Ill say it again. Cheap masonry makes more cheap masonry mandating passing out petitions shows that cheap masonry mindset. I was not present but for the sake of dialog i'm assuming you're talking YR. There is a great article written by J Ray Shute in 1948 talking about the coming collapse of Freemasonry (captured in his oration to the GL of north Carolina in about 1948). In the oration, warned that when the club fascination or experience becomes less fashionable if the Lodge and appendant bodies do not become more relevant to society's needs, that they were living on borrowed time. This could apply the other way as well. In our local YR body, we came together and decided that what was needed was that the YR body needed to be active in the blue lodge, and support the district degrees, etc. In doing so we found that we started receiving petitions as we ended up recruiting the strong leaders from the district who wanted to learn more, help and socialize. Many who came to our door were frustrated with their own blue lodge experience a blue lodge which was weighed down by apathy, stiff necked Past masters, or politicians. Many of these appendant bodies, IMHO are collapsing for lack of social relevance and "big fish in a little pond syndrome" as I like to call it. IN NC, YR is an extension of the degree system we use and in so much we present it as such. Many of the Appendant bodies have not reconciled their collapse, and Many Blue lodge GLs have not recognized that the implosion in membership in the appendant bodies is the coming wave for the BL. Truely, I believe there is a place for all of this. Proclaiming that YR or SR takes away from BL, while perhaps technically correct, is a misunderstanding of the membership there in. From the people i have spoken to that dont attend blue lodge, here is what I found. Many of the Appendant body members who do not attend blue lodge do so because they get little to no value in blue lodge and have given up trying to change an organization which has a fixed disposition. THere is a lackadaisical attitude towards ritual, Freemasonry, etc. When I push them on why they dont change it, they reply with I've tried. Here is where the GL of the state should step in, reach out and start asking the question? Why do you not attend? How can we help and tool so that we can foster the change needed to reengage those who do not. Men not attending their blue lodge have their reason. Some of those reasons my be irreconcilable with the craft. Some of those reasons are because they lost their focus and appreciation.
"We should make a more concentrated effort to increase idealism - the ability to see things as they should be not as they are among Masons with the purpose of impressing more strongly, if possible, these responsibilities to society in general. Too much materialistic philosophy is floating around and there is too great a willingness on the part of many to "Let George do it".Freemasonry can, if it will meet the challenge of modern times and become in truth an organization of liberals, as it was two centuries ago when it furnished the leadership for communities and nations alike. If we, as an organization, make no united effort to help solve the burning issues of this generation then, in my opinion, we have lost whatever right we might otherwise have had to perpetuate our Fraternity. " David L Hargett Jr.
I don't think that we will see a collapse in Craft Masonry. Our membership here in Washington seems to be stabilizing at a sustainable level. I'm given to understand that at least one of our larger neighboring Jurisdictions is stabilizing at a faster pace than we are.
That said, Freemasonry is certainly much smaller now than it was in my Grandfathers day, and when considered as a percentage of population, tiny compared to what it was.
Every Jurisdiction is different of course, but I do think that here in Washington, we do have far too many Lodges for our current membership. We have Lodge numbers suitable to a membership three times our current size, so I do think that we will see drastic declines in the number of Lodges, even as membership levels stabilize.
And I also think that our super structure, the Grand Lodges and all that they do, likely need to be sized downward to reflect our now much smaller membership. I think that this has happened slowly here in Washington, our office staff for example has shrunk fairly dramatically over the years, but that is a bit of a squeeze that will have to be figured out because while the time to service the memberships needs has fallen with lessening membership, regulatory issues that have to be dealt with have certainly increased.
We are undoubtedly a much smaller Craft now than we were in the past, but I don't think we need to fear smallness. We do well I think to make the very best Freemasonry that we can make. If we do that, membership will take care of itself.
Just for the record, so as to not tar and feather the wrong guy, the speech that prompted this post wasn't given by either of the Rites. It was one of the Concordant bodies.
Being smaller isn't a bad thing, In my opinion we should embrace the shrink and tool accordingly. If you look at the statistics, were just returning to what our natural levels were before the WWII generations' civics org craze in the 1920-30s. IMHO. In my Jurisdiction we have recognized that we are in a time of contraction and the GL has actually promoted closing lodges if needed. I'll say that the thing that worries me most is that once a lodge is gone from a community, the likelihood of its return is diminished. OES is all but gone here. From the few interactions i have had, they were too rigid and close minded to survive in to modern society any way. My sister in law and brother who joined quickly found themselves in a toxic group. And from what i've seen the formality and pomp of the meetings just isn't attractive to a modern working woman trying to balance a family. Demolay and rainbow continue to struggle, either by lack of support or from what i can tell lack of Local competency, at least here in my state. Its unpopular to say but, the shrine, while still numerous just needs to release itself from Freemasonry and start acting as it wants. It no longer seems to be mutually beneficial and the Shrines focus and core priorities really aren't Freemasonry's focus and core priorities. The members that join the lodge for the sake of Shrine never return, because what they are looking for isn't self improvement, obligation to a code of ethics and a fraternity with a morality play. Thus, its a waste of resources to the blue lodge and a waste of time to the shrine. IMHO again.
