Continental Freemasonry, also known as Liberal Freemasonry, Latin Freemasonry and Adogmatic Freemasonry, includes the Masonic lodges, primarily on the continent of Europe, that recognize the Grand Orient de France (GOdF) or belong to CLIPSAS, SIMPA, TRACIA, CIMAS, COMAM, CATENA, GLUA or any of various other international organizations of Liberal, i.e. Continental Freemasonry. The larger number of Freemasons, most of whom live in the United States–where Regular Freemasonry holds a virtual monopoly–belong to lodges that recognize the United Grand Lodge of England and do not recognize Continental Freemasons, regarding them as “irregular”.
Wikipedia has a fairly simple view of Freemasonry:
Freemasonry has two branches “not in mutual regular amity”:
- the Anglo/American “Regular” tradition of jurisdictions, typified by the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE), and the various Grand Lodges in the United States.
- the European “Continental” tradition of jurisdictions, typified by GOdF, with varying and shifting amity.
In Latin American countries, Continental Europe and much of Africa the GOdF-style or European Continental Freemasonry predominates, although those nations may also have smaller Grand Lodges and Grand Orients that are part of the “Regular” tradition.
‘Grand Orient de France’ style, that does not cover the breadth and width of “irregular” Freemasonry. Not every “irregular” Grand Lodge has secularity as high on the agenda as the GOdF for example. This website hopes to create a wee bit of clarity in the subject.
Most importantly, the website accompanies a “subreddit” (see in sidebar), a place where Freemasonry can be discussed without discussions about regularity and recognition.