Congratulations Illus. Brother James Dillman, 33°

by Christopher Hodapp

I'm furious that a stupid stumble wound up keeping me home from an event that was so important to the four portly gents in this old picture.

Fifteen years and way too many banquet dinners ago, there were these four Indiana troublemakers: an extremely overweight Dummy, WB Jim Dillman, RW Roger VanGorden PGM, and WB Nathan Brindle. The photo above was shot on a very hot summer afternoon in 2007, behind the Indianapolis Scottish Rite Cathedral. Jim, Nathan and I had just started serving together on the Board for the Indianapolis Masonic Temple. We were still two years away from founding The Masonic Society, of which Roger would become the first president, Jim its second, Nathan its Secretary/Treasurer, and I would edit the quarterly magazine. Several years later, Roger, Nathan and Jim would all go on to have officer positions in the Indianapolis Valley of the Scottish Rite.

Over time, we would all have incredible honors bestowed upon us by the fraternity that we never anticipated. Roger, Nathan and I would all be honored with the 33° by the Scottish Rite NMJ. (In my own case, I'm still bewildered and convinced someone snuck mine in accidentally. There's no chance it could have been done on purpose.)

And so it came to pass on Tuesday that now-Illustrious Brother James Dillman stood among his peers at Louisville's Palace Theater and was coroneted with the 33rd degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, NMJ. I would have given anything to have attended that ceremony, but my freshly broken ankle put a sudden kibosh to that plan. My deepest regrets, Jim. I really really wanted to be there.

In a further development amongst our little merry band of Hoosier Masonic cabal members, Illus. Roger VanGorden was named as an Active Member of the Supreme Council NMJ for Indiana.

I don't know what deeds I ever accomplished over the years to be associated with these esteemed brethren of such rare and varied talents, but I thank the GAOTU every day for it.

Philalethes Society Award of Merit 2022

by Christopher Hodapp

I had been unable to attend the 2022 Masonic Week festivities in Alexandria in February, and thus missed the annual gathering of the Philalethes Society. And so, at the spring equinox meeting of the Indiana College of the SRICF, our Chief Adept Roger VanGorden presented me with a very special award on behalf of the Society — their Award of Merit. Roger had been in Alexandria last month and was similarly honored with his own Award of Merit for being the founding force behind the creation of the Masonic Society.

Specifically, the Award of Merit was bestowed for “efforts to see the Light of Freemasonry disseminated without prejudice or animus” and for “contributions to create The Masonic Society as a new journal of Masonic education.”

For one research organization to give a couple of upstarts an award for starting another, arguably competing, research organization doesn’t happen every day. The Philalethes Society had been started back in 1928 by some of the biggest names in the fraternity at that time. But for those who were around in 2008 when we started The Masonic Society, you know that it grew out of turmoil, frustration, and bitterness within this very Society. 

Our hope fourteen years ago was never to beat down or sink the Philalethes, but to fill a niche that wasn’t being addressed by anyone else on a national or international basis. The Philalethes at that time was being dominated by a single man’s hubris, who fought beak and claw against anyone who challenged his authority. Such things do happen in Masonry, almost never out of malice, but almost always from a belief that no one else can save the ship. And so, in the lobby of the Alexandria Hilton, Roger formulated a framework for our nascent organization that skewed heavily towards serving the rank and file Freemason, and not just the same well-worn list of ‘celebrity’ Masons. 

As most of you probably know, after serving as the founding editor of the Journal of the Masonic Society for several years, I was compelled by a stack of health challenges to relinquish that position and turn the magazine over to Michael Halleran to edit, who was subsequently followed by Michael Poll, who has done a wonderful and masterful job over many years now; and John Bridegroom, our longtime art director continues to make it the best looking Masonic publication available. While it might have been momentarily gratifying to know it took two or more people to replace me at that time, I was arguably a moron for trying to do it all myself back then. Or at least, that's what the guy in the ambulance said. That's why I'm uniquely qualified to write Dummies books.

While these awards to Roger and me have been bestowed on individual Masons, the gesture is, in reality, a kind and generous acknowledgement between our peer societies. When PS Secretary Terry Tilton spoke in Alexandria last month as he gave Roger his award, he said, “Every organization needs to step up and own its past.” Perhaps, but I regard this much more as an acknowledgement that what we did was worthwhile and beneficial, and, in turn, did as we really intended: a rising tide really did lift everybody's dinghies.  Our sudden appearance compelled the Philelethes Society to do better for itself, to improve the quality of its own journal and organization, not in imitation of what we were up to, but to reestablish its own important place in Masonic scholarship, research and thought. Our publications and goals are quite different, deliberately so, and that only helps the wider fraternity. I salute the many years of fine work Shawn Eyer has done in the pursuit of that mission.

Paths often cross in life, only to join up again at the strangest of moments. Back in the days when the Philalethes had its own internet mailing list and Yahoo group, that collection of ‘electronic’ Masons from all over the world deeply affected and influenced me in my first few years in the fraternity. One Mason in particular stood out as being one of the most remarkably philosophical, thoughtful and deeply spiritual men I’d ever encountered in my life. His name was Rashied Sharrieff-Al-Bey, and whether or not he knew it at the time, his public posts, and several private ones we exchanged, made a profound impact on me all those years ago. And so I find it especially poignant that this award of merit bears his name and signature as the President of the Philalethes Society this year.

So, my deepest thanks to Rashied, Terry, the officers and members of the Philalethes Society for this award and for all it represents. I shall endeavor to be at your next meeting in Alexandria in 2023 so I can thank you in person.

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.

Encouraging Local Volunteerism In Your Masonic Lodge

by Christopher Hodapp

Are members of your lodge especially active in volunteering in your community? Or are you looking for ways to get your lodge involved in local volunteer programs to help your town or neighborhood? For many years, Americorps and the Points of Light global network have jointly awarded the President's Volunteer Service Awards to hundreds of individuals and organizations all over the U.S. in recognition of their dedication and service to local communities. Masons and Masonic lodges are among the different types of civic, social, religious and non-profit organizations that qualify for the award.

From the program's website:

In 2003, the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation founded the President’s Volunteer Service Award to recognize the important role of volunteers in America’s strength and national identity. This award honors individuals whose service positively impacts communities in every corner of the nation and inspires those around them to take action, too.

The PVSA has continued under each administration since that time, honoring the volunteers who are using their time and talents to solve some of the toughest challenges facing our nation. Led by the AmeriCorps and managed in partnership with Points of Light, this program allows Certifying Organizations to recognize their most exceptional volunteers.

In order for a lodge to participate and make its members eligible, it must become a Certifying Organization by filling out an application and taking a short quiz to be sure you understand the program's requirements.

A Certifying Organization is an organization that has been granted authority through an application and review process to give out the PVSA to volunteers. Certifying Organizations verify and certify that a volunteer has met the requirements to receive a PVSA within a 12 month period specified by the Certifying Organization. Only Certifying Organizations can certify volunteers’ eligibility for the PVSA and order awards.

Certifying Organizations must be established and operate in the United States, its territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands), or on overseas U.S. military and state installations. Additionally, Certifying Organizations must receive or facilitate volunteer service.

The award has several different levels, depending upon how many hours in a 12-month period are provided by an individual or (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Lifetime) for "unpaid acts of volunteer service benefitting others." 

In the agreement, your lodge becomes a certifying organization that keeps careful track of how many hours are volunteered, who performed that service, and reporting them to the awards program. The lodge also agrees to cover the cost of the award package itself, which, if you go whole hog on the options, costs less than $30. The award can include the official President’s Volunteer Service Award pin, coin, or medallion; a personalized certificate of achievement; and letter signed by the President.

There is a detailed FAQ about eligibility requirements HERE.

Once the proper level of hours is reached, the lodge nominates that member for the award, and confers it when it arrives. The award is also accompanied by a congratulatory letter from the sitting President of the United States. Before anyone starts caterwauling about presidential politics, understand that every president since George W. Bush has supported this program. It is a completely non-partisan program designed to recognize and reward volunteerism, and Americorps relies on you as their certifying organization to tabulate the hours and apply for the awards.

Root around on the awards website HERE for lots more information about it. 

Also have a look at the Points Of Light Global Network website for ways to get your local lodge involved in civic volunteerism. Groups like United Way work with churches, lodges and other similar groups to pair volunteers with programs in the community.

17th Paris Masonic Book Fair This Weekend 11/16-17

Albert Mackey once lamented that American Freemasons don't read, and the handful of Americans who have made a stab at being specifically Masonic publishers can tell you it's an ideal formula for going broke slowly. French Masons aren't afflicted with that character quirk. If you've ever visited a Masonic bookstore in Paris you know that the French have an insatiable appetite for books about Freemasonry. Consequently, each year, the Institut Maçonnique de France (Masonic Institute of France) hosts an enormous book fair in Paris for the purpose of promoting Masonic literature throughout the entire French speaking Masonic community. 

It's a shame that we don't have anything similar in this country.

The Salon Maçonnique du Livre de Paris (Masonic Salon of the Book in Paris) on November 16-17 will be its 17th year. This year's venue will again be at La Bellevilloise at 19 Rue Boyer, in Paris' 20th Arrondissement.

From a prior press release:

Organized by the Institut Maçonnique de France, this event is a unique opportunity for all audiences to discover Freemasonry by the prism of culture and literature in contact: from a village composed of the 16 main persuasions of French Masonry of over 60 authors and designers of many publishers of books, magazines, comics.

To answer all your questions, you will be able to meet and attend and participate in ten roundtables, three conferences, as well as the many signing sessions.

The Masonic Salon of the Paris book is free and open to the public

• 16 French persuasions present
• 8 round tables
• 3 conferences
• dozens of book publishers, magazines and comics
• scores of authors 
• books to win
• catering on site and many restaurants and breweries nearby

What's always been interesting about French Masonry is how diverse (Oy! that word...) it is. While U.S. grand lodges only recognize the Grande Loge Nationale Française, the GLNF is NOT the largest or the oldest. There are no less than sixteen substantial grand bodies and obediences of Freemasons at work in that country – male, female and mixed, regular and irregular. And they all participate in this annual literary gathering.

In the U.S., most Masons are blissfully (or deliberately) unaware of obediences outside of their own and those that are declared regular and are recognized by their own grand lodges. In this country, that's pretty easy to do. If you're in a mainstream lodge, you probably don't think very much about it. If you're in a Prince Hall lodge, it's sometimes a tighter circle, but you're still probably at least aware of what the mainstream world is doing, and in all but a few remaining states, you also have options to intervisit. But virtually no one in these two largest Masonic blocs in America have any idea what goes on in the other various independent, female or mixed Masonic obediences here, and all of our paths cross so infrequently (apart from online, perhaps) that the subject almost never arises at all.

That's not the case when it comes to France. Instead of deliberately ignoring each other and pretending that the others don't exist, French Masons tend to be far more cordial and, well, laissez faire than we are. There are numerous cultural and historical reasons for that which simply don't exist elsewhere in the Masonic world. As a result, an event like this annual book fair brings all of them together and gives Masons the opportunity to informally discuss the things they share in common and the ways in which their fraternity variations diverge in a cordial and un-pressured atmosphere. Combine that with the longstanding French tradition of academic curiosity and philosophical thought, and you get an enormous and exciting trove of material  each year that explores Freemasonry's philosophy and history that has no equivalent in the English-speaking world.

Anyhow, the complete 2019 of the Masonic Book Fair in Paris program can be found HERE.

On Sunday they will announce various annual literary awards specifically for Masonic books and publications. And this year they've added a new category for Best Masonic Magazine.

For news of the Masonic Book Fair in Paris:

Facebook: the page of the Masonic Book Fair in Paris
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IMFsalonParis
Facebook: the IMF Group: Masonic Institute of France
Website of the Masonic Institute of France: http://i-m-f.fr


A video of the 2015 event can be viewed on the GLNF Facebook page HERE.


By the way, don't be put off by La Bellevilloise as a convention venue. Yes, there is a hammer and sickle of the Communist Party over the door. Paris is a very big and very old city, and they tend to reuse old buildings instead of tearing them down as we do in the U.S. The historic building has been home to several different organizations over the decades, which explains the hammer and sickle. 

So no, if you cruised in here looking for dirt, it doesn't mean that Freemasons are Communists. It means the rent is cheap and there's a Metro station close by.

President Awards Medal of Valor Posthumously To Fallen Dallas Mason

Photo by NBC

President Donald Trump has awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor posthumously to fallen Brother Brent Alan Thompson, 43, Master Mason of Corsicana Lodge No. 174, and a member of the Black Gold Chapter of DeMolay, Corsicana, Texas. He was a former Marine, and nearly a seven-year veteran of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit agency (D.A.R.T.). Brother Thompson was called to the celestial lodge above after his heroic actions during the Dallas ambush shooting on July 7, 2016. 

He was killed just two weeks after his wedding to his new wife Emily, and about two weeks short of his 44th birthday.

The sniper attack resulted in the shooting of twelve police officers at what had been a peaceful Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas. Micah Xavier Johnson (25) of Mesquite, TX fired the shots that killed five officers including Brother Thompson, and wounded seven others. Two civilians were also injured in the shootings. It was the deadliest event for police officers in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001. 

Johnson, who was black, had deliberately targeted white police officers as "revenge" over police shootings and alleged "profiling" of black suspects that had dominated the national news that year. He was killed after a long, defiant standoff with police that night, during which he claimed he had planted explosives throughout the city. Following the incident, police discovered bomb making materials and Johnson's plans for even more and larger mass attacks, had he escaped.

Brother Thompson was survived by his wife Emily, and six children. Emily Thompson is also a DART police officer. Emily, Brent's parents, and DART Police Sargent Richard Tear attended the ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to accept Thompson's award.

He was the first DART officer killed in the line of duty in the department's history and died just two weeks before his 44th birthday in the ambush shootings. “He gave his life while engaging a mass shooter and saving the lives of countless civilians and fellow officers during a protest march in Dallas on July 7, 2016,” DART said in a statement.

In his remarks at the ceremony, President Trump described Brother Thompson's final acts of courage on that day two summers ago:

On July 7, 2016, Dallas Police Officer Brent Thompson was on duty during a large protest against law enforcement that soon turned violent when a gunman opened fire on the police. Brent charged across the three-lane road and fired on the shooter. Brent was killed instantly in the firefight, but his act of courage saved many lives. Many, many lives...

"Every officer, firefighter and first responder who receives this award embodies the highest ideals of service and sacrifice, character and courage."

Congress passed the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor Act in 2001, which created the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor, the highest national award for valor by a public safety officer.

There is another tragic footnote to this story. Brent's son William, who had also been an active member of the Black Gold DeMolay Chapter, passed away just a year and a half later, on November 20, 2017. He was just 19. 

According to police, William had shot himself.

Brother Brent Alan Thompson was laid in his final resting place on July 12, 2016 in a private cemetery on his family's farm in Corsicana, Texas. His son now rests beside him.

His brethren mourn.