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Masons on the Church – Then and Now

Published on by Kathy Clubb1 Comment

Humanum Genus, Pope Leo XIII’s great encyclical warning against Freemasonry, was promulgated in 1884. In it, the Pope condemned Masonry and other secret societies in the most direct and unambiguous way. The scathing nature of his reprisal can be evaluated by the response from Masons of that time.

From the Bulletin of the Symbolic Scottish Grand Lodge:

Freemasonry cannont help but thank the Supreme Pontiff of the last encyclical. Leo XIII, with unquestionable authority, and wth great luxury of evidence has demonstrated once again that there is an unbridgeable gulf between the Church of which he is the representative, and the Revolution, of which Freemasonry is the right arm. It is good that the skeptics cease to entertain vain hopes. All must get used to the new order which does not recognise any other foundation than that of science and human reason, in the spirit of authority and spirit of liberty.

Enrico Delassus, “Il problema dell’ora presente”, Desclèe e C. Tipografi-Editori 1907, vol. 1, p 39. (Via Fr Villa.)

Contrast this appraisal with laudatory comments from the Masons in our present day. The following is a press release from Italy’s Grand Lodge, made after the election of Jorge Bergoglio in 2013.

The Catholic Church has chosen as Pope the Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio who assumed the name of Francis. A clear-cut choice, away from the logic of the Roman Curia and of the temporal power. From the first moment on, Pope Francis, a man who comes “nearly from the end of the world,” rejecting the ermine robe and gold cross and replacing it with an iron cross, made his first tangible act. In his first words of greeting he fostered a desire for dialogue with the world and with mankind, nurturing the vivid hope for laymen and nonbelievers that change is underway. Maybe this is really what the world expects and what it expected. A new Church that knows how to reconnect love with truth in a confrontation among institutions not entrenched in the defense of their own power. It is that same hope for which the world — and especially Latin America, where the Masons Simon Bolivar, Salvador Allende and the same Giuseppe Garibaldi [especially while in Brazil] among the many who have given liberty to those peoples — has always longed for.

A message that Freemasonry itself perceives a sharp break with the past and one which is turned now to listening to the poor, the marginalized and the weakest. To the new Pontiff we send our best wishes for his good work for years to come.

Luciano Nistri, Grand Master GLVDI

(As found at OnePeterFive)

Freemasons on the Second Vatican Council

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From The Devil’s Final Battle by Fr Paul Kramer, p 61-62; footnotes in original

“Along with the neo-modernists, the Masons and Communists have rejoiced at the Council’s outcome. Just as the authors of the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita had hoped, just as the Communist infiltrators spoken of by Bella Dodd had hoped, the notions of liberal culture had finally won adherence among the major players in the Catholic hierarchy. Freemasons and Communists have celebrated the astounding turn of events wrought by the Council. They rejoice that Catholics have finally “seen the light,” and that many of their Masonic principles have been sanctioned by the Church.

For example, Yves Marsaudon of the Scottish Rite, in his book Ecumenism Viewed by a Traditional Freemason praised the ecumenism nurtured at Vatican II. He said:

Catholics …. Must not forget that all roads lead to God. And they will have to accept that this courageous idea of free-thinking, which we can really call a revolution, pouring forth from our Masonic lodges, has spread magnificently over the dome of St. Peter’s.”1

Yves Marsaudon was delighted to add that “One can say that ecumenism is the legitimate son of Freemasonry.”2

The post-Vatican II spirit of doubt and revolution obviously warmed the heart of French Freemason Jacques Mitterand, who wrote approvingly:

Something has changed within the Church, and replies given by the Pope to the most urgent questions such as priestly celibacy and birth control, are hotly debated within the Church itself; the word of the Sovereign Pontiff is questioned by bishops, by priests, by the faithful. For a Freemason, a man who questions dogma is already a Freemason without an apron.3

Marcel Prelot, a senator for the doubs region in France, is probably the most accurate in describing what has really taken place. He wrote:

We had struggled for a century and a half to bring our opinions to prevail within the Church and had not succeeded. Finally, there came Vatican II and we triumphed. From then on the propositions and principles of liberal Catholicism have been definitively and officially accepted by the Church.3

  1. Cited from Open Letter to Confused Catholics, pp 88-89
  2. Yves Marsaudon, Oecumènisme vu par un Maçon de Tradition, pp 119-120
  3. Cited from Open Letter to Confused Catholics, pp 88-89
  4. Ibid.

Australian Bishops’ Conference Officially Sanctions Freemasonry

Published on by Kathy ClubbLeave a comment
This article appeared on Life Site News back in December of 2019 – there doesn’t seem to have been any action taken by the Australian Bishops to date.
So What does that tell us?

From Life Site News

Back in July, I wrote an article for The Remnant on a Queensland priest who publicly admits to having been a Freemason for more than a decade. While that is shocking enough, the most disturbing part of this story was that the priest claims to have a letter from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, giving permission for Catholics to become Masons. This permission was said to be based on the erroneous conclusion that ‘Australian’ Freemasonry is somehow different from any other form of Freemasonry.

As my previous article explained, the communications officer for the ACBC Secretariat  responded to my query with this statement:

“The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has exchanged private correspondence with officials from the Freemasons in recent years. Fr. Costigan’s writings do not accurately reflect the contents of that private correspondence nor any policy of the Conference.”

As will become clear, that statement might be technically true, but in no way explains the reality of the correspondence’s contents.

Hiding in plain sight

Multiple phone calls and emails to Archdioceses over several months rendered little fruit – only independent Catholic news sites and the Freemasons themselves seemed interested in Fr. Costigan’s conflicting loyalties. However, a careless social media post led to the discovery of the letter online, along with the letter from the Freemasons which originally sparked the ACBC’s response.

That letter was written by the former Grand Master of Northern Territory/South Australia, Stephen Michalak to Fr. Stephen Hackett, the ACBC Secretary, in 2016. In it, Mr. Michalak sought to clarify the Catholic Church’s position on its members becoming Freemasons.

Mr. Michalak is himself a Catholic, as were the Grand Masters of Queensland and Western Australia at that time.  In his letter, Mr. Michalak expounds on the supposed virtues of Masonry, while also admitting that the Church maintains its ban on Catholics being members. He speaks of his ‘long-standing friendship’ with a former Vicar-General of Adelaide, who advised him to contact then Vicar-General, Fr. Philip Marshall.

Fr. Marshall advised him to obtain the agreement of all of the Australian Grand Masters before contacting the Church, and suggested to Michalak that he then write to the ACBC ‘seeking pastoral resolution to the present challenges as well as outlining a pathway for Catholics who are Freemasons to full participation in the sacramental life of the Church.’

