‘Our “cult of the Enlightenment”’

    

Historia Ecclesiastica

Can you imagine going through life thinking the Enlightenment was a period of darkness? That must be like having a perpetual headache. I picture a Gumby from Monty Python. Yet this is the psychology revealed, without any hesitation, mental reservation, etc. on YouTube’s Historia Ecclesiastica channel, which lately has been commenting on Freemasonry in the same exasperating way and manner we would expect from those blinded by their dogma.

Python (Monty) Pictures

From the podcast’s name, we can deduce Historia Ecclesiastica purports to present the history of the Roman Catholic Church (I’ll guess the title comes from Eusebius), but without watching all of its videos, I am going to surmise that it, in fact, does not candidly explore the entire history of the Church. And I’ll let that go at that.

Historia Ecclesiastica

On Freemasonry, the allegations in one slog of a video are formed by the usual sloppy errors and ignorance, but with this difference: Supposedly there is something called “The Alta Vendita” that host Daniel Sute claims is some kind of movement of Freemasons working toward “the final destruction of Catholicism and even of the Christian idea.” Have you ever heard of this? I’ve never heard of it, and I’ve been reading and writing about Freemasonry with some regularity for more than a quarter of a century. That doesn’t mean I know everything about Freemasonry, but if there existed a Masonic plot to destroy Catholicism and all Christianity, I think I might have heard of it by now. Yes, I checked my spam folder. Besides, there are fewer than two million Freemasons in the world versus one billion Catholics, so I think they’re safe. (You neo-Templars out there should pay attention to this.)

Here are several of the lame mistakes Sute provides his gullible audience:

✔︎ He thinks stonemason guilds of medieval times were bricklayers. He has no understanding of ashlar masonry and consequently does not know Freemasonry’s moral building metaphor based on the squaring of stones. Without this most basic grasp of what Freemasonry is about, he is unqualified to run his mouth about us.

✔︎ He repeatedly says Freemasonry is a religion. He ignores the overall purpose of post-1717 Freemasonry is to unite men of all kinds of religious backgrounds which, in 1717, was a completely new idea in the West. And everywhere else.

✔︎ He can’t even pronounce “Augustine,” mistakenly saying it the way one gives the name of the Florida city! He cannot pronounce “Desaguliers,” but I’ll grant him that.

✔︎ He mistakes “affront” for “a front.”

✔︎ In discussing “Jewish world domination,” which he graciously concedes is without evidence, he gives the title of the notorious book as “Protocols of the Elder Zion.”

William Blake’s The Ancient of Days is the frontispiece of his book Europe, a Prophecy from 1794. The British Museum says it depicts ‘a bearded nude male (probably Urizen) crouching in a heavenly sphere, its light partially covered by clouds; his left arm holding a pair of compasses and reaching down with them, measuring the surrounding darkness.’

✔︎ Very stupidly, he displays William Blake’s The Ancient of Days, and says it is “kind of a disturbing image—a weird image—this is a Masonic depiction of their vision of god.”

✔︎ He thinks Albert Mackey’s name is “Mackley” and Manly Hall’s name is “Manley.”

✔︎ He says “lodges typically have thirty-three degrees.” He calls the Royal Arch Degree the “Royal Arch Decree.”

✔︎ He mispronounces “Weishaupt” as something like “wash up,” but I’ll grant him that one too.

✔︎ He—yawn—dredges up the old Pike/Lucifer thing.

Decades ago in journalism, I was told—and it was said only once—that if you cannot get names correct, then your reader has no reason to trust anything else you say. This is something Mr. Sute needs to understand. He is a fifth grade teacher at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School in Farmington, Michigan, and he probably should stick to that. He can propagandize ten-year-olds with impunity, but showing off to the public his ignorance and inability to undertake basic research does him no favors. Then again, reading the comments on this video reveals who his audience is.

His real failure is evident in “The Greatest Danger of the Freemasons,” where the biggest canard in a one-hour clown show is Sute’s citing of the Carbonari as a Masonic group. It is in the final minutes that Alta Vendita finally is addressed. What was the Carbonari? Writing in 1908 as chairman of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario’s Correspondence Committee, MW Henry Robertson, who had served as Grand Master in 1886-88, explains:

While there is no doubt that societies of the same name existed in Europe in the eighteenth century, the Carbonari proper first came into prominence about the year 1808. The Carbonari (Italian: Carbonaro, charcoal maker) had no direct connection with Masonry, but a large number of its forms were borrowed from that source. It was in Italy, toward the close of the Napoleonic wars, that this society first began to assume importance. In 1808, the Republicans, disgusted alike with the Bourbons and Napoleonists, retired to the mountain resorts of the Abruzzi and Calabria. In this latter region, charcoal burning was the chief industry of the poorer classes, and these Republicans, forming themselves into a secret society, borrowed their phraseology in numerous instances. Thus a lodge was called a baracca (a hut), an ordinary meeting a vendita (or sale), while an important meeting was alta vendita, all well known terms in the charcoal burning industry. The Carbonari were Christian, but anti-Papal, and borrowed their rites from that religion; thus Christ the Lamb, as the victim of tyranny, put to death by the wolf, gave them their watchword. There were four grades of the Carbonari, with Alta Vendita at Naples and Salermo. These two latter lodges tried to exercise authority over the rest, but failed in their efforts.

