Here in Washington, and I assume around the world, many Lodges experimented with holding virtual Lodge meetings over platforms such as Zoom during the Covid pandemic.
Man sitting at a computer
Our Grand Lodge never allowed the ritual to be broadcast over virtual platforms, but during the height of the pandemic Lodges were able to take care of the business and educational parts of the meetings with them.
When restrictions eased and Lodges were able to meet again, most Lodges here abandoned virtual meetings, returning to in person only. But some have continued to utilize virtual platforms for the educational part of their meetings.
For example, one of my Lodges Opens in the ritualistic manner, then goes off session, starts Zoom, has an educational presentation, closes Zoom, does the business of the Lodge, and then Closes ritualistically.
My other Lodges do not do this. We meet only in person.
My question is (especially since there is a resolution about it that will be voted on at our upcoming Annual Communication) should Grand Lodges create guidelines for Lodges that might want to continue utilizing technology for virtual attendance at meetings?
Should our Lodges offer the entire meeting, open to close to a virtual audience? Or only portions of the meeting?
Or should we do away with the idea of virtual attendance all together?
Can it be Freemasonry if we aren’t together physically, or is it something else?
If we continue to offer some level of virtual attendance, what kinds of guardrails should be placed around it?
Lastly, it is reasonable to ask, should Grand Lodges stay out of it entirely, leaving these decisions to the individual Lodges themselves?
Apr 21, 2023·edited Apr 21, 2023Liked by Cameron M. Bailey
Let me just say I learned to read and write on a computer and I despise virtual meetings in the Masonic setting. I work fully remote, attend virtual meetings all day, but it’s not what I want out of lodge. I understand it when it comes to taking care of business but that’s it.
You can consider me firmly in the curmudgeon group.
I got to thinking on this some more and in context of my latest “things have shifted so fundamentally because of technology we don’t know where we’re at” line of reasoning. One thing that stands out to me is that the younger generation are heavily into social media and that is at odds with Masonry in general.
We can have a business meeting on zoom that’s fine. Ritual work being digitized would lose its connection that’s fairly obvious, and once digitized well we would end up getting a crack team together to perfect it and put it on some form of recording, then you essentially have ritual dvds and what’s the point? No one would bother to learn the ritual they would just go through the motions. For my part I have learned more about Masonry by having to memorize the ritual and it’s only enhanced my understanding and made me more fond of my own degrees. To be quite frank I've seen exactly this with the Scottish Rite.
We’re not on TikTok, and how would that go? A series of pretty good talks on Masonic meaning as short videos? On the one hand that could be an entry point for younger people and on the other it seems like the digital world would reduce Masonry to a series of classes on being a good person and some archaic Ugga bugga, then what? I watched all your videos and now I’m a Mason?
>>>Ritual work being digitized would lose its connection that’s fairly obvious, and once digitized >>>well we would end up getting a crack team together to perfect it and put it on some form of >>>recording, then you essentially have ritual dvds and what’s the point?
It's OK to be a Curmudgeon, I always figure that I'm a Luddite!
But to your point, when I became GM I learned that years ago our Grand Lodge made recordings of our Degree Lectures, and made those recordings available to our Lodges so that the Lodges no longer had to do the Lectures, they could simply show the recording instead.
Luckily, our Lodges were much smarter than our Grand Lodge at that point, for I don't recall any Lodge actually taking the Grand Lodge up on this. I've never seen the recordings used, and indeed didn't even know that they existed until after I was GM.
Your point is very well taken. Things like this would cheapen Freemasonry so badly as to make it unrecognizable.
there are certain things (opening, closing, conferral) that I think should never be done remotely. But I also think those things are 10% of a good masonic life, and the other 90% can be done remotely if the Brethren want that. My lodge has a discussion group that goes deep on many topics, and we appreciate opportunity to reconnect with dispersed brethren.
We do not need to either "adopt technology lock stock and barrel", nor take the luddite position that Freemasonry is a strictly in-person thing. As with tech in all ages, we roll with change, apply where it works, avoid where it doesn't.
So I just wouldn't take a position on whether to promote or ban virtual attendance, rather keep the rituals what they are, and be thoughtful about expanding what we mean by masonic meeting to include things which can be done remotely and bring meaning to a masonic experience. Reconnecting. Discussing. Learning.