I joined the SR about a year after I was raised, but I didn’t regularly attend until this past year. I was more concerned with my blue lodge and going up the chairs, learning the rituals, mentoring other men as they joined, etc.
Our SR valley gets plenty of new members every year, but oddly enough, it’s the same faces month after month that show up. Most of the new folks just never seem to come back.
I never even considered joining the York Rite, simply because there are three dues paying bodies to answer to. If you want to call yourself a knight Templar you have to join, and pay dues to, the other two groups. I think that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of.
I joined the SR because I was told it was where the Masonic education was. Outside of the degrees, I am not sure I would agree with that. It seems like the SR is more concerned with their charity and raising money. I just am tired of the constant hands reaching for my pocketbook. All of these groups just exist now to fund their charitable work. While admirable, that’s not why I joined.
As far as the annual communication, my only question is, when did we vote on the budget?
I felt there was a lot of things happening at the annual communication that made me go hmmmm.
"I joined the SR because I was told it was where the Masonic education was. " I would argue that this is a loaded statement from a misinformed brother. The blue lodge experience is what we make it and that statement represents a time when education could not be made a focus in bluelodge. That time did exist and in some cases still does. That said as for the charities of these appendant organizations, Why do they need a charity to exist as a fraternal body? The answer is our tax code and a history that ties back to FM existing alongside the mutual benefit societies of the early 20th century. This seems to be an american phenomenon. As for healthy coexistence, here is an example of a SR org helping the blue lodge "http://www.wilkersoncollege.com/"
I have found tremendous educational opportunities within the Scottish Rite. But not in Valley meetings. The Master Craftsman program was one of the coolest things I've ever done as a Mason (I did it alone, not as a part of a group.) The Scottish Rite Research Society is superb and has pointed me to plenty that I've gone off to research on my own. The Masonic Book Club is a newer endeavor of the Southern Jurisdiction, but I've been pleased with that as well. Lastly, the entire Spring Reunion experience in Guthrie will blow your mind. I know that you are a very strong proponent of our LLR, just imagine that on steroids and red bull.
As for the budget, I'm sorry, but I didn't bring my program or other paperwork home with me, so I don't know in what session it came up. The finance committee reported the budget and the vote was immediately taken on it.
Maybe that's why I "missed" it. I was expecting an electronic vote, not a show of hands. I thought it was just a vote to accept the report, not the budget itself. Thanks for the clarification.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Brothers do things together. Not just lodge business and official ceremonies. They go bowling, fishing, help build fences at each others houses. Take their families for camping trips. Invite each other over for superbowl parties. Have conversations about a wide range of topics.
Where is the brotherhood in most lodges? Where is comraderie?
Interesting Brother Jack some questions for you: Have you asked the leaders in the lodge as to why? Have you looked to another lodge for an opportunity? Have you invited anyone in the lodge out? I don't want this to be seen as detrimental, or to take away from your statement experience. Im seriously curious.
I invited all the members of my lodge to a BBQ my first year. Two members of grand lodge who attended my lodge on the day of my invitation showed up. None of my own lodge members attended. 3 years after I quit attending lodge functions, the daughter of one of those grand lodge officers invited me to his home for dinner, and a bbq a month later. That is the sum of my outside the lodge experience.
As you know, I agree with you. Brotherhood is built within a Lodge when we are not in Lodge. It is built when we work and play together. And you are also right that it isn't present in a lot of Lodges. But it is in others. Unfortunately, depending on where we are located, that might take a heck of a drive. One day Brother, I do hope to be able to introduce you to a great Lodge or two.
I believe our core; the foundation of Freemasonry begins with having and supporting a strong Blue Lodge system. Allowing the opportunity to learning and as we say, "inculcate" these lessons into our everyday life is essential.
While I support the concordant bodies, we need to carefully regulate our enthusiasm to rush Brothers when they are not yet prepared. It does a disservice to them and the body.
Brothers must be seen as something more than a number - a warm body who pays dues (or purchases an inexpensive life membership). If it is truly about numbers and dollars, then we have completely missed our long-term objectives.
There is a renaissance occurring today in Freemasonry. Brothers are demanding quality over quantity, value for their time and life energy.
Concordant bodies that truly desire to grow and flourish recognize this change. When they focus on their members and provide what they promised - teaching, mentoring, coaching, and live their core values every day, we won't have to push Brothers to join. They will be actively talking about the great experience they had and encourage other Masons to be with them.
I think that you hit it perfectly. If we provide a superb Lodge experience, membership will take care of itself.
Where we run the risk of dying due to a lack of membership is when we provide nothing of value. When we give no value, men will not come, let alone bring their friends.
I showed up to say many of the same things I’ve already read you all say, so the only little that I have to add is that I found ASR to be very disappointing. A lot of hype and no delivery.
I think it’s time all masons get serious about masonry or else that same irrelevance is coming for them.