Coaxed to join the Bourbons, the Carbonari were driven back to their mountain fastnesses by King Murat, and their leader, Capobianco, was treacherously betrayed and put to death. A few years later they helped to overthrow the French power in Naples, but Ferdinand, when once in power, proved false to them and refused them permission to establish their lodges in Naples, as they had previously done in Sicily under English supremacy. Enraged at this treachery, they conspired against the Bourbon Government, and rapidly formed lodges all over Italy. They were the prime movers in several rebellions that took place about this time. The Neapolitan revolution of 1820, the disturbances in the Papal States the same year, and the Piedmontese revolution in 1821 can all be traced to them. Originally composed of members of the lower classes, about this time they obtained thousands of recruits from all classes of society. Army officers, students, artists, and even priests flocked to their standard, and their numbers are said to have reached 700,000. So strong did they become that, at last, Austria became alarmed and the military power of this nation was called in to crush them. Though still remaining active until 1831, they never fully recovered from this setback, and most of their numbers were swallowed up by the society of “Young Italy,” founded by Mazzini.

In 1820, the Carbonari took root in France, where their organization was much more perfect. A Supreme Council, presided over by the great Lafayette, and a complete hierarchy of societies, by which the will of the Chief was handed on from the highest to the most remote lodge. Attempting to raise an insurrection in 1821 at Belfort, LaRochelle, and other places, they were promptly suppressed and suffered terribly, but owing to the wonderful fidelity of the members, only those immediately connected with the revolution could be punished. The Carbonari still continued to take an active part in all revolutionary matters till 1831, when, after helping in the July revolution of that year, the majority of its members associated themselves with the government of Louis Philippe. Dating from this time the society became practically extinct.

So you see why the Catholic Church wouldn’t like the Carbonari, but to claim the Carbonari is Freemasonry and to blame Freemasonry today for what the Carbonari thought, said, and did two centuries ago is a totalitarian method of accusing and convicting.

Python (Monty) Pictures

I guess we should expect the Spanish Inquisition.

He calls on Freemasonry to end its secrecy by disclosing to the public all of its rituals and meeting minutes. Sure thing. Right after the Vatican does likewise.

Actually, Mr. Sute, I don’t like the idea of you teaching young children (or anyone else). You are an ignoramus, and your contrived libels against Freemasonry work only on your fellow idiots. I’d recommend authors like Joseph Fort Newton and Carl Claudy to you, but you wear blinders on your brain, which is what fanaticism is all about.

Historia Ecclesiastica

To his credit, Sute does state that Freemasonry is not Christian. Freemasonry is not aligned with any religion (except the Scandinavian grand lodges, which have a different idea).

His other videos include “How Modern Art Caused World War I” and “Mother Was a Red.”

     

‘Freemason-Vatican dialog begins’

    

Life Site News

“Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.”

Winston Churchill

1954

Masonic and Vatican sources announced last week how a recent conference in Milan at the Ambrosianeum Cultural Foundation has led to a “mutual understanding” that may lead to future talks.

The February 16 meeting, organized by the Socio-Religious Research and Information Group, was attended by the grand masters of the Grand Orient of Italy, the Grand Lodge of Italy, and the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy; and by Vatican officials.

It was last November when the Vatican reaffirmed its centuries-long prohibition on Roman Catholics being Freemasons, prompted by queries from clergy in the Republic of the Philippines. That news made more headlines than this event, which was closed to journalists, and most of what’s available online so far is in Italian, but there are websites of varying tolerance to Freemasonry reporting it.

National Catholic Register offers what impresses me as a fair description.

Addressing the Milan meeting on the theme “The Catholic Church and Freemasonry,” Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmiero, 85, reportedly said he believed ‘an evolution in mutual understanding’ had taken place between Masonry and the Church over the past 50 years. ‘Things have moved on, and I hope these meetings don’t stop there,’ said the retired Italian prelate, according to Il Messaggero, quoting sources present at the meeting.

La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana which, fortunately, offers some of its content in English as the Daily Compass, gives the headline:

Freemasonry wants a ‘mea culpa,’

Catholic Church commits

examination of conscience

The story, by Editor in Chief Riccardo Cascioli, says our Masonic brethren “all defended the compatibility of Freemasonry with the Catholic faith: Bisi recounted how his growth in the Catholic sphere led him to join the Grand Orient; Romoli ranged from Sant’Anselmo to Cardinal Zuppi; Venzi stressed how English rituals have been Christian since their origins.”

About the other side of the table, Cascioli reports:

“In the face of these clear and well-considered presentations, the Catholic counterpart was disconcerting. In the collaborative atmosphere of the meeting, the intervention of poor Father Sucheki, who had prepared a learned report on the Church’s pronouncements against Freemasonry, appeared only as a due act, moreover also somewhat snubbed by Bishop Staglianò, who appeared intolerant of the reminders of doctrine. Archbishop Delpini, who, after imposing the date, time, and conditions of the meeting, showed up 45 minutes late. And Cardinal Coccopalmerio pretended to know nothing about Freemasonry, but in different words they said the same things, two in particular: satisfaction for this ‘meeting between people’ and not between opposing acronyms, and the need to continue and intensify these meetings, perhaps with a ‘permanent table,’ as Coccopalmerio pointed out.”

