"I'm Fed Up With My Grand Lodge!" - UGLE's Internet No. 9659 and Other Options

Several U.S. Masons have asked me online and backchannel if there is any regular, recognized alternative to belonging to the Grand Lodge in their state. As far as I know (and feel free to correct me, anybody who may have different information), in most cases, you cannot join a jurisdiction outside of your home state unless you actually live in another one, and generally for a year. Dual memberships are common, in situations when you move to another state and become a resident there, but still want to retain membership in your Mother Lodge. However, there are jurisdictions that do NOT allow dual memberships in different jurisdictions at all  (and I know it is not allowed by virtually every Prince Hall Affiliated grand lodge, who generally don''t even allow dual lodge memberships within their OWN jurisdictions).

INTERNET LODGE 9659 (UGLE)

The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) constituted Internet Lodge No. 9659 in 1998. It is a regular, recognized lodge that is open to any existing member of the UGLE, or any other Grand Lodge that is in amity with the UGLE (see the list here). They hold a physical meeting in an approved English Masonic lodge three times a year, moving around the UGLE's territory with each meeting. The password-protected members only part of the site deals with the minutes and day to day business of the lodge (they do NOT actually meet over the Internet). They have members from all around the world who are real, authentic, regular, recognized Freemasons, and each meeting is followed by a traditional Festive Board for attendees. The catch is that its members must first be initiated, passed and raised in their own lodge before they can petition to join Internet Lodge. And each member must agree to pay all regular UGLE annual fees, along with their lodge membership. 

What I do not know is if you can demit from your Mother lodge, become an unaffiliated Mason, and then still be allowed to join Internet Lodge. I know you must technically be a Mason in your home jurisdiction when you join, but I don't know if you actually are required to maintain a lodge membership in your home jurisdiction. I suggest you contact both Internet Lodge's Assistant Secretary, as well as your own Grand Secretary to make sure the proper rules are followed.

(Since I first posted this, I have received messages from some US brethren who say they no longer belong to any US lodge or grand lodge, and ONLY have membership in Internet Lodge, making them solely a UGLE Mason.)

IRELAND LODGE 2000 (GL of Ireland)

Similar to Internet Lodge is Ireland Lodge No. 2000, a regular, recognized lodge chartered in 2000 by the Grand Lodge of Ireland AF&AM. Like Internet Lodge, members must be Master Masons in good standing of a jurisdiction in amity with the GL of Ireland, and its rolls are comprised of an international group. They meet four times a year, at different locations throughout Ireland. The June meeting is always held in Dublin, and is traditionally the one with the most foreign visitors. They also have a secure, online chat room and hold monthly gatherings (except in December) via the web. Degrees are not conferred by the lodge, and Masons wishing to affiliate with them must be initiated, passed, and raised in another lodge first.

CASTLE ISLAND VIRTUAL LODGE 190 (GL of Manitoba)

Finally, the Grand Lodge of Manitoba (Canada) chartered Castle Island Virtual Lodge No. 190 in 2012, and to my knowledge, it is the only truly Internet-based lodge in the world working under a charter from a regular, recognized grand lodge. (It's also the only lodge on Earth where you can be home 10 seconds after the last gavel falls!) The lodge meets online on the 5th Wednesday of those months that HAVE 5 Wednesdays, at 7:00PM Central Time. Visitors are welcome, but must first contact the Lodge Education Officer at Leo.civl.190@gmail.com or the Secretary at craehw@gmail.com to be given access. They must be from a jurisdiction that is in amity with the GL of Manitoba, and send a photograph of their current dues card along with a brief biography to the LEO to be "admitted" to meetings and the secure portion of the website. 

For the meeting itself, visitors must have a computer equipped with a microphone and camera, and they use Webex technology as a secure online conferencing method (originally, the lodge was designed as part of the "Second Life" virtual 3-D community, but a more secure meeting system was desired).  Ritual used is the Canadian Work (a variation of Britain's Emulation ritual), and visitors are expected to tyle their own computer's location during online meetings. 

If you are resolved to give up membership in your home lodge and grand lodge, you may first join Castle Island as a dual member, pay dues to the lodge and the Grand Lodge of Manitoba, and then demit from your home jurisdiction. You will have to be investigated and voted on, as with any other regular affiliation. For details on doing that, contact the Secretary. (It can and has been done before, but not often - their current Tyler just did this from his original lodge in Italy.)

AMERICAN JURISDICTIONS PERMITTING OUT OF STATE MEMBERSHIP

I have received a message that claimed the GL of the District of Columbia allows Masons to join their lodges without actually being a resident of the District or the immediate surrounding regions in Maryland and Virginia. But because DC has suspended fraternal relations with both TN and GA, this complicates the issue. Under the current circumstances, I don't know if DC is willing to act as a safe haven for disaffected Masons from those two states. Please contact them directly to clarify this. 

Also, the Grand Lodge of North Carolina and the Grand Lodge of Alabama have no residency requirements, and allow multiple dual-memberships. There are undoubtedly others of which I am unaware, and with recent events, more jurisdictions neighboring troubled states may very well be making changes to these developments as I type this. It is probably best to simply contact the Grand Secretary in your neighboring state and simply ask if you might be permitted to affiliate or join outright if your permanent residence is outside of their territorial borders. 

TAKE NOTE: In certain cases, discretion may be vital when doing this. You may wish not to disclose your identity when making your initial contact out of state in case your own home grand lodge is vigorously attempting to prevent their own members from defecting. Do your research and find out all procedures required to transfer out by both grand lodges before you reveal yourself. There are generally territorial rules that have been enacted specifically to prevent what you are attempting, which is why the above alternatives are most dependable.

Also, be aware of the timing involved when it comes demitting in your state. Different grand lodges demand very different paperwork, such as letters of good standing. If at all possible, retain your current paid-up membership in your home jurisdiction, at least until you have a dues card or other official notice that you are a full member in your new out of state lodge. Only then can you safely pull the plug on your old one. And always be aware that an 'honorary' membership is not the same as a full fledged, dues paying, card-carrying membership in another lodge. Honorary memberships carry zero weight when it comes to Masonic jurisprudence.


UPDATE

A message specifically from a Tennessee Mason this afternoon about that particular grand lodge's process:

You must write to the Secretary of the GL of Tennessee and ask for a Certificate of Good Standing. This is NOT the same as a demit. Do not demit. This certification allows you to remain a member in good standing while you seek membership elsewhere, in another jurisdiction. You will need to get a new Certificate every year until you find a new home. If you are a just and upright man and Mason and want to join a regular lodge of Masons, you are not required to remain a member of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee in order to enjoy the fellowship and fraternity of the oldest organization in the world. Please be calm and do not demit your membership until you find an alternative.

Video: Evening at the SR with Arturo De Hoyos

A video of a recent presentation at the Memphis, Tennessee Valley of the Scottish Rite has been posted on YouTube. It features Arturo de Hoyos 33°, Grand Archivist and Grand Historian for the Supreme Council for the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction). Also appearing in the program is Dean Alban 33°, Director of Membership Services for the Supreme Council, along with a brief excerpt of footage from an interview of Art with NBC's Matt Lauer.

Newton Alchemical Manuscript Surfaces

For those interested in alchemy, a rare document related to the Philospher's Stone, written by Issac Newton in the 1600s, has been recently purchased out of a private collection and will be made available as part of an online resource. The backside of the document contains hand-scribbled notes on an experiment.

