The Catholic Church And Freemasonry.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND FREEMASONRY .

A T the Catholio Church , Bournemouth , on Sunday , 2 nd inst ., Father Chew , speaking on Freemasonry , referred to what he had said on the previous Sunday about the Masonic oath . I did not mean ( he said ) to imply that all those who took the oath intended to promise anything that would require them to violate their conscience . No , for men of honour and virtue are enrolled who would never intend to make such a promise . But I pointed

out the fact , to which they do not advert , that the oath is still unlawful as being a rash oath , i . e ., taken without sufficient care to find out the subjectmatter to which one binds one ' s self . A Mason solemnly swears before God not to divulge the secrets of the Craft , confided to him at the time , or '' to be confided hereafter . " He takes a leap in the dark , commits himself to the

unknown and to a society whose leaders , aims , and objects ho is unacquainted with , and calls God to witness to the fact ; and he reduces himself at least to the possibility of , one day , being in the dilemma of either being called upon to act against his conscience or to violate his oath . This is against the first principles of the natural law ; and is also an

act of irreligion , as being a rash oath . And further , if the object of Masonry , in his opinion , is simply acts of benevolence , is this a sufficient reason , does it supply a plausible pretext , for a solemn oath of secrecy ? On what moral grounds can anyone who is a Christian justify the taking of the oath in the form in which it is taken ?

But , even apart from the oath , Freemasonry is forbidden to Catholics by the Catholic Church , reasonably and in the true spirit of Christianity . For the Church rightly condems the principles of Masonry . A Catholic , looking to the Church of nineteen centuries as a divine institution to guide and direct him in matters of faith and morality , knows that she , as a prudent director ,

would be slow to make such a prohibition unless it were necessary in the interests of the Christian faith . Perhaps no one at present is better acquainted with the workings of Masonry throughout the world than Leo XIIL , who is in touch with the whole world , and himself surrounded by Masons . He has expressed his mind in a letter issued some years ago , and has shown us in what light we are to view Freemasonry .

As to the origin and history of Masonry , its members assume that it began with the building of Solomon's Temple . This is only a conventional fiction . Historical facts trace it to the guild of stonemasons of the middle ages . In those days there were guilds of various trades , religious guilds , each with its patron saint , under the approbation of the Church . Traces of them

survive now in various London companies . They used their tools and implements in a symbolical way when made apprentices or masters ; and they naturally had their secret signs and marks by which a true apprentice or member would be distinguished from an intruder . The stonemasons travelled in bodies for erecting buildings throughout Europe . They were

often found in the south of France , where they seem to have come into contact with the Knights Templars . When this body of men was disbanded , because no longer useful and necessary , some of its members seem to have influenced the Masons and turned their harmless ceremonies into an

elaborate ritual , and formed a secret society , which veiled errors in religion . Thus a good thing was turned into a bad thing ; and secret societies called Masonic began to arise . One of the modern stamp seems first to have been introduced into France from Scotland in the eighteenth century , forming the Scotch rite .

But a definite form to their un-Christian tendencies was first given by Weishaupt , a professor in Bavaria : hence arose Illuminism with its anti-Christian ideas about property , marriage , & c . One member , a Sicilian , next started Cabalistic Masonry , known as the rite of Misraim . The Scotch rite , one of the worst , was introduced into Charleston , United States , by some

Officers of the French army at the end of last century . Abroad , revolutionary societies were found usually affiliated to the higher Masonic grades : in Spanish-American States Masonry is active in revolutions ; in Germany it was the bitter supporter of the Culturkampf ; in France its Lodges took part in the Commune rising in 1871 ; in Belgium and France they have ordered

their members to promote the " Teaching League " ; to prevent all religious education . In Italy , their work is shown in the iniquitous life of Adriano Lemmi , who aspires to be the supreme head of Masons ; this life is written by an ex-Freemason of high degree , Professor Marigotta , and is reviewed in the January number of the " Dublin Review . " The Protestant writer in the

" Encyclopaedia Bntannica says it cannot be disputed that the foreign magazines of the Craft " occasionally exhibit a tone which is not at all favourable to Christianity , regarded as a special revelation " : in plain words , they are anti-Christian . But what of England ? Freemasonry is not one united society , but a number of societies working in different ways in different

countries . And such a federation , as Leo XIIL says , is to be judged not so much by what it has done or is doing , as by the sum of its pronounced opinions . Take an illustration . Were a stranger to come to England to examine Protestanism , he would find 200 or 300 varieties . In order to pronounce on it as a distinctive thing he would take the sum of its pronounced opinions .

