The following letter was sent to the editor of the local paper in Battle Creek, Michigan by Edward Winegar, Jerry Kirkbride, and Kevin Beck, the Worshipful Masters of the lodges that meet in the building, after last week's incident at the Masonic Center (
see here):
On behalf of the Battle Creek Masons, I would like to apologize to our community for the negative
attention that was brought to Battle Creek by people who rented a hall in our Masonic Center on
August 25th. While no Masons were in attendance at the event, it was still our responsibility to
ensure that our property was not being used for activities that are absolutely contrary to our
Masonic values of honor, virtue and integrity and our commitment to service to our community.
We have made the decision to stop renting our hall to outside groups until we have reviewed and
updated our policies to make sure that we are performing meaningful due diligence on the activities
that will be taking place there. Clearly, what we had been doing is not sufficient. Other Masonic
lodges around Michigan are also taking our experience into account and reviewing their own hall
rental policies as a result of this incident.
The Grand Lodge of Michigan (the Parent Corporation of all Masonic Lodges in Michigan) will also be
reviewing other Masonic Centers rental policies as a result of this incident.
The Masonic Center has been the scene of hundreds if not thousands of healthy and positive
celebrations of families and friends in almost a century of operation and it’s our hope that it can
continue to serve the community in that role moving forward.
Our apologies to the people of Battle Creek. This will not happen again.
Sincerely,
Edward Winegar, Master of Battle Creek Lodge # 12Jerry Kirkbride, Master of Climax Prairie Lodge # 59 Kevin Beck, Master of Ira Beck Lodge # 503
Well said.
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