From a March 17th story on the Chemistry World website:

A 17th century alchemy manuscript handwritten by Isaac Newton has been bought by the US’s Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) after being kept in a private collection for decades. 

The document is a copy of a known text authored by another alchemist, written in Latin, as was common practice at the time. Its title translates as ‘Preparation of the [Sophick] Mercury for the [Philosophers'] Stone by the Antimonial Stellate Regulus of Mars and Luna from the Manuscripts of the American Philosopher’. It describes a process for making ‘sophick’ – short for ‘philosophic’ – mercury.

‘Philosophic mercury was [thought to be] a substance that could be used to break down metals into their constituent parts,’ explains James Voelkel, the CHF’s curator of rare books. ‘The idea is if you break the metals down you can then reassemble them and make different metals.’ The process was part of the effort to make the philosopher’s stone, he adds, a mythical substance that alchemists believed could turn lead into gold.

It is likely Newton used the text as a reference when conducting his own alchemical experiments, although it is unclear whether he ever tried to make sophick mercury. There is no mention of the process in his laboratory notebook, which is currently kept at the University of Cambridge in the UK. But Voelkel says it ‘would not have been out of character’ for him to attempt it.

As well as the copied text, the manuscript includes a description of one of Newton’s own experiments. ‘It’s often the case with Newton’s manuscripts that if they lie around long enough he turns them over and writes something else on the back,’ says Voelkel. ‘In this case there is a note of an experiment that he did. It’s a recipe for distilling a volatile spirit out of lead ore … which corresponds nicely with Newton’s interpretation with various alchemical authors.’

Although it is not possible to say exactly when it was written, Newton’s copy of Philalethes’ sophick mercury text may pre-date the first known printed version, which was published in 1678. ‘It’s probably the case that he was copying a manuscript that existed before the publication of the printed work,’ says Voelkel. ‘The manuscript he’s copying has at least one mistake in it. At some point the author writes the Latin word ‘ex’ which means ‘out of’ instead of ‘et’ which means ‘and’ – Newton recognises this as being a mistake and corrects it in square brackets. In the printed source this has been corrected.’

[SNIP]

Until now, the contents of this particular manuscript had not been made public. It was one of a batch of Newton’s papers sold by his descendants at Sotheby’s in London, UK, in 1936. At that time, many of the texts were purchased by private collectors, but over the years most have been donated or sold back to public institutions. Most of the known alchemical works are now kept at the University of Cambridge where Newton carried out his research.

Now that this particular text has resurfaced, Voelkel says it will be added to ‘The chymistry of Isaac Newton’ project, an online repository curated by Indiana University, so it can be shared and studied more widely. ‘We’ve already imaged it, so the images and the transcription will [be uploaded] and it’ll become a known alchemical document,’ he says.

‘The collection is gigantic … the estimate of Newton’s alchemical output is something like a million words in his own hand. This is just another little page in a corpus of hundreds and hundreds of documents.’

Another Perspective

In the hundreds of posts, emails, Reddit messages and Facebook responses over the homosexual issue in Tennessee and Georgia, many devout Christian Masons have expressed their personal religious viewpoints on the matter. I do not discount those deeply held beliefs, in spite of what some posters have alleged. I readily accept that their faith is incompatible with homosexuality, as well as co-habitation with someone who isn't a spouse.

And yet, there are many Christian denominations that perform gay marriages, as well as ordaining gay clergy. Their faith is just as strong. Unfortunately, several posters over the last few days have simply declared these fellow Christians as "Biblically illiterate" or just plain wrong.

A  Brother from New York sent me a message today that brought to light an interesting twist that came about in his state back in 2011, when New York State was on the verge of its own new law legalizing gay marriage.

He wrote:

For many years, the Episcopal Church where I reside (Diocese of Long Island, in NY) has required heterosexual members of the clergy to marry if they wanted to co-habitate on Church property (in a parish house for example).  The rule did not apply to gay clergy (since they could not legally marry).  However, when New York State allowed gay marriage, the double-standard was done away with...  Now,  the rule applies to all clergy equally... both heterosexual and gay clergy must marry if they wish to co-habitate with someone on church property.  Think about that for a moment... a religious diocese (belonging to one of the more "mainstream" of mainstream Christian denominations) now REQUIRES gay men to marry (all-be-it in in limited situations).  

It is certainly possible that one of these (now married) gay clergymen is a member a Tennessee Lodge.  If so, the Grand Lodge of Tennessee could be expelling a man for actually following his Christian faith... for doing what his Bishop tells him is the moral thing to do.

I went looking, and sure enough, I found several articles about the situation. This one is representative, from The Christian Post of July 19, 2011:

In the wake of gay marriage soon becoming a legal institution in the state of New York, the Episcopal Bishop of Long Island, has ordered that homosexual priests wed their partners.

 Long Island Episcopal Bishop Lawrence Provenzano has put his foot down against gay clergy who residing in homosexual relationships, and has given a nine month deadline for them to either get married or stop living together, according to the News Observer.

“I need to be mindful that the church has always asked people to live in committed monogamous, faithful relationships. I won’t allow heterosexual clergy to live in a rectory or church housing without the benefit of marriage. When one puts it in that context, then you see how it all begins to make sense,” said Provenzano.

 Reverend Christopher Hofer, pastor of the Episcopal Church of St. Jude agrees with Provenzano, “I think his statement was not only fair, but beyond generous. It gives people time, acknowledging that there’s a financial component involved and recognizing that some may not choose to live together.

“Now that the state is recognizing civil marriage, we as priests, perhaps deacons too, who are in committed relationships, have a choice: we either live what we preach to become civilly married or we live apart,” he said.

The last few weeks have demonstrated that we can chase each others' tails endlessly over who is "right" and who is "wrong" about religious interpretations. This is why these kinds of religious (and political) discussions need to remain firmly outside of the Masonic door, as it was intended from the beginning. Freemasons who try to apply their own personal religious viewpoints to the Masonic lodge are doing just what Dr. Anderson and our Enlightenment founders warned us against in the very first rule of modern, speculative Masonry. Numerous lodge and grand lodge websites and hundreds of books on Masonry repeat the words, without actually understanding them:

A Mason is oblig’d by his Tenure, to obey the moral Law ; and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious Libertine. But though in ancient Times Masons were charg’d in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet ’tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves; that is, to be good Men and true, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguish’d; whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must else have remain’d at a perpetual Distance.  

Many of the men who transformed Freemasonry from a labor union to a modern brotherhood during the Enlightenment were Deists. They believed that the Earth and stars were designed and created by a supreme entity, and that the universe operated like a giant clockwork mechanism. But those learned and visionary men largely didn't believe in Divine Intervention, virgin births, or a human God who walked the sands and hills of the Holy Land performing miracles. Nor did they believe that God gave a particular fig about the daily lives of each and every human being who believed in Him. These men pondered long and hard on their beliefs, approaching their religious philosophy as they approached the rest of the Liberal Arts and Sciences. As Masons, do we now cast these men and their philosophies aside when it suits our convenience, because their faith differed from our own?  

Are we to now turn our backs on our Brethren if they believe in transubstantiation and we don't? Or whether they believe in seven sacraments instead of two? What about our Jewish Brethren, from whose writings we draw our ritual ceremonies? How must they feel when the Grand Chaplain ends every prayer by saying, "In Jesus' name?" Or our Muslim Brethren, or Hindus, or the rest of the panoply of the world's religions, whose adherents we claim to welcome? Our humble rural lodge may not have any members of those faiths, but Freemasonry is a much bigger landscape beyond just what we see two Thursdays a month. 

