Has the Church Been Infected With Freemasonry?

Barry Obama...Catholic? No...but he sure looks happy to be attending the first-ever Masonic Inaugural Ball...Looks like they've got their man, and if they haven't yet, possibly will. Note the black hand embracing the white hand in the poster for the Ball. How very not racist!

Masons target the powerful and those in influence from town councils, the Police, the Law Courts to Parliaments, Prime Ministers and Presidents for reasons known only to themselves. Look who else the Inaugural Ball is in honour of...one Catholic Senator Joe Biden. Hmm...No conflict with being Catholic and voting pro-abortion, according to Joe. No conflict attending this either, Senator?

There can be no doubt that the 1960s and 1970s were turbulent for the Church and times are turbulent now that the Holy Father is trying to stem the tide of liturgical excesses which have caused damage to the Body of Christ. He's ruffling some feathers among those who don't see that things went a 'bit too far' in the wrong direction.

It is highly likely that the Church, during a publicly perceived relaxation of the law forbidding Freemasonry, absorbed an infection into Her of those who have sworn their loyalty to a secret society. The constant watering down of Church teaching by various clergy, the lack of firm conviction coming from certain Bishops to the Magisterium and a loss of the sacred are worrying signs of not only a secularisation of the Church, but also a pluralism of views. Also, I have no evidence for this whatsoever, but there is something vaguely masonic about 'The Tony Blair Faith Foundation'...which faith, Tony? All faiths?

It has always been an issue of severe concern for a Catholic to be a Freemason, since the Church has suffered at the hands of the Freemasons in history. It is a secret society and cannot be endorsed. To be an active Freemason and to be a Catholic is something that cuts one off from receiving the Blessed Sacrament. It is a mortal sin, since the society denies the Divinity of Christ and is most certainly, regarded by the Church as being, at its heart, anti-Christian, and anti-clerical.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

'After Vatican II the Church appeared to some to be easing its stance towards Masonry. In 1974 Cardinal Seper, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, signed a document that stated, in part, that:

"The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith... has ruled that Canon 2335 no longer automatically bars a Catholic from membership of masonic groups... And so, a Catholic who joins the Freemasons is excommunicated only if the policies and actions of the Freemasons in his area are known to be hostile to the Church ..."

This advice led some Catholics to believe that the prohibition was no longer in force, and that the Church no longer had many of its traditional objections to Freemasonry.

In 1983, the Church issued a new Code of Canon Law. Unlike its predecessor, Canon 1374 does not explicitly name Masonic orders among the secret societies it condemns. It states in part:

"A person who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a just penalty; one who promotes or takes office in such an association is to be punished with an interdict."

This omission caused some Catholics and Freemasons to believe that the ban on Catholics becoming Freemasons may have been lifted, especially after the perceived liberalization of Vatican II, and caused confusion in the Church hierarchy. Many Catholics joined the fraternity, basing their membership on a permissive interpretation of Canon Law and justifying their membership by their belief that Freemasonry does not plot against the Church. It is claimed that Catholic Freemasons in America ignore the 1983 clarification from the Vatican, looking to the 1974 pronouncement.'

The great problem with Freemasonry and members being members of the Catholic Church is that, at best, the society brings into its fold people of all 'faiths' and seeks to instil a 'brotherhood of man', in which all religions co-exist. They swear on all the different holy books and find within all an esoteric knowledge which is 'enlightening'. For a Catholic, the Divinity of Christ and the Magisterium is the most important aspect of Faith. The Articles of Faith, which are not a 'secret', of the One True Faith, are not 'negotiable'. Anything which co-opts faith in the Blessed Trinity, the Divinity of Christ and His Holy Catholic Church is certainly a threat to the faith of the Catholic and the Faith in general. It undermines it, erodes it and, Popes down the centuries have warned, destroys it.