W. Bro. Martino G. A. Cartella, SLGR
Introduction
The relationship between Freemasonry and the Anglican Church is complex and varied, influenced by centuries of history and by different theological and social positions.
Historically, modern Freemasonry originated in England in the early 18th century, when the Church of England was the state religion. Many of the early Freemasons were members of the Church of England, including some of its leaders. However, from the beginning, Freemasonry presented itself as a secular organization that welcomed people of different religious faiths.
The Church of England has reiterated “significant concerns” about Christians becoming Freemasons amid renewed controversy over the organisation’s presence at the heart of the British establishment. Christopher Cocksworth, the Bishop of Coventry, pointed to a 1987 report published by the church that highlighted “a number of fundamental reasons to question the compatibility of Freemasonry and Christianity”.
The bishop was responding to a question put to the church's General Synod, meeting in London, asking for information about services celebrating the 300th anniversary of the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) held in “a number” of Anglican cathedrals.
Cocksworth said such data was not collected or monitored centrally, but added that cathedral services could not contravene either canon law or church doctrine.
The UGLE's director of communications also said the information was “not readily available”, but added: “The services held in various cathedrals were normal prayer book services and did not deviate from normal Anglican practice.”
“The Anglican Synod has never reached a conclusion on the compatibility of Freemasonry and Christianity. The 1987 report raised what it called “serious questions” and the synod recommended that they be discussed throughout the Church. As far as we know, these discussions have never taken place.”
Points of Contact: 1. Common Values
Many Anglicans were (and are) Freemasons. Freemasonry has always attracted members of the English middle and upper classes, groups in which the Anglican Church was strongly represented.
Points of Contact: 2. Shared Values
Freemasonry and the Anglican Church share several values, such as charity (beneficence), philanthropy and the importance of personal morality.
Canterbury was among the cathedrals that held UGLE Tercentenary services in 2017. According to the Grand Lodge of West Kent, the service on 18 February 2017 was prepared in collaboration with the Right Reverend Dr Robert Willis, the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, who also delivered the sermon.
A notice from the West Kent website read: "We will be joined by many of the Grand Officers of Craft and the Chapter of the Holy Royal Arch together with Brethren from the Grand Lodges of East Kent, West Kent, Surrey and Sussex,"
The religious ceremony was made possible after Freemasons from Kent, Sussex and Surrey raised £300,000 for the restoration of the north-west transept of Canterbury Cathedral.
Points of Conflict: 1. Secrecy
The secret nature of Masonic rituals has aroused suspicion and criticism from some members of the Anglican Church.
Secrecy was seen as incompatible with the transparency required by Christian life.
Lambeth Palace has confirmed that Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church, was not, and had never been, a Freemason. His predecessor, Rowan Williams, was an opponent of Freemasonry. Soon after his appointment, the new Archbishop of Canterbury said he believed Christianity and Freemasonry were "incompatible" and refused to appoint clergymen to senior posts because they were members of the Brotherhood. However, in 2011 he was embroiled in controversy after appointing a well-known Freemason as Bishop of Ebbsfleet.
Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1945 to 1961, held the office of Grand Chaplain of the UGLE
As if, I do not say the Pope, but the Cardinal Secretary of State were the Chaplain of the GOI or the GLRI.
The 1987 church report stated that it was “ clear that some Christians found the impact of Masonic rituals disturbing and some perceived them as positively evil .”
It was claimed that Christians had resigned from Masonic lodges “ precisely because they perceived their membership in them as being in conflict with their Christian testimony and faith .”
Points of Conflict: 2. Theology
Freemasonry is often considered a deistic organization, promoting a general belief in a "Supreme Being" rather than a specifically Christian God. This theological approach is at odds with the Christian orthodoxy of the Anglican Church.
The Association of English Cathedrals said: “ Cathedrals provide a place of worship and welcome. Although the Church has had a difficult relationship with the Masonic movement, we share a common humanity and no one would question its commitment to charity and community. Some of our cathedrals have hosted special services organised by Freemasons in the same way as they would host services for a wide variety of different community groups and organisations, in the spirit of openness and welcome .”
Justin Welby is not now, nor has he ever been, a Freemason, a Lambeth Palace spokesman told the press this week. However, the archbishop's staff declined to comment on the archbishop's views on the compatibility of Freemasonry and Christianity.
While his predecessor, Lord Williams, was an outspoken opponent of Freemasonry, blocking Freemasons from senior positions in the church, his successor has so far remained silent. The June 1987 General Synod at York sought to establish the Church of England's official position on Freemasonry, holding that Christianity and Freemasonry were not compatible.
