Dick Fletcher, Longtime Head of MSA, Passes

by Christopher Hodapp

Richard 'Dick' Fletcher, long-time Executive Secretary of the Masonic Service Association, has passed away.

The following message was sent out on Thursday by James Cole, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction:

It is with deep sadness that I share the passing of Richard “Dick” Fletcher, beloved husband of Judy Fletcher and a cherished member of our House of the Temple family.

Dick’s contributions to the Scottish Rite were immeasurable. For many years, he served as a dedicated volunteer in both the Membership Services Department and the Library, lending his time, talents, and unwavering support to the work of the Scottish Rite. His kindness, quiet strength, and generous spirit touched everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.

Beyond his volunteer work, Dick was the Past Grand Master of Masons in Vermont and served as the Executive Secretary of the Masonic Service Association of North America (MSA) from 1987 until his retirement in 2011, totaling about 24 years of dedicated leadership.

He was widely respected across the Masonic world for his efforts to promote Masonic education, disaster relief, and interjurisdictional cooperation. Whether welcoming House of the Temple visitors, assisting staff, or quietly ensuring the success of countless projects, he exemplified the best of our values through selfless service.

Condolences may be sent to Judy Fletcher at : --------------. I will keep you informed of arrangements.

Fraternally,
James D. Cole, 33°
Sovereign Grand Commander
Supreme Council, 33° | Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, SJ, USA

(Photo: From left: Judy Fletcher, Nicolas Cage, Darlene Alban, 

and Richard E. Fletcher, at the premier of 

National Treasure: Book of Secrets in New York City in December 2007)

Dick was an extremely kind and thoughtful Mason, and he was widely known all over the Masonic world. He was a tireless advocate for the fraternity and he will be sorely missed. 

Dick Fletcher was a Past Grand Master of Vermont and a 33° Scottish Rite Mason, and he came to the Masonic Service Association after a long career in banking. Under almost a quarter century of his leadership, the MSA established the Masonic Information Center, "Operation Phone Home" providing prepaid calling cards to overseas military personnel, and created the Twain Award, to reward excellence in Masonic awareness among individual lodges in North America. His travel schedule would have been daunting for men half his age, and he attended dozens of grand lodge sessions each year, often with his lovely wife Judy. Before his retirement in 2010, I seemed to see them everywhere I went. His departure truly marked the end of an era for MSA.

The MSA was created in 1919 to provide services to its member Grand Lodges that they would find difficult to provide for themselves. It remains the one organization that provides a national voice for mainstream Freemasonry in North America, and is a commission of the Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America.

This post will be updated as soon as I can find funeral details for him.

Requiescat in pace.

MSA Issues Hurricane Helene Disaster Appeals for Grand Lodges of Florida, North, and South Carolina, As Hurricane Milton Heads For Florida

by Christopher Hodapp

The Masonic Service Association of North America has officially issued Disaster Relief Appeals for the grand lodges of Florida, North, and South Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene two weeks ago. MSA Administrator Craig Davis, PGM, has posted the following information on the MSANA website:

South Carolina Hurricane Helene Disaster Relief Appeal

Grand Master Steven D. Hames has requested the Masonic Service Association of North America (MSA) to issue this Disaster Relief Appeal. The situation in South Carolina is quite dire. The brothers in South Carolina after being hit by the storm Helene have suffered a great deal of loss of property. Power continues to be in the outage and repair phase in areas of the upstate where the families have lost their entire supply of fresh food. Grocery stores have lost all food that needed to be refrigerated. Homes have been destroyed and or damaged where they cannot be occupied until repaired or replaced.

The brothers South Carolina are now using their own energy to help the citizens of their communities try and recover while trying to recover from their personal loss. 

Florida Hurricane Helene Disaster Relief Appeal

Grand Master Donald W. Cowart has requested the Masonic Service Association of North America (MSA) to issue this Disaster Relief Appeal. Following the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the Grand Lodge has many lodges that could not afford the insurance outlay of funds. Now alas they are in need of assistance. 

North Carolina Hurricane Helene Disaster Relief Appeal

Grand Master Bobby Rideout has requested the Masonic Service Association of North America (MSA) to issue this Disaster Relief Appeal. The situation in North Carolina is quite dire. Whole 
communities have been washed away in floods and landslides.

PLEASE NOTE: Check with your own grand lodge to see if they are collecting donations as part of an MSA Appeal, just to prevent confusion as to whom is donating to what.

When remitting funds directly to MSA, please mark donations specifically to "Florida, North, OR South Carolina Disaster Appeal." They are 3 separate funds, so you need to specify which one you are donating to.

To donate directly to the MSA Appeals by mail, make checks payable to MSA Disaster Relief Fund and send them to:

Masonic Service Association
813 1st Ave SE, Suite 357
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

(NOTE: MSA is no longer in Maryland – this is the correct address!) 

MSA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. 

