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Allegation:
Masonic claims to charity and good works are false; most of the money goes to Masons and what little is spent outside the movement is only for propaganda reasons.

This criticism has been found on Catholic websites but not in writings from the Vatican.

Extracts from the Proceedings of the Quarterly Communications
of the
United GRAND LODGE of England
Wednesday, the 8th day of September 1999

The Grand Charity has set aside £2 million to commemorate the millennium. From this money the following grants have so far been made:

£400,000 to Help the Aged for its HandyVan scheme;
£405,000 to CRISIS for its SmartMove programme;
£500,000 to the CROCUS Trust (Colo-Rectal Cancer Understanding & Screening) for its national screening programme;
£ 50,000 to the District Grand Lodge of Madras for its Cornwallis Masonic Senior Citizens' Village,
£250,000 to the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital via the District Grand Lodge of South Africa, Western Division;
£446,000 to the Sargent Cancer Care for Children.

Other grants that have been approved:

£300,000 to Refuge to keep open its 24 hour National Crisis Line;
£150,000 to Research into Ageing;
£150,000 to the Implanted Devices Group at University College London;
£500,000 has been approved to be spent on hospices in 1999;
£400,000 has been approved to be spent on minor non-Masonic grants in 1999;
£700,000 to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Gloucestershire towards the purchase of twelve apartments which will form the start of a sheltered housing project;
£100,000 to the British Red Cross for the relief of distress among the refugees from Kosovo - £75,000 of this was to provide 7,500 baby survival packs to help infants to survive in the refugee camps;
£ 55,000 to the Mines Advisory Group for the purchase of a new computer network.

And from America, I get this example:

Robert Stack is the Brotherhood Chairman of the GLNY and has been so for over 16 years. During that time, the Brotherhood Fund raised and donated over $20,000,000 to several charities. Among them are: the retirement home in Utica, NY (for Masons and non-Masons); the Masonic Medical Research Labratory; etc.
The lodge South Bay 1145 in conjunction with Memorary Council, Knights of Columbus have sponsored 4 guide dogs to date and are working on a fifth. Donations are $5,000 per dog.
Just one District alone (First Nassau) photographs 1,500 to 1,700 children a year for the Child ID program. The district foots the bill for all costs.
South Shore Lodge #1126 gave $10,000 to the retirement home for a new phone system.
Guiding Light/Olympia #808 donates about $15,000 per year to various charities. For example: They donated $500 to the Baldwin School system so that the kids could keep a small zoo program; they donate regularly to cerebral palsy etc.
Long Beach Lodge#1173 in conjunction with the First Nassau District holds a Christmas party for the Cerebral Palsy home in Island Park every year.
The First Nassau District holds a "Christmas in May" party for over 200 retirees at the home in Utica. These are older people, more often then not confined to wheel chaires.
Thousands upon thousands of dollars are spent on soup kitchens daily to feed the poor and homeless.

And from Ireland I got this example:

The following is a list of some Charitable Organisations which have benefited from the generosity of Irish Freemasons in more recent years:-

The Renal Unit in the Royal Victoria Hospital.
Funds to aid in the completion of the transept in St. Ann’s Cathedral.
£400,000 was raised to set up the Freemasons of Ireland Medical Research Fund from which research grants amounting to £200,000 have already been made.
Sufferer’s from Alzheimer’s Disease are now benefitting from the recent appeal, which raised £500,000 to supply Ambulances, Helplines and other facilities to ease the plight of sufferers and their carers throughout Ireland.

All of the above are facts which can be verified. They are only three examples from a movement which contributes billions worldwide to needy non-Masons every year.

Still not convinced? You may want to take a look at MASONIC PHILANTHROPIES (Dr. S. Brent Morris, 33°) A compilation of (American) Masonry's many charitable endeavors, softbound. Make check payable to SCOTTISH RITE FOUNDATION, SJ, USA, INC. $5.00

Mail order to:
Grand Executive Director, The Supreme Council, 33°, 1733 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009-3103, Telephone Orders: Call The Supreme Council, 1-202-232-3579, Ext. 34 or 36

Allegation: Masonic claims to charity and good works are false; most of the money goes to Masons and what little is spent outside the movement is only for propaganda reasons.

Allegation:
Masonic claims to charity and good works are false; most of the money goes to Masons and what little is spent outside the movement is only for propaganda reasons.