Catholicism vs Freemasonry

Irreconcilable Forever

by Rev. Robert I. Bradley, S.J.

     What is the truth regarding the present officialattitude of the Catholic Church toward Freemasonry? To begin this inquiry intothat which is now in effect, we should go back to what was stated in theChurch's canon law before there was any doubt about where the church stood onMasonry. The former code (which, incidentally, was promulgated on Pentecost,May 27, 1917, just two weeks after Our Lady's first apparition at Fatima)contained a canon which definitely capped all the previous papal condemnationsof it. Canon 2335 reads as follows:

 

     Persons joining associations of the Masonic sect or anyothers of the same kind which plot against the Church and legitimate civilauthorities contract ipso facto excommunication simply reserved to theApostolic See.

 

     In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, however,when the revision of the Code of Canon Law was underway, the prevailing spiritof "ecumenical dialogue" prompted questions among various bishops as to whetheror not Canon 2335 was still in force. Responding to these questions, a letterfrom Cardinal Francis Seper, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for theDoctrine of the Faith, to the presidents of all the episcopal conferences,dated July 18, 1974, stated that:

 

(1) the Holy See has repeatedly sought information from the bishops aboutcontemporary Masonic activities directed against the Church;

 

(2) there will be no new law on this matter, pending the revision of the Code nowunderway;

 

(3) all penal canons must be interpreted strictly and

 

(4) the express prohibition against Masonic membership by clerics, religious, andmembers of secular institutes is hereby reiterated. 1 This rather awkwardly structured letter (which, for whatever reason, was notpublished in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis , the official journal of recordfor the Holy See) came to be interpreted in many quarters as allowingmembership by laymen in any particular Masonic (or similar) lodge which, in thejudgment of the local bishop, was not actively plotting against the Church orlegitimate civil authorities. This state of affairs, in which undoubtedly afair number of Catholics in good faith became Masons, lasted for some years.Then, on February 17, 1981, Cardinal Seper issued a formal declaration:

 

(1) his original letter did not in any way change the force of the existing Canon2335;

 

(2) the stated canonical penalties are in no way abrogated and

 

(3) he was but recalling the general principles of interpretation to be applied bythe local bishop for resolving cases of individual persons, which is not to saythat any episcopal conference now has the competence to publicly pass judgmentof a general character on the nature of Masonic associations, in such a way asto derogate from the previously stated norms. 2 Because this second statement seemed to be as awkwardly put together as thefirst, the confusion persisted.

 

Finally,in 1983 came the new Code with its Canon 1374:

 

     A person who joins an association which plots againstthe Church is to be punished with a just penalty; one who promotes or takesoffice in such an association is to be punished with an interdict.

Cardinal Ratzinger's Declaration

     Following the promulgation of the new Code, CardinalJoseph Ratzinger, the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of theFaith, issued a new declaration:

 

(1)the new Canon 1347 has the same essential import as the old Canon 2335, and thefact that the "Masonic sect" is no longer explicitly named is irrelevant.

 

(2)the Church's negative judgment on Masonry remains unchanged, because theMasonic principles are irreconcilable with the Church's teaching ("earumprincipia semper iconcilabilia habita sunt cum Ecclesiae doctrina")

 

(3)Catholics who join the Masons are in the state of grave sin and may not receiveHoly Communion.

 

