Grand Priory of America (CBCS) Tries To Halt Texas Educational Lecture

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATED - Wednesday, November 29, 3:55PM: An earlier version of this post wrongly identified Bryan Leroy Hill as the current Great Prior of the Grand Priory of America. He was succeeded in office by Allan Surratt. I've also made corrections to Roberto Sanchez' Masonic record. Both errors were mine alone, and I apologize for any confusion they may have caused.

MW Roberto Sanchez is an extremely energetic and dedicated Texas Freemason, and has been for more than two decades. If you regularly attend Masonic Week outside of Washington DC, you might very well have met him. In addition to his Texas membership, he's also a Past Grand Master and the sitting Grand Chancellor of the Gran Logia del Estado de Mexico (Grand Lodge of the State of Mexico). He served as Master of Gray Lodge 329 in Houston back in 2011, and was part of a group determined to provide a high-quality lodge experience to their members. Since then, he’s gained an international reputation as a popular speaker, and served as an officer in several appendant organizations. 

Back in 2006 WB Sanchez, along with Gray Lodge's Past Masters Lex Leckie and Greg Weisinger created what they hoped would become an American equivalent of the English Prestonian Lecture. It was named after the lodge's charter Master, Alfred Stephens Richardson. Roberto was an early speaker, and it continues through today. Gray Lodge's A.S. Richardson Lecture is usually held at a hotel or restaurant, and some of the top Masonic authors and historians have been invited to speak there over the years. (2011 must have been a lean year, as they invited me.)

This year will be the 15th annual A.S. Richardson Lecture, and the speaker will be Alun Thomas-Evans, a fascinating U.K. Mason who is well-versed in the history, development and philosophy of countless esoteric organizations, some related to Masonry, and some not. He will be speaking about the Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Cité Sainte (in English, the Knights Beneficent of the Holy City, or CBCS, using its French initials), the Rectified Scottish Rite, and a closely related body known as the Waite Order (named after Arthur Edward Waite, who is a topic all by himself). The event is to take place on December 1st at the Embassy Suites in the Energy Corridor in Houston ($80 apiece, in case you’re interested deadline for tickets is Thursday, November 30th). CLICK HERE to register through Facebook. Act fast. 

Now, longtime readers here may or may not remember over a dozen years ago when a dispute over this obscure, invitational, Masonic-related side organization most commonly referred to as the CBCS blew up into a national and international Masonic food fight. It was a mess. A BIG mess. This was truly Masonic minutiae of the most arcane kind, and to fully understand what was going on at the time took lots of explanation (here are some old links in case you really want to wade into this morass, or see the cheat sheet below). 

• Grand Priory of the Scottish Reformed & Rectified Rite of the United States of America
• It Goes On: Knights Templar GM Johnson Issues Decisions Against Great Priory CBCS 
• Rectified Rite Issue Clarified by the Grand Encampment of the United States
• As the Sword Turns: Called Conclave Removes Templar Grand Master Michael B. Johnson

Well, just in case you thought the whole ugly, stinky mess finally died out, it’s back again.

Now it seems that Allan Surratt, the current Great Prior of the Grand Priory of America (the U.S. wing of the CBCS) has sent a letter to the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas demanding that the A.S. Richardson Lecture be blocked because of its subject matter. It seems that the GPA doesn’t want anyone to even speak about their organization and its various related topics, and they are demanding that the Grand Master shut it down.

Only a tiny problem with making such a demand: the Grand Lodge of Texas has a swollen rule book that’s the size of the last Dallas phone book: it’s more than 500 pages long, which may be a sad record for US grand lodges. Texas Masons over the years have inserted reams of new and ever more tediously minute regulations into their Masonic code, and a big section of it deals with appendant and other Masonically-related organizations operating within their jurisdiction: the Grand Lodge must approve every single group that requires their participants to first be a Freemason. Every such group must petition the Grand Lodge of Texas for recognition, and must be approved by a vote of Grand Lodge. If it ain’t listed in their Code by name, it ain’t recognized in Texas. And it doesn’t matter how many Past Grands, 33rds, Sovereign-Thises-and-Thats, or Big Name Celebrity Masons happen to belong to it. It’s just like getting backstage at the Taylor Swift concert. You gotta be on the list, or the exit door is that way. And the Grand Priory of America (CBCS) isn’t on the list. It seems its storied and privileged officers and members never bothered to ask over almost 100 years. Whoops.

The Great Prior’s other objection is that WB Alun’s lecture will be talking about other versions of the CBCS and its related bodies outside of the US that the GPA isn’t part of.

So. 

The Great Prior of an unrecognized Templar-related organization that’s spent more than a decade and untold thousands of dollars in lawsuits defending their lineage, sovereignty and exclusivity in order to remain a tiny invitational supper club (“because them 33rds let in too much riffraff)” never got around to getting recognition in Texas, which is the home to several of its very own high-profile officers, members and – interestingly enough – attorneys. They include Reese Harrison, Michael Wiggins, and Brian Dodson – all Past Grand Masters of Texas. And the GPA doesn’t want anyone talking to Texas Masons about ANY un-recognized CBCS body, even though they themselves aren’t recognized in Texas, either.

