God and the Odd Fellows

by Christopher Hodapp

Over the last few years, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows fraternal organization has been attempting to grow by reaching out to a younger demographic. Some have been embracing their decidedly offbeat name as a welcoming place for men and women who proudly celebrate themselves as being 'odd', an image the organization didn't really have of itself before. Many IOOF lodges have tried to expand with this strategy, but some apparently fear that local lodge officers are doing so by shunning or ignoring some of the most basic precepts of the IOOF that date back since time immemorial. And the national Grand Lodge for the U.S. has just fired a warning shot across the collective bows of those who have been selectively dodging the rules.

The Odd Fellows' 300+ year history parallels Freemasonry in many respects. Formed in London in the 1730s, they are non-sectarian, but require a belief in a non-specific God or Supreme Being. Their name stems from the medieval period of the craft guilds in England, purportedly for craftsmen who didn't belong to a specific guild of their own (or who had no such guild to join). Like the Masons, they expanded worldwide during England's colonial period. They created their own national grand lodge in America in the 1820s, flourished during the Golden Age of Fraternalism, and their popularity briefly exceeded that of Freemasonry in the early pre-Depression 1900s. Part of that popularity had to do with the perceived snobbishness and expense of joining the Masons, and they unfortunately got branded in many minds as the "poor man's Masons." The core organization, the Odd Fellows, is closely allied with the women's' group known as the Rebekah's, which was created originally as a sort of women's auxiliary group, much like the Order of the Eastern Star's association with the Freemasons. Also like the Masons, when white lodges refused membership to black men in the 1800s, the parallel Grand United Order of Odd Fellows was formed by and for blacks in America, much like Prince Hall Freemasonry did.

In town squares all across the U.S., lodge buildings sporting the 'three chain links' of the IOOF were as commonly seen as the square and compasses of the Masons. In many towns, the Masons and the Odd Fellows even shared lodge buildings. Like the Masons, they have three 'degrees' of membership within the lodge: the Lodge, which teaches Friendship; the Encampment, which teaches Love; and the Patriarchs Militant (similar to Masonry's Knights Templar), which teaches Truth. Their symbolic charts look remarkably like the Freemasons, and are often mistaken for being Masonic. They even wear lodge aprons. And their requirements for membership were historically the same as the Masons: men only, of lawful age of consent, of good character, and recommended by other members. In efforts to attract new members in recent years, they lowered the age requirement to just 16, and began admitting women. In many states these days, women commonly serve as grand lodge officers. But one thing that hasn't changed is that they still require all members to declare a belief in Deity, regardless of their personal conceptions or religious affiliation.

And therein lies the source of the current problem. 

More and more younger people in America have shown a dramatic increase in having no religious beliefs at all, at best claiming to be 'spiritual, not religious' (whatever THAT means), and often without any concept of a supreme deity of any kind. (That trend may be receding after more than a decade - see the note at the bottom of this article.) Consequently, some IOOF lodges have been lax about admitting men (and now women) who openly say they have no real belief in deity, or who dodge the question entirely.

Last week, the Grand Secretary of the Odd Fellows issued a sternly worded warning to all IOOF lodges that the core tenets of Odd Fellowship have not changed, and that all members must declare as part of their petitioning process, in writing, that they have a belief in a deity. More than a few local lodges have been glossing over that requirement, or ignoring it altogether. 

According to the letter, initiates have been told to ignore the requirement (or it's not mentioned it at all), lodges have been failing to display the Holy Bible on altars during meetings, the role of Chaplain has gone unfilled, and required prayers have been ignored or eliminated from their degree ceremonies. (Like the Masons in most jurisdictions these days, multiple books deemed sacred by an Odd Fellows lodge's members may be on the altar at the same time, although the Christian Bible must be there, regardless. )

Apparently, the situation has become widespread enough that the Grand Secretary's office is demanding that the entire letter be read at their next regular meeting, and that the order must be mailed directly to every lodge member within 30 days. (Click images below to enlarge.)

There have been calls within Freemasonry for more than two centuries to eliminate our fraternity's requirement of a declaration of faith, as the Continental Masons of the Grand Orient de France did in 1877 – and there's no denying that the Grand Orient has long been the largest (and continuously growing) Masonic jurisdiction in that country. But as has been the case there, the elimination of such a vital landmark of the fraternity was followed by the loss of others, such as overt political involvement and the eventual admission of women into their lodges. And it must be remembered that France has had a contentious and tumultuous history regarding religion ever since their revolution in 1789, and even before. French society is not directly analogous to American society when it comes to widespread attitudes regarding religion and secularism. We can't simply transplant their brand of Masonry to our own without dramatically changing the core of what has made American Freemasonry so successful in the past.

Despite all of the many changes to their fundamental membership requirements over the last few years, Odd Fellowship in America continues to dwindle. In my own hometown of Indianapolis, with well over 1 million people in the metropolitan area (plus burgeoning populations in other nearby communities) there is a single lodge hall location on the city's far west side that remains open, and it's part of their statewide Grand Lodge office building. If their newsletter numbers are to be trusted, the tiny number of new members taken in nationwide last year are shocking. 

It doesn't appear that their many changes have borne fruit.

So is there a cautionary example for Freemasonry to avoid this sort of change, or to embrace it as we watch our own numbers continue to decrease (albeit at a far, FAR slower rate than the IOOF's)? 

• Should we remain true to our most basic foundations, or make alterations to appeal to men (and maybe women) who give us the go-by now? 
• If such changes were to eventually be made, how can we honestly believe that Masonic membership would suddenly become desirable to our critics? 
• Would the detractors of our own fraternity rush out to join a local Masonic lodge if we permitted women to join, dropped our faith requirement, and openly took on partisan political stands of one viewpoint or another? 
• Or would they simply shrug and say, "Well, it's about time you dinosaurs crawled into the 21st century, but I'm really not much of a joiner..." ?

It’s worth keeping an eye on what transpires with the Odd Fellows in the next few years as they grapple with these very challenges.

