The Catholic Church in Tasmania has, for the first time in its history, included in a funeral service the "masonic oration" about a late member of Freemasonry.

The oration for the late RW Bro Max Webberley (aged 81), who died in Hobart the previous week after a short illness, was presented at a service on Wednesday, March 21, 2007.

The service, which packed St Mary's Cathedral in Hobart, was presided over by the Catholic Archbishop, the Right Reverend Adrian Doyle.

The oration covered RW Bro Webberley's achievements in the church and freemasonry, and also detailed his involvement in Tasmania's education services, as a teacher, principal and mentor of many young people.

A long-term and active member of the Roman Catholic Church, RW Bro Webberley extended his interests into freemasonry during the 1960s.

His family asked Archbishop Doyle to include the oration in the funeral service as an acknowledgement of the importance RW Bro Webberley placed on both Freemasonry and Christianity.

Ian Cutler, Grand Lodge of Tasmania.

http://freemasonrytasmania.org/NEWS.htm