Masonry was as close to a perfect template ever designed for an organization that was based on instilling brotherly love among disparate men from every walk of life, every religion, every political persuasion, who had very little in common with each other. In your own Masonic career, you have undoubtedly made friends with men you otherwise would never have met, never socialized with, never sat in church with, never have given a second thought to. That is what makes this fraternity unlike any other. But I have heard from dozens of good Masons who have given much of their time and treasure to it, who are now leaving because we have failed to live up to the promises we made to them when they joined. They feel like their Brothers have lied to them, and their leaders have refused to even listen to their grievances.  The world is changing around us at a rapid pace, and I certainly understand the view that Masonry should be a cornerstone that remains steady through the ages. But when we misinterpret what makes up that cornerstone, we chip away at it and make it into something it was never supposed to be.

No, the lodge is not a church, and we endanger it when we try to make it one.  

Russian Freemasonry and a "Muslim-Masonic Conspiracy"

An op-ed appeared last night on the Eurasia Review website, somewhat bizarrely warning of a possible looming conspiracy theory in Russian circles of an alleged "Muslim-Masonic Conspiracy," by Paul Goble, provoked in part on that country's large anti-Chechen sentiments:

No one who has followed the writings of the Russian extreme right either in the first years of the 20^thcentury or in the last 25 will have been able to avoid suggestions by its denizens that Russia has been threatened throughout the last two centuries by an entirely mythical “Jewish-Masonic conspiracy.”

Now, following the appearance of a remarkable interview of Paris-based Chechen historian Mairbek Vatchagayev by Naima Neflyasheva of Moscow’s Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies, those Russians given to such conspiracy thinking are likely to start talking about “a Caucasian-Masonic conspiracy” or even “a Muslim-Masonic” one (kavkaz-uzel.ru/blogs/1927/posts/24171).

The involvement of Russian leaders in the masonic movement both in Russia at the end of imperial times and especially during the early years of the first emigration is well known and is recounted by the late Nina Berberova in her 1986 book 'People and Lodges: Russian Masons of the 20^th Century' (in Russian; New York: Russica).

But the involvement of people from the Caucasus in masonry is much less well known – Berberova mentions it only in passing – and consequently Vatchagayev’s findings following a visit to the Masonry Museum in Paris are intriguing not only for what they say about the past but also about how Russian nationalists are likely to integrate them in their ideology.

The Chechen scholar says that there were many Caucasian emigres who joined masonic lodges in the emigration during the 1920s. Indeed, he suggests, they may have numbered in “the hundreds.” Their numbers varied over time and grew particularly with the influx of new people from the second emigration after World War II.

“Caucasians were members of lodges alongside Russian masons, but they also established their own lodges,” he says. “For example, a lodge for people from the North Caucasus was established by the Georgians A.K. Vachnadze, Sh.A. Karumidze, F.S. Markov, V.V. Kochubey, and L.D. Kandaurov, among others.”
The first such lodge consisting of people from the Caucasus was called “the Golden Fleece” and was organized in order to provide assistance to impoverished emigres. It existed for a few years and then was succeeded by the Prometheus lodge, although that folded shortly thereafter with some of its members then joining the Russian-led Astral lodge.

Thus, the North Caucasus lodges existed only for a relatively brief time, mostly from 1924 to 1930. Among those in them who achieved the highest status in masonry was Amina khanum Shikhaliyeva, the daughter of a Russian major general and wife of Ufa’s deputy in the third Duma, and Makhmud Sheikh-Ali, a wealthy figure from Daghestan.

Vatchagayev calls for more research and suggests that it is entirely possible now to conduct it, at least in Paris. But even what he told Neflyasheva is likely to be enough for Russian national extremists to begin talking about traces of such an imagined conspiracy against their country.

While Freemasons are usually considered to be henchmen of some sort of jewish conspiracy, a Muslim one is an unusual twist. The possible existence of a lodge in the Caucasus ninety years ago is an unlikely source of any modern day conspiracy, especially among the current population there. Chechen Muslims in the Caucasus region of Russia are largely divided between Sunni Islam and Sufism. Today, there is a small, radicalized population of fundamentalist Sunnis called Wahhabis, but they are extremely unlikely to want anything to do with Freemasonry because of their strict view of Islam. 

Russian Freemasonry and political unrest have had a long history over the last three centuries. Freemasonry in Russia first appeared in the early 1730s, primarily via English, German, French and Swedish provincial lodges that were formed by foreign diplomats there. In the 1780s, a split erupted between the lodges in Moscow and St. Petersburg over differences in philosophies: the Moscow lodges began to be dominated by the Rite of Strict Observance, and followed the path of Rosicrucianism, while the St. Petersburg lodges were using the Christian-based Swedish Rite.

In 1785, Catherine the Great began to get nervous about Masonry, driving many leaders out of the country. Before her son, the truly nutty Paul I, came to the throne, he supported Masonry, but quickly changed his mind once he became Tsar, largely out of fears over the French Revolution and the alleged role Masons had in it. He outlawed the fraternity in 1796, along with all other suspected secret societies in the country.

Paul was right to be afraid of revolutionaries, although not necessarily Masonic ones. He was assassinated by dismissed military officers after ruling just five years, and was succeeded by Alexander I, who was more sympathetic to Masonry. Lodges came back out into the open again, and began to grow. 

Two large, competing Grand Lodges formed: the Swedish Provincial Grand Lodge of Russia with 7 lodges, and the Grand Lodge of Astraea with 19 lodges. (This is the period of Freemasonry depicted in Tolstoy's novel of the Napoleonic period, War and Peace.) 

Russian Freemasonry flourished for just two decades, when Alexander's advisors convinced him that Masonic lodges were hotbeds of political opposition (which was probably true at the time, as they were overwhelmingly populated by mostly the nobility and public servants). Even during this period of the "Golden Age" of Russian Masonry between 1810 and 1822, the lodges were under surveillance by a Special Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The fraternity again found itself outlawed by 1822 and went underground once more. Tsar Nicholas I continued the official ban of Russian Masonry throughout his reign.

Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, came to the throne in 1894. Masonry came into the open once more, again very briefly, in the aftermath of the First Russian Revolution of 1905, and the October Manifesto of 1905 granted limited rights to unions and private meetings. In spite of bloody internal battles, riots and successful military suppression of unrest, Nicholas eventually gave in to some social and government reforms, and managed to retain his throne. 

Russian Masons who had been expatriates and started Russian language lodges in Paris chartered by the Grand Orient of France, returned to their homeland and quickly formed the Grand Orient of the Russian People. Among others, it attracted Alexander Karensky, who was a central figure of the next Russian Revolution in February of 1917, that resulted in the abdication (and subsequent murder, along with his family) of Tsar Nicholas II. But Kerensky and his fellow revolutionaries were themselves overthrown just 8 months later in the October Revolution, and he fled to Paris, and eventually the U.S.

As for Masonry, it would not survive the harsh government of the Communists who came to power in the October 1917 Revolution. Freemasonry was completely outlawed in Soviet Russia, a situation that lasted for almost 75 long years, and Russian Masons once again returned to exile.  The last lodge of Russian Masons in Paris closed in the 1970s, with just 7 aging members.