You can also donate online HERE.

The Masonic Service Association is arguably the best and most effective way to provide financial assistance to Masons in the stricken areas. MSA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. That is important to remember, especially if you, your company, or foundation are making a large donation and are in need of a tax deduction in return. The charitable arm of the Masonic Service Association was specifically established for the purpose of raising tax deductible donations, and to effectively distribute and account for the funds provided to Masons who receive assistance. Your entire donation will be sent to the affected jurisdiction. MSA deducts nothing for administrative expenses or expenses of any kind. Meaning if you donate $100.00, all $100.00 gets to the specific grand lodge issuing the appeal.

As of October 7th,  the current death toll across the 6 states hit by the Category 5 hurricane has reached at least 230, and continues to rise as officials and volunteers race to recover bodies and remove as much debris as possible. 

If the destruction from Helene hasn't been terrible enough, time is of the essence. Hurricane Milton has just increased in intensity to a Category 5 hurricane as of Tuesday morning. It's headed for landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast, almost exactly where Helene came ashore, and workers are desperately attempting to clear wreckage from the first storm. The fear is that the debris will become deadly projectiles as this second storm slams into Florida.

UPDATES: Hurricane Helene Hits Six States

The 600-mile path of Hurricane Helene (Image: New York Times)

by Christopher HodappS
UPDATE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024: Over the last several days, the Masonic Service Association has issued separate Disaster Appeals on behalf of the grand lodges in Florida, North, and South Carolina. CLICK HERE to see that story.

UPDATE: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2024: Added appeal from North Carolina Masonic Foundation seeking donations. 

The path of destruction and devastation over the weekend from Hurricane Helene stretched 600 miles across six states. Thousands are without homes in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, while deaths from the storm continue to rise – as many as 130 are reported dead as of 10:30 Monday night, according to the Associated Press.

Scores of communities all along the storm's path have been wiped out, and images from small, hard-to-reach Appalachian towns in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee look apocalyptic in scope. 

The Masonic Service Association has not yet issued any official disaster relief announcements for grand lodges in the affected states, but I will update this post as news specifically involving Masons and lodges in the hurricane areas become available.

Please send information to me directly at hodapp@aol.com .

FLORIDA

Gulf Beach Lodge 291 before the hurricane

Gulf Beach Lodge 291 in Madeira, Florida, near St. Petersburg, sustained extensive flood damage from the hurricane's unprecedented storm surge.

A photo on Facebook of the lodge's front door shows the flood rose to about 4-feet, and water damage to the secretary's office, kitchen, and dining room is extensive. Worshipful Master Bobby Burkett reports they will be meeting at Northside Lodge 283 until they are able to repair or rebuild their building.

NORTH CAROLINA

Western North Carolina has been badly hit by the storm, and images from Chimney Rock and Lake Lure near Asheville show almost unfathomable destruction. Entire towns have been swept away. The Grand Lodge of North Carolina's Masonic Foundation is accepting donations online specifically to help, aid, and assist Masons and their families in their state. The NCMF will be matching donations up to $25,000, so your money will go twice as far. When you go to their website at https://mfnc.org/ a pop-up window will open with information and a link to donate (or CLICK HERE if the popup doesn't work on your browser.)

SOUTH CAROLINA

MW Steven D. Hames, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge AF&AM of South Carolina has issued a blanket dispensation to all lodges in his jurisdiction permitting Worshipful Masters wide latitude to cancel or reschedule all meetings, including regular stated meetings. 

MSA Issues Disaster Relief Appeal for Maui Fires

(Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

by Christopher Hodapp

The Masonic Service Association of North America has officially issued a Disaster Relief Appeal for the wildfire devastation on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on behalf of the Grand Lodge of Hawaii:

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 11, 2023

Hawaii Wild Fire Disaster Relief Appeal

"Last night, our beloved island of Maui was touched by the destructive forces of fires that swept through the community, leaving devastation in their wake. As Brothers of the Craft, let us remember that adversity only strengthens our bonds. Let us also use this moment to reflect on the fragility of life and the importance of being prepared, not just physically, but also in terms of the support systems we offer to one another."

Grand Master Dustin T. Verity has requested the Masonic Service Association of North America (MSA) to issue this Disaster Relief Appeal.

Please forward any donations you feel appropriate to help our devastated Brothers and their families in this stricken jurisdiction to MSA.

Please make checks payable to MSA Disaster Relief Appeal and send to:

Masonic Service Association

813 1st Avenue SE, Suite 357

Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

When remitting by check, please clearly mark that you wish the funds to go to the (Maui Wild Fires, Hawaii Disaster Relief Appeal.)

Click Here To Donate Online

Sincerely and Fraternally,

Craig L. Davis, P.G.M.

Administrator

MSANA

msaoffice@msana.com

Administrative Office Phone: (319) 206-5411

---

Remember that all donations made to the MSA are tax deductible, and they charge no service fees of any kind to Grand Lodges making the appeal—the amount you donate is what they receive.

