Do you have any suggestions for increasing Catholic participation in Freemasonry?
It’s kind of like mocking a wine-tasting club for not having any Mormon members.
Catholics can be excommunicated from their church if they join the Masons. I guess you’d have to get the Catholic church to stop doing that. 
Do you think it’s weird that women can’t be Masons? What do you suppose the reasoning is, and do you think that’ll ever change? (Especially seeing as how membership isn’t nearly as high as it used to be…)
My dad was a Mason, and for a little while my mom took part in some female equivalent. (Order of the Eastern Star? Something like that.) But as a kid, I found this really bizarre, that my mom couldn’t join the same organization as her husband. I think in the end it diminished his own participation, since it wasn’t something they could do together.
I joined Scottish Rite last year, though I’ve only made it to a couple meetings. Our Valley meets on Friday nights, the same week as Lodge. Not good timing. Probably end up doing York Rite next, and join the Shrine later (I definitely don’t have enough time for the Shrine rght now).
We get together once a month for a meeting and have dinner. The meeting consists of executing the business of the Lodge (conferring the Degrees upon candidates, Lodge business meetings, proposing and voting on charitable donations, etc).
As an officer of the Lodge, I’m obligated to attend rehearsal, which is typically the Sunday immediately preceding our regular meeting. We also have other meetings, like Lodge of Instruction, which are intended to shed light on how to operate a Lodge efficiently and effectively, and Lodge of Exemplification, in which Lodge officers demonstrate Lodge ritual for a representative of Grand Lodge.
There are also numerous opportunities to participate in charitable causes of all stripe. For example, my Lodge hosts a yearly bowling tournament for the Special Olympics. We cover all costs, including t-shirts and pizza lunch for the athletes. We also participate in a hospital equipment loan program - this is a highly popular and successful community project that provides pretty access to pretty much any hospital equipment we can get our hands on (it’s all donated). Anyone can borrow the equipment (Masons or non-Masons) ranging from crutches to electric hospital beds.
I’ve also become pretty close friends with a lot of the guys from Lodge, and get together with them all the time ‘outside of Lodge’ (i.e. go for beers, or get our families together for dinner, etc). I had a pig roast last weekend and invited a bunch of guys from Lodge.
When did it begin? Good question. We like to say Freemasonry traces its roots to the ancient times, though it’s really hard to say if that’s meant to be taken literally or figuratively. I think ‘Modern’ Masonry began in the 1700’s (I’m deliberately not looking it up). I think the intentions of Masonry’s founders were the same as today - to provide like-minded men and opportunity for society, self-improvement and fun.
Not as much as you might think.
I’m Catholic.
But yeah, no women-folk.
Yes
My dear, departed Irish-Catholic Grandmother told me that if I became a Mason, I’d be ex-communicated from the Catholic Church, and I’d go to Hell. That’s hard to get around, and it’s a pretty popular sentiment. My mom gives me crap about it occasionally, too. If Catholics want to become Masons, they’re welcome to join, but I would be surprised if Freemasonry started specifically recruiting Catholics.
I don’t think it’s weird at all that women can’t be Masons - it’s a fraternity, which by definition is men only. I don’t think that will ever change. There are plenty of clubs out there that accept men and women as members, this just isn’t one of them.
My wife wants nothing to do with Lodge. She’s shy, and not a ‘joiner’. She misses me when I’m there, so I throttle the amount of time I spend doing Masonry stuff.
How does an organization apply to get on the list to be considered a charity you all would support?
There are lodges in Scotland (some of which I have been to) that have minutes from before the 1700’s. I suppose it all depends what kind of line you draw between Operative and Speculative but you’re probably a good 100 years too late.
Solicitations can be directed to the Lodge Secretary (you can usually find his address on the Lodge website). Many of the organizations to which we give have been chosen by individual members or officers of the Lodge. The Special Olympics bowling tournament, for example, was the pet project of the last Worshipful Master (Grand Poobah)
Indeed, Wikipedia presents a case for as early as 1598 in Scotland, and the Regius Poem of 1425. I suspect it’s no accident that modern Freemasonry’s origins are so difficult to trace (it definitely adds to the mystique).
Do you feel that working on the degrees has cultivated beneficial qualities in you? Made you a better and more effective person? Have you learned many useful things that you would not otherwise have known?
The secrets of the degrees continue to reveal themselves to me, which is kind of cool. Yeah, I think the lessons I’ve learned in Masonry have made me a better person, mainly because I’m more conscious of how my actions effect the people around me, and I want that to be a positive.
How do you feel about Ordo Templi Orientis? Odd Fellows?
I had to look up OTO on Wikipedia. It sounds like they started out as a Masonry clone but went horribly wrong somewhere along the line. In general, I don’t really have any opinion about them, I guess. There’s no Anchorman-style rumbles between the various fraternities in my area (but it would be cool if there were!). The Odd Fellows seem like a decent bunch - not directly related to Masonry, but similar in mission, practice, etc. The building my Lodge meets in was once owned by the Odd Fellows, and a fair number of Masons I know are also Odd Fellows.
In case you’re a Simpsons fan, I’ll mention that in the latest update for the phone/tablet game “The Simpsons Tapped Out,” Springfield has been taken over by the Stonecutters, the show’s satirical version of the Masons.