It wasn't until December 1991 that the Soviet Union was dissolved, and four years later, the Grand Lodge of Russia was officially constituted in the new Russian Federation on June 24th, 1995 by the Grande Loge Nationale Francaise.  Today, there are more than 800 Freemasons there at work in some 33 lodges throughout the country, and the GL of Russia is recognized by the UGLE and at least 90 regular grand lodges around the world. While anti-Masonry still exists in the country,  it is certainly considered harmless enough for the Grand Master, MW Andrei Vladimirovich Bogdanov to have openly run for Russia's presidency in 2008. (Of course, Russian Masonry wouldn't be  complete without a schism - a competing, irregular United Grand Lodge of Russia formed independently in 2007, after accusing Bogdanov of politicizing the GL of Russia.)

For a far more detailed account of Russian Freemasonry, see the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon website HERE.

New Online Survey of US Masonic Membership Demographics

This message came tonight, although I have seen various versions of it for the last few days.  WBro. Jon T. Ruark, PM of The Patriot Lodge #1957 in Virginia and co-host of the Masonic  podcast, The Masonic Rountable, is embarking on a new survey of  the makeup of the current members of the fraternity. 

Here is his appeal:

Brethren, 

It should come as no surprise that the Masonic fraternity is shrinking. In fact, Masonic membership in the United States has declined every year since 1959. This fact has been the concern of Masons in leadership positions across the world; yet most of the evidence of the decline to date has been largely anecdotal. To better inform our brethren, I embarked on an endeavor to statistically assess the drop in Masonic membership to provide a more accurate picture of where we’ve been, where were are, and where we’re going. You can view the culmination of my research in the presentation I gave at the Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge. As I mentioned in the presentation, the membership statistics collected and compiled by the US Grand Lodges only point to indicators that something is wrong, and not to root causes themselves. More data is necessary to further refine why we’re declining, and what we can do about it. 

Solutions to the root cause(s) of why the Masonic fraternity is losing members must, ultimately, come from within the fraternity itself. Over the past several years, initiatives such as One Day Conferrals and the Traditional Observance movement have been executed to improve the Masonic experience, albeit with varying degrees of success. I posit that we cannot come up with viable long-term solutions without truly understanding the problems we’re facing as an organization. Membership details are often buried within the sovereign boundaries of each Grand Lodge, if collected at all, and are not shared publicly for the benefit of the craft. Today, this changes.

I am asking--from one brother to another--for all brethren, Entered Apprentices and above, to help me populate what is most likely the most comprehensive survey constructed to date on the current makeup of the Craft. This is your opportunity to assist me in pointing to the real issues taking place in the fraternity today vice sitting idly by and watching our great fraternity diminish. 

Please consider helping the fraternity out by visiting www.tinyurl.com/masonicsurvey and taking ten or fifteen minutes to answer the questions. The survey covers information about you, your lodge activities, demographic information (including religion and politics), and your likes and dislikes about the Masonic experience. Your responses will be kept confidential. I will NOT release the raw data to anyone, but I will likely show aggregated charts in future presentations. Rest assured, however, that individual responses will never be shared. If there are any questions to which you feel uncomfortable responding, please skip the question and continue on with the survey. It is available now, and will be open through St. John’s Day (June 24th 2016). I can’t thank you enough for all of your support!

Sincerely and Fraternally, 
Jon T. Ruark PM, The Patriot Lodge #1957
Grand Lodge of Virginia AF&AM
Co-Host, The Masonic Roundtable
 www.themasonicroundtable.com

Brothers in Belgium

Brother Danny Done, Past Master of Queen Anne Lodge No. 242 in Seattle, Washington, contacted a Brother in Brussels, Belgium, asking if any Masons or their families in Belgium had been hurt in Tuesday's terrorist attacks, and if Washington's brethren could help in any way.

From his post on the Grand Lodge of Washington's webpage:

Both Facebook pages for Chevalier Ramsay Lodge Number 4 (the closest Lodge to the subway bombing), and the Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium are managed by V.W.Bro. Michel Huyghebaert, who was kind enough to write the following update for us.

 -Danny Done, PM Queen Anne Lodge 242.

“Dear Bro. Danny,

 Here is some information about Lodge Chevalier Ramsay N.4.

Lodge Chevalier Ramsay N.4, was originally a military Lodge, consecrated by U.S. servicemen, under the Grande Loge Nationale Française in 1964 – when NATO was still located in Paris. In 1967, President De Gaulle invited all foreign forces to leave French territory, NATO moved to Brussels, and so did the Lodge in 1970.

Today, our Lodge consists mostly of ex-pats working for various European institutions, NATO, lobbies, and businessmen. Our members are now from about 25 different nationalities. On our Altar rests the Holy Bible, the Torah and the Koran. On occasion, we’ve used other Sacred Books to obligate our members.

The Lodge is located on Rue Royale in Brussels, which is a very long avenue that crosses the center of Brussels, from East to West. On it, you can find Our King’s Royal palace, numerous governmental institutions, several churches, a synagogue, the Justice Department, the Museum of Fine Arts and the home of the Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium, where our Lodge meets.

One of yesterday’s terrorist attacks took place at our national airport, called Zaventem. It is, in fact, the main airport in Brussels – and the biggest one in Belgium. The airport is located about 20 minutes away from the Lodge, and most of our members take it at least once a year, several times a month for some of us. The terrorists blew themselves up where everyone comes into the building. I understand one or more Brethren took a plane just before the attacks.

The second terrorist attack took place in a subway station that is right in the heart of the main European institutions. It is also at a crucial intersection between the only two metro lines. That single explosion caused as many casualties as the two bombs in the airport, as the terrorist blew himself up inside a subway car. That subway stop is only 5 minutes away by car to the Lodge building.

Last week, a terrorist hideout was discovered by the police, which is only 13 min away from the Lodge by walk. Friday, they arrested one of the terrorists responsible for the Paris attacks, here too, only 10 minutes away. Bomb constructing materials, and several weapons have been found there.

So far, there has been no report of Brethren or their families being victim of these cowardly acts. In that regard, we are very thankful, and our prayers are with the victims and their families. I’ve also not heard of any reports from the Grand Lodge, the Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium.

Terrorism on this scale is a new thing for us, and we’ve never had to deal with this. While we have not been affected directly, we will be looking into setting up a fund for the victims of the terrorist attacks, and will contact you soon with the details.

Yours fraternally,

V.W.Bro. Michel Huyghebaert. Past Master,

 Lodge Chevalier Ramsay N.4

2016 Masonic Spring Workshop in Alberta April 8-10

The 51st Masonic Spring Workshop in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada will be held this year on April 8-10, 2016, and will again be at the beautiful Delta Lodge Resort high in the Canadian Rockies. This year's keynote speaker will be WBro. Adam Kendall, Past Master of San Francisco's Phoenix Lodge  No. 144, and the Northern California Research Lodge. Adam is the Collections Manager and Curator of the Henry Wilson Coil Library and Museum at the Grand Lodge of California F&AM. 

Other session speakers have not yet been posted.

The theme of this year's event is "Freemasonry: A Progressive Science."

The Principles, the Landmarks of Freemasonry (not the lists which predominate American Freemasonry but those personal matters whose removal would cause our fraternity not to be Freemasonry) are set in our own minds and, in some ways, in stone and have been for many centuries - debate is open as to how many centuries. Yet, our fraternity is a progressive science. Based on the Principles and Landmarks, each new discovery of any of the many different aspects of Freemasonry increases our knowledge and we progress along the road to enlightenment.

Our Guest Speaker, Adam Kendall, will start the weekend off with an enthusiastic and knowledgeable journey in the progress of our science in his Theme Address entitled "The Progressive Science: Tradition vs. Modernity"

The Schools of Instruction are divided into four specific streams - The Progressive Science; History & Legend; Philosophy & Symbolism; and Training.

