Break-In and Arson at Pennsylvania Shrine Center

by Christopher Hodapp

A 72-year old man has been arrested for setting fire to a Shrine Center in Altoona, Pennsylvania, causing well over $130,000 in damages.

This site is sadly becoming a repository for stories of vandalism against the fraternity.

James Kaufman, 72

According to local TV station WTAJ, James Kaufman (photo) was said by local authorities to have been undergoing a 'mental health crisis" and believed his daughter was being held inside Altoona's enormous Jaffa Shrine Center against her will. Early Tuesday morning, he broke inside and began busting windows and destroying furniture. Neighbors heard the noise and called police. Kaufman had obviously come prepared and apparently spent some time in the building, as investigators found Shrine items in his car.  They discovered kerosene had been spread and set alight in the main arena and auditorium. 

Kaufman is charged with Risking a Catastrophe, Arson, Burglary and many associated charges. Thankfully, no one was injured in the incident.

This may very well just be an unfortunate man suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's. But it would be unwise to ignore the possibility of a deliberate anti-Masonic attack. The recent increase in these kinds of incidents - and worse - throughout North America over the last couple of years needs to be brought attention to local police. Local law enforcement may not always be aware that Masons and Shriners are on a growing number of hit lists of paranoids, Jew-haters, or zealous religious fanatics who think we're devil worshipers, and worse. If your Masonic hall or Shrine center is attacked, be sure to alert investigators as to the dangers of these nuts.

GL of Scotland Joins Britain's Council of Freemasonry To Fight Anti-Masonry

by Christopher Hodapp

The male-only Grand Lodge of Scotland has joined with the United Grand Lodge of England and England's female Freemasons in a cooperative organization to address urgent contemporary issues facing the fraternity at large. The Council of Freemasonry was established in 2024 as a cooperative organization and now represents most of the Masons, male and female, in Great Britain when it comes to certain public matters. The purpose is for Britain's Masons to publicly speak with one united voice on matters that concern them all.

In Monday's The Herald, it was reported:

The [Council of Freemasonry] includes the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE), the Order of Women Freemasons (OWF), the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons (HFAF), and now the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

Created in 2024, the council aims to strengthen collaboration between the organisations while promoting shared values including integrity, friendship, respect and service.

Its work focuses on public engagement, charitable projects, membership growth and challenging outdated perceptions of Freemasonry.

The inclusion of Scotland means the council now represents Freemasonry across the whole of Great Britain.

The article mistakenly calls the Council a 'governing' body, which it is not. It was formed two years ago, specifically in the face of anti-Masonic press coverage and a growing anti-Masonic sentiment within law enforcement. A recent rule passed by the London Metropolitan Police dramatically encroaches on the privacy of Masons on the force, requiring officers to publicly state their current or prior Masonic membership. Such rules were found to be discriminatory by the European Court of Human Rights almost 20 years ago, but English courts see no fault with them. 

The MET's new policy singles out the Freemasons as the sole organization in which officers must declare their membership. Worse, it classifies Masonic membership as a "declarable association, along with criminal convictions, those who have been dismissed from policing, and lawful professions such as private investigation or journalism."

Branding certain cops as Masons now opens officers up to completely unfounded allegations that they might somehow engage in funny business like cronyism, letting off 'brother' criminals or ignoring 'brother' officers' bad behavior, promoting Masonic officers over non-Masons, or looking the other way in cases strictly because they might sit in lodge together.

Despite decades of investigating the purported role of secret Masonic membership in high profile police cases, there has never been a proven incident tied to the Freemasons. Tons of allegations and millions of pounds expended hunting dirty Masons under the bedclothes, but never a shred of evidence. But that hasn't stopped other disgruntled cops and sensationalistic news outlets from falsely alleging all sorts of nefarious behavior among Masons in law enforcement ever since the 1980s.

The Council for Freemasonry announced its purpose in 2024 when it was formed:

The establishment of the Council for Freemasonry will formally establish an overarching forum for collaboration. In addition, the Council will bring together the community service ambitions of all three bodies, coordinate communication and engagement with other organisations, drive the membership growth ambitions, particularly for women Freemasons, and allocate resources and facilities for the general benefit of both male and female Freemasonry.

The Council will include the heads of each Grand Lodge, and each Grand Lodge will provide the President for a twelve-month period, chairing Council meetings in strict rotation. The President for the first two years will come from the OWF and HFAF, with UGLE covering the third year. 

The formation of the Council for Freemasonry in England and Wales marks a pivotal step towards enhancing cooperation, addressing misconceptions, and promoting the values of Freemasonry. This historic initiative reaffirms Freemasonry’s commitment to integrity, friendship, respect and service, while keeping community service and charitable giving at the absolute forefront of this historic organisation.

