What could your Lodge do, that was, in your mind, so egregious, that you would completely leave it and find a new Lodge?
RWS, ‘Pam-A’ Public Domain, The Hermit
I ask because in our most recent discussion here on Emeth, a Brother mentioned that he quit his Lodge and found another when the Worshipful Master dismantled the Lodge’s Chamber of Reflection and turned it into a storage closet.
While reading his comment, I thought that I might well do the same in his position.
In that same discussion, another Brother pointed out that some Masons do not allow the metaphorical space within their Lodges to allow exploration of the speculative, meditative, and reflective aspects of Masonry.
Some Lodges, at the urging of some Masons, push for mediocrity.
I don’t doubt but that we’ve all seen Lodges like that. Lodges much more focused on their bank accounts and the bills associated with their real estate than they are with Freemasonry.
There is a "business" aspect of Freemasonry. We have administrative tasks to attend to and bills to pay.
No where in the (Washington state) Preparatory Lecture, is a candidate informed that we have business meetings. Instead, that they are informed that we deliver a course of moral and philosophical instruction. This instruction / education is what I believe we have slowly moved away from and what the young men are desiring today.
Freemasonry is an individual, personal journey. When that path is corrupted by someone who does not agree or share your personal points of view, going out of their way to hinder your progress, it is time to evaluate if you are in the proper environment where you may be successful.
Having encountered this trial, I awoke one morning with an epiphany, that life is too short to practice bad Masonry. I don't begrudge those who have different objectives or points of view. In those situations, I don't attend their meetings, and I wish them success in finding Brothers who share their vision.
Instead, when I focused on the quality aspects within the craft that I am attempting to obtain and better myself, my passion became energized and boundless.
That's interesting; for us (Nottingham, UGLE) , we have many lodges that meet at our hall, but each lodge has a committee member and the Hall Committee meets several times a year to discuss the financial ongoing costs and issues of hiring the chef, upkeep etc.
These are never done during normal masonic meetings which are exclusively lectures, or the work of initiating, passing or raising our men
Here, while some Lodges do share a building, most do own their own outright and other Lodges don't meet within them. This is especially true in our rural areas.
Ultimately, those buildings are owned by what we call a Temple Corporation, and it is governed by a board, generally composed of the Lodge's primary Officers, and a few other Brothers from the Lodge. They handle the business of the Building.
But, everything else is up for the Lodge to handle. From financial investments, charitable endeavors, meals and all the rest.
The system does work, but it stops working if the Leadership of the Lodge allows the business to become the overriding focus of the Lodge instead of holding the focus on Freemasonry. Unfortunately, that is all too common.
I have had the good fortune to never belong to a lodge where Brotherhood and the practice of the Craft were not always first and foremost. Nor one where the Brothers heads were lost in the clouds all the time. I can't say the same for Grand Lodges. In my scant 37 years in the Craft, trouble and discord has almost always come from aloft. I recall one Grand Lodge expelling Brothers for merely being Gay. The kind of thing that would make me rethink my membership in Masonry. I try never to confuse principles and personalities. Most such monstrous ideas come from a man or a batch of men with the power to do things, not Masonry itself. The Practice of Brotherhood is the most important thing we do in Masonry. Everything else is a side dish including why we practice Brotherhood. If you can be a good Brother you will be a good Mason. If a man can't get the Brotherhood part, the rest really doesn't matter. So say I.
>>>I recall one Grand Lodge expelling Brothers for merely being Gay.
Yep. I remember a Grand Lodge doing just that. And not very long ago either. Things like that, and other things, just go to show that men who do not understand the first thing about Freemasonry are sometimes elevated to the highest offices within Freemasonry.
It's a sad thing, but I've seen things like that with my own eyes. Unfortunately though, I don't think that it can be prevented, simply because Freemasonry is a human institution, and to be a human precludes the possibility of perfection. So Freemasonry itself can never be perfect, although we should always strive to make it so.
There are a few things, 1- Any particular religion becoming the 'only religion'. 2- A political party becoming 'the political party'. 3- A brother convicted of harm to children, sexual or physical, being allowed to stay. 4-Banning of all discussion of the esoteric. 5- A complete lack of interest in the esoteric, and a total focus on mundane issues.
I can agree with your list. And, I have a few thoughts.
I don't see much possibility of #1 happening in a Washington Lodge. It seems to me that most of the Masons I know are quite eclectic in their religious and spiritual beliefs. For example, I run into Masons who are cultural/cafeteria Catholics like myself all the time. But I don't think I've met one yet who actually believes that the Pope is infallible when speaking ex cathedra.
