I apologize if this post offends anyone. Please know that it is not my intention to offend, but we must correct the errors of the past if we hope to see Freemasonry into a bright future.
I was at a Masonic meeting the other evening. Not a Lodge meeting, but a Lodge related meeting.
During the meeting, the term “Masonic Temple” was brought up.
It was brought up by a Brother who I know well, and greatly respect, but his argument while doing so is in my view badly misguided.
In a nutshell, his argument was:
We need to avoid the term ‘Masonic Temple’ whenever we can, because the word ‘Temple’ leads people to think that we are some kind of weird conspiracy cult and pushes people away from Masonry.
I am aware that a few decades ago, Masonry in my Jurisdiction did start moving away from the term ‘Masonic Temple.’ It seemed that most newer buildings were named ‘Masonic Centers’ or some similar meaningless term. It seemed that only our older buildings retained signs that said ‘Masonic Temple.’
I’m also aware that Fraternal property owners began doing that for precisely the reason the Brother talked about at the meeting the other night. Masons, a handful of decades ago, decided that the word ‘Temple’ might offend someone or something, so they started replacing it with ‘Center.’
Freemasons aren’t the only ones to do this. The Moose Lodge in my town used to have a sign that said exactly that. Now it says Moose Family Fun Center or some such nonsense. It also has virtually no members left.
In any event, our Brother made the argument above, and I looked around the table. I noticed that the old guys were shaking their heads in agreement. The younger guys were not. (It has never quite sunk in for me that I’m an old guy myself, whenever I sit in Lodge I always seem to think that I’m one of the newer younger Masons.)
Here’s the thing. At some point a few decades ago, we tried to slowly stop using the term ‘Masonic Temple’ because we were afraid that it would drive people away from Masonry, and we would in turn lose potential membership.
And ever since that day, every darn day, our membership numbers have contracted.
When was Freemasonry growing like wildfire?
When we proudly called our buildings Masonic Temples.
When has it been dying on the vine?
When we hid in shame and called our buildings Masonic Centers.
How is this not plainly evident to everyone?
That is the question I can’t answer.
Clearly a change in the word Temple to Center is not the only cause of Freemasonry’s membership problems. But it is an example of a mindset, from the recent past, that has contributed greatly to our membership problems.
-Memento Mori and Chambers of Reflection might scare the profane, so we shunt them out of Blue Lodge and into appendant bodies.
-Esoteric subjects might turn off the occasional Brother, so we drop meaningful education from our Lodges, replacing it with discussions of business.
-The Ancient Penalties of our Obligations might terrify the occasional candidate, so prominent Masons call for them to be removed from the Work, and some Grand Lodges do just that.
-A particular religious denomination begins studying Freemasonry to try and determine for itself if Freemasonry is compatible with membership in their Church, and leaders of our Craft panic, looking around at what may have to be changed.
These are just a few examples.
Here’s the deal…
Men have come to Freemasonry, for hundreds of years, because they are in search of the veiled knowledge it contains. They have come to Freemasonry because it is the inheritor of the Ancient Mysteries, of Alchemy, of Hermeticism, of Rosicrucianism.
They don’t all come for that reason.
Many come because they want to engage with our truly superb charitable endeavors.
Others come for the fellowship and social opportunities.
But many do come for that which we promise. Instructions they can use to improve their own characters. To transform themselves from rough to perfect ashlars.
The numbers who come for these various reasons do I think change over the long march of time. The esoteric side of Masonry was dominant in the past as is shown by the works of Waite, Pike, MacGregor Mathers, Westcott, and hundreds of others.
I think it plain that following World War Two, things changed. The numbers of men joining for social and charitable purposes far outnumbered those joining for esoterica.
But I think it equally plain that the young men of today are primarily joining because they are interested in learning about the esoteric side of our Ancient Craft. If we talk with them and ask them, we will discover that this is true. Assuming that we haven’t yet tried to crush their interest in those topics so that they no longer trust us enough to speak honestly.
These men, the men joining today, in large percentages want to meet in a place that is considered to be a Temple. A place that is sacred, held apart from the profane world without. They want moral and philosophical instruction in their Lodge.
It is darn well past time to abandon the ideas for increasing membership that were adopted in the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Not a one of them has worked, and not a one of them will work.
We should darn well start by calling our buildings Masonic Temples.
I agree with you 100% MW
And I am one of the old timers at the Lodge even if some are older than me but we have a few younger ones and I think they are the ones that also prefer it to be called the Temple and so far haven't heard any of the old timers say anything either way.......maybe I will have to bring that up now that you mention this.
But I'm not worried at all that the public would have a problem with that and no matter what we called the Temple there will always be plenty of them on websites making bizarre comments telling others about the typical fairy tales they have been telling since the beginning and the only difference is they are texting and posting every few seconds as soon as they wake up until they fall asleep with the cell phone in their hands these days >;-P
Goodnight MW Brother
District 11
Excellent as usual, MW.
Who wants to go to a Masonic Blandness Center?
Who wants to join a club just to have business meetings?
I’ve been disappointed at a number of meetings in different Lodges. On the other hand, they’re at least keeping some embers glowing in the fireplace, waiting for someone to come along to make it blaze again.
“Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire.” — Gustav Mahler