Mr Michalak concluded his letter by stating his hope that Roman Catholic Freemasons will eventually be allowed to receive the sacraments without being in a state of sin.

Fr. Hackett’s response

The response from Fr Hackett is dated July 2017, exactly one year after Mr Michalak sent his enquiry. This time was needed, he writes, in order to consult with the Bishops Commission for Canon Law, the Bishops Commission for Doctrine and Morals and the Bishops Conference itself.

Without any explanation other than an acknowledgement of Mr Michalak’s glowing report of Masonry, Fr. Hackett expresses his satisfaction that ‘Australian’ Freemasonry’ is not hostile to Catholicism. However, if this is truly the case, then it is reasonable to ask why this assessment has never been made public or revealed to be the official stance of the ACBC – even though, as Fr. Hackett alleges below, the Bishops Conference came to that conclusion in 1984. Surely, if a thorough investigation involving multiple apparatus of the ACBC and which took a year to complete had actually taken place, then it would behove the Secretary to publicly disclose this fact, and to allow the mysterious 1984 directive to be promulgated.

But there is more.

Fr. Hackett goes on to imagine the Church and the Masons working in a ‘spirit of harmony’ which would be ‘informed by circumstance, need and opportunity.’ He then makes the following alarming and frankly, false, statement:

“Perhaps most importantly for Catholic members of Freemasonry, I can reiterate a directive first made by the Bishops Conference in 1984 and affirmed this year. No penalty attaches to Catholic membership of the Masonic order. The involvement of Catholics in Freemasonry is foremost a moral matter which should normally be dealt with personally and pastorally in the local parish. I suggest that where a local pastoral response is not consistent with this expectation and liturgical-sacramental participation is made difficult or refused, that this might be referred to the local vicar general or to me.

I will raise issue of Catholics and Freemasonry during the annual meeting of Archdiocesan Vicars General, next due to be held in May 2018, to ensure that they are familiar with the preferred approach of the Bishops Conference.”

Fr Hackett’s excuse – that the secrecy is necessary in case there are some Australian lodges which are hostile to the Church – does not hold water, since he provides no criteria by which to judge ‘hostility’ and given that the Church condemns all Masonry in any case.

“No local authority has the competence to derogate from these judgements”

In case there is any doubt as to the Church’s constant teaching on Freemasonry’s incompatibility with the Faith, a summary of the most recent Vatican directive on Masonry is given below. This was the 1983 Directive on Masonic Associations from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and it was issued after the Code of Canon Law was changed in that same year, omitting the charge that Catholic Freemasons incur ex-communication. That revision had caused confusion amongst Catholics who in some cases assumed that there was no longer any penalty attached to their holding Masonic membership. Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger felt compelled to issue the Directive in order to dispel confusion about Freemasonry. According to the 1983 Directive:

1.    The Church’s negative judgment on Masonry remains unchanged, because the Masonic principles are irreconcilable with the Church’s teaching.

2.    Catholics who join the Masons are in the state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.

3.    No local ecclesiastical authority has the competence to derogate from these judgments of the Sacred Congregation.”

That last point, regarding a prohibition on local authorities to promulgate an alternative teaching on Masonry is very pertinent in this case. For in suggesting that the Australian Bishops Conference can administer a bespoke interpretation of the relationship between Masonry and the Church, Fr. Hackett is in clear violation of the CDF’s directive. Obviously, he has also violated the first point by suggesting that so-called ‘Australian Freemasonry’ can be reconciled with the Church, and the second by failing to advise Catholics who remain Masons that they are not to receive Holy Communion.

Fr. Hackett’s claim that the ACBC directive of 1984 approved Freemasonry after the CDF’s definitive proclamation hints at an arrogance that defies belief.

Freemasonry is an “instrument of Satan”

Fr. Hackett’s assessment of Freemasonry, in addition to violating the 1983 Directive, stands in contrast with that of the many popes, bishops and laymen who have denounced Masonry since its inception four hundred years ago. In fact, there have been more than twenty encyclicals and papal bulls written on this matter by the popes alone.

The most famous of these, Humanum Genus, was written by Pope St. Leo XIII in 1884. In it, Pope Leo wrote,

“We wish it to be your rule first of all to tear away the mask from Freemasonry, and to let it be seen as it really is; and by sermons and pastoral letters to instruct the people as to the artifices used by societies of this kind in seducing men and enticing them into its ranks, and as to the depravity of their opinions and the wickedness of their acts.

As our predecessors have many times repeated, let no man think he may for any reason whatsoever join the Masonic sect, if he values his Catholic name and his eternal salvation as he ought to value them.”

In 1985, American Cardinal Law specifically debunked the idea that Masonry could be acceptable even if ostensibly not hostile to the faith, when he said: “And even though Masonic organizations may not in particular cases plot against the faith, it would still be wrong to join them because their basic principles are irreconcilable with those of the Catholic faith.”

Bishop Athanasius Schneider, in a December 2016 talk, referred to Freemasonry as the ‘Instrument of Satan,’ reminding Catholics that St Maximilian Kolbe founded his Knighthood of the Immaculata in direct response to threats from the Italian Freemasons of his day. As Bishop Schneider pointed out, reiterating the Church’s constant teaching, Freemasonry’’s goal is “to eliminate the entire doctrine of God, especially Catholic doctrine.”

Former 32nd degree Mason, layman John Salza, is just as blunt. He states that “Freemasonry is a religion that is opposed to Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. That’s the bottom line.”

The Bishops respond

FLI contacted Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, Vice-President of the ACBC and Archbishop Julian Porteous for a response to our queries:

Archbishop Fisher stated via his private secretary that:

 … he has no recollection of this being discussed at the Bishops Conference. The 1983 Declaration on Masonic Associations from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith makes clear that Catholics who enrol in Masonic activities are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion. Furthermore, the Declaration expressly says it is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to derogate from this.

Further, the Archbishop said that it is his understanding that while penalties have varied, the Church has never been in favour of Catholics joining any secret organisations with quasi-religious doctrines.”

Additionally, Archbishop Fisher’s secretary drew our attention to the 1937 Plenary Council for Australia which passed a decree that prohibited Catholics becoming members of the Freemasons.

Paul Hanrahan spoke to Archbishop Julian Porteous, FLI’s Patron, who would like to withhold any comment until he has had a reply to his letter to Father Stephen Hackett MSC, asking him for clarification, especially where he received the information he has quoted. He does however endorse the comments of Archbishop Anthony Fisher.

“For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed”

It’s quite ironic that attempts by Catholic clergy to undermine the Church by embracing Freemasonry were undone by that ‘secret’ society advertising the fact on social media.

One day, as Jesus has promised us, all such secrets will be laid bare. But in the interim before that fearful day, there are sure to be many more betrayals revealed.

