- Dear Fr. Ebenezer Hanson,
May the grace and peace of Christ be with you!
Many thanks for your Open Letter of 24 January 2025 addressed to the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference on “The Church and Freemasonry, The Case in Ghana”. In my response, I would like to concentrate on the fundamental point that you made about the incompatibility of Catholicism with Freemasonry. You made this point in the light of the assertion made by the Member of Parliament for Effutu in the Central Region and the current Minority Leader, Hon. Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, that he is a Catholic and a Freemason but has not been sanctioned by the Catholic Church. It is regrettable that his statement on this matter is causing anxiety to people, especially the youth. It is unfortunate that Hon. Afenyo-Markin does not know the teaching of his Church on this matter. Contrary to what he is saying, Freemasonry is not approved by the Catholic Church. Indeed, Catholics are forbidden to become Freemasons. The Catholic Church has opposed the Lodge on doctrinal grounds nearly since the birth of modern Freemasonry in 1717. The Lodge has been condemned explicitly by eleven popes as being incompatible with Christianity.
The position of the Catholic Church on this matter is that one cannot be a Catholic and a Freemason at the same time. This is because Freemasonry is a religion in its own right, with doctrines that are irreconcilable with Christian doctrines. What Freemasonry teaches about the following cannot be reconciled with Christian beliefs, i.e., God, Christ, the denial of the role of grace and Christ in salvation, morality, its attitude towards the Bible, eschatology, the masonic oaths and the notion of rebirth and enlightenment. For all these reasons, one cannot simultaneously be a Catholic and a Freemason, just as one cannot be a Catholic and be Muslim, a Hindu, a Shintoist or a practitioner of African Traditional Religion. One will have to make a choice between Christianity and Freemasonry. The Catholic Church does not say or imply that Freemasons are bad people for being Freemasons. Some of them are very good and philanthropic people. However, it is the teaching of the Catholic Church that one cannot be a Catholic and be a Freemason at the same time. The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference will send a delegation to meet Honourable Afenyo-Markin and let him know unambiguously that one cannot be a Catholic and a Freemason at the same time. Honourable Afenyo-Markin will have to make a choice.
It needs to be pointed out that the Catholic Church is not the only church to oppose Freemasonry. Other groups that do not permit its members to join Freemasonry include many branches of Lutheranism, the Christian Reformed Church, most Pentecostals, the Church of the Nazarene, the Seventhday Adventists, the Holiness churches, the Quakers, the United Brethren in Christ, the Mennonites, the Free Methodists, the Church of the Brethren, the Assemblies of God, the Wesleyans, the Regular Baptists, the Salvation Army and significant minorities in such mainline churches as the Episcopal. Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) also oppose Masonry.
For a thorough discussion of the subject of the Catholic Church and Freemasonry, I would recommend the article by Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Emeritus Bishop of Konongo-Mampong, which I am attaching to this letter.
With very best wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi
Bishop of Sunyani and President,
Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference
