Guthrie Scottish Rite: Backdrop for new Ronald Reagan Movie

Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan (Photo: Rawhide Pictures)

by Christopher Hodapp

An article appeared on the Oklahoman news site yesterday announcing that a new biopic of former president Ronald Reagan will be released in August this year. Reagan is directed by Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer) with a modest budget of $25 million and stars Dennis Quaid as the actor, governor and president. 

For Freemasons, the important news here is that much of the filming took place in and around the Guthrie Scottish Rite Cathedral. 

Guthrie Scottish Rite Cathedral

According to the article, filming took place four years ago, between September and November of 2020, but COVID shutdowns and other issues delayed the final release until this year. The film tracks Reagan's impoverished youth in Illinois, service in the military, his unlikely patch to Hollywood and career as a movie star (making more than 50 pictures between the late 1930s and into the 50s) before entering politics in the 1960s. The John Voight character is a fictional composite of soviet agents who began tracking Reagan when he served as the head of the Screen Actors' Guild and became a fierce opponent of communism. While serving two terms as the 40th U.S. president between 1981 and 1989, Reagan stared down the Soviet Union and its then-president Gorbachov, essentially bringing the post-WWII Cold War to an end.

A few production photos from the shoot:

©Rawhide Pictures

©Rawhide Pictures

©Rawhide Pictures

The script is written by Howard Klausner ('Space Cowboys') and Jonas McCord (2001's "The Body"), based on Paul Kengor's book, 'The Crusader: Reagan and the Fall of Communism.' Director Sean McNamara was brought onto the project after the film's original director, John Avildson (who directed 'Rocky'), died unexpectedly in 2017. 

©Rawhide Pictures

The production team used Guthrie's Scottish Rite Cathedral for its base of operations, and you'll see much of it on screen. Its magnificent interiors were used to recreate the Oval Office and the Situation Room of the White House; several scenes in Cold War-era Soviet Russia; the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub (which was inside of the now-demolished Ambassador Hotel in Hollywood); and Germany's Brandenburg Gate between East and West Berlin, where Reagan famously demanded, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Reagan's 'Brandenburg Gate' speech in Berlin is
recreated in front of the Guthrie Scottish Rite. (Photo: ©Rawhide Pictures)

Masonic Buildings As Film Locations

Masons with unique temple rooms and buildings — large and small, old and new — would do well to reach out to their state film commissions, submit detailed photos to them, and offer building tours to their officials on a regular basis. Film commissions have employees who make themselves familiar with potential shooting locations and unique visual attractions in their state so they can effectively answer the requirements of film productions and location scouts. That can translate into money and other benefits to owners of unique properties, including Masonic temples. 

Local economies are given a tremendous boost as well, when a major production comes to town. Oklahoma got picked for this particular film because the state's Film Rebate Program kicks back up to 37 percent of qualified expenditures on productions. According to a 2021 Newsweek article written when the film wrapped production, "Reagan spent 24 days filming in Oklahoma, plus three months of pre- and post-production work, employing 155 locals, not counting a few hundred extras in scenes such as a union strike in the 1940s and the night Reagan won the California governorship in 1966."

Oklahoma's Film Commission has a program whereby a town or community can be labeled as "Film Friendly," and Guthrie qualified for that status. The program educates local officials and business owners about how to roll out the red carpet when major productions come calling.

Fairfax, Oklahoma's Grayhorse Lodge 124 appeared in Martin Scorcese's
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).

Not far from Guthrie, Grayhorse Lodge 124 in Fairfax, Oklahoma got used for scenes in Martin Scorcese's 2023 film Killers of the Flower Moon. In return, their lodge room got painted and other upgrades were added when the film crew came to town.

The George Washington National Masonic Memorial 

subbed for the Smithsonian in National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

When the 2007 film National Treasure 2 was shot in and around Washington, DC, the George Washington Masonic National Memorial stood in for a lecture hall and display area in the Smithsonian Institute. The Scottish Rite SJ's House of the Temple headquarters, also in Washington, was the location for 2009's State of Play with Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Helen Mirren. The Grand Executive Director's office became a congressman's office, a political speech was shot on the front steps, while several other scenes were shot in seemingly mundane hallways and corridors. Location fees helped fund some major repairs to the building. (Thanks for the info, Brent.)

Whether you recognized it or not, the United Grand Lodge of England's magnificent art-deco Freemasons Hall on Great Queen Street in London has been used in movies and TV shows for decades. Freemasons Hall is very well known to UK film crews. The producers of the 1930s-era Poirot TV series with David Suchet as the Belgian detective seemed to be especially in love with the place, and it appeared in many episodes as wildly different locales. Just a few examples of its many on-screen appearences can be read about HERE and HERE.

While our most magnificent 'City Beautiful'-era buildings can stand in for government buildings, court houses, universities, theaters, museums and other monumental buildings of the past, that's not always what location scouts are hunting. Sometimes they're simply seeking out very simple locations that can be used for multiple settings, which can allow them to spend less moving time between sequences. Back when our company shot TV commercials, my own lodge's humble dining room stood in for a typical "church basement" meeting sequence, while our commercial-grade kitchen was the setting for recreating the kitchen of a fancy restaurant later the same day.

BTW, In Case You're Wondering...