In addition, the Masonic Charities of the Grand Lodge of Hawaii has its own GoFundMe page for making donations. And an Amazon list has been created for those wishing to donate specific supplies to the cause.

The official Masonic Charities of Hawaii GoFundMe page is at:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/masonic-charities-of-hawaii-maui-wildfire-relief

The Masonic Charities of Hawaii  Amazon Wish List is at:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1GSO8QHRX5L19

---

(Photo: AP)

Latest news is that the death toll has risen to over 100 people, with hundreds still missing. Estimates are that more than 2,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed by the fires last week that were stoked by a combination of the annual summer drought and 80+ mph winds from Hurricane Dora, which passed 500 miles south of the islands. Thousands of people from the western side of Maui remain displaced, and rebuilding will take years to accomplish.

I have not seen specific information about Masons and lodges in the affected areas: please forward any information available to me at hodapp@aol.com

See previous post for more details:

DISASTER: Hawaii Grand Master Appeals For Donations in Maui Devastation

DISASTER: Hawaii Grand Master Appeals For Donations in Maui Devastation

(AP photo)

by Christopher Hodapp

NOTE: This story has been updated on Monday, August 14, 2023, 3:30PM

Wildfires fed by hurricane winds have destroyed a substantial portion of the Hawaiian island of Maui this week. Fires broke out three days ago, partially the result of the annual summer drought combined with high winds from Hurricane Dora, which passed 500 miles south of the island chain. 

As of Friday morning, 55 are reported dead, 12,000 have been forced to evacuate, and more than a thousand people are still unaccounted for. As the fires raced towards the coast, many desperate people were driven to jump into the ocean to escape the onrushing flames. 

Electricity and cell service has been cut off for much of the island, and thousands of homes, businesses, cars and infrastructure are completely burned to the ground in and around the historic town of Lahaina — former capital of the Hawaiian kingdom — at the western end of the island. Currently, six fires remain uncontained – five are in the center of the island.

The White House has officially declared the situation a federal emergency.

Today, MW Dustin T. Verity, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Hawaii F&AM, has issued a statement concerning the Maui fire devastation (click image below to enlarge).

It reads, in part:

I hope this message finds you well, though I understand that recent events have left us all with heavy hearts. Last night, our beloved island of Maui was touched by the destructive force of fires that swept through our community, leaving devastation in their wake. It is with a profound sense of sadness that I reach out to each of you today.

During these challenging times, let us come together as a united and resilient Masonic family. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the individuals and families affected by this tragedy. We stand in solidarity with our Brothers and their loved ones who may be grappling with loss, displacement, or uncertainty.

In the true spirit of Freemasonry, let us extend our hands and hearts to offer our support wherever it is needed. While material possessions can be rebuilt, the emotional wounds caused by such events can linger. Let us be beacons of light for our community, providing comfort, compassion, and assistance as we can.

As Brothers of the Craft, let us remember that adversity only strengthens our bonds. Let us also use this moment to reflect on the fragility of life and the importance of being prepared, not just physically, but also in terms of the support systems we offer to one another.

I encourage you to reach out to our Brothers in Maui to express your condolences, offer assistance, or simply let them know that they are not alone in this challenging time. Our Lodge has always been a place of solace and unity, and now more than ever, we have the opportunity to exemplify those principles. Assistance may be provided through Masonic Charities of Hawaii, a 501(c)3 charitable organization, by contacting Very Worshipful Brothers David Gomes, davidgomes@hawaii.rr.com, or Anthony Escasa, anthony.j.escasa@gmail.com.

At this time, I haven't seen any updates concerning specific Masonic lodges or Masons in the devastated areas, although I do have a life-long friend there who was evacuated from her home ahead of the approaching fires. She hasn't been permitted to return just to inspect damage. But tragically, she has been told that looters have already been at work.

The Grand Lodge of Hawaii website does have a link to make donations, but at the time of this writing, the popup window with its 'donate' button doesn't seem to connect to anything — keep re-checking the site, as it has been reported to their webmaster. The official Masonic Charities of Hawaii GoFundMe page is at:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/masonic-charities-of-hawaii-maui-wildfire-relief

In addition, an Amazon Wish List is evolving, if you prefer to donate supplies to relief efforts:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1GSO8QHRX5L19

Masonic Charities of Hawaii is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Also at this time, there has been no announcement of an official Masonic Service Association Disaster Appeal. This post will be updated if that changes.

---

UPDATE: MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2023, 3:30PM

Latest news is that the death toll has risen to over 100 people, with hundreds still missing. Estimates are that more than 2,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed by the fires last week that were stoked by a combination of the annual summer drought and 80+ mph winds from Hurricane Dora, which passed 500 miles south of the islands. Thousands of people from the western side of Maui remain displaced, and rebuilding will take years to accomplish.