I don't see #2 happening in a Washington Lodge, in Lodge. I just don't encounter political chatter in Lodge. But, in some areas, I could see it happening in the dining room before and after Lodge. And I think that is just as dangerous. Freemasonry precludes discussion of partisan politics and sectarian religion in order to strengthen the bonds of Brotherhood. Turning the Dining Room into Trump or Biden Central defeats that purpose.
I can't imagine #3 happening. I think that we do a really good job removing anyone convicted of a crime from our ranks. Including of course much lesser crimes than those you mention. But, I think it could happen by accident. If it wasn't an active member, and wasn't discovered or known by the Lodge.
#4, I can see that happening. There are men who have that exact desire within at least some Lodges. Luckily, I've not seen such men ever as a majority within a Lodge, rather a vocal minority.
Unfortunately #5 happens. It happens a lot. And when it does, it generally results in a pretty poor performing Lodge. But we do have a lot of Lodges that do nothing whatsoever but the business of Masonry. Slowly killing themselves.
Hi all, hearty greetings and best wishes to all brothers across the pond.
For me, the only realistic issues that could could cause me to leave my lodge would be if the WM began to blatantly and publicly align himself with a particular political party, and began to make public presentations or works in favour of one party over another. I would immediately resign, and move to another Lodge.
The other would be obvious discrimination of brethren on racial or religious grounds, I wouldn't tolerate that.
Both of these I would vociferously denounce immediately upon seeing it, and if no steps were taken to repair the harm, I would leave
Thanks for your fine greetings, and for joining us from so far away!
I certainly agree with both of your points, and like you, would be looking for a different Lodge.
I don't see politics raising its head in any of our Lodges, we are as a group quite good at maintaining that Landmark. I can see though, in some areas where it might get a little heavy in the dining room. We do well I think to cut that stuff off right away, so as to not encourage it.
I've never seen discrimination on religious grounds here, or even heard of it within Masonry in my Jurisdiction. I can't say the same thing about racial discrimination. There are still a handful of Grand Lodges within the United States that refuse to acknowledge Prince Hall Freemasonry. That stain remains on the Craft in this country, and it will remain until those final four State Grand Lodges acknowledge and recognize their Brothers.
Honestly, I can answer that. I left a lodge because of the apathy I found. I realized, like in the parable, that my energies were wasted—pearls among swine. I found another lodge, applied the same energy, and with the help of those brothers, the lodge grew into a super active body. It attracted doers and retained young men in their mid-thirties.
I walked away from one lodge because it was not fulfilling. after having 6 months of rejection for new events and Ideas, I remember sitting as master and suggesting we have a social family event, inviting the wives to a local restaurant. To my dismay, several of the older brothers said we didn’t need to, as we already had the shrine spaghetti supper. I'm not a shriner, and if i'm eating spaghetti its going to be at home. At that moment, I realized I needed to find somewhere different. I gave up the rest of the year trying to schedule and make events happen.
I have not actually left a Lodge. But, I did leave a Scottish Rite Valley.
There isn't a Valley where I live, so when I joined Scottish Rite I was faced with a drive no matter which I selected. Some Brothers I knew told me one that they thought was good. It was about a 40 minute drive, so I dived in.
I was super active for a couple of years. I never missed a meeting, gave to fundraisers (and got non-Masons to attend and give as well,) helped at Reunions, the whole bit.
But there were three things that really bothered me throughout the experience.
-Virtually no one in any kind of leadership position, other than the Secretary, ever seemed to have the time of day for me. The whole Valley seemed divided into cliques, and I wasn't in one. Ultimately, I think that this had a lot to do with the fact that I was driving from a place where no one else was from. I didn't know any of these guys from Lodge. And almost to a man, no one wanted to get to know me.
-I mentioned above that the Valley was divided into cliques. Well, those cliques liked to fight. It seemed like every single meeting, no matter what, devolved into a fight about some meaningless thing or another. That made for an awfully terrible experience.
I would have put up with all of that. I would have kept on trying to break down the walls that were put up against me. And I figure that eventually I would have worked my way in. But then the final straw hit.
-I completed the then version of the Master Craftsman program. It was a truly superb experience. As I recall, the mailman brought me a letter from the SGC (my memory might fail here, it could have been from someone else at the House of the Temple, but I think it was the SGC) congratulating me on doing so, and indicating that the certificate or pin or whatever had been mailed to the Valley and would be presented at an upcoming meeting.
Well, I kept going to those meetings, but no mention of it was ever made. To this day, I've still not received whatever was sent for me by the House of the Temple. But, a few months later, another member of the Valley completed the program. And they made a huge, huge deal out of it.