*NOTE: People with no definable religious beliefs have, in recent years, been referred to by researchers as the "nones." In Pew Research Center’s 2023 polling, 28% of U.S. adults were religiously unaffiliated, describing themselves as atheists, agnostics or simply “nothing in particular” when asked about their religion. That was lower than surveys done in 2022 and 2021, and identical to the statistics in 2020 and 2019. After more than a decade of dramatic growth in "nones" (from just 16% in 2007), religious leaders are cautiously optimistic that faith may be making a slow comeback in this country.

Pew describes the "nones" this way:

• Most “nones” believe in God or another higher power. But very few go to religious services regularly.
• Most say religion does some harm, but many also think it does some good. They are not uniformly anti-religious.
• Most “nones” reject the idea that science can explain everything. But they express more positive views of science than religiously affiliated Americans do.

Attempting to woo less than a third of the adult population in this country by removing the declaration of faith requirement may be a dwindling goal for the Odd Fellows. For an all-male fraternity like the Masons, that number shrinks to just about 15% of adults as a raw statistic, and that doesn't take into account the vast numbers of "I'm-not-a-joiner" folks who wouldn't give any such club a second glance. 

Call me a a bitter old curmudgeon who smells like fetid four day-old Brussels sprouts if you like, but altering your organization that dramatically to chase such a small number of possibly potential members seems like a fool's errand to this insouciant whelp...

Vatican Reaffirms Ban On Masonic Membership: Catholic Masons Shrug

by Christopher Hodapp

(This story has been slightly updated 11/16/23 12:56PM to include an excerpt from the Vatican News explaining the origin of the DDF's position on Masonry.)

The Roman Catholic Church has officially issued a doctrinal letter this week re-affirming its longstanding ban on Masonic membership among its global flock, but Catholic Masons pretty much remain unmoved by the restriction.

In the letter released by the Vatican's Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) dated November 13th and signed by Pope Francis and DDF Prefect Cardinal Victor Fernández, it is stated that "Active membership in Freemasonry by a member of the faithful is prohibited, because of the irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry." 

The Rome headquarters of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith (Photo: Vatican News)

The DDF is responsible for interpreting the Church's Canon Law when questions and disagreements arise over the application of the rules.

According to official Vatican state media, the letter was a response to a bishop from the Philippines who was alarmed by what he sees as a growing number of Freemasons in that predominantly Catholic country, and wanted to know how to respond pastorally. The DDF statement cites a 1983 declaration, originally issued by the late Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time, stating that Catholics "in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion." 

As the Vatican News website explains,

The November 1983 declaration was published shortly before the new Code of Canon Law entered into force. The 1983 CIC replaced the Code of Canon Law published in 1917; among the new features noted – by some with satisfaction, by others with concern – was the absence of an explicit condemnation of Freemasonry and excommunication for those affiliated with it. Both had been present in the earlier Code. The Declaration, signed by the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the Secretary of the Congregation, Archbishop Jérôme Hamer, and approved by John Paul II, reiterated that Catholics affiliated with Masonic lodges are “in a state of grave sin.”

Ratzinger would go on to become Pope Benedict XVI, who was widely regarded as extremely conservative in his views. But according to this new communication, it appears that sentiments haven't changed in the Curia.

Click to enlarge

The letter states that:

“Membership in Freemasonry is very significant in the Philippines; it involves not only those who are formally enrolled in Masonic Lodges but, more generally, a large number of sympathizers and associates who are personally convinced that there is no opposition between membership in the Catholic Church and in Masonic Lodges . . . On the doctrinal level, it should be remembered that active membership in Freemasonry by a member of the faithful is forbidden because of the irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry.”

That the famously liberal Pope Francis would now reaffirm his predecessor's opinion on Masonic membership some 40 years after Ratzinger's weighing in on the matter is an exceptionally disappointing blow to the hundreds of thousands of Catholic men around the world who are Masons and who don't regard the fraternity as irreconcilable with their faith in any way. 

By contrast, the same office said last week that transgender people can be baptized, serve as godparents and act as witnesses at Catholic weddings. The two issues aren't at all related, but Vatican watchers have long conjectured that Pope Francis would make dramatic changes to Canon Law like permitting married priests and nuns, homosexual weddings and other radical alterations to the rules and traditions of the Church. For him to stick with the ban on Masonic membership, of all things, seems out of character for him.

Freemasonry was first condemned by Pope Clement XII back in 1734, just 17 years after the formation of the Premiere Grand Lodge of England. For another 200 years Popes continued to issue papal bulls and encyclicals against the fraternity, sometimes more from a political power viewpoint than a religious one. Language specifically forbidding Freemasonry to Catholics (along with Kiwanis, Rotary and other associative fraternal organizations with secular memberships) was enshrined as a part of Canon Law from 1917 until the enormous revisions of the Second Vatican Council were adopted by 1965. The Church wrongly asserts that Freemasonry is its own "naturalistic religion" that promotes "indifferentism," and that its rituals deliberately ape religious ceremonies and offers a path to eternal salvation through a doctrine of merely doing good works on Earth. It regards Masonic use of the term "Great Architect of the Universe" as a deistic concept and opposes any notion that a person can be pleasing to God regardless of his religion. It's not an unusual position for any large denomination to take to protect its spiritual turf rights by claiming its path is the only way to salvation, but  it's a woefully mistaken interpretation of what the rituals of regular, recognized "Ancient Craft Masonry" actually say.

The Vatican II revisions of the 1960s stripped out the specific names of groups that had been ruled off limits in 1917, and just generically banned groups that actively were anti-Catholic. While French-derived "continental Freemasonry" really has espoused anti-Catholic sentiments and actively promoted "free will" and lobbied for strict secularism in France's national laws, such Masonic groups are shunned as "irregular" by English/Scottish-derived grand lodges that make up the vast majority of what is called "regular, recognized" Freemasonry all over the world today. In addition, the Scottish Rite "higher degrees" that first came out of France in the 1700s and were revised in the U.S. by Albert Pike in the late 1800s did contain a Knights Kadosh ritual that condemned both monarchial and papal "tyranny" which were seen as interfering with free will in men. Such a point of view hardly convinced the Church's authorities to ever look kindly on the fraternity.

