The money was one of the main reasons Murray decided to go on tour with Jackson, says Rev. Floyd Williams, 80, who is Murray's friend and patient. Murray had developed a booming concierge business — he was jetting off to see patients in New York and Washington while building his practice in Las Vegas. Three years ago, Murray joined the Freemasonry (sic), the international fraternal society that dates back to the early 17th century. His friends say this new network galvanized his growing side business.
Join Masonic Central tonight, July 5th at 9pm EDT/6pm PDT for an interview with Wbro. Mark Tabbert, PM, Director of Collections at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. Mark is the author of American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities.
"On Thursday, July 2, 2009, after a regular communication of the Scottish Rite, Valley of Atlanta, Ed Jennings, Grand Master of Masons in Georgia asked John Holt, DDGM, for his resignation. "You were there at the initiation, you were there at the passing and you were there at the raising." Said Jennings. "You never once told me that Gate City was raising a black man." He then proceeded to ask John for his resignation. John resigned.
John Holt, 82, had just received his fifty year apron from WGM Jennings not two weeks prior. He has earned just about every honor possible from York Rite, is a White Cap in Scottish Rite, and spent eleven years as a District Deputy to the Grand Master.
One helluva way to thank a man for his service."
Shriners International, formerly known as the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, are holding their annual Imperial Session in San Antonio, Texas through July 9th.The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.
You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means. And that posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not…
It may be the will of Heaven that America will suffer calamities still more wasting, and distress yet more dreadful. If this is to be the case, it will have this good effect at least. It will inspire us with many virtues which we have not, and correct many errors, follies and vices which threaten to disturb, dishonor and destroy us. The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in States as well as individuals...But I must submit all my hopes and fears to an overruling Providence, in which, unfashionable as the faith may be, I firmly believe.
Five or six years ago, the Prince Hall Masons in Georgia approached the mainstream Masons about recognition, said Ramsey Davis Jr., Grand Master of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge in Riverdale, Ga. But the group was not interested, Mr. Davis said.
“There’s deep-rooted racism in the leadership,” he said. “I’ve had many calls from white Masons to say they cannot understand why things are this way.”
On Tuesday, the Bangor Masonic Foundation announced that it has purchased Wellman Commons, the Beach Chapel and the Ruth Rich Hutchins Center that connects them on the former Bangor Theological Seminary campus. The Foundation paid $500,000 for the historic property, and it will be home to Rising Virtue Lodge No. 10, AF&AM; St. Andrew’s Lodge No. 83, AF&AM; the York Rite Masonic Bodies; the Scottish Rite Bodies; the Order of the Eastern Star; the Bangor DeMolay; the Bangor Rainbow Girls; and the Scottish Rite Learning Center. The Masons join a thriving community already on the campus, which is already home to a public library, a local theatre, and apartments that will become assisted living units.Since the fire, the more than 2,000 men and women in Masonic groups have met in rented spaces in the Bangor area, according to Chapman. Meetings are scheduled to be held in the new buildings beginning in September.
Bangor Mayor Gerry Palmer said Tuesday that he was “tickled pink” about the sale.
“This is a win-win for the community and a win-win for the Masons,” said Palmer.
Jane Bragg, who was a member of the seminary’s board of trustees when the property was sold, said she approved of the sale of the buildings to the Masons.
“It is a Christian organization and a nonprofit,” the owner of Thomas School of Dance in Bangor said Tuesday. “It’s good to know the facility is going to be maintained because of the historical and architectural relevance of the buildings.”
The Masons plan to do some renovations to the buildings. among them turning the chapel into a lodge hall, Chapman said. The dining room and kitchen will continue to be available to nonprofit groups such as the Bangor Rotary, which meets in Wellman Commons at noon Tuesdays.
Both former Gov. Roy Barnes (left) and David Poythress (right) are vying for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Georgia this year, and both also happen to be Masons. As a result, both have been dragged into the controversey over race in the Grand Lodge of Georgia. InsiderAdvantage Georgia is reporting some interesting developments today.Poythress, a Mason for more than a decade, told InsiderAdvantage Wednesday afternoon he spoke to the Grand Master after the charges hit the media. “He authorized me to say that he is preparing a public statement that will definitively eliminate the question about whether a person of any race can be a member of Masonry – they can.”
Poythress said he is certain that are some individual Masons in Georgia who are racially biased, but does not believe they represent the bulk of Masonic membership or the precepts of the organization.
“Are there individuals who have a 19th Century attitude? Of course, just like in church there are so-called Christians who have socially unacceptable ideas. But Masonry as an organization is far from it. Its principals are very much egalitarian,” Poythress said.