For those who might fret about such an announcement, none of this affects the regularity nor the recognition status of either the UGLE or the Grand lodge of Scotland as male-only Masonic fraternities. It should be remembered by U.S. Masons that Freemasonry in Britain and Europe , along with many other parts of the world, face challenges and biases of which we are blissfully unaware here. One of the primary jobs of the Council for Freemasonry is to counter public misinformation and press attacks against the fraternity by spreading the message that English Freemasonry is NOT just for men; that male and female Masonic organizations coexist, and are all alive and well and open for membership; and that none of these three grand lodges in Britain have any desire, intention, or reason for changing their practices or ideology of being a sanctuary from the outside world for their particular members, male or female.

Ontario Masonic Hall Vandalized With Anti-Masonic Graffiti

by Christopher Hodapp

Authorities in Burlington, Ontario are seeking information regarding an unknown tagger who vandalized the local Masonic hall Sunday early morning by spray painting a phony Albert Pike 'Luciferian' quotation on the side of the building.

From the BurlingtonToday.com website today:

On the wall of the building that faces Maria Street, an unknown tagger left a message for the group that some believe to have powerful connections.

“The doctrine of Freemasonry is to be maintained in the Luciferian doctrine at high degrees,” the graffiti reads, crediting the words to Albert Pike, a 19th century American poet and lawyer who was also a Mason. The graffiti also suggests that Pike predicted the World Wars. . .

These bogus lines are widely circulated on the Intertubz and falsely attributed to Pike. They are, in fact, taken directly from the infamous 'Taxil Hoax' perpetrated by 'Leo Taxil' (whose real name was Marie Joseph Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pagès), a rabid French anti-Catholic and anti-Mason in the late 19th century. Taxil made a tidy profit peddling propaganda about the Masons for many years. 

Taxil singlehandedly invented the whole 'Luciferian Freemasonry' fable and gleefully went on to later admit it was all a hoax in a very public appearance on April 19, 1897. (For what it's worth, Albert Pike wrote precisely one passage in Morals & Dogma that explained the origin of the name 'Lucifer' and how it came to be attributed to 'Satan" over the centuries.) 

The truth about Taxil's hoax has been quite openly known for 130 years, but that hasn't stopped its wide dissemination on the web since the 1980s and 90s. Meanwhile, Pike's so-called 'world wars' prediction is a more relatively recent addition to the anti-Masonic repertoire and is a complete fabrication. It's not true, either. (For more details about Taxil and his hoax, see Tall Tales of Leo Taxil HERE)

The story continues:

Halton Regional Police told BurlingtonToday that the suspect was observed at 3:05 a.m. (July 5) with spray paint, and is described as a white man, medium build, wearing a straw cowboy hat, a dark jacket, white tee shirt, and shorts. He was also riding a bicycle.

VandenBerg said this is not the first time that the building has been tagged, but it is the first time to his knowledge that the Masons were specifically targeted in the message.

“We have been tagged before but that has been just generic graffiti that could have happened anywhere,” he said.

Documents and sacred texts have been dropped in the lodge mailbox, even being laminated at times, VanderBerg said, including an encyclopedia of Jewish texts that was left at the back door of the building. The building has been egged, and many more instances of vandalism came to mind for VandenBerg.

He added that the group added a stone marker to the outside of the building which has been urinated on previously, but he is unsure if that was related to the organization.

“Maybe it was the same person,” he said. “Maybe that was the first thing they did and now they are back to spray paint the building a few months later.”

Despite the long history of Burlington Masons' commitment to serving their community and contributing to local charities, this is the sort of idiotic attack that sometimes discourages lodges from being more public faced. And as we've seen in recent years, certain extremely unhinged anti-Masonic zealots are known to escalate their attacks on members and lodge halls. The McAllen Lodge incident in Texas is a horrifying example of what can happen when anti-Masons taken their paranoid hatred to the worst extremes.

If your lodge is vandalized in any way, especially if you suspect the motive was anti-Masonic in nature, you should report it immediately to local authorities. Attacks against Masons and lodges need to be on the radar screen for police and well documented because, as we've seen, the true nuts are sometimes fully capable and motivated to come back again.

Anti-Masonic Texas Murder Suspect Charged with More Arson Attempts

by Christopher Hodapp

Julio Diaz, currently awaiting trial in the murder of a Freemason outside of a Texas Masonic hall, along with prior incidents of damaging that same lodge building, has just been charged in two more arson attacks against a different lodge.

Diaz is accused of shooting WB Robert Wise outside of McAllen Lodge 1110 in southern Texas following an officer's installation on July 10, 2023. He is also accused of attempting to set fire to that building in 2022.

Llano Grande Lodge in Westlaco, TX (Google Earth photo)

According to KRGV-TV5, Hidalgo County authorities have now brought more charges against Diaz regarding two additional arson attempts in February 2023 at the Welasco Masonic temple, located about 20 miles east of McAllen. The Welasco hall is home to Llano Grande Lodge 1173.

Fire damage in 2023. (KRGV-TV5)

After his initial arrest, sources familiar with the investigation said that Diaz believed Masons are "devil worshiping Illuminatists." A Facebook commenter said Diaz had previously posted anti-Masonic comments on social media, claiming the lodge "had put a curse on him."