A March 28, 2023 article on the Union of Catholic Asian News website reported on the Masonic questions coming out of the Philippines: 

“We thought the Catholic Church’s teachings have changed. Since several participants in the synod were Freemasons, we thought the Church has relaxed the rules on its membership and its participation in activities of the Catholic Church,” Quezon City parishioner Gloria Buencamino, 43, told UCA News on March 26.

Buencamino claimed some “extraordinary” ministers who helped the priest distribute communion during Mass in their parish were also Freemasons.

“In our parish alone, we have two of them and they were delegates to the Synod on Synodality. They are good and pious Catholics. Personally, I was surprised to see the CBCP has released the pastoral guidelines,” Buencamino added.

But the bishops’ commission clarified that “nothing has changed” and asserted that those joining Masonry will incur canonical penalties.

“Yet, given the sensitivity and delicateness of the issue in the Philippine setting, it has also shown ‘openness,’ in the exercise of pastoral circumspection, towards Catholics who may have unwittingly in good faith sought membership in Masonic associations with the best of intentions,” said the commission chairman, Bishop Jose R. Rojas of Libmanan.

It should be understood that Masonic grand lodges don't ban Catholics from joining - the restriction has always been a one-way street. Masonic membership only requires a man have a belief in God or a Supreme Being, and perhaps an associated belief in a spiritual afterlife (depending on the jurisdiction – each grand lodge jurisdiction can be slightly different). No one should be asking you your specific religious denomination as part of the petitioning process, apart from being able to accommodate your religious requirements when our ceremonies involve an obligation taken on a volume of sacred law that's specific to your beliefs. A lodge isn't a church, and your private beliefs regarding your personal relationship with the Almighty are seen as just that – private.

Because of that policy, lodges and grand lodges don't keep records and statistics tabulating the specific religious practices and denominations of their members, but recent voluntary polling shows that as many as 23% of U.S. Masons may be Catholic. If true, that works out to about 230,000 Catholic Masons in America alone. And if that holds true globally (just making a supposition), there may be a million or more Catholic Masons worldwide. In countries where the Catholic population is much higher than in the U.S. (as in Central and South American nations and the Philippines) the percentages are most probably even higher. Obviously, these men aren't letting their church get away with telling them their fraternity is irreconcilable with their faith when they know that to be demonstrably false. Quite the opposite — Freemasonry encourages each Mason to study and support his own religious institution and its traditions as part of a well-rounded individual, while respecting the personal beliefs of others. 

Oddly enough, Pope Francis issued an encyclical just last year called Fratelli Tutti ("All Brothers") which called on the world's political and religious leaders to create a new, ecumenical, "universal brotherhood" to help overcome Mankind's differences. 

Some excerpts included:

Paragraph #6. It is my desire that, in this our time, by acknowledging the dignity of each human person, we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity. Fraternity between all men and women. “Here we have a splendid secret that shows us how to dream and to turn our life into a wonderful adventure. No one can face life in isolation… We need a community that supports and helps us, in which we can help one another to keep looking ahead. How important it is to dream together… By ourselves, we risk seeing mirages, things that are not there. Dreams, on the other hand, are built together”. Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travelers sharing the same flesh, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice, brothers and sisters all.

Paragraph #8. “It is my desire that, in this our time, by acknowledging the dignity of each human person, we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity.”

Paragraph #46. We should also recognize that destructive forms of fanaticism are at times found among religious believers, including Christians; they too “can be caught up in networks of verbal violence through the internet and the various forums of digital communication. Even in Catholic media, limits can be overstepped, defamation and slander can become commonplace, and all ethical standards and respect for the good name of others can be abandoned”. How can this contribute to the fraternity that our common Father asks of us?

Paragraph #95. “Love also impels us towards universal communion. No one can mature or find fulfillment by withdrawing from others. By its very nature, love calls for growth in openness and the ability to accept others as part of a continuing adventure that makes every periphery converge in a greater sense of mutual belonging. As Jesus told us: “You are all brothers” (Mt 23:8).

Paragraph #254. “I ask God to prepare our hearts to encounter our brothers and sisters, so that we may overcome our differences rooted in political thinking, language, culture and religion. Let us ask him to anoint our whole being with the balm of his mercy, which heals the injuries caused by mistakes, misunderstandings and disputes. And let us ask him for the grace to send us forth, in humility and meekness, seeking peace.” 

Paragraph #272. “As believers, we are convinced that, without an openness to the Father of all, there will be no solid and stable reasons for an appeal to fraternity. We are certain that “only with this awareness that we are not orphans, but children, can we live in peace with one another”. For “reason, by itself, is capable of grasping the equality between men and of giving stability to their civic coexistence, but it cannot establish fraternity”.

Paragraph #277. “The Church esteems the ways in which God works in other religions, and “rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for their manner of life and conduct, their precepts and doctrines which… often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men and women.”

Paragraph #281. “A journey of peace is possible between religions. Its point of departure must be God’s way of seeing things. God does not see with his eyes, God sees with his heart. And God’s love is the same for everyone, regardless of religion. Even if they are atheists, his love is the same. When the last day comes, and there is sufficient light to see things as they really are, we are going to find ourselves quite surprised.” 

Paragraph #287. “He [Christ] wanted to be, in the end, “the universal brother” … May God inspire that dream in each one of us. Amen.”

To Catholic Freemasons around the world last year, such a proposed ecumenical assembly sounded mighty familiar, and many held out hope that this pontiff would finally drop restrictions on their already-existing "universal brotherhood." But obviously not. Of course, to the 'Militant Catholics' wing within the Church that has hated Francis from the day he was elected, last year's encyclical was clear proof to them that he's really a not-so-secret Jesuit Freemason anti-pope out to destroy the Vatican from within. Or something.