Barnes said in an e-mailed statement to Insider: “As stated by Grand Master Ed Jennings ... there is no color or racial prohibition to be a member of the Masons. As he further noted, Mr. (Victor) Marshall was correctly admitted as a member of the Gate City Lodge. This is correct and I agree with it. I would not be a member of an organization that would exclude persons on the basis of race.”
Asked why he thought the Grand Master would first issue a declaration stating that Marshall was a “regular” Mason but then refer to a Masonic trial the charges attempting to assert that he wasn’t, Barnes, a lawyer, wrote: “I don’t know enough about Masonic law to be able to tell you whether it was correct. He may have had no choice. I simply don’t know.”
The Grand Master’s withdrawal of the case “accomplishes one purpose of the suit but there are other (issues) involved which include the fact that this appears to be an effort to punish those of us who belong to this lodge,” he said.
Llewellyn added, “The Lodge and Brother Bjelajac (the leader of the local lodge, known as a Worshipful Master) want to make sure this isn’t a continuing effort.”
Among the group’s concerns, he said, is that a separate petition is circulating among some of the other local lodges in Georgia to convene a special session of the Grand Lodge. “It doesn’t say why, but we have reason to believe it is to revoke our charter. We believe it would be without due process.”
Freemasons should obviously do what is morally correct. Following the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it is usually the weasel's way of getting around doing the right thing.The Grand Lodge of Georgia Free and Accepted Masons, a fraternal organization, is being sued by an Atlanta chapter and its senior officer who say the group’s state leaders are trying to disband the local affiliate because it accepted a black man as a member.
The complaint, filed by Gate City Lodge No. 2 and its head, Michael J. Bjelajac, in DeKalb County Superior Court, also names Douglas Hubert Ethridge of Atlanta, Starling A. “Sonny” Hicks of Stockbridge and W. Franklin Aspinwall Jr. of Kingsland as defendants.
In the 31-page complaint, filed June 18, Bjelajac and Gate City claim when they accepted 26-year-old Victor Marshall into membership last fall, Hicks and Ethridge wrote letters to the state organization. The letters stated allowing a non-white man into the group violated the association’s moral and Masonic laws.
Hicks and Ethridge sought to have Bjelajac expelled from the group and the dissolution of the Gate City chapter, which has 190 members and counted the late Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield among its ranks.
The suit not only brings unwanted attention to a group whose internal squabbles almost always remain behind the veil of secrecy, but potentially undercuts arguments by Gov. Sonny Perdue and others that the state’s racial progress in recent years makes its continued placement under rigid strictures of the Voting Rights Act unnecessary.
I'll have the honor of speaking to the brethren and friends of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 AF&AM in Tuscola, Illinois this coming Tuesday, June 30th, at 7PM CT. (Tuscola is located about 25 minutes south of Champaign, Illinois off of I-57).
FRANÇOIS PÉROL, the adviser whom Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, controversially appointed in February to head two merging mutual banks, is not known as a champion of transparency. But Mr Pérol has let it be known that he intends to reduce the influence of freemasons at Caisse d’Epargne and Banque Populaire. He has refused an invitation to a tenue blanche ouverte, a masonic meeting that non-freemasons may attend. And he does not want senior posts shared among the banks’ various rival lodges.
French business may be particularly full of networks, but every country has its cliques, whether based on education, social background or spiritual beliefs. In Spain, Italy and Latin America as well as France, businesspeople speak of the influence of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic lay order which supports a number of business schools. America has its Ivy League alumni groups and Rotary clubs. Chinese businesspeople often rely on guanxi, or personal connections.
