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ROYAL MasonicBenevolentInstitutionFOR AGED FREEMASONS AND WIDOWS OF FREEMASONS . Grand Patron and President : His EOYAI . HIGHNESS THE PBINCE OF WALES , K . G ., & c , M . W . G . M . Treasurer : —JOHN A . FABNFIELD , Esq . Bankers :- LONDON AND WESTMINSTEB BANK ( Bloomsbury Branch ) , 214 High Holborn , London , W . C . Upwards of 1520 Annuitants have received the benefits of the Institution since its foundation in 1842 and 1849 . 200 men and 242 widows are Annuitants at the present time . 30 widows , in addition , are receiving half their late husband ' s annuity . Amount paid Annually in Annuities £ 16 , 264 116 Candidates for next election . THE ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL Will be held at the FBEEMASONS' TAVEBN , LONDON , W . C , ON WEDNESDAY , 26 th FEBRUARY 1896 , Under the distinguished Presidency of THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD GEORGE HAMILTON , M . P . R . W ;; Prov . G . M . fop Middlesex . Brethren are earnestly solicited to accept the Stewardship upon this most important occasion , and to kindly forward their names as soon as possible , with full particulars , to JAMES TEBBY ( V . Pat ., P . G . Swd . B . ) , Secretary . Office—4 Freemasons' Hall , London , W . O .

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[» uy „ y J " - ^ . v ^ -s _ ^| : ^ 3 | _! -- -- ' - A" Jgg yw f ^t^^^^^^l^^PSATUBDAY , 22 ND FEBBUABY 1896 .

West Lancashire Institution.

WEST LANCASHIRE INSTITUTION .

A WELL-ATTENDED General Committee meeting of the West Lancashire Educational Institution was held on the 7 th , at the Masonic Hall , Liverpool , under the chairmanship of Bro . J . MacNab , for the purpose of considering applications to be placed on the list of candidates for election at the next court of governors . Fourteen applications were granted , as follows : — Educational fund , three ; combined fund , four ; and advancement fund , seven .

The Romish Church And Freemasonry.

THE ROMISH CHURCH AND FREEMASONRY .

IN the " Semaine Eeligieuse , " of Grenoble , MonseigneurFava , Bishop of Grenoble , makes a vigorous appeal not only to French Catholics , but to those of other countries , to assist in defeating the two-fold project put forth by the Freemasons in their convention held in Paris last September . This double

project was the destruction of the Catholic religion and the establishment of a universal Eepublic throughout the world . " If , " says Mgr . Fava , " the citizens of different countries wish to preserve their property , their homes , and their liberty , and to live in the midst of their families as worthy and respected

members of society , it is time for them to open their eyes . Our Ministers are compelled to act as they do , having pressure put upon them by the Masonic Lodges who voted in their last convention the demolition of Catholicism . " In truth , the meeting of the Grand Orient Lodge closed last autumn with the following

formula : — " We will go solemnly in procession to the heights of Montmartre , preceded by our banner , and wearing our symbolic emblems , and when there we will intone a hymn of peace beneath the cupola of the monument which now serves for the worship of that Sacred Heart proclaimed by Margaret Alacoque .

We will proclaim the final overthrow of the Pope , the ruin of the Jesuitical body , and the triumph of Free Thought . And on the frontal of the temple which in that day shall be dedicated to the real agents of universal civilisation we will inscribe in gold letters : ' Offered to France and to humanity in remembrance of fche crimes of the Church . ' " The " Croix " newspaper , quoting

The Romish Church And Freemasonry.

this passage at the time and commenting on it , said : " That will never be . Hell will never prevail against the Basilica raised by repentant France to the Heart of her God . It is by the express order of the Saviour that this temple is consecrated to His Divine Heart , and we have the firm conviction that He will protect it against Satan and the adepts of Freemasonry . — " Catholio Times . "