Of course, there's so much anti-Francis sentiment among traditional Catholics around the world, it's possible this anti-Masonic statement was nothing more than damage control on his part. In any case, Pope Francis' agreement with the anti-Masonic position is not a hopeful one for Catholic Masons who want the Church to loosen its stiff-necked rules on the subject. Telling Catholics the world over that they can't belong the largest, oldest, and best known fraternal organization that does exactly what the "universal brotherhood" Francis described last year just is not going to have the effect Rome is hoping for. But most Catholic Masons don't seem to be losing much sleep over it. 

Myself? I sleep like a baby.

Amen in aeternum.

Journal of the Masonic Society: The Future of Freemasonry and What We Have to Offer

by Christopher Hodapp

Issue 57 of the Journal of The Masonic Society landed in the mailbox over the July 4th weekend. The cover features a beautiful photo of the steps of Indiana’s Battleground Lodge 313 taken by Wbro. Dave Hosler. Dave continues to make stunning photos of Masonic subjects, along with being an indefatigable Mason who seems to turn up everywhere, and we're lucky to have him here in Indiana.

Editor Michael Poll has once again assembled a fine lineup of articles this issue: 

• The Lively Career of Brother William Robinson: a.k.a. Chung Ling Soo by Triston Wilkinson

• A Qabalistic Interpretation of Freemasonry by Rodney McGillvary

• A Treasure Hunt in the Archives of Lodge 43 by Nathaniel Gilchrist

• One and Twenty by M.C. Lee

• On the Esoteric Masonic Nature of Psalm 127

But the one article I especially want to point out in this issue is Freemasonry Struggles for Relevance in the Modern World it Helped Create by Wes Regan, Worshipful Master of Vancouver Lodge of Education and Research. The piece is subtitled ‘A Response to Professor John Dickie.’ WB Regan is a Canadian Mason in the Grand Lodge F&AM of British Columbia and Yukon. The article he has written for the Journal is one of the most thought provoking pieces about the future of the fraternity I’ve read since Angel Millar’s article in The Plumbline last year, entitled The Future of Freemasonry and What We Have To Offer. Unlike the doomers and gloomies who continue to predict the end of Freemasonry as we know it within the next two decades, Regan presents a completely different alternative. 

Last year, Professor John Dickie published The Craft: How the Freemasons Made the Modern World. Although not a Mason himself, he presents the history and influence of our fraternity partially by examining the roles of noteworthy Masons and the fraternity itself at major turning points in world events. If you haven’t read it, you’ll find that it’s a pretty evenhanded treatment of Freemasonry and a somewhat unique way to explore the role our fraternity has played at major turning points in history. 

Dickie spoke last December at the Vancouver Lodge of Education and Research, and during the Q&A period, he opined that Freemasonry needs to reconsider its real and perceived secrecy, its relationship with religion, and its continued exclusion of women. He warned that ignoring these issues will adversely affect our sustainability in the coming years. It is these remarks that Brother Regan addresses in his article. 

North American Masons have been splitting between the actively social lodges that concentrate on family activities, community outreach and service, breakfasts, fund raising and other similar pursuits, versus a growing number of more philosophical, esoteric-minded, contemplative lodges (that can go by several labels, including traditional observance, observant style, epicurean, European concept, or 'best practices' lodges). 

Recent Pew polls have shown that North American men have been drifting away from the sort of organized, mainstream faith traditions of the mainline churches that their families followed for decades or even centuries. Over the last 15 years, religiously unaffiliated Americans have been steadily growing in number, and currently make up almost one third of the population. (See chart above.)

When such men knock at the door of the lodge, they more and more frequently answer the question concerning a belief in God by saying “I’m spiritual, not religious.” One of Wes’ main points is that the esoteric-minded, observant-styled lodges are exactly the sorts of organizations such men are attracted to, in part to perhaps explore different notions of spirituality and discover their own paths by having such discussions with other Masons without fear of censure or ridicule...

And what’s wrong with that? 

Freemasonry as a fraternal organization has been elastic enough to adapt itself to vastly different societies all around the world for more than three centuries. And a quick glance at a list of the swollen number of appendant groups that require Masonic membership as a prerequisite (Royal Arch, Knights Templar, Scottish Rite, Shriners, Grotto, DeMolay, Rainbow, Job’s Daughters, Eastern Star, Amaranth, Allied Masonic Degrees, High Twelve, National Sojourners, Widow’s Sons, ad infinitum) clearly shows that Freemasonry has the ability to provide comfortable niches for an enormous variety of individual interests.

Central to Regan’s piece are the writings of the late Tom Jackson, Past Grand Secretary of Pennsylvania, who spent the overwhelming majority of his long Masonic career urging the fraternity to actively seek out better leaders, embrace Masonic scholarship (while rejecting sensationalistic fairy tales and conspiracies), and most important, return to our longstanding demands for better standards of conduct, work and achievement that used to demonstrate that the Masons really were worthy of being known as the movers and shakers in their communities. 

In the scores of book reviews Tom Jackson wrote for the Scottish Rite NMJ magazine, The Northern Light, he was always in search of books that that treated Freemasonry (whether written by and for Masons, or not) authentically, that were neither too boastful of Masonry’s accomplishments and position in the past, nor too phantasmagorical about its allegedly secret , magical, mystical powers. Books and TV shows that exaggerate everything about Masonry wind up influencing men to join in search of these things, only to walk away when they don’t find it in reality in the lodge.

Ultimately, the conclusion WB Regan comes to is that to thrive in 21st century society, it’s long past time we stop pretending that Freemasonry is monolithic worldwide (or nationwide, or even statewide), and to embrace the wide variety of lodges and their individual cultures and interests that have been developing. Just as it did in the late 1700s in England, we have room for both the knife & fork (or ‘leg o’ mutton’) lodges that love the pancake breakfasts, the chili and bean suppers, family nights, golf tournaments, Hawaiian shirt nights, etc, as well as the ‘blue stocking’ (tuxedo) lodges that explore the esoteric side of Masonic philosophy, concentrate on Masonic and philosophical scholarship, or who delight in the old fashioned customs of the formal festive boards.