Confused? 

The good news is that, as of Wednesday, November 29th, the Grand Master is apparently siding with the lodge in this little imbroglio, and was unmoved by the GPA's demand. The lecture will go forward.

If you don't know anything about this mess (or tried to put it out of your mind), here’s the cheat sheet on the history of this long tale of woe and misery: 

• Portions of the European CBCS/Rectified Scottish Rite rituals and origins involve the Knights Templar, and have done so since the 1700s; 
• The Grand Encampment of the Knights Templar (GEKT) found the GPA to be infringing on their sovereignty over all US Masonic Templary, in part because their charter clearly states that the CBCS is a Templar organization; 
• The American wing of the CBCS – the Grand Priory of America (GPA), organized in the 1920s - promised by the 1930s not to work their Templar degrees or ever publicly claim they were Templars; 
• The GPA stopped conferring the degrees and became a tiny, invitational, exclusive dinner club for Past Eminent Grand Masters of the KT and celebrity Masons; 
• By 2000, officers of the GPA began representing themselves on foreign visits as a Templar organization, and protested that US Masons were receiving CBCS degrees in England, France, Belgium and elsewhere, violating their “exclusive” status - GPA would not permit CBCS members who joined European Priories to attend their meetings and would not honor their credentials; 
• GEKT declared that the GPA was again illegally violating THEIR sovereignty; 
• The GEKT's GM William H. Koon received a warrant from a French CBCS body to create their own American Grand Priory, and subsequently suspended existing GPA members who refused to drop their “old” GPA membership; 
• Lawsuits more lawsuits and counter-lawsuits flew like bats out of a belfry; 
• GPA leaned heavily on the Conference of Grand Master Masons of North America to withdraw recognition agreements from the GEKT and shut down all US Templar Commanderies; 
• ME Grand Master Dixon of GEKT reluctantly shut down its “new” CBCS Priory; 
• A decade later, GM Nelson of the GEKT acted to remove any holdover language from their regulations, reinstate the suspended GPA members, and finally put this quagmire to rest. (Knightly News from 2021 Grand Encampment Triennial) 
• His immediate successor attempted to reverse that action, incurred the wrath of a weary mass of KT members, and got removed from office in an almost unprecedented action. (As the Sword Turns: Called Conclave Removes Templar Grand Master Michael B. Johnson) 

As the Sword Turns: Called Conclave Removes Templar Grand Master Michael B. Johnson

by Christopher Hodapp

“You stubborn and hardheaded people! 

You are always fighting against the Holy Spirit,

just as your ancestors did” 

(Acts 7:51; CEV)

An historic gathering took place today, and I don't mean in a happy, smiley-face historic way. Michael B. Johnson, Most Eminent Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States, has been removed from office at a Called Special Conclave held in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

Johnson has been replaced as Grand Master by David Kussman, and will retain the title of Past Deputy Grand Master. Some 291 Templars in attendance cast their votes, and the decision to remove Johnson was overwhelming: 219 in favor of his removal, 57 against, with 15 spoiled ballots.

I've long felt that the members of the Knights Templars who actively seek high office positions carry swords to stab each other in the back with. Go get yourself a big cup of coffee, because this tale is long and winding, along with being a tedious Masonic equivalent of an "inside baseball" discussion.

Michael B. Johnson has been removed as Grand Master of the Grand Encampment.

Called Special Conclaves are extremely rare. In fact, several Templar Knights who have searched the archives of the Grand Encampment have said there is no record of a single Special Conclave ever being called throughout the 20th century.

Michael Johnson's time in office has been turbulent. Upon his election last August, Johnson issued an official decision which immediately overturned a resolution passed at the Grand Encampment's 2021 Triennial Conclave in Minneapolis. That resolution passed by a super-majority and had been intended to put an end to the long-running battles over the Grand Priory of America (GPA) of the Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Cité Sainte (CBCS), otherwise known in English as the Knights Beneficent of the Holy City. 

That overwhelmingly lopsided August vote had reversed Grand Encampment decisions made back in 2010, which had branded the GPA a "clandestine Templar organization." Then-Grand Master William H. Koon had controversially demanded the resignation of all Templar Sir Knights belonging to the GPA, and then, using a French charter of dubious parentage, the Grand Encampment established its own Grand Priory of the Scottish Reformed and Rectified Rite of the United States of America. In the wake of those actions, longstanding Templar Knights who remained as GPA/CBCS members were suspended or expelled from the Grand Encampment, and a flurry of lawsuits - both institutional and personal - erupted over the years.

(NOTE: The Grand Encampment's declaration of the GPA to be clandestine and the subsequent establishment of its own CBCS body took place during the years of Grand Master William H. Koon. In the spirit of full disclosure, I became a member of the Grand Encampment's new CBCS Grand Priory in 2011, as did the now-deposed Grand Master Michael Johnson.)

