Insights on the Catholic’s stand against Freemasonry

The Editor
Damayan-Buluseno Gazette

This refers to the positive comment made by Rev. (Maj.) Salvador G. Gacias on the Catholic Church's stand against Freemasonry that was written in the September-October 2003 issue of the Damayan Buluseno Gazette.

His comments may, however, be likened to the description of St. John the Baptist as that of "a voice crying in the wilderness." In this predominantly Catholic country, the Freemasons are still regarded as those who allegedly worship the devil called Baphomet, spit on the cross and deny Christ, and such absurd charges that can be leveled against members of the Masonic Fraternity. St. John the Baptist, incidentally, is one of the two patrons of Masonry, the other being St. John the Evangelist.

These absurd charges notwithstanding, Freemasons do subscribe to the dictum that it is in his work that the true worth of a man is judge; and the legacies left behind by Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Manuel L. Quezon, Rafael Palma and currently Justice Reynato S. Puno and Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. to name a but few, can stand critical evaluation.

In this far-off scenic island called Bohol, I, too, stand on my firm conviction that a mass that will be officiated by a Catholic priest would be totally irrelevant when I am finally called by my Maker. The good that I did, and even the bad, can no longer be altered by a Catholic Mass, the rank of the officiating priest notwithstanding.

Interested readers who have access to the Internet are encouraged to visit the Grand Lodge of the Philippines Website by double-clicking http://www.glphils.org/ for relevant Masonic information.

Geminiano V. Galarosa, Jr.
Guindulman, Bohol