In April, the judge in the case expressed frustration with Diaz' defense attorney regarding the numerous delays they've requested since his initial court appearance. His tentative trial date is now in early August, but they may request additional time now that these new charges have been brought.

Detroit Masonic Temple Library Booted From the Biggest Temple in the World

by Christopher Hodapp

The trustees and management of the massive Detroit Masonic Temple have evicted the Detroit Masonic Temple Library from the building. The 10,000-volume library has been in the building since it was opened a hundred years ago, and in recent years they have also organized and operated the popular tours of the landmark building. 

I find it hard to believe that the Temple Association couldn't accommodate the Library somewhere with its 1,000 (mostly unoccupied) rooms and over a 550,000 square feet of space. It's almost unbelievable for the Temple Association to find no way to keep this precious resource in this amazing structure. It is the largest Masonic building in the world, so I'm speculating that there were other reasons besides crowding. Possibly money; possibly some unannounced plan to redevelop the building (how many times have I heard THAT one up there?); possibly a plan to move it to the Grand Lodge up in Alma (about 80 miles northeast of Grand Rapids); and just possibly this is down to nothing but clashing egos, which happens all too often these days. But whatever the reason may be, this announcement is shocking. 

(EDIT: I've just been told that the situation involves NONE of my speculations...)

The following press release was posted on the Library's Facebook page today:

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING LIBRARY NAME CHANGE & RELOCATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DETROIT, MICH - JULY 2, 2026

Our name has changed a few times over the past 143 years, but our mission has always remained the same: to preserve the rich history of Freemasonry in Detroit. With this in mind, we have decided to re-adopt our original 1882 name: Masonic Library of Detroit. These changes will be gradually rolled-out over the coming weeks and months. We feel this historic name better represents our broader purpose, and is more appropriate following recent events.

On June 30th, 2026, the long-standing lease for our space on the 4th Floor of the Detroit Masonic Temple expired, and the Masonic Temple Association of Detroit declined to offer a renewal lease. We are deeply saddened by having to leave our home of 100 years, but we remain steadfast in our mission, particularly the preservation and digitization of our historic documents & 10,000-volume collection of Masonic books. Our new business address for donations and correspondence is: 1401 W Fort St. #32090 Detroit, MI 48233.

While we have thoroughly enjoyed providing engaging & informative tours of the Detroit Masonic Temple in partnership with the Masonic Temple Association of Detroit for the past decade, as of February 2026, the Masonic Temple Association terminated our tour operating agreement without notice. We are unaware of what plans the Masonic Temple Association may have for tours going forward. We will certainly miss sharing our knowledge, passion, and love of the Detroit Masonic Temple with our Brothers as well as the public at large.

We wish the Detroit Masonic Temple a happy Centennial Anniversary, and wish the Masonic Temple Association of Detroit success in their future endeavors.

For further inquiries, please contact us at: info@masoniclibrarydetroit.org

The business address of the newly renamed Detroit Masonic Library is nothing but a post office box, so there's no word on where the actual collection may go at this time.

6/27: Speaking at Louisville's Abraham Lodge No. 8

by Christopher Hodapp

I'm honored to be speaking at the Festive Board of Kentucky's famed Abraham Lodge No. 8 this Saturday evening, June 27th at the historic Brown Hotel in downtown Louisville. I'll be wrapping up an afternoon program of several events.

2:30PM - Royal Arch Abraham Chapter 196

3:00PM - Cornerstone Ceremony (Master Masons only!)

4:00PM - Intermission

5:00PM - Lodge of Instruction

6:15 to 7:15PM - Cocktail Reception at the Brown Hotel 

7:30PM - Festive Board and Keystone Presentation 

                Christopher L. Hodapp: "How Dare We Be Masons: A New Masonic Mission"

For information, contact Secretary John P. Journey HERE. 

Scottish Rite SJ Celebrates 250th Anniversary in Charleston

by Christopher Hodapp

The Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction, the "Mother Supreme Council of the World," was established in Charleston, South Carolina on May 31st of 1801 at Shepheard's Tavern on the corner of Broad and Church Streets (which had also been where South Carolina Freemasonry was originally established in 1754).

While originated in Charleston, the SJ moved its headquarters to Washington DC in 1870 and is located in the House of the Temple.

The AASR-SJ celebrated the 225th anniversary of their founding with a live broadcast of its special session in Charleston over the weekend. The replay can be seen via YouTube HERE or by clicking the video at the top of this post.

While we in the U.S. think of the Scottish Rite as an appendant body within Freemasonry that confers degrees 4-33, it is actually a complete degree ritual system that has its own initiatory degrees 1-3. Outside the U.S., the Rite's total 1-33 degree lineup is actually the most widely-worked degree system in the world, in both regular and irregular, unrecognized jurisdictions. It's also the source of one of the greatest misconceptions about the Masonic world. Because they number their degrees, largely for convenience, most non-Masons mistakenly believe those higher numbers denote higher rank within the fraternity. 