Your post seems to indicate that we need further experimentation to see what works. Given the various things my own Lodges are doing, I would agree with that. The one that is incorporating Zoom for the educational parts of the meeting loves it. The ones that don't use it at all seem to not miss it.
For that reason, I imagine that it is far too early for Grand Lodges to be legislating in this area. One of the great strengths of the United States has historically been individual State's ability to experiment with policy. To see what worked. Other States could then of course emulate what they saw done elsewhere.
It can be the same with our Lodges. Let them experiment, see what works, let their neighboring Lodges emulate if desired.
Perhaps someday it will be appropriate for Grand Lodges to regulate this, but I'm thinking that now is not that time. Many Masons are still just figuring it all out.
"Allow lodges to experiment" is a wise position, and I agree GLs should perhaps hold off on legislating. But it must be acknowledged that they indirectly already are legislating, typically through the use of "social media policies" and "public relations policies" which lay out guidelines in various states for what members and lodges can do in public. Generally the Internet is nearly always in public.
For example: lodge wants to meet, posts a zoom on a public facebook group, suddenly this experimentation is subject both to social media & PR policies. It's via these methods that concern for the craft gets transmuted into pressure not to experiment. This has been my experience in other jurisdictions.
Like many, I work in tech. I am a professional communicator. Much of my work is online. I am very familiar with the false fronts presented, and the mistakes easily made, when communicating via keyboard, mic, and screen.
And, like many, I am very tired of sitting in front of a screen, because of the communication barriers it unavoidably places between me and others. I want high quality, human-to-human experiences.
Particularly as AI and social media continue proliferating, it as inevitable as the marketplace that the social value of high quality, well curated, human-to-human experiences will rise. A pendulum will always swing. Covid gave the pendulum swinging away from screen-bound experiences a shove.
My Lodge is the only one left in our 36,000 person town, which once had three. Fast decline has defined the local Craft for quite some time. Yet, we have somehow attracted over sixteen new inquiries in the last year.
I hadn't really thought of how the widespread adoption of AI will impact Freemasonry, but I have given quite a lot of consideration to how it will impact writers.
When it comes to writers, my conclusion is that it will increase the value of real, verifiable, human writing. Such will stand out in a flood of computer generated regurgitation. But, I think that the 'verifiable' part will be key. As models improve, it will become impossible to tell the difference unless one can actually know the person on the other end of a piece of writing.
Reading your thoughts, I think you are right, AI will have a similar impact on Freemasonry. Its value will increase because it will be a place of true human connection.
For me personally, as Travis also mentioned, I work 100% remotely and spend all day at the computer in zoom meetings. Spending time outside of work hours at my computer requires a lot of incentive (like our weekly R&G meetings) to participate.
If we're not doing a whole meeting via zoom, only a small off session portion (for, say, education), I kinda don't see the point. There are literally a bazillion online podcasts, lectures, presentations, papers, etc anyone can peruse for free 24/7, why should the lodge go through the expense and trouble to provide a few minutes more?
I'm the person charged with providing education within the lodge, and there are presentations I give that are esoteric in nature, so those can't be shared online anyway (although whatever I am presenting is from the internet to begin with).
I personally feel that the restrictions being put in place aren't really necessary in today's day and age. Coming from a military background where I was invested with a TS/SCI clearance involving highly classified information dealing with national security, I don't think our ritual protections need to be so draconian as being treated like nuclear secrets. We're not curing cancer, and we're not holding launch keys for the ICBMs here.
I understand the reasoning, but what we are doing is protecting the washington masonic code, not the ritual itself, which is wildly available on the internet for anyone that really wants to go find it. Zoom itself has enough protections to keep cowans and eavesdroppers away, and I'm sure I can trust the brothers to secure their own selves during a meeting.
I'm of course going to follow the WMC and any edicts that are issued from GL, but I think there should be some reflection on just what we're really doing, and how to adapt to today's society.
I do agree with you that we are far too concerned about somehow keeping our Standard Work secret. My Jurisdiction's work is completely published in a well known 'exposure' available to anyone with an internet connection.