I just attended the local lodge here in my small town, I showed up and happened to get lucky, 1st degree night for two candidates and the parking lot was overflowing. I was initially amazed, it felt positive seeing so many masons in this tiny lodge. Like all things Masonic these days it really seemed skin deep. The first candidate it was clear was corralled into this, he was there but not serious about it. The second was much more serious so there is that. A un eaten box of cold pizza sat sadly on a table next to some sodas. Next the ritual was poor, sadly I’ve seen much worse but only just so. There were about 4 younger masons (by younger I mean not over 65) not including myself but the problem is of course this was an entire district getting together to make this happen. So it was good people came from miles around and I got to meet many masons and invited to many lodges in the area. This leads to why I say it’s time to get serious. 20 some odd masons from small and large towns in what I would say is an hour to an hour and a half radius, get together to welcome two new brothers. That was pretty cool, but sadly I found out that should I attend the local lodge on a regular basis it consists of 4 to 5 brothers in regular attendance. I also found out all the other lodges are in a very similar state.
So this is why I say it’s time to get serious. About an hour north of here is a lodge for sale on the open market, just over 100k. It’s actually a really nice building and could be a great lodge, even has a bowling alley in the basement. That’s the future of these lodges because they won’t get serious about saving themselves. They each want to hold on to their lodges until their dying breath and that’s what it will be. They are able to get serious for an evening but that’s about it.
I know Cameron has said it before but I really just witnessed it first hand and it’s hard to unsee. I don’t want to go to a lodge with 4 people, I won’t waste my time going through the chairs just to say I’m a past master now. I would drive upwards of an hour and a half to attend a good lodge.
Also I’m fully content to let ASR, YR and the Shrine die off. I think some people do indeed join those to get away from poorly attended, poorly run small BLs but that wouldn’t be necessary if they consolidate. Of course the likelihood of that is really low.
Jun 12, 2023·edited Jun 12, 2023Liked by Cameron M. Bailey
What do you want to chat about? I mean for a large part for me it’s irrelevant because I’m in Upstate NY now and there’s no SR around here. I would have to drive a few hours and then it’s Northern Jurisdiction to boot. I’m a little behind on Seattle Valley dues. At this point I’m finding it increasingly difficult to even find a good reason for staying active in Masonry. I’d be better off tiling the floor of the barn and tying some goats up in the south and west and starting my own chartered lodge of the swimming goat.
The easiest reply I can give to your comment is that now you know why I drive an hour and a half to your Seattle Lodge.
And why the best Scottish Rite experience I ever had was when I joined the Masons of Esoterika Lodge to fly halfway across the country to see the Scottish Rite as they experience it.
A more difficult reply is to say that when I moved to this area, I found a Lodge that was in pretty darn bad shape. More than 4 or 5 active men, but not many more. Bad food, bad ritual, poor leadership, and off brand soda pop. You know the drill. But the Lodge, over the course of a few years completely turned itself around. I'm not going to take the credit for it, because it was a succession of great leaders one after the other. But I am going to say that it was quite superb when I had the honor of leading it.
Then it was destroyed. Poor leadership took the helm and within a year it had collapsed to its previous state, wiping out all that had been carefully built over the course of years. Subsequent leadership over the course of years did nothing to repair the damage. To be honest, I was angry. Angry that a couple bad leaders could destroy something so wonderful, so quickly. I didn't want to help build it again so that it could just be destroyed again.
So that's the other reason I drive an hour and a half each way to Lodge. Because I don't really want to sit in Lodge with men who are apparently content to kill a Lodge simply because running it properly is too much work.
But, in fairness, it is getting good again now, and I am happy to attend again now. My anger has dissipated as those who destroyed it have faded away.
My third answer to your comment is to simply point out an opportunity:
If your local Lodge has 4 active members and is crappy, then you actually have something quite powerful, if you chose to pick it up.
You have a Charter. You have (I assume) a building. You have inactive dues paying members providing the Lodge an income of some sort. You likely have some money in the bank or investments.
You have all of those things, and the ability to pick them up and create your ideal Lodge. As you meet people in your community, get four of them interested in Masonry and your vision for it, and get them to join you in the Lodge. Now you've got enough votes to do whatever you would like. Take that old dead structure, and build upon it a truly new and wonderful Lodge.
The Masons who came long before us had to do just that by creating new Lodges, it is basically the same thing, but is a bit easier because there is an empty foundation upon which to build.
Thank you for reminding me to look for the opportunity. I may be a bit cranky due to some work stress of late. After thinking on it some it occurred to me that I do possess one skill I could use. I’m a fairly decent chef, and I’m starting to think that hosting appreciation dinners for groups like the firefighters, nurses, paramedics etc would probably go over very well in small communities like this.
The idea of joining a concordant body just to have another dinner, pay the bills or write checks to pet charities with money I never earned just to stroke some egos crushes my soul.
Want to create interest in a Masonic body? Talk to all of the Lodges in your Bodies nearby Districts, set up presentations and talk about the philosophical or historical direction, with as much detail as possible that the Bodies work is based upon. Give the Brothers something to intellectually snack upon, then wrap it up in a petition.
I have my own bitterness about this blind petition tossing approach, if you can’t tell, along with my own bitterness about how my time has been spent in Masonry. I’m calling our time right now The COVID Reset. We’ve all had time to step away from the work we’ve all done in our Lodges, read, talked and made decisions about how we move forward, and that moving forward is going to take work. We have depth in our craft, we have history and philosophy that, if learned, can be shared with the intellectually curious to grow the craft. If a Brother shares a petition with me without doing the work and sharing some of that depth he’s only going to be sharing a piece of paper to help me with my origami studies.
