Masonic Quest: Escape from the Masonic Temple!

by Christopher Hodapp

No, I don't mean ducking out to avoid cooking the monthly breakfast. Not that kind of escape. 

I'm always looking for unique ways to bring the community into our Masonic halls and get the public interested in just who and what our fraternity is all about. Sometimes you have to think outside of the usual pattern of pancake breakfasts, chili cook-offs, and other typical events that lodges have been doing for the last 100 years and get more creative. So, here are a couple of ideas:

The Grand Orient de Belgium's Belgium Museum of Freemasonry in Brussels regularly hosts “Escape From The Masonic Temple” in its magnificent, historic temple. 

"A mysterious backpack has been found in the Museum…"The Belgian Museum of Freemasonry invites you to embark on a truly immersive experience: Masonic Quest, a thrilling escape game that takes place throughout the entire museum. Each puzzle you solve will bring you one step closer to uncovering the hidden treasure.

Succeed in your mission, and you’ll be rewarded with a photo alongside the treasure, an exclusive badge, and a certificate of investigation to commemorate your adventure.

Step into Masonic Quest, the captivating escape game at the Belgian Museum of Freemasonry! Dive into a world of intrigue, where mystery, symbols, and riddles intertwine. Follow in the footsteps of a historian who once hid a treasure deep within the museum’s walls.

Work as a team, explore every corner, crack codes, and solve puzzles to discover what’s been concealed.

This is a great idea. It's a fun way to get people into your Masonic building and interest younger people who haven't the first clue about who and what we really are. We have unique spaces that most people never give a second thought to. And everybody everywhere wants to know what's behind closed doors. So, let them in, guide them around, make them feel like explorers, let them see some unique artifacts.

The event also gives them the opportunity to hold guided tours and to open up their beautiful museum.

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Lots of lodges also do haunted tours of their buildings, like this one in San Antonio, Texas.

They managed to get a few minutes on a local TV station to promote the event.

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Then there' a children's  'treasure hunt' this coming weekend at Mount Zion Lodge 135 in Metuchen, New Jersey:

The Freemasons of Metuchen (Mt. Zion Lodge #135),
in conjunction with Wolfe Ossa Law and What's the Scoop are sponsoring a ​Children's Treasure Hunt following the style of "National Treasure", "Indiana Jones", and "Tomb Raider".

This is a chaperoned Treasure Hunt that will challenge children to solve puzzles leading from one location in Metuchen to another. Each clue will bring the children progressively closer to the final treasure!

The Treasure Hunt will start at the Mt. Zion Lodge on Saturday, June 14th, 2025 9:30 am sharp.
** You MUST pre-register ** (we will fill up, do it now)
​Address: 483 Middlesex Ave. Metuchen, NJ 08840

Speaking at New Jersey's Nutley Lodge This Monday 6/17

by Christopher Hodapp

This coming Monday, June 17th, I'll be flapping my way New Jersey-ward to speak at Nutley Lodge 25. Despite my having spoken there in 2011 and 2012, Worshipful Master Jerry Lukowiak wants me to come back anyway. 

It's not like he hasn't been warned... 

Dinner at 6:15PM, lodge opens at 7:00.

Past Sovereign Grand Commander David Glattly 33° Expelled from the Scottish Rite NMJ

by Christopher L. Hodapp

UPDATE: SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2024, 8:00PM: Several weeks after this story first appeared here on February 15th, the AASR-NMJ Supreme Council publicly released the findings of an independent financial audit, plus multiple independent investigations of the allegations made against David Glattly which led to his resignation back in 2022. The results of all of these inquiries refute Glattly's version of events that he posted here at the end of December, and corroborate the accusations against him made by the internal whistleblower in the Lexington office.

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

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

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The Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite NMJ has announced on its website this evening that it has voted to expel Past Sovereign Grand Commander David A. Glattly, 33° from its rolls. (Click the image below to enlarge.) 

No reasons for his expulsion were stated in the post or the letter, but it comes about a month after Glattly’s long and detailed letter was published on this site at his request, explaining his side of events that led to his abrupt resignation from the SGC position in 2022.

For those who are confused by Masonic bureaucracy, appendant bodies, or jurisprudence details, it should be understood that David is a member and former Grand Marshall from the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, and he remains a member of the fraternity – he's only been expelled by the Scottish Rite NMJ.

See the original post HERE: AASR NMJ Past Commander David Glattly Speaks Out

NOTE 2/16/24,11:00AM: An earlier version of this story mistakenly said David Glattly was a Past Grand Master of New Jersey. He is a former Grand Marshall. My apologies for the error.