Part of the Masonic presentation entailed asking why Pope Francis’ famous “Who am I to judge?” statement in 2013, a conciliation to gay people and divorcees, could not have extended to Freemasons.

Bishop Antonio Staglianò is quoted in the Daily Compass(!) saying: “we need a healthy sapiential theology—a theology capable of thinking critically about everything, of responding also to the critical instances of universal reason, because we live in a world where if you do not dialogue you risk being absolutely out of the world. Sapiential means that it knows how to unite science and wisdom of life.”

“Isn’t that clear?,” Cascioli writes in conclusion. “It doesn’t matter, what one must understand is that in the end on the ‘wisdom of life,’ one can also collaborate with Freemasons, in good works and for the common good. Mercy rains down on everyone anyway.”

     

‘Vatican reaffirms its ban on Freemasonry’

    

Vatican News

In a document published Monday, the Vatican reaffirms its ban on Freemasonry for Roman Catholics.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, responding to concerns of bishops in the Republic of the Philippines, issued its recommendations as approved by Pope Francis. Nearly 80 percent of Filipinos are Roman Catholic. (I was going to write about the Philippines situation a week ago, but mistakenly figured it wasn’t a big deal.) Excerpted:

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.

Cardinal Víctor Fernández
Prefect of the Dicastery

To address this issue appropriately, it was decided that the Dicastery would respond by involving the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines itself, notifying the Conference that it would be necessary to put in place a coordinated strategy among the individual Bishops that envisions two approaches:

(a) 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 (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Declaration on Masonic Associations” [1983], and the guidelines published by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines in 2003). Therefore, those who are formally and knowingly enrolled in Masonic Lodges and have embraced Masonic principles fall under the provisions in the above-mentioned Declaration. These measures also apply to any clerics enrolled in Freemasonry.

(b) On the pastoral level, the Dicastery proposes that the Philippine Bishops conduct catechesis accessible to the people and in all parishes regarding the reasons for the irreconcilability between the Catholic Faith and Freemasonry.

Finally, the Philippine Bishops are invited to consider whether they should make a public pronouncement on the matter.

     

‘The Hamas covenant and Freemasonry’

    

“The enemies have... formed secret organizations, such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and the Lions.”

Hamas

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides an online English-language dissection of the founding document of Hamas, the Islamo-Nazi murder cult. Excerpted:

The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement was issued on August 18, 1988. The Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as the HAMAS, is an extremist fundamentalist Islamic organization operating in the territories under Israeli control. Its Covenant is a comprehensive manifesto comprised of 36 separate articles, all of which promote the basic HAMAS goal of destroying the State of Israel through Jihad (Islamic Holy War). The following are excerpts of the HAMAS Covenant:​​​​​​​​​​​​​ 

Goals of the HAMAS

“The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.” (Article 6)

On the destruction of Israel

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (Preamble)

Rejection of a negotiated peace

“[Peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement... Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam... There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.” (Article 13)

Anti-Semitic incitement

“The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’” (Article 7)

“The enemies have been scheming for a long time ... and have accumulated huge and influential material wealth. With their money, they took control of the world media... With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the globe... They stood behind the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution and most of the revolutions we hear about... With their money they formed secret organizations - such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and the Lions - which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests... They stood behind World War I ... and formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains... There is no war going on anywhere without them having their finger in it.” (Article 22)

“Zionism scheming has no end, and after Palestine, they will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates River. When they have finished digesting the area on which they have laid their hand, they will look forward to more expansion. Their scheme has been laid out in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” (Article 32)

“The HAMAS regards itself the spearhead and the vanguard of the circle of struggle against World Zionism... Islamic groups all over the Arab world should also do the same, since they are best equipped for their future role in the fight against the warmongering Jews.” (Article 32)

     

‘The Anti-Mason library’

    

Haaswurth Books

There are Masonic libraries (I have one), and there are Masonic libraries (my Grand Lodge has one). Then there is this. Haaswurth Books, way up in Binghamton, is offering a stunning trove of literature from the start of the Anti-Masonic hysteria of the 1820s and ’30s.

You’ve heard of some of these books, and you have read reprints of a few, but this amazing cache contains first editions. I imagine the tactile experience of turning these pages might transport readers back to the birth of the American fear of Freemasonry. It was an ugly time. Americans in some rural areas (the contagion didn’t impact the cities much) started to wonder if the Freemasons holding public offices and other powerful jobs were ruling the new republic according to some secret design. Of course we hear that kind of blather even today. You know the panic was detonated by the alleged murder of a man calling himself William Morgan in 1826, but what rocked the Northeast of the country was a not wholly irrational fear of Freemasonry. After seeing the preponderance of Masons involved in the trials of the accused killers, people began to take notice of the high ranking Masons in the pinnacle of political life.