President Ronald Reagan was NOT a Freemason. On February 11, 1988, the Grand Master of Washington, D.C. presented Reagan with a "Certificate of Honor". Both the Scottish Rite Northern and Southern jurisdictions presented him with a similar certificate, as did the Shriners, and they named him an "honorary member" (which confers no degrees and has no serious Masonic standing). But all of these were merely documents citing his commitment to charity, fortitude, temperance and prudence, and thanking him for his public service. 

Fourteen out of the last 46 U.S. Presidents have been verifiably Freemasons, and only 13 have been Master Masons. (The name missing from that list at the link is Lyndon Johnson, who was initiated in a Texas lodge as an Entered Apprentice, but never advanced further.)

President Gerald R. Ford, who succeeded Richard Nixon in the wake of his resignation over the Watergate scandal in 1974, is currently the last American president who ever held Masonic membership. He was initiated in Grand Rapids along with his three half-brothers: Thomas Gardner Ford, Richard Addison Ford, and James Francis "Jim" Ford on September 30, 1949, at Malta Lodge No. 465, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Two years later he completed the second degree on April 20, 1951, in Columbia Lodge No. 3 Washington, D.C., and was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in the same lodge on May 18 of that year. He was also a Scottish Rite Mason in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, and a Shriner in Saladin Temple in Kentwood, Michigan. Ford was made a 33° Scottish Rite Mason and Honorary member of the Supreme Council AASR, NMJ in 1962.

As an adolescent, Bill Clinton belonged to a DeMolay chapter in Arkansas, but never pursued Masonic membership. No U.S. president since then has had any official association with the Masonic fraternity.

Grand Lodge of Cuba Votes To Expel Sitting Grand Master Mario Carreño

by Christopher Hodapp

On Sunday, the assembled brethren of the Gran Logio de Cuba de AL&AM (Grand Lodge of Cuba) voted to expel their sitting Grand Master, Mario Alberto Urquía Carreño. From the HavanaLive website translated from 14YMedio.com on March 24th:

(Havana) The Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Cuba, Mario Alberto Urquía Carreño, has been expelled by the representatives of more than 300 lodges on the Island, shouting “Out with a thief, usurper, scoundrel, traitor.” The events occurred on Sunday, when Urquía, who continued to hold office after the controversial theft of $19,000 from his office, was preparing to preside over the semi-annual session of the Masonic Upper House.

The information, reported by CubaNet, was confirmed to 14ymedio this Monday by Ángel Santiesteban, a 33rd degree Mason – the highest step in the order’s hierarchy – and an independent journalist, who could not attend the event but knows the facts.

In his opinion, whoever succeeds the Grand Master – predictably the Deputy Grand Master, Gerardo Cepero Díaz, critical of Urquía – will stop the interference of State Security in the lodge, something that leaves room for optimism.

The Freemasons considered that Urquía was illegally carrying out the position, since on January 25th he was expelled by the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Republic of Cuba for his alleged “betrayal.”

A witness to what happened this Sunday told CubaNet that the Grand Master refused to leave the room, but he had to do so due to the almost unanimous demand of the representatives of the lodges.

“There was a lot of indignation accumulated over the actions of the Grand Master. “He came out saying that he would call the Registry of Associations (of the Ministry of Justice) to complain, but they have no authority here,” he said.

“That had never happened in Cuban Freemasonry,” he added, “not the painful aftermath of the robbery, nor the blatant interference of State Security, nor the expulsion of an acting Grand Master. “Today is the day of shame, the day in which Cuban Freemasons demonstrate our autonomy and integrity.”

The Grand Lodge had expelled Urquía for his “punishable and intentional” conduct, despite the fact that his responsibility in the theft of the money – which belonged to the Llansó National Masonic Asylum, in the Havana municipality of Arroyo Naranjo – is still being investigated. 

The Supreme Council then considered that his “entrenchment” was, in addition, leaving as a consequence a “major Masonic schism in the national territory.”

Urquía continued to cling to the position, despite the rejection of a large majority of Freemasons, some of whom had asked the United States to eventually deny him possible entry into the country for “being an active collaborator of the intelligence agencies of the regime of Cuba”.

This was stated by a Freemason residing in Colombia, Pompilio Portuondo, on his Facebook account, where he added the names of some alleged “collaborators.”

“Gradually we will continue to bring to light more names of people who are collaborating with Mario Alberto Urquia and all the HH (brothers) who in one way or another have hidden, supported, or support Mr. Mario Alberto Urquia Carreño in the next session of the Masonic Upper Chamber of the Grand Lodge on Sunday, March 24.

We will expose it to the knowledge of the entire international community and especially in the United States so that they are denied entry as agents of the regime,” he said.

According to CubaNet, once Urquía’s departure was achieved, and under the transitional presidency of the former Grand Master, Ernesto Zamora, all the Decrees that Urquía had formed after January 25 to date were challenged, “including those in which he sent to the Court to those who had confronted him.”

It remains to be known what will happen to José Ramón Viñas Alonso, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd degree, who was expelled from Freemasonry for seven years by a ruling by the Supreme Court of Masonic Justice of Cuba on Thursday, February 22.

His “punishment” was interpreted by many as revenge by Urquía Carreño against Viñas, for having reported the theft of the $19,000 in dispute.

F.O.B.s (Friends O' Brent) Meet Up in Central Indiana

by Christopher Hodapp

We Indiana Masons have the good fortune that author, editor, researcher, statistician, magician and Brother, Illus. S. Brent Morris, 33°, has family here in Brownsburg. That means once or twice a year, Brent and his bride Jocelyn wing their way here from their lavish manse in Maryland to visit for a few days, which lets us arrange for a lunch and to spend some time together. 

