Freemasons For Dummies

by Christopher Hodapp

I have been incredibly remiss in not reporting this story from Masonic Week 2026. My friend and Brother Paul M. Rich has been named this year as Friar #114 in the Society of Blue Friars at Masonic Week 2026 in Alexandria, Virginia.

The Society of Blue Friars was founded in 1932 for the express purpose of recognizing outstanding Masonic authors throughout the world. Traditionally, the Society convenes each year during Masonic Week in the Washington, D.C. vicinity to induct a new Friar, and its gatherings are open to the public, unless the presenter specifies otherwise.

Authors like Arthur E. Waite, Harold V.B. Voorhis, Dwight L. Smith, Brent Morris, Allen Roberts, Thomas Jackson, Yasha Beresiner, Alain Bernheim, Robert G. Davis, Alton Roundtree, Mark Tabbert, Shawn Eyer, Michael R. Poll, Robert D. B. Cooper, Josef Wäges, Piers Vaughan, Adam Kendall and Rick Berman are just a few prior Blue Friar honorees. In a rare moment of weakness, they even let a Dummy in. (After all - their prior Abbott is an Idiot, so I was in good company.) 

Dr. Paul Rich.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmGsy9dRuyI

Dr. Rich has an incredible life story and astonishing list of accomplishments, beyond his Masonic writings. Harvard professor, businessman, publisher, philanthropist, 

Westphalia Publishing, which has an enormous catalogue of Masonic related titles. Allow me to quote Shawn Eyer's introduction: 

"Paul Rich was born in Buffalo, New York, where his family has been connected with the food business and philanthropy for over 100 years. He entered Harvard from the Tonbridge School in England and got his AB kumlaude at Harvard where he was chair of the junior common room and secretary of the liberal union and he also got a Harvard master's degree in educational administration at Harvard. He worked for the Adlai Stevenson campaign and has been active in the Democratic Party for many years. He was a research professor at the University of Western Australia in Perth where he obtained his PhD and was on the university council for 13 years. He was head of supervisory programs at the Emirate ofQatar and adviser to the royal family. He was then a fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and senior professor of the University of the Americas in Mexico, developing the country's largest postwar sculpture park. He's president of the policy studies organization and its Westfailia press in Washington which includes governments, think tanks and political science departments and is an advisory organization to the United Nations. It publishes well-known titles such as world affairs and world medical. Busfallia now publishes the entire Masonic Library collection, keeping all the titles since its inception in print. He is a life member of St. John's Lodge in Boston, both the northern and southern Scottish rights and numerous research lodges and collateral bodies. active in Harvard alumni activities. He is the author or editor of three dozen books, including several involving Freemasonry. Paul is life governor of Harris College in the University of Oxford. Past president of five Beta Delta International, recipient of the Cameron Medal Medal for Scholarship, Chancellor of Pi Alpha Alpha, fellow of the Royal Historical Society and fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries."

19th century Blue friars

they always had an owl as a symbol of wisdom at all their meetings and I'm presenting their owl to the new roof friars today that you may keep in a roost somewhere some watch. They also met with a chest and the um members were required to provide papers. The papers had to be on yellow paper which was distributed at meetings. If you fail to present a suitable paper, you were fined 12 bottles of the best quality wine. So during their lifetime these masonic uh driers who were in pro in in Plymouth in England produced over 150 papers. Uh in the books which we're pleased to let you have today uh are some of the papers uh and also some recipes because they were gourmets and attraction of the meeting was the cuisine. uh that more of that later, but this is probably the only Masonic book you will ever have with recipes. Uh and if you try them, you will find that they're pretty good after 150 years. They're not bad. Whether you want to have a chest and put your papers in it or pay the fine of 12 bottles of the best quality wine is entirely up to you. I uh I think that might drive away members. At any rate, a very good afternoon to you and I appreciate the honor. Many of my friends through the years have been in the friars and uh I uh really really do take it as an incentive to do more work. Uh I don't take it as a sort of retirement masonic version of golf. I think it's a more of a cheer squad for turning out more things.