In light of the ACBC’s failure to adequately defend the Church’s teaching on a matter as fundamental as Catholicism’s incompatibility with Freemasonry, it should also be asked how any sane Catholic could expect the upcoming Plenary Council to fare any better.

Unless information to the contrary is made known by the bishops, Catholics could well conjecture that there exists in Australia a cabal of the clergy who are involved in Freemasonry, a number that is possibly not insignificant.  Knowing the sad state of the Catholic Education system, the widespread incidence of heterodoxy in Australian parishes, unfettered homo-clericalism and its attendant abuse scandal, as well as the continued failure of anyone in authority to censure Fr Costigan – a spiritual work of mercy that is the obligation of every bishop – those fears would not be unfounded.

The offices of the Bishops Commission for Canon Law, the Bishops Commission for Doctrine and Morals, the Vicars-General and the Bishops Conference itself might be a good place to start looking.

A Freemason Priest in Australia

Published on by Kathy ClubbLeave a comment

It isn’t always left to the laity to guess that their clergy are masons – sometimes they just come out and tell us.

Anonymous Catholic

FROM The Remnant –

A Catholic priest and Freemason claims that the Bishops Conference gave permission for Catholics to become ‘Australian Freemasons’ in 2016.

Fr. Kerry Costigan, now retired, of the Toowoomba Diocese in Queensland, contributed an article to the liberal publication, The Swag, in which he admitted that he has been a member of the Ashlar Lodge for over ten years. In the article, Freemasonry and the Catholic Church,  Fr. Costigan claimed that the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference approved Catholics to become members of Australian Freemasonry in 2016. Fr. Costigan also wrote that he would like to see this new policy be made public. (The article is available here, behind a paywall.)

Fr Costigan’s Sketchy Synopsis

Fr. Costigan’s article begins by relating how parishioners at a Church where he was about to celebrate Mass left copies of Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical on Freemasonry in the building’s foyer. He then goes on to explain that, in his opinion, Australian Freemasonry differs from that found in Europe, since it is less sectarian and political.

That article states several times that Freemasonry is not a ‘single, united body’, but that each lodge has its own supreme authority and is the sole authority over its members.

Fr. Costigan points to a change in the character of Freemasonry after the Reformation, and suggests that its current form was established during the 18th century, when it lost its sectarian and political nature. He then cites an oft-repeated tale of a 19th century French journalist whom Masons claim is the source of their bad publicity. The journalist, Leo Taxil, earned notoriety for initially exposing Freemasonry as being satanic, but later recanted and claimed that the whole episode was aimed at mocking the Church. Clearly, this explanation doesn’t account for the fact that the first papal encyclical condemning Masonry was written 150 years before Taxil was on the scene.

At this point, the article becomes a bit sketchy: Fr. Costigan claims that in 1984, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference began an inquiry into Australian Freemasonry. Fr. Costigan opines that the reason no conclusion was published was due to there being no conflict between Catholicism and Masonry. He admits that this contradicts the Vatican’s policy on Freemasonry in other countries, but fails to mention that the prohibition does, in fact, apply world-wide.

The priest goes on to say that in 2016, Catholic Freemasons contacted the Australian bishops to clarify their status. At that time, Catholic men were said to be the Grand Masters of the Western Australian, Queensland and South Australian/Northern Territory lodges. The Grand Master of SA/NT prepared a submission for the bishops and asked for an authoritative judgement from them. The ACBC’s secretary is said to have then requested a combined submission from the Grand Masters of all Australian lodges, which was to include information on the basic ideals and principles of Australian Freemasonry.

According to Fr. Costigan, the Australian Catholic Bishops, via their secretary, then replied that “any Catholic man may join Freemasonry as it exists in Australia as long as his conscience agrees.” Fr Costigan added that “the reply also asked that membership in the Craft was to be carried out discreetly and without publicity,” and he surmised that this call for discretion was due to Masonry’s prohibition overseas.

Fr. Costigan ends his article by thanking the bishops for their pastoral approach, with the hope that their statement will soon be made public. (One wonders how an article appearing in a national newsletter could not be deemed public!)  He stated that Australian Catholic Masons ‘have been condemned unjustly by the blanket condemnation of all Freemasonry’ and concluded with the somewhat blasphemous “May God prosper in the Craft.”

‘A thousand’ Catholic Freemasons in Queensland alone

Fr. Costigan’s involvement with the Ashlar Lodge has been known for almost a decade. In 2010, Tim Pemble-Smith of The Lepanto League’s QLD branch asked the former Ordinary of the Toowoomba Diocese, Bishop William Morris, to clarify the priest’s relationship with the lodge, and also to clarify his own position on Freemasonry. Bishop Morris declined to answer Mr. Pemble-Smith directly, instead publishing a clarification in a diocesan publication which stated that ‘Fr Kerry has a relationship of friendship and Pastoral Care’ with the lodge.

There was no mention of Bishop Morris’s own stance on Freemasonry. Bishop Morris was subsequently dismissed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011, for obstinately refusing to recant unrelated heretical positions. Most notably among these was his promulgation of the third Rite of Reconciliation and his unbridled support for women’s ordination. It is worth noting that Bishop Morris clung to his position for four years after first being requested to resign by the Vatican.

The Lepanto also reported in 2011 that a Catholic priest had held a public prayer service for members of the Oddfellows Lodge – a secret organisation affiliated with the Masons – and there were said to be ‘a thousand Catholics’ who were Freemasons in Queensland. A statement from then-Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane, Michael Putney, was very telling. Bishop Putney said that ecumenism was breaking down many obstacles and “How the church responds to groups like the Masonic lodge is a different pastoral question which varies in different localities”.

Bishop Putney’s claim that the Church’s policy on Freemasonry can vary from place to place was in clear violation of the 1983 directive from the Confraternity for the Doctrine of the Faith, as stated below.

Hunter’s Hill Lodge in AustraliaJuly Hunters Hill Lodge

The CDF has spoken

There is no doubt that some confusion surrounding the status of Freemasonry arose when the Code of Canon Law was revised in 1983.

The new Code failed to reapply the penalty of excommunication for Catholics who held Masonic membership. This led some bishops to wrongly conclude that Freemason’s basic tenets vary from place to place and so its practise in a particular locale may not necessarily pose a danger to a Catholic’s salvation.

However, the German bishops who were in favour of retaining the penalty of excommunication concluded that Freemasonry was ‘an extraordinary danger’ for the Church. Similarly, Cardinal Pietro Palazzini spoke of the need to maintain the penalty of excommunication, since Freemasonry “eliminates truth and revealed religion while welcoming Catholics as ‘useful idiots’.”