Tip for non-Masons: asking a Mason "How high a degree are you?" is the fastest way to show that you have no idea what you're talking about. 

Likewise, a "high ranking Mason" doesn't really exist, with the exception of the grand office holders in any given jurisdiction. A Grand Master within a Grand Lodge, such as the Grand Lodge of New York or the United Grand Lodge of England, does wield authority over the Masons in his region, but only for the duration of his elected term.

Habemus Papam! MW John A. Bridegroom Installed as Indiana Grand Master

by Christopher Hodapp

On Wednesday, my friend, MW John A. Bridegroom, was installed as the 175th Grand Master of the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana. The annoying (and frequently blasphemous) practice of using Biblical quotes out of context goes back two millennia, but I'll engage in it this once.

"[T]he friend of the Bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly..." - John 3:29

If you've been a Freemason in the U.S. over the last fifteen years or so, it's entirely probable that you've met, or at least heard of, John Bridegroom. He's one of the most active, well-traveled, and widely known Masons in the country.  John's an extremely talented graphic artist and the proprietor of The Master's Craft. If you haven't encountered him in one of the many, many appendant bodies he's either led or been associated with, you might at least have seen a medal, pin, challenge coin, logo, magazine, event program or other such item that he has designed over the years. (Many years ago, he even took on the role as art director of the Journal of the Masonic Society after I got sick and was overwhelmed by doing everything myself.)

Naturally, he designed his own pin for this year:

With a couple of exceptions over the last quarter century, we've been pretty lucky in the Grand Lodge of Indiana to have been blessed with good leadership. Occasionally, it's been truly superlative. Our immediate Past Grand Master, Randy Seipel, said earlier this week that he'd visited 316 of the 346 lodges in our state over the last two years, and he held a live Facebook video update every single week during his term. He seemed to be literally everywhere this past year and set a standard that will be a tough act to follow.

GM Bridegroom's been organizing a big event for this summer: on Saturday, June 23rd, the Grand Lodge will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with with an open-air colonial festival at Compass Park on the campus of the Indiana Masonic Home in Franklin. This special Father's Day weekend event welcomes Masons, families, and friends for a day filled with history, heritage, and hands-on fun. In partnership with the Indiana Daughters of the American Revolution, guests will enjoy kid-friendly activities, period demonstrations, and lively interactions with famous colonial characters who bring America's founding era to life.

Come celebrate the historic past, while embracing family, fellowship, and looking forward. The celebration will also reveal the Grand Master's 2026 Project, marking an exciting milestone for our fraternity and our future. Come celebrate a defining moment in American history with food, fun, and festivities for all ages as we honor the past, enjoy the present, and build toward what's next!

Many thanks to PGM Seipel for all he's done for the fraternity over the year, and the very best wishes to GM Bridegroom on his new adventure. 

The Grand Lodge is dead! Long live Grand Lodge!

France: Membership of the Largest Masonic Jurisdictions

by Christopher Hodapp

NOTE: This story has been updated 5/25/26. See update note below.

For those interested, the always informative (and lively) French-language Masonic news site Hiram.be  (actually based in Belgium) has a recent article with current membership statistics from the eight largest Masonic obediences in France. (See the pie chart above.)

The original article is at: Les effectifs des obédiences françaises en 2026

I'll freely admit to a long interest in what goes on concerning Freemasonry in other countries, with a particularly soft spot in my brain for French Masonry. I've often quipped that if you lock three French Freemasons in a closet and wait for an hour, they'll bust out and angrily form at least six new grand lodges. Over the course of my 27 years in the fraternity, I've been variously told that France has at least a dozen – and likely more – very different grand lodges of any appreciable size at work, even though our US grand lodges only recognize one. They have grand lodges (or grand orients) requiring a belief in Deity, and some that welcome non-believers (often referred to as a doctrine of 'freedom of conscience'); some that are centuries old, and some younger than a decade; some for men only, women only, or both; some that were started merely because of an internal schism over personalities, over philosophical issues, or both. And there are combinations of all of these. Which is why you have to burst out in hysterical laughter whenever conspiracy mongers in France rail against 'The Freemasons™' there. There's no way to classify them in a monolithic sense, apart from, perhaps, wearing aprons in meetings.

The reason I bring it up is to show the layout of the French Masonic landscape and how it differs from what we mostly encounter in the U.S. The article concerns the eight biggest, and "most effective" grand governing bodies in that country.

