The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 2 – Historical Background 53
identical for all lodges. There are only five or six lodges in the Masonic province
of Munster that are "permitted" to use a ritual quite different to the standard Irish
version, there being historical reasons for this. The Grand Lodge regards this
working as incorrect, but it is allowed in view of the antiquity of certain
lodges. 115 Foreign visitors will be surprised by peculiar Irish features of the
ritual: "Irish rules prohibit more than one candidate at a time to be taken through
the first degree, and the third degree (but not the second). Part of the Irish first
degree is very dramatic, particularly at the point immediately following the
obligation." 116
What is the outlook for Masonic activity in Irland? In the 1990s, the
membership and number of lodges were still growing. The good relationship
between English, Scottish, and Irish lodges that meet in harmony is lauded. 117
Williams comments on the influence of the religious conflict on Masonry in
Ireland as follows:
Scotland
What is the position of Masonry in Ireland today? With the declining
Protestant population, the tendency must be towards contraction; but the
attractions of fraternising in this situation, for the time being at least,
could increase the numbers who seek in Freemasonry a relief from a
feeling of growing isolation, insofar as some Protestants may have this
feeling. This may be offset by a gradual growth of an emotional as well
as a legalistic acceptance of new nationhood. Masonry does not
recognise partition; but the number of Masons in Northern Ireland
should not be subject to the same decline as in the Republic, where the
Protestant population is only five per cent of the whole. The growth of
ecumenism must help to assuage suspicions of Masonry. Will it affect
the appeal of Masonry? We must wait and see. [...] [T]he present
position is as follows: 60,000 in the Irish Constitution, of which number
7,000 are in overseas lodges. No differentiation is made between
Masons north or south of the Border. 118
Prior to this chapter, we have to anticipate that "Scottish Masonry" as a
Masonic technical term is a "false friend." "Scottish Masonry" did not originate
in Scotland but in France and received this name for certain reasons. Here, we
are going to deal with Freemasonry as prevalent in Scotland. At first, we will
look at masonry as a trade. In Scotland, Gothic architecture lagged for about a
century behind its advent in England. Until the middle of the 13 th century,
115
Henderson and Pope, vol. II, p. 128.
116
Ibid.
117
Cf. CME, p. 333.
118
Williams, p. 56/57.