In the midst of arguments, suspensions, expulsions, lawsuits and lots of broken friendships, the Grand Encampment's Grand Priory of the Scottish Reformed and Rectified Rite of the United States of America CBCS body was dissolved in January 2013 by Grand Master David Dixon Goodwin, but the decisions declaring the GPA clandestine and forbidding Templar membership in it remained. And so, the resolution to end the feud by compromise eleven years after all this began passed by an overwhelming 77% of the vote at the 2021 Triennial. 

Just about now is when your eyes will really begin to glaze over.

GM Michael Johnson issued his decision to ignore the vote and return the status of the GPA to being a clandestine Templar order in a matter of days after taking office.

  

SIDEBAR: Who the heck is the Grand Priory of America?

The GPA was established in the US back in 1934 with a charter from the Grand Prieuré Indépendant d'Helvetie (Great Priory of Switzerland) CBCS, the Swiss organization that has long been considered to be the definitive fountainhead of the the Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Cité Sainte, or Knights Beneficent of the Holy City. Outside of the U.S. The CBCS is a system of the Rite Ecossais Rectifie (Scottish Rectified Rite), and considered to be the oldest continuously operating Christian chivalric Masonic Order in the world, tracing its roots back to Baron Karl Gotthelf von Hund's "Rite of Strict Observance" in Germany in the 1750s. By widespread agreement, even though it possesses its own degree rituals for the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason degrees, like the Scottish Rite systems in the U.S. and most of Europe, it acknowledges that those degrees are the sole domain of Masonic grand lodges.

The Grand Priory of America CBCS was established in Raleigh, North Carolina by Dr. William Moseley Brown and J. Raymond Shute II, the founding brethren of what became Masonic Week in Washington DC each year. The GPA was established as an invitation-only group, but it quickly became little more than a private supper club for Grand Encampment Past Grand Masters and a few celebrity Masons, because, as one wag famously put it, "there's too much riff-raff in the 33rds." Its constitution limited membership to just 81 in the U.S., dividing the country into three prefectures with 27 members each.

 In 1927, the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States granted recognition to the Swiss Grand Prieuré Indépendant d'Helvetie as a Templar body. When the Grand Prieuré Indépendant d'Helvetie issued a charter to the Raleigh group to form the Great Priory of America in 1934, that placed it in direct conflict with the notion that all Masonic Knights Templar in the U.S. work under the authority of the Grand Encampment. In fact, the 1934 charter itself is worded, "Grand Prieuré Indépendant d'Helvetie de Province ORDRE TEMPLIERE." The way the jurisdictional problem got solved was that the Great Priory's leadership assured the Grand Encampment that it was nothing but a social club, conferred no Templar orders on its members, and did not exchange official representatives with other Great Priories. With that understanding, CBCS became a regular participant in the annual "Masonic Week" festivities in Washington D.C. (later Alexandria, VA) held every February. Instead of its deeply spiritual and esoteric degrees being conferred upon seekers of Masonic wisdom, it became little more than a title to be passed to the luminaries of American Masonry. But by 1994, several officers of the GPA began attending international Knight Templar gatherings representing themselves as a Templar group. It was at this point the Grand Encampment stepped in. And then the fight started... 

 For more about this topic, see this post from back in 2010.

The drama thickened in September when GM Johnson took the surprising step of removing the duly elected Deputy Grand Master, David J. Kussman, from office for "malfeasance and disloyalty." 

Then-Grand Generalisimo David Kussman had been appointed last year by then-Grand Master Jeffrey Nelson to chair a committee to investigate the whole GPA imbroglio and find a way to end the feud and reinstate its suspended members. As chairman of the committee, Kussman and his group worked out a truce between the GPA and the Grand Encampment, which became the basis of the resolution that passed at the 2021 Triennial. In Johnson's order removing Kussman from the grand officer's line, his chairing of that committee and the subsequent resulting vote led to Johnson's declaration in other venues that he was "disloyal." (No charges were ever brought against Kussman, and no trial was ever conducted. He remained a member in good standing.)

By late September, a website had been set up to facilitate the organization of a Called Special Conclave to address the actions of GM Mike Johnson. The "Call To Conclave" laid out the Constitutional method and requirements to call for an extraordinary meeting for the purpose of reviewing- and perhaps reversing - the actions of a grand master. According to the Constitution, representatives from at least nine different statewide Grand Commanderies are required to make a quorum in order to trigger a called meeting. That minimum was quickly reached.

In October, a letter was sent to KT officers across the Grand Encampment's voting delegates, written by Sir Knight Thomas Tsirimokos, Chairman of the Grand Encampment Jurisprudence Committee. Tsirimokos weighed in on the appropriateness of the GM's actions and what he saw as constitutional reasons why a called conclave didn't have the power to reverse or amend the decisions of a sitting Grand Master. Other members of that committee saw it differently, as a letter from David Kussman made clear (see it HERE). 

In an additional attempt to dissuade those calling for a conclave, the Grand Encampment opined that those nine Grand Commanderies should be required to foot the bill for calling the meeting, including all hotel and dining expenses. In a counter to that, the Conclave was attached to the already scheduled East Central Department Conference at the Grand Wayne Convention Center in Fort Wayne, so additional expenses would be minimal.

