If it wasn't for my wife and kids support of Freemasonary and my being heavily involved, I wouldn't be here today. My kids love visiting lodge. They know it's a safe place. Having a family picnic or ladies night at the lodge is a great way to help support them while they support us. It's a great way to build the bonds of brothers, as our kids get to know each other, and same with the wives.
Building just beyond that tenat, having a family based focus can also help increase the appeal to the local community. Maybe a kid tells a friend who mentions to their dad, or a wife to a friend who mentions to thier husband.
I will open up and say I think I am in the minority when I say “I think Lodge is for me and my Brothers” I am heavily involved with 2 of the Masonic Youth organizations as well as scouts, youth sports etc. but Lodge is for ME, it’s a safe place for me to work on improving myself with the help of my Brothers. This is not to say we shouldn’t do Family things, picnics, outings or an occasional Ladies night, but when I have an opportunity to work on myself and subdue my passions then I become a better Man, husband, father and person.
We as Masons do so much for others, and we should, but the most important part of our craft is to improve ourselves with the non-judgemental brotherly love and support of my lodge brothers. Everything else is an extension of that inward improvement of me.
My immediate family is pretty small, and all of them are involved in the Fraternity in some way. My brother and uncle are members of my home Lodge, and my mother is a member of two OES Chapters, and is an officer in one of them. So family involvement is a given in my case.
But I think it goes beyond that. The more I visit other Brothers at their homes, or attend family-oriented Masonic events, such as dinners, installations, Grand Master visits, or the like, I get to know the wives, parents, children and other relatives of my fellow Masonic Brothers. The more I meet these relatives, the more opportunities there are to build relationships. Some of them become pretty strong; I’ve mentioned previously that some of my Masonic Brother’s kids have ‘adopted’ me as their “uncle”, and consider themselves my niece or nephew, even though we’re not related by blood or marriage. But in a way, that makes total sense! Think about it, if your brother or sister gets married, you gain in-laws. Mother-in-law, brother-in-law, etc. If Freemasonry is to be what it says to be, the relationships established should be indeed just as strong.
I remember a couple of years ago when Cameron and I were on the ferry coming back from San Juan Island after attending the outdoor Fellowcraft Degree, and we were discussing a Masonic matter when the Deputy Grand Master’s grandkids came over and began climbing all over us. We had to stop the conversation.
And I wouldn’t have had it any other way. If your Lodge is doing it right, when you join Lodge, you don’t lose family. You GAIN family.
I think that I'm going to split the difference here.
Actual Stated and Special meetings of the Lodge itself are I think properly constrained to Freemasons most of the time. We might open them up for special events from time to time, such as installations, or certain educational topics, but like Brother Thompson says, I think that in general, Lodge time is for Freemasons alone.
That said, I think that there are countless occasions when family can be and should be included. Dinners, evening arts outings, holiday parties, on and on. I think that such things are superb ways of building quality bonds of friendship and should be greatly encouraged.
I think that this past weekend, I saw a great example of that with the Shrine. A lot of the Temples were all dressed alike. Gaudy embroidered shirts. It was pretty awesome because you could look out over the crowd and see the groups and who was with who. At the social events, I noticed that some of them had matching shirts for the ladies. That struck me as a great way to build fellowship, just as fellowship is built when a Lodge chooses to adopt a standard dress.
As for me personally, my family is extremely involved with my Masonic journey. Not in a sense that any of them are Masons of course, given that I'm the father and grandfather of girls alone, but in the sense that all of them are tremendous helps to me. I think I've been GM for about three weeks now, and already each of them have given of their time and labor to help me. It's been that way all along, when I was WM of my Lodge, they were there every step of the way, pitching in, doing work. I'm not sure why, but they all seem to really enjoy it, and as such, that makes it a better experience for me. If they didn't find value in Freemasonry, that would I think lessen it somehow for me.
If it wasn't for my wife and kids support of Freemasonary and my being heavily involved, I wouldn't be here today. My kids love visiting lodge. They know it's a safe place. Having a family picnic or ladies night at the lodge is a great way to help support them while they support us. It's a great way to build the bonds of brothers, as our kids get to know each other, and same with the wives.
Building just beyond that tenat, having a family based focus can also help increase the appeal to the local community. Maybe a kid tells a friend who mentions to their dad, or a wife to a friend who mentions to thier husband.
I will open up and say I think I am in the minority when I say “I think Lodge is for me and my Brothers” I am heavily involved with 2 of the Masonic Youth organizations as well as scouts, youth sports etc. but Lodge is for ME, it’s a safe place for me to work on improving myself with the help of my Brothers. This is not to say we shouldn’t do Family things, picnics, outings or an occasional Ladies night, but when I have an opportunity to work on myself and subdue my passions then I become a better Man, husband, father and person.
We as Masons do so much for others, and we should, but the most important part of our craft is to improve ourselves with the non-judgemental brotherly love and support of my lodge brothers. Everything else is an extension of that inward improvement of me.
My immediate family is pretty small, and all of them are involved in the Fraternity in some way. My brother and uncle are members of my home Lodge, and my mother is a member of two OES Chapters, and is an officer in one of them. So family involvement is a given in my case.
But I think it goes beyond that. The more I visit other Brothers at their homes, or attend family-oriented Masonic events, such as dinners, installations, Grand Master visits, or the like, I get to know the wives, parents, children and other relatives of my fellow Masonic Brothers. The more I meet these relatives, the more opportunities there are to build relationships. Some of them become pretty strong; I’ve mentioned previously that some of my Masonic Brother’s kids have ‘adopted’ me as their “uncle”, and consider themselves my niece or nephew, even though we’re not related by blood or marriage. But in a way, that makes total sense! Think about it, if your brother or sister gets married, you gain in-laws. Mother-in-law, brother-in-law, etc. If Freemasonry is to be what it says to be, the relationships established should be indeed just as strong.
I remember a couple of years ago when Cameron and I were on the ferry coming back from San Juan Island after attending the outdoor Fellowcraft Degree, and we were discussing a Masonic matter when the Deputy Grand Master’s grandkids came over and began climbing all over us. We had to stop the conversation.
And I wouldn’t have had it any other way. If your Lodge is doing it right, when you join Lodge, you don’t lose family. You GAIN family.
I think that I'm going to split the difference here.
Actual Stated and Special meetings of the Lodge itself are I think properly constrained to Freemasons most of the time. We might open them up for special events from time to time, such as installations, or certain educational topics, but like Brother Thompson says, I think that in general, Lodge time is for Freemasons alone.
That said, I think that there are countless occasions when family can be and should be included. Dinners, evening arts outings, holiday parties, on and on. I think that such things are superb ways of building quality bonds of friendship and should be greatly encouraged.
I think that this past weekend, I saw a great example of that with the Shrine. A lot of the Temples were all dressed alike. Gaudy embroidered shirts. It was pretty awesome because you could look out over the crowd and see the groups and who was with who. At the social events, I noticed that some of them had matching shirts for the ladies. That struck me as a great way to build fellowship, just as fellowship is built when a Lodge chooses to adopt a standard dress.
As for me personally, my family is extremely involved with my Masonic journey. Not in a sense that any of them are Masons of course, given that I'm the father and grandfather of girls alone, but in the sense that all of them are tremendous helps to me. I think I've been GM for about three weeks now, and already each of them have given of their time and labor to help me. It's been that way all along, when I was WM of my Lodge, they were there every step of the way, pitching in, doing work. I'm not sure why, but they all seem to really enjoy it, and as such, that makes it a better experience for me. If they didn't find value in Freemasonry, that would I think lessen it somehow for me.