Top officials of the era in Albany and Washington were prominent Freemasons: Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Daniel Tompkins, DeWitt Clinton, and plenty others were not united in political views—nor even within their respective political parties—but were members of this one fraternity. And Freemasonry at this time was not quite the same as the Freemasonry of the Founding. Early American Freemasonry was a workshop in self-governance, with the man on the street attending lodge and casting ballots to elect leaders, choose how funds were disbursed, and make numerous decisions as needed. By 1830 or so, however, things were changing. The simple lodge was in competition with other Masonic groups, chiefly the Scottish Rite and Royal Arch, which offered its members grandiose titles that might tickle the public funny bone today, but weren’t considered amusing by some back then. Americans didn’t overthrow a monarchial colonial system and establish a republic with democratic elections so that the local mayor, banker, newspaper publisher, and other elites could address each other with royal, ecclesiastic, and other nicknames of pageantry.

Wariness of the Craft wasn’t exactly brand new. In the 1730s, a New York City newspaper expressed skepticism of an organization that exacted secret oaths from its members while sequestering itself in a private meeting room replete with an armed sentry outside the door. But suspicion didn’t grip society, birth a political movement, and cause the near disappearance of Freemasonry. All that would come in the 1830s, as documented in these books for sale here.

I have been meaning to post this for two years, but forgot somehow. At this point, the books are available for sale individually, so if you or your favorite Masonic institution seek to start or augment a collection of original anti-Masonic material, maybe this is the way to go.

     

‘A work of Art’

     
Bro. Art de Hoyos is caricatured in the pages of an anti-Masonic book! Behold!

Naturally, the fanatic publisher’s likeness of Art is as inaccurate as his portrayal of Freemasonry. Here is what Bro. Art actually looks like, as of last Saturday at Masonic Week:

     

‘Endeavour: Series Two’

     

Two years almost to the day after its American debut, the ITV detective series Endeavour, the prequel story to the popular Inspector Morse mystery series, returned to PBS this evening, concluding just minutes ago. This episode, titled “Trove,” sheds further light on the eponymous detective’s disdain for a particular “ancient fraternity.”

Roger Allam as D.I. Fred Thursday.

Long story short: Oxford police investigate two homicides and a burglary that are linked. Of course it is young Morse who breaks the cases and brings the guilty to justice. The guilty are shown to be Freemasons who rely on one another for criminal conspiracy. A third character, a police sergeant, confides to Morse that he has been tapped to join the local lodge; it is thought that this man makes a certain crucial piece of evidence disappear early in the inquiry into the first murder. Morse cautions him: You cannot serve two masters. Eventually, you’ll have to choose.

In one of the final scenes, one of the killers desperately appeals to Morse, first suggesting it’s not too late to make more evidence disappear, but then warning him that he’s making powerful enemies who will destroy everything he holds dear.

Hmmph! The notion that a Mason would be unethical, and that another Mason would cover for him is… is preposterous.

It’s a great television program Check your local listings, or view here.
     

'Endeavour!'

  
Among the anti-Masonry in the entertainment media is the prejudice of one Inspector Morse, the eponymous character in the long-running (thirty-three episodes!) detective series from ITV. One story in particular, titled "Masonic Mysteries," from 1990, shows the Chief Inspector framed for a murder, seemingly by Freemasons. There's even a sub-plot concerning the staging of Mozart's The Magic Flute.

The origins of Morse's anti-Masonic leanings went largely unexplained, other than the general, perennial fear of Masonic conspiracy inside the institutions of justice in Britain, but this also lands squarely during the period of real life suspicion of Masonic inspired corruption of British institutions, leading up to Jack Straw's edict in 1997 mandating judges and magistrates to declare if they held Masonic membership.

Anyway, tonight on PBS, the prequel to the Inspector Morse series just concluded a moment ago. Titled "Endeavour," it depicts Morse on his first case, the murders of two young people near Oxford, with a related prostitution ring led by an automobile salesman. Confronted by Morse, the car dealer warns the young detective, bragging of having very important contacts in his circle of friends. "Or square," as he put it.

And thus, the viewer is given a glimpse into how the inspector came to his jaundiced view of the Craft.
  

‘Burning bridges, raising doubt’

    
It’s not news that the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction changes the corpus of its degrees very frequently, either by altering rituals or outright replacing them, but one of the newest innovations is especially painful. The Grand Pontiff Degree was one of those “Higher Grades” that connects the AASR to its roots in the French Rite of Perfection of the 18th century. It was the 19° then, and it was the 19° throughout the nearly two centuries of AASR-NMJ history, but as of August 31 it is gone.

The reasons for such shocking changes now are a familiar refrain: The traditional degrees are “dead, dull, overloaded with symbolism,” (see page 3 of the August 2010 issue of The Northern Light magazine) and too difficult to confer because too many ritualists are required. I don’t believe any of that could be said about Grand Pontiff. And no, this degree has nothing to do with the Holy Father of the Roman Catholic Church. “Pontiff” derives from the Latin for “bridge builder.” In the degree’s context, it means the life of the 19° Mason is but a connection between what was built before him, and what will arise after he is gone. The concept is not foreign or hard to understand; nor is it accidental that this ritual is the first of the Consistorial degrees, as it bridges the right thinking of the Rose Croix Chapter to the right actions exemplified in the Consistory. (I put that in the present tense because Grand Pontiff still lives among the degrees of the Mother Supreme Council and other jurisdictions. Thank God.)

