MICHAEL W. WALKER,
Madam, - I read An Englishwoman's Diary in your edition of January 13th, with some interest and a little irritation.
The writer, Heather Ingman, set into the Freemasons praising the personal viewpoint recently pronounced by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, without pausing for a moment to acknowledge that this avowed intention of not promoting a Freemason to a senior post within the Anglican Church is exercising discrimination and is, as such, contrary to the Human Rights Act. It is a brave or foolhardy person who risks an encounter with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Freemasons in Italy have already prosecuted a successful lawsuit there against the Italian Government, with substantial damages, on similar lines.
Ms Ingman goes on to deliver the wearisome accusation that Freemasonry is a secret society whereas, as an Englishwoman, she should know that her government has lost a few rounds in the courts on that one; and the above court of Human Rights has also declared it is not to be so. She goes on to damn our websites with faint praise - I wonder has she actually logged on to ours? She can do so at www.irish-freemasons.org.
Yes, it is true we do not admit women though we have had the one exception of the Lady Freemason, Elizabeth St Leger of Doneraile Court in Co Cork in or about 1712. But then we don't believe that the Mothers' Union or the Women's Institute particularly want us men as members and we are perfectly happy about that. There are plenty of quasi-masonic bodies in England for women to join if they really want to do so.
But in these days of ever-lessening values and standards, to the point where it is virtually no longer possible to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil or white from black, Freemasonry does offer a beacon, a point of reference, a sheet anchor to its members and continues to assert that what was always right is still right and will ever be so - even if, as Ms Ingram asserts, we elderly people (Yes, we don't admit children under 21) often resist change.
Freemasonry started in the teaching of craft skills and progressed into the development of life skills as epitomised by our fundamental principles of "Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth." These don't change; why should we? Is it not better to endeavour to contribute to society by practising the social and moral virtues than to be constantly on the take? - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL W. WALKER,
Grand Secretary,
Freemasons' Hall,
Molesworth Street,
Dublin 2.