I obviously can’t do justice to his piece here, and for the time being, it’s only available to members of the Masonic Society in its Journal. If you aren’t a member or subscriber, visit masonicsociety.com . 

• US Membership is US$45.00/yr
• Canadian Membership (Canadian mailing addresses): US$49.00/yr
• Overseas Membership (non-US/Canada): US$67.00/yr. 
• Lodges, libraries and institutions, as well as Masons unrecognized by COGMMNA lodges may subscribe to the magazine alone for the same price.

Louisiana Grand Master's Edict Requires Bible Readings For Meetings: Internet Masons Go Crazy

by Christopher Hodapp

The brand new Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana, MW Jay B. McCallum, kicked off his first week in the Grand East yesterday by issuing Edict 2022-1, and Masonic social media immediately erupted into a divisive public donnybrook. 

The edict reads, in part: 

Whereas the Holy Bible is the Great Light in Masonry; and

Whereas the Holy Bible is the rule and guide to our faith and practice; and

Whereas Freemasonry opens this Book upon its alters, with the command to each of its votaries that he diligently study therein to learn the way to everlasting life;

Therefore, by the authority vested in me as Grand Master of the grand Lodge of Louisiana, Free & Accepted Masons, I do hereby issue and proclaim the following edict:

“Effective upon the date hereof, the  Worshipful Master of each lodge shall cause a verse or passage of Scripture from the Holy Bible to be read aloud immediately after the lodge has been opened and before the reading of the minutes or any other business of the lodge shall be transacted.”

(Click image to enlarge.) 

When I first joined the fraternity in 1998, our Grand Master Robert E. Hancock issued an edict that added a new bit of business to the rubric. As the lodge was closing, instead of closing the Bible and placing the square and compass on the closed cover, the Chaplain was to turn the book to Matthew 5:16:

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

It was to remain open to that passage at all times until the next lodge meeting, when it would be turned to the degree-appropriate pages. Hancock wasn't attempting to shoehorn a deliberately Christian New Testament message into the lodge. He simply felt that the words themselves succinctly described Freemasonry's mission, along with a charge to each of us to spread Masonic Light as an example to others. It wasn't so much a religious message as it was a reminder to us as Masons about our conduct, and it was to remain visible at all times as a symbol of the duty we all have as Masons. Nevertheless, when the annual Grand Lodge session came around in May 1999, Hancock's edict went down in flames, in part because many Masons voting that day couldn't see anything beyond the fact that it was a New Testament quotation, and therefore automatically an overt Christian message.

What disturbs me about the online reaction to GM McCallum's edict is that it has resulted in a toxic wave of insults and accusations between purported Masons who seem to have a lopsided hatred of anything that even smells like Christianity creeping into lodge business. Suggestions for readings from the steamier parts of Song of Solomon or giggly recommendations of passages referring to Biblical figures "sitting on an ass" and other idiocy that was worn out in third grade Sunday Bible School all came tumbling out. Yet, many of these same online commentators are the first to whip out "Whattabout the Koran? Or the Veda? Huh? Huh?" And then, of course, comes the wave of "Can I read out of Harry Potter?" "I'm a pastafarian - can I read the ingredients off of a Creamettes angel hair pasta packsge? Huh? Huh?"

It's sort of like being trapped into sitting at a bar next to a drunk who won't shut up until you hate his ex-wife as much as he does.

And then there are the characters who actually say with a straight face (or a straight keyboard, in this case) that "If this edict is allowed to stand, I'm not setting foot in lodge ever again! I didn't join a Christian church!" 

No, you didn't. But it's been astonishing to encounter Masons who honestly claim that passages from the Bible have no business being read in open lodge. Moreover, they contend that reading scripture from the Bible means excluding Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and all other non-Christian members. A bizarre claim for members of an organization that bases its entire structure on the symbolism of Solomon's Temple as described in two books of the Old Testament, which is made up of the Hebrew Tenach. Yes, I know, there are currently more than 4,000 religious varients in the world today. But Solomon's Temple is a shared icon of the three Abrahamic religions that comprise the vast, VAST majority of the religious believers on the globe. And there's a certain amount of unintentional comedy that our own internal critics are screaming their collective heads off over this when our ritual's central story was dreamed up by a bunch of middle-class British Anglicans trying to emulate Old Testament Jews in the first place.

Put it another way: I don't see a further commands from the Grand Master that passages from the Qur'an, the Veda, the Tao Te Ching, the Bahagavad Gita, the Book of Common Prayer, Khordeh Avesta, the Tripitaka may NOT be read in a Louisiana lodge.

Partially wrapped up in these exchanges are clear situations of Masons believing that all jurisdictions, grand lodge rules, and degree rituals are exactly the same as their own. In the case of Louisiana in particular, the history of the development and growth of Freemasonry in that state  is dramatically different than the rest of the U.S. because of its early French influences. Because of their pre-1800 French origin, eleven Louisiana lodges are permitted to use English translations of Craft rituals for EAs, FCs and MMs that are not worked elsewhere in the U.S. (with a couple of noteworthy exceptions in New York and Washington DC, and – I think – California). These are sometimes referred to, somewhat improperly, as the "red lodge degrees" or "Scottish Rite Craft degrees."

It's been a long time since I've seen these degrees performed in person, but Louisiana Masons have told me that there are no biblical passages read during their degree rituals. That's a MAJOR difference in their ceremonies. With the exception of Louisiana and the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, the majority of U.S. Masonic lodges all use slight variations of Preston-Webb rituals of English origin. In each of the three P-W Craft degrees, the circumambulation of the candidate is accompanied by the reading of a specific Old Testament Bible verse:

Entered Apprentice: Psalm 133
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessings, even life for evermore.

Fellowcraft Degree: Amos 7: 7,8

Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.

And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then, said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them anymore.

Master Mason Degree: Ecclesiastes 12: 1-7

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain;

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

But lest a big clot of you think the whole Masonic world uniformly includes these verses in their ritual work, that's simply not the case. Even in the U.S. I'm told some state grand lodges, including Idaho and Mississippi, do not use them. On the other hand, some states include the 133rd Psalm as an official part of their opening of all meetings. So, like so much else in Freemasonry, differences in rituals and customs are entirely jurisdictional.