Interestingly, Justice Michael Kirby, then deputy commissioner of the Law Reform Commission and former High Court Justice, was, in 1983, full of hope that the Vatican’s review of Catholics and Masonic membership would end the prohibition. In an address to the Lodge University of Sydney, Mr. Kirby predicted that ‘Catholics will soon be able to become Freemasons without fear of excommunication.’

Although the new code of Canon Law is less explicit than its predecessor, Quaesitum es – the CDF’s most recent statement on Masonry – is as clear as it is definitive:

  1. The Church’s negative judgment on Masonry remains unchanged, because the Masonic principles are irreconcilable with the Church’s teaching.
  2. Catholics who join the Masons are in the state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.
  3. No local ecclesiastical authority has competence to derogate from these judgments of the Sacred Congregation.” (Emphasis added.)

Australian Freemasonry: no different from any other form

A spokesman from Freemasons Victoria assured this author that there is little difference between Australian Freemasonry and that which is practised in other jurisdictions. He explained that there are minor differences in dress codes or salutes, for example, but that the basic tenets are the same, and that Australian Freemasonry is most closely aligned with that of Britain. He confirmed the only requirement for membership ‘in their faith’ is belief in ‘a deity’, but that members are free to choose who that deity is. He also confirmed that the name of Jesus Christ is not mentioned in any rituals, at least in the lower levels.

So even if one of Fr. Costigan’s claims is true –  that Australian Freemasonry has no political or sectarian nature – Masonry in this country retains the philosophical marks which render it incompatible with Catholicism.

This unchanging incompatibility has been reiterated time and again by the Church.

Pope St. Leo made it quite clear that ‘the Masonic federation is to be judged not so much by the things which it has done, or brought to completion, as by the sum of its pronounced opinions.’ (Humanum Genus §11.) This teaching was echoed in 1980 by the German bishops, who stated:

“The Freemasons have essentially not changed. Membership places the foundations of Christian existence into question. Detailed investigations of the Masonic rituals and fundamental ideas, and of their current, unchanged self-understanding make clear: Simultaneous membership in the Catholic Church and the Freemasons is incompatible.” (Heresy by Association, p 195.)

Cardinal Law, at the conclusion of an American Bishops’ enquiry into Freemasonry in 1985,  said, “And even though Masonic organizations may not in particular cases plot against the faith, it would still be wrong to join them because their basic principles are irreconcilable with those of the Catholic faith.”

Thus its practical activity is irrelevant; it is the philosophy which endangers a man’s soul.

The verse below comes from a hymn which was in use in Australian Masonic rituals  in 1951. It exemplifies Masonry’s incompatibility with Catholicism; namely that for the Freemason, salvation can be achieved without the Sacraments and without the redemptive action of Jesus Christ.

“Pure as that badge thy life may be, If by its teachings thou abide;

God’s Holy Face thine eyes shall see, If thou wilt make that badge thy guide.”

Freemasonry is always political

Deist philosophy aside, Fr. Costigan is wrong in writing that there is no political danger from Australian Freemasonry. Despite his opinions, Freemasonry’s practical activities have long been a source of contention. As early as 1876, Freemasonry was being blamed for being the driving force behind the secularisation of the education system in Australia. The Archbishop of Sydney at that time, Dr. Roger Vaughan, condemned Freemasonry for secretly driving the push for a government-controlled ‘Universal Secular, Free and Compulsory Education.’

Since then, there have been allegations of Masonic influence being brought to bear in courts of law, and university faculty appointments, at various times and places throughout the country’s history. Although not all the allegations have been proven, there remains little doubt that Freemasons have been able to exert an enormous influence in every facet of Australian society since the nation was founded. Famous Australian figures, such as Joseph Banks, Governor Lachlan Macquarie, the explorers Oxley, Hume and Leichhardt, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Sir Donald Bradman, James Boag, and Sir Edward `Weary’ Dunlop were Freemasons. And many members of the Commonwealth Parliament have been Masons, including almost all conservative Prime Ministers up to 1972, from Edmund Barton to William McMahon.

Things are little different in the UK, where there have been historical calls for government enquiries into Masonry and contemporary allegations of corruption involving Freemasons in the medical field and in the police force.

What does the Bishops Conference have to say?

Fr. Costigan’s claims have been refuted by a spokesman for the Australian Bishops. Gavin Abraham, communications officer for the ACBC, issued this response to enquiries about the article:

“The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has exchanged private correspondence with officials from the Freemasons in recent years. Fr. Costigan’s writings do not accurately reflect the contents of that private correspondence nor any policy of the Conference.”

What this statement does not mention is that it appears from Fr. Costigan’s article that the ‘officials from the Freemasons’, were those Catholic men who were Grand Masters of the states’ Grand Lodges at that time, asking for clarification about their status. Additionally, the statement completely fails to account for the priest’s version of things. Quoting Fr. Costigan’s article:

“… The reply given in writing on the official letterhead of the ACBC was that any Catholic man may join Freemasonry as exists in Australia as long as his conscience agrees. The reply also asked that membership for Catholics in the Craft was to be carried out discreetly and without publicity. No doubt, this was not publicly [sic] to go against the teaching of the Catholic Church about Freemasonry existing in other countries.

“This ruling of the ACBC would certainly be appreciated by Catholics who are members of the Craft. Gratitude is expressed to the Bishops of Australia for their open-handed, sensitive and pastoral approach to this matter.

“It is hoped that before long, this approval will be made public. At the moment, the many Catholic men who belong to the Craft here in Australia have been condemned unjustly by the blanket condemnation of all Freemasonry.”

Fr. Costigan is said to be recovering after surgery and unable to speak to members of the public. So does his article represent the warped reality of a sick, old man?  Or are there bishops in Australia who tolerate and even promote the idea that Freemasonry is somehow acceptable for Catholics?

This whole episode raises more questions than it answers. At a time when there are credible allegations of Freemasons infiltrating the Church at the highest levels, an Australian priest claims that he has been a Mason for a decade, apparently with the approval of his superiors. The bishops say that they haven’t violated the Church’s policy on Masonic membership, but Fr. Costigan claims he has an official statement on the official letterhead, to the contrary.

What of the ‘one thousand’ Catholics who are Freemasons in Queensland? What of the Grand Masters who were allegedly Catholic and thus should be barred from receiving Holy Communion? Where is the bishops’ vocal condemnation of Australian Freemasonry?

It is to be hoped that someone from within the ACBC will be concerned enough to take action on this serious matter.  Souls are at stake, and it is up to the laity to persevere in demanding answers from our bishops on this, and on all deviations from Catholic doctrine.

Cardinal Ravasi flatters the Masons

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This 2016 article by Cardinal Ravasi calls for dialogue with Freemasons. The Cardinal disingenuously implies that the penalties cited in Canon Law no longer apply to that ideology which Pope Leo XIII called, “pernicious,” “perverse” and “evil.”