The purportedly inscrutable Albert Pike, writing in his allegedly incomprehensible Morals and Dogma, his anthology of lectures for Scottish Rite degrees 1-32, perfectly lucidly explains:

“The true Mason labors for the benefit of those who are to come after him, and for the advancement and improvement of [the human] race. [It] is a poor ambition which contents itself within the limits of a single life. All men who deserve to live, desire to survive their funerals, and to live afterward in the good that they have done mankind, rather than in the fading characters written in men’s memories. Most men desire to leave some work behind them that may outlast their own day and brief generation. That is an instinctive impulse, given by God, and often found in the rudest human heart; [it is] the surest proof of the soul’s immortality, and of the fundamental difference between man and the wisest brutes. To plant the trees that, after we are dead, shall shelter our children, is as natural as to love the shade of those our fathers planted. The rudest unlettered husbandman, painfully conscious of his own inferiority; the poorest widowed mother, giving her lifeblood to those who pay only for the work of her needle, will toil and stint themselves to educate their child, that he may take a higher station in the world than they – the world’s greatest benefactors.”

Later in the lecture:

“It is the ambition of a true and genuine Mason [to know] the slow processes by which the Deity brings about great results; he does not expect to reap as well as sow in a single lifetime. It is the inflexible fate and noblest destiny, with rare exceptions, of the great and good, to work and let others reap the harvest of their labors....

“To sow, that others may reap; to work and plant for those who are to occupy the earth when we are dead; to project our influences far into the future, and live beyond our time; to rule as the Kings of Thought, over men who are yet unborn; to bless with the glorious gifts of Truth and Light and Liberty those who will neither know the name of the giver, nor care in what grave his unregarded ashes repose, is the true office of a Mason and the proudest destiny of a man.

“All the great and beneficent operations of Nature are produced by slow and often imperceptible degrees. The work of destruction and devastation only is violent and rapid. The volcano and earthquake; the tornado and the avalanche leap suddenly into full life and fearful energy, and smite with an unexpected blow....”

It’s a digression, but perhaps something additional was at work here, even if ulteriorly. This same lecture in Morals and Dogma also contains the quotation most often jerked out of context by religious demagogues accusing Freemasonry of {cough} devil worship: “Lucifer the Light-bearer! ... Lucifer, the Son of the Morning!” Left in its stated context, this is part of a short paragraph that explains how those who receive the Grand Pontiff Degree despise “all the pomps and works of Lucifer,” and warns that this most ironically named spirit (“Lucifer,” again from Latin, means simply “bearer of light.”) wields the power to blind “feeble, sensual, [and] selfish souls.”

So what has replaced this ritual? The new degree is called Brothers of the Trail, and it takes place on the Oregon Trail during the 1840s. It imparts a lesson in integrity.

Three other rituals were eliminated this year: Intendant of the Building (8°), Master Elect (10°), and Knight of the Sun (28°). In addition, Grand Inspector (30°) is subject to review, as the NMJ strives to reinvent itself on behalf of 21st century man. I was told privately that these changes are necessary because modern man does not learn in the same ways as our grandfathers, to which I immediately replied “But we coexist in the same country as the Southern Jurisdiction.” It cannot be said that the SJ makes no changes to its rituals – it certainly has – but it opts to retain its heritage and culture in the form of its traditional teachings.

Speaking of Knight of the Sun, which was the 23° of the Rite of Perfection, Pike writes: “Doubt, the essential preliminary of all improvement and discovery, must accompany all the stages of man’s onward progress.”
  

American Lodge of Research

     

The elected officers of American Lodge of Research for 2009.

It was another fine meeting of American Lodge of Research Thursday night, with brethren elected to membership, officers elected to their 2010 stations, and a very useful paper delivered. ALR meets three nights per year, in March, October, and December. It is the oldest lodge of Masonic research and education in the United States, receiving its warrant from the Grand Lodge of New York in 1931.

The secretary’s desk was a busy sight. It was announced that the new book of transactions, with research papers presented in 2007, was published recently, and that copies have been mailed to the members. The next book will cover both 2008 and 2009, and will be out next year.

In the new members department, two worthy brethren were elected to Active Membership, which is achieved by those who do the work of the lodge: writing and presenting papers. W. Bro. Philippe of Heritage Lodge No. 371, and W. Bro. Gilbert Ferrer, Master of Shakespeare Lodge No. 750 have been immortalized! And a good thing too, because Gil was to be the speaker for the evening.

Among those elected to Corresponding Membership was Bro. Luther from Cornerstone Lodge No. 37, who might actually learn about this good news by reading The Magpie Mason. Surprise!