(4)no local ecclesiastical authority has competence to derogate from thesejudgments of the Sacred Congregation. 3 With these official statements of the Universal Church now on record 4 , it should be clear that thelamentable confusion of so many Catholics regarding Freemasonry must be seen asonly a temporary aberration -- to be written off as one most costly consequenceof a mindless "spirit of Vatican II." But we may hope that, as in other issuesthat have plagued the Church in the last score of years, there is a providencein this, a veritable blessing in disguise. For now, more clearly than everbefore, we should see just why the Catholic Church has been -- and willalways be -- so opposed to Masonry. It may at first seem plausible that themain (if not only) reason for its being condemned by the Catholic Church isthat Masonry is conspiratorial . Its plotting against the Church (and, inthe old Code, its also plotting against the State) is the one descriptivestatement mentioned in both versions of the Code of Canon Law. Moreover, as thefirst curial document we cited (that of 1974) seems clearly to imply, the onerequisite condition for permitting Catholics to join a Masonic lodge is thatthe lodge in question was not actively plotting against the Church and theState. Yet, for all its initial plausibility, this opinion seems to beinadequate. The proof of this is evident not only from the two subsequentcurial documents (of 1981 and 1983), but more decisively still from the entireprevious history of Roman documents, both curial and papal, treating ofMasonry. Beginning in 1738 with Clement XII's encyclical In Eminenti (justtwenty-one years after the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England, theevent usually recognized as the commencement of the modern Masonic movement)and running through ten successive pontificates, the Church's case againstFreemasonry finds its culminating statement in 1884 in Leo XIII's encyclical HumanumGenus . Masonic deceitfulness regarding its real objectives in society-- and its consequent policy of secrecy regarding the authorities of Church andState, and including even the rank-and-file of its own membership -- has alwaysbeen noted by the popes, and most tellingly by Leo XIII. 5 And in the century since then and in our own country thisconspiratorial policy has been amply documented. 6 However useful this knowledge of Masonic strategy is for our understanding ofthe authentic nature of the movement, it is quite secondary. It is whollysubordinate to that which defines the movement itself: the content infunction of which conspiracy is but "method," the end determining andjustifying the means . That content -- that end -- is what we must nowexamine, if we are to find the fundamental and explicit reason for the Church'scondemnation of Freemasonry. This fundamental reason can be briefly stated. Thefollowing summary passage from Leo XIII's Humanum Genus suffices.

. . .that whichis their ultimate purpose forces itself into view -- namely, the utteroverthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world which theChristian teaching has produced, and the substitution of a new state of thingsin accordance with their ideas, of which foundations and laws shall be drawnfrom mere "Naturalism."

     Now, the fundamental doctrine of the Naturalists, whichthey sufficiently make known by their very name, is that human nature and humanreason ought in all things to be mistress and guide. Laying this down, theycare little for duties to God, or pervert them by erroneous and vague opinions.For they deny that anything has been taught by God; they allow no dogma ofreligion or truth which cannot be understood by the human intelligence, nor anyteacher who ought to be believed by reason of his authority. And since it isthe special and exclusive duty of the Catholic Church fully to set forth inwords truths divinely received, to teach, besides other divine helps tosalvation, the authority of its office, and to defend the same with perfectpurity, it is against the Church that the rage and attack of the enemies areprincipally directed. 7 Catholicismand Freemasonry are therefore essentially opposed. If either were to terminateits opposition to the other, it would by that very fact become somethingessentially different from what it previously was; it would in effect cease toexist as itself. For Catholicism is essentially a revealed religion; it isessentially supernatural , both in its destiny and in its resources.Beyond all natural fulfillment, it tends toward an eternity of ineffable unionwith God in Himself; and beyond all natural resources, it begins that unionhere and now in the sacramental life of the Church.

 

     Masonry, on the other hand, is essentially a religion of "reason." With aninsistence and a consistency matching Catholicism's self-definition, Masonrypromises perfection in the natural order as its only destiny -- as indeed thehighest destiny there is. And it provides for this perfectibility with itsresources: the accumulated sum of purely human values, subsumed under the logoof "reason." Literally a logo, the Masonic compass and square are the symbol ofa Rationalism that claims to be identified with all that is "natural." Theconsequent syncretism, blending all the strands of human experience -- from thecabalistic mysteries of an immemorial Orient to the technological manipulationsof a post-modern West -- is the basis for Masonry's claim to be not just areligion but the religion : the "natural" Religion of Man. That is whyits claim to date from the beginning of history -- its calendar numbers the"Years of Light" (from the first day of Creation) or the "Years of the World"-- is no mere jest on its part. And that is why its opposition to the CatholicChurch antedates the Catholic Church's opposition to it. For it cannot abidethe Church's claim to be the One True Church, and the consequent refusal by theChurch to be relegated to the status of a "sect" which Masonry would have itbe.

 

      Since the Church's claim to be the One True Church is ultimately founded andvalidated on the reality of the One True God, the opposing Masonic claim mustultimately derive from a perception of God that diametrically opposes theChurch's faith. And so it does. Although Pope Leo does not explicitly speak ofthis essential opposition between Catholicism and masonry in terms of the Firstcommandment of God -- "I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have strange godsbefore me" -- surely the most radical and simplest way of situating thisopposition is to say just this. The Masonic "God" is an idol . What theMasons really worship is Man -- or the Spirit who has deceived man fromthe beginning: the masked Spirit of Evil. This is the one primal reason why theCatholic Church has condemned, and will always condemn, Freemasonry. It isclearly sufficient to stand by itself as the only reason -- and in amost fundamental sense, as Leo XIII seems to imply, that is the only reason infact.