Further agitating members, the monthly Knight Templar Magazine became a source of contention. The front page of the September 2021 issue showed GM Johnson perched on a horse and dressed in his Templar finery. Not especially surprising, since in real life he is a Wyoming rancher, and many Masonic Templar commanderies historically had mounted drill teams until the middle of the 20th century. But the headline at the bottom of the cover was both a disturbing and shocking message from the brand new leader of a purportedly Christian-based Masonic organization: 

"I never forget loyalty, nor do I forget betrayal."

In the February 2022 issue of the Knight Templar Magazine, GM Johnson penned a message ostensibly about "Cancel Culture" in society, and attempting to link that topic to the motives of the Called Conclave:

"There are brothers who do not agree with the Constitution of the Grand Encampment or the powers of the grand master. The Grand Encampment Constitution is clear that only at a stated conclave can decisions be reviewed. Sections of the Constitution may be added or deleted by the voting delegates of the Triennial Conclave. Some of the “Canceled Culture” think they can be loud enough or disruptive enough at other Grand Encampment meetings to get their way on certain matters concerning our Constitution or decisions of the grand master. The Knights Templar are Christian sol- diers who are bound by the obligation they took upon the Holy Bible to defend our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to be governed by our Constitution. Our Constitution states that you must be a Christian to become a Templar, and it is the duty of every Knight Templar to uphold our Constitution."

For some time, Sir Knight Benjamin Williams of Colorado had been the associate editor of the KT magazine, assisting longtime editor John Palmer. The masthead of the last few issues shows that Ben has recently been removed from that position. Williams had been an excellent choice to assist on the magazine, as he was responsible for the beautifully designed Rocky Mountain Mason magazine several years ago, and is a talented Masonic author and blogcaster. SK Ben is also an attorney and was on the committee headed by Kussman working on the GPA compromise. 

Since GM Johnson issued his decision rescinding the action of the Grand Encampment, Ben has reported on the developments and presented his legal opinions online of the KT Constitution regarding the powers of the Grand Master vs. those of the voting members of the Grand Encampment. His most recent podcast was posted March 2nd and summarizes the run-up to the Conclave taking place today in Fort Wayne.

Listen HERE: RMM-062: Special Conclave of the Grand Encampment

Further documentation for the Called Conclave can be found HERE.

The "Call To Conclave" resolution set out the order of business to be taken up at today's meeting. 

According to the Constitution, "An elected officer of the Grand Encampment may be removed from Office by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting at a Conclave of the Grand Encampment. This section is enforceable upon adoption." (Emphasis mine.)

The voting members of the Grand Encampment have now exercised that option. And there's probably some irony in the fact that the Conclave was held in the "Mad" Anthony Wayne Room of the Ft. Wayne Convention Center.

I am starting to feel like Harland and Wolff sitting back in Belfast reading the morning reports of the Titanic sinking.

NOTE: An earlier version of this story mistakenly named John Cooper as the author of the dissenting letter, and referred to PGM Jeffrey Nelson incorrectly as John Nelson. I regret the errors. This revision also added the actual vote counts for removing former Grand Master Johnson.

UPDATED: Knights Templar GM Removes DGM from Officers' Line

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATED Friday 9/11/2021-

Instead of posting new articles every time a new letter is issued or becomes available, I am adding updates to this original message. This most recent update adds a letter written by David Kussman in response to Templar Grand Master Johnson's demand for his resignation on September 4th. I also include a rebuttal penned by Past Grand Master Nelson this past week.

As Katherine Hepburn famously quipped in The Lion In Winter, "What family doesn't have its little ups and downs..."

I was hoping for at least one good news story to post between last week's Grand Encampment vs. Great Priory of America CBCS related drama, but, alas, no. Masonic social media was atwitter over the Labor Day weekend with more drama out of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar in the United States (GEKT). On Friday, September 3rd, Templar Grand Master Michael B. Johnson issued a letter to his Deputy Grand Master, David J. Kussman, calling for his resignation (image below):

On Saturday, DGM Kussman responded to GM Johnson's demand with the following letter:

(Please note that these letters were posted to a public website that was created to call for a special conclave to deal with issues of the last two weeks. I have not obtained them improperly.)

In response, GM Johnson formally removed DGM Kussman from office on Monday in a letter that was circulated to officers, Past KT Grand Masters and others (image below):

Yes, Kussman's removal is at least partially related to the GPA drama and attempts to negotiate some kind of mutually agreeable truce between the two organizations. The word is that the Grand Encampment officer line will be advanced this coming Saturday, September 11th to fill Kussman's vacancy, and a new Captain General will be appointed.

Meanwhile, Sir Knight Ben Williams has devoted today's episode of his Rocky Mountain Mason Podcast, RMM-060, to explaining the ongoing situation within the GEKT. Ben was named by the immediate Past Grand Master Jeff Nelson to chair the Jurisprudence Committee at the Triennial last week when its appointed chairman was unable to attend. HEAR IT HERE.

---

UPDATED 9/8/2021 4:43PM

My understanding late Wednesday is that Sir Knights Bolstad and Harper shall be advancing to R.E. Deputy Grand Master and R.E. Grand Generalissimo, respectively, and that Past Department Commander James McGee shall be appointed as Grand Captain General.