Official Positions: 1. Anglican Church
There is no single official position of the Anglican Church on Freemasonry, as opinions can vary between different Anglican provinces and even between individual clergy and laity. Some Anglican leaders have criticised Freemasonry, while others have shown tolerance or even support. The Archbishop of Canterbury gave Canterbury Cathedral to Freemasonry for the tercentenary celebrations in 2017 (and received a donation of £300,000 to repair the Cathedral's roof).
By a vote of 384 in favor, 52 against, and 5 abstentions, the General Synod approved the report “Freemasonry and Christianity: Are They Compatible?” The 56-page report prepared by a seven-member committee led by sociologist Margaret Hewett, which also included two Freemasons, was published after 16 months of study. While Masonic members believed that Freemasonry and Christianity were compatible, non-Masons found “ a number of fundamental reasons to question the compatibility of Freemasons with Christianity .”
The report concluded that Masonic rituals were “ blasphemous ” because the name of God “ must not be taken in vain, nor may it be replaced by an amalgam of the names of pagan deities .”
However, the report did not take the position of the Methodist Church in England that Christians should resign.
In addition, some senior clergy took up the defense of Freemasonry. The Archbishop of York, the Most Rev. John Habgood, described English Freemasonry as a “fairly harmless eccentricity.” The Bishop of Manchester, the Most Rev. Stanley Booth-Clibborn (grandson of Salvation Army founder William Booth), stated: “The important point should be that there should be no undue pressure on Christians who are Freemasons, and no witch-hunts.”
Following his appointment by Lord Williams as Bishop of Ebbsfleet in 2011, the Rev Jonathan Baker resigned from the Oxford lodge. In a statement on the Ebbsfleet website, Bishop Baker said he had joined the Freemasons as “an undergraduate at Oxford, prior to ordination. Over the years I have found it to be an organisation admirably committed to community life and involvement, with a record of charitable giving second to none, especially, for example, in unfashionable areas of medical research.”
He added: “If I had ever encountered anything in Freemasonry that was incompatible with my Christian faith, of course I would have resigned immediately. On the contrary, Freemasonry is a secular organisation, entirely in support of the faith, and not an alternative or substitute for it. As for the Church of England, its support for, for example, the structure of the cathedral is well documented.”
However, “I have concluded that, because of the particular charisma of the episcopal ministry and the weight that such ministry carries, I renounce my membership in Freemasonry.”
A series of cathedral services during Archbishop Welby's tenure reopened the issue. On 21 September 2013 Canterbury Cathedral celebrated the 200th anniversary of Royal Arch Masonry with a special service led by the Archdeacon of Canterbury, the Venerable Sheila Watson.
Official Positions: 2. UGLE (United Grand Lodge of England)
Freemasonry has generally and always avoided taking official positions on specific religious issues in the face of all religions, focusing instead on the promotion of its ethical and moral principles.
Any initiate into Freemasonry is asked if he believes in a supreme being and what religion he belongs to.
He is also told that in the Lodge it is absolutely forbidden to talk about religion and politics.
Freemasonry Today reported that Archdeacon Watson noted the “ long association between the cathedral and the Freemasons ” and paid “ tribute to the Masonic principles of unity, brotherhood and service to the community, and spoke of ‘service beyond ourselves’, a virtue embraced by the Church and Freemasonry too ”.
The cathedral's press office refused to respond to a request for a copy of the liturgy used during the Masonic service and was unable to confirm claims that Jahbulon was venerated in Church of England ceremonies.
In 2012 the Dean of St Albans, the Very Revd Jeffrey John, hosted 800 Hertfordshire Freemasons and members of the Rose Croix and Societas Rosicruciana who held a thanksgiving service and the re-dedication of a pulpit, a gift from English Freemasons in 1883.
During this service in St Albans, Provincial Grand Master Colin Harris and Dr John both referred to the relationship between the Abbey and the Provincial Lodge of Hertfordshire of Grand Stewards No. 8984, as Freemasonry Today reports, noting that the lodge “ regularly attends major events at the Abbey ”.
Given the growing public profile of Freemasons in English cathedrals, 17 cathedrals have allowed Masonic ceremonies in their churches, has the 1987 General Synod document on Freemasonry been rendered obsolete?
There is no official position from either the Church of England in particular or the Anglican Communion in general. We invited the Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Office of the Bishop of Peterborough to send a delegate to speak at this conference. There was no response or acknowledgement of any kind from either. Two Anglican reverends had agreed to attend and present the case for the Anglican church. Both changed their minds a few days later.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Welby, has remained silent on the matter, however his predecessor, Archbishop Williams, has declared Freemasonry incompatible with Christianity, but again, no official decision from the General Synod.