Here we are posing yesterday with our traditional mascot, just in case some so-called Masonic "expert" told you there are no goats in Freemasonry. Only a Complete Idiot would believe that. LtoR: Nathan Brindle, some bearded Dummy, Dave Hosler, Jim Dillman, Brent Morris and Heather Calloway. 

Missing today were Roger VanGorden and John Bridegroom who usually accompany us.

A photo (below) from last year's FOB gathering (otherwise known surreptitiously as the Brotherhood of the Goat; but don't tell anyone).

Guthrie, Oklahoma Scottish Rite Spring Reunion April 5-7

by Christopher Hodapp

The Guthrie, Oklahoma Valley of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite - SJ has one of the most magnificent Masonic buildings in the U.S., and they are understandably proud of their architectural treasure. But Guthrie also is renowned for its outstanding presentations of the complete AASR Southern Jurisdiction’s Pike-derived rituals of the 4th-32nd degrees.

Their Spring 2024 Reunion will be held April 5-7th. Registration opens Friday at 7AM, and the opening ceremonies will begin at 8AM. (Click the schedule below to enlarge.)

If you’re an existing Scottish Rite member in either the NMJ or SJ, don’t miss the opportunity to experience these degrees as they were meant to be staged, in person, in this beautiful temple, and in full pageantry. If you’re not a member and you are a recognized Master Mason in Guthrie’s jurisdiction, contact them directly and ask about membership.

One Score, Five Years and a Couple of Days Ago...

by Christopher Hodapp

On Thursday night, Worshipful Brother Nathan Brindle and I were given our commemorative 25-year pins by the Master, officers and brethren of Broad Ripple Lodge 643 in Indianapolis. I guess the whole city was in on this event—just about the time we got pinned, the Civil Defense klaxon out in the lodge parking lot belted out a one-note fanfare for five solid minutes, followed by a half-hour of spectacular Stürm und Drang-like thunder and lightening. All that was missing was the accompaniment of Thus Sprach Zarathustra on the Wurlitzer.

Why is it I can never find a comb when I need one?
Nathan, on the other hand, NEVER needs one.

So. One score, five years and a couple of days ago... 

It was a Saturday in 1999, and two days short of the 'Ides of March' when Nathan and I were passed to the degree of Fellow Craft, and raised as Master Masons at an 'All Degree Day' at Calvin W. Prather Lodge 717 on Haverstick Road in Indianapolis. 

I remember the day. Vividly. Just as every Freemason remembers his raising.

(This is where the picture suddenly goes all spooky and wavy, accompanied by the sweeping strumming of a harp, heralding the coming of a flashback.)

•   •   •

The surprise cake at my 40th birthday party in 1998 was a bit premature -
my EA degree would come later that week. But friends were already in on it.

Forty is a huge bellwether as life boundaries go. For the first time in my life, I had just bought my first Chrysler (deemed the Official Automaker to the Elderly back in the 80s and 90s), and it had two sets of golf clubs in the trunk, which was spacious enough to conceal several bodies. I had just been prescribed my first high blood pressure pills and found a gray hair in sprouting in my beard. A Midlife Crisis was certain to happen at any second. And so I joined the Masons. I later found out that 40 is almost exactly the average age at which most Masons have historically decided to join. 

Except for Nathan's balding pate, we looked enough 

alike in 1998 that Masons who couldn't remember which was which 

just referred to us interchangeably as Brindapp.

I had originally contacted the Grand Lodge of Indiana seeking membership through its website—one of only five US grand lodges that had such a newfangled thing at the time. The face behind the website answering these early Internet requests turned out to be RW Roger S. VanGorden, who would become Grand Master in 2002-03. He was also a Past Master of Broad Ripple Lodge 643 in Indianapolis. 

(Note: My lodge's odd name comes from a wide hook-shaped bend in the nearby White River that encircles this northside Indianapolis village; hence, 'a broad ripple.' It started life as a weekend holiday area, with an amusement park and boating on the river, but soon became one of the city's first true suburbs in the early 20th century. Today, Broad Ripple Village is loaded with restaurants, shops and nightclubs, and the recent addition of hundreds of new apartments.) 

Broad Ripple Lodge 643 in 1998.

Unbeknownst to us, Roger had a reason to point me and Nathan in Ripple's direction. Quite simply, Broad Ripple Lodge was a mess. They'd lost members and officers, current officers weren't doing their jobs properly (or at all), their 200 members were staying away in droves, their finances were a wreck, and the Grand Master was about to name a special deputy to investigate and find out "What in hell goes on at Broad Ripple??!!" They needed all the help they could get. So he sent us there. 

My initiation as an Entered Apprentice at Ripple came just three days after my birthday, and Nathan followed in January. For our Entered Apprentice degrees, Ripple had put out a distress call to other lodges for assistance in filling parts and giving the lectures. By the January meeting, there was a whole new slate of elected officers—many of them young and quite new to the fraternity—but the lodge still never could find enough of its own members to complete our FC and MM degrees. Meanwhile, the Grand Lodge special deputy delivered the news that the Grand Master was within an inch of yanking their charter from the wall. In the coming months, five of the lodge officers resigned, left town, or just disappeared. 

Already by February, Nathan and I were getting nervous about Ripple's future. We began visiting nearby Calvin Prather Lodge 717 for their Saturday breakfasts and got to know their officers, just in case we needed to find a different lodge. They seemed popular, stable, and they were the home lodge of the Grand Master in 2000, Robert E. Hancock. We figured at least THIS lodge wouldn't lose its charter anytime soon.

Then one Saturday morning, Prather's Past Master Cliff Lewis mentioned that GM Hancock was experimenting with the notion of "one day classes," wherein a group of initiates could experience the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason degrees all together. He suggested we ask Broad Ripple to participate in that event so that at least we'd be able to finally complete our FC and MM degrees. He also mentioned that Broad Ripple's WB Donald C. Seeley was one of the finest ritualists in town when it came to the Worshipful Masters' parts. And so, that was our solution.

Former temple of Calvin Prather Lodge 717

It was a very long day for all involved, as Don insisted that his two Broad Ripple candidates (the two of us) would each have our MM work done individually, all the way through, and not as part of the large group of Prather's candidates—that was his pound of flesh, in return for conferring all of the degrees that day. He would sit in the East and go through the entire Master Mason degree separately for me, then for Nathan, and then all over again for a third time for the other candidates in a bunch. The Prather organizers grumpily agreed, because they didn't have anyone at the time nearly as proficient as Don to replace him. So Nathan and I became sort of one-day degree hybrids—we took the FC as a group, but our MM's separately.

I despise the term, but if one day classes make "McMasons," 
then Nathan and I were special grill orders.

A family friend of many years, Richard Finch, who hadn't been inside of a Masonic lodge for a very long time, made it a point to be there for me that day. It was amazing how many of my parents' friends turned out to be Freemasons, something I wasn't aware of until after I joined. So, too, were countless men I had admired as a child and a teenager. I would discover so many of them to be brethren decades after first encountering them. Most Masons will tell you the very same thing.

•   •   •

Prather's old lodge building in the Nora area of Indianapolis (actually their third home) is gone today, but the lodge still thrives on the city's east side. 

Gone, too, is James Lindsey, who had only been a Mason for a few months, but acted as the Senior Deacon for the day. 

So is Dave Bosworth, who cooked breakfast and gave all of us candidates crash courses in Masonic education between the breaks. He was actually the Grand Lodge Special Deputy who investigated Broad Ripple Lodge, and we became good friends for the next few years until his death.

PGM Bob Hancock

So is the gregarious Grand Master Robert E. Hancock (photo), who was promoting this one-day class program at the time, along with a lot of other 'crazy ideas,' to the chagrin of many disgruntled Indiana Masons. Little things like requiring business meetings to be opened on the EA degree so all lodge members could attend and participate. Reasonable outreach to invite honorable, worthy men to join instead of just hoping they would ask someday. Encouraging more mutual cooperation with Prince Hall brethren. And once a lodge meeting was closed, reopening the Bible at all times to the passage, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." He was right on so many things, yet the rank and file despised him for it at the time. ("Geez. Opening on the EA degree means ALL of our officers have to attend a stated meeting, AND it adds almost 5 minutes to the opening and closing! That's outrageous!") Every single one of his proposals that year was voted down by the grand lodge membership. And then, ironically, so many of those very same practices came to fruition in our grand lodge, after he was gone. 

"A prophet is without honor in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house..."

Gone, too, is WB David King, Prather's oldest living Past Master at the time. He had been the general contractor back in the 70s who had helped bring Prather's Nora building in for half of its estimated building cost. David gave the Middle Chamber lecture so movingly that day, so perfectly, and with such demonstrable understanding of the words of that long and complex ritual. I was astonished throughout the degree to hear it for the first time that afternoon. I was even more shocked to discover afterwards that David had gone almost completely blind at that point in his life, yet he led us through those 'winding stairs' to the Middle Chamber because he had done it with so many Masons before us. 

So is Ripple's then-Secretary Jerry Cowley, the ever cheerful, always optimistic, always outgoing promoter, defender and champion of Broad Ripple Lodge, who greeted every petitioner like a long-lost relative and was a constant fountain of suggestions to keep members coming back to lodge. Nothing ever phased him, and he was always the first to volunteer. Jerry made sure that the rest of us understood that we are all connected to each other, and to never stop inviting and welcoming every Mason we met, to remind ourselves and each other just what this fraternity is supposed to be about. When our lodge was teetering on closing, he always found a way to involve other lodges' members in our activities to shore us up until we could fix ourselves. And as we rebuilt, those very same visitors wound up enjoying our lodge even more than their own, often transferring to us, or becoming dual members. And that wouldn't have happened without Jerry.

So is our then-Treasurer Irv Sacks, the wise old Jewish uncle I never had, and whose warm humor and counsel I valued to the very end. Irv had the unique ability to gently stop arguments, or to encourage brand new members to try new programs and solutions while slipping in just the right amount of advice and caution, followed by a hilarious story.

So is Ripple's then-Senior Steward 'Big John' Gillis, whose sonorous, folksy voice the whole city of Indianapolis knew from his many years on radio stations WIBC and WNAP, often giving traffic reports from a helicopter high above the city. How shocked I was when it was him who appeared with his lavish mustache and lamb chop sideburns to "propound three important questions" to me!

Past Master Don Seeley is gone, too. I really never believed that would happen—he will be King Solomon for all eternity in my mind's eyes and ears, and each time I experience the degrees, it's his voice I always hear. During the MM degree, when a particular aspect of our obligation is demonstrated and explained, Don would look into a candidate's eyes, then softly say, as he turned and gestured to every single Mason in the room, "...and I will inform you, my Brother... That every. Single. Master. Mason... Is under a like obligation... To YOU." With such simple inflections and mannerisms, suddenly the weight and import and meaning of the fraternity's core teachings all became so clear, so embodied in that one, simple message.

And my old family friend Richard Finch is gone, too. He was maybe hardest of all, because Dick and his family have been part of my family for more than 50 years now. Because of our connection as Masonic brothers, I found myself standing in a remote southwest Pennsylvania churchyard five years ago, surrounded by members of his family and my own, beside a group of local Masons, where we laid him to rest beneath the silent clods of the valley.

I fully realize that this sounds to outsiders and to younger men like a long, maudlin dirge of the dead—a cut-rate Hamlet despairing over a whole bowling team of deceased Yoricks. It might sound to the uninitiated that Freemasonry is little more than a slow march to the graveyard. Or the tar pit. Or both. But it's quite the contrary. 

Freemasonry teaches us to live and celebrate each day as if it were our very last one, to learn from, give to, and cherish each other, young and old. To build instead of tear down. To put aside whatever petty nonsense divides us as individuals, and instead unite to become something larger and better than ourselves. To learn from each other's differences and similarities, and to celebrate those differences, instead of recoiling from them, or branding each other as enemies. To leave the world a better place than we found it. Apart from houses of worship, there aren't a lot of institutions left in the world trying to keep that mission alive. 

But the big difference between a church and a Masonic lodge is that religion concerns itself with the afterlife and the disposition of the soul, while Freemasonry is concerned with mankind's life right here on Earth, gently teaching its members to be a better father, son, brother, husband, neighbor, worker or teacher. A better man than he might have otherwise been had he never knocked on a lodge door.

•   •   •

As for the rest of the story? After Broad Ripple continued to hemorrhage officers in 1999, Roger Vangorden would step in at the last second to be Worshipful Master in 2000. In case you're one of those Masons who sneers at 'One-Day McMasons' for being lazy underachievers, I was elected as Roger's Senior Warden, just over a year after my EA degree, and Nathan his Junior Warden. I became Master in 2001, just two years after my initiation, and Nathan followed the year after, during the first half of Roger's term as Grand Master. We were charter members when Lodge Vitruvian 767 opened Under Dispensation in 2001, becoming Indiana's first 'European observant-styled' lodge. Nathan served as Secretary for both lodges, and I'd become Vitruvian's third-serving Master in 2005. Grand Master Richard J. Elman recommended me to the For Dummies people to write a book about the Freemasons in November of 2004, and I'd serve as Master of Vitruvian in 2005. Nathan would eventually serve as Secretary of at least seven Masonic organizations, and became an active officer in the Indianapolis Valley of the Scottish Rite. And we've done a couple of other things here and there since then. 

And Broad Ripple Lodge? It would soon become one of the top lodges in the state when it came to activities, stability, proficiency, and creating lifelong friendships among its members. Less than five years after we almost lost our charter, the state's Grand Lecturer said at our Lodge of Instruction that he'd absolutely place Broad Ripple Lodge among the best he'd ever inspected, and enjoyed visiting more than any other. So maybe joining at its worst made us all stronger, more determined to get it right. 

That's because we had great role models to learn from. 

The lodge room that day back at Prather in 1999 was packed with Masons of all ages. And lots of them went on to remain active and to become leaders in the fraternity in the coming years. But it was a function of the demographics of a fraternity of mature men who overwhelmingly did as I did, and didn't join until their 40s and later. Yes, there were plenty of young men that day, but the wise, older Past Masters who were running the show had more than twenty years of Masonic experience on me then. And it's a full quarter of a century later now. Prather's Past Master Cliff Lewis tells me he will soon receive his 50 year pin, yet he looks to me just as he did at that breakfast so long ago.

My friend, WB Jeff Naylor once lamented, “When you're young, all you ever want to be is older. No one ever explains that the price you pay for that is in the numbers of people you lose who were important in your life.”

And yet, with all of those friends and brothers who were there that day now gone, you would think this is some maudlin, weepy lament over the past. It's not. Each of us is the sum total of our experiences and those who shaped our character. Every single one of those men taught me important lessons about Masonry, and people, and life itself. Lessons I never would have learned in a hundred years on my own without men like them, and countless others. 

The central metaphor of Freemasonry is its very premise. Each one of us is capable of being a Temple to God, and we choose to make our ourselves worthy or not. But that Temple isn't built by us alone. It's built, stone by stone, with the help of all those around us, everyone we encounter. Especially Brother Masons, fellow craftsmen engaged in building, not tearing down.

Joining the fraternity of Freemasonry has been the greatest life-changing experience of my 65 years on Earth, and I say that without exaggeration. In 25 years of membership, I have traveled all over the world and met and gotten to know quite literally thousands of men from every walk of life. Every sort of profession. Every economic level. Every race, color, nationality, education, personality, temperament, religion, and every other brand of classification humans beings cook up to categorize and file away strangers we normally don't know or would never otherwise associate with on a bet. Those tribal distinctions that we all arbitrarily use to ignore the people around us are meaningless when it comes to basic human coexistence. That's what being "on the level" is all about, which has been one of the primary principles of Freemasonry from its very beginning.

That 'Undiscovered Country from whose bourn no traveler returns' always seems just out of reach—as Hamlet said, it "puzzles the will." None of us need be in any hurry to actually get there. But such an amazing journey it has all been so far, with the greatest crowd of traveling companions it's ever been my privilege to know. As Cunard used to advertise its shipboard vacations, "Getting there is half the fun!"

I can't wait to see what comes next. Check in with me in 2049, when I get my 50 year pin. I'll only be 90 by then. Perhaps I'll be less inclined to ramble. But don't bet on it.

My Deepest Apologies: Is Red or White Wine Best with a Plate of Crow?

by Christopher Hodapp

What is the proper bit of cutlery you’re supposed to use when eating crow – a fork, or a crow bar?

There are plenty of times when life would be better if we didn’t express our own badly informed opinions out loud. Well, every once in a while, I’m as guilty as the next guy of shooting off my big mouth, flapping my gums, or furiously pounding on the keys of my tripe-writer, before knowing all sides of an issue.

The difference with me is that I’m NOT the next guy — I’m a Freemason with the unimaginably good fortune of having a website that lots of Masons and non-Masons look to for valuable, truthful news and information. And that’s why I need to apologize to all of you, and especially to the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite - Northern Masonic Jurisdiction; to Sovereign Grand Commander, Illus. Walter Wheeler, 33°, to the Actives of the Supreme Council, and to its membership as a whole.

On Friday, the AASR-NMJ released a public statement concerning the conclusions of investigations regarding the actions of David Glattly, the former Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite-NMJ between 2016-2021. I posted a summary on Friday after its public release (see: Statement of Facts: David A. Glattly; and AASR-NMJ Releases Results of Investigations Over Former SGC David A. Glattly). It turns out that the accusations leveled by a whistleblower at the NMJ's Lexington headquarters against Glattly turned out to have been true and backed up by verified evidence.

Those of you who understand ecclesiastical Latin will know what I mean when I say Mea culpa. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa. That’s my brief TLDR explanation for those frightened by long stories.

Back in December, I was contacted by David Glattly, the former Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite-NMJ, who asked me to post a letter publicly that explained his sudden resignation from his position in 2021. I agreed to do that at the time because the rumor mill had been churning for 18 months, and almost all of it seemed to be one-sided, painting Glattly as a profligate-spending office tyrant, firing staff left and right and replacing them with his overpaid buddies, while taking deep bows for programs he had nothing to do with. I felt at the time that he at least deserved to have his version of the story aired, especially since he had been in charge when the unforeseen disasters of the COVID years wreaked havoc on every social and business organization on Earth. Maybe he should have been cut some slack if he did something wrong, I thought. So, with nothing else to go on at that time, I posted the letter. And before the letter itself, I also posted a long preamble of my own (as is my usual habit of writing meandering masterpieces that end 20 or 30-thousand words later in another zip code).

The AASR-NMJ at that time was still undergoing long and detailed independent audits of its finances, and both internal and outside investigations of the many accusations leveled against Glattly. Those initial allegations had been laid out by a whistleblower within the Supreme Council, and because those investigations were still underway, neither the Supreme Council nor the Sovereign Grand Commanders who followed Glattly could, would, or should have answered any questions publicly at the time.

In the wake of that post and his letter going as viral as Masonic scuttlebutt ever goes, he was subsequently expelled from the Scottish Rite for airing the soiled sheets and private business of the Supreme Council. (No one has said so, but I suspect there was a strong sentiment around Lexington for giving me the order of the boot as well, for giving Glattly the chance to post his letter here.) Plenty of Masons (myself included) flew to the understandable conclusion that Glattly’s actions had been unfairly mis-conscrewed as wrongdoing, and that he had been muscled out by Masonic nepotism and the hurt feelings of former employees. That was the reason Glattly wanted me to get his side of the story out first — so that all of us would view his actions sympathetically long before the NMJ ever revealed their findings publicly — if they ever did. Frankly, no corporate attorney in his right mind would let their clients blurt out information that could affect or interfere with these kinds of deep-dive investigations, and the NMJ simply had to wait until they could release their final findings.

That happened Friday.

Since confession is thought to be good for the soul, I will freely admit that I have a personal animus, borne of my own past experiences, concerning Masonic firings, expulsions and suspensions, along with opaque decisions that look, smell and feel like “star chamber” dealings. Very few brethren who ascend to positions of leadership in our fraternity misuse or misapply their superpowers, but it does happen every now and then. Rising generations of younger Masons these days have a generational dislike and distrust of institutions that are not transparent in their dealings with their own members and the outside world. That being said, I allowed my own biases to prevail in this matter, and that hasn’t served anyone well. After almost 20 years of writing thousands of articles here, I have never knowingly posted anything that was deliberately incorrect; and when I’ve posted something that DID turn out to be wrong, I quickly and quite openly have apologized and corrected the record, while emphatically shouldering all blame for errors. But in this case, it’s obvious that a man desiring public opinion to be firmly on his side before the truth was revealed sent me a letter apparently filled with falsehoods and deflections, and I went right for the topwater bait.

Twenty-five years ago last November, I was standing in a darkened hallway, wearing an ill-fitting garment and a blindfold for the first time, while some guy next to me pounded on a door I couldn’t see for myself. The voice of another fellow on the other side of that door gave me the very first nugget of Masonic wisdom we all receive as Entered Apprentices: “Wait with patience.” Unfortunately, I just turned 65, and I occasionally suffer from memory lapses — I obviously forgot that lesson.