That was the second to the last meeting I ever attended at that Valley. Although I kept paying my dues.
Years later I was elected JGW, and shortly afterwards I got a survey from the Valley. One of those 'Why Aren't You Active Anymore?' things. So, I answered it. I didn't mention the Master Craftsman thing, but I did write about the horrible fighting that went on at every meeting.
Well, I was a few short years away from being Installed Grand Master. So the guys who had gleefully ignored me suddenly wanted me. So, I got a call from the PR, telling me that while my past observations were true, in his opinion things had gotten better, the fights had simmered down. Will I come back?
So, I went. To one meeting. Two guys stood up and screamed at each other.
That was it for me.
As my time in the East was coming to an end, I visited a different Valley. A little tiny Valley, also about 40 minutes from my home, but in the opposite direction. It was night and day. I was instantly welcomed, everyone gets along, and instead of yelling, I always leave a really short meeting having learned something.
So, I Petitioned for membership there, and sent a Demit to my old Valley.
They ignored that Demit for a year (there seems to be a pattern in all of this 😁) and charged me for yet another year of dues. I paid the dues, and sent a message to the Secretary, reminding him that I'd sent a request for a Demit over a year prior. He said he'd take care of it, but who knows.
I have nearly left Freemasonry several times, only to come back because I feel its creed and tenets are valuable and desperately needed in today's world. Especially for men, there aren't many support groups that don't involve violence, sports, vulgarity, or similar activities. Freemasonry provides opportunities to mentor and offer guidance on our civic and familial duties without being rigidly tied to any specific religion's dogma. It also offers a fraternal brotherhood, which is what makes it special and why it should not be diluted or allowed to die. This is, of course, all in my humble opinion. When I see jurisdictions lowering the bar and removing ceremony for the sake of popularity or misguided appeasement of the fraternity's enemies (and there are many), I see it as a contraction of its resolve to be what it was meant to be for the good of men and the order. I also see the infighting at the national appendant body level, and wonder what part of the mission of the order or particular order these men run was lost on these brothers. They act as big fish in little and shrinking ponds who all do not care that the water is drying up. Fighting over scraps and pushing others out of the pond.
I've never considered leaving the Craft itself, but I have gotten mighty frustrated from time to time. I guess that is an advantage of the Craft compared for example to the Scottish Rite or the Shrine. If I get frustrated by a Lodge, well there's another Lodge really close by that I'm not frustrated by. The good times can always outweigh the bad with a bit of visiting.
But, Valleys and Temples are far and few between. If one is frustrating, traveling to another can be tough. At least here where I live.
There is a "business" aspect of Freemasonry. We have administrative tasks to attend to and bills to pay.
No where in the (Washington state) Preparatory Lecture, is a candidate informed that we have business meetings. Instead, that they are informed that we deliver a course of moral and philosophical instruction. This instruction / education is what I believe we have slowly moved away from and what the young men are desiring today.
Freemasonry is an individual, personal journey. When that path is corrupted by someone who does not agree or share your personal points of view, going out of their way to hinder your progress, it is time to evaluate if you are in the proper environment where you may be successful.
Having encountered this trial, I awoke one morning with an epiphany, that life is too short to practice bad Masonry. I don't begrudge those who have different objectives or points of view. In those situations, I don't attend their meetings, and I wish them success in finding Brothers who share their vision.
Instead, when I focused on the quality aspects within the craft that I am attempting to obtain and better myself, my passion became energized and boundless.
That's interesting; for us (Nottingham, UGLE) , we have many lodges that meet at our hall, but each lodge has a committee member and the Hall Committee meets several times a year to discuss the financial ongoing costs and issues of hiring the chef, upkeep etc.
These are never done during normal masonic meetings which are exclusively lectures, or the work of initiating, passing or raising our men
Here, while some Lodges do share a building, most do own their own outright and other Lodges don't meet within them. This is especially true in our rural areas.
Ultimately, those buildings are owned by what we call a Temple Corporation, and it is governed by a board, generally composed of the Lodge's primary Officers, and a few other Brothers from the Lodge. They handle the business of the Building.
But, everything else is up for the Lodge to handle. From financial investments, charitable endeavors, meals and all the rest.
The system does work, but it stops working if the Leadership of the Lodge allows the business to become the overriding focus of the Lodge instead of holding the focus on Freemasonry. Unfortunately, that is all too common.
That makes a lot of sense to me. Thank you.
If in your Lodge, your path is corrupted or blocked so that you can't make progress, it is indeed probably time to find a different Lodge.