But many kind of freaked out at the thought of even posting a cyphered version on our password protected website.
We keep it secret, as Masons, to prove that we are honorable men who can be trusted with secrets. From a practical point of view however, it certainly isn't secret.
Right, it's an honor thing. If I can't be trusted to keep something as silly as a handshake, then how can I be trusted to keep my word for anything important?
But if we're going to take the obligation that seriously, then there would be more morgan affairs going on. There should be a line drawn, but I think it needs to be taken a bit further back. We can't just pick and choose which parts of the obligation we'd face expulsion for.
I've taken to explaining this to the new Masons I mentor.
If we tell them something like:
'All the stuff in cypher in this book is a secret, you can't tell anyone.'
But then we also tell them:
'Don't go online and read about your upcoming Degrees, it will spoil them.'
Those two things together don't make any sense, although both are true. I find it does make sense to them if I just tell them that everything is online, we demand secrecy from them because it is a way for them to prove that they can be trusted, not because we are trying to keep secret those things that stopped being secret long ago.
Not too long ago, I wrote an article about this topic. I belong to a Virtual Lodge out of Manitoba: Castle Island Virtual Lodge 190. I started to attend this lodge before COVID-19 was on our radar. In this article I mentioned that I would not replace the tangible experience with a virtual one.
I also talked about some of the conferences I attended recently. There is nothing like meeting in person and on the level, but with work and family demand. Traveling to all of the Masonic conferences I attended last year would not have been possible. The virtual event or meeting before COVID was barely a possibility, but now, thankfully it's thriving.
Virtual Masonic events cannot ever be a substitute for live, in-person meetings, but it certainly can serve as a supplement. Think about the opportunity to expand one's horizons through Masonic Education. Before, we were limited to who we could entice to travel to our lodges. Now, a new world of possibility has opened up. Virtual meetings vs non-virtual should not be considered an all or nothing proposition. Look at it for what it is - a new opportunity to supplement our long-standing traditional gatherings.
“Before, we were limited to who we could entice to travel to our lodges. Now, a new world of possibility has opened up. Virtual meetings vs non-virtual should not be considered an all or nothing proposition. Look at it for what it is - a new opportunity to supplement our long-standing traditional gatherings.”
This is the big key for me. Ever since the shutdown in March of 2020, the Lodge MW Cameron is talking about (I’m also a Past Master of this Lodge) has held a virtual component to its Stated Communication to this day. In fact, the next one will be on Monday. We’ve had guest speakers from other parts of the state, as well as a more distant guest speaker, Maynard Edwards, from Maryland. In addition, we have a member of our Lodge who lives in Rochester, Minnesota, and he has attended EVERY meeting since the shutdown. I don’t even think I can qualify for that one!
The fact that WB Joe has attended every meeting is incentive enough for our Lodge to not discontinue the hybrid meetings, but the opportunities it presents almost makes me want to consider going to the East a fourth time, just to set up speakers for the hybrid sections of the meetings. I’m way too busy at this time to do that, but fortunately, there are members of our Lodge who understand the opportunities and are looking into setting up a schedule like that once they reach the East.
This is exactly what I am referring to. Maynard is a fantastic Mason. It was on his podcast The Tyler's Place back in 2019, that I was introduced to MW Russ Charvonia from CA and his efforts to promote Civility. I am sure that Maynard was a fantastic speaker for your education program. I believe that not too long ago, you had one of my friends, VWB John Lawson speak at your event as well.
Having aging or informed brethren being able to attend Lodge when they otherwise would not be able to is enough reason in and of itself to promote the virtual aspect. I had not considered that!
Yes, VWB John did his famous Anatomy of the Closing Charge. We also had another member in your area who frequents these comments, VWB Mike Priddy, also speak at one of our meetings.
WB Joe is sometimes joined by another member of our Lodge who doesn't drive well at night, and we also have a couple brothers who join us on the Zoom who get home from work too late to get to Centralia to attend the meeting in person.
That being said... there's also that potential issue that other members who can fully attend the meetings in person might just stay home and attend the virtual segment. Well, that's okay, but they can't participate in the Lodge's business affairs, such as balloting and voting for expenditures, etc. Maintaining a good balance is key to retain your in-person membership.
>>>there's also that potential issue that other members who can fully attend the >>>meetings in person might just stay home and attend the virtual segment.
Honestly, I think that this particular fear is overblown. I've not seen evidence of it happening in our Lodge, or in other Lodges that have maintained a virtual component.
I think the primary time of that concern was when we were returning from the lockdown and the virtual meetings and returning to the in-person meetings. Brothers getting used to staying at home and attending Lodge meetings while not missing Monday Night Football. Fortunately, as you note, the concern didn’t come to fruition. But it also shows that while technology is moving us in a more electronically connected direction, there will always be a need for the in-person communication, and even the younger generations are acknowledging it.
A handful of years ago, a Lodge here flew in the Mason who had the largest impact on my own practice of Masonic Leadership. The event was very well advertised, and I was certain that the Lodge room would be filled to overflowing.
It wasn't.
Just a couple of weeks ago a Lodge here flew in the Mason who I believe is the smartest Masonic thinker alive today. I figured the Lodge room would be filled.
It wasn't.
It seems that we are largely unable to turn Masons out for events like this, and that has to be disheartening both for the Lodge putting it on, and for the speakers.
Given that, it seems to me that Zoom is quite likely the best way to bring in Masonic speakers from across the country or the world. It might not have the same potential to become a major event, but I'm not sure that potential exists anyway.
On Zoom, neither the Lodge nor the speaker will expect a huge turnout of visiting Masons.
I think using technology for the educational portion of a lodge meeting is a good idea. Especially for guest speakers. It's a lot less expensive to have a guest speaker over zoom than it is to deal with airfare, hotels and such to fly in someone. Plus it would allow any brother who is ill or homebound to participate. I'm not for the entire meeting to be virtual. Just the education portion.
>>>Plus it would allow any brother who is ill or homebound to participate.
Agreed. And the Brother who has moved, and the Brother who is on vacation. The very first virtual Lodge meeting I ever attended had a Brother join who was sitting in a restaurant I'm also known to frequent when I'm in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
I’ve joined a Lodge in California due to restrictions in my Jurisdiction that prevent women and trans men from becoming Masons, and the lack of protections for gay men petitioners. We meet virtually. My only complaint are the audio issues: sometimes someone isn’t mic’d and hearing can be difficult, but usually we make the meeting work. I think it’s important that we get together too, when we can, as we are in a couple of months in-person.
I would be interested in learning more about this Lodge if you care to share.
My Lodge that continues to use Zoom in its meetings has had similar technical issues. I think every time any issue cropped up, the idea was to solve it by adding even more technology. It eventually became a nightmare, and barely worked.
We seem to have largely solved this now by getting rid of almost all of 'stuff' that was supposed to improve the experience!
It is a Lodge in the George Washington Union of Freemasons, Golden Journey Lodge in San Francisco, California. https://www.georgewashingtonunion.org. We are gender-neutral and adogmatic: we believe in fundamental human equality; we are humanists. This transition has been good for me, psychologically: I no longer experience feelings of guilt for my personal participation in forms of exclusion I fundamentally do not condone.
Does your Lodge include the ritual in its online meetings? Are Degrees only performed in person, or are they somehow offered virtually as well?
Sorry for so many questions, but I think we can all do well learning more about continental style Masonry. It certainly has a history as long as my form, and traditions just as strong. And of course, in some parts of the world, it is the dominant form of Freemasonry.
I'm glad to know that you found a Masonic home that meets your needs.
My opinon is that we continue with our in person stated meetings as tradition has dictated. I would add though that after the ritual opening, that a Zoom broadcast be made available to those members who are not able to attend. This would allow those who for health and age reasons are not able to travel to the lodge, to still be involved. It would also allow those who have moved to other parts of the world to be able to stay in contact with their lodge. In my lodge our temple association holds its monthly meeting vial Zoom. Attendence is up for that meeting. For another organization I am a member of we have both in person meetings along with a Zoom connection for those who cannot be there. For the stated meeting, if Zoom can be controlled by the Host to only allow duly confirmed Masons, I don't see an issue.