I am not going to engage in selective deleting or rewriting the past to assuage my own guilty conscience — all of the original stories and links will remain in place. If you are now just so intrigued that you want to go back and sift through the old antique dirt just to satisfy your own inner gossip-mongering fishwife, these are the stories about this episode:

• 12/31/2023: AASR NMJ Past Commander David Glattly Speaks Out
  
  
• 2/15/2024: Past Sovereign Grand Commander David Glattly 33° Expelled from the Scottish Rite NMJ
  
  
• 2/16/2024: Past Sovereign Grand Commander Glattly Responds To His Expulsion From NMJ
  
  
• 3/08/2024: AASR-NMJ Releases Results of Investigations Over Former SGC David A. Glattly

BUT.

I HAVE added updates and links to all of these old stories pointing to the Supreme Council’s investigation results, just to clearly show future readers that Glattly’s denials have turned out to be lopsided fiction. I hope this posting gets just as widely shared across the Interwebz as Glattly’s original story did.

Now, I’ve gotta go – I’ve got a big, fat, stuffed pan of Crow Almondine sizzling in the oven. I’ll get back to you guys after I’m done eating the damned thing.

I understand the beak and tail are the toughest to chew.

AASR-NMJ Releases Results of Investigations Over Former SGC David A. Glattly

by Christopher Hodapp

The Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite - Northern Masonic Jurisdiction (NMJ) has just issued a public "Statement of Facts" in the wake of their investigation and ultimate expulsion of Past Sovereign Grand Commander David Glattly last month. The statement was emailed to all members of the NMJ and has been posted on their public website HERE.

According to the statement, Glattly was expelled from membership in the AASR-NMJ for "deliberate breach of fiduciary duty, violation of Supreme Council confidentiality, and endangerment of protected whistleblowers." It states that an overwhelming majority of the Supreme Council's 54 Active Members voted in favor of his expulsion.

Glattly was compelled to resign as Supreme Grand Commander back in August 2021 after an internal whistleblower gave a letter to the Supreme Council outlining a list of allegations and complaints over his behavior after taking office in 2016. Those allegations included Masonic ballot fraud, favoritism in hiring and inappropriate employment practices, excessive spending and failure to stick to budget restrictions, and purportedly creating a "toxic workplace environment." Those allegations resulted in an internal investigation by the Active Members of the Supreme Council, as well as an independent, external forensic audit and investigation.

The internal investigation concluded that all of the whistleblower's allegations turned out to be to true, and backed up by the facts.

The allegation of ballot fraud concerned the election of the nominees to receive the 33rd degree in Cleveland, Ohio back in 2021. The alleged ballot fraud was confirmed by video evidence, along with direct testimony that at least four black cubes had been cast as negative votes, that no more black cubes were made available in the ballot box, thereby denying other members the ability to cast any more negative votes, and that Glattly had erroneously declared the ballot "clear" despite the four black cubes cast.

According to the statement, Attorney William J. Lovett of the firm Lovett O’Brien was commissioned by the Supreme Council to conduct an independent forensic investigation and audit concerning the whistleblower's allegations involving financial issues, hiring practices, workplace environment and other corporate governance misconduct. Lovett is both a former federal prosecutor in the US Justice Department and an accountant. The one-year investigation has been concluded (at a not insubstantial expense) and the statement concludes that the allegations were all substantiated by the evidence.

David Glattly's long letter in which he laid out his side of the story just before he was expelled was posted on this website back in December (see AASR NMJ Past Commander David Glattly Speaks Out). In February, a copy of a letter written to the Supreme Council by the whistleblower (REDACTED) that led to the subsequent investigations was leaked to the Reddit/Freemasonry subreddit. That story was updated on February 20th and the letter was amended to the end of Glattly's story in an effort to bring more transparency to this incident. 

The AASR-NMJ did not issue statements at that time because the investigations were still underway. That's understandable, since no attorney in his right mind would advise a corporate client to shoot its collective mouth off about internal cases of corporate misconduct involving its officers – at least, not until the actual facts of the matter are fully known. Despite the long delay since Glattly's letter first appeared, the NMJ should be applauded for being forthcoming and transparent over this episode, now that it can be substantiated by facts.

Please see my apology on March 10th for taking any side whatsoever in this matter:  My Deepest Apologies: Is Red or White Wine Best with a Plate of Crow?

The Story of Ireland's 'Lady Freemason' Coming To Television

Elizabeth St Leger Aldworth, Ireland's Lady Freemason

by Christopher Hodapp

The famous tale of Ireland's first 'Lady Freemason,' Elizabeth St Leger Aldworth, was dramatized in print three years ago by Irish-American author Kathleen Aldworth Foster. Her novel, Doneraile Court: The Story of The Lady Freemason,  was framed as an historical romance/mystery with some Masonic intrigue thrown in. Now, an Irish production company has announced that Foster's novel will soon be made into a television series.

Doneraile Court today (photo: Tuatha)

The story of young Elizabeth's initiation into her father's Masonic lodge has been written about for almost three centuries, and it's been a part of the fabric of the Grand Lodge of Ireland's history from its beginnings in 1725. Her father, Arthur St Leger, the first Viscount Doneraile, would eventually become Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1740. But Elizabeth's tale predates the grand lodge and takes place back between 1710 and 1712. 

At the time, a lodge met regularly in Doneraile Court, the stately home of the St. Legers (the house still stands today and is open to the public for tours). The meeting that night was presided over by her father, Lord Doneraile, and her brother — the 3rd Viscount, father of the 4th Viscount, Grand Master — was also present.

