Fair go, Pete.

: The Church is very explicit about the
: incompatibility of the Catholic Faith
: (Christianity) and New Ageism citing it's
: Gnostic underpinnings...

Clearly Spalding was writing, and in fact died, before 'New Ageism' so aligning him to that movement is a matter of opinion and I don't think it is safe to condemn a writer on the say-so of Wikipedia. Spalding may have been 'taken up' by demonstrably 'New Age' writers, but that's not his fault.

If you have a problem with Alex's quote, it would be better to specify what the problem is rather than engage in a kind of 'post hoc ad hominem'.

: Interestingly, Freemasonry, which you seem
: eager to defend, is also shown to be deeply
: Gnostic.

Clearly Alex doesn't share your views about Freemasonry, Pete, but I see no evidence that he's 'eager to defend' it.