STB-MR74

OUR RELATIONS with

THE KNIGHTS of COLUMBUS

This Short Talk is an address given by Worshipful Brother C. C.
(Buddy) Faulkner to more than a thousand Masons assembled in Murat
Temple, Indianapolis, Indiana, for the January 12, 1974 Founders'
Day Communication of the Grand Lodge of Indiana. Brother Faulkner
is a Past Master of Mystic Tie Lodge No. 398, Indianapolis, and is
well known as the former Executive Secretary of the Indiana DeMolay
Foundation and former Assistant Grand Secretary of Indiana. His
gracious permission to publish his address in this form is
sincerely appreciated.

The subject of my remarks today--"Our Relations with the Knights of
Columbus"-- was assigned to me some months ago by Right Worshipful
Brother Frank J. Krug, Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Indiana. Although his letter of invitation to me to accept the
responsibility for presenting this subject to you contained no
guidelines, the fact that the topic is being discussed during this
mid-year meeting of the members of the Grand Lodge is significant.

Significant in that it means to us that the former relationship
that existed for many years --nearly a century--now is evolving
into one that is new and different and exciting, and that the
leadership of our Fraternity in Indiana considers that new
relationship to be not only note-worthy, but important.

By comparison with Freemasonry, the Knights of Columbus as an
organization is, relatively speaking, a "youngster," only 92 years
of age. When it was founded in 1882 by Michael J. McGivney, a Roman
Catholic Priest, one of its principal purposes was that of
providing insurance benefits to Catholic families. The organization
has enjoyed an increasing membership through the years, and today
the Knights of Columbus is international in scope, numerically
about 1,200,000 members strong, with local groups called "Councils"
in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Puerto Rico,
Panama Canal Zone, Guam and Guatemala. To my knowledge, the
organization is not in existence on the European continent, nor in
Asia, Africa, Australia or Greenland.

The mission and purposes of the Knights of Columbus are to provide
financial aid to members and their beneficiaries; to help its
disabled and sick members; and to foster participation by its
members in religious, social welfare, and charitable projects.

Membership in the Order is limited strictly to practicing Roman
Catholics 18 years of age and older. Solicitation of new members
among the eligible not only is permissible, but is encouraged. A
unanimous ballot is not required.

Displaying an awareness of the importance of training young people,
the Knights of Columbus sponsors and operates, as a part of its
permanent and on-going program, the "Columbian Squires," an
organization for Roman Catholic boys between the ages of 13 and 18
years.

Each local K. of C. Council is governed by its chosen officers. The
presiding officer is known as the Grand Knight, who is assisted and
supported by a corps of officers in a progressive line. This state
organization is known as a State Council, presided over by a State
Deputy. Internationally, the Knights of Columbus is governed by a
Supreme Council, presided over by the Supreme Knight.

Through the years since the Knights of Columbus was formed in New
Haven, Connecticut (the International Headquarters is located
there), its relationship with Freemasonry has paralleled the Roman
Catholic Church's relationship with Freemasonry, for reasons that
are obvious.

Therein lies at least a part of the background against which we
view the contrasting and refreshing changes that began recently to
occur. And so, for the purposes of better understanding where we
are now, and why the changing relationship between the Knights of
Columbus and Freemasonry is something to talk about, let us
consider the following facts on a purely historical basis and for
no other purpose.

The Roman Catholic Church many, many centuries ago patterned its
form of Church government after the form of government of the Roman
Empire. For nearly a thousand years before its first pronouncement
against Freemasonry, the Church had disapproved of the various
trades and professions and guilds that were organized outside the
framework of the Roman Church. Such groups (and among them were the
operative Masons) were organized for their own purposes and without
control from the outside, but their members were members of the
Roman Church.

In April, 1738, Pope Clement XII issued a prohibition against
Freemasonry. He placed on the document the customary seal composed
of a blob of lead, called a "bulla," which explains the origin of
the term "Bull," by which the prohibitions have been called. From
1738 until several years ago, the Roman Church prohibited its
members from belonging to organizations considered by the Church to
be secret societies or free associations. That prohibition extended
to include a number of organizations, and specifically included
Freemasonry. Indeed, there have been no less than eight Papal
"Bulls" issued against Freemasonry, together with nine Papal
Encyclicals on the same subject. The most recent "Bull" was
proclaimed in 1884, two years after the founding of the Knights of
Columbus in the United States. Four of the Encyclicals were issued
during and after 1882, the most recent being in 1890. Those
pronouncements from the seat of power in the Roman Church had a
long-term influence over relationships between the Knights of
Columbus and Freemasonry.
lt is significant--and every Mason ought to know this--that in
spite of the outright tension that existed during those years of
separation, there has never been, and there is not now, in the
philosophy and attitude, or in the ritual of Symbolic Freemasonry,
even the slightest hostility toward the Catholic Church or to any
of its members, or to any of its organizations, including the
Knights of Columbus. From its beginnings in the Middle Ages, it has
been a landmark of Ancient Craft Masonry to forbid Lodges and
Masons from interfering with churches, governments, and other
organizations and societies, to discuss their affairs, or to act
officially concerning them. Freemasonry for that reason never has
been in controversy with the Roman Church, nor has the Craft taken
official recognition of any of the pronouncements against it by any
Church or anyone else.

Up to the time of the Protestant Reformation, which had its
beginnings in 1517, Operative Masons in Europe were under the
patronage of the Church and State, and were of the Roman Catholic
religion. And so, prominent in the mosaic of our fraternity's
beginnings, the Craft has had many ancient ties with the Roman
Church. In our Ancient Charges, under the first general heading,
"Concerning God and Religion," we read: ". . . in ancient times
Masons were charged in every Country to be of the Religion of that
Country or Nation, whatever it was...."