Anonymous Catholic

From Rorate Caeli :

A few days ago, we published a few excerpts of the article published by Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, in the Italian paper Il Sole 24 Ore last Sunday, February 14, 2016, calling for dialogue with Freemasons. We now have the full text of the article — followed by a response given by the Cardinal to a reader who asked him for a clarification.
***

DEAR BROTHER MASONS

Over and above our different identities, there is no lack of common values: a sense of community, charitable works and the fight against materialismby Cardinal Gianfranco RavasiI read some time ago in an American magazine that the international bibliography on Freemasonry exceeds more than a 100,000 articles. Certainly contributing to this interest is its aura of secrecy and mystery, more or less with good reason, its different “obediences” and Masonic “rites” shrouded in a sort of murkiness, not to mention its origins, which, according to the English historian Frances Yates, “are one of the most discussed and questionable problems in the entire field of historical research” (curiously the scholar’s study was dedicated to the Rosicrucian Enlightment, translated by Einaudi in 1976).We obviously do not want to go into this archipelago of “lodges” “orients” “arts” “affiliations” and denominations of which history has often weaved – for better or for worse – into the politics of many nations (for example, I’m thinking here of Uruguay where I took part recently in various dialogues with proponents of traditional Masonic culture and society), just as it is not possible to trace the lines of demarcation between the authentic, the false, the degenerate, or para-masonry and the various esoteric or theosophical circles.
It is also arduous to illustrate a map of the ideology which holds such a fragmentary universe, which is why we can speak of a horizon and a method more than a codified doctrinal system. Inside this fluid setting some rather distinct crossroads meet, such as an anthropology based on freedom of conscience, intellect and equal rights, in addition to a deism that acknowledges the existence of God, allowing however, for flexible definitions on His identity. Anthropocentrism and spiritualism, are, therefore, two somewhat excavated paths within a very changeable and flexible map that we are not able to outline in any precise way.


We are content, though, to indicate an interesting little volume which has a clearly distinct aim: that of defining the relationship between Freemasonry and the Catholic Church. Let’s be clear immediately though: it is not a historical analysis of this relationship, neither does it treat of possible contaminations between the two subjects. In fact, it is evident that Masonry has assumed Christian models – even liturgical ones. We must not forget, for instance, that in the 17th century many English lodges recruited members and maestros among the Anglican clergy and it is a fact that one of the first and fundamental Masonic “constitutions” was drawn up by the Presbyterian pastor, James Anderson who died in 1739. In it, among other things, it was affirmed, that an adherent ”will never be a stupid atheist nor an irreligious libertine” even if the creed proposed was, in the end, the vaguest possible, “that of a religion which all men agree on”.


Now, the vacillations of contacts between the Church and Freemasonry have had many varied movements, reaching even manifest hostility, marked by anticlericalism on the one side and excommunication on the other. Indeed, on April 28th 1738, Pope Clement XII, the Florentine Lorenzo Corsini, promulgated the first explicit document on Freemasonry, the Apostolic Letter In eminenti apostulatus specula, in which he declared: “that these same Societies, Companies, Assemblies, Meetings, Congregations, or Conventicles of Liberi Muratori or Francs Massons, or whatever other name they may go by, are to be condemned and prohibited”. Condemnations reiterated by subsequent pontiffs, from Benedict XIV to Pius IX and Leo XIII, affirmed the incompatibility between membership in the Catholic Church and Masonic obedience. Concise was the 1917 code of Canon Law in which canon 2335 reads: “Those who join a Masonic sect or other societies of the same sort, which plot against the Church or against legitimate civil authority, incur ipso facto an excommunication simply reserved to the Holy See.”


The new Code of 1983 tempered the formula, avoiding explicit reference to Freemasonry, conserving the substance of the punishment even if destined in the most generic sense “a person who joins an association which plots against the Church” (canon 1374). However the most articulated Church document on the irreconcilability between adhesion to the Catholic Church and Freemasonry is the Declaratio de associationibus massonicis issued by the Vatican Congregation for the Faith on November 26th 1983, signed by the then Prefect, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. It specified precisely the value of the new Code of Canon Law, reaffirming: “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 small volume to which we now return, is interesting since it attaches – along with an Introduction by the present Prefect for the Congregation, Cardinal Gerhard Muller – also two documents from two local Episcopates, the German Episcopal Conference (1980) and the Philippine one (2003). They are significant texts as they address the theoretical and practical reasons for the irreconcilability of masonry and Catholicism as concepts of truth, religion, God, man and the world, spirituality, ethics, rituality and tolerance. It is significant particularly for the method adopted by the Philippine Bishops, who articulate their discourse along three trajectories: the historical, the more explicitly doctrinal and the pastoral. All is examined along the lines of the question-answer type of catechesis. There are 47 question-answers and they go into details, such as the initiation ceremony, symbols, the use of the Bible, the relationship with other religions, the oath of brotherhood, the various levels of the hierarchy and so on. These various declarations on the incompatibility of the two memberships in the Church or in Freemasonry, do not impede, however, dialogue, as is explicitly stated in the German Bishops’ document which had already listed the specific areas for discussion, such as the communitarian dimension, works of charity, the fight against materialism, human dignity and reciprocal knowledge.


Further, we need to overcome that stance from certain Catholic integralist spheres, which – in order to hit out at some exponents even in the Church’s hierarchy who displease them – have recourse to accusing them apodictically of being members of Freemasonry. In conclusion, as the German Bishops wrote, we need to go beyond reciprocal “hostility, insults and prejudices” since “in comparison to past centuries the tone and way of manifesting [our]differences has improved and changed” even if these differences still remain in a clearly distinct way.

[Translation: Contributor Francesca Romana]
***
After being contacted by a Rorate reader, Cardinal Ravasi sent the reader the following message:

Dear [X],
You are probably reacting mainly to the article’s title, which was added by the newspaper’s staff.
My article actually presented the 1983 document from the Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei, signed by Cardinal Ratzinger, and also the documents on the Masons from the German and Philippine Episcopal Conferences, with clear doctrinal precision as well as practical indications.
Sincere regards,

Gianfranco Card Ravasi

The Masonic Plan to Destroy the Church

Published on by Kathy ClubbLeave a comment

This information was written by a priest who compares the stated goals of a Communist infiltrator with the Church’s ‘auto-demolition’ since the Second Vatican Council.

For our purposes, this comparison shows a) with regard to the Catholic Church, the mission of the Communists is identical with that of the Masons and b) that infiltration has actually been achieved, at least on an individual basis.

From Catholic Apologetics:

Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle by Fr.  Morrison

Part I–  Plan for the destruction of the general constitution of the Church.