I had the honor of speaking at this event back in 2008. The biggest standout is the sheer sense of fun and true love of learning that permeates the conference. Make no mistake - this is not an unsophisticated group of Masons. They are not there out of a sense of duty, but out of the desire to advance the fraternity at the lodge level. This workshop is not for appendant bodies, but for Blue Lodge Masonry. And it is a hallmark of the conference that the GM of Alberta declares for the weekend that there will be no honorific or exalted titles to be used for the duration of the conference. Every attendee is simply "brother." There are no ties, no jackets, no gold chains, bilious medals or grand bling anywhere. Name tags simply say each brother's name and lodge. I believe this has great merit and goes a long way to fostering real camaraderie and friendships, truly meeting on the level.

Apart from the workshops themselves, the true brotherhood and friendships happen in the hallways and the hospitality rooms. The scotch flows freely, and you are likely to find one room packed with guys watching the Simpson's Stonecutters' episode, another with three TVs monitoring the hockey playoffs, and yet more with guitar singalongs. Canada being Canada, the accents are a wild smattering of international influences - French, Scottish, Australian, Austrian, and plenty of "eh's?" The 85-year old PGMs rub shoulders with 20-something Junior Stewards, all excitedly exchanging reminiscences, programming ideas, or recipes to feed 50 hungry boys on lodge night. It is without question one of the friendliest and most useful Masonic conferences I have ever attended.

An added benefit is that there is a progressive group of Masons in Alberta that make certain their lodges provide quality programming and education, along with real fellowship, at every meeting. It can be argued either way that it's because of this workshop, or that the workshop is outstanding because of their dedication. Either way, a win is still a win. Negativity is NOT on the menu at this workshop.

This Workshop deserves bigger support, and I encourage those in Canada and the Western US to make the trip.

To register for the Workshop, get more information, and make hotel reservations, CLICK HERE.

Message From A Tennessee Brother

This piece was posted on the Facebook page of Observance Lodge No. 686 in Nashville today:

In Vindicating

Bro. Matthew Patrick Johnson, F.&A.M.

"By the exercise of Brotherly Love we are taught to regard the whole human species as one family; the high and low, the rich and poor; who, as created by one Almighty Parent and inhabitants of the same planet, are to aid, support, and protect each other. On this principle, Masonry unites men of every country, sect, and opinion, and is conducive to true friendship among those who might otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance."—Tennessee Craftsman, pg. 30

Brothers of Tennessee,

My name is Matthew Johnson, and I have violated the Tennessee Masonic Code. I currently cohabit immorally with my fiancé outside the benefit of marriage. I will not hide behind a curtain of silence about my status. Ignoring my fault, expecting my fellow brothers to keep their knowledge of it secret, doesn’t make the act any less an offense. Many of you have been in my position before; some of you are right now. Many of you know a brother in this situation and you remain quiet for his benefit. It has long been a regular practice in our state for Masons to turn a blind eye to these types of offenses—we are brothers, and we look out for each other. It’s as if our silence, our ignoring of the facts, erases the transgression all together. Brothers, we all know that sweeping dirt under the rug does not rid us of the dirt but, rather, the grime is ground into the rug with every step taken upon it. The time has come to shake out the filth and to scrape away the stain left from decades of grinding the dirt into our organization.

Ask yourself, my brothers, have you or a brother you know ever been drunk, sold alcohol, mistreated your wife or children? Have you used profanity? Have you viewed pornography? If you have, you join me in the violation of the Tennessee Masonic Code. I believe it is fair to say that every Mason at some point has knowingly broken our code, and no man is without his faults. It is lucky for us then that, in the brotherhood of Freemasonry, it is a man’s positive attributes that constitute him worthy of being a Mason, rather than his failures that deny him such a privilege.

Another benefit of Freemasonry is that we are not bound by a single religion, but rather all brothers come together from a variety of religious views, showing tolerance and respect for others as just and upright men regardless of what faith we claim. There is no single Freemason who can determine the moral or immoral nature of having too much to drink, or decide what constitutes filthy speech, or whether being intimate with someone truly separates us from the Creator. Upon reflection, I’ve come to realize that the truly intolerable sins actively harm someone or something. Robbery, rape, murder, fraud, deception, dishonesty, or other vices—these are transgressions upon which all men agree are wrong. No religion I know of advocates harming one another. The matters that are up for debate in our state are those that harm no one.

These matters concern the conduct of our private lives when no one else is watching. In those cases of sin, the ones that happen behind closed doors, we may even believe our conduct in these matters is not actually immoral or inappropriate—how can waking up next to the woman I love, who loves me, really be all that bad? Still they are violations of our Masonic Code. The problem lies in that the code is holding all brothers to a very specific set of Christian beliefs.

You see, although I am a Christian, not all brothers are. Though it shouldn’t matter, as Christians still do not all agree on these issues. Catholics and Episcopalians have no issue with alcohol, though many Mormons, Baptists, and Church of Christ members do. Some Presbyterian churches teach that premarital sex isn’t a salvation issue, while Catholicism and other sects of Christianity say otherwise. Opinions and beliefs clash amongst Christians, which is why we have denominations. But Freemasonry isn’t church; it extends to an even broader audience of religious men. As written by the Grand Lodge of Tennessee, the Freemason mission reads:

The mission of Freemasonry is to promote a way of life that binds like minded men in a worldwide brotherhood that transcends all religious, ethnic, cultural, social and educational differences; by teaching the great principles of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth: and, by the outward expression of these, through its fellowship, its compassion and its concern, to find ways in which to serve God, family, country, neighbors and self.

Nowhere does it say that we all have to conform to principles of one denomination—it doesn’t even say that we must conform to the principles of one religion. In fact, it says that we bind a “worldwide brotherhood that transcends all religious… differences”. If this is the case, our Masonic Code in the State of Tennessee is in dire need of reform.

I don’t simply argue this for myself as some sort of absolution for living with my fiancé. I say this for every brother who has to hide the choices he makes in fear of being expelled from this great institution. I am compelled to uphold what I swore to do, to help create a network for good men, judged on their merit alone, rather than anyone’s personal moral beliefs.

When I think of the tenets of this fraternity, I fail to understand how homosexual men become excluded entirely. The compassion and understanding that turned a blind eye to the former offenses of being drunk, watching porn, sleeping with people we’re not married to, etc. all disappear. I am baffled as to how a man who can publicly scorn a just and upright homosexual Mason can so easily turn a blind eye when his best friend has a one night stand, or drinks far too much, or cheats on his wife. This double standard does not befit our organization, and it begs the question: how is it that a man who is dishonest in his heart retains the authority to judge another Mason for an offense that is not universally viewed as immoral? Why dismiss one sin but excuse another? Many justify their moral stance based on a Christian worldview but, aside from the fact that Freemasonry is not a Christian organization, this is a flawed argument. How easily we substitute our personal inclinations for the actual teaching of the Christian faith, which states “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone”.

Today we are alienating ourselves from entire states of Freemasons who are pleading we put down our stones, and I am sure there will be many more to follow. We are offending our brothers not only in Tennessee but also across our country due to principles that are not consistent with our worldwide fraternity—principles that do not uphold the original purpose of our institution. Rejecting gay men defies our own mission statement as published by the Grand Lodge of Tennessee. We “transcend” nothing if we are too busy hurling stones and building walls in fear of something different. How should any man coming into our fraternity discern truth from these hypocrisies?