And, as always, there were plenty of familiar and friendly faces. Aside from WM Bill Thomas and his officers, there were John Simon-Ash, Mark Koltko-Rivera, and John Mauk Hilliard, one of the deans of Masonic education in the United States, who dutifully took the vacant Senior Master of Ceremonies chair. And also Bro. Alessandro (with short hair!), and Bro. Frank, and about 35 others.

One cannot attend lodge at 23rd Street without being dazzled by the diversity of regalia on display. My unofficial Magpie Apron Award for the evening goes to the young Mason who was sporting a most elegant apron from a Scottish Constitution lodge he joined in Belgium while serving in the U.S. Army attached to NATO.

But on to the paper for the evening. W. Bro. Ferrer, an attorney by profession, employed his expertise in both logic and rhetoric to illustrate the illogic and incoherence of anti-Masons, particularly the fundamentalist Christian sort indigenous to the United States who appear on the John Ankerberg Show.

If you’re familiar with fundamentalist Christian anti-Masons, then you know how they operate:

They present themselves as the experts on Masonry; and since they all are in agreement on their opinions, then those opinions are facts; and therefore it is up to Masonry to defend itself. And of course there are numerous instances of jerking quotations out of context, and of citing obscure writings as popularly accepted texts for Masonic education purposes.

For example, the characters studied by Ferrer had mailed questionnaires to 50 grand lodges in the United States. Half replied to the questionnaire. Of those 25, a total of four stated that Albert Pike’s widely distributed (but frankly, rarely read) tome Morals and Dogma was a valid source of Masonic information. Therefore, they cite M&D as a kind of Masonic bible and, naturally, they use its index to find all kinds of scary ideas to misquote or otherwise abuse to alarm their legions of the dangers of Freemasonry.

Yes, these people still exist in 2009. In the United States.

Here is one quotation from M&D that especially frightens the antis:

Masonry, around whose altars the Christian, the Hebrew, the Moslem, the Brahmin, the followers of Confucius and Zoroaster, can assemble as brethren and unite in prayer to the one God who is above all the Baalim, must needs leave it to each of its initiates to look for the foundation of his faith and hope to the written scriptures of his own religion. For itself it finds those truths definite enough, which are written by the finger of God upon the heart of man and on the pages of the book of nature. Views of religion and duty, wrought out by the meditations of the studious, confirmed by the allegiance of the good and wise, stamped as sterling by the response they find in every uncorrupted mind, commend themselves to Masons of every creed, and may well be accepted by all.

In the Temple Room at the House of the Temple in Washington stands this massive altar of black and gold marble. (It’s bigger than my car.) Upon it rest copies of the volumes of sacred law of the world’s major religions.

W. Ferrer performed an expert job of demolishing not only the thoughtless opinions held by this particular strain of anti-Mason, but also the very methods it employs to form those opinions. These antis seize a similarity Masonry might share with, say, sun worship, to draw the conclusion that Masonry is sun worship. They rely on non-sequiturs to connect dots that otherwise never could be connected to claim that Freemasonry is incompatible with Christianity. They cite the fate of William Morgan in 1826, an aberration in Masonic history, to paint Freemasonry as a secret society that threatens the very existence of America in 2009.

The paper sparked a lively discussion afterward, with the brethren sharing many ideas varying from suggested readings to articulate replies to this form of anti-Masonry. It was Bro. Alessandro of Mariners Lodge No. 67 who simply pointed out that the question is not “Is Freemasonry compatible with Christianity?” (it certainly is), but “Is this form of Christianity compatible with Freemasonry?” (it certainly is not).

WM Bill Thomas called on brethren around the room who had raised their hands waiting to speak, and the conversation shifted from how one benighted group views Freemasonry to how Freemasons view Freemasonry. It is a great debate within Freemasonry about its own identity: Is Masonry nothing more than a host of spaghetti dinner fundraisers or is it a private society of exceptional men exploring the great mysteries of human existence?

W. Bro. Sam from Mariners suggested that Masonry is not a “secret society” because a secret is learned but once, whereas a mystery is gradually explored through continuous search. Bro. Mark Koltko-Rivera, who appeared on television this afternoon on the Discovery Channel’s Hunting the Lost Symbol, asserted “we really do have secrets. Secrets are forbidden to be spoken; they are ineffable. We hold our rituals in confidentiality, and no one has the right – in the United States of America – to criticize us for it!”

The next Regular Communication of American Lodge of Research will be Monday, December 28 when the newly elected officers will be installed. The inaugural paper of the new Worshipful Master, Bro. P.F. De Ravel D’esclapon, is titled “The History of French Lodges in New York City, 1760 to 1800.”

(I’m looking forward to hearing this paper. The francophone side of the Grand Lodge of New York, such as L’Union Française Lodge No. 17 – are there others? – is of particular interest to The Magpie Mason. Somewhere in the back of my mind is the goal of introducing these lodges to La Maison Française at NYU. French House maintains a limitless schedule of literary readings, fine arts exhibits, symposia, and other cultural happenings in support of French culture, and I hope to bring the subject of Freemasonry to its attention. French Freemasonry’s past, present, and future offer a lot to talk about! The arts, politics, faith, and other subjects could be starting points toward innumerable discussions. I’m digressing myself a bit too much here.)