In the rest of the world, some lodges to open with the passage, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." (Genesis 1:1-3). Others use, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1 - another New Testament passage, for those of you keeping score). Just because your lodge doesn't do this doesn't make it irregular, clandestine, or otherwise offensive to the spirit and purposes of Freemasonry. Our founders and forebears took their inspiration and philosophy from wherever they found it, and the Bible remains the most important and widely read book of any kind in human history that has inspired literally hundreds off millions of people for three millennia. So what's all the screaming about, especially from men and Masons who are purportedly adults and who are taught the lessons of universal tolerance and benevolence? 

The Grand Lodge of Louisiana has a different pedigree than any other grand lodge in the U.S. From the time of its formation and growth (partially by English and Irish expats in France in the late 1720s), French Freemasonry was populated by Roman Catholic members. Even the early emigres from the British Isles were Stuart supporters desperate to place James on the throne(s) back home and return the monarchy to Catholic rule. Roman Catholicism was the state religion for centuries in France, a situation that wouldn't change until the outbreak of the Revolution. By 1773 when the Grand Orient de France was officially established, there were more than 600 Masonic lodges at work in France. By the time of the French Revolution in 1789, almost 1,000 lodges had been chartered. 

The Revolution aimed to bring an end to monarchial rule in France, and almost as vehemently, the removal of Catholicism from its positions of power over government and its monopoly over the education of French children. Equally hated were the vast properties held by the Church which were untaxed by the state. And there was the usual hatred of the elite nobility that festers in almost every social uprising. The Abbé Barreul capitalized on the involvement - real and imaginary - of Freemasons in fomenting the Revolution in his book,  that helped create the modern conspiracy theory (but that's another conversation).

At the the formation of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana in 1812, numerous Masons from post-revolutionary France had turned anti-Catholic. And back in France, the Grand Orient itself would become quite politically active throughout the 19th century. In the late 1800s, Grand Orient Masons in the military brewed up a huge scandal when they went on an anti-Catholic purge of the ranks by using Grand Orient membership files to weed them out. And Grand Orient members were deeply involved in drafting France's laicité laws that vehemently banned any open show or support of any religion by government or government employees. (Laicité laws today are still in full force in France, and have been used to prevent teachers and government workers from wearing religious head scarves or veils, or crucifix jewelry on the job.  So, the early founders of Louisiana Freemasonry came from that kind of background.)

Not every grand lodge ever officially adopted a specific list of "unchangeable landmarks" (mine never did, while those who have them have a huge variety and number of them, lest anyone be under the misapprehension that The Landmarks are in any way universal). The GL of Louisiana officially adopted 24 Landmarks of the Order. Number 24 reads:

Healing Day – June 24,1813.

Moderns and Ancients had separated and formed separate Grand Lodges over one question: The religious belief of a candidate.

They agreed – June 24, 1813 on this statement:

“Let a man’s religion or mode of worship be what it may, he is not excluded from the order, provided he believes in the Glorious Architect of Heaven and Earth and practices the sacred duties of Morality.”

Many other grand lodges have differences in stated or implied policies concerning the Bible. For instance: the Grand Lodge of Texas Monitor published in 1922 contains this notation :

[The first section of the Entered Apprentice] degree teaches the candidate, by Symbols, many important lessons, and among other things, that Masonry is a moral institution, founded upon the morality as taught in the Bible, and that he has to take the Holy Bible as the rule and guide to his faith and practice; it being the great light in Masonry and the source whence we, as Masons, derive all our ethics.

Texas' Charge to the Entered Apprentice includes this:

As a Mason, you are to regard the Holy Scriptures as the great light in your profession; they are the unerring standard of truth and justice; and you are to regulate your life and actions by the divine precepts therein contained. No institution was ever raised on better principles, or a more solid foundation than that of ours, which takes the Holy Bible as its corner-stone; nor were ever more excellent rules or useful maxims laid down, than are inculcated in the several Masonic Lectures, which you will learn at your leisure, by conversing with well-informed Brethren, who will be always as ready to give as you will to receive instruction.

 The 2013 revision of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky's Constitutions has this to say:

The Supreme Being.

Masons believe that there is one God and that people employ many different ways to seek and to express what they know of God. Masonry primarily uses the appellation, “Grand Architect of the Universe”, and other non-sectarian titles, to address Deity. In this way, persons of different faiths may join together in prayer, concentrating on God, rather than differences among themselves. Masonry believes in religious freedom and that the relationship between the individual and God is personal, private and sacred.

Volume of the Sacred Law.

An open volume of the Sacred Law, “The rule and guide of life,” is an essential part of every Masonic meeting. The Volume of the Sacred Law in the Judeo/Christian tradition is the Bible, to Freemasons of other faiths, it is the book held holy by them. (2000)

The Oath of Freemasonry.

The obligations taken by Freemasons are sworn on the Volume of the Sacred Law. They are undertakings to follow the principles of Freemasonry and to keep confidential a Freemason’s means of recognition. The much discussed “penalties”, judicial remnants from an earlier era, are symbolic, not literal. They refer only to the pain any honest man should feel at the thought of violating his word.

Freemasonry Compared with Religion.

Freemasonry lacks the basic elements of religion:
(A) It has no dogma or theology, no wish or means to enforce religious orthodoxy.
(B) It offers no sacraments.
(C) It does not claim to lead to salvation by works, by secret knowledge, or by any other means. The secrets of Freemasonry are concerned with modes of recognition, not with the means of salvation.

Freemasonry Supports Religion.

Freemasonry is far from indifferent toward reli- gion. Without interfering in religious practice, it expects each member to follow his own faith and to place his Duty to God above all other duties. Its moral teachings are acceptable to all religions.

