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"Masonic Catholic priest claims Australian bishops approved Catholics joining Freemasons"
"A Catholic priest and Freemason claims that the Bishops Conference gave permission for Catholics to become ‘Australian Freemasons’ in 2016.
Fr. Kerry Costigan, now retired, of the Toowoomba Diocese in Queensland, contributed an article to the publication The Swag in which he admitted that he has been a member of the Ashlar Lodge for over ten years. In the article, Freemasonry and the Catholic Church, Fr. Costigan claimed that the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference approved Catholics to become members of Australian Freemasonry in 2016. Fr. Costigan also wrote that he would like to see this new policy be made public... (PDF available here)...
Fr. Costigan claims that in 1984, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference began an inquiry into Australian Freemasonry. Fr. Costigan opines that the reason no conclusion was published was due to there being no conflict between Catholicism and Masonry...
The priest goes on to say that in 2016, Catholic Freemasons contacted the Australian bishops to clarify their status. At that time, Catholic men were said to be the Grand Masters of the Western Australian, Queensland and South Australian/Northern Territory lodges. The Grand Master of SA/NT prepared a submission for the bishops and asked for an authoritative judgement from them. The ACBC's secretary is said to have then requested a combined submission from the Grand Masters of all Australian lodges, which was to include information on the basic ideals and principles of Australian Freemasonry.
According to Fr. Costigan, the Australian Catholic Bishops, via their secretary, then replied that 'any Catholic man may join Freemasonry as it exists in Australia as long as his conscience agrees.' Fr Costigan added that 'the reply also asked that membership in the Craft was to be carried out discreetly and without publicity,' and he surmised that this call for discretion was due to Masonry's prohibition overseas.
Fr. Costigan ends his article by thanking the bishops for their pastoral approach, with the hope that their statement will soon be made public...
Fr. Costigan’s involvement with the Ashlar Lodge has been known for almost a decade. In 2010, Tim Pemble-Smith of The Lepanto League's QLD branch asked the former Ordinary of the Toowoomba Diocese, Bishop William Morris, to clarify the priest’s relationship with the lodge, and also to clarify his own position on Freemasonry. Bishop Morris declined to answer Mr. Pemble-Smith directly, instead publishing a clarification in a diocesan publication which stated that 'Fr Kerry has a relationship of friendship and Pastoral Care' with the lodge.
There was no mention of Bishop Morris's own stance on Freemasonry...
The Lepanto also reported in 2011 that a Catholic priest had held a public prayer service for members of the Oddfellows Lodge - a secret organisation affiliated with the Masons - and there were said to be 'a thousand Catholics' who were Freemasons in Queensland. A statement from then-Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane, Michael Putney, was very telling. Bishop Putney said that ecumenism was breaking down many obstacles and 'How the church responds to groups like the Masonic lodge is a different pastoral question which varies in different localities'."
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