Out of a total of 171,914 Masonic members nationwide, the breakdown is interesting:

• Grand Orient de France (GOdF): 54,448 (32%) [male/female; no faith required]
• Grand Loge Nationale de Française (GLNF): 33,889 (20%) [male; faith required]
• Grande Loge de France (GLDF): 30,446 (18%) [male; faith required]
• Federation Française du Droit Humain (DH): 14,500 (8%) [male/female; no faith required]
• Grande Loge de l'Alliance Masonnique Française (GL-AMF) (a recent breakaway from the GLNF): 14,495 (8%) [male; faith required]
• Grand Loge Feminine de France (GLFF): 13,027 (8%) [female/no faith required]
• Grande Loge Mixde de France (GLMF): 4,845 (3%) [male/female; no faith required]
• Traditionnelle et Symbolique Opéra Grand Loge (GLTSO): 4,600 (3%) [male; faith required]

In case you're keeping score, it works out that about 51% of French Masons are not required to have a belief in deity. That doesn't make all 86,000 of them atheists, it just means acknowledging a personal belief in a Supreme Being is not a requirement. Which seems curious concerning a fraternity that bases its rituals around the Old Testament story of constructing the most sacred temple on Earth which housed the revealed Word of God. But it takes all kinds to make a world. France is a very different country with a VERY different history than us mere upstarts over here. (When Chinese Premiere Zou Enlai was asked by Richard Nixon in 1972 what he thought of the French Revolution, he answered, "It's too soon to tell.")

Also, 15% of French Masons are females, which is a pretty sizable percentage for any country. By contrast, female Masonic lodges are as rare as unicorns in the U.S. That's not meant as a swipe to anyone, just a simple fact. Female and co-Masonic lodges have never gained traction in the U.S. at any point in history (likely due to the popularity of the Order of the Eastern Star between the end of the Civil War until the late 20th century).

UPDATE 5/25/2026, 1:30PM: I received a message from Gérard Plumecocq, (who posts as Géplu), the present editor of the Hiram.be website, clarifying a couple of things: It reads, in part:

A small clarification: Hiram.be is not "based in Belgium," but is, in fact, French. Hiram.be was founded in Belgium by a Belgian journalist (Jiri Pragman) in 2004; however, I took it over in 2014, and I am a (retired) French journalist who has been a member of the Grand Orient de France since 1986. I didn't change the blog's name when I took the helm because it had already established a reputation under that name. But that isn't terribly important; ultimately, it is "Francophone."

For an American like yourself—who is accustomed to knowing only a single form of Freemasonry—France, with its many different obediences, may seem like a curiosity; for us, however, it represents a source of richness. In my article, I cite the eight most significant obediences—which together account for between 80% and 90% of French Freemasonry—but there are also about a dozen other smaller, reputable obediences (ranging from 500 to 1,000 members), as well as numerous small groups (ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred members) that style themselves as Masonic, albeit with varying degrees of seriousness and credibility. As you point out, about half of French Freemasons are "adogmatic"—that is to say, they are members of obediences that do not impose a specific belief (what you refer to as "a faith"). In doing so, they base their stance on Anderson's text: "But though in ancient Times Masons were charged in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves; that is, to be good and true Men, Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguish'd." At the Grand Orient de France, for instance, young initiates are told that "among us, everyone is free to believe or not to believe" (in a God). The GODF and its "French Rite" claim to be the heirs of the Freemasonry of 1717, rather than the more religious versions of 1751 and 1813.

Just a quick note: there are two minor errors in your comments regarding the obediences. At the GLDF, faith is not a mandatory requirement. The situation is more nuanced: the GLDF regards the Great Architect of the Universe (the GADLU) as a "creative principle," while leaving its members the freedom to interpret this principle according to their own sensibilities. Furthermore, the GLTSO is not a mixed-gender obedience (open to both men and women), but is exclusively male.

I very much appreciate the corrections. CH

GL of Florida Paying Lodges to Advertise

by Christopher Hodapp

Individual Grand Lodges, the Scottish Rite Northern Jurisdiction, Shriners International and other Masonic organizations have been spending money and research and efforts to craft advertising campaigns for use by lodges for many years now. But all the advertising in the world does no good if ads themselves are placed in the wrong places, getting in front of the wrong eyeballs (especially in these days of internet advertising and the lingering death of print media and broadcast TV). Even worse, advertising itself fails when there's no follow-through by the advertiser when a prospect shows up and pounds on the door.

Season 5 Episode 184 of the Old Fashion Masonic Podcast, hosted by WB Bryan Byrd, features an interview with Florida Past Master Tim French, who is part of the membership development team of the Grand Lodge of Florida. The Grand Lodge has committed a portion of their annual media and marketing budget to encouraging individual lodges to step up and make use of social media. They are reimbursing up to $600 a year to any Florida lodge that takes out advertising promoting membership on Facebook.

Here's the depressing part. They've been doing this for three years. Florida has over 300 lodges on its rolls. 

Only about 40 lodges have taken advantage of the program. 

That's about 12-14%. In three years.

Tim holds Zoom meetings with lodges to talk them through how to do this, how to place the ads effectively (because it's easy to pour cash down the bottomless well of Facebook ads and never get a result), and most important, to FOLLOW UP ON LEADS WHEN THEY CALL OR WRITE.