Notwithstanding the events that I have just recalled for you from
the pages of history, there are now, and there have been through
the years, members of the Roman Church who have been raised to
Freemasonry's Sublime Degree, both in Indiana and in other
jurisdictions in this nation and around the world. The late Rudyard
Kipling, Freemason, reminiscing about the brotherhood and
fellowship in his Mother Lodge in India, poetized one such
reference:

"We'd Bola Nath, accountant
An' Saul the Aden Jew,
An Din Mahammed, draughtsman
of the Survey Office, too:
There was Babu Chuckerbutty,
An' Arnir Singh the Sikh,

An' Castro from the fittin'-sheds,
The Roman Catholik."

Freemasonry never brands or compliments (and never will) a man for
his sectarian religious views. It has insisted that a man have a
firm belief and trust in a Supreme Being; and it has established
certain criteria for membership in the Fraternity, including age,
residence, being freeborn, and of good character. And that is all.
Coming thus "well qualified," any man, including members of the
Knights of Columbus, have been free to seek a relationship with us,
within our fraternity.

Does it not logically follow, then, that if we can be friends with
a man once he has become a part of our mystic circle, we should be
able to become friends with him outside our fellowship?

In recent years, both in Indiana and in other parts of the nation,
we have been pleased to see a relaxing of the Roman Church's
restraint, and a ripening friendship between our Craft and the
Knights of Columbus. Lodges have entertained Knights and their
ladies; Knights and their ladies have reciprocated, and in many
instances have been the ones to make the first gesture of
friendship. The resulting gatherings have been aimed toward having
pleasant associations socially, concentrating on the similarities
between the two organizations, forgetting about matters on which we
do not agree.

And there are indeed many similarities: in our system of three
degrees; in our efforts to help, aid, and assist our less fortunate
members; in our aims to improve the community through the
improvement of the individual member; in our active sponsorship of
well-rounded and wholesome activities for the youth who come under
the sphere of our influence. All those things are points of
agreement on which we place emphasis during our social gatherings
with our K. of C. friends.

Even the official publication of our Grand Lodge, The Indiana
Freemason, has, on occasion, published articles written by leaders
and spokesmen of the Roman Catholic Church and the Knights of
Columbus. Always, those articles have been not only complimentary
to Freemasonry, but have expressed pleasure at the bridge of
friendship that is being built so carefully between our two
organizations.

Several times each year, officers and leaders of our Grand Lodge
meet together with leaders and representatives of the Indiana State
Council of the Knights of Columbus, for an evening of social
fellowship, and to explore new avenues of cooperation in our mutual
interests and pursuits. As a token of friendship, each organization
has contributed modestly to the other's foremost charity, they to
our Indiana Masonic Home at Franklin, and we to their Gibault Home
for Boys near Terre Haute.

Across the length and breadth of our state, and at many
intermediate points in between, Lodges and Councils have extended
to each other the arm of friendship in many ways. Hopefully, this
new friendship and relationship will grow deeper and more
meaningful to all of us in the months and years to come.

Let it be said emphatically that our joint meetings contain no
effort or attempt, overt or otherwise, to solicit members or to
have any joint venture but those of purely social intent, whereby
we become better acquainted with each other's philosophies and
views, aims, and purposes.

And so I am pleased to report to you that the status of our
relations with the Knights of Columbus is good. Notwithstanding the
events of history, there is no reason for our relationship to be
other than good, or less than good. If you and your Lodge have not
experienced the pleasure that comes from making new friends in your
community, then perhaps you will want to give that ecumenical
spirit a try, provided the members of your respective Lodges will
give you their unqualified and enthusiastic support. I caution you
that the support of your Lodge is important. If, after discreet
exploration you find that kind of support, extend the invitation
for a friendly relationship, or respond favorably to an invitation
if it is extended to you and your Lodge.

In closing, let me say that as a man and a Freemason, I claim no
credit for the achievements of my forebears, nor any blame for
their failures and defeats. I claim them all as a part of my
heritage, and accept my obligation and responsibility to meet, as
best I know how, the challenges that are mine today. The victories
and failures of past generations give me insight and inspiration,
and help me to chart my course. I believe that ought to be the
dominating philosophy of all well-intentioned Knights and Masons as
they seek to foster a friendship with each other.

I want to leave with you these thoughts about the refreshing but
gentle ecumenical breezes that move about us today. One thought is
about the value of our Craft's firm stand not to become embroiled
in controversy. You will recall an admonition in our ceremonies,
"Neither are you to suffer your zeal for the Institution to lead
you into argument with those who may ridicule it." The blows of
many sledge hammers have beat upon the anvil of Freemasonry in the
centuries that have gone. The anvil is unharmed. The hammers have
worn. Our ancient charges, like gold, have withstood the acid of
time.

I believe too that the new friendship that we find among our
brethren of the Knights of Columbus is a culmination or fruition of
Freemasonry's firm and time-tested belief in the Fatherhood of God
and the Brotherhood of Man--the brotherhood of ALL men.

During the last decade, man has extended his reach and has touched
the very surface of the Moon. If men can do that, then I believe
that men ought to be able and willing to extend the arm of
brotherhood to a neighbor. If men cannot do that, then we might
well be parties to the greatest tragedy in the history of the human
race.

So, if Freemasonry is something that you and I are serious about,
if it is inextricably a part of our personal character and
life-style, and not merely words on our lips, then these new
changes and friendships bode well for the cause of peace and
brotherhood among men of good will.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity!
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