Things like Temple Board meetings, and even much of the planning and business of the Lodge can and should be pushed off to Zoom I think. Thereby preserving the precious couple of hours we have in open Lodge for Masonry. Anytime we can minimize the business of the outside world in our Stated Meetings, I think that has to be a plus.
Otherwise I wonder, why are we building a sacred space with our ritual, only to fill that space with outside, secular concerns?
Many lodges have members all over the world. If lodges would do education by zoom maybe those brothers who live far away can get the Masonic education. Isn’t that what we are truly here for, to educate the craft. I myself am an Indiana Freemason who lives in Washington; I’ve asked my lodge many times to do a zoom education so I can still be part of their good work.
You are right to point out that in our highly mobile society, we do have members dispersed everywhere. My Seattle Lodge has one Brother living in New York State (He's on this thread with us as well.) Another in the Philippines, and a third in Vietnam. Technology gives us an excellent opportunity to remain in fellowship with them, if we grasp it.
Let me just say I learned to read and write on a computer and I despise virtual meetings in the Masonic setting. I work fully remote, attend virtual meetings all day, but it’s not what I want out of lodge. I understand it when it comes to taking care of business but that’s it.
You can consider me firmly in the curmudgeon group.
I got to thinking on this some more and in context of my latest “things have shifted so fundamentally because of technology we don’t know where we’re at” line of reasoning. One thing that stands out to me is that the younger generation are heavily into social media and that is at odds with Masonry in general.
We can have a business meeting on zoom that’s fine. Ritual work being digitized would lose its connection that’s fairly obvious, and once digitized well we would end up getting a crack team together to perfect it and put it on some form of recording, then you essentially have ritual dvds and what’s the point? No one would bother to learn the ritual they would just go through the motions. For my part I have learned more about Masonry by having to memorize the ritual and it’s only enhanced my understanding and made me more fond of my own degrees. To be quite frank I've seen exactly this with the Scottish Rite.
We’re not on TikTok, and how would that go? A series of pretty good talks on Masonic meaning as short videos? On the one hand that could be an entry point for younger people and on the other it seems like the digital world would reduce Masonry to a series of classes on being a good person and some archaic Ugga bugga, then what? I watched all your videos and now I’m a Mason?
I’m definitely a curmudgeon today.
>>>Ritual work being digitized would lose its connection that’s fairly obvious, and once digitized >>>well we would end up getting a crack team together to perfect it and put it on some form of >>>recording, then you essentially have ritual dvds and what’s the point?
It's OK to be a Curmudgeon, I always figure that I'm a Luddite!
But to your point, when I became GM I learned that years ago our Grand Lodge made recordings of our Degree Lectures, and made those recordings available to our Lodges so that the Lodges no longer had to do the Lectures, they could simply show the recording instead.
Luckily, our Lodges were much smarter than our Grand Lodge at that point, for I don't recall any Lodge actually taking the Grand Lodge up on this. I've never seen the recordings used, and indeed didn't even know that they existed until after I was GM.
Your point is very well taken. Things like this would cheapen Freemasonry so badly as to make it unrecognizable.
there are certain things (opening, closing, conferral) that I think should never be done remotely. But I also think those things are 10% of a good masonic life, and the other 90% can be done remotely if the Brethren want that. My lodge has a discussion group that goes deep on many topics, and we appreciate opportunity to reconnect with dispersed brethren.
We do not need to either "adopt technology lock stock and barrel", nor take the luddite position that Freemasonry is a strictly in-person thing. As with tech in all ages, we roll with change, apply where it works, avoid where it doesn't.
So I just wouldn't take a position on whether to promote or ban virtual attendance, rather keep the rituals what they are, and be thoughtful about expanding what we mean by masonic meeting to include things which can be done remotely and bring meaning to a masonic experience. Reconnecting. Discussing. Learning.
Your post seems to indicate that we need further experimentation to see what works. Given the various things my own Lodges are doing, I would agree with that. The one that is incorporating Zoom for the educational parts of the meeting loves it. The ones that don't use it at all seem to not miss it.
For that reason, I imagine that it is far too early for Grand Lodges to be legislating in this area. One of the great strengths of the United States has historically been individual State's ability to experiment with policy. To see what worked. Other States could then of course emulate what they saw done elsewhere.