Brethren, make an evening of it. Before the meeting be sure to duck into the Limerick House next door for dinner. After the meeting, the brethren take their time saying good night, preferring to mingle in the lodge room and hallway to chat. The stalwarts head out for cocktails.

And there is more to ALR than its meetings. WM Thomas has taken the lodge “on the road” somewhat this year, hosting the sojourning Prestonian Lecturers and taking them to Albany. And he was a recent guest lecturer at Nutley Lodge No. 25 in New Jersey. And don’t forget the occasional social function at the Cigar Inn!
     

This fall at ALR

     
Another reason to look forward to fall is the next Regular Communication of American Lodge of Research on Thursday, October 29 at 8 p.m.

This will be the Annual Meeting, with the election of officers, and WM Bill Thomas announces the paper presented that evening will be “The Anti-Mason’s Toolbox: Abusing Logic to Attack the Craft” by W. Gilbert Ferrer. “An introduction to the logical fallacies underlying some typical arguments of contemporary Anti-Masonic zealots. The focus will be on debating tactics zealots use to avoid having to prove their allegations against the Craft.”

The lodge meets in the French Ionic Room at the Grand Lodge of New York, located at 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan.

Before the meeting, brethren are welcome to join the lodge’s officers for dinner at the Limerick House Pub next door at 6 p.m.
     

Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge

     
Trevorpalooza 2008 is still very much underway, with Trevor Stewart doing what he does best at various locations near and far for a few more days. And I have some more good Trevor stories to share, but I’m going to step out of sequence at this time to tell you about what happened yesterday at the Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge.

RW Thomas Jackson

The Academy meets twice a year in the Masonic Cultural Center at the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania’s Elizabethtown campus. Saturday’s program was a different format from the Academy’s usual, in which two lectures are presented by scholars of national or even international reputation. Recent speakers include W. Kirk MacNulty, Miss Pauline Chakmakjian and… Trevor Stewart!

The Academy serves a purpose even greater than hosting great educational meetings. It’s legacy, I believe, will be its Certification Program, a kind of correspondence course in which interested brethren gradually learn about Freemasonry, and then demonstrate what they’ve internalized in the form of various kinds of papers. Personally, I think this is how lodges ought to discern the worthiness of candidates for advancement, but....

It is an extremely valuable system of Masonic education, one that its governors are willing to share with other grand lodges that are looking to create something, but don’t know how to structure one. Pennsylvania’s has been operational for nine years, and is not slowing down at all. There were approximately 250 Master Masons – about half of whom were raised in the past two years – in attendance Saturday, preferring to spend one of the most gorgeous days of the year sitting inside an auditorium to hear nine speakers expound on various subjects geared for the new Mason.

The day’s agenda was titled “Lessons in Freemasonry” and consisted of:

“What, Where, When and Why” by Bro. Thomas W. Jackson, shown above

“Historic Leaders of Pennsylvania” by Bro. Paul D. Fisher

“The Symbols and Tools of Freemasonry” by Bro. James L. Sieber

“Myths and Misconceptions” by Bro. William R. Rininger

“Famous Freemasons” by Bro. John W. Postlewait

“What Can We Discuss About Freemasonry” by Bro. Charles S. Canning

“Purpose of Freemasonry and Masonic Etiquette” by Bro. Merrill R. Shaffer

“Masonic Conduct Outside the Lodge” by Bro. C. DeForest Trexler

“The Meanings of the Oaths and Obligations” by Bro. S. Eugene Herritt

Before anyone of grand rank mutters to himself about the absence of titles from these names, let me make clear that this is how the brethren identify themselves in their Academy literature. I’m certain they all are Right Worshipfuls, but what we find in educational circles are serious men, each content to be called Brother. There is a lesson in there for those who have ears.

The chairman of the committee that operates the Academy is Tom Jackson. I wouldn’t know where to begin in composing a Masonic CV for him. He served 19 years as Pennsylvania’s Grand Secretary, reviews books for “The Northern Light” magazine, and is a Founding Fellow of The Masonic Society, just to list a few things off the top of my head. Tom is known around the globe for his intellect, his unabashed insistence that Freemasonry uphold standards of greatness – from the West Gate to the Grand East – and his indefatigable action. (While laid up after a medical procedure earlier this year, he began writing a book.)

Discussing the “What, Where, When and Why” of Freemasonry, Tom restrained himself, mindful that the day was devoted largely to brethren who were new to the fraternity. He covered the basics of St. John’s Day, 1717, but stipulating there are records in Scotland of 16th century lodge activity.

“Essentially, we don’t know our origins, but Freemasonry attracted some of the greatest men of the last 300 years,” he said, “Did Freemasonry make men great, or did great men make Freemasonry? I say it is both. Voltaire, Mozart, Haydn, Franklin and Washington were men we wanted to be associated with. That is our deficit today in North America. Where are the Mozarts of today? My role is to preserve Freemasonry in case great men come later.”

