From my limited experiences among Freemasons, I have observed no hostility to, negativity towards, or opposition to the Catholic Church. On the other hand, it seems that the Catholic Church is very much opposed to Freemasonry. Why is this so? Is there any chance for peace between the two? (I was going to ask about reconciliation but I don’t even know if there ever was any conciliation between them.)
WRS - In Deo spes mea est.
The Catholic Church is not the only denomination that looks askance at fratenal societies, such as the Masons.
On page 206, in the hymnal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as part of “the Burial of the Dead” there is the following instructions. “The ceremonies or tributes of social or fraternal societies have no place within the service of the Church.”
So I’m not sure if they specifically forbid membership in such groups, but excluding them from the religious service gives a hint.
I have the book in my library, as I used to be ELCA. The church I grew up in was the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a very conservative group, and it did forbid it’s members to also be Masons, or Shriners, or such.
I have a book about freemasonry but currently I borrowed it to a friend, so I cannot reconfirm my memories. However, IIRC it the concept of God that the Freemasons have, that is incompatible with the Catholic Church. Freemasons a required to believe in one and the same God (aka The Great Architect of the Universe), but it is up to the individual what he/she actually understands behind behind this term. This allows christians, jews, muslim or even satanists all to be good freemasons. The Catholic Church however sees God as a triune (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and there is no room for interpretations.
Here is a Link with some more information on the topic.
cu
I have been told that one of the Popes, I don’t remember which one, issued a decree to the effect that no Catholic could have secrets that he couldn’t reveal to his confessor. Since the Masonic Fraternity has secrets that members are sworn not to reveal, the logic is that Catholics can not, therefore, be Masons. In fact, my own home Lodge has several Catholic members and I know a few in other Lodges.
The hostility is all one way; Masons hold no brief for or against the Catholic Church but the Catholic Church is (very) hostile towards the Masonic Fraternity.
So the Catholic Church’s opposition to Freemasonry is similar to other conservative Christians’ opposition to Freemasonry?
I do know that Catholics are forbidden by pain of automatic excommunication from joining Freemasonry.
WRS
From what I understand, weren’t the Masons originally anti-Catholic?
BTW, the Catholic church has its own version of the Masons-the Knights of Columbus. My dad’s a member.
I’ve never been aware of any overt hostility* or opposition to Masonry from any group other than the Catholic Church. I hasten to add that their opposition is an official position and doesn’t take the form of violence against Masons, nor do Catholics burn our Lodges. I don’t know if sermons against Masonry are presented in Catholic churches but friends who attended Catholic schools have told me the nuns sometimes rail against Masonry. I wasn’t aware that a Catholic who becomes a Mason is subject to excommunication; none of the Masonic Catholics I’ve known have been excommunicated.
*Adolph Hitler was violently opposed to Freemasonry, as most dictators are. In fact, a fair number of Masons went to the camps and were executed simply because they were Masons.
This rang a bell in my mind, and here is the ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON FREEMASONRY. However, as I recall from my book, this official statement from the Pope was done out of political reasons, because Freemasons won a lot of influence upon the aristocracy and the rich. Therefore the church feared to loose that influence and so they banned freemasonry to push them back.
cu
Damn I should go to bed, I accidentally posted the wrong link, here is the correct one
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON FREEMASONRY.
The link you provide is to a site operated, supposedly, by former Masons and it has a very pronounced anti-Masonic theme. What that site has to say re Masons and religion is wrong, wrong, wrong. Masonry is NOT a religion and has no basis in religion. Any discussion of religion is forbiden on Lodge premises, as is any discussion of politics. Newly initiated Masons are cautioned against substituting Masonry for religion and are taught that religion is to be totally and completely divorced from Masonry. It is true that non-Christians are Masons, but so are many, many Christians, including Catholics, who do believe in the Trinity and there is nothing in Masonry to discourage this belief.
Considering Freemasonry’s suspension of judgment on all religious systems, is there any reason for Catholics today to be opposed to Freemasonry?
(A number of Christian denominations oppose Freemasonry precisely because of its suspension of judgment on religious movements. Such Christians believe that only Christianity-promoting organizations are worth a Christian’s time. Furthermore, any organization that does not approve Christianity’s claim of superiority over all other religious systems/movements is a threat to Christianity because of its spread of such ambivalence. A similar argument is made by Muslims: Freemasonry does not agree with Islam’s claim of superiority and therefore is a threat to Islam or, at the very least, is not a Muslim’s time. There are many, many other arguments made against Freemasonry - all of which can be successfully disputed - but I am concerned with whatever arguments the Catholic Church and Catholics have against Freemasonry. Somehow, I have never seen the Catholic Church as opposing any group or organization. After all, Catholics can join college fraternities, so it can’t be Catholicism’s opposition to fraternities or secret societies that is the prime reason.)
WRS
Though I am not a Mason, this is exactly my understanding. However, I posted the link, because it illustrates the (obviously) wrong beliefs of the Catholic Church about what Freemasons do or believe.
Everybody who engages himself in some society that’s in the business of secrets, must be prepared, that outsiders will distribute false information about that society. Freemasons, NSA, CIA, the US Government, practicers of the Kama Sutra, and so on. There is a lot of FUD out in the wild about all of them.
cu
My memory regarding the “conflict” corresponds with that of LouisB. (Not that it was the whim of a single pope–Leo XIII only restated long-standing issues–but that the “secrets” of the Masonic organization (or any similar secret group) were deemed to be incompatible with the openness required of a penitent going to Confession.
I have never seen any overt hostility from the RCC towards the Masons. There does seem to be a bit more tension in Europe where the Masons may be perceived as a recurring source of anti-clericalism. (Cardinal Ratzinger has made ominous noises regarding the Masons from time to time.) On the other hand, I knew of a Catholic seminary where the business manager was a Protestant and a Freemason. After a number of years, the manager decided to convert to Catholicism and I recall him saying that he would have done it sooner but that he had only recently discovered that he could become a Catholic without quitting the Masons. (I think there is still a ban on Catholics joining the Masons, but through some legal loophole, there is no longer a bar to Masons becoming Catholic.)
Of futz!
And here I thought that this Thread would be about the Secret War between the Masonic Illuminati & the Catholic Ninja Nuns-a.k.a the “Bad Habits”.
My dumb. 
Also, whatever Freemasonry is now, when it started, it was a liberal and anti-clerical group, which put it in opposition to the non-liberal and clerical Catholic church.
I assume this is the Green Book.
Anyway, I can’t imagine why a religion would care. Well, I can, but it doesn’t make any sense to me.
Another point of contention is the use of self-imprecatory initiation oaths in Freemasonry that run totally counter to Christ’s restriction or forbidding of oaths in Matthew 5. Even if Christ did not forbid His followers to take oaths completely, I don’t think He’d be fond of oaths in which one calls for oneself to be killed & mutilated for violating the oath (however symbolic that may be).
Certain types of Masonry have differing levels of religious symbolism. The sacred word of Royal Arch combines the Sacred Hebrew Name of God with the names of two pagan gods. Albert Pike’s revisioning of the Scottish Rite swirls together various symbols & rites with both C’tian & Pagan overtones,
My own denomination, the Assemblies of God, discourages membership.
I don’t know of anything that would indicate Masonry was ever “oficially” anti-Catholic; that is to say that I don’t believe there was ever any kind of policy established by Masonry as a whole in opposition to Catholicism.
I believe that membership in the Knights of Columbus is restricted to Catholics. I also believe that the organization has a very strong religous bias. I don’t know either of these things for certain, since I am not a member. If I am right, you might contrast the KofC with Masonry by remembering that membership in Masonry is NOT restricted to any one group or religion and that Masonry, in spite of the BS to the contrary is NOT religously oriented. As I’ve said many times before, discussions of religion are prohibited on Masonic Lodge premises, at least here in the USA. I have no doubt that the Kof C is a worthy organization and I don’t denigrate it in the least. I’ve never heard a member of the K of C call it a version of Masonry, though.
Which Catholics are opposed to Freemasonry, anyway? I was born and raised Catholic and I don’t recall the subject even coming up. Even if there’s official opposition it sure doesn’t seem to be something most Catholics give a thought to.
Friar Ted, I won’t comment on the supposed oaths and penalties, for what should be obvious reasons. I will say that Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry rests on the foundations of liberty, equality, and fraternity for all peoples everywhere dispersed. I cannot fault those principles and I fervently wish they were more widely held and accepted.