PART II – Plan for the auto-destruction of the Catholic Church, specifically as they relate to the destruction of the Mass and Sacraments.

PART I

The destruction of the Church, that is, the destruction of the New Order Church, is proceeding according to a plan conceived decades ago. Of course, there are many factors that contribute to the destruction, but it is not possible to deny that a significant part of that destruction has been based on deliberate subversion, developed over the better part of the last century.

I had heard of the book entitled AA-1025: The Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle, but I had not taken the time to read it until now. I have now had that opportunity and am now about halfway through the book, which has already provoked many reflections.

Background. In the 1960s, a French Catholic nurse, Marie Carré attended an auto-crash victim who was brought into her hospital. The man lingered there near death for a few hours and then died. He had no identification on him, but he had a briefcase in which there was a set of quasi-biographical notes. She kept these notes and read them, and because of their extraordinary content, decided to publish them.

The book was originally published in May 1972 in French under the title ES-1025, ES standing for Élève Seminariste, or Seminary Student. In 1973 it was published in English as AA-1025, AA standing for Anti-Apostle.

It is a succinct (125 pages or so) account of an atheistic Communist mole, who in 1940 was purposely sent by his superiors to infiltrate the Catholic priesthood, along with 1024 others at that time, charged with the mission to subvert and destroy the Church from within by helping effect its auto-destruction, an odd term specifically used by Paul VI years later in his December 7, 1968, Address to the Lombard Seminary at Rome. The Anti-Apostle and his 1024 colleagues were triumphantly successful, as far as the New Order Church goes.

Although the author never identifies the man, the narrative makes it clear that he attended a seminary in United States or Canada. It is certain that at least one of these 1025 men became a bishop. Curiously, although the author could not have known it at the time, the Anti-Apostle hailed from the same country as the man who was six years later to become pope: Poland.

The author prefaces her narrative by observing:

No, the very virtue of obedience is today the extremely powerful weapon that our enemies, who pretend to be our friends, make use of against what we were, to put up in its stead what they have decided to have us become.

AA-1025

The Anti-Apostle makes clear the basis of his plan to effect the auto-destruction of the Church. His seminary career started well before Vatican II, so the elements of his plan now bear chilling fulfillment in our time. Here are some extensive excerpts from the Communist/Liberalist/Modernist plan for the auto-destruction of the Catholic Church, specifically as they relate to the general constitution of the Church, together with our commentary on how they have come true in less than fifty years. A later Part II of this topic will treat of the destruction of the Mass and Sacraments.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “You must drive into the head of men, and particularly the head of Churchmen, to search for, at any price, a universal religion into which all churches would be melded together. So that this idea could take form and life, we must inculcate in pious people, especially Roman Catholics, a feeling of guilt concerning the unique truth in which they pretend to live…. [This Universal Church] could not be otherwise but simple. So that all men could enter it, it could retain a vague idea of a God, more or less Creator, according to the times.


MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Catholics are now told they cannot say that their Church is the one true Church, but that the Church of Christ only “subsists in” the Catholic Church (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, November 21, 1964, paragraph 8)

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “I know that this will not be easy, that we will have to work hard at it, during twenty or even fifty years, but we should succeed in the end.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. It has now been about forty years since Vatican II.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “We should succeed in the end … by numerous and subtle means. I look at the Catholic Church as if it were a sphere. To destroy it, you must attack it in numerous small points until it loses all resemblance to what it was before. We will have to be very patient. I have many ideas that might seem at first sight to be petty and childish, but I maintain that the entirety of those petty childishnesses will become an invisible weapon of great efficacy.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The vast number of individual changes making up the whole of the New Order Church is staggering: vulgar tongues instead of sacred Latin used at services, new “eucharistic prayers,” a new form of non-apostolic “consecration,” communion in the hand, altar servettes, elimination of crucifixes, elimination of tabernacles, elimination of statues, “general confession” replacing sacramental confession, elimination of kneelers, introduction of vulgar music at services, “white” funerals, elimination of any concept of sin/Hell/Purgatory, eulogies at Catholic funerals for thrice-divorced men and homosexual panderers, and on and on the list goes.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “To stress that Catholics are responsible for the division among Christians, because, by their refusal to compromise, they caused schisms and heresies. To come to a point that every Catholic will feel so guilty that he will wish to atone at any price. To suggest to him that he must himself endeavor to find all the means capable of bringing Catholics closer to Protestants (and also to others) without harming the Credo. To keep only the Credo. And again … attention: The Credo must undergo a very slight modification. The Catholics say, ‘I believe in the Catholic Church.’ The Protestants say, ‘I believe in the Universal Church.’ It is the same thing. The word Catholic means ‘universal.'”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The pope apologies to the heretic Martin Luther, he apologizes to the schismatic Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury. He bows to kiss the pagan Koran. Those in other sects are told not to bother to convert to Catholicism; it’s not necessary. The Jews are told not to worry about becoming Christians, that Christ is not their Messias.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “Always drive minds toward a greater charity, a larger fraternity. Never talk about God, but about the greatness of man. Bit by bit transform the language and the attitude of mind. Man must occupy the first place. Cultivate confidence in man, who will prove his own greatness by founding the Universal Church in which all good wills shall melt together. To bring it out that the good will of man, his sincerity, his dignity, are worth more than an always invisible God.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The Novus Ordo service becomes a communal meal, rather than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The crucifix, the tabernacle, and the statues of God’s Saints are eliminated, while man effusively praises himself. Secular politics become the focus of bishops’ attention, not the worship of God and the keeping of His Commandments. Churches are closed. Traditional worship is replaced by self-serving hootenannies, such as those at World Youth Conference, sponsored by the pope.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “To excite an iconoclastic zeal. Youngsters must destroy all these hodgepodge: statues, pictures, reliquaries, priestly ornaments, organs, candles, and votive lamps, stained glass, and cathedrals, etc., etc.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Statues have been virtually eliminated, priests’ vestments have been simplified to the point of the ridiculous, pipe organs are replaced by electronic pianos, traditional churches are submitted to the wrecking ball.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “In Rome, I had very interesting conversations with a professor who would be mine when I would have received the priesthood. He was a member of our network. He was very optimistic. He had specialized in Holy Scripture and was working at a new translation of the Bible in English. The most astounding thing was that he had chosen a Lutheran pastor as his only collaborator. The said pastor, besides, was no longer in agreement with his own church, which seemed old-fashioned to him. This collaboration, of course, remained secret. The aim of these two men was to rid humanity of all the systems which it had given itself through the Bible, and especially the New Testament. Thus, the virginity of Mary, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and His Resurrection, according to them, were to be set aside, in order to end up with a complete suppression.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. A profusion of “translations” of the Bible into vulgar tongues is published every year, and these purported “translations” become less and less literal, introducing the translators’ own modernistic notions under the guise of “dynamic translation.” One of the Novus Ordo’s leading biblical scholars, “Fr.” Raymond Brown, teaches in a west-coast seminary that Mary’s perpetual virginity, the Real Presence, and the Resurrection are all “myths.”