Indiana Past Grand Master William T. Sharp, Sr. passed to the Grand Lodge Above on Saturday, June 20th. Calling will be Thursday, June 25, from 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. at Flanner and Buchanan Mortuary, 1305 Broad Ripple Ave., Indianapolis. The Masonic Service will follow at 8:00 p.m. The funeral service will be on Friday, June 26, at 10:00 a.m. at the mortuary.Judge William T. Sharp 88, Indianapolis, passed away June 20, surrounded by his loving family. Born December 27, 1920, to Charles and Emma (Furry) Sharp, in Cumberland IN, he was raised on farms in the Cumberland, New Palestine, and Oaklandon areas. He graduated from Warren Central High School in 1939 and married his high school sweetheart, Betty Jane Bridgins on July 3, 1941. During WWII he served in the Coast Guard on Long Island, New York and on a troop transport ship to Italy. Following military service, he graduated from Butler University and Indiana University School of Law, then began his private practice while also serving as Marion County Deputy Prosecutor. Although Judge Sharp was a teetotaler, former Indiana Governor Welsh appointed him to serve on the Indiana Alcoholic Beverage Commission. During his distinguished career, he received the Chamber of Commerce Good Government Award in 1966; was presented Sagamore of the Wabash awards by former Indiana governors Handley, Welsh, Branigin, Whitcomb, Bowen and Orr; the Distinguished Hoosier Award from Governor Bayh; as well as an Honorary Kentucky Colonel commission from then Governor Patton. He was the Republican nominee for Mayor of Indianapolis in 1958, and the runner-up Republican candidate for Governor of Indiana in 1972. He became Judge of Marion County Municipal Court #4 in 1962, and after redesigning the court system, became the first Presiding Judge. He was elected Circuit Court Judge of Owen County, serving from 1970-1982. After retiring in 1982, he served as president or chairman of many boards and foundations, including The Indiana Masonic Home Foundation; Lilly Foundation Eisenhower Scholarship, Retired Indiana Public Employees Association, Lions Club and many charitable organizations. He served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana from 1988-89, and was active in many of the affiliated organizations, including the Scottish Rite, Murat Shrine, National Sojourners, and Red Cross of Constantine. He was honored to receive the Scottish Rite 33rd degree and the Caleb B. Smith Award for his years of distinguished service to the Masonic order. Throughout his life, education remained a high priority. Even after retiring, he earned a Masters degree and a Doctorate.
The Grand Architect works in mysterious ways. MWB Sharp was in attendance at the rededication of Indiana Freemasons' Hall just a week-and-a-half ago. I had communicated with his son, Bill, prior to the date regarding arrangements for his dad and mom who were both in wheelchairs, but very excited about attending the rededication. I know that many of the brethren in attendance were thrilled that the Sharps had made the effort to attend in spite of their very frail health. While refreshments were being served in the dining room, I watched a steady stream of brethren make their way to the Sharp's table to greet them. I made a point to go over and introduce myself to thank them for coming. We spent several minutes chatting about Freemasonry and MWB Sharp's time as a judge. I found both of them to be delightful people and they told me how much they had enjoyed the day. I am so happy that I took the time to visit with them.
For those that aren't aware of it, MWB Sharp was the Republican candidate for mayor of Indianapolis in 1960, an election that he ultimately lost. MWB John Grein, who served as Deputy Grand Master under MWB Sharp told me about an article written after the election in the Indianapolis Times by a well-known reporter whose name escapes me at the moment. The reporter wrote that MWB Sharp's biggest problem is "that he is too honest." What better epitaph could one ask for? Rest in peace, MWB Sharp. You did us proud.
“There is in every regular and well governed Lodge, a certain point within a circle, embordered by two parallel perpendicular lines. . .. “"Q. To whom were the lodges dedicated during the Mosaic dispensation?"__"
A. To Moses, the chosen of God, and Solomon, the son of David."__
"Q. And under what name were the Masons known during that period?"__
"A. Under the name of Dionysiacs, Geometricians, or Masters in Israel."__
"Q. But as Solomon was a Jew, and died long before the promulgation of Christianity, to whom were they dedicated under the Christian dispensation?"__
"A. From Solomon the patronage of Masonry passed to St. John the Baptist."__
"Q. And under what name were they known after the promulgation of Christianity?"__
"A. Under the name of Essenes, Architects, or Freemasons."__
"Q. Why were the lodges dedicated to St. John the Baptist?"__
"A. Because he was the forerunner of our Saviour, and by preaching repentance and humiliation, drew the first parallel of the Gospel."__
"Q. Had St. John the Baptist any equal?"__
"A. He had; St. John the Evangelist."__
"Q. Why was he said to be the equal of the Baptist?"__
"A. Because he finished by his learning what the other began by his zeal, and thus drew a second line parallel to the former; ever since which time Freemason's lodges in all Christian countries, have been dedicated to the one, or the other, or both of these worthy and worshipful men."
John the Baptist was zealous, while John the Evangelist was learned, and by picking both of them as patron saints, Masons symbolically united both passion and reason.
The Hammond, Indiana Masonic Temple is being demolished today, to make way for a new city charter school. Once home to blue lodges, the York Rite and the Shrine, the temple was abandoned in the 1990s.The iconic 65,000-square-foot Gothic building that was once the hub of social activity for many Hammond residents met the claw of an excavator, driven by Mayor Thomas McDermott, Jr., clearing the way for the new Hammond Urban Academy.
McDermott said that while the red brick and limestone facade looks well preserved, it masks an interior that is beyond repair.
Tony Rodriguez, head Mason at the Garfield Lodge, said by the time they left the building in 1999, there already was significant water damage, and the ceiling was beginning to collapse in certain areas.
