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Show CATHOLIC (P) FREEMASONS. A correspondent writes to say that two well known Catholics are members of his lodge, and asks if the pope has removed all censure from American members of the society. We suppress the names of the "Catholic Freemasons," Freema-sons," and, in answer to our correspondent, corre-spondent, say American Freemasons are as much under the ban of the church as their brethren in Europe. We know that it has been the fashion here with some "Liberal Catholics," who know little more than the A B C of theology, to say that the popes condemn con-demn Freemasonry as it is on the European Eu-ropean continent, but not as it is in the United States. The miserable dupes, who, in a desire to conciliate the' enemies en-emies of Catholicism, would tear and patch the seamless garments of Catholic Catho-lic doctrine, forget, or at least try not to remember, that the teachings of the popes on this subject are addressed to the entire Christian world. But lest any one man be made the dupe of men who compromise truth witn error ana vice witn virtue, we would point to the doctrine held and promulgated by the archbishops and bishops of the United States. The prelates pre-lates of the American church, in solemn sol-emn council a&sembled, at Baltimore, Md., in 1866, devoted much time to the consideration of this subject, and, quoting quot-ing the pontifical constitutions, they warn Catholics against becoming Freemasons Free-masons under the awful penalty of the greater excommunication. As a matter of fact. Freemasonry is based on "Naturalism." The theory of both Freemasons and Liberal Catholics is that nature was created for an end which it is quite capable of attaining by the mere development of those qualities, qual-ities, which, once supposing the first cause to have determined to create it, belong to it of right. Modern paganism, pagan-ism, having deprived man of his religion, relig-ion, proceeds to remodel society. According Ac-cording to the principles of Liberalism, Liberal-ism, human society has no divine sanction, sanc-tion, and may be set at defiance when- j ever it is possible so to deal with it. In other words, men may do as they like so long as they are strong enough to do it; and if they are not strong enough, they are justified in the use of any means by which they may become be-come so. Hence we have secret bands of assassins in every country in Europe. Eu-rope. Freemasonry and Liberal Catholicism are founded on an absurd error con-' con-' cerning the origin and the destiny of I created things. The former wants to take the place of the church of God, while the latter tries with sacrilegious hands to so fashion and mould the teachings of Jesus Christ that they may not clash with what they call "science," "sci-ence," "progress," "civilization," and other vaguely splendid generalities. We pray that God may open the eyes of all "Liberal Catholics" to the iniquities of Freemasonry, and lead them back to the fold from which they have so foolishly fool-ishly wandered. When Catholics become be-come Freemasons they do so for some political or business end, and, for filthy lucre, cut themselves off from the church of their baptism. American Herald. |