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “There was enough reason to have them [the Saints] erased from the calendar, which was also one of our objectives. But both of us knew that it would take more time to kill all the Saints than it would to kill God.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The New Order has done everything it can to suppress true Saints and replace them with politically-correct modern doppelgangers. St. Christopher, whom seventeen centuries of Catholics venerated was expunged from the New Order. St. Philomena, whom five popes and a Saint publicly venerated and encouraged others to venerate, was expunged. St. Barbara, one of Fourteen Auxiliary Saints from the apostolic Church was expunged.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “The order was also very simple: It was absolutely forbidden for Protestants to convert to Catholicism. And I had this point very much at heart, because conversions had attained an accelerated pace.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Just before Vatican II, conversions to Catholicism from Protestantism and even Judaism were plentiful. Even noted figures publicly converted. After Vatican II, when heretical Indifferentism became the de-facto theology (“we all pray to the same God”; “all religions are equal”), conversions slowed to a trickle. When a schismatic Eastern Orthodox Patriarch approached the Vatican to convert, the Vatican told him to stay as he was. Jews are told that Christ is not their Messias.”

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “I suggested that the zeal to give us, in all languages, new Biblical translations in modern style must not be slowed down.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The Catholic Church had always been cautious about translations of the Bible into the vulgar tongues, fearing corruptions of Sacred Scripture and its interpretation. Wisely was the Church cautious. After Vatican II the proliferation of “translations” of the Bible was vast. The translations were no longer even a literal translation of the inerrant Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome, but “dynamic translations,” which allowed any translating committee to change doctrine surreptitiously by merely “retranslating” it. Scripture was now “vernacularized,” so that anyone could interpret it in any way he liked. Martin Luther won again: heretical private interpretation of Scripture had invaded the Novus Ordo Church.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “I also proposed inter-confessional Biblical meetings. This was my real aim, and moreover it could even go further, by adding a benevolent examination of the Koran and of some other oriental books.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Catholics had always been prohibited from attending inter-denominational Bible meetings and studies because of the corruption of the true Faith that they involved. Now one sees, even on “Catholic” television (like Mother Angelica’s EWTN), supposedly “former” Protestants taking the lead in teaching Catholics about the meaning of Scripture. The pope himself scandalized the whole Roman Catholic Church by bowing down to kiss the abominable Koran of the Mohammedans, which contains vicious slurs against Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “It is altogether reasonable to hope that the cure will be at hand for the year 2000 [remember, this was planned in 1940!]. A certain number of words must be banished completely from the human vocabulary, and the best method is to be sure that children never hear these words. That is why it is much better to compose a new catechism than to hope for a simple suppression of all religious teaching.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The new Vatican II Catechism, which went through several editions before the changes in doctrine could be gotten just right, was written by a group of ecclesiastical hacks who were so incompetent that they could not read the original sources in Latin and Greek. Compare this committee with those who authored the Roman Catechism after the Council of Trent: St. Charles Borromeo, St. Robert Bellarmine, and the like. Much Catholic doctrine was “nuanced away,” like the common teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church about the justice of capital punishment, or simply omitted, like the common teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church about limbo. Words like Hell, Purgatory, sin and the like were used as little as possible. I know a teacher who was called into question when he mentioned to his Novus Ordo middle-school class the Church’s dogma about Hell.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “The word charity must absolutely be banished and be replaced by the world love, which allows you to keep your feet on the ground and even to play all kinds of ambiguous games without seeming to do so.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The word love has proliferated like no other word in the post-conciliar Church, and its meaning in English and other modern tongues is certainly ambiguous. The Latin and Greek Bibles had separate words for various types of love: love of family, love of friends, love of God, sexual love. English and other modern languages entirely blur these important distinctions. How does Christ define love? “If you love Me, obey My commandments.” That meaning isn’t even included in New Order “love”! No, we must “love” homosexuality, we must “love” divorce, we must “love” apostasy from the Faith.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “We have found the astuteness — which consists in hiding behind the “Spirit of the Council” — to launch all kinds of thrilling innovations. This expression, “Spirit of the Council,” has become for me a master-trump…. But it will be only at Vatican III that I will be able to present myself with hammer and nails, not to nail God on His Cross, but rather to nail Him in His coffin.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. How often have we heard the expression “Spirit of the Council” used to justify every blasphemous, and sacrilegious, and scandalous element of the New Order? Already one hears more and more talk about a Vatican III to seal the destruction of the Church, as the Anti-Apostle and his allies planned already, back in 1940.

If you are a member of the New Order, if you attend a Novus Ordo service, if you defend “obedience” to the Church of the New Order, know that you are simply carrying out the plan hatched as early as 1940 by Modernists and are playing right into their hands.

If you are a traditional Catholic, if you attend exclusively the Traditional Latin Mass, if you will not obey evil, no matter from what color of authority it comes, know that you are standing with Christ against the Modernist forces which would defeat Him, but which in the end will themselves be defeated.

PART II  

Plan for the auto-destruction of the Catholic Church, specifically as they relate to the destruction of the Mass and Sacraments.

 The author prefaces her narrative by observing:

No, the very virtue of obedience is today the extremely powerful weapon that our enemies, who pretend to be our friends, make use of against what we were, to put up in its stead what they have decided to have us become.

The Anti-Apostle makes clear the basis of his plan to effect the auto-destruction of the Church. His seminary career started before well before Vatican II, so the elements of his plan now bear chilling fulfillment in our time. Here are some extensive excerpts from the Communist/Liberalist/Modernist plan for the auto-destruction of the Catholic Church, specifically as they relate to the destruction of the Mass and Sacraments, together with our commentary on how they have come true in less than fifty years:

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “The professor also taught me a reasonable way to say Mass, since in six years I would be obliged to say it. While waiting for a profound modification of the whole ceremony [how did he know about this in 1940?], he never pronounced the words of the Consecration. But so as not to be suspected, he pronounced words almost similar, at least according to the ending of the words. He advised me to do the same. All that made this ceremony look like a sacrifice should, little by little, he suppressed. The whole ceremony should represent only a common meal, as among Protestants.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The “profound modification of the whole ceremony,” as predicted, became the Novus Ordo service, which defines itself as a “common meal,” not a Sacrifice.”