By the way, since I'm on the subject of VSL readings, I'll pass this along. More than 20 years ago, this subject was being debated on the old Philalethes Society mailing list. WB Rashied K. Sharrieff Al Bey (who, 20 years later, is now the current president of that esteemed society) gave these recommendations if the Holy Qur'an was being used on the Altar during a Muslim's circumambulations:

Entered Apprentice - Surah 3: 103

And hold fast all together, by the Rope which G-d stretches out for you, and be not divided amongst yourselves; and remember with gratitude G-d's favor on you; for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in Love, so that by His Grace, ye became Brethren; and ye were on the brink of the Pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus doth G-d make clear His Signs to you: that ye may be guided. 

Fellowcraft - Surah 2: 255

G-d! There is no god but He, -- the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him, nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there that can intercede except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).

Master Mason - Surah 85: 12-16

Truly Strong is the grip of thy Lord. It is He Who creates from the very beginning, and He can restore (life). And He is the Oft-Forgiving, full of loving-kindness, Lord of the Throne of Glory, Doer (without let) of all that He intends.

The more you read from the past, the more you learn from it. Our Founding Brethren could have picked any symbols or sources they liked when crafting our rituals. I suppose one could argue that you could just as effectively teach "wise and serious truths" using Gulliver's Travels instead of the Book of Kings (the mind reels - think of THAT initiation!)

But the greatest lesson Freemasonry was designed to teach was NOT that Freemasonry must be blanched of any whiff of religious-sounding influences. Nor must Freemasonry as an institution be dramatically changed so that MY religious faith or YOUR's (or our lack of it) get accommodated so neither you nor I be offended. No, the lesson is that YOU and I must accept its methods of teachings, and be tolerant of our brethren's beliefs, while ALL of us find the universal truths in Masonic teachings themselves. The Founders wanted lodge to be a place where men who had been quite literally killing each other for seventy years over whether they believed in seven sacraments, or three, or two, could sit in the same room, break bread together, and celebrate their commonality, while happily accepting their differences. Masonic philosophy had no equal at that moment in time.

Somewhere, somehow, modern Masons got mixed up into thinking that religious faith, questions of the soul and eternity, can't be talked about in lodge. On the contrary – lodge is EXACTLY where men should be able to openly and unashamedly discuss their own beliefs with each other without reproach or scorn. Even goldfish desperately want to know who changes the water in the bowl. These are questions that have haunted every single one of us since the Dawn of Man. And if we can't freely exchange our thoughts and fears and joys and heartbreaks with our Brothers, we're a piss-poor excuse for the dream our Founders expected us to fulfill.

New Book by Austrian Priest Urges Reconciliation Between Catholicism and Masonry

The argument within the Roman Catholic Church over whether current Canon Law forbids Masonic membership continues apace. Entering into the fray, a new book has just been published in Austria, the Loge und Altar: Über die Aussöhnung von Katholischer Kirche und regulärer Freimaurerei (Lodge and Altar: On the Reconciliation of the Catholic Church and Regular Freemasonry) written by Father Michael Heinrich Weninger, a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He announced the book last week at a press conference in Vienna, and was accompanied by Grand Master Georg Semler of the Grand Lodge of Austria AF&AM on the dais. 

Weninger's book is based on his 2019 doctoral dissertation Über die Aussöhnung von Katholischer Kirche und regulärer Freimaurerei (On the Reconciliation of the Catholic Church and Regular Freemasonry) completed at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained as a priest in 2011.

Almost instantaneously after the book's announcement last week, the 'Catholic Militant' wing of the Internet erupted with indignation and demands for Weninger's immediate excommunication. Catholic hardliners have long declared that Freemasonry promotes 'indifferentism,' Deism and naturalism, which makes it heretical and in direct opposition to Church teachings and doctrine.

The reason why this is not just some minor or academic issue these days is because that two recent surveys of U.S. Freemasons have shown that about 20% of current American Masons declare that they are Roman Catholics. That means there may be about 235,000 Catholic Freemasons in the U.S. in 2020. And it's entirely possible that a similar percentage holds true throughout the rest of the Masonic world.

Father Michael Weninger

Back in 2014, Fr. Weninger celebrated a mass at the consecration of a new English Mark Master's lodge, St. Margaret’s Lodge No 1954, in the Austrian town of Swettl. He was named on a public website as the Chaplain during officer installations of three lodges, and he's been attacked in the hardline Catholic anti-Masonic press ever since. For decades, there have been countless conspiracy theories touted that "the Freemasons" are attempting to dismantle and destroy the Catholic Church from within the Vatican, and hardliners regularly insist that the administrative bureaucracy of the Vatican (the Roman Curia) is packed with secret Masonic clergy hellbent on heretical subversion. Or something.

I'm unsure where Fr. Weninger gets his figures, but he estimates there could be as many as two million Catholic Freemasons in the world. There's no real way of knowing, since Freemasons don't ask their members what their religious denomination happen to be. The surveys I cited above were conducted over the Internet and were voluntary, self-reporting ones. But in predominantly Catholic countries where Freemasonry is popular, such as the Philippines, I have seen estimates of their Catholic Masonic membership as high as 80%.

In his new book (currently only available in a German language edition), Weninger makes a strong argument that Catholics are not forbidden to become Freemasons, and that the Church needs to adjust its rules to account for the vast differences between regular, recognized Freemasonry, versus the very different irregular, unrecognized version practiced by some 'continental' Masons - most notably, the Grand Orient de France and its descendants. The GOdF permits atheists to join their lodges, and has historically (and quite publicly) fought against Catholic influence in France for at least 140 years or more—arguably longer. The GOdF and some of its high profile members over the years have, in some ways, been the among the loudest political antagonists of the Church in Europe since the 1780s. Fr. Weninger wants the Church to finally admit that the Anglo-American style of regular Freemasonry is no enemy of the Church and that their rules need to account for the differences.

This argument has been tried several times over the last six decades and longer, but the official position of the Church remains confusing to Catholic Masons, parish priests and bishops, and even cardinals. On the one hand, Freemasonry is not specifically forbidden by name or even mentioned in current Canon Law of the Catholic Church, which is Fr. Weninger's principal point. On the other hand, an official declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in 1983, written by then-Cardinal and Prefect Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), declared that Canon Law DOES forbid Masonic membership, even if it isn't mentioned by name:

"[T]he Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enrol in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.