Two large documents were prepared for the Triennial explaining the origins and opposing positions of the Great Priory of America/CBCS and the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar USA. You need to read both documents to see the disagreement from both sides. These two pdf documents can be accessed HERE.

---

UPDATED 9/10/2021 11:50PM:

Past Grand Master Jeffrey N. Nelson has now weighed in with his own statement in defense of David Kussman:

Petition Calls for Special Conclave Over Grand Encampment/GPA Saga

by Christopher Hodapp

That took almost no time at all.

In the wake of the official decisions regarding the Great Priory of America CBCS issued last week by Grand Master Michael Johnson of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the US, a website has already popped up with a petition to call for a Special Conclave in an attempt to finally put this issue to rest.

UPDATED 9/8/2021 4:43PM

Two large documents were prepared for the Triennial explaining the historical origins and opposing positions of the Great Priory of America/CBCS and the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar USA. You need to read both documents to see the disagreement from both sides. These two pdf documents can be accessed HERE.

It Goes On: Knights Templar GM Johnson Issues Decisions Against Great Priory CBCS

by Christopher Hodapp

It seems that the troublesome Grand Encampment/CBCS/Great Priory of America issue continues to rise up like the ghostly mists and miasmas that drift over once-bloody ancient battlefields, awakening the souls of the long-dead from their brief slumber 'neath the silent clods of the valley to forever walk the Earth in search of peace.

Or something like that.

At the Triennial of the Knights Templar Grand Encampment of the US last week, the assembled members of the Grand Encampment overwhelmingly voted to nullify former edicts and decisions from the last decade that had forbidden Templar members from belonging to the Great Priory of America (GPA) of the Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Cité Sainte (CBCS), and expelled existing members of the GPA from its ranks. The resolution to bury the hatchet passed last week with more than 75% in favor. They also voted against a totally separate resolution (again with more than 75%) that attempted to declare the GPA clandestine.

(Forgive the imprecise wording here – I'm trying to summarize for the sake of brevity. You can see the actual resolutions HERE at this post from August 24th.)

With a super-majority voting in favor of putting this issue to rest, it would appear that the rank and file Knights are in favor of moving on. But it seems that GEKT/GPA feud hasn't ended after all. 

Or as said Stephen Boyd said to Charleton Heston after getting scuffed up in the chariot race in Ben Hur, "It goes on!"

After little over a week in office, Grand Master Michael B. Johnson of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the US issued four official decisions (see image below) regarding the actions of the GEKT's Jurisprudence Committee, actions of the immediate Past Grand Master, and the CBCS Great Priory of America during the Triennial. Further, the final notice in his letter declares that, regardless of the vote taken at the Triennial, the GEKT still officially finds the GPA to be an "unrecognized Templar Order operating within the United States of America, in direct conflict with Section 3 of the Constitution of the Grand Encampment" and that membership in the GPA remains incompatible with membership in the GEKT (to enlarge, click images below):

Templars, interested bystanders, and train wreck enthusiasts who have been around for ten or fifteen years want to make this struggle about clashing egos and personalities, and there's no denying that has played a part. But there's a lot more to it besides "Let me in to your snooty club or I'll burn down your tree fort." 

The GEKT says the GPA is a competing Templar Order, based on the Latin wording identifying themselves that's found on their originating charter, and GPA says it isn't anything of the kind. Legal arguments center around the minutiae of each organizations' constitutional laws and regulations, and whether the GEKT has any right to claim what they've claimed and do what they've done over the last decade. 

Esotericists decry the GPA for holding the CBCS Rectified Rite degree system hostage in the U.S., suitable only for a little clot of Extra Special Masons. Indeed, the GPA declares on its website that the CBCS is "the summit of Christian Knighthood and is the only comparable Order in this country approaching civil knighthood in Europe. It is guarded carefully and only conferred infrequently upon those who are deemed worthy." The GPA is constitutionally restricted to no more than 100 members nationwide, and for much of their 78 year history, it's been less than 48. In fact, the GPA has protested when American Masons have traveled to foreign countries to receive the Rectified Right degrees in another priory, claiming this infringes on their territorial rights over the whole of the United States and, presumably, all of its Masonic citizens, even though the GPA  likely would never have invited those traveling Masons to join them. And they have long fought against the formation of additional U.S. priories.

Meanwhile, rank and file Masons want to know "This affects me...how?" Truth is, it doesn't. 

While the conflict appears close up to resemble a pair of bellowing mastodons having a go at each other over who owns the watering hole, in reality it is a distraction that continues to turn off potential Templar members who want nothing to do with what appears to them to be a pissing match between big-shots. Or as one former Sir Knight said to me years ago shortly before demitting, "The only reason the Templars wear swords as part of their uniforms is so their officers can stab each other in the back."

Not everybody has been following this epic saga for the last eleven years. Right Worshipful Brother Oscar Alleyne gave an online presentation ("What's the Beef?") earlier this week on a Refracted Light podcast about the origin of the CBCS and Great Priory of America, and the ongoing discord with the Grant Encampment. 

