Membership in the Masons, by Father Edward McNamara

ROME, 6 FEB. 2007 (ZENIT)
http://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur161.htm

Membership in the Masons

Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

Q: A member of the RCIA program was told by another member of the parish that if they were going to become Catholic they needed to terminate their involvement with the Masonic lodge before they could join. Is this still the case in the United States? — T.N., Howard City, Michigan

A: This question is more canonical than liturgical. The Church's position with respect to membership of Masonic lodges, even though canon law no longer explicitly mentions the Masons, has not substantially changed.

The new code states in Canon 1374: "A person who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a just penalty; however, a person who promotes or directs an association of this kind is to be punished with an interdict." An interdict is an ecclesiastical penalty that deprives the person of the right to celebrate or receive the sacraments but is less harsh than excommunication.

This text greatly simplified the former code which had specifically mentioned the Masons. This change led some Masons to think that the Church no longer banned Catholics from being Masons, since, among other things, in many countries membership at a lodge was merely social and had nothing to do with plotting against the Church.

In order to clarify the issue the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a declaration on Nov. 26, 1983, shortly before the present Code of Canon Law came into effect. This declaration, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, states:

"It has been asked whether there has been any change in the Church's decision in regard to Masonic associations since the new Code of Canon Law does not mention them expressly, unlike the previous Code.

"This Sacred Congregation is in a position to reply that this circumstance in due to an editorial criterion which was followed also in the case of other associations likewise unmentioned inasmuch as they are contained in wider categories.

"Therefore the 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 enroll 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, and this in line with the Declaration of this Sacred Congregation issued on 17 February 1981 (cf. AAS 73 1981 pp. 240-241; English language edition of L'Osservatore Romano, 9 March 1981).

"In an audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II approved and ordered the publication of this Declaration which had been decided in an ordinary meeting of this Sacred Congregation."

The congregation's judgment, therefore, was not so much based on whether the Masons as such or any specific group of Masons effectively plot against the Church today. This does not deny that some Masonic groups have historically combated the Church nor that even today, in some countries or at certain levels, the lodge remains at the forefront of those who oppose the Church's freedom of action.

Rather, the Vatican congregation above all stressed the incompatibility of some Masonic principles with those of the Catholic Church.

This incompatibility resides in some aspects of Masonic ritual, but more importantly in elements regarding the question of truth.

In its effort to bring together people of different provenances, Masonry requires that its members adhere to a minimal belief in a supreme architect of the universe and leave aside all other pretensions of truth, even revealed truth.

It is thus basically a relativistic doctrine, and no Catholic, nor indeed any convinced Christian, may ever adhere to a group that would require him, even as a mere intellectual exercise, to renounce the affirmation of such truths as Christ's divinity and the Trinitarian nature of God.

Of course, for many people active in Masonic lodges, the conversations and activities are more social in nature and rarely veer toward the realm of philosophical speculation. A Catholic, however, cannot ignore the fundamental principles behind an organization, no matter how innocuous its activities appear to be.

Jack Ruby and Freemasonry

What follows is a short interview of a Dallas Reporter contradicting the Warren Commission's Report on his testimony about Jack Ruby at Parklands Hospital. At minute 00:49 as Ruby is escorted into the courtroom for his Oswald Murder Arraignment he is directed by an escorting officer by a hand placed on his shoulder, a secret masonic recognition sign, towards two supporters sitting in the courtroom, upon which at minute 00:53 he exchanges 'funny' handshakes using a secret masonic 'grip'.




Of note Dealy Plaza in addition to being the site of the murder of President John F. Kennedy is also the 'historic' site of the first Masonic Temple in Dallas, which was of course 'commemorated' with a memorial obelisk under the guidance of Texas Masonic Leadership. To date 45 years and counting the only visible 'commemoration' at the site of the assassination of the 35th President of the United States consists of a pair of x's spray painted in the middle of the road.

Freemason Disinformation Agent Debates Freemason Agent Provocateur

A Television Debate on Freemasonry that appeared on a live call-in Christian Program in Britain recently.

The Lodge the self-declared 'Member of the Swedenborg Church' Freemason belongs to, Quator Corronati, is a big deal in British Freemasonry. The oaths the heavily rehearsed agent disinformator claims were removed never were, they are what Freemasons term 'exemplified', which means the Master of the Lodge reads them in front of the initiate. Martin Short and some other U.K. authors exposed this little piece of masonic deception some years ago, and a ex-mason caller to the show reminds him. Mason One says he left the Anglican Church around 1988, which is about the timeframe when the recent Church of England investigation of Freemasonry began issuing highly critical public reports on the incompatibility of Christianity and Freemasonry. There is a Swedenborg 'Rite' in Freemasonry, an 'advanced' series of highly occultic degrees, which the author-editor never bothers mentioning, even though he has written about the subject, his debating partner 'misses' this point as well.

