Spain Declares Historic Masonic Temple a Memorial to Franco's Persecution of Freemasons

Wikipedia Commons

by Christopher Hodapp

The government of Spain has officially designated the historic Masonic Temple in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, as a Site of Democratic Memory, recognizing the building as a monument to the thousands of Freemasons persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and murdered under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

The announcement was published Tuesday, October 27th, in Spain's official government gazette, the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). The designation recognizes the building as a symbol of the systematic persecution of Freemasonry that began with Franco's military uprising in July 1936 and continued throughout his dictatorship. Spanish Freemasonry had endured nearly four decades of repression when Franco finally died in 1975.

The Canary Islands are located in the Atlantic at the northwestern
tip of Africa, off the coast of Morocco, but belong to Spain.

The Masonic Temple, located on San Lucas Street in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, was the home of Añaza Lodge (Logia Añaza), chartered in 1895. Construction began in 1899, and its principal lodge rooms were inaugurated in 1904, although the building's distinctive façade and ornamentation weren't completed until 1923. Until its seizure by Franco's forces in 1936, it was the largest Masonic center in Spain.

Wikipedia Commons

Unlike so many historic European lodge buildings that concealed their Masonic identity behind relatively conventional exteriors, the Tenerife Temple virtually shouts it from the rooftops, with two enormous columns flanking the entrance, an All-Seeing Eye over the entrance, and a pair of sphinxes.

It wasn't merely a meeting place for Freemasons. In 1909, Añaza Lodge established a secular school that provided free adult education, along with lectures and other programs intended to improve the lives of the surrounding community. 

Naturally, this sort of subversive activity couldn't be tolerated by the Franco regime.

Franco's War Against Freemasonry

Francisco Franco

When Franco's military rebellion began in July 1936, Spanish Freemasons became immediate targets of his Nationalist forces. On July 19th, paramilitary troops stormed the Tenerife Temple, seized its records and archives, and began the systematic persecution of its members. Many were imprisoned, tortured, executed, or simply disappeared. 

Franco's obsessive hatred of Freemasonry was no passing political prejudice. His regime prosecuted Freemasons for their membership, confiscated their property, and attempted to eradicate the fraternity from Spanish society. He portrayed the fraternity as part of an international conspiracy in cahoots with Communists and Jews, responsible for virtually everything he regarded as a threat to Spain.

The fascist Falange organization seized Añaza Lodge's building in 1937 and conducted guided public tours of the Masonic Temple, deliberately staging its rooms and misrepresenting rituals and symbolism to convince the population that Freemasonry was a sinister conspiracy. Spain did this in several locations, as did the Hitler regime throughout occupied Europe during World War II. Lodges would be confiscated, records seized to facilitate easy arrests of members, and lurid displays would be created inside to show that dangerous, spooky Masons needed to be gotten rid of. According to the Spanish government's own historical accounts, these propaganda tours featured stories that Freemasons practiced witchcraft and even sacrificed children inside the Temple.

Franco's regime subsequently used the building as a Falange headquarters, a military supply depot, and a military pharmacy. Following the enactment of his notorious 1940 Law for the Repression of Freemasonry and Communism, the Temple also served as a center for interrogations, torture, and trials by the Special Court for the Repression of Freemasonry and Communism.

Workers carrying out repairs in 2009 uncovered "human remains" inside the building, possibly supporting historical accounts of brutality committed there, although it's unknown whether these were from victims, or were part of the anti-Masonic displays created by the fascists.

(Although, it's entirely possible that the report of 'remains' simply meant that a skull or a skeleton was discovered at the site that was really used in some foreign jurisdictions and rituals as a symbol of mortality, or momento mori. Such real items were more easily and legally obtained up until the 1960s when plastic reproductions became more commonplace, and countless fraternal groups all over the world have often used them at various times.)

Eventually, the building was turned over entirely to the military and it became a barracks until it closed in 1990. After Franco's death and Spain's return to a democratic government, it was sold to the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council in 2001 for more than 470,000 euros. Local government spent another 3 million euros restoring the building. In 2007 it was declared a Site of Democratic Memory.

A Temple Reclaimed by History

According to the Wikipedia entry on the Temple, Freemasonry returned to the building in November 2016 when the Masonic international congress Convent of the Order, was held in the old Temple. This is an event held annually in different parts of the world and was organized by the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for Spain. It was attended by over 300 members representing 17 of the 57 regular Supreme Councils in the world. 

The Spanish government now plans to develop historical interpretation, memorial signage, educational materials, and other programs to explain the building's history and honor the victims of Franco's persecution.

So, a magnificent Masonic Temple that was seized and turned into a propaganda exhibit to frighten the public about the supposed evils of Freemasonry is now being officially preserved by the Spanish government as a memorial to the real evils committed against Freemasons. And perhaps there's a lesson in that for our own times.

Ninety years after Franco's thugs were leading gullible citizens through a Masonic lodge room and spinning lurid tales about secret rituals, child sacrifice, and sinister conspiracies, much the same pap and garbage is still circulating across social media today. 

The technology has improved considerably. The lies, not so much.

Arrests in Pennsylvania and West Virginia In Separate Anti-Masonic, Anti-Semitic Attacks

Photo: WGAL-TV8

by Christopher Hodapp

A pair of disturbing cases involving threats against Freemasons have surfaced in Pennsylvania and West Virginia — both within the space of just a few days of each other.

In Pennsylvania, police say 37-year-old Joshua Albert Reisinger (photo) of Mountville carried out a bizarre weeks-long campaign against two Masonic halls involving dead animals, cryptic messages and other objects left outside the buildings. Reisinger has now also been charged in connection with antisemitic signs and an apparent threat against a congregant at a Lancaster-area synagogue.

According to Steelton Borough Police, officers began investigating a series of incidents at Paxton Lodge No. 16 (PHA) in Steelton between August 15 and September 20. Someone repeatedly left bizarre objects at or near the lodge that included balloons, spray-painted shoes, a doll bust, playing cards, feathers, candles, hair, written messages and riddles — along with the carcasses of a cat, crow, squirrel and raccoon. Several messages contained language that lodge members regarded as vague or implied threats, and police said the repeated incidents, particularly around scheduled lodge activities, caused increasing concern for members' safety. 

According to their Facebook page, Paxton Lodge is the oldest Prince Hall subordinate Lodge in the state outside of Philadelphia.

Then police learned that Millersville Masonic Lodge No. 476, roughly 40 miles away, had been experiencing remarkably similar incidents. That lodge reportedly had been vandalized repeatedly during August, and Millersville police had already identified Reisinger as a suspect in that investigation. After representatives of the two lodges compared photographs and information, investigators connected the cases.

Reisinger was taken into custody following a traffic stop in Steelton and initially faced charges including terroristic threats, harassment, loitering and prowling at night, disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and scattering rubbish. 

But his story didn't end with the Masonic lodges.

Lancaster Township Police subsequently charged Reisinger with ethnic intimidation, terroristic threats, harassment and disorderly conduct after incidents at Degel Israel Congregation, an Orthodox Jewish synagogue and school in Lancaster Township. Police allege that on September 19 and 20 Reisinger placed derogatory and antisemitic signs on the synagogue property, including one displaying a Nazi SS symbol. According to investigators, when a congregant began removing one of the signs, he spotted Reisinger sitting in a vehicle across the street. Reisinger allegedly formed his hand into the shape of a pistol, pointed it at the congregant and mimed shooting him. The congregant obtained the vehicle's registration number, helping police identify the suspect.

Reisinger's targets of both Masonic lodges and a Jewish synagogue seem to fall in line with the increase in both anti-semitic and anti-Masonic conspiracism being spread throughout social media. 

Reisinger was arrested again on October 2. A district judge set bail at $100,000, which police said he was unable to post, and he was ordered held in the Lancaster County Prison pending a preliminary hearing.

Meanwhile, several hundred miles southwest in Buckhannon, West Virginia, another 37-year-old man was arrested following an explicitly anti-Masonic threat posted on Facebook. The Upshur County Sheriff's Office charged Justin Sayre (photo below) with threats of terrorist acts and making threats of a crime of violence after investigators say he participated in an online discussion concerning Flock automated license-plate-reader cameras.

Justin Sayre

According to the sheriff's report quoted by WDTV, Sayre called for the cameras to be destroyed and described local police officers as terrorists and "mules for the free masons up there at lodge 7," adding that "they need taken out too." "Lodge 7" appears to be a reference to Franklin Lodge No. 7 in Buckhannon, one of West Virginia's oldest Masonic lodges. Franklin Lodge has been part of the Buckhannon community since the nineteenth century and was among the original lodges involved in organizing the Grand Lodge of West Virginia after the Civil War.

Investigators said Sayre's Facebook account contained extensive anti-law-enforcement rhetoric and that the combination of those posts with the direct threat caused public alarm. He was being held in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on $35,000 cash-only bond following his arrest.

These two cases do not appear to be connected. But for Masonic organizations, the timing is difficult to ignore. Whether these latest incidents ultimately prove to have been driven by anti-Masonic conspiracy theories, personal grievances, generalized extremism or something else will be for investigators and courts to determine. But they join a steadily growing collection of incidents in which Masonic buildings and Freemasons have become targets for people who regard the fraternity not as an innocuous civic organization, but as some sinister enemy that must be confronted.

And that is no longer something lodge officers can simply laugh off.

Fall 2026 Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge October 24th

by Christopher Hodapp

The Fall 2026 Symposium of the Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge will be held next Saturday, Oct. 24th, in the Freemasons Cultural Center at the Masonic Village at Elizabethtown.

My friend and Brother Roger S. VanGorden, Past Grand Master of Indiana, will present  “Masonic Renaissance: Kinda Like the Borgias.” Roger is currently the Active member for Indiana of the Scottish Rite Supreme Council NMJ, and the President of the Masonic Renewal Committee of the Conference of Grand Masters. If you've never heard Roger speak before, you're in for a thought-provoking, inspiring treat.

(I can honestly say that, Masonically, Roger made me what I am today. So blame him.)

Stephen Doan, Past Grand Master of California, will present “That House Not Made with Hands.” Stephen is an attorney and an  international authority on Masonic jurisprudence. Back in 1975, at the age of 24, he was elected as one of California's youngest Worshipful Masters. His influence and leadership helped remake the Grand Lodge of California into a thriving, professionally-run organization that stands as an example for the rest of the Masonic world.

Registration will open at 8:30 a.m., with the program beginning at 9 a.m. A lunch (for a requested contribution of $20) will be served at noon, and the program will be completed by 2 p.m. All Masons (including Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts), their significant others and their guests are welcome to attend. Dress is business formal (jacket and tie for men, dress or business suit for ladies).

Pre-register at PaMasonicAcademy.org. If you pre-register and subsequently determine that you will be unable to attend, please have the Masonic courtesy to cancel your reservation by emailing amksecretary@pagrandlodge.org.

Can't be there in person? A live stream of the symposium will be available on the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania YouTube channel.

MSA Issues Disaster Relief Appeal for Florida

by Christopher Hodapp

In the wake of Hurricane Isaias last week, the Masonic Service Association of North America has just issued an official disaster relief appeal on behalf of the Grand Lodge F&AM of Florida:

Florida Hurricane Isaias

Disaster Relief Appeal

As of October 13, Hurricane Isaias caused extensive destruction as it moved northward through Florida. Approximately 5,000 Masons have been affected with many experiencing significant quality-of-life disruptions and personal property damage. Five Districts encompassing 39 Lodges were directly impacted, and nine Lodges sustained damage ranging from roof compromise to downed trees and related structural issues. As of today, power remains out for approximately 30,000 customers in the affected areas. Distribution points have been established in several locations, and the American Red Cross and FEMA are present at the sites with the most severe damage.

As Brothers of the Craft, let us remember that adversity only strengthens our international bonds. Let us also use this moment to reflect on the fragility of life and the importance of being prepared, not just physically, but also in terms of the support systems we offer to one another.

MW Grand Master Haskell R. Vest, JR. Grand Lodge of Florida, F. & A.M. has requested the MSANA issue a Disaster relief Appeal. The MSANA Board of Commissioner has endorsed this Request.

If you choose to give to this appeal, please forward any donations you feel appropriate to help our devastated Brothers and their families in this stricken grand jurisdiction to MSANA.

Please make checks payable to MSA Disaster Relief Appeal and mail to:
Masonic Service Association
813 1st Avenue SE, Suite 357
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

ONLINE DONATIONS : https://msana.com/current-appeals/
When remitting by check, please clearly mark that you designate the funds for the Florida Hurricane Isaias Relief Appeal.

Sincerely and fraternally,

Mark A. Tabbert, PM, 33°
Administrator
Masonic Service Association of North America

The Masonic Service Association is usually the best and most effective way to provide financial assistance to Masons in disaster-stricken areas.

If you are new to the fraternity or have never heard of the MSANA, it is a legitimate 501(c)(3) charitable organization. That is important to remember, especially if you, your company, or foundation are making a large donation and are in need of a tax deduction in return. The charitable arm of the Masonic Service Association was specifically established for the purpose of raising tax deductible donations, and to effectively distribute and account for the funds provided to Masons who receive assistance. Your entire donation will be sent to the affected jurisdiction. MSA deducts nothing for administrative expenses or expenses of any kind. Meaning if you donate $100.00, all $100.00 gets to the specific grand lodge issuing the appeal.

MSANA appeals are always done at the specific request of an affected Masonic jurisdiction when a catastrophe strikes. When donating through an MSA appeal you can be sure the money is officially going directly to the jurisdiction that requested it, which may not always be the case with a GoFundMe appeal or similar services. GoFundMe donations are not by law tax deductible because the IRS has no way of knowing how the money was raised, how it was spent, what may have been promised or given in return, and no way of peering into the accounting of whomever set it up. The IRS has very strict rules about tax deductible charities, and GoFundMe-type services don't even attempt to comply. And even if a legitimate lodge or grand lodge sets up such an appeal through GoFundMe, they can't issue a legit 501(c)(3) deduction to the donors unless they have their own charitable foundation or corporation that already does comply with the IRS.

The following message was posted on October 10th by Haskell R, Vest, Jr, Grand Master of Florida:

Message from Most Worshipful Haskell R. Vest, Jr.
Grand Master
Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida

Dear Brethren, Ladies, Families, and Friends of the Craft:

As Hurricane Isaias has struck our beloved Florida Panhandle—making landfall near Destin and bringing high winds, storm surge, flooding, widespread power outages, and loss—we are reminded that even the strongest foundations can be tested by the forces of nature.

In this time of trial, I call upon every Brother, every family, and every Lodge in our Jurisdiction to practice the cardinal virtues of patience and compassion. Recovery will take time. Power may be slow to return in some areas, debris must be cleared, homes and property assessed, and hearts healed. Let us meet these challenges with the steady patience of Master Masons who understand that the work of rebuilding is done step by step, with care and purpose.

At the same time, let compassion guide our actions. Reach out to Brothers and their families who have been affected. Offer a hand of relief—whether through practical help, a listening ear, prayer, or coordinated assistance through your Lodge or the Masonic Outreach Program. Our principles of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth were never meant only for the Lodge room; they shine brightest when extended to those in need.

Remember our foundation stones: God, Family, and Fraternity. With God as our guide, family as our anchor, and the bonds of Fraternity as our strength, we will weather this storm together. My thoughts and prayers are especially with our Brothers in the Panhandle and all who have suffered loss or hardship.

Please check on one another. Stay safe. Follow official guidance. And know that the Grand Lodge of Florida stands ready to support our Craft and our communities in the days and weeks ahead.

May the Great Architect of the Universe watch over you, comfort the afflicted, and grant us all the patience and compassion needed to restore what has been tested.


Fraternally and with deepest concern,
Most Worshipful Haskell R. Vest, Jr.
Grand Master
“GOD, Family, Fraternity” “Masonry’s Foundation Stones”

Maryland Masons Buy Back Their Historic Baltimore Temple After 30 Years! Really!

by Christopher Hodapp

According to a report Tuesday by Melody Simmons in the Baltimore Business Journal, the Grand Lodge of Maryland has just re-purchased its former downtown Baltimore headquarters, the spectacular 19th-century Masonic Temple at 225 North Charles Street, nearly 30 years after selling the building and moving out to the suburbs in Cockeysville.

As Robert Hayes said in the classic comedy, Airplane!, "It hit me like a thunderbolt! I asked the guy next to me to pinch me to see if I was dreaming!"

Maryland’s Freemasons have actually bought their old place back! 

And that’s a damned remarkable development in an era when American Freemasonry seems to be shedding its historic buildings quicker than my wife's brother could dodge a dinner check. 

Known for the last two decades as The Grand, the historic Victorian landmark has operated as an upscale wedding, banquet, conference and special events venue. But the property was recently placed into receivership following several changes in ownership and ongoing financial difficulties. 

Construction began on the Baltimore Masonic Temple in 1866, and the building was completed in 1869. Designed originally by architect Edmund G. Lind, it became one of the grandest Masonic headquarters in America. Inside are extraordinary ceremonial and banquet rooms, with elaborate plasterwork, marble columns, stained glass, vaulted ceilings and decorative finishes reflecting the architectural tastes of the Victorian era. Rooms included Corinthian Hall, Oriental Hall, Marble Hall and Edinburgh Hall. 

The building survived devastating fires in 1890 and 1908, with the Brethren rebuilding and improving it both times. The major reconstruction completed in 1909 gave the Temple much of the magnificent appearance it retains today.

For well over a century, it was the center of Maryland Freemasonry, hosting lodge meetings, grand lodge communications, banquets, ceremonies and countless other gatherings. During World War II, it even served as a Masonic Service Center for members of the military, providing overnight accommodations for thousands of servicemen passing through Baltimore.

But by the 1990s, like so many other American grand lodges, Maryland decided that a sprawling suburban headquarters would better serve its members than an aging and increasingly expensive downtown landmark. The fraternity moved to Cockeysville in 1994, and the new headquarters complex was completed in 1996. The old Baltimore Temple was sold in 1998 for a sickening $500,000.

At one point, the building was actually threatened with demolition to make way for a parking garage. Fortunately, preservation-minded developers rescued it, and an extensive rehabilitation transformed the old Temple into the Tremont Grand, which opened in 2005. It eventually became known simply as The Grand. In subsequent years, its spectacular interiors even appeared in film and television productions, including House of Cards and Veep. 

According to the Business Journal, the Grand Lodge has paid $2.5 million for the property, or five times what they sold it for in 1998. That hasn't been officially verified in the press. But that price reflects inflation, along with major renovations and updates done to the venue by previous owners. By that yardstick, they got a steal.

Hodapp Climbs on Soapbox

Regular readers of this blog know that I’ve been beating this particular drum for years. Our buildings are not just pieces of costly real estate. All across America, Freemasons have been selling off some of the most architecturally significant fraternal buildings ever constructed. Some have found second lives as theaters, hotels, restaurants, apartments and event centers. Others have been stripped of their historic interiors, left to deteriorate, or simply demolished.

In too many cases, the fraternity has become so concerned with the cost of maintaining these great buildings that we have forgotten what they represent.

Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers didn’t build these temples merely to provide pretty rooms in which to hold stated meetings twice a month. They built them as lasting monuments to the importance of Freemasonry in their communities. They wanted their cities to know that Freemasonry was a permanent, respected, contributing part of civic life. And they frequently built them in the very hearts of their cities, where the public could see them every single day.

Of course, it’s easy for me to sit here and wax poetic about marble staircases, stained glass windows and soaring ceilings when somebody else has to pay the heating bills. I understand the enormous financial burden these buildings can represent, especially to a fraternity whose membership has declined dramatically from its mid-20th-century peak in 1958. 

But I have long believed that abandoning our historic temples is often a short-term solution with very long-term consequences. Once we sell them, I can now say we ALMOST NEVER get them back. Maryland has just demonstrated that almost is the important word in that sentence.

Here in Indianapolis, we face many of the same challenges with our own magnificent 1909 Indianapolis Masonic Temple. It’s an enormous, architecturally significant building with beautiful lodge rooms, banquet and ballroom facilities, an 980-seat auditorium and a remarkable history of service to both Freemasonry and the public. Like so many of these great temples, its future depends upon finding ways to make it relevant, useful and financially sustainable in the 21st century.

I’ve long argued that the solution to preserving our Masonic landmarks isn’t simply to lock the doors, reduce the thermostat and hope the maintenance bills go away. We need to find imaginative new uses for these buildings, professionally manage them, welcome the public inside, create partnerships with our communities, and remember that our historic temples can be some of Freemasonry’s greatest tools for education, outreach and public awareness today, in the here and now. They cannot just be relics from the distant past. And a building that sits empty six days a week isn’t fulfilling its potential, no matter how magnificent the lodge room may be.

Maryland’s decision to buy back its historic Baltimore headquarters and continue its use as a public events facility suggests an encouraging approach. My understanding is that several lodges have already expressed interest in returning to their original downtown home there once the lodge rooms are ready for their meetings again.The building can generate income, serve the wider community, and still retain an active Masonic presence. 

Naturally, the success of such an arrangement will depend upon the economics, the management, and the willingness of the fraternity to think beyond the traditional use of a Masonic building. But the fact that the Brethren of Maryland have taken this step at all is worth celebrating. And maybe, emulating.

Meanwhile, the Grand Lodge is going to keep its current headquarters in their admittedly magnificent modern facility in Cockeysville. When it was built in the 1990s, they spared little expense on that building and used their old downtown building's decor as inspiration for the new auditorium. It contains some of the most beautiful plaster and painting treatments I've seen in modern construction anywhere, so annual meetings will likely remain a fixture there. (Photos below)

So congratulations to the Grand Lodge of Maryland. I hope this turns out to be an enormous success, and that other Masonic jurisdictions around the country pay attention. After all, we spend an awful lot of time in our ritual talking about the importance of building. It’s great to see Brethren reclaiming a great one for a change.

Detroit Temple Centennial Gala This Saturday 10/17

by Christopher Hodapp

Tickets are still available for Saturday night's Centennial Gala of the Detroit Masonic Temple. But act fast!

100 years ago, the Masons of Detroit dreamed very big indeed, and constructed what remains today as the largest Masonic Temple building in the world, with over a thousand rooms inside. That it has remained in the hands of the fraternity in the 21st century is itself nothing short of miraculous. 

Come celebrate this milestone this Saturday, October 17th. Tickets are $100 and include dinner, drinks, dancing, a premium bar, and valet parking. To order, use the QR code in the flyers below. Or CLICK HERE.

https://www.themasonic.com/gala/

Happy Fraternal Day! (Wait. Wut?)

by Christopher Hodapp

Your mail wasn't delivered today because it is Columbus Day, the federal holiday commemorating Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas in 1492. 

In 1892, America's only Hoosier President, Benjamin Harrison, encouraged nationwide celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage. But it wasn't until 1934 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt began issuing annual proclamations recognizing Columbus Day. Congress got around to establishing it as a federal holiday in 1968, and it was finally signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It was eventually moved to the second Monday to in October in order to standardize three-day weekends for major national holidays.

In recent years, the second Monday in October has also become widely observed as Indigenous Peoples' Day, honoring the history, cultures, and contributions of America's original inhabitants. But if you happen to live in the state of Alabama, you've got a THIRD reason to celebrate today.

It's also Fraternal Day!

No, I haven't made that up. Alabama is apparently one of the few places left in America where somebody in the state legislature still remembers that fraternal organizations even exist. In fact, the state's official 2026 holiday calendar lists the second Monday in October as "Columbus Day & Fraternal Day & American Indian Heritage Day." Three holidays for the price of one. 

That there is a rare example of some pretty efficient government thinking.

Fraternal Day isn't some recent invention dreamed up by a bored Shriner looking for another excuse to wear a fez in public and drag his little car out of the garage for the inevitable parade. Alabama established Fraternal Day way back on August 28, 1915, originally designating the second Thursday in October to recognize the contributions of fraternal organizations. It actually predated the establishment of Columbus Day as a federal holiday. 

Think about that for a moment. In 1915, the Golden Age of Fraternalism was in full swing and America was absolutely swimming in fraternal organizations. Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Elks, Moose, Eagles, Woodmen of the World, and almost a thousand other groups with their own elaborate rituals, mysterious passwords, impressive hats, and enough jeweled collars, swords, and embroidered aprons to keep the nation's regalia manufacturers in business for generations. 

Fraternal groups were so numerous and widespread that a National Fraternal Congress of America was established at Chicago in 1913 as an umbrella organization to protect the interests of fraternalism and act as lobbyists in Washington DC. It's still around today.

And they weren't just social clubs. These organizations provided charitable assistance, life insurance, burial benefits, care for widows and orphans, hospitals, retirement homes, and a sense of community and belonging long before government programs took on many of those responsibilities. 

And Alabama's legislators thought all of that was important enough to deserve a holiday.

There was even an effort in 1915 to establish a National Fraternal Day. Texas Senator Morris Sheppard introduced legislation proposing October 27th as a federal holiday. Unfortunately, that idea went nowhere. Apparently, Congress decided the American people already had enough holidays involving picnics, ceremonial speeches, parades, drill teams, and men wearing funny headgear. 

Think of it: had Sheppard's fellow Texan Lyndon Johnson ever gone beyond just his Entered Apprentice degree in Johnson City Lodge No. 561 in 1937, he might have pushed for a national Fraternal Day holiday after becoming president.

We can but dream.

That's a damned shame, because Americans could stand to remember (or discover) just how important fraternal groups have been to the development of this country. Maybe we could push our legislators to resurrect the idea nationally, or state by state. After all, it costs nothing.

Of course, Fraternal Day doesn't mean Alabama's Masons get an extra day off from work. State offices are closed, but since it shares its date with Columbus Day, nobody gets to stack the holidays and take Tuesday off as well.

Still, it's a charming little historical survivor from an era when fraternalism was woven deeply into American civic life, and the contributions of our lodges and other organizations were considered worthy of statewide recognition.

Since it is also Columbus Day, there's a fraternal connection to that holiday, too. When Father Michael J. McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1882, he deliberately named the new Catholic fraternal organization after Christopher Columbus. At a time when anti-Catholic prejudice was widespread in America, Columbus was celebrated as a national hero, and McGivney wanted to remind his fellow Americans that Catholics had played an important role in the nation's history and could be just as patriotic as anybody else. The Knights went on to become one of America's largest and most influential fraternal organizations, and were instrumental in promoting Columbus Day as a national observance. So there's something rather fitting about Columbus Day and Fraternal Day sharing the same calendar square in Alabama. Somewhere, Father McGivney must be smiling at that little coincidence (even if he would have been a bit unnerved by the presence of us Freemasons for the occasion).

So, to all our Brethren in Alabama, Happy Fraternal Day! Wear your square and compasses proudly. Call an old Brother you haven't seen in a while. Visit a lodge. Do something charitable for somebody who needs a hand. Maybe even invite a prospective member to dinner. And if you happen to find yourself in a restaurant tonight, raise a glass to the Masons, Knights, Prophets, Odd Fellows, Woodmen, Foresters, Red Men, Hibernians, Pythians, Eagles, Elks, Owls, Mooses, Macabees, Cincinnatis, Hoo-Hoos, and all the other fraternal organizations that have helped build American communities over the last three centuries.

Just don't expect the waiter to know what the hell you're celebrating. (Practice your elevator speech - now's your chance to explain it to him.)

Happy Fraternal Day, Brethren!

Road Trip: Speaking in Connecticut and Pennsylvania in October

by Christopher Hodapp

Alice and I have packed up our canine miscreants and a couple of cases of books to head for the East Coast over the next couple of weeks in the Airstream. 

First up, this coming Thursday, October 1st, I'll be speaking at Sequin Level Lodge 140 in Newington, Connecticut (near Hartford) for what promises to be a fantastic Festive Board. The good news is that dinner will be spectacular (click the flyer below). The bad news is that you have to listen to me in order to get it. 

The evening begins at 6:30PM and Secretary Larry Baker assures me the gourmet dinner will more than compensate for whatever happens after they hand me a microphone. 

The price for this event is a paltry $50. Only 80 seats are available, and I don't know where ticket sales stand. Reservation cutoff is Monday, but click the link to check availability: https://lodgelocator.com/sequin-level-140/page/payments-tickets

Sequin-Level Lodge 140 is located at 80 Walsh Avenue in Newington.

I've previously spoken at a several lodges in Connecticut over the years, so you'd think they'd know better by now. 

The following Tuesday, October 6th I'll be speaking at historic Philadelphia Lodge 2 in the spectacular Philadelphia Masonic Temple. (Lodge No. 2 was one of the first Masonic lodges chartered by England in the American colonies in 1758 - they just celebrated the 268th anniversary of their founding.)

I’ll leave it to the assembled crowd to decide whether my presentation is a proper use of a wind instrument or not.

The Temple is located in downtown Philadelphia at 1 N. Broad Street.

Before the meeting, dinner will be held at 5:30 p.m. at Iron Hill Brewery located downtown at 1150 Market Street. There is no cost to attend dinner, but brethren are encouraged to make a nominal donation to the Lodge No. 2 Almoner’s Fund in lieu of payment. If you will be joining us for dinner, you will need to sign up by next Monday, October 5th by clicking HERE and fill out the online form. 

Meanwhile, if you pass us on I-80 Eastbound (a red SUV with Indiana plates hauling 30-feet of aluminum shaped like a big silver Tylenol), give us a honk. 

The dogs will bark, I'll wake up, and wave...

Texas Man Sentenced to Life for Masonic Lodge Murder

by Christopher Hodapp

NOTE: This story has been corrected. The KREG-TV5 news report mistakenly said that the Llano Grande Lodge 1173 building in Westlaco had been destroyed by Diaz's arson attack in 2023. It was damaged, but not destroyed. My apologies for the error. CH

Yesterday, after three years of investigations and courtroom proceedings, Julio Diaz was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Freemason Robert Wise. WBro. Wise, 55, was shot at point-blank range and killed by Diaz outside McAllen Lodge 1110 in July 2023. He shot a video of the killing and posted it on his social media page.

Previously, Diaz set fire to the Masonic lodge buildings in McAllen in 2022, and Weslaco (located about 20 miles east) on February 20, 2023.  He was sentenced to two additional 50 years terms for each of those arson convictions, running concurrently.

Brother Robert Wise, 55,

(Photos: McAllen Lodge 1110 Facebook page)

When he was arrested, Diaz told investigators that he believed Masons to be "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."

WBro. Wise's widow was given the opportunity in court to confront Diaz for the first time.

From the report by KRGV-TV5:

"My husband Robert was not, was not your choice to take. That was not your choice. I had just seen him 15 minutes before you shot him. Yeah, you go ahead and yawn," Sanchez said.

She then turned to Diaz's mother, the one person who, like her, sat through the case from the other side of the courtroom. Sanchez told Diaz she had thought about what his actions had done to his mother too.

Diaz answered back.

"And she's the only one you didn't think about of who's going to take care of her," Sanchez said.

"I did think of her," Diaz said.

"No, you didn't," Sanchez said.

“She's very proud of you. You think you're very smart. Look at where you're at now," Sanchez said.

"Perfect," Diaz said.

KRGV-TV reports Diaz will remain in jail for several weeks before transfer to state prison. His attorney is awaiting a court-ordered neurological report and may seek a new trial or raise the issue of Diaz' mental health on appeal. But for now, he's behind bars.

Ever since the COVID lockdowns, there has been an alarming increase throughout the U.S. and Canada in incidents of vandalism and arson against Masonic halls by admitted paranoid anti-Masonic extremists and conspiracists. Anti-Masonic sentiments online seem to be on the rise, with a greater sense of distrust and hate directed at the fraternity.

We must all be extremely cautious regarding security in and around our buildings going forward. That means monitored surveillance cameras, locked outer doors during events, and vigilant Tylers who probably shouldn't be on the lodge room side of the door during meetings, I'm sad to say.

Equally important, law enforcement officials need to be informed by us every time there are threats or acts of vandalism and violence directed at us – police departments and individual officers can't be automatically expected to realize that anti-Masonic hatred is a very real syndrome lurking out in the general population.

Catholics, Coffins and the Grand Orient: the Old Church War Is Hot As Ever

by Christopher Hodapp

If you you thought the Catholic Church and Freemasonry had finally stopped firing cannonballs at each other over the battlements, Europe has supplied a couple of reminders that this particular 300-year-old family quarrel isn't over. Not by a long shot.

In August, Catholic bishops in Italy refused church funeral rites for two prominent Freemasons, while a French archbishop conducted Catholic funeral ceremonies for another very public Mason. Then, just to make the whole thing even more incendiary, the newly elected Grand Master of France's largest — but irregular and unrecognized by mainstream Anglo-American Freemasonry — Masonic obedience announced that private schools operating outside the French government's contract educational system "have no place in the Republic."

Naturally, Catholic commentators promptly announced that the Freemasons had declared war on Catholic schools.

Well...sort of.

NO MASS FOR YOU

In early August, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Pope Leo XIV's Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, blocked the scheduled Catholic funeral Mass for 88-year-old classical guitarist Bruno Battisti D'Amario. (If you've ever listened to the classic soundtrack to the 60's spaghetti Western The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, you've heard his amazing guitar work.)

D'Amario was not just some obscure lodge member who'd paid dues for six months back in 1973 and forgotten about it. He had been an important figure in the regular, widely recognized Grand Orient of Italy (Grande Oriente d'Italia), and they publicly memorialized him as a prominent Masonic leader following his death. He had founded a lodge in Rome, served in senior positions within the grand lodge, and was identified in press accounts as a 33° Mason.

Unfortunately for his family, his Masonic obituary apparently tipped off Catholic authorities.

The funeral had already been scheduled for August 7th at Santa Maria in Montesanto — Rome's famous "Artists' Church" on the Piazza del Popolo — when church officials learned of D'Amario's Masonic career. The matter worked its way up the ecclesiastical food chain to Cardinal Reina, who consulted the diocesan legal office and refused permission for the funeral Mass.

A priest was permitted to pray privately with the family, and church officials stressed that Masses could still be offered later for the repose of D'Amario's soul. But no public Catholic funeral Mass.

One day later, Bishop Antonio Suetta of Ventimiglia-San Remo did essentially the same thing.

This time, the deceased was 73-year-old Mario Tarducci, who had served as Worshipful Master of a lodge near Bordighera. His Catholic funeral was already scheduled at St. Mark the Evangelist Church in Camporosso when Suetta learned of Tarducci's public Masonic membership and cancelled the ecclesiastical funeral rites.

Suetta subsequently issued guidelines making his position quite explicit: a Catholic who knowingly remains a Freemason and dies without some indication of repentance or renunciation can be denied a Catholic funeral.

This isn't something the bishops just made up last month.

Canon 1184 of the Catholic Church's Code of Canon Law says ecclesiastical funerals must be denied, unless there was some sign of repentance before death, to several categories of people — including "other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful." Canon 1185 adds that anyone excluded from ecclesiastical funeral rites must also be denied a funeral Mass.

In other words, Rome's position on Freemasonry remains exactly what it has officially been since the 18th century.

When the revised Code of Canon Law appeared in 1983 without specifically naming Freemasonry, plenty of Catholics and Masons assumed the old prohibition had quietly disappeared. But Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — the future Pope Benedict XVI — promptly issued the Vatican's Declaration on Masonic Associations, approved by Pope John Paul II. It stated that the Church's negative judgment about Freemasonry remained unchanged because Masonic principles were considered "irreconcilable" with Catholic doctrine. Catholics who knowingly join Masonic associations, it said, are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.

Pope Francis' Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith reaffirmed that position yet again in 2023 after a bishop in the Philippines asked what he was supposed to do about the growing number of Catholic Freemasons in his diocese.

So, whatever some individual priests may have told Catholic Masons over the years, officially the Vatican has never changed its mind.

BUT THEN CAME FRANCE

Two weeks after the Italian funeral cancellations came a much different scene in France.

François Patriat, 83, a longtime French senator, former government minister, former president of the Burgundy regional council and close political ally of President Emmanuel Macron, died August 19th following a bicycle accident. Patriat was also publicly known as a Freemason.

Nevertheless, on August 25th Archbishop Antoine Hérouard of Dijon personally presided over Patriat's Catholic funeral ceremony at the historic Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame in Semur-en-Auxois. Macron attended and delivered a eulogy.

Initial news accounts repeatedly called the service a funeral Mass, which made the contrast with Italy look even more dramatic.

Subsequent reporting, however, says the Diocese of Dijon confirmed that no Eucharistic Mass was actually celebrated. Hérouard presided over Catholic funeral rites and blessed the deceased, but there was no celebration of the Eucharist.

That's a fairly important distinction. It also demonstrates the considerable pastoral discretion involved in these cases. Canon law specifically says that when there is doubt, the local bishop is to be consulted and his judgment followed.

Still, to Catholic traditionalists, the optics were startling: two known Freemasons denied Catholic funerals in Italy, followed within weeks by an archbishop presiding over the very public church funeral of another Freemason in France with the President of the Republic sitting in the pews.

Cue the outrage machine. 

The rabidly anti-Masonic (and noisome) militant crowd of fundamentalist Catholics immediately lit up their internet sites with indignant denunciations of "The Masons."

MEANWHILE, THE GRAND ORIENT PICKS A FIGHT

As if all of this wasn't enough to revive memories of Clement XII and his 1738 papal bull In Eminenti Apostolatus, another Masons-vs-Catholicism story erupted almost simultaneously.

On August 28th, Guillaume Trichard was elected Grand Master of the Grand Orient de France (GOdF) at its 161st annual Convent in Bordeaux. Trichard previously served as Grand Master in 2023-24.

If you're new to this subject, an important reminder is necessary here.

The Grand Orient de France (GOdF) is the largest Masonic body in France, but it is not recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England or by mainstream American grand lodges. The most widely recognized, regular Masonic body in France is the Grande Loge Nationale Française. The GOdF belongs to the liberal or "adogmatic" branch of Continental Freemasonry. It permits atheists, admits women, has long been aggressively secularist, becomes openly involved in political and social controversies, and has historically played an enormous role in France's battles over laïcité — the peculiarly French concept of absolute strict separation between religion and the state.

In other words, when the Grand Orient de France announces a public policy campaign, don't confuse it with your local Masonic lodge selling pancakes to buy a new roof for the Little League concession stand.

Unfortunately for the much wider world of regular, recognized Masonic bodies, the GOdF more often than not says or does things that affirm many of the crazier accusations leveled at "the Freemasons." There is a long history of the Grand Orient taking a public stand against Catholic institutions. Which brings us to current events.

Upon taking office, Grand Master Trichard announced an aggressively public agenda, calling for the Grand Orient's approximately 1,400 lodges to conduct at least one public action before next year's Convent (annual communication) — including lectures, exhibitions, charitable activities and even "intervention in a school or university" — all with the stated goal of bringing Grand Orient values into the public square.

Then Trichard gave an interview to Le Figaro. And that's when things got hot.

Trichard announced that the GOdF would shortly issue a white paper on "the school of the Republic." Although he said he did not intend to reopen the entire debate between private and public education, he added: "I consider that private schools outside contract have no place in the Republic."

His explanation was that schools operating hors contrat — outside the French state's contractual education system — do not have a "contract with the indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic," which he said creates the possibility of abuses.

In response, Catholic publications promptly accused the Grand Orient of launching an offensive against Catholic education. More than one source blurted the headline, "Freemasons Declare War On Catholic Schools!"

Well, not exactly.

Trichard did not say, "Catholic schools have no place in France," and internet graphics circulating afterward that claimed he wanted to "ban the freedom of Christian schools" appear to have exaggerated or altered what he actually said. Imagine that.

France's hors contrat schools are not exclusively Catholic. They include Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and other alternative educational institutions. Most French Catholic schools operate under contract with the state, so Trichard's remarks do not amount to a proposal to abolish Catholic education in France.Still, what he actually said is controversial enough without gussying it up.

These are legal private schools, subject to state inspections and various national education requirements. France's Federation of Parents of Independent Schools blasted Trichard's remarks, arguing that freedom of education is itself protected under French law and that operating outside a government contract does not place a school outside the Republic.

Supporters of Trichard fired right back. A coalition of secularist organizations issued a statement backing him and declaring that "the only free school is the secular school."

So no, the Grand Orient de France has not actually "declared war on Catholic schools."

But Trichard has clearly decided to officially drag the Grand Orient into France's school wars. And for anyone who knows French Masonic history, that should produce a powerful sensation of déjà vu.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

The irony in all this is tough to miss.

In Italy, Catholic bishops are dusting off rules barring practicing Freemasons from Catholic funeral rites because Masonry is supposedly incompatible with Catholicism.

At almost precisely the same moment, France's largest Masonic organization is loudly reasserting the militant secularism that helped convince generations of Catholic churchmen that Freemasonry really was incompatible with Catholicism in the first place.

And around we go.

It does bear repeating that an estimated 25% of American and European Freemasons regard themselves as Catholics. If you accept the wild-guess figure that there are about 1 million American Masons and perhaps 4-5 million Freemasons in the world these days, there could be  250,000 Catholic Masons in this country, and a million or so globally. And they disagree with the official policy of the Church because they know full well that regular, recognized Freemasonry does not conflict with Church theology in any way. It's not the first time that a vast crowd of Catholics believed that the Church was wrong in its condemnation of its own faithful flock, and they simply ignore it.

Or to paraphrase the old Chinese saying, Heaven is high and the Pope is far away.

For American Freemasons, especially, it is worth remembering that "Freemasonry" does not mean precisely the same thing everywhere in the world. The politically active, secularist Grand Orient tradition in France is historically and philosophically quite different from the regular Anglo-American Masonic tradition. Unfortunately, the enemies of Freemasonry routinely stuff every Masonic organization on the planet into the same sack. The Catholic Church's rules certainly don't distinguish between them.

Which leaves us approximately where Pope Clement XII and the Freemasons found themselves in 1738.

Only now everybody has social media.