Jonathan Wynne-Jones published an article in the Sunday Telegraph, entitled “Archbishop allows Freemason to become bishop”.
Dr Rowan Williams, the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed the Right Reverend Jonathan Baker as the next Bishop of Ebbsfleet despite knowing that he was an active and long-serving Freemason.
The appointment marked a significant U-turn by Dr Williams who had previously said Freemasonry was "incompatible" with Christianity and refused to promote Masons to senior posts.
When news of Rev. Baker's membership in Freemasonry began to circulate in the Church, it caused growing concern and criticism from clergy and members of the General Synod.
When contacted by the Sunday Telegraph, Rev Baker defended his continued membership of Freemasonry and insisted it was compatible with his new role as bishop.
Yet yesterday he said he had changed his mind and was leaving Freemasonry so he could focus on his career as a bishop, adding: “I don’t want anything to distract him from the inauguration of that ministry.”
Current Situation
Today, the relationship between Freemasonry and the Anglican Church is generally tolerant, although some tensions still exist. While some members of the Anglican clergy are Freemasons and see the two affiliations as compatible, others remain critical and distrustful of Freemasonry and do everything they can to keep the two environments separate.
General Synod, July 1987
General Synod Examines a Relationship Freemasonry and Christianity: Are They Compatible?
The following motion was passed by a margin of 8 to 1:
“That this Synod approves the Report of the Working Group (GS 784A), including its final paragraph, and recommends its discussion by the Church”
At the national level, there have been no formal developments since the 1987 debate.
The last paragraph of the report cited in the above motion reads as follows:
«(122) This Report has identified a number of important questions which, in the opinion of the Working Group, the General Synod will have to reflect upon when considering “the compatibility or otherwise of Freemasonry with Christianity”. From the reflections of the Working Group itself emerge understandable differences of opinion between those who are Freemasons and those who are not. While the former fully agree that the Report shows that there are obvious difficulties facing Christian Masons, the latter are of the opinion that the Report indicates a number of fundamental reasons for questioning the compatibility of Freemasonry with Christianity.»
On April 20, 2003, the Telegraph reported this article: Rowan Williams apologises to Freemasons . "The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has been forced to apologise to Britain's 330,000 Freemasons after claiming their beliefs were incompatible with Christianity and he had dismissed them from senior posts in his diocese…
…In his apology letter, Dr. Williams seeks to distance himself from his own reported comments. He says his views were never meant to be public and have been distorted by the media.
He wrote: “I was sorry to learn of the suffering of a considerable number of Freemasons … In responding to private correspondence I had no intention of initiating a public debate or of impugning the good faith and generosity of individual Freemasons and I regret the tone and content of the media coverage.”
He added: “The statements quoted about the ‘satanic’ character of Masonic ceremonies and other matters do not originate with me and do not represent my judgment. As my late father was a member of the Order for many years, I have had every opportunity of observing the probity of individual members.”
Dr. Williams, in his letter, does not deny having doubts about the role of Freemasons within the Church.
He wrote: “ The concerns, however, are in relation not to Freemasonry but to the adherence of Christian ministers to what may be and often is understood [or misunderstood] as a private system of profession and initiation, involving the taking of oaths of allegiance .”
He concludes his letter by stating that the Masons' commitment to charity and community is beyond question.
The Ebbsfleet website contains a personal statement from the Rev Jonathan Baker, Bishop-designate of Ebbsfleet.
“I joined the Masons as an undergraduate at Oxford, before ordination. Over the years I have found them to be an organisation admirably committed to community life and involvement, with a record of charitable giving second to none, especially among, for example, unfashionable areas of medical research.
If I had ever encountered anything in Freemasonry that was incompatible with my Christian faith, I would of course have resigned immediately. On the contrary, Freemasonry is a secular organization, entirely in support of the faith, and not an alternative or substitute for it. As for the Church of England, its support for, for example, the structure of the cathedral is well documented.
Last year His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent invited me to serve as Assistant to the Grand Chaplain, an invitation which I gladly accepted. This post lasted a year and ended in April.”
Being a bishop requires reconsidering commitments in every area of life; in fact, Archbishop Rowan had invited me, during the discussion, to reconsider, among other commitments, my membership in Freemasonry. I intended to discuss the matter in more depth with friends and colleagues.
However, I have decided to make the decision now. My first priority is the new ministry to which I have been called and the people who will be entrusted to my care. I do not want anything to distract from the inauguration of that ministry.
I wish to pay tribute to the aims and objectives of Freemasonry and the work it does. I am grateful for the role it has played in my life and for the many friendships it has cultivated.
