In March, the Grand Lodge of Oregon AF&AM Grand Master Ed Bousquet issued an edict, briefly suspending recognition of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar USA, over the Rectified Rite imbroglio, but rescinded the edict a week later, in light of "improved dialogue." Grand Master Bousquet has asked for "patience and understanding as the leaders of these organizations attempt to work through the problem."
It appears the dialogue hasn't improved much, and in fact, dialogue has now been outlawed in Oregon.
On April 25th, he issued a new edict, declaring the Grand Priory of the Reformed and Rectified Rite of the United States of America irregular and clandestine. Oregon Masons are now prohibited from joining the Rectified Rite, or of having "any interaction" with any member of the Rite. According to the edict, "This means no Oregon Mason may communicate on Masonic subjects formally or informally by the imparting of thoughts, opinions or information by speech, writing or signs. Any violation of this edict will result in disciplinary action that may result in suspension or expulsion from the Fraternity."
As I am a member of the Rectified Rite, I presume that means Oregon Masons should have stopped reading several paragraphs back, and are now spontaneously bursting into flames.
Click to enlarge.
Previous stories on this subject:
• Grand Priory of the Scottish Reformed & Rectified Rite of the United States of America
• Grand Priory of the Reformed and Rectified Rite of the USA
• 2011 Report: Commission on Information for Recognition
A Brother was attempting to post a response, but was thwarted by Blogger's log-in system. He wrote:
ReplyDelete"Thank goodness we're just a body of sad old men pretending to have something vaguely relevant to say in today's society, while really doing little more than climbing over the bodies of our friends in order to get a purple apron, or struggling to get a pathetic little title to make up for the fact that we were failures in the real world.
"Imagine if Masons like this had real power. The 'Newspeak' phrase used by George Orwell in 1984 was 'Groupthink'. You could be arrested, imprisoned and tortured just for having a thought against the State.
"Mercifully the most people like this can do is expel a member for 'thinking' about the Rectified Rite.
"Do these people ever take their heads out of the rear ends of the people they think will shower them with pretty little baubles to say what they want them to say, in order to think about what they are actually saying?
"I guess that's a rhetorical question. After all, how could any Pharisee (yes, the term is chosen carefully and in the biblical sense) with an ounce of morality or religious conviction do so without recoiling in horror?"