We are left with two choices. We change our bylaws, or we change our mission statement. Or perhaps we should simply amend our mission statement to include, “so long as you’re not black or gay,” which would truly reflect the current practices of Tennessee Freemasons. If we are so proud to be a part of this organization, why does the Grand Lodge of Tennessee go through such painstaking efforts to keep these issues—not found in any other parts of Freemasonry around the world—a secret? Freemasons have many secrets, but what qualifies a man to be eligible for Freemasonry has never been one of them.

Whether the argument against our gay brothers is based on morality, tradition, or simple protocol, in every case the hypocrisy is equally plain. This intolerance is not aligned with the temperament of men seeking more light. This is not what is meant by “Brotherly Love”; it is the opposite of it. The sovereign status of our state does not allow us to blatantly disregard the historical and global customs of the Craft. To mandate silence on the issue of homosexuality, and to punish our mere support of it, requires that we violate our fraternal obligations to relieve and vindicate, as well as aid, protect, and support each other. I will not violate these higher and nobler duties for the sake of a specific Christian cultural tradition that is not Masonic in nature—a tradition that holds authority in Tennessee Freemasonry only because it is printed in a book stamped with the seal of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee. So long as these offenses stand, Tennessee Freemasonry is not a wholly Masonic organization, it only picks and chooses the superficial parts of Freemasonry it likes—and what then are we?

I, as well as other Masons, will not simply agree to disagree that mistreating and traducing our brothers is in any way acceptable. Homosexual discrimination in Tennessee Freemasonry is not protected by The Private Club Exemption from Civil Rights Legislation - Sanctioned Discrimination or Justified Protection of Right to Associate. It is unlawful, and the stance of Tennessee Freemasonry has put me into an impossible position. As well as being a Mason, I am a police officer—I refuse to neglect the law I have sworn to uphold in order to keep peace in an organization whose principles are rooted in illegality and bigotry. Furthering the status quo of Tennessee Freemasonry will only increase and legitimize future litigation. Will we ultimately let our pride lead to the end of Freemasonry in Tennessee?

When the truth of one is made the truth of all this is the definition of tyranny. Men have been arguing over these issues for thousands of years—never has a single man wielded the authority to ultimately decide the answer and not carried the title “tyrant” or “God”. What then should we call those among us who claim to have such authority? The purpose of Freemasonry is to serve as a place where men can come and have unity despite their different opinions and beliefs. These actions are in no way consistent with the moral standards of Freemasonry. So long as we continue these disparaging practices, we bring disgrace on our fraternity and ourselves. We risk the destruction of Freemasonry in Tennessee entirely. It is time to put down our stones.

We must cease this squabbling over which rules we hold ourselves accountable for, and which ones we ignore. While we argue, and bicker, and judge, we lose good brothers, we lose potential initiates into the Craft in Tennessee, and we lose friendships we have fostered with each other. More importantly, if we do not choose to follow the law, we will soon lose our entire organization. It is time to act like men, to swallow our pride, and to reach out to those we don’t know, whose lifestyles are foreign to our own, and seek to learn—the right thing to do is seldom the easy thing to do. It is time to engage in the conduct we pledge to value. It is time to act like Freemasons.

Tennessee Retains Ban on Homosexual and Co-Habitation Rules

Reports are trickling out of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee's annual meeting this morning.

The word is that the resolutions introduced to strike language from their code, identifying both co-habitation without marriage and homosexual behavior as Masonic offenses, failed. These legal, private activities between consenting adults, are nevertheless, grounds for trial and suspension in that state.

No further chance to attempt to change these rules can happen  again until March 2017, unless the new incoming Grand Master does so during his year by edict.

It has also been said that a dedicated Grand Lodge officer was voted out of the line today,  allegedly because of his views on the sexual behavior rules.

One Brother who was allowed to speak in favor of the resolution says he was "jeered and mocked" all the way back to his seat, and was actually openly threatened by another Brother.

I will update this post if I receive more details about the estimated vote numbers or percentages.

Both the Grand Lodges of California and Washington D.C. have suspended Masonic relations with Tennessee (as well as Georgia) over this issue. The Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium has suspended with Georgia, and was waiting on news of this vote today to decide whether to withdraw from Tennessee, which I suspect they will now do.

Other Grand Lodges in the US, as well as the Grande Loge Nationale Francaise, have expressed varying statements about it, as well. Whether other grand lodges across the U.S. and around the world now follow in the footsteps of CA and DC and withdraw fraternal relations with TN and GA remains to be seen.

For links to all previous stories about this situation, CLICK HERE.

I suspect Tennessee will lose a couple of hundred Masons over the next year, as dues notices are mailed and are merely ignored or tossed out with the trash. The Grand Lodge will duly report the falling statistics to the Masonic Service Association, and chalk up yet another year of losses, without ever once connecting actions with reactions. They will be mostly young men, and if anyone at the Grand Lodge level gives it anything more than a shrug, they will figure that Masonry  just isn't appealing to young men anymore, for some strange reason...

The Nashville Tennessean newspaper has picked up the story this afternoon:

Freemasons in Tennessee voted overwhelmingly to uphold its ban on gay members Thursday during a members-only meeting in Nashville, according to Freemasons who witnessed the vote.

Two Freemasons confirmed the results to The Tennessean, but asked for anonymity since business conducted at the meetings is secret, and revealing it could have them kicked out of the organization. The vote took place at the Grand Lodge of Tennessee on Seventh Avenue North near Broadway.

The Grand Lodge of Tennessee did not return The Tennessean's request for comment. The organization has about 41,000 members in Tennessee and more than 300 lodges across the state, according to the Grand Lodge's website.

While the organization is secretive, bans on allowing gay men to participate in Tennessee and Georgia have prompted public discussion locally and globally, said Christopher Hodapp, the author of "Freemasons for Dummies," in a Thursday blog post.

Grand Masters nationally and internationally have weighed in on the debate, and California and Washington, D.C., grand lodges have suspended Masonic relations with Tennessee and Georgia because of it.

In the fall, the Grand Lodge of Tennessee suspended two Memphis Freemasons — Dennis Clark and Mark Henderson, who married in June after the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, according to Hodapp's blog. A handful of Nashville Freemasons have withdrawn from Tennessee chapters in order to speak out for the two men.

“I’m not gay myself, but I have friends who are, and I don’t think this is right, and it is something that will prevent younger members from joining the organization that has seen decreasing numbers since World War II,” said Nashvillian Chase Geiser on Monday.

Geiser, a 25-year-old Freemason who joined the order in 2011 and became a full member in 2012, said the grand lodges of Tennessee and Georgia have drawn particular criticism for their bylaws banning homosexual members.

In the Freemasons, Geiser said, each state’s grand lodge has its own constitutions and bylaws, separate from others nationally and internationally.

Geiser said the suspension of the two Memphis Freemasons has cast light on a broader cultural issue within the Freemasons for which many efforts have been made to combat.

Geiser said the organization saw a spike in membership following World War II, and then a large falloff in the baby boomer generation. Now, he said, many young men are looking to align themselves with socially conscious fraternal organizations. Some are looking to find a home among Freemasons and there is a difference of opinion between what he called “the old guard” and the new members, he said.

“There’s this cultural and ideological divide,” Geiser said. “Now, we are at 25 percent of the membership just after World War II. The average mason in Tennessee is a 69-year-old man.

