[Buddha-l] Are Freemasons ordained?

[S. A. Feite]

On Aug 20, 2009, at 12:48 PM, Dayamati wrote:

> On Aug 20, 2009, at 5:33 AM, S. A. Feite wrote:
>
>> On Aug 20, 2009, at 2:09 AM, Alex Wilding wrote:
>>
>>> PS Are Freemasons ordained?
>>
>> Certain degrees could be construed as an ordination, for example the
>> Knight Templar degree in the Ancient York Rite. French rites like the
>> Gnostic Catholic church, i.e. the French Gnostic church, actually do
>> confer ordination on their initiates to be to able to perform the
>> Gnostic mass, distribute sacraments, etc.
>
> This suggests that ordination is a ritual that confers the right to
> perform sacred rites, right? My maternal grandfather was a 32nd degree
> freemason from an exotic part of the world called Kansas (the only
> place from which one can easily get to Oz by local tornado). He did
> not speak of his ceremonial interventions as ordinations. Come to
> think of it, he never spoke of them at all.


Well I wasn't applying the word ordination to Masonic initiation in  
general, but to a particular rite, the Ancient York rite, not the  
Ancient Scottish rite (as grandpa)--and then only because the Knight  
Templar degree, in essence tries to give to the impression they're  
conferring holy orders on you--to protect Christianity from infidels,  
etc. Not that I've seen any 'Knight Templar Masons' going after Al  
Qaeda lately...