Freemasons For Dummies: Masonic Society Semi-Annual Meeting Saturday

Friday, October 23, 2009

Masonic Society Semi-Annual Meeting Saturday

Welcome to brethren coming to Indianapolis from out of town. Wish we could do something about the rain. And the FFA convention.

The Board is meeting Friday night, so we're unfortunately out of the socializing loop for the evening.

In addition, the competition for dinner tables will be tough downtown, as there are 55,000 Future Farmers of America in town for the week. I have made a reservation for 12 people at a very uniquely Indianapolis restaurant, the Rathskeller, at 7PM, in case you are interested. It is in the name of The Masonic Society, and it is upstairs in the "Director's Room." Jeff Kaplan is heading up the group and will meet there at 7.

Here's the website: http://www.rathskeller.com/

It is a German restaurant, but with a very wide menu, a huge beer list as you can imagine, in a wonderful old building, and located at 401 E. Michigan St. (3 minutes by car, or about a 12 minute walk from the Hilton Garden Hotel.) There is room for more than 12, if you are so inclined.

If the Board finishes early, I'll come up and at least have a largish beverage.

Here are a few other options within walking distance of the Hilton Garden Hotel.

Dunaway's Palazzo Ossigeno
Morton's Steak House
St. Elmo's Steakhouse (Very expensive, very crowded, very loud, but a city institution)
Fogo De Chao - a Brazilian steak house that is very unique
Ruth's Chris
Harry & Izzy's
PF Chang's
Buca di Beppo
Jillian's (similar to a Dave & Buster's)
MacNiven's (Scottish)

Saturday Program

9:00 AM Call to Order ..... Colin Peterson
Co-Chairman, Indiana Second Circle Committee
Invocation

Welcome and Introductions .......................Roger S. VanGorden
President of The Masonic Society

Keynote Address .................. Charles F. Marlowe
Grand Master of Masons in Indiana

The Gentleman Mason...................... Jeffrey D. Naylor

Notes on Teaching the Craft: The Millennials’ View of American Freemasonry ..... José Díaz

Reviving a Failing Lodge ................................ Chris Hodapp

12:00 Noon Luncheon in the 2nd Floor dining room, Indiana Freemasons’ Hall

1:00 PM Tours of Indiana Freemasons’ Hall and the Indianapolis Scottish Rite Cathedral

2:00 PM Reconvene

The George Washington Masonic Memorial and
Electronic Records for Researchers............. Mark Tabbert

All Masonry is Local ................................Roger VanGorden
Working the Plan: Lodge Models and Model Lodges ........ George Haynes

The “Dan Brown Effect” .................................... Chris Hodapp

Closing Remarks ...................................Roger S. VanGorden

6:30 PM Banquet in the 2nd Floor dining room, Indiana Freemasons’ Hall

Benediction

2 comments:

brewer13Sat Oct 24, 01:08:00 AM 2009
Best wishes to all the brethren in attendance. I wish I had been able to attend. Perhaps next year.

Craig Wepprecht
WM
Kenosha Lodge #47
Kenosha, WI
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RolfThu Oct 29, 09:09:00 AM 2009
Wish I could be there. Best wishes to all the brethren.If you are in the Rathskeller that evening: Don't try -under which circumstances ever- the german white wine from the wine menue! The variety of beers is pretty good.
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Legendary brotherhood
With a mythic past
And a visionary future.

Freemasonry is the largest, oldest and best-known gentleman's fraternity in the world. Historically, it is based on the Medieval stonemason guilds who built the great castles and cathedrals of Europe. Mythologically it is founded upon the building of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, as told in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Modern Freemasons likewise use the tools, traditions and terminology of those Biblical stonemasons as allegories for building Temples in the hearts of men, using Solomon as our ideal example of wisdom, justice and faith.

At its core, Freemasonry is simply an attempt to make the world a better place, one man at a time. For each man, it can become as simple or as complicated as he himself desires.

It's said that we are a secret society. We do indeed have secrets—secrets that each individual man has to discover for and about himself.

It's not for everybody. It never has been, and was never meant to be. That's the point.

Maybe it's for you.

Christopher L. Hodapp is the author of Freemasons For Dummies, the international, best-selling introduction to the Masonic fraternity; and Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C..

Prior to joining the Masons and becoming an author, Chris spent 23 years as a commercial filmmaker with Dean Crow Productions in Indianapolis.

Since 2009 he has been on the Board of the Masonic Library & Museum of Indiana, and serves as its Associate Director and Treasurer. In 2021, Chris was named as Public Relations and Marketing Director for the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana.

As a Freemason, Chris is a Past Master of Broad Ripple Lodge No. 643 and of Lodge Vitruvian No. 767 under the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana; he is a member of Indiana's Schofield Lodge 1818 U.D.; and of Internet Lodge No. 9659 in the Province of East Lancashire of the United Grand Lodge of England. Most recently, he served as the Worshipful Master of the Dwight L. Smith Lodge of Research U.D. in Indiana for 2019-21.

In 2018 he was awarded the Caleb B. Smith Medal of Honor by the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana for his "distinguished service to Freemasonry in Indiana and worldwide."

Chris is a 33° Mason in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite (NMJ), Indianapolis Valley. He is a Past Sovereign Master of Imhotep Council No. 434 of the Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a founding member of Levant Preceptory, a medieval Knights Templar period recreation degree team in the York Rite, and he is an officer of the Indiana College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis. He belongs to numerous other Masonic appendant organizations.

As a Masonic author, in 2012 he was named as Friar No. 101 in the Society of Blue Friars. Chris was a Founding Fellow of The Masonic Society, and was the founding Editor in Chief of The Journal of The Masonic Society. He was the editor and a contributor in 2004-5 to "Laudable Pursuit: A 21st Century Response to Dwight Smith" by the Knights of the North, a Masonic leadership think-tank focusing on modern lodge solutions. He has written for Indianapolis Monthly, Heredom, Masonic Magazine, Templar History, the Scottish Rite Journal, the Knight Templar Magazine, the Indiana Freemason , the Phylaxis, and numerous other publications.

His most recent Masonic book, Heritage Endures, was published in January 2018 as part of the 200th anniversary of Indiana's Grand Lodge.

Chris is also the co-author with his wife Alice VonKannon of The Templar Code For Dummies and Conspiracy Theories And Secret Societies For Dummies. Together they developed scripts for the History Channel program, Brad Meltzer's Decoded in 2010, and contributed material on conspiracies and secret societies for TruTV and the American Heroes Channel. They have both appeared on National Public Radio, the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and the American Heroes Channel - most recently in the 2024 episode of America's Book of Secrets - The Freemason Factor for History and Prometheus Productions.

Chris and Alice reside in Indianapolis with their canine companions , Sophie the Flying Poodle and Maxwell, the Idiot Circus Doodle, who have them both answering to basic commands. They can frequently be found alarming the wildlife and dazzling the rustiks in their Airstream trailer as they crisscross the country. Appropriately, their newest books together are RVs and Campers For Dummies, released in June 2021; and RV Vacations For Dummies - 7th Edition, released in June 2023.

APPEARANCES

Contact Chris directly to enquire about speaking at your event.

2025

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