Oscar is a talented researcher and a careful presenter – his talk does not take sides, and he doesn't assign blame or virtue to anyone in this conflict personally. If you are interested in the history of the Rectified Rite, the CBCS, the GPA and the Grand Encampment's ongoing battle, give it a listen.

Meanwhile, "It goes on..."

UPDATED 9/8/2021 4:43PM

Two large documents were prepared for the Triennial explaining the historical origins and opposing positions of the Great Priory of America/CBCS and the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar USA. You need to read both documents to see the disagreement from both sides. These two pdf documents can be accessed HERE.

Knightly News from 2021 Grand Encampment Triennial

NOTE - My apologies for the delay of this post. I've been experiencing tech issues off and on for several weeks and this one somehow got caught in a queue that said it was published when it really wasn't.

by Christopher Hodapp

The 68th Triennial Conclave of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar is wrapping up in Minneapolis this evening. The following Sir Knights have been elected to serve the Grand Encampment for the 69th Triennium: 

• Most Eminent Grand Master: Michael Burke Johnson 
• Right Eminent Deputy Grand Master: David Kussman
• Right Eminent Grand Generalissimo: Jeffrey Bolstad 
• Right Eminent Grand Captain General: Jack Harper 
• Right Eminent Grand Treasurer: Bobby Simmons
• Right Eminent Grand Recorder: Larry Tucker

Noteworthy Legislation

A couple of interesting pieces of legislation were voted on at this week's session. There were an incredible 28 pieces of legislation to be acted upon, but three in particular got lots of attention in online discussions:

Revival of the historic Templar apron

If you've visited the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, you may have spotted this portrait of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, better known in America simply as General Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution. In the 1820s, Lafayette returned to the United States and made an extensive tour of the expanding nation he helped during its war for independence. While in Virginia, he posed for this portrait that depicts him wearing an unusual Masonic apron that features a skull and crossbones. What you may not have known is that it's a Knights Templar apron. 

The historic 'skull and bones' Templar apron from the 18th and 19th centuries has been approved by the Grand Encampment for use during tyled Templar meetings, and it may be worn over Class A uniforms. Honestly, I've been hearing about attempts to bring it back ever since I joined this fraternity in 1998. In fact, more than 30 years ago, a paper was published in the Knight Templar Magazine by Ron Blaisdell that will tell you more information than you'd ever want to know about this unusual bit of Templar regalia. Read it HERE.

The resolution approving the apron passed by more than 75% of the votes.

In addition to reviving the old apron, a contemporary triangular apron design (without the skull and including the crown and cross symbol on a white background) was also approved for use in public ceremonies and events. The approved apron design is such that it can be manufactured with the historic skull on one side, and the public image design on the flip side. (Click the two images below to enlarge.)

What's up with this fascination with skulls, you may ask? The medieval Knights Templar actually adopted the skull and crossed leg bones as an occasional symbol during their time in the Holy Land to frighten and intimidate the Infidels in battle. Some have claimed that the image was also used as the flag for Templar ships, and after their suppression in 1307, it was eventually co-opted by pirates. 

Today, as more and more Masons are taking an interest in the esoteric side of our rituals and symbolism, they've become quite familiar with the memento mori and its ancient warning to remember that life is fleeting, and that a man should live every day as though it might be his last. 

If you come from a Christian background and a denomination that marks Ash Wednesday by making a cross on the forehead using black ash, the words that accompany this ritual are "Remember that you are dust, and unto dust, you shall return." If you travel throughout Europe, there are many catacombs, and even chapels, with skulls and bones of the dead used for walls, arches and general cheery decor. They are a constant reminder of mortality, and as Horace reminds us, "Pale death knocks with the same tempo upon the huts of the poor and the towers of Kings."

Reminders of Death as a constant companion weren't particularly seen as creepy in earlier centuries, in part because death was so prevalent in everyday life. In large families, the death of one or more children before reaching adulthood was all too common, and life expectancy for adults was much shorter than today. Communicable diseases commonly wiped out whole families, villages and towns all across the globe. Wars with tens of thousands of casualties on all sides devastated entire nations, and during World War I, it was nearly impossible to find a family anywhere in Europe who hadn't lost a father, son or brother in that conflict. 

The historical, triangular 'skull and crossbones' apron was part of the Masonic Knights Templar regalia from the 1770s until the 1860s within the tyled confines of a Commandery meeting or degree – it's described as part of the uniform used in meetings in Thomas Smith Webb's Freemason's Monitor in 1808. 

Because all of the York Rite degrees were originally designed to be conferred in a Masonic lodge, the Templar apron was considered an extension of the use of a Masonic apron required for all work and meetings. By the 1830s, the black military-like uniform we're all familiar with was already taking form, but there were a lot of local variation in them from state to state and commandery to commandery. 