“The older masons have very conservative Christian values,” he said. “The younger masons are theistic; we believe in a creator, but we don’t have a problem with homosexual marriage.”

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UPDATE

WKRN-TV 2, the Nashville ABC affiliate reported the story tonight. CLICK HERE

WKNO-FM, the Memphis NPR affiliate also reported the story on it's evening broadcast. CLICK HERE to read it or listen.

The Tennesseean story  was subsequently reprinted nationally in USA Today.

Michigan Freemasons Make Major Donation to Help Flint Residents

On Tuesday, the Grand Lodge of Michigan's Masonic Charitable Foundation made a substantial donation to assist the beleaguered citizens of Flint, Michigan  in dealing with the ongoing water contamination problems.

From the Yahoo news feed on Wednesday:

The Community Foundation of Greater Flint today received $100,000 from the Michigan Masonic Charitable Foundation to assist those affected by the Flint community's water crisis. The donation will go toward the Community Foundation's Flint Child Health and Development Fund and will assist the short and long term needs of Flint's children exposed to lead through early childhood education, healthy food access, access to infant and child behavioral health services and more.

"The Michigan Masons through the Michigan Masonic Charitable Foundation are committed to helping the community," said Richard Wisely, Grand Master of Michigan Masons. "The admirable work the Community Foundation of Greater Flint is doing is vital to addressing the community's needs – we're honored to contribute to this cause."
The Community Foundation received the donation March 22 from the Michigan Masons, presented by Wisely at the Michigan Masons Flint Masonic Temple. Several speakers were present such as Lieutenant Governor of Michigan Brian Calley and Community Foundation of Greater Flint President Kathi Horton.

 "We are very grateful for this generous donation of $100,000 by the Michigan Masonic Foundation," said Kathi Horton, president, Community Foundation of Greater Flint. "These funds will help support the delivery of critical public health, medical and community-based services and interventions that address and mitigate the short and long-term impacts experienced by children exposed to lead as the result of the 2014-2016 Flint water crisis. Partnerships, including those between the Michigan Masonic Foundation and Community Foundation of Greater Flint, help impact the Flint community for the better."

Many additional government officials were in attendance including Senator Jim Ananich, Senator Rick Jones, Representative Ken Goike, and Representative Charles Smiley.
The Michigan Masonic Charitable Foundation is dedicated to continually providing quality programs and services for Masons and their families while making communities a better place to live.

Ideas For Worshipful Masters

I originally wrote the below list and essay of ideas for Worshipful Masters back in 2002, a year after I served as Master of Broad Ripple Lodge No. 643 in Indianapolis, and I just came across it when I was cleaning up some of my old computer files. It's an interesting snapshot of what we did to turn around a dying lodge over a three year period instead of giving up and merging with another suburban lodge.

When I joined in 1998, the lodge could only put on the EA degree. My longtime friend Nathan Brindle (the current Secretary of the Masonic Society, who was at one time Secretary of seven Masonic organizations) joined with me, and the lodge finally sent us to a One Day Class five months after we joined to confer our FC and MM degrees.

We were both immediately jabbed with an officer's pike, and neither one of us ever actually sat in the chair we were appointed to. We lost five men out of the officers' line that year, for a wide variety of reasons. The lodge was literally on its last legs. WBro. Roger Van Gorden stepped in to serve as Master in 2000, and Nathan and I were elected as Senior and Junior Warden.  We exchanged ideas for several weeks, that developed into a plan we all three felt we could work from and add to over time, but as 2000 wound to a close, the sentiment was that we should look into selling our building and closing, moving or merging. We were lucky to have seven guys come to Stated Meetings and we did virtually no degree work that year. 

Nathan and I both kept to the plan. It was a clear demonstration of the benefit of sticking to a long-range plan. Some of it is a little dated, as there was little in the way of social media at the time, beyond online forums and email, so things like a printed monthly Trestle Board newsletter is passé now. But there is still some gold in here.

Here is the original plan that we came up with:

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1. ALL Stated Meetings are held as Table Lodges in the dining room. Open, set the lodge at ease, go get your dinner, and hash out upcoming business and decide a plan of action over dessert. Then, go back to labor, and speed through the rest of the meeting.

2. Redecorated Lobby and entry area. (Early 1960s office building, ratty furniture, sickly tobacco-stained green wallpaper, no art, and accessories from when Coolidge was president make a terrible first impression on potential new members. If you think it's ugly, how will a new member see it? If you don't know, ASK YOUR WIFE!)

3. Landscaped front yard. (Ours was full of rocks and overgrown shrubs.). If your building looks tired, unkempt and decayed, what does that say about Freemasonry to a potential new member? What does it say about your own pride of membership? Your building is the first impression for any new member, and is what your community sees every single day. It is the image the outside world has of The Freemasons.

4. Professionalized look of website and kept it up to date. If a potential member sees that your site is dated 1997 and none of the hyperlinks work, they'll move on.

5. Monthly Trestle Board with photos. Make Lodge look fun, and if they don't come, they're missing great experiences. Mention brethren and their family members by name, thank them for their help, acknowledge their participation.

6. Stopped charging for meals, including Thanksgiving. Catered or convenience food rather than the same few brothers chained to the kitchen. They will burn out.

7. Added stereo system and big screen TV to dining room. (Football and basketball nights after Craft practice. Make the Temple a place to hang around in, not just eat, meet and flee. Open the building more often and make it a destination.)

8. Purchased motorized stairclimbers to assist our older members (we have lots of steps)

9. Started Masonic Angel Fund for local school kids. (See the MAF website for details.) We adopted the Indiana School for the Blind, the School for the Deaf, and a public elementary school.

10. Made $100 memorial donation to Masonic Home Foundation for every month a member (or members) died.

11. Poinsettias for Lodge Widows at Christmastime and Easter lilies  in spring, hand delivered by  the Master. They'll love you forever. Get them on your side and their grandson may join.

12. Started Annual Chili Cook-Off with permanent trophy at Lodge. The noisier the rivalry gets, the better. Encourage outlandish claims, trash talking between chefs,  and bragging rights. Invite other lodges to join in the competition.

13. Presented Lifetime Achievement Award to older members who come to every meeting and degree. These men built our Lodges. Acknowledge their achievements publicly.

14. Insisted on post-meeting gathering at local tavern for members, spouses, friends after EVERY meeting. Do NOT hang out in the parking lot of the Lodge bitching after meetings. That's not how to forge new friendships.

15. Have regular dialogue with OES Matron. Kept them involved in our public events.

16. Sought out much needed degree help from other Lodges. Liberal use of honorary memberships for regular visiting helpers contributed to their regular long-term attendance, and in some cases, affiliation.  They enjoyed themselves at our lodge more than their own.

17. If you are a young Master who does not know all ritual for all three degrees, learn ONE of them well, and have your Wardens do the same for the other two. Performing a smaller number of parts well is more important than stumbling through many of them badly. Do NOT get pressured into doing more than you are able by the "In MY year you had to know all of these degrees" crowd. If they know it all, ask THEM to take a part. Remember: a man gets to hear each of his degrees for the first time ONLY ONCE. If you can't do it properly with feeling and meaning, GET SOMEONE WHO CAN. Ritual work during the degree is for the candidate, not about proving your own abilities.