So with Masonry , made up , as it is , of various sects and factions , with different rules under different and opposing leaders . Now , the sums of its pronounced opinions is decidedly on the side of license and irreligion . If a country or branch protests such opinions , it should cease to call itself by a

tainted name . English Lodges protest ; but in name at least , if not in fact , they are the associates and allies of foreign Masonry . When the Prince of Wales was made Grand Master , he received official recognition from abroad . When Leo XIII . issued his letter , Lord Carnarvon courteously protested that social order and religion had strong supports in English Masonic Lodges . At

The Catholic Church And Freemasonry.

the same time he said " I grieve to think there are some Masonic bodies that have laid themselves open to many of the charges which the Encyclical Letter contains " : words which imply both a recognition of foreign bodies and a condemnation of them . The " Freemason , " of 7 th June 1884 , spoke to the same effect . But Leo XIIL does not directly condemn anv branch or

Lodge : he points out that the sum of the pronounced opinions of Masonry is anti-Christian . So , too , an Englishman may protest that he sits side by side with English magistrates and Protestant clergyman in a harmless Lodge ; But Leo XIIL does not say that all associates who called themselves Mason .-- are thereby banded together for unlawful objects ; but that the

principles of Masonry , as gathered from its pronounced opinions , are , on the side of irreligion ; and , secondly , that the majority of the associatesbecause of the organisation of the bodies —are , without perhaps knowing it , or adverting to the fact , promoting the purposes which the prime movers keep in view . Hence he does not condemn any good and honest man who

is a Mason ; but he says : "if" you are a good and honest man , . you will come out of such an association as this ; and , to Catholics , "if" , you would keep true to your Christian faith , you will not enter , such a confederation . The English ritual , oath , secrecy , and Masonic truth are the same , fundamentally , as abroad : how is it to be dissociated in passing a

judgment ? A man may say that he has gone through the initiation—with the mystic rites , the drawn sword , the darkened room , and all that—and that he sees nothing objectionable , but much that is useful and that will be a great help to him in business . But does this justify him in enrolling himself in such a body .

Suppose a society were started for the spread of literature , its members taking an oath of secrecy without knowing clearly its methods and objects ; suppose that abroad it purposely disseminated evil literature , but in England harmless literature only ; the public judgment on such a society would be that it is a bad one : you , by joining it , are practically aiding and abetting

an evil society . So , too , in joining Masonry , the sum of whose pronounced opinions is anti-Christian . Your practices in England ,. as known to you , and the chief objects of which seem to comprise an excess of conviviality and a frequent use of the latch-key , with the helping of one another in trade

and business , and in acts of benevolence , may seem harmless , ; still it is difficult to understand how any reasonable man can look on all this mystical ceremony , and all this ritual , these oaths and imprecations , this world-wide secret teaching , as imposed on innocent men simply for the purpose of enabling them to practise benevolence and to help one another in business .

One of the Dukes of Sussex , who was the head of English Masons , used to say there were not six Masons in England in his time who understood what Masonry was . Is it not much the same now with the rank and file ? When the Marquis of Ripbn ceased to be the chief of Masonry in England and became a Catholic , the fact created a stir , and people w , ondered why he

could not continue to be a Mason . A certain Brother Parkinson , Master of a Lodge , said at the time that , while he regretted the resignation of the Marquis , he could not share the simple wonder of those who could hot understand why a Catholic could not continue to occupy a position . in the Order . "The system of the Roman Church ( as he called it ) and that of

Masonry were not only incompatible , but radically opposed . " If English Masonry is concerned with objects of mere benevolence , it can hardly be said to be " radically opposed " to the teaching of the Catholic Churoh . We may draw our own conclusions from this , and also leave innocent Masons to ponder . ' ' . ' ••. ' ;'

Further , the Catholic Church asserts , and right reason and revelation prove it , that there is only one true form of religion instituted by Christ . The notion , arising from the varieties of Protestantism , that " one form of religion is as good as another " ; that is , that you can make religion suit your own sentiments and taste , and choose amid contradictory forms as you

would select your dress or your dinner , is becoming prevalent . This is called Liberalism in religion , or lndifierentism . Now , English Masonry , which tolerates all " forms of religion , " and yet exacts some Masonic " truth , " is promoting lndifierentism : a Catholic would be outwardly denying his Christian faith by joining it .

Hence it is in the true spirit of Christianity that the Catholic Church guards its members against a confederation which abroad is openly irreligious France and Italy are what they are simply because they are honeycombed with Masonry , and the governments in the hands of a set of immoral infidels who are doing their best to root rue the name of Christ and of

Godwhich at home is lazily promoting Indifference and becoming less and less distinctively Christian , which is becoming more and more accustomed to the idea that the mere vague acceptance of an " Architect of the Universe , " along

with acts of benevolence , will supply the needs of the soul and satisfy our duties to our Creator and Lord while ignoring the distinctive truths of His Christian revelation , and teaching the rising generation to do the same by supporting the system of a godless education . .. ' . ; - .

Many in England became Masons merely to promote success intheir business or trade by securing the help of oath-bound fellow Masons . Thus for money ' s sake they promote an impious confederation , at least by adding to its ranks ; and wantonly take an unlawful oath . A Catholic could grow richer by joining Masonry ; a true Catholic refuses , and makes the sacrifice

rather than deny his faith . Which is the truer Christian ? A day is soon to come ( said Father Chow , in concluding his discourse ) when each will . have to give an account of himself ; wo shall not be asked how much money we

have made , but we shall be asked about the manner we have made it ; and if a man has done so at tlie cost of his conscience and of the law of God , a Masonic oath will not avail him , but will rather be his condemnation . — " Bournemouth Observer . "