I know two Brothers -- one a Right Worshipful -- who keep petitions on them at all times even though they are not allowed to give them out this way. They never bring in anyone, but you cannot dissuade them from their outdated assumptions and practices.
My mind and emotions are all over the board regarding this topic. First, let me comment on the substance of our stated meetings, Blue lodge, York and Rite. If all we are going to do at each of these meetings is approve minutes, bills, and committee reports, then we will continue to loose attendees. I, for one, am tired of the same agenda month after month. And don't be mistaken, I follow that agenda even today. I would support a method, virtual if possible, to handle all the nuts and bolts business on another night so that our stated meetings could truly answer the plea at the altar for "more light in masonry." With that comes next is "light." Masonic education MUST be a part of every stated meeting. If we are able to eliminate the "business" to another format, then more time would be available for more than 5 minutes worth of education. But, at least a nugget, 5 minutes worth of education should be in the agenda every month. Our fraternity has many masonic scholars sitting among us, who if asked, would be willing to share their knowledge and research. Our Lodges of Research would be willing to provide education papers for sharing in our lodge meetings. SO, to the original issue, keeping our lodges, York and Rite alive and growing, I say, if our stated meetings become MORE than ritual and business, our memberships will grow in each and not die. Men will ask for a petition and not have to have one handed to them.
Exactly Brother! I have been asking myself every stated meeting, “What do we need a Tyler for? These bills and these committee reports aren’t worth keeping secret.” We could all be approving budgets, paying bills and doing committee plans online. There are plenty of formats for that kind of business. If you approve a budget at the beginning of the year you don’t need a vote every time your Lodge has to buy stamps and birthday cards. We should be talking advantage of the time we are working in the safe confines of our Lodge to discuss the things written in our cyphers or the parts of our Standard Work that aren’t written out for us at the bare minimum, then bring in Masonic papers and topics. It’s hard to imagine that our Blue Lodge Brothers wouldn’t be more inspired to seek out the concordant bodies of Masonry for more knowledge if we take a deeper approach to our work.
Well I definitely have an opinion on this one. This will be lengthy, so let me give me some background on my opinion. Not to name any bodies, but I do see the point of the leader who was speaking about the specific body. However as Cameron has stated that is a falsehood and I can speak of my personal experience.
I am a member of an appendant body and as a young mason I plan to learn more about each before I move into them. Matter of fact I was a master mason over 10 years before I joined. (Raised at age 19 in 2009) I had to figure my own life out and decide to continue with masonry, but after a few years I got active again.
I have immensely enjoyed my experience with the appendant body. The lessons are fantastic and I am really intrigued by the ritual, however I have found myself in position unable to really enjoy learning the secrets and mysteries as to compared to finding enough members to open the meeting. WE have been working on that and we are gradually getting to a point that we can easily open. In our lodge its all the same people and so we meet with different ritual 3 nights a month which works well for us and we dont have any extra meetings. However, when I went to the annual communication for these bodies I found myself sitting in a room with a bunch of older members who all knew each other and had known each other for years. At one point the jurisprudence committee arguing with the elected grand officer IN OPEN SESSION. As someone here to represent my body and wanting to enjoy fellowship I was immediately put off and don't really want to attend again. I am here to handle the business of the grand body and progress in masonry. The fact the harmony was broken and an argument was held is for another day.
Ultimately leading to this I find myself unwilling to make myself available to assist the state level body of this organization as it seems to be a lot of cost and expense for little gain. I was invited to join one of the more prestigious orders within the organization and upon joining I experienced one of the absolute worst ritual experiences in my years as a DeMolay and as a Mason. Then further during this meeting we were prompted to found a new Masonic Body within Washington. WHY? Why is it always the same people and the same events? It basically felt like it was another excuse to spend money on masonry.
Leaving the appendant bodies aside, I am finding more fulfillment with Blue Lodge right now. We tons of events occurring that esoteric and fellowship based, the brothers are in more harmony and I rarely attend a bad meeting. Traveling for blue lodge events has become on of favorite things to do. In my own Lodge I have made it a point to remove the boring and detailed information to secondary meetings for those who either need to be there or who want to be involved. This has led to more enjoyment in lodge and our conversations being more about education or philosophy.
In conclusion to my rambling above, ensuring fellowship and finding something to attract people to what your doing is most important than getting people in the seats. I am now only pushing for brothers to join things that I think are worthwhile and worth learning. But we need to focus on what we are doing as masons. The organization should not be a cheap or worthless endeavor. There is a huge history behind it and the current trends will be the death of our organization. I can only hope things will change and we can bring back the history and value of this organization.