Young Elizabeth was an avid reader, and the home's library was an extensive one. It also happened to be the room next door to the large salon where the Masonic lodge held its meetings. At the time of the story, some interior renovations to the house were being made, and a former passage doorway between the two rooms was being blocked in with bricks in preparation of being plastered over and painted.

A floorplan of the house showing the library, the lodge room, 

and the blocked passage between them. 

From a paper by Edward Conder for Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076

Lodge members had been arriving all afternoon. Everyone assembled in the lodge room, the doors were closed, and the family butler was stationed outside as Tyler. 

Elizabeth had been in the library that afternoon, but she had dozed off once the sun went down outside. The sounds of the lodge meeting opening in the room next door awakened her. Once she realized what she was hearing, curiosity overcame the young woman, and she crept over to where the workmen had temporarily stacked bricks over the old doorway in order to hear what was being said.

From a book based on her memoirs published in 1811, comes the account of what happened next:

The sound of voices in the next room restored her to consciousness and from her position behind the loosely placed bricks of the dividing wall she easily realised that something unusual was taking place in the next room. The light shining through the unfilled spaces in the temporary wall attracted her attention and, prompted by a not unnatural curiosity, Miss St. Leger appears to have removed one or more of the loose bricks, and thus was easily enabled to watch the proceedings of the Lodge.

For some time her interest in what was transpiring was sufficiently powerful to hold her spell-bound; the quietness of her mind remained undisturbed for a considerable period and it was not until she realised the solemnity of the responsibilities undertaken by the candidate that she understood the terrible consequences of her action.

The wish to hide her secret by making good her retreat took full possession of her thoughts, for it must be fully understood that although she was perfectly aware that her father's Lodge was held at the house, she had no idea on entering the library that on that evening a meeting was about to be held in the adjoining room. Her only means of exit was through the Lodge Room and we can well understand what must have been the feeling of the young girl when she realised that the only way to escape was through the very room where the concluding part of the Second Degree was being given. The door being at the far end of the room, she had sufficient resolution to attempt her escape that way. With light and trembling step, and almost suspended breath, she glided along, unobserved by the Lodge, laid her hand on the handle and, softly opening the door, before her stood her father's butler, the grim and faithful Tyler, with drawn sword in his hand, guarding the entrance. Her shriek alarmed the Lodge and the Brethren, having carried the young girl back into the library, learned what had occurred.

The Freemasons at the time took Masonic secrecy VERY seriously, and the members were horrified that their meeting had been gate-crashed by this nosey girl — or, at least they sure SOUNDED like they were taking it seriously. A discussion immediately ensued as to what sort of fate awaited poor Elizabeth. Even Lord Doneraile pronounced that they had just two choices left to them: either Elizabeth would have to be - regretfully - executed, lest she blab their secrets to the profane world; or they would just have to break down and initiate her into the lodge, thereby requiring her to properly take the obligations of the degrees in order and ensuring her silence. The vote was taken, the ayes prevailed, and Elizabeth was immediately initiated as an Entered Apprentice, and passed to be a Fellow of the Craft (there were only the two degrees at this time — the Master Mason degree wouldn't come along in England until the late 1720s, and it took a bit for it to spread to other jurisdictions).

Foster's novelized version embroiders the story with some local spookiness, gypsies, witchcraft, and, of course, some dreamy romantic passages between Elizabeth and a dashing young lodge member named Richard Aldworth. In reality, Elizabeth did indeed participate in the lodge for many years, marching with her lodge brethren in public ceremonies and parades while proudly wearing her Masonic apron. Just five months after the incident at the lodge, Elizabeth really did marry Richard Aldworth.

Plaque erected at St. Finbarre's Cathedral by the Freemasons of Cork. 

From the Irish Masonic History website.

According to her obituary published in the Leinster Journal upon her death in 1780, Elizabeth was ‘The only woman in the world who had the honour of being made a Freemason', and today the Grand Lodge of Ireland proudly displays her painting in their Dublin headquarters. She's still referred to as "Ireland's ONLY Female Freemason," which isn't exactly true, since there are female Masonic lodges and mixed-gender Co-Masons at work in that country. But she IS historically the only recognized female member of the Grand Lodge of Ireland's otherwise all-male fraternity.

Now comes the announcement that Kathleen Foster's novel will soon become a limited TV series produced by Great Island Productions, which is based in Cork. From the Irish Star website, "Ireland's only female Freemason was a 'courageous woman' who blazed a trail" by Martha Brennan:

Mark Kenny, CEO of Great Island Productions, said: "This is not just another story we're bringing to life. This is a captivating narrative about a trailblazing Irish woman that’s a thriller, mystery, and love story set against the backdrop of Doneraile Court in County Cork.

"Great Island's CFO Jim Robinson added: “Our partnership with Kathleen underscores our shared passion for engaging storytelling and historical intrigue. As plans unfold for adapting The Story of The Lady Freemason into a TV series, audiences can look forward to experiencing a unique blend of drama and history that also addresses issues of gender and inequality still relatable today.”

No information yet as to what network, station or service will actually air the series, biu it's still early in the development phase. 

For more about the real story of Elizabeth St Leger Aldworth, have a look at the Irish Masonic History website HERE. 

And for more about Kathleen Foster's novel and how this New Jersey author became fascinated by Elizabeth;s story, have a look at this article on the Irish Star website HERE.