Scottish Press Tries To Make A Masonic Scandal Out of GM's Resignation

by Christopher Hodapp

When Joe Morrow, former two-time Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, completely resigned from the fraternity 'for personal reasons' back on September 17th, the silence as to why he really did so left a wide-open field for speculation. Over the weekend, the Scottish press finally got around to purportedly blowing the whole story wide open, and it landed with a resounding thud. (The story originated in the Scottish Sun by Jennifer Jones: "LODGE COMPLAINT: The real reason Scots freemasons chief quit organisation for good after pledging to modernise ‘the craft")

The Reverend Canon Dr. Joseph Morrow first served as Grand Master of Scotland in 2004, but resigned before completing his term. Two decades later, he was elected to the Grand East again, vowing to 'modernize' the fraternity and make it 'more transparent.' But he once again resigned this year before completing his term of office, and announced this time that he was completely withdrawing from the fraternity.

The widely syndicated and reprinted article from November 3rd turned out to be yet another non-story about Masons from the UK press. Start off by mentioning ‘arcane rituals, lurid oaths and dodgy handshakes,’ then spend 20 paragraphs to eventually admit Morrow probably pissed off all of his committee heads ‘pointing out all their deficiencies’ and demanding a bunch of (unexplained) changes, right before leaving the country.*

But the article never does REALLY explain his resignation this time. An unnamed source claims the Grand Lodge sought a replacement for him before he went to Asia, but the GL says that’s not true, that they sought a replacement only AFTER he left on his trip and resigned. 

It's not like Morrow has a shortage of honors and public notice. In addition to being an Episcopalian priest, Morrow is the current Lord Lyon, King of Arms, the head of Scotland's heraldry court,. That body issues new coats of arms to people, companies or organizations, and makes decisions on the proper or improper use of them, and Dr. Morrow has the last word. (Misuse of coats of arms is actually a criminal offense in Scotland.) He also took part in the coronation of King Charles III and Camilla in 2023.

The story DOES take careful pains to also reveal Morrow is gay and that he was originally outed by a snickering press during his FIRST stint as Grand Master 20 years ago – a story that the Scottish papers gladly and gleefully covered back in 2004. The story goes on to speculate without any shred of evidence that his resignation this time was possibly engineered by a group of anti-gay members who muscled him out the last time. 

But there's no proof. No conclusion. Certainly no scandalous revelation. And certainly no reason whatsoever for a 96pt headline and a 4-column article that got reprinted in several papers, including the Times of London. Just one more opportunity to take a swipe at the Masons without a reason.

That equals no story, in my book. 

*Ms. Jones does get an extra point for NOT using the term 'rolled-up trouser leg' anywhere in the article.