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “He even assured me that it should never have been otherwise. He also worked at the elaboration of a new Ordinary of the Mass and advised me also to do the same, because it appeared to him to be altogether desirable to present to people a large number of diversified Masses. There must be some, very short, for families and small groups, some longer ones, for Feast Days, although, according to him, the real feast for the working classes is a walk in Nature. He thought that he could easily arrive at a point of considering Sunday as a day consecrated to Nature.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. There are many variations of the New Order service. One traditional apostolic Canon became three man-made “eucharistic prayers,” which have now proliferated well beyond that number. There are so many options for the form of the New Order service that most Novus Ordo churches don’t use an official missal, but a pastiche of xeroxed pages contained in a three-ring binder at the altar, so that the service can be changed on a moment’s notice, or be improvised “as the spirit moves.” Moreover, Nature has become the modern-day Earth Goddess, Gaia, the green pagan goddess of the environmental movement, in which it is more morally reprehensible to kill a dog than to murder a child.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “Afterwards come the Seven Sacraments, which are all to be revised.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Not a single one of the seven Sacraments has been left untouched in the Novus Ordo.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “As for the Sacrament called Penance, it would be replaced by a community ceremony, which will only be an examination of conscience directed by a well-trained priest, all of which would be followed by a general absolution, as in some Protestant Churches. God will not be mentioned in this ceremony, which will not be called a Sacrament anymore (because this word must also disappear from the vocabulary).”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Already this pseudo-sacrament has replaced the Sacrament of Penance in most churches.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “As for the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, we will have to find another word for it…. We will have to see to it that the notion of eternal life, judgment, Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell be replaced by the sole desire to be cured….. I would willingly choose the expression “Sacrament of the sick.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Just as the Anti-Apostle planned in 1940, the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, so powerful to reconcile to eternity the soul in its last hour, has been obliterated and in its place a mere “blessing of the sick” substituted with the very name that the Anti-Apostle suggested, the “sacrament of the sick.” I have been called in at the last minute to attend a soul when it realizes that Church of the New Order has not the power to absolve it or to prepare it for eternity. Believe me, the vapid Church of the New Order looks quite different to a soul when faced with the seriousness of eternity!

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “It is of prime necessity completely to reform the words of the Mass, and it will be well even to suppress the word itself and to replace it by “The Lord’s Supper” or by “Eucharist” (for example). The Renovation of the Mass must minimize the importance of what they call “Consecration” and must give to the Communion a much more trivial appearance.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. You might call it a “mass,” but that is not what they call it. Just as the Anti-Apostle planned in 1940, the terms Lord’s Supper or Eucharist have become much more common. The “consecration” of the Novus Ordo service has in fact been minimized: not even the Catholic and Apostolic words, confirmed as dogma by the Council of Trent, have been left untampered.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “We will suggest the possibility of abandoning the high altar and of replacing it by a small table, completely bare, where the priest will stand facing the people.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. First the “turned-around” T.V. table was optional; then it was recommended. Now, according to the 2000 third edition of the Novus Ordo missal, it is required.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “Each text forming the Ordinary of the Mass will be carefully compared with the texts used by the Anglicans and Lutherans, in order to promote a single text of varying texts apt to be accepted by these three religions.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. It is well known that the Masonic Grand Architect of the Novus Ordo service used six Protestants to help him write the new service, with the full approval of Paul VI, who gladly posed for an historic photograph with the six, which was published by the Vatican Press Office. The six publicly attested to the fact that the Novus Ordo service had been so changed in comparison to the Traditional Latin Mass that they had no problem whatsoever using it as their own Protestant worship service from then on.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “To weaken further the notion of ‘Real Presence’ of Christ, all decorum will have to be set aside. No more costly embroidered vestments, no more sacred music, especially no more Gregorian chant, but a music in jazz style.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. In fact, the traditional vestments of the Church have been replaced by an all-purpose slip-over alb. What passes for “music” in the Novus Ordo service is a cacophony of electronic pianos, drums, and rock-based rhythms and tunes. The pipe organ, the Church’s only authentic instruments, has been relegated to oblivion — or sold to nearby Protestant churches. The Church whose music was once the envy of the world and all its cultures now panders the “junk culture” to the world, with the pope personally attending rock concerts and expressing his preference for them over anything religious.

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “Moreover, the faithful will have to break themselves of the habit of kneeling, and this will be absolutely forbidden when receiving Communion.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. This plank from the 1940 plan has been fulfilled before our very eyes! Just this month the U.S. bishops have banned kneeling for “communion” at Novus Ordo services. Many dioceses already prevent kneeling during the most sacred part of the service, the Canon. And because many Novus Ordinarians still insist on kneeling, many churches have removed the kneelers!

THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. “In order to destroy all sacredness in the worship, the priest will be invited to say the whole Mass in the vernacular.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Although the use of vernacular in the Mass was condemned with the censure of excommunication by the dogmatic Council of Trent, and even though Vatican II confirmed this dogma, the reality of the Church of the Novus Ordo is quite different. A virtual babble (Babel) of vulgar tongues has intruded into what is supposed to be the Sacred Liturgy. It is interesting that the word vernacular comes from the Latin word for slave, vernaculus, and indeed the Church of the New Order has enslaved its congregations to a phony “mass” and a a phony “communion,” which, far from being able to impart any graces, has admitted, in the words of Pope Paul VI, “Satan around the altar.”

So, do we traditional Catholics sink into despair and hopelessness, even into distrust of God, knowing that the New Order has been executed exactly according to the plan of atheistic Modernists as early as 1940? No! I end this commentary by quoting from the truly Catholic woman whom the Anti-Apostle met — sent by God to save him if that were possible, who knows? God gives even atheistic Modernists a chance at grace, if they will but accept it and convert.

Many souls, my Dear, will yield to the temptation of joining a completely human Church, which will mix up all beliefs so as to render them unrecognizable, but the [true] Catholic Church will continue to stand. If you persecute it, it will go into hiding, but its soul will always remain standing. For the mark of this Church is the submission to a Revelation which comes from Heaven….

You might win a certain number of souls to your perverse doctrines, maybe even a part of the Clergy (although I do not believe it), but you will never win all the souls; on the contrary, you will fortify the Saints. Yes, my poor dear friend, by attacking the Church of God you are but a toy in the hands of the All-Powerful. You believe yourself to be strong, but you are only strong insofar as God permits. Fear the day when the Lord will say: “It is enough, I have heard the prayers of those who suffer, and I have decided to comfort them by destroying My enemies.”

And that, my fellow traditional Catholics, is the explanation of what is going on in the Church today. It is a great test of our souls and of our sanctity. The magnitude of the forces against true Catholicism, even if it be within the Church, even if it be to the papacy itself, is but nothing against the All-Powerful.

It is up to us merely to keep the traditional Faith, to keep praying for the restoration of the Church, and one day the enemies of the Church will be destroyed as Marie Carré says — maybe sooner, maybe latter, but the Faith teaches us that the question is not if, but when.