Can a Catholic be a Freemason?

Threats of Freemasonry

Pope Leo most prophetically outlines some of the key threats posed by freemasonry.

1. The rampant spread of vice through freemasonry doctrine - Rejection of revelation means rejection of original sin, hence freemasons believe free will is not at all weakened or inclined toward evil, so there is no struggle for virtue, but tendency toward spreading vice.¹

2. Threat to Catholic education and corruption of youth - Freemasons take to education of youth, that they may bend the will of the young to their own purposes, therefore they seek to divest the religious from education of youth.²

3. The political threat - Masons possess a misguided notion of equality - that all men are equal in every respect and condition. (Before this is misinterpreted, he states elsewhere, "...no one doubts that all men are equal one to another, so far as regards their common origin and nature, or the last end which each one has to attain, or the rights and duties which are thence derived."³) The key thing to observe here is that the power of opinion, rather than natural law, is what shapes law in a masonic worldview. This is what we have seen develop in our own land. Politically, Masons hold that no man should obey any authority but himself and that the state should be altogether without God.⁴ "The State will appear most deformed" under such a view on equality and total self-determination and autocracy.⁵

4. Threat to the Church - "Their chief dogmas are so greatly and manifestly at variance with reason that nothing can be more perverse. To wish to destroy the religion and the Church which God Himself has established, and whose perpetuity He insures by His protection, and to bring back after a lapse of eighteen centuries the manners and customs of the pagans, is signal folly and audacious impiety. Neither is it less horrible nor more tolerable that they should repudiate the benefits which Jesus Christ so mercifully obtained, not only for individuals, but also for the family and for civil society, benefits which, even according to the judgment and testimony of enemies of Christianity, are very great. In this insane and wicked endeavor we may almost see the implacable hatred and spirit of revenge with which Satan himself is inflamed against Jesus Christ. So also the studious endeavor of the Freemasons to destroy the chief foundations of justice and honesty, and to cooperate with those who would wish, as if they were mere animals, to do what they please, tends only to the ignominious and disgraceful ruin of the human race."⁶

5. Threat to marriage and family - Matrimony is seen as belonging "to the genus of commercial contracts" rather than a sacred covenant.⁷ Leo issued this prophetic warning about the foreboding danger facing marriage in the future: "If [marriages] are deprived of their sacred character, and made dissoluble, trouble and confusion in the family will be the result, the wife being deprived of her dignity and the children left without protection as to their interests and well being."⁸

6. Threat of societal collapse - If (as the Freemasons' desire) the power to rule is taken away, a divinely given power, society will collapse.⁹

Leo's Remedies for Freemasonry

But despite these many threats, the Pope gives also a series of remedies for the great plague freemasonry has brought on.

1. Remain true to papal teachings - Leo called upon the bishops and faithful to join in this effort to find a remedy against the Freemasons and not to depart from the teachings of the Roman pontiffs.¹⁰

2. Bishops asked to join the Pope in exposing the truth of freemasonry - Pope Leo asked his brother bishops to help guide the flock through sermons and pastoral letters.¹¹

3. Return to Christian philosophy - men's minds can be made sound and protected from error.¹²

4. Bishops and laity unite against common evil - The greater the laity love the Church, the more likely they will resist secret societies.¹³

5. Strengthen the Third Order of St. Francis friars - Pope Leo encouraged the promotion of these friars because he saw this brotherhood as vital in "suppressing the contagion of wicked societies." Since the objective of this order is imitation of Christ and life in the virtues.¹⁴

6. Workmen's guilds - The pope recommended establishment of Catholic workers' guilds lest people be drawn to the Masons.

7. Education of the young by the bishops - "Devote the greatest part of your care to their instruction; and do not think that any precaution can be great enough in keeping them from masters and schools whence the pestilent breath of the sects is to be feared."¹⁵

8. Prayer - The Pope urged a response on the part of the faithful comparable to the great evil being perpetrated upon the Church. He urged particular devotion in this regard to the great Mother of God, that she "who from the moment of her conception overcame Satan may show her power over these evil sects."

Conclusion

In addition to the aforementioned truths about the nature of freemasonry, Hollywood and the media are not so quick to emphasize that Freemasons worked hand-in-hand with the KKK for years, and dominated the Supreme Court from 1940-1970, putting forth many decisions hostile to Christianity. Despite the masonic drive in recent history for an image make-over, no amount of charitable work or social good could justify the moral evil of masonic doctrine.

For any Catholic affiliated with the Freemasons, the message is this: Prayerfully consider leaving the lodge, as the Vicars of Christ by the guidance of the Holy Spirit have determined such membership to be inherently contradictory with Catholic faith. In this way one may be restored to the life of grace and full communion with the Body of Christ.

We must remember Leo's remedies if the evil of masonry—which has so hindered the good of man and society in the modern era—is to be defeated in our time. But first and foremost among the remedies of the pontiff is prayer, and the hope of victory through the Immaculata.

Modern times are dominated by Satan and will be more so in the future. The conflict with Hell cannot be engaged by men, even the most clever. The Immaculata alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan.

-St. Maximilian Kolbe¹⁶

Kevin Clarke is Assistant Editor of Motherofallpeoples.com. He publishes a semi-weekly Web log, The Charcoal Fire.