I have not seen specific information about Masons and lodges in the affected areas: please forward any information available to me at hodapp@aol.com

The Masonic Service Association of North America officially opened a Disaster Relief Appeal today on behalf of the Grand Lodge of Hawaii. Click below for that information and to donate through MSA:

MSA Issues Disaster Relief Appeal for Maui Fires

MSA Issues Disaster Relief Appeal for GL of Kentucky

by Christopher Hodapp

The devastating tornadoes that tore across Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee, and especially Kentucky over the weekend caused untold damage and destruction, and the death toll has risen to 88 as of this morning (according to the Associated Press). The state of Kentucky alone is reporting 74 deaths, and 100 people are still missing.

On December 13th, the Masonic Service Association of North America issued an official disaster appeal on behalf of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, at the request of Grand Master James H. Gibson.

Click the image below to enlarge.

KENTUCKY DISASTER APPEAL

As you are aware, multiple tornadoes ripped through the State of Kentucky destroying everything in their path. These tornadoes may go down as the worst in history. It has been suggested that one tornado was on the ground for 220 miles. Several Lodges have suffered catastrophic damage and have varying degrees of damage. They are several Brethren in these areas that have lost everything due to these storms.

Grand Master James H. Gibson has requested the Masonic Service Association of North America (MSA) to issue this Disaster Relief Appeal.

Please forward any donations you feel appropriate to help our devastated Brothers and their families in this stricken jurisdiction to MSA.

To donate online with a Visa or Mastercard, visit https://msana.com/current-appeals/.

To donate via check or money order, please make payable to MSA Disaster Relief Appeal and send to:

Masonic Service Association

813 1st Avenue SE, Suite 357

Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

When remitting by check, please clearly mark that you wish the funds to go to the Kentucky Disaster Relief Appeal.

---

Remember that donations made through the MSA's official disaster relief appeals are fully tax deductible, and are considered preferable over independent fundraising programs like GoFundMe. Donations through the MSA are sent directly to the grand lodges that request an appeal, and the MSA does not charge any administrative fees - this has been part of the MSA's mission since its beginnings. 

Donations may be made via check or online credit card payment. (VISA and MasterCrd only - no American Express)

UPDATE: According to Kentucky Senator Rand Paul's website, C.D. Ward Lodge 961's Masonic hall at 201 School Street, East Bernstadt in Laurel County is open as an official KYEM/FEMA disaster recovery center. "[The centers will be open] from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m daily to help survivors with property damage and other setbacks from the recent tornadoes."

Marilyn Braatz Passes Away

by Christopher Hodapp

Many Masons throughout North America know RW George O. Braatz and his wife Marilyn. Word came this week that Marilyn passed away Monday night, October 25th, at their home in Westerville, Ohio, after battling cancer for the last year. She was 76.

George served as Grand Master (1987-88), and then Grand Secretary (2000-2009), of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. And between 2011 and 2016, he served as Executive Secretary of the Masonic Service Association of North America. In that role, he and Marilyn traveled extensively, visiting scores of annual meetings and other grand lodge events promoting the MSA. 

The Braatz's have both been espacially active in Masonic youth groups of Rainbow for girls and DeMolay for boys. There's no way to even estimate the thousands of lives they have touched over the years.

From her obituary:

A native of Genoa, Ohio, Marilyn was a 1963 graduate of Genoa High School, and a 1967 graduate of Bowling Green State University. She was employed at BGSU for more than 30 years in the Dean's office of the College of Education as a communications and program design specialist, and later as a development officer. In 2000, she became a public relations officer for the Ohio Department of Education in Columbus, until her retirement in 2008. 

Mrs. Braatz was active for more than 50 years in the Order of Eastern Star in both northwest Ohio and later in central Ohio. She was twice the Worthy Matron of Grand Rapids (now Triune) Chapter, and later Worthy Matron of Worthington Chapter. She also had served each Chapter as its Secretary. In 1977, she was Deputy Grand Matron of District 7 in Lucas, Wood, and Ottawa counties. Later, she served the statewide Grand Chapter of Ohio Eastern Star on several committees and for eight years headed the statewide Chapter Excellence program for local Eastern Star development. 

For many years she was the Mother Advisor of chapters of the Rainbow Girls in Bowling Green and Grand Rapids, and still today many women across the state refer to her as "Mom Braatz."

She and her husband, George, traveled extensively around the Ohio and the nation. In recent years, they have spent the winter season in Lakeland, Florida. She loved taking pictures of the places they went, as well as capturing on film many occasions in the lives of her children and grandchildren. She also enjoyed sewing and gardening.

George and Marilyn were married in 1967, and they celebrated their 54th anniversary in June. Please remember George and their sons David and Michael, daughter Wendy, and their grandchildren in your devotions.