18. Joint Lodge picnic with other Lodges, including PHA lodges.

19. Let a Lodge from a Temple that goes dark in summer hold Craft practice at our place. Joined in with them.

20. Dramatically expanded library. Get members to write book reviews of new ones and promote it in your Trestle Board.

21. Started a non-Masonic book exchange open to everyone in Lodge family. Bookshelf in the dining room.

22. Officers chairs left empty for two years rather than push new members into them immediately.

23. Make sure Lodge name is seen out in the community. Business cards, pins, jackets with S&C and Lodge name, who to contact for info on door of Lodge along with web address. If the building is closed, how will a new man find someone to ask?

24. Extend invitations to Prince Hall Lodges for visits. (Current leadership within Prince Hall Masonry in Indiana requires that the PHA Lodge get permission to visit from their Grand Master, so check with the Master of the PHA Lodge you contact for their latest rulings on this matter). We also participate every year in the PHA Thanksgiving dinner delivery program to shut-ins and the poor.

25. Always keep petitions in your car. Let me say that again: Always keep petitions in your car.

26. If 200 members stay away, get new ones who won't! If only seven show up, enjoy each others' company.

27. Freemasonry IS NOT RITUAL. If you can do all parts flawlessly, yet never have candidates and no one comes to meetings, how will the ritual save your Lodge?

28. Make a long-term plan with your Wardens so there is continuity for years to come - stop reinventing the wheel every year. Do NOT hide good ideas from your Master so you can claim victory during your year. Do NOT pass on problems to the next Master. Solve them now!

29. Invest in a new member by giving him a little piece of "ownership" in his new lodge. That could mean let him paint the lobby, pick out a piece of new artwork, contribute to the website, write a book review for the newsletter, plant a garden, discuss a symbol or two in lodge, or learn his first bit of ritual. If you are truly lucky enough that he actually asks "What part do you guys need me to learn?" DO NOT EVER say "Oh, we need EVERYTHING!" Give him a very small one to get his feet wet (there are at least two in the MM degree), and let him own that little role for a while. But give him SOMETHING in the lodge he can point to with pride as his own accomplishment. Men are less likely to abandon something they feel is truly a piece of themselves.

30. One thing we shamelessly cribbed from another Lodge is to make the three newest members of the Lodge the Junior Warden's Committee, making them responsible for food and cleanup, in association with the Stewards. It rotates as you get new men in, instead of saddling the Stewards with the job for an entire year. If they like doing it, it develops camaraderie among the new guys. If they hate doing it, it encourages them to go out a get a new man to join. Our guys jumped in with vigor and tout themselves as the KFC (Knife and Fork Committee). They now meet together on Friday nights at area restaurants, and are promising restaurant reviews for the newsletter. Believing there are no small parts, only small actors, they have padded their parts and are having a ball. Be sure to buy them a knife and fork Mason tie clip.

31. Masonry isn't just about food. These guys want knowledge, information, and STUFF! They are proud of their membership. They want medals, aprons, regalia, certificates, books, jewelry... Ours is a Craft with a long heritage, and they WANT things that will make their friends and family envious and - more important - curious about Masonry too. That's what first made THEM notice us to begin with. Don't think it's shallow to interest potential new members with a little  "made you look" brashness. Rings, jackets, license plates - all of these things attract attention and at least nudge men into asking what it's all about. Remember, I said INTEREST new members. It's up to your Lodge to show and explain why they should consider membership at all and in YOUR lodge in particular, get them through their degrees and KEEP THEM interested after that. The point is, they want their friends to join with them, and the "stuff" might get those friends to at least ask, too.

32. Upon raising, we give a new Master Mason a S&C lapel pin, a commemorative pin for our Lodge, an engraved pocket name badge so everyone knows their name, and a boxed set of minature working tools. For a year on Masonic 'birthdays' we also passed out a small, brass trowel. These things don't cost much, but go a long way towards making a man feel that the Lodge is immediately investing in them.

33. The most important thing our outgoing Master taught me was to stop dwelling on the numbers game. We're lucky in one respect that our Lodge has regular income, a paid-for building and some assets. If 220 members never set foot in the place, didn't participate, didn't communicate, IT DIDN'T MATTER. If some of the officer's chairs went unfilled, IT DIDN'T MATTER. What DID matter was that the little group of Masons who DID come had a good time with each other. We held every Stated Meeting as a Table Lodge, paid our bills, always had a great meal (paid for by the Lodge - no hat passing), had a guest speaker, voted money to charities, and had a couple of hours of true fellowship. THAT was what was important.

A year ago, we had just seven guys who truly liked each other's company, who got along, who cared about what was going on in each other's lives, and maybe went for a beer afterwards. And the other 200 members were paying for us to have a great time and practice Freemasonry. What a deal!
My year, we raised eight men, all under 40 (and most under 30), had two more being voted on, three transferring in from out of state lodges, and more petitions on the way. Sure, we still need the help of brothers from other Lodges to help us put on degrees, but they come if we ask, and they have a good time with us. They come to our Lodge because we have new candidates all the time now, and why just practice when you can be conferring a degree?

We've redecorated to make sure our Lodge no longer looks and smells like Grandma's front parlor. We have picnics and dinners and cook offs and events with other Lodges. We've tried hard to let young men know that their input is welcome and that we will change our activities to reflect what THEY want out of Lodge, instead of demanding that we adhere to the same annual events planned 20 years ago. We publish a monthly newsletter that doesn't look like it was surreptitiously Xeroxed after hours at work. In it, we thank those brothers who have helped or showed up or contributed because people like to see their name in print and like to be acknowledged for doing a good job. We try to keep our website up to date and looking fresh and professional, and it has become the electronic front door that so many of our newest members first knocked on. Those new members are enthusiastic and want to dive right into our activities and degree work - and we encourage them. They are telling their friends about Lodge and some of those friends are asking for petitions. And our post-meeting gatherings at the local watering hole have gotten larger and last a lot longer now.

My Senior Warden and I were too new at this to know the "way it's always been done in past" so we were willing to try whatever works. And guess what? Those same 200 members still stay home, don't participate, and don't communicate. But then, they don't show up at meetings to vote down big expenditures, or veto by-law changes, or stop us from starting a Masonic Angel Fund, or any of the other things we did our years that we were told would cause heart attacks within the membership. So, those same 200 guys are now paying for 15 or 20 of us to have a good time. I don't know if we have truly turned our Lodge around in the long term - only time will tell. But it's a far cry from the year before, and no one is talking about selling our building now.

Before I became Master, I was privately told to take my time, rock no boats, hide good ideas from the Master ahead of me, pass problems along to the Warden behind me, just learn my ritual, read my Blue Book rules, keep my head down, and I'd get along just fine. Otherwise, I risked insurrection and eternal damnation from the Old Guard. I was just too stupid to listen. As a Mason I may have been wet behind the ears, but I am smart enough to know that the only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

The ultimate point I'm making is that if you are disappointed by your Lodge and it is not living up to the lofty goals of the fraternity you thought you joined (as I morosely thought just a year ago), GET IN THERE AND CHANGE IT. Be the Master of your Lodge. Lead with a vision and MAKE IT STICK. If you enrage a lineup of cranky Past Masters who are forcing your lodge to remain mired in the 19th century, what will they do, fire you? If you are afraid your lodge is shrinking and failing at its mission, yet you allow "buzzard's row" to keep you going down that same path year after year, you are doing a great disservice to your Lodge and those men who built it to begin with. The men who  originally started your Lodge had ideas and strength and they were the leaders of their community. If they saw their Lodge losing members and failing now, I promise you they would not be complacent. They would try everything they could.

They would be Builders, Masters of their Craft. They would give their workmen good and wholesome instruction for their labor. Accept no less from yourself.