Ill say it again. Cheap masonry makes more cheap masonry mandating passing out petitions shows that cheap masonry mindset. I was not present but for the sake of dialog i'm assuming you're talking YR. There is a great article written by J Ray Shute in 1948 talking about the coming collapse of Freemasonry (captured in his oration to the GL of north Carolina in about 1948). In the oration, warned that when the club fascination or experience becomes less fashionable if the Lodge and appendant bodies do not become more relevant to society's needs, that they were living on borrowed time. This could apply the other way as well. In our local YR body, we came together and decided that what was needed was that the YR body needed to be active in the blue lodge, and support the district degrees, etc. In doing so we found that we started receiving petitions as we ended up recruiting the strong leaders from the district who wanted to learn more, help and socialize. Many who came to our door were frustrated with their own blue lodge experience a blue lodge which was weighed down by apathy, stiff necked Past masters, or politicians. Many of these appendant bodies, IMHO are collapsing for lack of social relevance and "big fish in a little pond syndrome" as I like to call it. IN NC, YR is an extension of the degree system we use and in so much we present it as such. Many of the Appendant bodies have not reconciled their collapse, and Many Blue lodge GLs have not recognized that the implosion in membership in the appendant bodies is the coming wave for the BL. Truely, I believe there is a place for all of this. Proclaiming that YR or SR takes away from BL, while perhaps technically correct, is a misunderstanding of the membership there in. From the people i have spoken to that dont attend blue lodge, here is what I found. Many of the Appendant body members who do not attend blue lodge do so because they get little to no value in blue lodge and have given up trying to change an organization which has a fixed disposition. THere is a lackadaisical attitude towards ritual, Freemasonry, etc. When I push them on why they dont change it, they reply with I've tried. Here is where the GL of the state should step in, reach out and start asking the question? Why do you not attend? How can we help and tool so that we can foster the change needed to reengage those who do not. Men not attending their blue lodge have their reason. Some of those reasons my be irreconcilable with the craft. Some of those reasons are because they lost their focus and appreciation.
In My Humble Opinion
Robert
"We should make a more concentrated effort to increase idealism - the ability to see things as they should be not as they are among Masons with the purpose of impressing more strongly, if possible, these responsibilities to society in general. Too much materialistic philosophy is floating around and there is too great a willingness on the part of many to "Let George do it".Freemasonry can, if it will meet the challenge of modern times and become in truth an organization of liberals, as it was two centuries ago when it furnished the leadership for communities and nations alike. If we, as an organization, make no united effort to help solve the burning issues of this generation then, in my opinion, we have lost whatever right we might otherwise have had to perpetuate our Fraternity. " David L Hargett Jr.
I don't think that we will see a collapse in Craft Masonry. Our membership here in Washington seems to be stabilizing at a sustainable level. I'm given to understand that at least one of our larger neighboring Jurisdictions is stabilizing at a faster pace than we are.
That said, Freemasonry is certainly much smaller now than it was in my Grandfathers day, and when considered as a percentage of population, tiny compared to what it was.
Every Jurisdiction is different of course, but I do think that here in Washington, we do have far too many Lodges for our current membership. We have Lodge numbers suitable to a membership three times our current size, so I do think that we will see drastic declines in the number of Lodges, even as membership levels stabilize.
And I also think that our super structure, the Grand Lodges and all that they do, likely need to be sized downward to reflect our now much smaller membership. I think that this has happened slowly here in Washington, our office staff for example has shrunk fairly dramatically over the years, but that is a bit of a squeeze that will have to be figured out because while the time to service the memberships needs has fallen with lessening membership, regulatory issues that have to be dealt with have certainly increased.
We are undoubtedly a much smaller Craft now than we were in the past, but I don't think we need to fear smallness. We do well I think to make the very best Freemasonry that we can make. If we do that, membership will take care of itself.
Just for the record, so as to not tar and feather the wrong guy, the speech that prompted this post wasn't given by either of the Rites. It was one of the Concordant bodies.
Being smaller isn't a bad thing, In my opinion we should embrace the shrink and tool accordingly. If you look at the statistics, were just returning to what our natural levels were before the WWII generations' civics org craze in the 1920-30s. IMHO. In my Jurisdiction we have recognized that we are in a time of contraction and the GL has actually promoted closing lodges if needed. I'll say that the thing that worries me most is that once a lodge is gone from a community, the likelihood of its return is diminished. OES is all but gone here. From the few interactions i have had, they were too rigid and close minded to survive in to modern society any way. My sister in law and brother who joined quickly found themselves in a toxic group. And from what i've seen the formality and pomp of the meetings just isn't attractive to a modern working woman trying to balance a family. Demolay and rainbow continue to struggle, either by lack of support or from what i can tell lack of Local competency, at least here in my state. Its unpopular to say but, the shrine, while still numerous just needs to release itself from Freemasonry and start acting as it wants. It no longer seems to be mutually beneficial and the Shrines focus and core priorities really aren't Freemasonry's focus and core priorities. The members that join the lodge for the sake of Shrine never return, because what they are looking for isn't self improvement, obligation to a code of ethics and a fraternity with a morality play. Thus, its a waste of resources to the blue lodge and a waste of time to the shrine. IMHO again.
I joined the SR about a year after I was raised, but I didn’t regularly attend until this past year. I was more concerned with my blue lodge and going up the chairs, learning the rituals, mentoring other men as they joined, etc.
Our SR valley gets plenty of new members every year, but oddly enough, it’s the same faces month after month that show up. Most of the new folks just never seem to come back.