It can be the same with our Lodges. Let them experiment, see what works, let their neighboring Lodges emulate if desired.
Perhaps someday it will be appropriate for Grand Lodges to regulate this, but I'm thinking that now is not that time. Many Masons are still just figuring it all out.
"Allow lodges to experiment" is a wise position, and I agree GLs should perhaps hold off on legislating. But it must be acknowledged that they indirectly already are legislating, typically through the use of "social media policies" and "public relations policies" which lay out guidelines in various states for what members and lodges can do in public. Generally the Internet is nearly always in public.
For example: lodge wants to meet, posts a zoom on a public facebook group, suddenly this experimentation is subject both to social media & PR policies. It's via these methods that concern for the craft gets transmuted into pressure not to experiment. This has been my experience in other jurisdictions.
Like many, I work in tech. I am a professional communicator. Much of my work is online. I am very familiar with the false fronts presented, and the mistakes easily made, when communicating via keyboard, mic, and screen.
And, like many, I am very tired of sitting in front of a screen, because of the communication barriers it unavoidably places between me and others. I want high quality, human-to-human experiences.
Particularly as AI and social media continue proliferating, it as inevitable as the marketplace that the social value of high quality, well curated, human-to-human experiences will rise. A pendulum will always swing. Covid gave the pendulum swinging away from screen-bound experiences a shove.
My Lodge is the only one left in our 36,000 person town, which once had three. Fast decline has defined the local Craft for quite some time. Yet, we have somehow attracted over sixteen new inquiries in the last year.
Thank you for this perspective.
I hadn't really thought of how the widespread adoption of AI will impact Freemasonry, but I have given quite a lot of consideration to how it will impact writers.
When it comes to writers, my conclusion is that it will increase the value of real, verifiable, human writing. Such will stand out in a flood of computer generated regurgitation. But, I think that the 'verifiable' part will be key. As models improve, it will become impossible to tell the difference unless one can actually know the person on the other end of a piece of writing.
Reading your thoughts, I think you are right, AI will have a similar impact on Freemasonry. Its value will increase because it will be a place of true human connection.
For me personally, as Travis also mentioned, I work 100% remotely and spend all day at the computer in zoom meetings. Spending time outside of work hours at my computer requires a lot of incentive (like our weekly R&G meetings) to participate.
If we're not doing a whole meeting via zoom, only a small off session portion (for, say, education), I kinda don't see the point. There are literally a bazillion online podcasts, lectures, presentations, papers, etc anyone can peruse for free 24/7, why should the lodge go through the expense and trouble to provide a few minutes more?
I'm the person charged with providing education within the lodge, and there are presentations I give that are esoteric in nature, so those can't be shared online anyway (although whatever I am presenting is from the internet to begin with).
I personally feel that the restrictions being put in place aren't really necessary in today's day and age. Coming from a military background where I was invested with a TS/SCI clearance involving highly classified information dealing with national security, I don't think our ritual protections need to be so draconian as being treated like nuclear secrets. We're not curing cancer, and we're not holding launch keys for the ICBMs here.
I understand the reasoning, but what we are doing is protecting the washington masonic code, not the ritual itself, which is wildly available on the internet for anyone that really wants to go find it. Zoom itself has enough protections to keep cowans and eavesdroppers away, and I'm sure I can trust the brothers to secure their own selves during a meeting.
I'm of course going to follow the WMC and any edicts that are issued from GL, but I think there should be some reflection on just what we're really doing, and how to adapt to today's society.
I do agree with you that we are far too concerned about somehow keeping our Standard Work secret. My Jurisdiction's work is completely published in a well known 'exposure' available to anyone with an internet connection.
But many kind of freaked out at the thought of even posting a cyphered version on our password protected website.
We keep it secret, as Masons, to prove that we are honorable men who can be trusted with secrets. From a practical point of view however, it certainly isn't secret.
Right, it's an honor thing. If I can't be trusted to keep something as silly as a handshake, then how can I be trusted to keep my word for anything important?
But if we're going to take the obligation that seriously, then there would be more morgan affairs going on. There should be a line drawn, but I think it needs to be taken a bit further back. We can't just pick and choose which parts of the obligation we'd face expulsion for.
