in a broad sense the obligation simply means that we will hold another brothers things told to us in confidence as secret.

in general it also says that certain things are at the discretion of the mason. In general we should expect that a brother mason is of good moral character and should not be subject to having to worry about testifying against a good man in court. IF things came to something like that there would likely be a good discussion about expulsion at that point as well if a crime was committed.

i kinda of look at it like this.

if a brother told me he was on hard times and had stolen food from the grocery store to feed his family. i would not rat him out. i would be obligated to help him with his family and for making restitution.

if a bother told me he got drunk and beat his wife or fled from a car wreck that killed someone while DUI, i might not be obligated to not report it. A man in those circumstances has engaged in un-masonic conduct and shown himself to be of questionable moral character.

while our obligations do offer some protection for a man confessing things to another mason, they are not an absolute if it comes to endangering another person. In any case or obligation would be to help the man get back on track or care for his family as needed.

Michigan's mentor handbook was shared with me this weekend.  It has this on obligations: