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

by Christopher Hodapp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So. 

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

Confused? 

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

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

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

Prince Hall North Carolina GM Takes Steps To Calm Diplomatic Amity Issues

It's a shame American history isn't properly taught in schools anymore. In Mrs. Adams' fourth grade class I first heard Thomas Jefferson's famous pronouncement; "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations — entangling alliances with none."

GM Daniel L. DT Thompson

At the beginning of February, the Grand Lodge F&AM of Utah suspended recognition of the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina in protest over a number of lodges established in Africa and France over the years that encroached on established Masonic jurisdictions (see previous story HERE). The announcement was undoubtedly something of an unpleasant welcome to the new job for North Carolina's Prince Hall Grand Master Daniel L. 'DT' Thompson, who had just been installed in late December. His predecessor, Milton F. 'Toby' Fitch, had served as Grand Master for fifteen years (long grand master terms are not that unusual in some Prince Hall jurisdictions). During his tenure between 2005-2018, Fitch had issued charters for lodges that invaded longstanding Masonic jurisdictions with their own established grand lodges in Cameroon, Benin, and Congo, and even a handful of French lodges, announcing a District Grand Lodge of France for North Carolina on his way out the door. 

As a result, the MWPHGL of North Carolina has incurred the fraternal grand wrath of France, Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, and by extension now, Utah. So far. I'm sure MW Thompson was hoping for a little more time to hang his own family photos on the wall and re-key all of the office locks before getting hit with this mess. I suspect there's probably some grand shouting going on about all of this at the annual Conference of Grand Masters of Masons of North America continuing this week in Rapid City, South Dakota. And unquestionably more to come at the analogous Prince Hall Conference of Grand Masters in the Bahamas in May. (How is it that the mainstream guys meet in freezing cold February in snow belt cities, whereas the Prince Hall guys go the Bahamas this year? But I digress.)

It seems that GM Thompson is taking nearly immediate steps to try to extricate North Carolina's PHA Masons from the international imbroglio that Fitch left behind for them. On February 12th, Thompson issued a letter revoking the charter of Nicholas Blaise Adjibi Lodge 856 in Benin. The next day on February 13th, Thompson circulated an email announcing the suspension of the charters of Heart of Africa Lodge 852, Vasco Da Gama Lodge 853 and Faith Lodge 855 - all in Cameroon. The members of all of these lodges were placed in MWPHGL of NC's Tarheel Holding Lodge until a mutual fraternal recognition mitigation strategy can be satisfactorily worked out. 

(Click images to enlarge)

Letter revoking the charter of Nicholas Blaise Adjibi Lodge 856 in Benin

Email revoking three Cameroon lodge charters

The French situation is a bit stickier to try to work out. In researching my earlier post about this, I discovered references online that showed PGM Fitch and/ or his predecessors may have entered into various agreements with not one, not two, but all three of the major French grand lodges over the years. The Grande Loge Nationale Française (GLNF) is currently in amity with UGLE, all 61 of the mainstream North American grand lodges, and eight U.S. Prince Hall Affiliated grand lodges (including North Carolina since 2008). As reported previously, the GLNF sent a letter last month objecting to the consecration of the new District Grand Lodge - France by North Carolina that was to take place this month (see below).

But until recently, the MWPHGL of North Carolina webpage had previously listed recognition from the Grand Orient de France (GOF). (Note: unfortunately there is no Internet Archive capture of their fraternal recognition page prior to today, and I neglected snag a screen shot before). The GOF may be the largest grand lodge in France, but it is overwhelmingly considered irregular by the bulk of the Masonic world for regarding a Volume of Sacred Law as optional for opening lodge, accepting atheists as members, admitting women, and openly engaging in and advocating political activities (among other issues). There is no question that the GOF does not adhere to what mainstream Freemasonry regards as the most basic landmark requirements of the fraternity, regardless of its popularity.

Because the GOF is institutionally one of those organizations that's so open minded that they won't even side with themselves in an argument, some Prince Hall grand lodges 30 and 40 years ago sought their recognition when they were being shunned by the majority of the predominantly white Masonic world. But as the mainstream Masons became more accepting of Prince Hall Masonic origin and regularity in the late 1980s and early 90s, that GOF recognition became something of a diplomatic liability. And not every grand secretary in the world has always paid strict attention to the details of international regularity and recognition issues. If it wasn't a typo, that website notation may have been an artifact hanging around in the files of the MWPHGL of NC from long ago that was forgotten. Or not.

And then to put a cherry on the top of this mess, it seems that PGM Fitch had also recently worked with the Grande Loge de France (GLdF) in setting up some of his African lodges, including establishing up a brand new new PHA grand lodge in Congo in 2015. The GLdF is the odd man out in French Masonry. It is the second largest grand lodge in France, perfectly regular in origin and practice, just not widely recognized outside of the country. The mainstream world has favored the UGLE-backed GLNF for more than 60 years. 

As of today, the MWPHGL of NC webpage now lists the Grande Loge de France as the one they currently recognize in France, which clearly has casual observers scratching their collective noggins. It certainly conflicts with the GLNF's record keeping. 

However, given the vicissitudes of web page designers and the minefield of French Masonic bodies (on top of the three large ones, there are at least a dozen more grand lodges in France at work currently – lock nine French Masons in a room and you'll wind up with three new grand lodges), I'm willing to believe someone may simply have gotten confused at the keyboard, especially in light of the letter from GLNF outlining their recognition status from 2008. (Which is why web pages need to be finely proofread by knowledgable brethren whenever changes get made, instead of just saying "Let Poindexter do that Internet stuff. He's real good at it...")