Funeral services will be held next month on November 12-13. The family will receive friends from 5 pm to 7pm on Friday, November 12, 2021 at Schoedinger Worthington Chapel, 6699 N. High St Worthington, OH, where an Easter Star Service will start at 7pm. On Saturday November 13,2021 additional visiting hours will take place from 9am-11am with a service to follow at 11am at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 100 E Schrock Rd, Westerville, OH 43081.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contribution be made to the Braatz Family Scholarship Program at Bowling Green State University.

Resquiescat in pace.

Masonic Service Association Relocated to Iowa

by Christopher Hodapp

For over a year, the current commissioners of the Masonic Service Association have expressed their intention to move the MSA from their longtime Washington D.C. headquarters in suburban Maryland back to its original home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Yesterday, I reported that the msana.com website had vanished into the aether. Now today, the MSA has issued the following press release officially announcing their new location.

MSA Relocates to Iowa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Now in its 101st year, the Masonic Service Association of North America (MSA) has relocated its headquarters to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
In effect, this is a return to its roots, because MSA was created at a meeting of Grand Masters of the United States in 1919 in Cedar Rapids. Most of MSA’s life has been in the Washington, D.C., and nearby Silver Spring and Burtonsville MD, areas.

For the past year, MSA has been restructuring its organization, to provide a more functional and cost-savings method to serve Freemasonry across the continent. A primary goal was to move out of the costly rent area of the nation’s capital.

MSA’s new address and contact information:

813 1st Avenue SE Ste 357 Cedar Rapids, IA 52402-5001

Tel: 319-365-1438 Fax: 319-365-1439

email: msa@gl-iowa.org

MSA now will be operating out of the building housing the Iowa Masonic Library and Museums, which is regarded as one of the best facilities in the world to perform Masonic research. The large marble structure houses the library, several museums, special exhibits, and the offices of the Grand Lodge of Iowa. “What an outstanding location for the Masonic Service Association and its variety of service and information-producing responsibilities,” said Lanny Sanders, Chairman of the MSA Board of Commissioners. The Library houses more than 250,000 volumes, of which thousands are rare Masonic books for the serious researcher and a circulating collection for the casual reader. The Library also collects materials dealing with non-Masonic topics. In 1884, the first Masonic library building anywhere in the world was opened to the public in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The building was supposed to last 100 years, but nobody predicted the impact a building would have on the collections which grew so quickly that the building housing them proved too small and crowded. Thus, in 1952, the old library was demolished and, in 1955, the current white marble, four-story building was opened on the same site. Last year, as part of the reorganization, Craig Davis was named Administrator for the Masonic Service Association, its chief operating officer. He also serves as Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Iowa.

 In its new home, MSA will continue its variety of services to Freemasonry in North America, including:

• Service to military veterans at approximately 150 U.S. veterans hospitals and clinics in the country. MSA is the only Masonic organization represented on the Veteran’s Administration’s Voluntary Services Organization Advisory Board.
• Preparation and dispersal of Masonic information to assist Lodge education efforts, general Masonic content for the public, and useful data for the benefit of any Mason. These efforts include monthly distribution of the Short Talk Bulletin and Emessay Notes publications, operation of the Masonic Information Center, and periodic development of brochures and digests.
• Gathering and dispersal of Disaster Relief Funds to Grand Lodges in times of need.

 Millions of dollars over the years have been collected and provided to assist in times of trouble. MSA has become the key organization trusted by Grand Lodges and Masons to filter such relief to needed areas. Every penny donated through MSA for disaster relief is sent to those in need.

MSA Website Gone; No Pantagraph List for 2021

by Christopher Hodapp

Last October, the Masonic Service Association of North America chose to dismiss its Executive Director of three years, Simon LaPlace, and not replace him. Over the subsequent twelve months, the MSA website languished with almost no updates, no revised membership statistics (nothing since 2017), and no disaster appeal announcements since 2019. 

This morning I attempted to log on to the msana.com website, and lo and behold, someone at MSA appears not to have not paid their domain renewal bill for the first time in twenty years. Because the website hadn't been updated in so long, I have no idea who the current commissioners are at this point. If anyone does, you might ask them who's in charge of the joint.

In other news, Pantagraph Printing has announced that they will not be printing the annual List of Lodges Masonic for 2021, using the COVID pandemic as their reason. That's a bit strange, since the grand lodges around the world actually do the heavy lifting of updating their stats and Pantagraph simply makes edits to the previous edition lists each year. 

In the wake of this announcement, everyone should know about the Amity app, a smartphone app that permits you to search for regular, recognized lodges when traveling. The few grand lodges that stubbornly don't want to cooperate with Amity now have even fewer reasons to hold out, with the Pantagraph announcement.

Regular readers have doubtless noticed the dearth of posts here recently. With the pandemic, there's less Masonic news to report on, but there's another, bigger reason. Alice and I have just signed a contract for a new (non-Masonic) book project with a tight deadline this past week, so we are already up to our nostrils in research and pounding out chapters.  In the middle of our schedule, we'll also be hitting the road in the Airstream to see my family in California around Thanksgiving. 