I've taken to explaining this to the new Masons I mentor.
If we tell them something like:
'All the stuff in cypher in this book is a secret, you can't tell anyone.'
But then we also tell them:
'Don't go online and read about your upcoming Degrees, it will spoil them.'
Those two things together don't make any sense, although both are true. I find it does make sense to them if I just tell them that everything is online, we demand secrecy from them because it is a way for them to prove that they can be trusted, not because we are trying to keep secret those things that stopped being secret long ago.
Not too long ago, I wrote an article about this topic. I belong to a Virtual Lodge out of Manitoba: Castle Island Virtual Lodge 190. I started to attend this lodge before COVID-19 was on our radar. In this article I mentioned that I would not replace the tangible experience with a virtual one.
I also talked about some of the conferences I attended recently. There is nothing like meeting in person and on the level, but with work and family demand. Traveling to all of the Masonic conferences I attended last year would not have been possible. The virtual event or meeting before COVID was barely a possibility, but now, thankfully it's thriving.
Virtual Masonic events cannot ever be a substitute for live, in-person meetings, but it certainly can serve as a supplement. Think about the opportunity to expand one's horizons through Masonic Education. Before, we were limited to who we could entice to travel to our lodges. Now, a new world of possibility has opened up. Virtual meetings vs non-virtual should not be considered an all or nothing proposition. Look at it for what it is - a new opportunity to supplement our long-standing traditional gatherings.
“Before, we were limited to who we could entice to travel to our lodges. Now, a new world of possibility has opened up. Virtual meetings vs non-virtual should not be considered an all or nothing proposition. Look at it for what it is - a new opportunity to supplement our long-standing traditional gatherings.”
This is the big key for me. Ever since the shutdown in March of 2020, the Lodge MW Cameron is talking about (I’m also a Past Master of this Lodge) has held a virtual component to its Stated Communication to this day. In fact, the next one will be on Monday. We’ve had guest speakers from other parts of the state, as well as a more distant guest speaker, Maynard Edwards, from Maryland. In addition, we have a member of our Lodge who lives in Rochester, Minnesota, and he has attended EVERY meeting since the shutdown. I don’t even think I can qualify for that one!
The fact that WB Joe has attended every meeting is incentive enough for our Lodge to not discontinue the hybrid meetings, but the opportunities it presents almost makes me want to consider going to the East a fourth time, just to set up speakers for the hybrid sections of the meetings. I’m way too busy at this time to do that, but fortunately, there are members of our Lodge who understand the opportunities and are looking into setting up a schedule like that once they reach the East.
This is exactly what I am referring to. Maynard is a fantastic Mason. It was on his podcast The Tyler's Place back in 2019, that I was introduced to MW Russ Charvonia from CA and his efforts to promote Civility. I am sure that Maynard was a fantastic speaker for your education program. I believe that not too long ago, you had one of my friends, VWB John Lawson speak at your event as well.
Having aging or informed brethren being able to attend Lodge when they otherwise would not be able to is enough reason in and of itself to promote the virtual aspect. I had not considered that!
Yes, VWB John did his famous Anatomy of the Closing Charge. We also had another member in your area who frequents these comments, VWB Mike Priddy, also speak at one of our meetings.
WB Joe is sometimes joined by another member of our Lodge who doesn't drive well at night, and we also have a couple brothers who join us on the Zoom who get home from work too late to get to Centralia to attend the meeting in person.
That being said... there's also that potential issue that other members who can fully attend the meetings in person might just stay home and attend the virtual segment. Well, that's okay, but they can't participate in the Lodge's business affairs, such as balloting and voting for expenditures, etc. Maintaining a good balance is key to retain your in-person membership.
>>>there's also that potential issue that other members who can fully attend the >>>meetings in person might just stay home and attend the virtual segment.
Honestly, I think that this particular fear is overblown. I've not seen evidence of it happening in our Lodge, or in other Lodges that have maintained a virtual component.