Welby's Masonic Service, January 2017
Welby's Masonic Service at Canterbury Cathedral at odds with Christian Faith – 10 January 2017
In clear defiance of a recent ruling against Freemasonry by a Church of England ecclesiastical judge, Justin Welby opened his cathedral in Canterbury to a full-scale Masonic service on 18 February 2017.
Canterbury Cathedral held a thanksgiving ceremony to mark 300 years of Freemasonry after receiving a £300,000 ($374,520) donation from Freemasons for the restoration of the Cathedral's north-west transept.
This is in complete violation of the spirit of the ruling of the Chancellor Geoffrey Tattersall (Queen's Advocate) who, as a judge of the Consistory Court of the Diocese of Carlisle, barred a family from having the Freemasons' Square and Compass emblem engraved on the gravestone of a Freemason. He died after devoting much of his life to the organisation.
The square and compass are Masonic symbols and can be found on a series of large wooden tables in Liverpool Cathedral, where Justin Welby was Dean before becoming Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of Canterbury.
While Welby was Dean of Liverpool, he accepted a donation of £69,000 ($86,139) from the West Lancashire Freemasons' Charity, which was used to install a new lift in the Lady Chapel at Liverpool Cathedral, despite the discomfort many felt at Welby and the cathedral's closeness to Freemasonry.
Judge Tattersall’s ruling on September 8, 2016, was met with an angry response from the Masonic community. In his ruling, the judge specified that the epitaphs on the headstone “must be entirely compatible with the Christian faith.”
Although Provincial Grand Master Keith Hodgson had argued that the Masonic symbol " can be seen in most of the cemeteries in this area ", Mr Justice Tattersall ruled that " I have been given no evidence that such a symbol appears in any Church of England cemeteries in the diocese ".
Tattersall's judgment has also been called into question because he did not reveal that Masonic symbols exist in important sections of Liverpool Cathedral, Peterborough Cathedral, and many other cathedrals, and did not reveal how he came to the conclusion that no such symbol was used on any other gravestone. Liverpool Cathedral under Welby had allowed the symbol to be engraved on the elevator donated by the Freemasons, and Peterborough Cathedral you can see them in the presentation.
Mr Justice Tattersall's judgment quotes extensively from the report “ Freemasonry and Christianity: Are They Compatible? ” – a summary of the deliberations of the General Synod of the Church of England in July 1987.
In this judgment Tattersall cited the Synod report which stated that "it was clear that " some Christians found the impact of Masonic rituals disturbing and some perceived them as positively evil. " Some believed that Masonic rituals were "blasphemous" because the name of God " should not be taken in vain, nor can it be replaced by an amalgam of the names of pagan deities ." It noted that Christians had withdrawn from Masonic lodges " precisely because they perceived their membership in them as conflicting with their Christian witness" and faith.
Conservative Christians are angered by Welby's willingness to " accept large bribes at both Liverpool and Canterbury Cathedrals and compromise the very essence of the Christian faith when even the Roman Catholic Church forbids Freemasonry in its canon law ," one senior priest said. " How can Welby expect his clergy to follow Church law and accept discipline when he himself treats such a significant issue so cavalierly when both the General Synod and an ecclesiastical court have ruled so clearly on the issue ," he said.
Welby's predecessor, Dr Rowan Williams, took a much firmer doctrinal stance against Freemasonry. However, in April 2003, Williams was forced to apologise to Britain's 330,000 Freemasons after claiming that their beliefs were incompatible with Christianity and he had barred them from senior positions in his diocese.
The Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, the Right Reverend Robert Willis, has agreed to personally attend this service. The Cathedral has also agreed that a special plaque will be placed in the Cathedral building to show the support given by the Freemasons, as well as a permanent engraving in the stonework inside the Tower.
Conclusion
In summary, current relations between the Anglican Church and English Freemasonry are characterised by a history of cooperation and conflict.
Both at all hierarchical levels of both the Church and Freemasonry and geographically speaking where some areas of England are more favourable than others. Here are some historic cathedrals that have close relationships with Freemasonry: Canterbury, Winchester, Salisbury, Manchester, Truro, Wells, Lincoln, Exeter, Chester, Leicester and Peterborough.
W. Bro. Martino G. A. Cartella, SLGR, was born near Bergamo, Italy in 1944 but left Italy in 1965 and after living in different countries for a few years, he settled in London in 1975 and eventually became a British Citizen. He has been a Freemasons for 35 years, active in Craft (L4606), Chapter(L1541), Mark(L44-Kent), and Templars (P429, Middlesex). Since 2021 he is cooperating with the Historian Lucio Artini of Arezzo, Italy. He is the translator of Ric Berman’s book into Italian: “Inventing the future: the 1723 Constitutions” and the Secretary of the non-profit “Diffusione Culturale Limited”.