based pope very reluctantly caved to the corrupt French king who owed the knights money -- long story of a known fake confession under torture that even the RCC admits was a terrible mistake) --- one group went to what is now Switzerland; one stayed in place and changed its name to "Knights of Christ"); and the third part, the fleet, sailed from France that day to Scotland, the populous of which had been excommunicated for various political reasons and joined with the revolutionary rable --- the minor nobles of which were freemasons.
Regardless of the merits of the original charges, no one takes it seriously nowadays, other than the people here at FR.
I think the current-day confusion still stems from the nonsense started with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion -- like the claim that Jews use blood of gentile children for Passover, the garbage in the Protocols (so oft repeated here on FR) about freemasons is equally bogus.
[b]Regardless of the merits of the original charges, no one takes it seriously nowadays, other than the people here at FR. [/b]
No one except the people here at FR...
And our current Pope....
And the apologetics/experts on EWTN....
And Cardinal Bernard Law....
And the 1980 Conference of Bishops....
And the Code of Canon Law....
And the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith....
But otherwise, yeah, its just Catholics on here who think that way. :)