I have had the good fortune to never belong to a lodge where Brotherhood and the practice of the Craft were not always first and foremost. Nor one where the Brothers heads were lost in the clouds all the time. I can't say the same for Grand Lodges. In my scant 37 years in the Craft, trouble and discord has almost always come from aloft. I recall one Grand Lodge expelling Brothers for merely being Gay. The kind of thing that would make me rethink my membership in Masonry. I try never to confuse principles and personalities. Most such monstrous ideas come from a man or a batch of men with the power to do things, not Masonry itself. The Practice of Brotherhood is the most important thing we do in Masonry. Everything else is a side dish including why we practice Brotherhood. If you can be a good Brother you will be a good Mason. If a man can't get the Brotherhood part, the rest really doesn't matter. So say I.
>>>I recall one Grand Lodge expelling Brothers for merely being Gay.
Yep. I remember a Grand Lodge doing just that. And not very long ago either. Things like that, and other things, just go to show that men who do not understand the first thing about Freemasonry are sometimes elevated to the highest offices within Freemasonry.
It's a sad thing, but I've seen things like that with my own eyes. Unfortunately though, I don't think that it can be prevented, simply because Freemasonry is a human institution, and to be a human precludes the possibility of perfection. So Freemasonry itself can never be perfect, although we should always strive to make it so.
There are a few things, 1- Any particular religion becoming the 'only religion'. 2- A political party becoming 'the political party'. 3- A brother convicted of harm to children, sexual or physical, being allowed to stay. 4-Banning of all discussion of the esoteric. 5- A complete lack of interest in the esoteric, and a total focus on mundane issues.
I can agree with your list. And, I have a few thoughts.
I don't see much possibility of #1 happening in a Washington Lodge. It seems to me that most of the Masons I know are quite eclectic in their religious and spiritual beliefs. For example, I run into Masons who are cultural/cafeteria Catholics like myself all the time. But I don't think I've met one yet who actually believes that the Pope is infallible when speaking ex cathedra.
I don't see #2 happening in a Washington Lodge, in Lodge. I just don't encounter political chatter in Lodge. But, in some areas, I could see it happening in the dining room before and after Lodge. And I think that is just as dangerous. Freemasonry precludes discussion of partisan politics and sectarian religion in order to strengthen the bonds of Brotherhood. Turning the Dining Room into Trump or Biden Central defeats that purpose.
I can't imagine #3 happening. I think that we do a really good job removing anyone convicted of a crime from our ranks. Including of course much lesser crimes than those you mention. But, I think it could happen by accident. If it wasn't an active member, and wasn't discovered or known by the Lodge.
#4, I can see that happening. There are men who have that exact desire within at least some Lodges. Luckily, I've not seen such men ever as a majority within a Lodge, rather a vocal minority.
Unfortunately #5 happens. It happens a lot. And when it does, it generally results in a pretty poor performing Lodge. But we do have a lot of Lodges that do nothing whatsoever but the business of Masonry. Slowly killing themselves.
Hi all, hearty greetings and best wishes to all brothers across the pond.
For me, the only realistic issues that could could cause me to leave my lodge would be if the WM began to blatantly and publicly align himself with a particular political party, and began to make public presentations or works in favour of one party over another. I would immediately resign, and move to another Lodge.
The other would be obvious discrimination of brethren on racial or religious grounds, I wouldn't tolerate that.
Both of these I would vociferously denounce immediately upon seeing it, and if no steps were taken to repair the harm, I would leave
Thanks for your fine greetings, and for joining us from so far away!
I certainly agree with both of your points, and like you, would be looking for a different Lodge.
I don't see politics raising its head in any of our Lodges, we are as a group quite good at maintaining that Landmark. I can see though, in some areas where it might get a little heavy in the dining room. We do well I think to cut that stuff off right away, so as to not encourage it.
I've never seen discrimination on religious grounds here, or even heard of it within Masonry in my Jurisdiction. I can't say the same thing about racial discrimination. There are still a handful of Grand Lodges within the United States that refuse to acknowledge Prince Hall Freemasonry. That stain remains on the Craft in this country, and it will remain until those final four State Grand Lodges acknowledge and recognize their Brothers.
Honestly, I can answer that. I left a lodge because of the apathy I found. I realized, like in the parable, that my energies were wasted—pearls among swine. I found another lodge, applied the same energy, and with the help of those brothers, the lodge grew into a super active body. It attracted doers and retained young men in their mid-thirties.
I walked away from one lodge because it was not fulfilling. after having 6 months of rejection for new events and Ideas, I remember sitting as master and suggesting we have a social family event, inviting the wives to a local restaurant. To my dismay, several of the older brothers said we didn’t need to, as we already had the shrine spaghetti supper. I'm not a shriner, and if i'm eating spaghetti its going to be at home. At that moment, I realized I needed to find somewhere different. I gave up the rest of the year trying to schedule and make events happen.
I have not actually left a Lodge. But, I did leave a Scottish Rite Valley.
There isn't a Valley where I live, so when I joined Scottish Rite I was faced with a drive no matter which I selected. Some Brothers I knew told me one that they thought was good. It was about a 40 minute drive, so I dived in.
I was super active for a couple of years. I never missed a meeting, gave to fundraisers (and got non-Masons to attend and give as well,) helped at Reunions, the whole bit.
But there were three things that really bothered me throughout the experience.
-Virtually no one in any kind of leadership position, other than the Secretary, ever seemed to have the time of day for me. The whole Valley seemed divided into cliques, and I wasn't in one. Ultimately, I think that this had a lot to do with the fact that I was driving from a place where no one else was from. I didn't know any of these guys from Lodge. And almost to a man, no one wanted to get to know me.
-I mentioned above that the Valley was divided into cliques. Well, those cliques liked to fight. It seemed like every single meeting, no matter what, devolved into a fight about some meaningless thing or another. That made for an awfully terrible experience.
I would have put up with all of that. I would have kept on trying to break down the walls that were put up against me. And I figure that eventually I would have worked my way in. But then the final straw hit.
-I completed the then version of the Master Craftsman program. It was a truly superb experience. As I recall, the mailman brought me a letter from the SGC (my memory might fail here, it could have been from someone else at the House of the Temple, but I think it was the SGC) congratulating me on doing so, and indicating that the certificate or pin or whatever had been mailed to the Valley and would be presented at an upcoming meeting.
Well, I kept going to those meetings, but no mention of it was ever made. To this day, I've still not received whatever was sent for me by the House of the Temple. But, a few months later, another member of the Valley completed the program. And they made a huge, huge deal out of it.
That was the second to the last meeting I ever attended at that Valley. Although I kept paying my dues.
Years later I was elected JGW, and shortly afterwards I got a survey from the Valley. One of those 'Why Aren't You Active Anymore?' things. So, I answered it. I didn't mention the Master Craftsman thing, but I did write about the horrible fighting that went on at every meeting.
Well, I was a few short years away from being Installed Grand Master. So the guys who had gleefully ignored me suddenly wanted me. So, I got a call from the PR, telling me that while my past observations were true, in his opinion things had gotten better, the fights had simmered down. Will I come back?
So, I went. To one meeting. Two guys stood up and screamed at each other.
That was it for me.
As my time in the East was coming to an end, I visited a different Valley. A little tiny Valley, also about 40 minutes from my home, but in the opposite direction. It was night and day. I was instantly welcomed, everyone gets along, and instead of yelling, I always leave a really short meeting having learned something.
So, I Petitioned for membership there, and sent a Demit to my old Valley.
They ignored that Demit for a year (there seems to be a pattern in all of this 😁) and charged me for yet another year of dues. I paid the dues, and sent a message to the Secretary, reminding him that I'd sent a request for a Demit over a year prior. He said he'd take care of it, but who knows.
Yeah the voluntary part of a volunteer org seems to elude some.
I have nearly left Freemasonry several times, only to come back because I feel its creed and tenets are valuable and desperately needed in today's world. Especially for men, there aren't many support groups that don't involve violence, sports, vulgarity, or similar activities. Freemasonry provides opportunities to mentor and offer guidance on our civic and familial duties without being rigidly tied to any specific religion's dogma. It also offers a fraternal brotherhood, which is what makes it special and why it should not be diluted or allowed to die. This is, of course, all in my humble opinion. When I see jurisdictions lowering the bar and removing ceremony for the sake of popularity or misguided appeasement of the fraternity's enemies (and there are many), I see it as a contraction of its resolve to be what it was meant to be for the good of men and the order. I also see the infighting at the national appendant body level, and wonder what part of the mission of the order or particular order these men run was lost on these brothers. They act as big fish in little and shrinking ponds who all do not care that the water is drying up. Fighting over scraps and pushing others out of the pond.
I've never considered leaving the Craft itself, but I have gotten mighty frustrated from time to time. I guess that is an advantage of the Craft compared for example to the Scottish Rite or the Shrine. If I get frustrated by a Lodge, well there's another Lodge really close by that I'm not frustrated by. The good times can always outweigh the bad with a bit of visiting.
But, Valleys and Temples are far and few between. If one is frustrating, traveling to another can be tough. At least here where I live.
Agreed.