We've all been told time and again by interested men, "Gee, I e-mailed and telephoned the lodge to ask about joining, but no one ever got back to me." There's no excuse for this happening! As these brethren stress, treat your lodge and membership development like a business, and new leads like customers. Every single lodge needs two or three members to will commit to just responding to new member enquiries, however they come in. 

I won't rehash what Worshipful Brothers French and Byrd talk about - give the show a listen because there's much gold to be mined here. Click the video up top, or follow THIS LINK.

But I will stress something they bump up against near the end: membership and retention is the responsibility of every single man in your lodge, because you never know what comment, what behavior, what night 'the new guy' was ignored, will turn him off and make him walk away.

Years ago, I visited a lodge and walked into their installation a bit late. I came in quietly and sat down in a back seat trying not to disturb the proceedings. Instantly, two Brothers across the room hopped to their feet, came over and plopped down in the two seats on either side of me. One explained in a quiet voice, "Welcome, Brother. No one in this lodge ever sits alone."

That's mighty fine rule to follow in any lodge.

America 250 Celebration June 20 at Indiana's Compass Park

by Christopher Hodapp

Mark your calendars for this June 20th! The America250 celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is coming to Indiana!

Join the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana for a memorable Founding Father's Day weekend celebration as we honor America's 250th anniversary with an open-air colonial festival like no other! Taking place Father's Day weekend on June 20th on the grounds of Compass Park at the Indiana Masonic Home in Franklin, Indiana, this special event welcomes Masons, families, and friends for a day filled with history, heritage, and hands-on fun. In partnership with the Indiana Daughters of the American Revolution, guests will enjoy kid-friendly activities, period demonstrations, and lively interactions with famous colonial characters who bring America's founding era to life.

Let's celebrate the historic past, while embracing family, fellowship, and looking forward. The celebration will also reveal the Grand Master 2026 Project, marking an exciting milestone for our fraternity and our future. Come celebrate a defining moment in American history with food, fun, and festivities for all ages as we honor the past, enjoy the present, and build toward what's next. There may even be a special commemorative gift for those who attend.

More details coming next week!

Dayton Masonic Center Cornerstone Ceremony and Open House This Sunday 5/17

by Christopher Hodapp

Ohio's incredible Dayton Masonic Center is celebrating its 100 year anniversary. To commemorate the event, the Grand Lodge of Ohio will be performing a Cornerstone Ceremony this coming Sunday May 17, 2026 at 2PM. 

This will be the 100th anniversary of the dedication of its cornerstone in 1926, two years before the Crash hit the nation. It was a feat our own members today couldn't manage if our lives depended on it (and I can make an argument that they DO depend on it... but that's another discussion). 

The ground was broken on July 20th, 1925, the cornerstone was laid on May 19th, 1926, and the building was opened on April 1st, 1928.

This is a free event open to the public. There's no requirement to register before the event, but doing so at the link below will allow them to plan and make preparations accordingly.

https://www.daytonmasoniccenter.org/events/centennial-cornerstone-celebration-open-house-with-culture-works

If you've never visited this magnificent place and you're anywhere near central Ohio this weekend, make the opportunity to be there, because Masons are losing these massive Temples – built during the heady days between WWI and the Great Depression – every year. The Dayton center is really the last of its kind in the state of Ohio that's still in Masonic hands. 

The Center is located at 525 W. Riverview Avenue across from the Dayton Art Institute, in the Grafton Hill neighborhood. Some details are as follows:

May 17, 2026, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM

2:00 - Reenactment of the Laying of the Cornerstone
2:30 - Welcome by MWB Johnson and Congressman Mike Turner
3:00 - Guests Welcomed into the building to explore the beautiful spaces
4:30 - Grand Finale - Schiewetz Auditorium 

Consider these sobering statistics: It was built by an association of 14 different Masonic lodges and related appendant organizations. Back in the day, Dayton Masons raised $1.5 million in just 7 seven days to finance the building's construction. It took nearly 3 years to complete, employing 450 workers and artisans (many of whom were Masons themselves) and would cost more than $40-million today. 

The Dayton Masonic Center has beautiful lodge rooms, York Rite rooms, and a lavish Scottish Rite 1,700-seat auditorium all under one roof, along with an impressive library, stunning lobbies and social rooms, a ballroom, and much more. Sitting on a commanding hillside overlooking the city and the Great Miami River, even the beautifully landscaped piece of property it sits on gives this temple a far more impressive presence than most urban Masonic buildings jammed into downtown areas have. 

It's truly worth going out of your way to see, and Sunday will be an ideal open house situation to wander the entire building and discover its many wonders for yourself. This Rooms will be open to explore with entertainment curated by Culture Works, a new event organizing partner for the Masonic Center. There will be food throughout the building, and beverages and libations will be served in various rooms. Various live performances will also take place throughout the building.