Eeferring to the sermon we reprinted last week , the " Bournemouth Observer " says : Father Chew is what may be termed the sensational preacher of the Roman Catholic Church at Bournemouth . He has a fancy for unusual subjects , and he addresses himself to them in a striking way . His latest tirade - has been against Freemasonry . His discourse may claim relief

from severe analytical criticism on the ground that it was given in the Catholic Church , and addressed to Catholics , who , with himself , were previously in sympathy with the Encyclical Letter of the Pope . But chose to whom the Pope ' s injunctions are of little value will attach no importance to a denunciation of Freemasonry , even from so eloquent a spokesman as

Father-Chew , On the other hand , the Bi-otherhood of Freemasonry , . possessing an intimate knowledge of the Craft , its nature , purposes , and working , can only feel aggrieved fchat from any pulpit there should have come forward such a total misrepresentation of their position as is conveyed in the sermon referred to . Those outside the Craft who may have any misgivings on

the subject , aroused by Father Chew ' s invective , need only look around the circle of personal acquaintance , and ask , concerning those of them who are Masons , if they are such people as to countenance a system of the immoral and irreligious character attributed to it by the preacher . It seems a pity < where apparently upon a full admission that Freemasonry in England

is free from the associations on which he seeks to condemn ifc ' asan institution , Father Chew should have thought it advisable to tilt at an alleged evil-which does not exist in this neighbourhood . And ,. in commenting upon the occasional association , in other countries , of Freemasonry with political and revolutionary movements , he has laid himself open to the retort that when it has been so it

has simply been the- assertion of an organised body , . taking , advantage of their organisation to resent an intolerable priestly domination . Brazil is a notable example . Father Chew ' s reference to conviviality in connection with Freemasonry is so weak and childish as to be scarcely worthy of notice in what appears to be a seriously meant indictment . Equally weak is .

his suggestion that Freemasonry is a means of mutual assistance in commercial life . Unless in some of the ascetic orders of his own church , is he prepared to banish those social customs which , in the aggregate , constitute conviviality ; and is he prepared to deny , on behalf of his own persuasion , that which he suggests as a reproach to Freemasonry ; that its members , in commercial as in religious life , have a special leaning towards each other ?

The following letter appeared in the last issue of- the " Bournemouth Observer , " and refers to the foregoing remarks of our contemporary : SIR , —I agree entirely with your comments with respect to Father Chew ' s recent denunciation of Freemasonry . But , Sir , I think you might profitably have gone further . Granted , for the sake of argument , that Father Chew

knows as much of the principles and practices of Freemasonry as he pretends to do , how must that information have been obtained ? Does the Boman Catholic Church not only denounce Masonry , and prohibit Boman Catholics from joining it ; but does it release Masons who afterwards become Boman Catholics from the obligations of any oath of secrecy which they may have taken as Masons ?

If so , does this not cast a powerful and penetrating light on the perils of the Confessional to our private and national life ? Father Chew either knows too little , or he knows too much . If he knows the true objects and principles of Masonry by which he is surrounded ,

he must perforce know that no nobler charities than those of the Masonic Craft exist in this world ; and he must know , too , that the teachings—the" truth " of Freemasonry ( at which he appears to sneer ) is all for good ; and - nought for evil : in other words—that it must tend to elevate and ennoble a •man , and can never in any sense debase him .

One is tempted , by the way , to ask : For what reason has FatherChew thus suddenly revived this subject of Freemasonry , seeing that the encyclical letter of Pope Leo XIII . is now almost ancient history ? Is there a strong , tendency on the part of members of his flock to forsake their faith in order to . become Masons ? Or what ? Evidently it was " a sermon with a purpose , " and a purpose of a very direct and definite , and ( as it seems to me ) of a local character . Perhaps if I were Father Chew's confessor I might know .

To my mind , Father Chew has shown a want of wisdom in this matter . If the Boman Catholic Church is to make headway again in England : if - ¦ it is ever to become again the dominant and dominating religion of the great ' mass of the people , that day will not be hastened either by the denunciation of a Brotherhood of men whose good works are before all men , or by the ; exercise of a system of inquisition which , to compass certain ends and aims ,, would stick at nothing—even the abrogation of an oath .

I am , Sir , yours faithfully , CRAFT ( NOT PRIESTCRAFT ) . 10 th February . We extract the following from letters addressed to the " Bournemouth Guardian " in regard to this matter ;