In the Royal Albert Hall last week, an all-seeing eye above a circle and compass gazed down on thousands of men dressed in aprons and lavishly embroidered collars. The jewels of their regalia sparkled in the beam of spotlights.
English Freemasonry was celebrating its 300th anniversary, in a spectacular ceremony attended by its Grand Master, the Duke of Kent, and the grand masters of around 140 overseas grand lodges. The brethren sang the National Anthem and Jerusalem – a reminder that the origins of Freemasonry lie in England.
Among them were more than a few Catholics. The Catholic Herald spoke to two of them – but they asked not to be named. The Church has forbidden its members to become masons since 1738, under penalty of excommunication. In 1983 Cardinal Ratzinger repeated the Church’s prohibition, stating unequivocally: “The faithful who enrol in masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.”
But is this fair? Did the future Benedict XVI really understand the nature of the organisation banned by the Church?
Grand Lodge Freemasonry, which sprang up in England in the 17th century, is often confused by continental Catholics with its offshoot, Grand Orient Freemasonry, which has flourished in Europe since the era of the French Revolution. The latter does not require masons to believe in a Supreme Being. It also allows political discussion in lodges and is traditionally anticlerical. The Catholic Church understandably reacted against it, accusing it of promoting atheism.
By contrast, belief in a divine “Great Architect” is one of the cornerstones of Grand Lodge Freemasonry, both in England and in associated international lodges. However, no discussion of religion is allowed in the lodge. Politics, too, is off limits.
Catholic masons argue that for this reason they should be allowed to participate in the intricately choreographed (and very long) rituals of the Grand Lodge. These are based on myths about the building of King Solomon’s Temple that no one takes literally. They insist that they are not religious ceremonies.
“Inside the lodge there is no religion,” says one of them. “Freemasonry leaves a man to pursue his own religion outside the lodge. There is no moment where the two intersect. In 20 years I have never seen a situation in which Freemasonry asks me to rank my masonry or my Catholicism in priority to the other.”
English Catholic masons – some of them active in their parishes – believe that the Craft, as it is known to initiates, is a natural ally of the Church and of religion generally. They point out that their rituals have always had a strong Judaeo-Christian essence. Jonathan Spence, the Deputy Grand Master of Grand Lodge, is a High Anglican. “If I thought there was anything contrary to my Christian faith I wouldn’t be in it,” he says.
The Catholic Church, however, remains unconvinced. Even if the English variety of Freemasonry can be absolved of the charge of promoting atheism – and no one could seriously argue that it does – it stands accused of promoting religious indifferentism, the notion that all religions are of equal worth.
As for Catholic masons, why do they feel free to ignore a solemn ban? Ed Condon, a canon lawyer, thinks they have no excuse. “Despite knowing of the Church’s opposition, and perhaps believing they know better, they are clearly choosing their affinity for the Lodge over the authority of the Church, which was, after all, Pope Clement XII’s original concern and led to the first ban on Catholics joining,” he says.
Condon also believes that some of the higher degrees of Freemasonry impart “secrets” that are incompatible with the Magisterium. This is a view widely held by Catholic experts on masonry.
The chances that the Vatican will relax its ban on “the Craft” are, in fact, so slim as to be non-existent. But that still leaves open the possibility that the Church – recognising that English Freemasonry has no contact with militantly secular continental masons – will relax its hostility.
One might ask: why does the tolerance that Catholics are so keen to extend to innumerable religious groups not extend to this country’s cheerful and benevolent masons?
What no one can dispute is that the United Grand Lodge of England raises more than £30 million a year for good causes, such as paying for hospital scanners – an astonishing sum from which the whole community benefits. Even if the Church maintains its ban on Freemasonry, couldn’t Catholics work together with masons on charitable projects?
“I think that’s a very good idea, entirely plausible,” says Spence. “There’s no reason why it shouldn’t happen.”
David V Barrett is the author of A Brief History of Secret Societies (Constable & Robinson 2007), and a regular writer and speaker on esoteric movements
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