We're not being anti-social, we're just preoccupied, and paying gigs have to take precedence over the volunteer ones, I'm afraid. If you email me and I don't answer, I'm not ignoring you. Keep bugging me and I'll wake up long enough to respond.

Truman: "None will look askance and say, 'Where was Freemasonry in this hour of need?'"

by Christopher Hodapp

Last year I was researching information about Masonic communities activities during World War II and the creation of a national network of U.S.O.-like service clubs by grand lodges and the Masonic Service Association. By the war's end there were 90 Army-Navy Masonic Service Centers located in major Masonic halls all across the country that provided meals, recreation, transportation, letter-writing material and services, and free long-distance phone calls to military personnel.

Now the Truman Presidential Library in Missouri has just posted this Youtube video of a later radio and newsreel address by Harry Truman about those very Masonic Service Centers. It was his second such message widely disseminated to the public about how Freemasonry served the military at the time.

(If it doesn't play above, visit the link HERE.)

The program was the brainchild of the MSA's director Carl H. Claudy and Missouri Past Grand Master, Senator Harry S Truman. In July 1941, Senator Truman gave a national radio address entitled “Masonry Serves the Armed Forces” in which he outlined programs being proposed by the Masonic Service Association to help, aid and assist servicemen in the event of war, and he exhorted brethren across the country to get busy immediately putting them into practice. It was clear that war in Europe and Asia was coming to the American soldier sooner than later, and Truman’s radio message was the official call to action for the nation’s Freemasons. Truman’s encouragement would become even more influential to Masons and the public in general, as he would soon be named as Roosevelt’s vice presidential running mate. 

The video above is actually a follow up message reporting on the activities of the Centers a year into the program.

Between 1941 and 1945, more than 16 million American men and women would eventually serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, and another 3.5 million worked as federal civilian employees during the war. Those are all sobering statistics today in an age when just one half of one percent of Americans are in uniform. Never before would so many Americans be uprooted from the familiar surroundings of their homes, families and communities, and moved to so many unfamiliar regions of the nation and the world with so little preparation and support.

The more than two and a half million U.S. Freemasons across the country had a major stake in the lives of military personnel. By 1944 during the height of the war, the MSA would estimate that 25% of all servicemen and women were either Masons, or from the families of Masons.

Years before the attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into World War II, the national Masonic Service Association had done a national survey of Masonic halls and military bases. It was determined that they already had ideal social facilities sitting in nearly every American city and town, large and small, in the form of existing Masonic temples. The post-WWI building boom of the 1920s meant the Masons had plenty of big, centrally located buildings that would could accommodate visiting soldiers in large numbers. 

With a little bit of work, combined with their own dedicated volunteers from within the wider Masonic family of organizations, the Masonic Service Centers were born. The first center was officially opened in 1941 in the large Masonic temple in Columbus, South Carolina. By the war’s end, there were about 90 centers nationwide.

The Masonic Service Centers were designed to address the huge morale problem of hundreds of thousands of young soldiers far from home for the first time in their lives, suddenly finding themselves in strange towns without friends or relatives. The Centers received no funding from the USO or any other federal agency. Many religious groups also sponsored their own similar sorts of social centers for soldiers, but in public notices about the Masonic centers it was stressed that they were open to all service personnel regardless of race, creed, color or Masonic affiliation. That made them different from other church-related centers across the country, or private membership clubs that often had racial or religious restrictions, which were so common to the period. 

In my own state, just between January 1944 and the official end of the war in August of 1945, Indiana’s Masons hosted more than 80,000 service personnel at its two Service Centers. Agents, hostesses and Cadettes wrote thousands of letters and made hundreds of phone calls on behalf of soldiers unable to contact home on their own, and even communicated with lodges in other jurisdictions to report on the status of their military members while in the state. Throughout the course of the war, an average of 100 soldiers a day came through each of our centers.

Harry Truman assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin Roosevelt in 1945. After the conclusion of the war, President Truman and Carl Claudy still saw an ongoing purpose for the fraternity and the MSA’s national leadership in helping the military. At Truman’s encouragement, the Masonic volunteerism of the Service Centers was converted into the MSA’s hospital visitation program in 1947, which continues to this very day. 

There may be a very simple motivating factor that drove men to join the ranks of our fraternity during and after the war. Truman's messages went nationwide, on radio and in movie houses. In this one he says something that may have resonated with a bigger cross-section of the American public than you might imagine today when most of us don't hear common messages from influencers and newsmakers anymore. He says, 

"At this very moment, in foxholes and on shipboard, beneath the sea and in the air, countless hands are being clasped in fraternal recognition as brothers find one another in the darkness as well as in the daylight. And countless fathers bravely wishing 'Godspeed' to their departing sons are saying, "Boy, when your hour of darkness and loneliness comes, find a Freemason, and tell him you are the son of a Freemason, and you'll find a friend..."

