The Internet is a funny place. The Facebook page for the Grand Lodge of Arkansas F&AM this morning posted the following quote:
"Peace – harmony – charity – square dealing – mutual respect – limits on my right to criticize or judge. Noble sentiments all! Such words are so often heard that if we are not careful they can become just that – words with no real summons to alter our conduct with their timeless precepts." — Ill. Bro. Ronald A. SealeInteresting timing, since that coincides with the confirmed news that the Grand Lodge has just suspended their Grand Senior Warden, Aaron South. This will have other effects, as Brother Aaron is also serving as Right Eminant Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Arkansas.
Also, take note that Arkansas' Grand Lodge Officers Page displays an empty slot in place of where the Deputy Grand Master's photo should be.
At this rate, that grand line is going to be a mighty lonely place by the annual communication in February.
UPDATE 8/24/16
By 7:00PM Wednesday, all of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas' Facebook pages and official groups have disappeared. However, their Twitter page remains activated for the moment.
In the wake of internal turmoil back in 2010, the Grand Lodge website vanished, and they had no official online presence for at least two years.
UPDATE 8/25/16
The Grand Senior Warden's photo has just disappeared from the GL officer's page, as well, as he is "suspended, pending trial."
Arkansas brethren are now reduced to speculation about their own grand officer's line.
Another instance of a fraternity without brotherhood. The hypocrisy is extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteSo Right Worshipful Patrick C. Carr and Right Worshipful Aaron J South are gone? Why is that?
ReplyDeletehttps://web.archive.org/web/20160405232348/http://www.argrandlodge.com/glofficers.html
Well, that would be an excellent question for Arkansas brethren to ask their Grand Master.
ReplyDeleteNeed drink...
ReplyDeleteDoes this have to do with the faction in that GL that refuses to recognize PHA?
ReplyDeleteThis is what happens when you make members and not Masons. Dan Hrinko
ReplyDeleteHardly unexpected, as the current GM is purging the grand line of all but his buddies. Ask him a question, and you to can be suspended. He answers to no one, unless it be the PGMs, who either lack the testicular fortitude to impeach or are in cahoots with him.
ReplyDeleteBut remember, Billy Joe loves you!
Racism, bigotry, intolerance, fanaticism, theocracy - all rampant in our Gentle Craft - none of this has any place in Freemasonry. Our brothers in the South have a lot of work to do to understand this. Not that there is an absence of racism in the North, we just don't have it suffusing every aspect of society the way it seems to in the South. Masons should be leading a cultural change among their brethren to open their minds and hearts.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I took a break from Lodge after doing my year in the East. It was disheartening to say the least.
DeleteMitch, please tell me how this blog post has anything to do with racism?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete"Not that there is an absence of racism in the North, we just don't have it suffusing every aspect of society the way it seems to in the South."
DeleteAhh the elitist, sanctimonious, and misguided views of the northerners. The fact is racism is much more prevalent, and more virulent, in the north than it is in the south, by far. Speaking as one who is not really a southerner, nor a "yankee", and who has no dog in this race... and as one who has spent plenty of time in both the north and the south, I can attest that this stereotype that northerners love to believe about others and themselves is completely incorrect. The only places I have been where I felt I was in danger just because I was the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood was in the north. The only people who I have met who seemed to be practically obsessed with race, and interject it into virtually every topic, is in the north. I have witnessed FAR MORE interracial couples in the south than in the north, and while northerners try to hide their racism, they do not hide it THAT well. But they continue to believe and perpetuate that belief because it is comforting to tell oneself that, whatever imperfections one has, someone else is worse.
What the rhymes-with-duck is going on in Arkansas?
ReplyDelete-- Jon Porter, PM, 33.
A small man trying to fill a big job who lacks the confidence in himself to accept criticism and disagreement so he feels the need to act like a tyrant and silence his critics.
DeleteDave Brown
Gotham seems to have nailed it. Nothing reveals a small man like making him into a "big man" for a while.
DeleteAnd I thought the situation was bad in Oklahoma with Grand Commmandery officers being removed for not wearing black socks.
ReplyDeleteT.S. Akers
Grand Senior Warden's picture is now missing, although officially he is merely "suspended pending trial"
ReplyDeleteI generally avoid reposting old comments from earlier blog posts, but I'll make an exception and repeat what I said the last time Brother Hodapp blogged about GL of AR:
ReplyDelete-----------------
I've been a Massachusetts Mason for 15 years. In all that time I've never had a serious complaint about Grand Lodge (some mild criticisms, but no Grand Lodge is perfect), but some of my brethren have had serious complaints. I've spoken to some Masons that are highly critical of our Grand Lodge's leadership, quite vocally. I happen to think they're wrong, but they have their reasons for thinking the way they do and speaking out.
But y'know what? None of them have been suspended, expelled, or put on trial by the Grand Master for saying they think he's a lousy Grand Master. And y'know why? Because our Grand Masters are not thin-skinned childish little babies that feel the need to silence their critics. Good leaders recognize that not everybody will support their leadership. Good leaders accept that and let the criticism roll off their back and let their actions speak for themselves. I've seen people suspended for using F-bombs to refer to the Grand Master in incendiary posts on Facebook that were made publicly for the world to see, but that's really not the same thing.
If you're going to elevate a small-minded, petty, immature person who lacks the confidence to let his actions speak for themselves into a position where he wields virtually unlimited authority, it's almost inevitable that he will become a tyrant. Not because he wants to be a tyrant, but because he thinks he has to be in order to prove something to himself.
Dave Brown
Garden City Lodge, Newtonville, MA
Freemasonry in Massachusetts is mature, cheerful, solid.
ReplyDeleteDoes this have anything to do with the called meeting of the AASR Council?
ReplyDelete--Circumspect AR Mason--
Well, these various circumspect meetings may seem related to the discussion about the use of charity funds to top up salaries -- for example, the IRS report at http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/526/054/2014-526054737-0c3e390b-9.pdf shows on the last IRS report that the Supreme Commander added $88,000 for his salary from the charity fund to his $335,000 salary, to net $443,000 plus "expenses". Adding the other top ups of Supreme Council officers, the total is extraordinary in proportion to the actual charities. and actual donatiuons. So it isn't surprising that there could be circumspect discussions about a variety of things.
ReplyDeleteMy brother has been wrongfully suspended under this yahoo of a so called GM. As WM of a lodge is Missouri, if I can get our GL to overlook this crazy GMs suspensions you will be more than welcome to sit in ours.
ReplyDelete