"It's a beautiful building," he said. "The massive cost of maintaining the building became overwhelming."
Garfield Lodge member Mark Schaade said the building was known for its massive auditorium and expansive ballroom, home to some of the city's biggest soirees.
The mammoth cornerstone to the ornately elegant three-story red brick building on Muenich Court was laid May 1, 1907, to great fanfare. Speaker for the day was none other than Charles Fairbanks, vice president under U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
In 1921, the Masonic Building Association enhanced the building to the tune of $440,000. By the 1970s, its replacement cost was estimated at $4.8 million. Today, it is estimated its restoration could top $20 million.
Patrick Swibes, chairman of the Hammond Historic Preservation Commission, said the building was once a candidate for preservation.
"The building has been terribly compromised over the last 12 to 15 years," Swibes said. "Once the roof goes, it lets water into the building, which disintegrates a building pretty quickly."
Swibes said most of the damage is to the theater. The stage in the building's enormous auditorium once showcased Shrine circuses, basketball games, theater plays, miniature golf and concerts.
One of Hammond's most ornate buildings, it is heavily customized with terra-cotta designs. The Muenich Court entryway contains leaded glass windows, glazed multicolored Egyptian heads and arched, hooded door surrounds.
The huge Freemason emblem on the southeast corner and the Shriners emblem on the southwest corner will be preserved, as will slabs of Indiana limestone shaped into arched doorways and windows and caps on two towers on the south facade and other spots on the building, said Joel Carney, project engineer with Amereco Engineering.
My very good friend, and the current Eminent Commander of Indianapolis' Raper Commandery No. 1, Carson Smith, eats, sleeps, and breathes the Masonic order of the Knights Templar. When John D. Hamilton's book, The American Fraternal Sword, came out earlier this year, depicting more than 600 swords in full color, he described it as "Templar porn."
Hardbound 8/12 x 11. 230 pages! Over 500 high quality B&W photos and illustrations! Many period cabinet photos illustrating the various uniforms, regalia and activities of the Commandery of the Knights Templar! 51 swords illustrated from period regalia catalogs! 19 swords illustrated in detailed pictorials! Black Uniform and White uniforms described in detail! Price Guide Included! This book describes - Masonic Lodge Structure - York Rite Structure - Order of the Red Cross - Order of the Knights of Malta - Order of the Knights Templar - Ritual regalia - KT Rank & Insignia - The White Uniform - The Black Uniform - Fatigue uniform - Hats - Sashes - Swords & Daggers - Conclave Medals - Officers Jewels - Parade & Drill Teams - Mounted Commanderies - Symbology - Triennial Conclaves - Souvenirs - Pilgrimages - Badges - Ribbons - Jewelry
Clear to Cease Operations
At 11:00 p.m. PST today, Clear will cease operations. Clear's parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.
After today, Clear lanes will be unavailable.
Sincerely,
Clear Customer Support
Verified Identity Pass
600 Third Avenue
10th Floor
New York, NY 10016
"There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South... Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow... Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization gone with the wind..."
At lunchtime it's traditional to stop off for a glass of burgundy and a Gorgonzola sandwich at Davy Byrne's Pub on Duke Street, just as Bloom did. In the afternoon the Ormond Hotel is the spot for an afternoon pint, where Bloom was tempted by the barmaids in the Sirens chapter.
Last November, I was in Washington DC with Digital Ranch Productions being interviewed for a History Channel program, "Secrets of the Founding Fathers." The interviews were based largely on my book "Solomon's Builders."Secrets of the Founding Fathers Monday, June 29th 08:00 PM Tuesday, June 30th 12:00 AM
Investigates the history and symbology so prominent in the creation of the United States, and traces the intricate connections of the Founders with Freemasonry, other secret organizations and between each other. How did the trademarks of the highly secretive Masons become integrated into the Great Seal, and on the dollar bill containing the All-Seeing Eye? Did the grid design of the nation's capital--commissioned by George Washington and completed by Pierre L'Enfant--contain occult symbols embraced by the Illuminati in 1776? Did Benjamin Franklin and George Washington deliberately enlist 33 Freemason generals from France to grow the fraternal brotherhood among Masonic nations? Explore the secret (and secretly dark) sides of the men responsible for laying the foundation of the United States.
Masonic Publishing Company in Glasgow, Scotland is offering a unique book, aimed at collectors and libraries. It is a 250 copy limited edition reprint of the First Minute Books 1642-1758, and 1758-1807 of The Mother Lodge of Scotland, Lodge Mother Kilwinning No.0.These are the oldest Masonic Minute books in the world. They are hand-bound in calf-skin leather on cotton-content paper, and delivered in a wooden presentation box.