I never even considered joining the York Rite, simply because there are three dues paying bodies to answer to. If you want to call yourself a knight Templar you have to join, and pay dues to, the other two groups. I think that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of.
I joined the SR because I was told it was where the Masonic education was. Outside of the degrees, I am not sure I would agree with that. It seems like the SR is more concerned with their charity and raising money. I just am tired of the constant hands reaching for my pocketbook. All of these groups just exist now to fund their charitable work. While admirable, that’s not why I joined.
As far as the annual communication, my only question is, when did we vote on the budget?
I felt there was a lot of things happening at the annual communication that made me go hmmmm.
"I joined the SR because I was told it was where the Masonic education was. " I would argue that this is a loaded statement from a misinformed brother. The blue lodge experience is what we make it and that statement represents a time when education could not be made a focus in bluelodge. That time did exist and in some cases still does. That said as for the charities of these appendant organizations, Why do they need a charity to exist as a fraternal body? The answer is our tax code and a history that ties back to FM existing alongside the mutual benefit societies of the early 20th century. This seems to be an american phenomenon. As for healthy coexistence, here is an example of a SR org helping the blue lodge "http://www.wilkersoncollege.com/"
Two things:
I have found tremendous educational opportunities within the Scottish Rite. But not in Valley meetings. The Master Craftsman program was one of the coolest things I've ever done as a Mason (I did it alone, not as a part of a group.) The Scottish Rite Research Society is superb and has pointed me to plenty that I've gone off to research on my own. The Masonic Book Club is a newer endeavor of the Southern Jurisdiction, but I've been pleased with that as well. Lastly, the entire Spring Reunion experience in Guthrie will blow your mind. I know that you are a very strong proponent of our LLR, just imagine that on steroids and red bull.
As for the budget, I'm sorry, but I didn't bring my program or other paperwork home with me, so I don't know in what session it came up. The finance committee reported the budget and the vote was immediately taken on it.
The 4th report of the Committee on Finance. I don't recall exactly when that was, but I think it was Friday Afternoon?
Maybe that's why I "missed" it. I was expecting an electronic vote, not a show of hands. I thought it was just a vote to accept the report, not the budget itself. Thanks for the clarification.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Brothers do things together. Not just lodge business and official ceremonies. They go bowling, fishing, help build fences at each others houses. Take their families for camping trips. Invite each other over for superbowl parties. Have conversations about a wide range of topics.
Where is the brotherhood in most lodges? Where is comraderie?
its happening outside of the business meeting, if it's not the lodge is dying.
Exactly. Most lodges are dying. New members aren't even being invited. I wasnt.
Interesting Brother Jack some questions for you: Have you asked the leaders in the lodge as to why? Have you looked to another lodge for an opportunity? Have you invited anyone in the lodge out? I don't want this to be seen as detrimental, or to take away from your statement experience. Im seriously curious.
I invited all the members of my lodge to a BBQ my first year. Two members of grand lodge who attended my lodge on the day of my invitation showed up. None of my own lodge members attended. 3 years after I quit attending lodge functions, the daughter of one of those grand lodge officers invited me to his home for dinner, and a bbq a month later. That is the sum of my outside the lodge experience.
Wow. Im sorry, on behalf of the fraternity. If you're in NC ever. There is an open porch waiting on you.
As you know, I agree with you. Brotherhood is built within a Lodge when we are not in Lodge. It is built when we work and play together. And you are also right that it isn't present in a lot of Lodges. But it is in others. Unfortunately, depending on where we are located, that might take a heck of a drive. One day Brother, I do hope to be able to introduce you to a great Lodge or two.
I believe our core; the foundation of Freemasonry begins with having and supporting a strong Blue Lodge system. Allowing the opportunity to learning and as we say, "inculcate" these lessons into our everyday life is essential.
While I support the concordant bodies, we need to carefully regulate our enthusiasm to rush Brothers when they are not yet prepared. It does a disservice to them and the body.
Brothers must be seen as something more than a number - a warm body who pays dues (or purchases an inexpensive life membership). If it is truly about numbers and dollars, then we have completely missed our long-term objectives.
There is a renaissance occurring today in Freemasonry. Brothers are demanding quality over quantity, value for their time and life energy.
Concordant bodies that truly desire to grow and flourish recognize this change. When they focus on their members and provide what they promised - teaching, mentoring, coaching, and live their core values every day, we won't have to push Brothers to join. They will be actively talking about the great experience they had and encourage other Masons to be with them.
I think that you hit it perfectly. If we provide a superb Lodge experience, membership will take care of itself.
Where we run the risk of dying due to a lack of membership is when we provide nothing of value. When we give no value, men will not come, let alone bring their friends.
I showed up to say many of the same things I’ve already read you all say, so the only little that I have to add is that I found ASR to be very disappointing. A lot of hype and no delivery.
I think it’s time all masons get serious about masonry or else that same irrelevance is coming for them.