New Jersey: Former Senior Grand Warden Protests Removal

by Christopher Hodapp

Tumult continues apace in the Grand Lodge of New Jersey this week. Friday's announcement that Gary J. Olsen was removed from his position as Senior Grand Warden by New Jersey Grand Master Robert V. Monacelli brought a rapid response. A tranche of documents was sent out over the weekend by several New Jersey Masons in support of Olsen, which included his response to the edict. In the interest of fairness to all parties involved, I post them below.

GM Monacelli's edict suspended Olsen from his elected position for failure to participate in official Grand Lodge events, committees, appearances and other responsibilities that are part of a grand officer's duties. He was not suspended from the fraternity.

In his letter, Olsen alleges that his removal was done in retaliation for acting as a whistle blower concerning a member of the current Grand Staff accused of un-Masonic conduct:

"The accused brother has admitted to you, the accuser, and to your investigation committee that he committed this act and subsequently tried to resign his position and turn in his collar. Yet you, Grand Master, refused his resignation and still allow him to serve on your staff and instead you choose to remove me from office and forbid my nomination for Deputy Grand Master, for far less."

 (Click images below to enlarge.) 

Olsen's response to the edict suspending him as SGD:

Just as a random comment, I will say from experience that telling a Grand Master he's exceeded his authority and then demanding him to put you back in as a grand officer again is about as likely as my poodle being crowned queen of the Gas City Pork Festival. 

In fact, even LESS likely.

Prior to suspending Olsen from the Grand Line, GM Monacelli sent the following letter to him in which he specifies numerous occasions, events and meetings that Olsen either failed or refused to participate in, or engaged in what he described as "disruptive behavior." From the text, it would appear that the GM and other members of the Grand Line have had these discussions with him several times. 

In Olsen's correspondence that's been circulated, there is also a letter sent to him last April by the GM in which he was admonished for commenting publicly on social media about an investigation of a Mason that was underway. 

While Olsen is not up on charges and was not suspended or expelled from Freemasonry in New Jersey, it seems that things may get a bit dicier. He was sent an official summons over the weekend to appear at the Grand Lodge this Thursday for publicly asserting a cover-up of some kind in the Grand Lodge.

I'm convinced now more than ever that social media — or rather, anti-social media — will eventually kill us all.

GM of New Jersey Removes Senior Grand Warden From Office

by Christopher Hodapp

MW Robert V. Monacelli, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey (photo above), has removed Senior Grand Warden Gary J. Olsen from office. According to the edict (Edict 14) circulated to the Masons in New Jersey, now-former Senior Grand Warden Olsen has been suspended from his elected position for failure to participate in official Grand Lodge events, committees, appearances and other responsibilities that are part of a grand officer's duties.

He is not suspended or expelled from the fraternity, but the edict forbids Olsen from being nominated to run for Deputy Grand Master in the November 2022 election. 

Gary J. Olsen

Click the images below to enlarge.

Like so many other grand lodges, the Grand Lodge of New Jersey was compelled to move its annual communication in 2020 and 2021 to comply with their state's COVID restrictions. Traditionally, they have met in April. In April of 2020, the COVID lockdowns were at their height and the then Grand Master, Greg Scott, pushed back the annual communication until November of 2020. The current line of officers were elected or named at that time.

In January of this year, GM Monacelli issued an edict stating that he and all current grand line Officers would remain in office for an additional twelve months, so November 2022 would be the end of their term. The reasoning for this was explained:

"the majority of the members of the current Grand Staff, who may, for the most part, not be likely to have another opportunity to participate on a Grand Staff, have been deprived of their opportunity to travel together, to coalesce as a staff, and to obtain the enhancement of Masonic light and knowledge customarily received through the experience of full participation in all of the planned programs and events throughout the State, beyond the boundaries of the Districts from which they respectively hail. . ."

Grand Lodges all over the world have been wrestling with the unprecedented lockdowns and restrictions that COVID wrought. There have been complaints among New Jersey Masons that this edict violated their constitution, by-laws and other rules by extending the grand line for an additional year (something that the GM freely admitted he was suspending). But COVID and its accompanying restrictions have upended untold numbers of organizations that operate like our Masonic groups do, requiring the dedication of volunteer members. 