"It is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to give a judgment on the nature of Masonic associations which would imply a derogation from what has been decided above..."

The CDF acts as sort of a Supreme Court tribunal when it comes to rendering official Vatican positions on the subject of Canon Law, and is a hybrid of both religious and legal experts. When you lock any two lawyers in a room and ask them to debate a legal question, you'll get eight opinions — three of them passionate — and lots of qualifiers. But when it's about Canon Law, you also have to hurl in a gaggle of popes, theologians, bishops and cardinals, ambitious officials hunting local and Vatican appointments or advancement, and lots of armchair experts, along with about 1,900 years' worth of precedents, edicts, and opinions. 

And that's why the Freemason question remains so hotly debated whenever the topic arises among Church insiders and the modern hardline movement of so-called 'Catholic militants.' Cardinal Ratzinger's 1983 declaration concerning Freemasonry still being forbidden for Catholics to join was an official legal position affirmed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1983.  Yet, Freemasonry is NOT forbidden in Canon Law itself, because what is described in general terms in the law itself does not resemble the regular, recognized Freemasonry practiced by millions of men the world over. 

To cite a deliberately incendiary simile, it's analogous to saying, "I don't find abortion mentioned in the U.S. Constitution." It's not, but the Supreme Court rendered a controversial a decision on the matter and issued a majority opinion as to why they found it constitutional. That opinion remains the law until another decision comes down the road and either changes it or reaffirms it. Which means that states and municipalities seeking to overturn or alter the Supreme Court decision attempt to pass new laws that might be found compelling enough to a future court to change its collective mind.

The Roman Catholic Church has had a variety of justifications for opposing Freemasonry over the last 280 years or so, some doctrinal, some ideological, some political, some delusional, and even once or twice, just cases of vengeance. Catholics who join the fraternity who subsequently choose to remain Masons in defiance of Church policy do so for very important reasons: they actually see for themselves that Freemasonry does NOT conflict with the Church; that Masonry inspires them to strengthen their faith, not weaken it; that lodges advocate for their members to participate in their own churches and live by the precepts of their faith; and Freemasonry is not 'relativistic' or 'indifferent' concerning all religious faiths in any way, other than seeking a way to prevent religious arguments within the confines of the lodge by simply agreeing to use general terms for God that men of differing faiths will not find offensive or argumentative. In other words, the Freemasonry they see and live with daily has nothing to do with the way the Church formerly characterized it in Canon Law. So, every few years a couple of Masons and a couple of clerics get together and delude themselves into believing they can convince the Vatican to stop niggling at this same sore tooth, which never happens.

Works by notorious hoaxer Leo Taxil perpetuated the
myth of Satanic elements and worship in Freemasonry

Unfortunately, the most commonly recurring accusation in the Church's official and unofficial position against Freemasonry since the 1730s has been that it is 'heretical.' Masons have always known this to be completely untrue and a spurious slander. Worse, by the 1800s there were increasing attempts by Catholic leaders and authors to brand Freemasonry as 'Satanic' in nature (Leo Taxil's famous hoaxes being the most notorious), and that thread has persisted for more than two centuries. Again, actual Masons know this to be an absurd contention, especially for the largest religious denomination in the world to promulgate. 

Jack Chick's tracts reinforced the lie that heretical
elements and Satan worship are hidden from 'low-ranking' Masons
and revealed only in "the highest degrees."

Catholic Masons especially are galled by the notion that they are just too stupid, too 'low-ranking,' or too easily duped to comprehend that Freemasonry has somehow hidden this and hoodwinked them into 'worshiping Satan.' Because, you know, it's a big secret—EVERYBODY knows it. Everybody, that is, except for actual Freemasons.

As early as the 1890s when the Church organized an Anti-Masonic Congress at Trent and the Universal Anti-Masonic Union,  it was a delegation of German prelates who were the only attendees who scoffed at the wild accusations of Devil-worship, heresy and worse. Over the last 60 years, German, Austrian, Scandinavian, Mexican and South American clergy and bishops have made numerous argumentsto try to convince the CDF (and the succession of popes) that there is a vast difference between regular and irregular Masonry and our position about religion among our members. But when cornered on the subject, anti-Masonic Vatican officials who are often charged with deciding complex 'angels on pinheads' types of theological and doctrinal questions suddenly declare Freemasonry to be too complicated and confusing for them to see any differences between grand lodges and appendant groups. So they usually fall back on the 'heresy' argument as their most unbroachable accusation.

Freemasonry deserves at least as much latitude within the policies of the Catholic Church as other religious denominations or service organizations do—namely, respect for its devotion to its mission of a worldwide brotherhood of toleration, mutual respect, charity, and support for its members that seeks to unite men who would have otherwise remained at a perpetual distance because of arguments about divisive matters like religion. Masonry is a attempt to tear down barriers, not erect them. Ascribing some sort of nefarious, evil motive to the millions of regular, recognized Freemasons or subtext to the institution itself is a judgement based on either ignorance or deliberate deceitfulness. Far too many men of impeccable character for more than three centuries have embraced Freemasonry, while being models of faithfully religious belief and practice. And a great many of them have been Catholics on the quiet. If the surveys are correct, one fifth of our U.S. members are currently Catholics. Make of that what you will.

Father Winenger told reporters during his press conference that he has given a copy of his new book to Pope Francis and to influential members of the Curia. Far be it from me to tell him his quest is quixotic at best, and I admire his courage. Other priests who have revealed their Masonic membership or sympathies over the years have not fared well in the tribunals of the CDF when it got that far.

While waiting for an English version of his book that might never come, I highly recommend Fabio Venzi's excellent The Last Heresy: The Catholic Church and Freemasonry, published in 2019. It's some of the most recent scholarship, includes much material that hasn't been assembled in one place before, and written by a distinguished Italian Mason in English.