This event is just part of a $20 million campaign to continue upgrading and operating this stunning temple for the foreseeable future. Don't let it fall out of the hands of the fraternity! We lose these remaining buildings at our own peril, for we will never again even come close to competing with what came before us. As Masons flee places like this in favor of a tin shed in a soybean field, we vanish farther and farther from cultural the landscape of our communities. Yes, our forefathers should have set up foundations and long-range funding to be sure we could preserve them for future generations. But they didn't ask us to build better than they did – only to respect, repair and preserve what they already did for us. 

(H/T: Daniel Fry)

GenZ Masons in the London Standard

by Christopher Hodapp

(UPDATE 5/12/2026: The broken link to the London Standard article has been repaired. Sorry for the error.)

An article in yesterday's London Standard features a lineup of several young GenZ English Freemasons in an apparent demonstration that Masons are far from the sinister, altogether spooky, mysterious and ooky image the press has tried to cultivate around us for the last 40 years.

See: TikTok, temples and techno: Meet the new freemasons HERE

(Notice that the UK press just can't respect our fraternity enough to capitalize the word "Freemason" in their articles and headlines.)

The reporter seems stunned to discover they're really just regular blokes after all. It's at least an improvement over the usual stories they've been printing about Masons since — I dunno —  the Thatcher administration.

Congratulations to Oscar Alleyne and the GL of New York

by Christopher L. Hodapp

The 244th annual communication of the Grand Lodge of New York F&AM took place this past week and I want to congratulate all of their newly elected grand officers: Most Worshipful Robert L. Hogan Jr. - Grand Master; Right Worshipful John Haslam Sr. - Senior Grand Warden; Right Worshipful William Toth - Junior Grand Warden; Right Worshipful John Hansen - Grand Treasurer; and Right Worshipful Richard Schulz - Grand Secretary.

But I especially want to congratulate a Brother known to so many Masons all over the world: Right Worshipful E. Oscar Alleyne who has just been elected to serve as Deputy Grand Master for New York. I've known Oscar longer than I can possibly remember (we first met at a Scottish Rite event in New Jersey, as I recall, where he was part of a degree cast), and he is one of the most widely-traveled, widely-read, and widely-experienced Mason you will ever encounter. 

All the best, my friend and Brother. The Masons of New York are in excellent hands!

BTW, the jurisdiction of New York is so large that it's unreasonable to expect any grand officer to effectively visit a large number of their lodges in a single year, so they elect officers for two-year terms. These Brethren will serve from now until May 2028.

Arkansas GM Extends Olive Branch to the State's Shriners

Arkansas Grand Master Thomas Lampirez

 

byChristopher Hodapp

Ever since November 2012, the Grand Lodge of Arkansas F&AM has forbidden the Masons in its jurisdiction to be members of the Shrine. The Grand Master at that time, Robert L. Jackson, issued a letter that declared the Shrine "clandestine" in Arkansas, and all Masons in the state were immediately ordered to either quit their Shrine membership, or "self-expel" themselves from Masonry (i.e. Quit).

After fourteen years of separation, this year's Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, MW Thomas Lampirez, has just issued an edict that restores Shriners International in that state to the status of an"affiliated organization." (Click the image below to enlarge.)

Edit No. 3 reads, in part:

"An affiliated organization, while still not fraternal, carries with it a significant increase in status and trust. An affiliated organization is more formally connected to the larger fraternal, governing body and signals that the shrine in Arkansas is no longer operating loosely on its own, but is more connected to the Masonic fraternity through its mission, values, and structure. While progress has been made, I also believe this shall be the last act of good faith given by the Grand Lodge of, Arkansas toward this shrine in Arkansas until ALL non-Mason Shriners's are Freemasons."

The situation came about in 2012 over an Arkansas Mason who held a dual membership in another state, along with belonging to an Arkansas Shrine. He was brought up on Masonic charges and expelled in Arkansas, but was not suspended by the Shrine at that time because his other state's Grand Lodge had not taken any action against him. The Shrine's position was that he was still legally a Freemason outside of Arkansas, and therefore was still entitled to remain a Shriner. MW PGM Jackson disagreed, ordered the Shrine to expel him, they refused, and so he issued his edict.

(If you don't understand about relationships between Masonic groups and why membership status affects them across the board, see the explanation below about why this is an issue in the first place.)

The result was an enormous drop in Masonic membership in Arkansas that far exceeded the comparative membership losses that any other Masonic jurisdiction has suffered in the U.S. The sheer number of expulsions in Arkansas between about 2013 and 2019 was staggering.

Jackson's order might have meant the end of the only two Shrines in Arkansas (Scimitar Shriners and Sahara Shriners). Because of the untenable situation in which they found themselves, Shriners International changed its bylaws and carved out a loophole only for Arkansas that permitted non-Masons to become Shriners there. That by-law change has been in place since 2013. 

Meanwhile, PGM Robert Jackson went on to become the Grand Secretary of Arkansas in 2016. Numerous Arkansas Masons reported that his office allegedly stopped issuing letters of good standing to fleeing Arkansas Masons who attempted to transfer their membership to jurisdictions in other states like Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and elsewhere in protest. The Grand Lodges of Oklahoma and Kansas both withdrew amity with Arkansas, partially over these issues.