Gravely Evil Misuse of Oaths

     We can, however, give a second reason for the Church'sopposition to Masonry. Not strictly independent of the first reason, based asthat reason is on the First Commandment, we can yet distinguish a second reason-- based on the Second Commandment. Some ten years earlier than Humanum Genus ,there appeared (even in English translation) a brief (barely more thanpamphlet-sized) but penetrating work, A Study of Freemasonry , by thegreat bishop of Orleans, Felix Dupanloup. 8 All the more impressive because of his "liberal" credentials, Dupanloup dulynotes the facts, and the gravity, of the Masonic conspiracy. But what hestresses, besides the same primary point subsequently stressed by Leo XIII,viz., the Masonic violation of the First Commandment, is its violation of theSecond Commandment by its gravely evil misuse of oaths.

 

     The famous (or, rather, infamous) oaths that run through the entire ritual ofMasonic initiation are more than mere promises based on personal honor. Theyformally invoke the Deity, and have for their object a man's total commitmentto a cause under the direst sanctions. The Catholic Church sees in such oathsan inescapable grave evil. Either the oaths mean what they say or they do not.If they mean what they say, then God is being called to invert by His witnessloyalties (viz., to Church and to State) already sanctioned by Him. If theoaths are merely fictitious, then God is being called to witness to a joke. Itis not the secrecy of what goes on "behind the lodge door" that elicits andjustifies the Church's condemnation of Masonry. It is rather the formalviolation of the Second Commandment which these proceedings inescapably entail.

 

     The vaunted Masonic secrets, moreover, are scarcely that secret any longer.There is in fact a frequent Masonic plea to the effect that there are nosecrets in Masonry -- that all is open to a truly open mind. On this point wemay take the Mason at his word: he is speaking more truly than he knows! Thecase for the Catholic Church's condemnation of Freemasonry is open and clear.By its very nature as formulated in its philosophical statements and as livedin its historical experience, Masonry violates the First and SecondCommandments of God. It worships not the One True God of revelation -- Father,Son, and Holy Spirit -- but a false god, symbolically transcendent but reallyimmanent: the "god" called "Reason." And it invokes without adequate cause theName of the One True God. After such a case as this, to cite the secrecies ofinitiation and the further secrecies of machination called "conspiracy" is notonly anti-climactic, it is beside the point.

 

     To conclude: we Catholic should now see the Masons more clearly for what theyessentially are. They are the heirs (unwitting or otherwise is irrelevant) of areligion which purports to be the one religion of the one "God" -- andtherefore the enemy, intrinsically and implacably so, of Catholicism.Freemasonry in its modern mode is "modernity" in the deepest (i.e., thephilosophical and religious) sense of that term. It is, in a word, "CounterfeitCatholicism." For its "God" is the "Counterfeit God": the one who would be asGod, the one who is the prince of this world, the one who is the Father ofLies.

Notes:

"CompluresEpiscopi," Notiziario CEI (1974) 191. (From EnchiridionVaticanum , No. 563, pp. 350-51).

"S.Congregation pro Doctrina Fidei," Acta Apostolicae Sedis 73(1981) 240-41. (From EV , No. 1137, pp. 1036-39)

"Quaesitumest," AAS 76 (1984) 200. (From EV , No. 553, pp.482-87)

Asummary of this documentation was made available in this country by theAmerican Bishops' Committee for Pastoral Research and Practice, in a reportentitled "Masonry and Naturalistic Religion," published in Origins ,15 (June 27, 1985), pp. 83-84.

ActaSanctae Sedis 16 (1883 sic) 420.

Foran excellent recent survey, with emphasis on the American scene, see PaulFisher's Behind the Lodge Door: Church, State, and Freemasonry inAmerica (Bowle, MD: Shield, 1988).

ActaSanctae Sedis 16 (1883 sic) 421. The English version used here is from aPaulist pamphlet first published in 1944 and reprinted by TAN (Rockford, IL:1987), pp. 6-7.

TheEnglish edition which I used was published in Philadelphia in 1856.