I just attended the local lodge here in my small town, I showed up and happened to get lucky, 1st degree night for two candidates and the parking lot was overflowing. I was initially amazed, it felt positive seeing so many masons in this tiny lodge. Like all things Masonic these days it really seemed skin deep. The first candidate it was clear was corralled into this, he was there but not serious about it. The second was much more serious so there is that. A un eaten box of cold pizza sat sadly on a table next to some sodas. Next the ritual was poor, sadly I’ve seen much worse but only just so. There were about 4 younger masons (by younger I mean not over 65) not including myself but the problem is of course this was an entire district getting together to make this happen. So it was good people came from miles around and I got to meet many masons and invited to many lodges in the area. This leads to why I say it’s time to get serious. 20 some odd masons from small and large towns in what I would say is an hour to an hour and a half radius, get together to welcome two new brothers. That was pretty cool, but sadly I found out that should I attend the local lodge on a regular basis it consists of 4 to 5 brothers in regular attendance. I also found out all the other lodges are in a very similar state.
So this is why I say it’s time to get serious. About an hour north of here is a lodge for sale on the open market, just over 100k. It’s actually a really nice building and could be a great lodge, even has a bowling alley in the basement. That’s the future of these lodges because they won’t get serious about saving themselves. They each want to hold on to their lodges until their dying breath and that’s what it will be. They are able to get serious for an evening but that’s about it.
I know Cameron has said it before but I really just witnessed it first hand and it’s hard to unsee. I don’t want to go to a lodge with 4 people, I won’t waste my time going through the chairs just to say I’m a past master now. I would drive upwards of an hour and a half to attend a good lodge.
Also I’m fully content to let ASR, YR and the Shrine die off. I think some people do indeed join those to get away from poorly attended, poorly run small BLs but that wouldn’t be necessary if they consolidate. Of course the likelihood of that is really low.
Travis - would you be free to talk about ASR?
Travis, it’s worth a chat 😀
What do you want to chat about? I mean for a large part for me it’s irrelevant because I’m in Upstate NY now and there’s no SR around here. I would have to drive a few hours and then it’s Northern Jurisdiction to boot. I’m a little behind on Seattle Valley dues. At this point I’m finding it increasingly difficult to even find a good reason for staying active in Masonry. I’d be better off tiling the floor of the barn and tying some goats up in the south and west and starting my own chartered lodge of the swimming goat.
The easiest reply I can give to your comment is that now you know why I drive an hour and a half to your Seattle Lodge.
And why the best Scottish Rite experience I ever had was when I joined the Masons of Esoterika Lodge to fly halfway across the country to see the Scottish Rite as they experience it.
A more difficult reply is to say that when I moved to this area, I found a Lodge that was in pretty darn bad shape. More than 4 or 5 active men, but not many more. Bad food, bad ritual, poor leadership, and off brand soda pop. You know the drill. But the Lodge, over the course of a few years completely turned itself around. I'm not going to take the credit for it, because it was a succession of great leaders one after the other. But I am going to say that it was quite superb when I had the honor of leading it.
Then it was destroyed. Poor leadership took the helm and within a year it had collapsed to its previous state, wiping out all that had been carefully built over the course of years. Subsequent leadership over the course of years did nothing to repair the damage. To be honest, I was angry. Angry that a couple bad leaders could destroy something so wonderful, so quickly. I didn't want to help build it again so that it could just be destroyed again.
So that's the other reason I drive an hour and a half each way to Lodge. Because I don't really want to sit in Lodge with men who are apparently content to kill a Lodge simply because running it properly is too much work.
But, in fairness, it is getting good again now, and I am happy to attend again now. My anger has dissipated as those who destroyed it have faded away.
My third answer to your comment is to simply point out an opportunity:
If your local Lodge has 4 active members and is crappy, then you actually have something quite powerful, if you chose to pick it up.
You have a Charter. You have (I assume) a building. You have inactive dues paying members providing the Lodge an income of some sort. You likely have some money in the bank or investments.
You have all of those things, and the ability to pick them up and create your ideal Lodge. As you meet people in your community, get four of them interested in Masonry and your vision for it, and get them to join you in the Lodge. Now you've got enough votes to do whatever you would like. Take that old dead structure, and build upon it a truly new and wonderful Lodge.
The Masons who came long before us had to do just that by creating new Lodges, it is basically the same thing, but is a bit easier because there is an empty foundation upon which to build.
Thank you for reminding me to look for the opportunity. I may be a bit cranky due to some work stress of late. After thinking on it some it occurred to me that I do possess one skill I could use. I’m a fairly decent chef, and I’m starting to think that hosting appreciation dinners for groups like the firefighters, nurses, paramedics etc would probably go over very well in small communities like this.
The idea of joining a concordant body just to have another dinner, pay the bills or write checks to pet charities with money I never earned just to stroke some egos crushes my soul.
Want to create interest in a Masonic body? Talk to all of the Lodges in your Bodies nearby Districts, set up presentations and talk about the philosophical or historical direction, with as much detail as possible that the Bodies work is based upon. Give the Brothers something to intellectually snack upon, then wrap it up in a petition.
I have my own bitterness about this blind petition tossing approach, if you can’t tell, along with my own bitterness about how my time has been spent in Masonry. I’m calling our time right now The COVID Reset. We’ve all had time to step away from the work we’ve all done in our Lodges, read, talked and made decisions about how we move forward, and that moving forward is going to take work. We have depth in our craft, we have history and philosophy that, if learned, can be shared with the intellectually curious to grow the craft. If a Brother shares a petition with me without doing the work and sharing some of that depth he’s only going to be sharing a piece of paper to help me with my origami studies.