Jackson was suspended in 2017 by then-GM Carl E. Nelson, along with Grand Treasurer, PGM Ronnie Hedge.

But a new wrinkle developed in 2019. The outgoing 2018-19 Grand Master Bradley Phillips issued a Grand Master's Recommendation at the 2019 Arkansas annual meeting that proposed a way to end to the needless impasse with the Shrine. It reclassified the Shrine in Arkansas from a clandestine organization to a civic one for the next three years; permitted non-Mason Arkansas Shriners to petition lodges and self-expelled Arkansas Masons to petition for reinstatement, along with all other Masons in the state who had previously been expelled by former Grand Masters or trial commissions over their Shrine memberships or activities. At the end of three years, if all members of Arkansas Shrines had become Masons in that state (or in another jurisdiction recognized by Arkansas) once again, the Shrine would be classified as a fully recognized fraternal organization under Arkansas Masonic code. All remaining Shriners in Arkansas who had NOT become Masons by the end of the three year period were to be suspended by the Shrine, and the non-Mason loophole created by this whole imbroglio by the Shrine would be ended. 

In response, Shriners International passed a resolution during its 2019 Imperial Session, again requiring that all new initiates for Shrine membership in Arkansas must be Master Masons in good standing.

But apparently, the problem of existing non-Masonic Arkansas Shriners was never sufficiently solved, and the Shrine remained classified as a civic organization with no connection to Freemasonry at all.

Fast-forward to today. Private informal meetings have been held in recent months between leaders to attempt to find a solution that would finally bring the Shrine back into Arkansas' Masonic fold while addressing the problem of these new non-Masonic Shriners. Lampirez' last sentence makes it clear, however, that this is as far as the Grand Lodge will extend the olive branch until the Shriners can figure out how to make all of the non-Masons who joined the Shrine over the last fourteen years join a Masonic Lodge. Hopefully, they haven't built a box they can't escape from, and I suspect Tampa will get involved now that this edict has been issued.

For readers who do not understand the connection between the two groups, it needs to be explained that all those guys wearing red fezzes in Shriners Hospitals ads, or marching and puttering around in little race cars in parades are all members of a local Shriners organization AS WELL AS a Freemason’s lodge. Everywhere else in the world outside of Arkansas,  Shriners International requires men to first join a local Masonic lodge and undergo the three initiation degree ceremonies before they are allowed to then petition the Shriners for membership. Further, almost all regular, recognized grand lodges have rules that say if a man is dropped from Masonic membership for any reason - voluntarily or otherwise - he must also resign from all Masonically related, appendant or concordant organizations. If he doesn’t, that group’s administration is supposed to suspend or expel him to comply with Masonic regulations (informally referred to as the "suspended in one, suspended in all" doctrine).

Unlike state-wide grand lodges we have throughout the US, Canada and Mexico, the Shriners don't have state administrations. Local Shrine clubs and Shrine centers must answer to their national leadership in Tampa, Florida, which is also responsible for the 22 children's hospitals located in North America.

Wisconsin Couple Charged in Massive Theft of Lodge Funds

by Christopher Hodapp

A shocking case of (alleged) betrayal has rocked the Masonic community in the Milwaukee area. Tyler Kristopeit, 39, former treasurer and officer of the George Washington 1776 Masonic Lodge in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin and his wife Katie, 37, both of Muskego, were charged last week in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with conspiracy to commit theft in a business setting exceeding $100,000 and conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to court filings and news reports, the couple is accused of siphoning somewhere between $400,000 and $600,000 from the lodge over several years, with funds allegedly diverted for luxury cars, personal expenses, debts, and other items.

As I understand it, the thefts reportedly escalated around the time the lodge sold its building. Proceeds from the sale, along with additional escrow funds intended for a new lodge hall, were wired to accounts controlled by the lodge where Tyler served as treasurer. When lodge officers requested financial records after removing him from his positions, incomplete documentation was provided, raising immediate red flags about missing investments and hundreds of thousands of dollars unaccounted for. The money was laundered through accounts linked to Katie, ultimately funding two Mercedes autos and other luxury items for the couple.

This is a stark reminder of the importance of financial oversight and transparency in any fraternal organization, including Masonic lodges. Trusted positions like treasurer carry significant responsibility, and when that trust is allegedly abused, it not only harms the lodge but can erode confidence across the broader Masonic world. Lodges everywhere rely on member volunteers acting with integrity – cases like this highlight how a single breach can impact decades of goodwill and philanthropy.

The couple has been released on $10,000 signature bonds and ordered to avoid contact with the lodge (Phew! THERE'S a big deterrent, Yer Honer!) As the criminal case proceeds, the Masonic fraternity in Wisconsin and beyond will be watching closely. For Freemasons committed to the principles of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth, this story underscores that true brotherhood demands not just honor, but vigilance, accountability, and a renewed commitment to protecting the shared resources that support our shared values.