The Circumabulating Irreverend, the supposed masonic critic in this warped little play about 'The Most Popular Religion in the World Today', the description he actually gives for Freemasonry in an early 'rebuttal', seems to be primarily trying to introduce uncritical freemason occult teachings under a wrapping of christiany sounding 'universal' masonic religious concepts to the Christian Audience while simultaneously attempting to coyly discredit/mock 'Fundamentalist Christians' to Secular and Masonic audiences using a heavily rehearsed agent provacateur buffoon act. Bro. Irreverend thought he was being craftily clever but thanks to the intervention of the Holy Spirit was unable to contain his evilmason smirking thereby illuminating one of the more twisted junior police-state techniques/tricks of 'active' freemasonry.

The Christian Host of the Program is real though - and excellent.



There is Seven Parts to this, after each part plays you should be able to navigate through the image boxes above to find the next segment. Incidently my view that both of these debaters are Freemasons comes from years of watching Freemasonry do this act on a wide number of forums and boards. 'Mason' number two starts out fairly conventionally but then quickly starts inserting pro-masonic propaganda inside the guise of a criticism. In fact if you listen carefully you will notice that he never actually disagrees, questions, or interupts anything Mason One is putting forth, he just offers some Freemasonry 'criticism' from Masonic writings that is actually an introduction of another warm and fuzzy freemasonry concept that sounds 'christian' which, 'oddly' enough, is how Freemasonry recruits new members inside the Church. How they both ended up on the same program is pure Masonry, probably through a member they have gotten placed inside the production chain. This kind of elaborate subterfuge is what the Lodge excells at and is why they are able to dominate the party system so thoroughly. Masonry will try and place members where there is any potential for political activity - or Opposition; Church & Parish Councils, Issue and Civic asscoiations, 'left' or 'right' political parties. 'Associate always associate...'

Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many."

Co-Incidence Theory: The 2007 Australian T.V. Audio Loop Mystery

A repost of a story first linked to in 2007

http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2007/01/04/jesus-christ-help-us-all-lord/

On January 2nd, a major primetime television broadcast in Australia was interrupted by about 7 minutes (or 10, depending who you ask) of a bizarre audio loop. Our Australian correspondent on the ground, “astepoutside”, fills us in on the details:

It was a show about train disaster or something, then suddenly an audio loop that it says in the story was saying “Jesus Christ, one of the Navarines” started playing over and over again… for 6 minutes straight. The most surreal TV watchig experience i have ever had. The only thing is, I swear that it was saying “Jesus christ, god save us all now” when I head it..

The program was called “Mayday” or possibly “Mayday: Head On Collison.” Okay, here we go. “Mayday” is the name of a television series about disasters, also known as Air Emergency in the United States, and Air Crash Investigation in the rest of the world. Another source gives the synopsis for the “Head On Collision” episode as being:

“A calm trip through the Rocky Mountains ends in disaster when a VIA Rail train slams head-on into an enormous freight train; how did the two trains wind up on the same piece of track?; an inquiry makes shocking discoveries about freight train management.”

How did the two trains wind up on the same track indeed? How did audio from one program and video from another get broadcast together for such a long time on a major television station?

Official news reports on the subject are sketchy at best:

THE Seven Network has apologised to viewers after receiving complaints about a major technical glitch which interrupted a prime-time transmission tonight.

The program, Mayday Head on Collision, which began airing at 7.30pm, was interrupted for several minutes by an audio track.

“It was an unfortunate technical error which was rectified as quickly as possible,” a Seven Network spokeswoman said.

“It only went to air in NSW and Victoria and the program resumed as soon as the error was corrected.”

The spokeswoman said the program’s vision went to air with different audio, which included the words “Jesus Christ”.

“It’s up to interpretation of exactly what was said, but we are working on ensuring it doesn’t happen again,” the spokeswoman said.

“We apologise to any viewers that were watching at the time.”

The other news item I have seen about this has slightly more information but is equally as dodgy:

A Seven spokesman said a technical glitch was responsible for the religious message being broadcast in Victoria and NSW.

The spokesman said the network was always “spreading the good word”, but not in a biblical sense.

“It was a technical glitch due to an audio problem with the tape,” he said.

“The line actually is ‘Jesus Christ one of the Navarines’ and this is from the documentary.

“It was not a prank, but one of those things that happen from time to time. The tape was stuck or something glitched between 7.35pm and 7.41pm, and we did everything we could to fix the problem as quickly as possible. Once everything was sorted, the program continued.”

However, thanks to the power and glory of YouTube, you can evaluate the audio track for yourself. In my opinion, they are quite clearly saying “Jesus Christ, help us all Lord” (with maybe a “fuck” at the end)

Also see this shorter clip from another person:

What’s interesting is that apparently the audio source has been most probably identified. And it just so happens to be another video available on YouTube:

Go to minute 2:07 of this video and compare the two.

So we have a number of questions to follow:

1. Why did this happen at all?


2. Why did it happen for so long?


3. Why did it happen where and when it happened?


4. Is there any particular significance which can be drawn out of this?


5. Why did news reports of this clearly misrepresent what was being said in the audio?


6. Is it possible other people actually heard different audio wherein Jesus being a “Navarine” (Nazarene?) was heard?


7. What’s with the connection to the “Halliburton Ambush Iraq” video on YouTube?

Very intriguing media mystery!

Yup