I truly agree, if we look at it wisely, the response to COVID can be the best thing that ever happened to Masonry.
It shut everything down, and in so doing, broke all of the old, tired traditions that were no longer working and hadn't worked for a very long time.
It gave us an opportunity to restart, or as you say, reset. We do very well to seize that opportunity and not squander it.
PREACH!
I know two Brothers -- one a Right Worshipful -- who keep petitions on them at all times even though they are not allowed to give them out this way. They never bring in anyone, but you cannot dissuade them from their outdated assumptions and practices.
I assume that there was a time when practices like that worked. But that was a long, long time ago.
My mind and emotions are all over the board regarding this topic. First, let me comment on the substance of our stated meetings, Blue lodge, York and Rite. If all we are going to do at each of these meetings is approve minutes, bills, and committee reports, then we will continue to loose attendees. I, for one, am tired of the same agenda month after month. And don't be mistaken, I follow that agenda even today. I would support a method, virtual if possible, to handle all the nuts and bolts business on another night so that our stated meetings could truly answer the plea at the altar for "more light in masonry." With that comes next is "light." Masonic education MUST be a part of every stated meeting. If we are able to eliminate the "business" to another format, then more time would be available for more than 5 minutes worth of education. But, at least a nugget, 5 minutes worth of education should be in the agenda every month. Our fraternity has many masonic scholars sitting among us, who if asked, would be willing to share their knowledge and research. Our Lodges of Research would be willing to provide education papers for sharing in our lodge meetings. SO, to the original issue, keeping our lodges, York and Rite alive and growing, I say, if our stated meetings become MORE than ritual and business, our memberships will grow in each and not die. Men will ask for a petition and not have to have one handed to them.
Exactly Brother! I have been asking myself every stated meeting, “What do we need a Tyler for? These bills and these committee reports aren’t worth keeping secret.” We could all be approving budgets, paying bills and doing committee plans online. There are plenty of formats for that kind of business. If you approve a budget at the beginning of the year you don’t need a vote every time your Lodge has to buy stamps and birthday cards. We should be talking advantage of the time we are working in the safe confines of our Lodge to discuss the things written in our cyphers or the parts of our Standard Work that aren’t written out for us at the bare minimum, then bring in Masonic papers and topics. It’s hard to imagine that our Blue Lodge Brothers wouldn’t be more inspired to seek out the concordant bodies of Masonry for more knowledge if we take a deeper approach to our work.
Well I definitely have an opinion on this one. This will be lengthy, so let me give me some background on my opinion. Not to name any bodies, but I do see the point of the leader who was speaking about the specific body. However as Cameron has stated that is a falsehood and I can speak of my personal experience.
I am a member of an appendant body and as a young mason I plan to learn more about each before I move into them. Matter of fact I was a master mason over 10 years before I joined. (Raised at age 19 in 2009) I had to figure my own life out and decide to continue with masonry, but after a few years I got active again.
I have immensely enjoyed my experience with the appendant body. The lessons are fantastic and I am really intrigued by the ritual, however I have found myself in position unable to really enjoy learning the secrets and mysteries as to compared to finding enough members to open the meeting. WE have been working on that and we are gradually getting to a point that we can easily open. In our lodge its all the same people and so we meet with different ritual 3 nights a month which works well for us and we dont have any extra meetings. However, when I went to the annual communication for these bodies I found myself sitting in a room with a bunch of older members who all knew each other and had known each other for years. At one point the jurisprudence committee arguing with the elected grand officer IN OPEN SESSION. As someone here to represent my body and wanting to enjoy fellowship I was immediately put off and don't really want to attend again. I am here to handle the business of the grand body and progress in masonry. The fact the harmony was broken and an argument was held is for another day.
Ultimately leading to this I find myself unwilling to make myself available to assist the state level body of this organization as it seems to be a lot of cost and expense for little gain. I was invited to join one of the more prestigious orders within the organization and upon joining I experienced one of the absolute worst ritual experiences in my years as a DeMolay and as a Mason. Then further during this meeting we were prompted to found a new Masonic Body within Washington. WHY? Why is it always the same people and the same events? It basically felt like it was another excuse to spend money on masonry.
Leaving the appendant bodies aside, I am finding more fulfillment with Blue Lodge right now. We tons of events occurring that esoteric and fellowship based, the brothers are in more harmony and I rarely attend a bad meeting. Traveling for blue lodge events has become on of favorite things to do. In my own Lodge I have made it a point to remove the boring and detailed information to secondary meetings for those who either need to be there or who want to be involved. This has led to more enjoyment in lodge and our conversations being more about education or philosophy.
In conclusion to my rambling above, ensuring fellowship and finding something to attract people to what your doing is most important than getting people in the seats. I am now only pushing for brothers to join things that I think are worthwhile and worth learning. But we need to focus on what we are doing as masons. The organization should not be a cheap or worthless endeavor. There is a huge history behind it and the current trends will be the death of our organization. I can only hope things will change and we can bring back the history and value of this organization.