And speaking of greatness, Bro. Paul D. Fisher continued the program with his “Historic Leaders of Pennsylvania” talk. He covered four or five biographies in a “Profiles in Courage” type format. These were notable men in both Masonic history and U.S. history, including:

William Smith, a congressman once challenged to a duel by Henry Clay (but declined), is credited with authoring a part of Pennsylvania’s Master Mason Lecture. He also published the first version of “Ahiman Rezon” in the United States. A good friend of Washington and Franklin, he was reputed to have been “the best public speaker of all the colonies.” He was provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and founded Washington College, which is now the University of Maryland. Smith served as Grand Secretary, and then Grand Master of Pennsylvania, and unusually later became a Grand Chaplain in New York, when his son was Grand Master.

James Buchanan, the only Pennsylvanian to become president of the United States, was prominent in Masonry as a leader of what is termed in this state as "the revolt of the country lodges." His success is felt to this day, as the District Deputy system is still in place (it was thought that DDGMs should represent the interests of lodges to the Grand Lodge) and the standardization of ritual, which also continues to this day, and is still unwritten.

George Mifflin Dallas, the namesake of Dallas, Texas, for his work in bringing that republic into the Union. He served as vice president under James K. Polk, and was a courageous advocate for Freemasonry during the scariest days of the anti-Masonic movement, during which his mother lodge forfeited its warrant. Pennsylvania General Assembly Representative Thaddeus Stevens, who won election on the anti-Masonic ticket, introduced The Act to Suppress Secret Societies, and subpoenaed 25 leading Masons to testify. All appeared, but none would testify under oath. Dallas argued that Masonry was a private organization that acted lawfully, and he invoked the memory of George Washington to shame these politicians. He served as Grand Master in 1835.

Next, “The Symbols and Tools of Freemasonry” was explained by Bro. James Sieber, who holds a Ph.D. in mathematics. He provided a hand-drawn visual aid depicting about two dozen Working Tools and other symbols, which he explained to the brethren, occasionally detouring into other jurisdictions’ symbols. He urged everyone to travel outside of Pennsylvania to experience more Masonic teachings.

Bro. Bill Rininger took us through “Myths and Misconceptions” to prepare new Masons for the idiotic questions and challenges we all eventually face. “Times haven’t changed much,” he explained. “Except that many of our critics have discovered the power of mass media, and they make their money by telling falsehoods.”

A video, titled “Tools of the Craft,” was screened. This featured several Pennsylvania Masons, including a rabbi and a minister, and MSANA Executive Secretary Dick Fletcher who foiled the most common libels hurled against the fraternity (e.g. it is not a religion, cult, nefarious society, etc.).

Next came a fun presentation on “Famous Masons” delivered by Bro. John Postlewait. He told of a Communication of Celestial Lodge, where dozens of well known brethren assembled in lodge. (The Tiler was J. Edgar Hoover.)

Bro. Chuck Canning, at left, explained “What Can We Discuss About Freemasonry,” in which he told the brethren that their obligations to Masonic secrecy do not proscribe them from learning as much as possible about the Craft. He urged everyone to get acquainted with the various lodges and societies of Masonic research, and to familiarize themselves with the many topics covered in rituals other than Pennsylvania’s, like the Four Cardinal Virtues, various Working Tools, etc.

“Masonic Etiquette” by Bro. Merrill Shaffer proved provocative. He covered important basics that too often go unsaid (punctuality, attire, welcoming visitors, etc.) and also touched on confusing matters that are not necessarily addressed by ritual, like crossing in front of the East. (A no-no, by the way.) Our speaker quoted Preston, Pike, Pound and Coil to illustrate his point that Freemasonry’s role is to show good men how to improve themselves through ethics, morals and knowledge.

This talk carried into the Q&A period later in the afternoon, when the conversation expanded into legal matters. By coincidence, Grand Lodge will host a daylong seminar on the 18th devoted entirely to the jurisdiction’s jurisprudence.

“Masonic Conduct Outside the Lodge” was Bro. C. DeForest Trexler’s call to the brethren to remember their duties to God, their neighbors and themselves. “Whether we trace Freemasonry to ancient antiquity or orders of knighthood or stone guilds, it is a product of 18th century Enlightenment,” he said. “We show exemplary public behavior for Masonry’s public reputation,” avoid intemperance and excess, and are consistent with “good citizenship and Judeo-Christian morality.”

Perhaps the best way to phase it, he concluded, was Polonius’ advice to his son Laertes.

Introduced by the moderator as “the capstone of the edifice we are trying to construct for you,” the final talk, “The Meaning of the Oaths and Obligations” was given by Bro. S. Eugene Herritt, shown below, and very effectively I must say.


Obviously I can’t disclose the details, but he very wisely explained the three sets of oaths and obligations as progressively demanding circumstances that both challenge us to grow and simultaneously reflect our growth thus far.

The Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge will meet in 2009 on March 14 and October 24 at the same location.

There also is a lodge room housed within the Cultural Center. A very modern design with dominant diagonal lines surrounding its theme of triangles and rectangles. The high, vaulted ceiling gives it a cathedral feel, but the omnipresent woods say something else. Despite the ubiquitous blonde wood and all that glass, it does not have a cold look. In fact, those surfaces and colors, with the trapezoidal altar and quirky officer chairs, inspire a friendly curiosity.