The upshot of all of this is that PGM Fitch had danced with at least two, and maybe all three, of the main grand lodges in France during his tenure, along with sticking his own flag in the ground and chartering new PH lodges in that country. All of this on top of the messes in Africa. Now, MW Thompson is stuck with trying extricate himself from those entangling alliances, which he seems to be doing so with admirable speed. His biography shows a background in military intelligence and law enforcement, and with a Masters degree in Homeland Security. I suspect he's just the guy for the job.

GL of Utah Suspends Recognition of Prince Hall North Carolina

NOTE:  THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED FEBRUARY 5, 2019 

Oh, the troubles that arise when grand lodges dabble in foreign lands. 

The Grand Lodge F&AM of Utah has voted at its annual communication this past week to suspend recognition of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina over its chartering of lodges in foreign countries. 

(NOTE: My original headline was slightly misleading, as recognition was suspended by Utah, not completely withdrawn, as I originally stated.)

Utah recognized the Prince Hall Grand Lodge in North Carolina back in 2009, and in fact, extended recognition before it was even requested. The current issue is one of irregular activity that North Carolina's new Grand Master has undertaken in Africa and France.

The current website of the MWPHGLofNC lists among its chartered lodges: My Brother’s Keeper Lodge #847 in Lille, France; , Lafayette Lodge #851 in Paris; Heart Of Africa Lodge #852 in the Republic of Cameroon, Africa; Nelson Mandela Lodge #854 in Paris; and The Faith Lodge #855, also in Cameroon. 

This all came up at the Conference of Grand Masters of North America in Indianapolis last year in the 2018 meeting of the Commission on Foreign Recognition. They were informed that the sovereign jurisdictions of the Grand Lodges of the Congo, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast had been invaded by the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina. It's gone a bit further now.

According to a report given in Utah by Past Grand Master Glenn Cook:

On December 28, 2018, the new Grand Master of Prince Hall North Carolina announced intent to consecrate the “Grand Lodge Prince Hall – France” and to “inaugurate the temple of Prince Hall Benin’s Lodge.” This announcement has met with resistance from the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, Republic of Liberia, describing the conduct of Prince Hall North Carolina as unmasonic. Not surprisingly, the Grand Lodge of Benin has described the behavior as irregular. The Grande Loge National Francaise has been equally strenuous in their objection to Prince Hall North Carolina forming a grand lodge in their territory without consent.

The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina has clearly violated the jurisdiction of sovereign grand lodges, and is no longer practicing regular Freemasonry. It is therefore the recommendation of your Committee that this Grand Lodge suspend recognition of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina until they remedy their illegal actions.

Indeed, on the MWPHGLNC website, there is a 'District France' web page with little information on it HERE.

If the issues are not resolved, there will be further brouhaha over it in the coming year. The Grande Loge Nationale Française will present more objections at the COGMMNA later this month, and at the very least, the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Liberia will certainly be bringing it before the Prince Hall Conference of Grand Masters in May.

I have written to Grand Master Daniel L. Thompson for some sort of statement or clarification that might shed some light on this matter, and will post it when or if he chooses to respond. 

Interestingly, their grand lodge website quotes John Donne, saying "No man is an island entire unto itself..."  Neither is a grand lodge when it comes to territorial claims. Why any American grand lodge or grand master would dip their toe into French Masonic territory,  much less the patchwork quilt of competing territorial claims throughout the various African nations already carved up by various foreign Masonic bodies or that have their own grand lodges, escapes my comprehension. It would just be a shame if the Prince Hall brethren of North Carolina lost amity with more U.S. grand lodges over some quixotic foreign experiment. 

Lest anyone attempt to claim Utah is acting out of some other ulterior motives concerning Prince Hall Freemasons, bear in mind that they recently achieved amity with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge in Texas, and just extended an invitation for recognition with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge in the District of Columbia.  No, this is about regular Masonic conduct that is expected of all Masonic bodies that are in amity with each other and seek to remain so.

(Supporting documents below. Click to enlarge.)

A question asked elsewhere is whether the GLNF or Liberia (or both, or any others) have withdrawn recognition of the MWPHGLofNC prior to Utah taking this action, which is a very fair question. I myself wonder if Utah jumped the shark by taking this action before the two aggrieved grand lodges involved did so. If so, this seems to be an unduly rash action on Utah's part, based on essentially two letters that were presented without any subsequent answers or statements by the PHGL of North Carolina or their Grand Master. Undoubtedly, there will be more information forthcoming.

---

UPDATED FEBRUARY 3, 2019, 6:31PM:

More documentation has been forwarded to me, and can be seen below. Click images to enlarge.

• Invitation to upcoming consecration ceremony of a new "Prince Hall Grand Lodge - France"  by Grand Master Thompson of the MWPHGL of North Carolina to be held in Paris, set for February 16, 2019:

Former Grand Master of MWPHGLofNC
Toby Fitch (left), declaring Samuel D.
Badinga as the new GM of the Prince Hall
Grand Lodge of Congo (est. 2015).

• An expelled Freemason named Samuel Badinga (expelled in 2017 by the Nationale Grand Loge du Congo) appeared in North Carolina in early summer 2018, and requested authority from the MWPHGL of North Carolina to charter a new lodge in the West African nation of Benin. Apparently, GM Thompson's predecessor, PGM Toby Fitch, was unaware of Badinga's expelled status, and granted the charter. 

Badinga shows up on Facebook pages in July 2018 as the Grand Master of a recently established (2015) 'Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Congo,' which was consecrated by none other than the immediate Past Grand Master of the MWPHGL of North Carolina, Toby Fitch. 

It was PGM Fitch who first embarked on these African expansion plans, and GM Thompson appears to simply be following his lead. (Thompson was elected GM in December 2018.)

The Grand Lodge of Benin's (Grande Loge du Benin) Grand Master Benoît A. K. Kouassi subsequently expressed his strong objections in the following letter to Thompson last month: