“Our second objection is that a mason has to take a series of oaths. They take a number of oaths, first of all of secrecy.
Now, I’ve read frequently the various ceremonies of the Masonic Lodge. Why is that? Because they’re not that good at keeping the secret. And you can read this in all kind of places, lots of masons have made these known. But these oaths would not be considered valid for any Catholic to take. Because some of the oaths, are blood oaths. They take an oath that if they break the secrecy of the lodge, they make a sign from ear to ear, across their neck, across their stomach, and then down the stomach, to show that if they break these oaths, they can be cut from ear to ear, the neck will be cut, and they can be cut open, and disemboweled. Now, no Catholic can take such an oath! That is a sinful oath to take, to keep some silly secret. And I would call this secret silly after I’ve read them. You don’t swear to kill yourself or conversely, potentially even take part in killing somebody else, for breaking the oath.
Now, in fact, there are not many killings for Masons for breaking the oaths. I don’t know of too many. There’s some cases here and there. A couple of times they are even doubtful but whether it’s done or not, it is still illegitame for a Catholic to take such an oath. And also, to protect these passwords and such and in secret grips and handshakes. That that is a vain and rash swearing of an oath, and no Catholic may do this.
Now, along with that too, there is another quality that I would object to in the Masonic oaths. And that is, that these promises that they make to keep these various secrets, includes oaths to protect a brother mason at any cost. No matter what the mason has done, murder and treason, so that if you know that a mason has done some crime, then and your brother mason, you may not testify against him. If a brother mason is on a trial and you were part of the jury, you may not vote to convict him, even if you know that he’s guilty. Now that’s not legitimate. That’s not a love of truth. That’s protection of your own at any cost but that is not acceptable for a Catholic. If you know somebody to be a criminal and you are called upon to testify, you have an obligation when you swear a legitimate oath to tell the truth in a trial. You have an obligation to tell the truth. If you perjure yourself, you’ve done two sins. One: you’ve taken a vain oath to protect the mason. And two: you’ve taken a legitimate oath in a courtroom and you lie under oath.
That is breaking the eighth commandment in two different ways and that is unacceptable for any Christian, yet alone a Catholic. So this is something that nobody may take part in and this is one of the things that is very much a concern that we have with the Masonic Lodge.”