Stop and think for a moment about the power that message must have had, coming from the man who would soon be Vice-President and then President himself, and the tens of thousands who remembered it and took it to heart, both during and after the war. Fourteen years after the end of the war, American Masonry hit its membership record of more than 4 million members.

It's no wonder they joined in droves.

Isolation Is A(nother) Good Reason For New Books

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATE APRIL 6, 2020: 
I just received word as of today that the MSA is now officially sold out of ALL editions of these books - both the Master Mason cloth bindings and the grand Master leather ones! Richard asks that you please not try to order any more.

That said, Carl Davis' weekly devotional book also mentioned in this original post , Making Good Men Better, is NOT sold out and still very much available!

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A major bargain on expensive Masonic books doesn't happen very often, but this is a real opportunity for lodges, libraries and individual Masons seeking a massive educational resource. 

As reported here several months ago, the Masonic Service Association is moving its headquarters from Maryland to Iowa. The complete six-volume set of hardbound editions of the Short Talk Bulletins starting in the 1920s is now on sale at what is almost a giveaway price. The full set of the Master Mason cloth-bound, hardback edition is just $120, and this combined set contains over 1,000 Short Talk Bulletins. 

If you are looking for the higher quality leather bound Grand Master editions, they are going for $40 apiece. All of these prices are less than a third of their original cover price.

This means you could have a complete set of these books for less than the price of two of them when they were first printed. Don't let this deal slip by. Every Masonic Lodge and Masonic research library really should have these sets.

There are hundreds of hidden gems, historical tales, ritual information, symbolism explanations and exploration, and scores of other sorts of topics to be found in these beautiful volumes. Every Single Short Talk Bulletin from 1923 through 2017 has been edited, re-typeset and blessedly indexed for these books by S. Brent Morris of the Scottish Rite Research Society. You could literally read one article every single day for almost the next three years. Never be at a loss for 'Masonic education' at you meetings ever again - you can walk into your lodge, literally open any of these books and start reading one aloud (once we can all meet again).

The sale was announced in the most recent mailing of the MSA Short Talk Bulletin and Emessay Notes. Note that the sale price is NOT reflected on the MSA's webpage, so you'll need to contact them directly. (Nothing on the MSA website seems to have been updated since Simon LaPlace left several months ago.)

Email: msaoffice@msana.com
Tel: (301) 476-7330
Toll-free: (855) 476-4010

A new book has just been released by WB Carl W. Davis, and it couldn't come at a more opportune time. Making Good Men Better: A 52 Week Personal Growth Plan Based on the Teachings of Freemasonry is designed as a weekly Masonic devotional designed to instruct and inspire the contemplative Brother with a year’s worth of lessons about our symbolism, our philosophy, and even the phrases we use. Since we are all trapped in our houses for the duration of the COVID pandemic, Carl's book gives you the chance to advance your own personal thinking about Masonic principles and concepts as the weeks go by.

The daily or weekly devotional reader was once one of those common items that almost everyone in the Western world was familiar with, at least until the last 50 years or so. Most commonly circulated in the Christian tradition, these little booklets provided short readings, Biblical quotations, homilies, stories, and other inspirational content to be used during a daily time of prayer or spiritual meditation. The brief passages were meant to inspire or prompt the reader’s own deeper thoughts and reflection throughout the course of a week, a month, or a year.

Making Good Men Better is divided into 52 chapters, intended to be read one per week, and each chapter is followed by space to record your own reflections or notes. Because Carl has traveled extensively and visited Masonic lodges in a wide variation of jurisdictions, he combines concepts from several rituals with which you may not be entirely familiar with in an effort to examine and broaden our understanding of them. Sometimes it's helpful to look at a very different expression of the same symbol or ritualistic aspect through the eyes from a different state or country. Our rituals weren't carved in stone in most cases until the late 19th century when printed ciphers began to unify the work in any given state. Up until then, jurisdictions or individual lodges often added or subtracted paragraphs or entire lectures seen or heard or invented elsewhere.

WB Davis' book covers all kinds of elements, from ritual and symbolism, to certain practices and traditions we observe in lodge every day without examining how or why we do them. And the book is designed to digest these interpretations in small chunks, with space to record your own thoughts. Put it on your bedside table, set a weekly reminder on your phone, and try to use it as it was intended. It's a worthwhile habit to take up.Sadly, the widespread tradition of the devotional reader has fallen by the wayside among the wider population today (although ironically, in these days of self-publishing, there is no shortage of them to be found in print and online today).

Society could use more quiet contemplation these days. The current enforced isolation gives us all a new opportunity to pick up new habits. This is a good one.