An attempt was made in 1859 by the Grand Encampment to demand national uniform conformity, which included a black uniform with a white surcoat or tunic, and essentially banned the skull apron (interestingly for ALL Templars, EXCEPT Washington Commandery No. 1). Think about that realistically — keep a white uniform clean while riding around on horseback. Consider that Templary was already the most expensive of all Masonic orders to participate in because of the uniform, swords, ostritch-feathered chapeau, PLUS special Templar riding accessories like decorative stirrup covers and protective cuffs if you planned to ride in a parade team. The demand for this new standard uniform by the Grand Encampment wasn't scorned or loudly protested against — local commanderies simply ignored it.

It wasn't just the U.S. Grand Encampment Templars that stuck with the skull apron. Even the Prince Hall Commanderies held on to them throughout the 19th century.

Nevertheless, after the 1860s and the end of the Civil War, the use of the skull apron in meetings as part of the KT's uniform started to fall by the wayside. Among many there was a growing concern that its symbolism might be misunderstood by the public (especially since more and more Templars were having newfangled photographic portraits made of themselves dressed in full regalia, and non-Masons could suddenly see the skull and bones apron without sneaking into a meeting). That misunderstanding would only increase in the 20th century, when skulls and crossbones became identified with poison chemical labels, pirates, horror movies and the "death's head" cap badge on Nazi SS uniforms.

In any case 75.96% of the Sir Knights at the Triennial this week approved the apron's use. While it's approved by Grand Encampment, this must be adopted and approved in your state by your Grand Commandery first, if it is not in your uniform regulations. Remember that the "historical" skull apron is for asylum use only, while the "contemporary" apron is approved for public or private use. The preference is to wear an apron over the class A uniform coat — it is NOT considered as a replacement for the uniform (in case you thought you could get out of buying a full uniform and just showing up in street clothes and the apron).

And if you're looking for a new one, Masonic Revival offers a skull apron: https://masonicrevival.com/collections/aprons/products/knightstemplar-apron

If anyone can provide a link to a supplier of the new contemporary public apron, please pass it along and I'll update this entry.

'Attestation of faith' on petitions fails

The second piece of legislation that attracted lots of attention was a proposed requirement to be placed on future Templar petitions stating that the petitioner affirms his Christian faith in writing. Unlike most other appendant organizations associated with Freemasonry, the Knights Templar requires that a petitioner must be a professed Christian, and that demand causes some heartburn with Masons who aren't Christians, or who believe that this somehow violates the spirit of Freemasonry and the Ancient Charges.

Nevertheless, the Masonic Knights Templar order has had belief in Christianity as a requirement since the 1760s when it first appeared. Such a prerequisite is without question "exclusionary," but nowhere is it promised that absolutely everyone has an absolute right to experience absolutely every single degree in absolutely every Masonic-related organization, absolutely. The Order itself is based upon the medieval Templars who held a unique position that straddled both the ecclesiastical and the temporal spheres as "warrior monks." Removing the Christian elements from the Templar ritual would leave nothing but an empty husk.

Over the decades, some local Commanderies and even state Grand Commanderies have tried to hedge on the Christian membership requirement. Some jurisdictions phrase their petitions with squishier language, requiring no more than a belief in a "higher power," while others merely ask that a petitioner be willing to "defend the Christian religion." That's a loophole big enough to drive a Sherman tank through. But the Statutes of the Grand Encampment are quite specific. Section 177(b) requires that a petitioner for the Orders must be a "firm believer in the Christian religion."

However, the amendment that was up for a vote this week went beyond merely asking a petitioner if he is a firm believer in Christianity. The proposed Attestation of Faith required the petitioner to declare himself to be a Christian specifically "as defined in the four Gospels (Matthew 16:16, John 3:15-17, Acts 4:10-12, and Romans 9-10)"

Click the image below to enlarge it and read the entire proposed statement in its entirety.

While most of the Knights in attendance at the Triennial felt the statement was well-founded and good-intentioned, the attestation itself was clumsily written, resulting in confusion and contention. While all Templars are supposed to be Christians, the enormous range of Christian denominations have variations in teachings concerning the role of the Holy Spirit. As a result, debates over the Resolution's wording quickly went into the weeds over definitions and details of Christ's crucifixion, resurrection from the dead, time spent with the Apostles including the Last Supper, and his ascension.

An attempt was made to amend the Resolution in order to simplify the statement. That amendment to the Resolution was submitted in writing in advance of the Triennial, and it was found to be in proper form by the Jurisprudence Committee. The amendment essentially struck out the entire text of the proposed Attestation to read simply:

"I profess the Christian Faith: that through the Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus, believers are saved and redeemed."

According to attendees, this amended version received a simple majority (53.31%) of yes votes, but did not meet the two-thirds super majority required for an amendment to the statutes. It's possible that if the original resolution had simply been this wording in the first place, it would have passed.

Resolutions restore amity with Great Priory of America of the CBCS

If you know nothing of what this whole imbroglio was about, and you have no idea who or what the CBCS is, don't feel somehow that your Masonic knowledge is lacking. This situation is as about as deep into the waist-high weeds of Masonic appendant bodies as it gets.

The third noteworthy bit of legislation was Resolution 2021-23, rescinding 2012-01 and Duane Vaught Decision No. 5 which had previously declared the Great Priory of America (GPA) of the Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Cité Sainte (CBCS) to be an unrecognized Masonic Templar Order. Because of that situation, members of the Grand Encampment who held membership in the Great Priory of America were deemed to be in violation of their knightly vows. This Resolution rescinding that status passed with more than 77% of yes votes.