Let's face it – we count on saints and masochists to govern our fraternity. The justification advanced by GM Monacelli's January 2021 edict may ring hollow to many, but advancing through the grand officers' line in the majority of jurisdictions can take seven or more years, with constant demands on a man's time to be away from home and family, and generally with no financial compensation of any kind. It's all well and good to say "the honor is its own compensation," but any Mason entering a grand officers' line can say goodbye to nearly every weekend of his life, and probably 7-10 nights a month for additional visits for six or seven years. The ultimate reward is the Grand Master's position, and it's even worse. The grand line can strain marriages, family life, jobs, wallets, emotions, retirement plans, and much more. No one should ever accept such a position casually, and there should never be any shame if a grand officer concludes that he cannot fulfill these obligations and resigns.

This is why the majority of grand lodges extended their grand officer terms in 2020 and 2021, even if they didn't come right out and say it the way GM Monacelli did. No one wants to spend the better part of a decade planning much of their life around their upcoming advancement to grand master, only to be ordered by the government to cancel all activity for the immediate future because of "the national emergency."

GM of New Jersey Posthumously Names Capitol Police Officer an "Honorary Mason"

by Christopher Hodapp

MW Robert V. Monacelli, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge F&AM of New Jersey, has just issued an edict posthumously proclaiming the late Brian David Sicknick as an "Honorary Mason."

Click to enlarge.

Brian David Sicknick (42) was the District of Columbia Capitol Police officer who died after sustaining injuries during last week's rampage through the US Capitol building. He was bludgeoned in the head with a fire extinguisher as the mob moved through the building, and a criminal investigation is ongoing to find the person responsible. 

According to the edict, Brian was the son of Charles Sicknick and the brother of Craig Sicknick, who are b oth members of Philo Lodge 243 in South River, New Jersey. Posthumously naming a man as an Honorary Mason is extremely rare in the Masonic world, and jurisdictions have different practices, powers and prerogatives that their grand masters may exercise. 

Officer Sicknick was a veteran.  He joined the New Jersey National Guard in 1997 fresh out of high school. He was deployed to Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was honorably discharged in 2003. He joined the Capitol Police Department in 2008.

Brian Sicknick was laid to rest on Monday, and his family has asked that his death not be politicized.

AMD Presents John Bizzack: 'Sins of Our Masonic Fathers' Friday 5/8

by Christopher Hodapp

On Friday, May 8th, the Allied Masonic Degrees (AMD) of New Jersey and Pennsylvania East will host an online members-only presentation by Dr. John Bizzack, Past Master of Lexington Lodge 1 in Kentucky. 'Sins of Our Masonic Fathers' is an outgrowth of John's ongoing examination of the massive changes that happened in American Freemasonry at around 1800 when it transformed from small, exclusive lodges along the East coast into a rapidly expanding institution for social change throughout the western territories. What was good for America turned out to be not so good for Freemasonry as an institution as it exists today, and the subject of John's presentation is "the lost strength of fewness in American Freemasonry." 

  

John Bizzack is an exceptional historian and has written some fourteen books on Freemasonry. I especially recommend Island Freemasonry and Sins of Our Masonic Fathers. It helps that he is deeply involved with and committed to Kentucky's historic Lexington Lodge 1, which was the first Masonic lodge established west of the Appalachian mountains. More than a few grand lodges can trace their origins to Virginia or Kentucky charters that came out of that one single lodge. If you ever have the opportunity to visit one of their regular lodge meetings or outstanding festive boards, make the effort to do so. Lexington Lodge sets the bar very high for excellence in everything they do, and their lodge experience is always first-rate. John's been a big part of that over the years, and he served several years as their Worshipful Master.

Friday's program begins at 8PM EDT. It is being restricted to members of the Allied Masonic Degrees only, and is NOT open to the public or just Masons in general. For login information to this Zoom program, you must register at: https://tinyurl.com/ydav7x5u 

Congressman Jeff Van Drew Hails His Lodge

New Jersey Congressman and Brother Jeff Van Drew speaking on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about his home lodge, Cannon Lodge No. 104 on February 11, 2020. The clip aired on c-SPAN. 

Cannon Lodge is in South Seaview, New Jersey.

In the U.S., our politicians, civil servants and civic leaders can proudly proclaim their Masonic membership on national television. We need to remember that periodically when a story appears like yesterday's about the state prosecutor in Croatia being forced to resign solely because he was a Freemason.

Foreign Language Lodges in America

Brethren of Esperenze Lodge 317 receiving their New Jersey charter on June 27, 2018.
The lodge has actually been in existence for more than 40 years.

If you look through the archives of your own grand lodge, you will likely find a handful of lodges chartered by your jurisdiction way back when that worked in different languages, especially in the 1800s and early 1900s. While they were technically following your state's approved ritual, these lodges performed theirs in the native language their members were most comfortable with. German was by far the most common, but there were noteworthy Italian- and French-speaking U.S. lodges as well. Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington D.C. still have several of these today. D.C. especially has quite a number of chartered 'cosmopolitan lodges' that often serve foreign-born Masons temporarily living in that city in connection with government, lobbying or embassy jobs. Many others like Massachusetts, Florida, and California also have foreign language lodges. 

Those are properly chartered lodges under those mainstream jurisdictions. But there's a relatively recent and growing wrinkle in the realm of 'clandestine' lodges and Masons. With the influx of more foreign born immigrants into America's large urban centers, there are a growing number of independent lodges made up of Cuban, Central and South American, Filipino, or other foreign-born Masons who have been ignored (or even shunned) by mainstream Masonry in this country. To answer their desire to become Masons — or to attend lodges that work in their native languages from back home —  more 'clandestine' lodges spring up every day that cater to them specifically. Some have been connected with legitimate foreign grand lodges which have invaded U.S. jurisdictional claims by chartering lodges here. But a large number of them are independent, self-created lodges. And more than a few have been around for a very long time, operating off of the radar screens of our grand lodges.

MW Roger Quintana, the current Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey seems to have taken the bull by the horns in his jurisdiction. New Jersey being a densely populated state and just across the border from New York, there are scores of clandestine Masonic lodges sprinkled throughout that jurisdiction. Instead of going on the attack against them, or ignoring them altogether, the Grand Lodge of New Jersey is trying a different approach. Portuguese-speaking Brazilian Masons in New Jersey have been hunting a legitimate lodge to join, and so the Grand Lodge is reaching out to find new ways to bring them under the umbrella of proper recognition and regularity. In 2018, the Grand Lodge of New Jersey has announced the transformations of formerly clandestine Esperanza Lodge 317 in Union City and Perucho Figueredo Lodge 370 in Elizabeth into fully chartered and regular, recognized ones under the Grand Lodge of New Jersey. 

First regular meeting of Perucho Figueredo Lodge 370
under its charter from the GL of New Jersey

Further, New Jersey has just received applications to do this from another independent clandestine lodge, Solomon Lodge. According to MW Quintana's letter (see below), their members will be re-obligated at a special One Day Class, and the formerly clandestine lodge will be consecrated with a proper charter from the GL of New Jersey. 

(Similarly, numerous Prince Hall grand lodges in the US have special 'healing' ceremonies in order to re-obligate Masons who joined 'clandestine' lodges first, and then later wished to become PHA Masons. NJ's actions seem to be a lodge-wide extension of that sort of thing.)

Click image to enlarge

While other states have not talked much about this in public, his letter says that the Grand Lodges of New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania have also been doing similar lodge conversions in this manner. (If I'm not mistaken, this has also taken place in Florida with former Cuban lodges – please correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm guessing California has done something similar over the years.) 

I'm told that the Grand Lodge of Arizona has a standard ritual in Spanish, and a handful of other states may also have their own in various languages as well. This is no longer a situation peculiar to just the coastal states and cities, or to southern border states. For the rest of us across the U.S. who find ourselves with growing foreign-born populations and communities in our various states, it is downright foolish and short-sighted to ignore this vast and growing population. And this is not even remotely just a big city issue. Look at these startling statistics. 

According to a 2017 study by the Center for Immigration Studies,

Newly released Census Bureau data for 2017 shows nearly half (48.2 percent) of residents in America's five largest cities now speak a language other than English at home. Overall, the number of U.S. residents speaking a foreign language at home reached a record of nearly 67 million. The total number is up seven million since 2010 and has increased by nearly 35 million since 1990.

Among the findings:

• In 2017, a record 66.6 million U.S. residents (native-born, legal immigrants, and illegal immigrants) ages five and older spoke a language other than English at home. The number has more than doubled since 1990, and almost tripled since 1980.

• As a share of the population, 21.8 percent of U.S. residents speak a foreign language at home — roughly double the 11 percent in 1980.