Scranton's Masonic Temple To Host Presidential Town Hall

by Christopher Hodapp

Scranton, Pennsylvania's magnificent Masonic Temple will get the national spotlight turned onto it this week as the U.S. presidential campaign season shifts into high gear. President Donald Trump will take part in a Town Hall meeting hosted by the Fox News Channel on Thursday, March 5th at the Masonic Cultural Center. Before everybody gets their aprons in bunch over Masons and "No politics in the lodge!" this is EXACTLY what our Masonic temples used to do on a regular basis. 

In the 1930s, Scranton's Masons hosted the biggest New Years Eve parties in the whole city at this temple - 4,000 attended in 1935 alone. Scranton's Masonic Temple is especially huge. At approximately 180,000 square feet, the Temple has two theatres, lodge and appendant body meeting rooms, a grand ballroom as well as numerous other rooms and areas. 

The main auditorium can accommodate 1,800 people. They formed an independent, not-for-profit organization in the early 2000s to preserve the place and operate the facility as a regional performance and cultural hub — in addition to still being a hub of Masonic activity. That separated it from specifically Masonic ownership, and the arrangement has worked well for the Masons and the community alike. Masonic temple associations these days confronting similar issues of big, underused buildings would do well to consider these types of arrangements.

Scranton's Temple has branded itself as a cultural center in that city for more than a decade now, but up until the 1960s or so, communities regarded all of our larger temples and halls as centers of civic culture automatically, without needing it plastered on signage. That was when the Freemasons were still considered to be vital players in the social and civic fabric of a city or town, and before the mass exodus from town centers into anonymous steel pole barns.

I will cite my local examples because I'm most familiar with them. In my own home town of Indianapolis, our first combined multi-lodge/grand lodge temple was built in 1850, but before it even officially opened in 1851 for our own use, it was turned over to the State of Indiana for three months for use by the delegates for a convention charged with drafting the state's new Constitution. 

The Indianapolis Masonic Temple and its grand Freemasons Hall was considered the first large-scale public building in the city. Abraham Lincoln came to town and spoke there in 1859, and for decades no election went by without one candidate or another, from any party, holding a speech or debate at the Masonic Temple. It hosted the Republican Party convention of 1866.  That was in addition to hosting countless theater shows, musical performances, talks by traveling orators and authors, anti-slavery rallies, and much more.

In 1904, Socialist Party candidate Eugene V. Debs began his presidential campaign at a speaking engagement held at the Masonic Hall in Indianapolis. Debs, by the way, was a member of Terre Haute Lodge No. 19, F&AM.

Arguments over "regular" or "clandestine" Masons? Nope. The first public procession of the state's Prince Hall-derived, so-called 'African Masons' marched to our Masonic Temple, which hosted their inaugural banquet.

No religion in Masonic lodges? Balderdash. The first Indianapolis Masonic Temple provided its Freemasons Hall to two different churches for their Sunday services, and we weren't alone in that. Masonic lodges in America frequently partnered with a local church to share facilities as the western frontier pushed farther and farther into the wilderness. The reason why churches and Masonic lodges in countless states were both tax exempt from the beginning is because government leaders realized the importance of both institutions in forming and perpetuating the kind of 'civic virtues' that were (and are) so vital to the smooth functioning of a democracy. Churches and Masonry had (and have) the same ultimate goal - to make the world a better place by making our congregants and members better individuals.

During World War II, almost 100 of the major Masonic temples in the U.S. took part in the Masonic Service Association's Army/Navy Service Center program to provide vital services to military personnel. As late as the 1960s, before government took on the massive domination of public and civic life it has today, Masonic temples were frequently the hosts for new immigrant naturalization ceremonies. It was a perfect location to impress upon new citizens the sort of idealism that Masonry shared with the United States: toleration, cooperation, honesty, integrity, "with malice toward none, and charity for all." There could be no better institution than Freemasonry to hold out that shining example.

These days, I wish more Masonic halls were used as polling places, and it makes sense to periodically volunteer our spaces for that purpose to local election boards. They don't change very often, but if you have a lodge building that has great parking (few do), AND is easily handicap-accessible on one level (even fewer are), AND has a large enough clear space like a dining hall to hold the required tables and equipment, make sure your community's election officials are reminded that the Masons want to help.

Regardless of your political affiliation or opinion of any, or all, of the candidates this election season, let's congratulate Scranton's Masonic Temple for hosting this Town Hall meeting. Every single Masonic lodge in the U.S. should look to this example and offer its facility to local, state and national officials and candidates for their debates, public policy meetings, town halls, and other civic events like health fairs. Don't play favorites - be that deliberately neutral ground few others provide anymore. We're not activists, we're supposed to be formative, not performative. 

We were once at the very center of civic life in America. It's way past time for us to do it again.

Thursday's Town Hall will be hosted by Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum, and broadcast live from the Scranton Masonic Cultural Center on Thursday March 5th at 6:30pm EST on the Fox News Channel. It will be replayed at 11pm EST.

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