Further, a second proposed Resolution (2021-26) which called for the automatic expulsion of any member of the GEKT who sought or held membership in the GPA, was voted down by the delegates. 

This hopefully brings an end to more than a decade of hostility, broken friendships, and scuttled Masonic careers.

The long, twisting, epic saga of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar and attempts beginning back in 2011 to establish a new CBCS Rectified Rite priory in the US turned into an all-out war of words and lawsuits between the GEKT and the existing CBCS Great Priory of America. Sadly, this mess wound up dividing some of the most respected leaders in North American Freemasonry into two warring factions. And then the lawyers got involved.

Much of that battle played out right here on my blog, I'm sorry to say. Rather than re-describe, re-hash and re-litigate this episode, I will point to this post from December 2010 for background on what set this whole drama in motion:

Grand Priory of the Scottish Reformed & Rectified Rite of the United States of America

Over the next two or three years I wrote more posts about the situation (if you really have a burning desire to wade into it, use the search menu on this blog and look for articles with CBCS, Rectified Rite, or Grand Priory in them). 

In full disclosure, I freely admitted at the time that I was part of the group in favor of establishing the new CBCS priory under the authority of the Grand Encampment. The GPA was established in the U.S. in 1934 and quickly turned into little more than a supper club for a tiny, select group of  Masons ("Because", as one wag joked to me, "the 33rds were letting in too much riff-raff"). Their membership never exceeded about four dozen at any one time. Yet, they controlled any working of the Rectified Rite degrees in the U.S., as a result. This post is not the place to drift into a windy explanation of Martinism and the different degree systems that grew out of its three variants in the 18th and 19th centuries. But many of us at the time felt that this beautiful, philosophical and deeply complex degree system was being held hostage by a group that had no desire or intention of actually working those rituals themselves.

So, in 2012 the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar obtained a charter in France from a CBCS body there, and they sought to expand the CBCS in the U.S. to a wider Masonic membership. And that, as they say in stories about ugly divorces, is when the fight started.

Much time has passed, leadership of both the Grand Encampment and the Great Priory of America has changed, and emotions and passions have hopefully cooled. Clearly, the general membership of the Grand Encampment decided this year that they've had enough of being involved in this conflict.

As a very dear friend often says, "So it goes."

All of that having been said, the reasons for attempting to bring the CBCS degrees to a wider group of U.S. Masons still remain valid, and certainly not for some absurd notion of "let other VIP Masons in to your exclusive club." The growing interest in esoteric orders within Masonry should not be blunted and locked away out of some twisted sense that it's only for the cool kids.

Honors and Awards

• SK Brandon Mullins of Michigan was inducted as the first member of a new order of Masonic knights Templar scholars, the Order of Clairvaux. Admission to this prestigious institution is restricted to just one Sir Knight each Triennium. SK Mullins presented his paper about the use of skull imagery in Templary – a timely topic, given the apron legislation this year.

• SK W. Bruce Pruitt, the senior Past Grand Commander of California, was elected a Most Eminent Honorary Past Master of the Grand Encampment and elevated to Grand Cross Templar.

• SK Art F. Hebbeler III, Grand Prelate of the Grand Encampment, received the Knight Grand Cross.

• SK Dicky W. Johnson (Tennessee) was made a Honorary Past Grand Prelate of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the USA.

(Please alert me if I missed anyone.)

And finally...

Congratulations to all Grand Encampment officers, and especially to MEGM Michael Johnson, whom I've known for many years. Mike is from Crowheart, Wyoming where he and his wife Judy own a cattle ranch, and he served as Grand Master in 2015-16. Mike became a cowboy fresh out of high school, and the Grand Encampment's webpage features an image of him in his Templar uniform while riding horseback. It's been a very long time since most of us have seen a  Grand Master of Knights Templar on horseback, but Templar horse teams were commonplace in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Sadly, in this Age of Snark we're all living through, right after this image was posted on Facebook, a tiny squall went up over it. 

Out of touch! 

Elite! 

Backward! 

The expense! 

Terrible image!

Grand Encampment wasting our per capita buying horses! (Um, no...)

And, naturally, a couple of commentators suggested that if the GM wished to be truly authentic, he should be sharing that saddle with a second Templar knight...

Does anyone actually engage their brain anymore before yawping on anti-social media? Mike owns his own horses, for heaven's sake, and the image was actually a homage to the Templar heritage when many drill competitions were between mounted teams. (Nothing unusual about that - how do these critics think Masons got to their meetings in the 1760s or 1850s in the first place? It might even be fair to say that in their 20th-century heyday, the mounted horse Templar teams were the ‘Shriners driving little cars’ of their era.)

UPDATED 9/8/2021 4:43PM

Two large documents were prepared for the Triennial explaining the historical origins and opposing positions of the Great Priory of America/CBCS and the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar USA. You need to read both documents to see the disagreement from both sides. These two pdf documents can be accessed HERE.