One of the biggest topics that has hit the Masonic boards is the problem of Clandestine Freemasonry. In the Chicago Metro area, it is prolific and is not limited to certain areas or ethnicities/races. It is literally everywhere.
Most recently, another group was found trying to recruit in Evanston. It is a Co-Masonry group and they have a very convincing program that would lead the un-initiated to believe that they are legitimate.
We, as Masons, have a solid definition of legitimacy, but to the uninformed, our definition may seem irrelevant. We indicate that your charter must trace back to the mother Lodge or UGLE, which is perfectly clear and easy to understand. You must have mutual recognition with the “regular” institution or amity as some call it. Pretty simple.
But to the lay person, the honest response is, who cares. For generations, the Catholic Church tried to indoctrinate their follows that the Roman Catholic Church was the only “regular” Christian Church in existence due to belief known as Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus or “outside the Church there is no salvation”. This was the Roman Catholic doctrine which declares a person could not gain salvation if you were not a follower of “the Church” because of the idea that Christ created only one church, which lineage has proven to be the Roman Catholic Church.
Pretty simple, huh? The problem is that the notion that one institution owns the teachings and philosophies of Christ proved to be less than popular amongst the followers as well as the outsiders. The result is that over the years, the Church has relaxed it’s doctrine to a point where it indicates that: "those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways.". In the year 2000, the church made the Dominus Iesus Declaration which states,
"for those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit; it has a relationship with the Church, which, according to the plan of the Father, has her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit."
So what does this mean and how does it relate to the topic? The Roman Catholic Church, being over 2000 years old and also being known as an organization that does not change easily, has accepted the fact that it is possible to receive the light of the church and gain salvation, even if you or your church are not necessarily a part of what they justify as the “regular” Church by the grace of Christ. You are not “regular” but you can receive light, provided you have faith in Christ and you live his principals.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating clandestine Masonry nor am I expressing a movement to open the doors and accept them with open arms. What I am saying is that there are men out there who are attracted to the Light of Masonry and who have accepted the light into their hearts. They truly believe themselves to be Masons, despite not belonging to “Regular” Masonic institutions.
The protestant churches and all their subsequent “split-off” churches, all believe they have Christ in their hearts and they all profess to live a life devoted to his teachings. In their hearts they are Christians and as thus can receive salvation. They are accepted by the Church and often meet with Church leaders on the level to discuss interfaith or inter denominational matters.
My point, these are good men. We as Regularly initiated Masons, should treat them as good men, Good Fellows.
Regardless of their faith, race or ethnicity, we are all men under the eyes of the creator. We are all due equal respect as such. As a Catholic, would you spur or mistreat a fellow because he was a Lutheran? The answer is, no. As a Christian, does Christ teach you to shun a man because he is a Muslim? Absolutely not, Christ teaches us to treat him with love and respect as a fellow man, with Brotherly Love, a tenet of Freemasonry.
Men join organizations because they feel comfortable, they feel at ease and they feel as if they are amongst friends and brothers. Inherently, as human beings, we are different and we each have a culture which we are most at ease in. We tend to gravitate toward the group which most closely fits our culture. Would you join a group which conflicted with your beliefs or which you did not feel comfortable in? Most likely not.
Clandestine Masonic organizations may not be open with their members that they are not “regular” or they may be open with it, the fact is that men join them because they like the men they meet and they feel comfortable amongst them. To them, the fact that a piece of paper can be traced to an institution is more or less irrelevant. They feel and believe what they know to be the light, even if it is slightly different from ours. Just as the doctrines of the Baptists differs from the Catholics, they are Christians none the less.
How do we resolve the issue of Clandestine Masonry? We start off by being the benevolent institution which we profess to be. We treat all men with respect and with brotherly love. We create the environment that all men, despite their race, creed or ethnicity, would want to become a part of. Freemasonry is not a White or Black institution, it is not a Christian organization, it is an organization for all men created by the Great Architect under the canopy of Heaven.
Once we establish that image, we make it known that we exist and we call the men back home. The Roman Catholic Church created a campaign called the Catholics Come Home campaign. They openly worked on creating that image which would attract followers to return to the church and to some extent is has been successful. We as regular Masons, reach out as a mission to those who are not regularly initiated and we show them that we truly are that benevolent institution and that they and all men are welcome to take a part in our organization.
When we attack men because of their affiliation, when we look down at them because of their race or their religion, we create an atmosphere of adversity and it becomes obvious that we are an institute of hypocrisy rather than benevolence. We do not create an atmosphere conducive to rebuilding our institute and we will in essence feed the fire that is clandestine masonry. Truth, Charity and Brotherly Love, the age old tenets of our ancient institution are the key to our future success.
In conclusion, I want to leave you with a particular thought to keep in mind.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”
Were there stipulations put on these words? There are not and the meaning of these words ring true, that all men are created equal and all men are due the pursuit of happiness. We can be the organization to facilitate that pursuit for all men who desire the Light of Freemasonry, it is just up to us to make that happen.