• In America's five largest cities, 48 percent of residents now speak a language other than English at home. In New York City and Houston it is 49 percent; in Los Angeles it is 59 percent; in Chicago it is 36 percent; and in Phoenix it is 38 percent.
• In 2017, there were 85 cities and Census Designated Places (CDP) in which a majority of residents spoke a foreign language at home. These include Hialeah, Fla. (95 percent); Laredo, Texas (92 percent); and East Los Angeles, Calif. (90 percent). Perhaps more surprisingly, it also includes places like Elizabeth, N.J. (76 percent); Skokie, Ill. (56 percent); and Germantown, Md., and Bridgeport, Conn. (each 51 percent).
• Nearly one in five U.S. residents now lives in a city or CDP in which one-third of the population speaks a foreign language at home. This includes Dale City, Va. (43 percent); Norwalk, Conn., and New Rochelle, N.Y. (each 42 percent); and Aurora, Colo., and Troy, Mich. (each 35 percent).
• In contrast to many of the nation's cities, in rural areas outside of metropolitan areas just 8 percent speak a language other than English at home

Consider that there are sixteen lodges today in New York's 10th Manhattan District, and they grew out of the enormous immigrant populations that came to America and settled in the New York City area. The Tenth Manhattan is home to lodges permitted to work Craft degrees in French, Italian, and Spanish, and more, which differ—often substantially—from the traditional Preston-Webb rituals you find in almost every other state in the U.S. (with the notable exception of Pennsylvania's). It's not for nothing that this group of lodges refers to themselves as the 'Cosmopolitan Tenth,' which is how you'll find them on Facebook these days. Now, New Jersey has just established its own similar 6th District specifically geared to working with their newly christened foreign language and 'cosmopolitan' lodges in order to conform their sometimes very different rituals with current New Jersey practices.

This is a not a new idea, and by no means is it any sort of Earth-shattering innovation. A French-speaking New York lodge was asked to be the first lodge leading George Washington's funeral procession at Mount Vernon in 1799. Foreign language lodges were common a century and a half ago throughout America, and there's no reason why they shouldn't be again. 

Think of it a different way: Freemasonry is actually growing and thriving in Central and South American nations, where the bulk of our current immigration wave originates. Untold numbers of men join Masonic lodges in these Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking nations, only to find no lodges in which they feel comfortable or at home once in the U.S. Their only recourse is to establish or join a clandestine lodge, knuckle under and become proficient in English, or not attend at all. In other words, these are existing Freemasons living in our midst whom we are simply ignoring. It's long past time to be chartering new lodges in our jurisdictions that are permitted to work our official rituals (or at least close to them), just in a different language. 

Almost twenty years ago when faced with Masonic temples that were searching for rental possibilities, I suggested that lodges should be offering their dining room facilities for use by language tutors and schools to teach immigrants English, and/or Americans Spanish. It was clear then that there was already a growing need for such classes, and I suggested it as a new way to highlight the importance of Masonic halls in our communities once again. At that time, immigration wasn't really on many people's radar, and no one took it seriously. As the statistics above show, it's long past time to take it seriously now. 

While Masons haven't been paying attention, America has changed dramatically. Instead of decrying it or hiding from it as our membership continues to plummet, we need to see it as an opportunity to once again adapt to serve the society in which we reside - just as Freemasonry has always done in the past. Improving the world one Mason at a time is still our mission, no matter how our communities may change around us. Let's find a way to accommodate this upheaval in demographics instead of burying our collective heads in the sand. 

New GM Of New Jersey Is On A Roll

I seem to be shouting out to old friends this week – maybe that's just the natural byproduct of being in the fraternity almost 20 years.

The Grand Lodge of New Jersey has had its share of internal troubles and disputes in the past, but they seem to have truly turned things around in the last couple of years. This year, my old friend MW Roger B. Quintana has been elected as Grand Master of New Jersey, and knowing him over the years, I had a sneaking suspicion he would shake things up when he got to the Grand East. 

Indeed he has.

Roger was just installed a month ago. Since then he has accomplished the following:

• New Jersey can now open and do business on the EA and FC degree.
• Lowered the number to constitute a new lodge from 50 to 25.
• Allowed the ritual to be translated to other languages for approval.
• Allowed the Chamber of Reflection as a tool to lodges that want it.
• Re-recognized Cuba.
• Made Senator Robert Menendez a Mason 'at sight.'
• Established on the Grand Lodge level a RW Grand Education Officer and RW Disrict Education Officer, separate from Ritual Instructors.
• Established a RW Grand Almoner.
• Establishing four new affinity lodges.

That was just his first month. And he promises more coming soon.

Any time I get a chance to chat with men on their way to being grand master in their jurisdiction, I always beg them to use their superpowers for Good, not Evil. Pass laws, adopt rules, and issue edicts that get out of the way, that encourage improving the lodge experience, and that help lodges to demand greatness of themselves. 

Roger's clearly doing that, and he's on a roll.