I think the primary time of that concern was when we were returning from the lockdown and the virtual meetings and returning to the in-person meetings. Brothers getting used to staying at home and attending Lodge meetings while not missing Monday Night Football. Fortunately, as you note, the concern didn’t come to fruition. But it also shows that while technology is moving us in a more electronically connected direction, there will always be a need for the in-person communication, and even the younger generations are acknowledging it.
Indeed. An awful lot of our Lodges have been doing an awful lot of Degrees since the lockdowns ended.
A handful of years ago, a Lodge here flew in the Mason who had the largest impact on my own practice of Masonic Leadership. The event was very well advertised, and I was certain that the Lodge room would be filled to overflowing.
It wasn't.
Just a couple of weeks ago a Lodge here flew in the Mason who I believe is the smartest Masonic thinker alive today. I figured the Lodge room would be filled.
It wasn't.
It seems that we are largely unable to turn Masons out for events like this, and that has to be disheartening both for the Lodge putting it on, and for the speakers.
Given that, it seems to me that Zoom is quite likely the best way to bring in Masonic speakers from across the country or the world. It might not have the same potential to become a major event, but I'm not sure that potential exists anyway.
On Zoom, neither the Lodge nor the speaker will expect a huge turnout of visiting Masons.
I think using technology for the educational portion of a lodge meeting is a good idea. Especially for guest speakers. It's a lot less expensive to have a guest speaker over zoom than it is to deal with airfare, hotels and such to fly in someone. Plus it would allow any brother who is ill or homebound to participate. I'm not for the entire meeting to be virtual. Just the education portion.
>>>Plus it would allow any brother who is ill or homebound to participate.
Agreed. And the Brother who has moved, and the Brother who is on vacation. The very first virtual Lodge meeting I ever attended had a Brother join who was sitting in a restaurant I'm also known to frequent when I'm in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
I’ve joined a Lodge in California due to restrictions in my Jurisdiction that prevent women and trans men from becoming Masons, and the lack of protections for gay men petitioners. We meet virtually. My only complaint are the audio issues: sometimes someone isn’t mic’d and hearing can be difficult, but usually we make the meeting work. I think it’s important that we get together too, when we can, as we are in a couple of months in-person.
I would be interested in learning more about this Lodge if you care to share.
My Lodge that continues to use Zoom in its meetings has had similar technical issues. I think every time any issue cropped up, the idea was to solve it by adding even more technology. It eventually became a nightmare, and barely worked.
We seem to have largely solved this now by getting rid of almost all of 'stuff' that was supposed to improve the experience!
It is a Lodge in the George Washington Union of Freemasons, Golden Journey Lodge in San Francisco, California. https://www.georgewashingtonunion.org. We are gender-neutral and adogmatic: we believe in fundamental human equality; we are humanists. This transition has been good for me, psychologically: I no longer experience feelings of guilt for my personal participation in forms of exclusion I fundamentally do not condone.
Thank you! I am a little familiar with GWU.
Does your Lodge include the ritual in its online meetings? Are Degrees only performed in person, or are they somehow offered virtually as well?
Sorry for so many questions, but I think we can all do well learning more about continental style Masonry. It certainly has a history as long as my form, and traditions just as strong. And of course, in some parts of the world, it is the dominant form of Freemasonry.
I'm glad to know that you found a Masonic home that meets your needs.
My opinon is that we continue with our in person stated meetings as tradition has dictated. I would add though that after the ritual opening, that a Zoom broadcast be made available to those members who are not able to attend. This would allow those who for health and age reasons are not able to travel to the lodge, to still be involved. It would also allow those who have moved to other parts of the world to be able to stay in contact with their lodge. In my lodge our temple association holds its monthly meeting vial Zoom. Attendence is up for that meeting. For another organization I am a member of we have both in person meetings along with a Zoom connection for those who cannot be there. For the stated meeting, if Zoom can be controlled by the Host to only allow duly confirmed Masons, I don't see an issue.
Things like Temple Board meetings, and even much of the planning and business of the Lodge can and should be pushed off to Zoom I think. Thereby preserving the precious couple of hours we have in open Lodge for Masonry. Anytime we can minimize the business of the outside world in our Stated Meetings, I think that has to be a plus.
Otherwise I wonder, why are we building a sacred space with our ritual, only to fill that space with outside, secular concerns?
Many lodges have members all over the world. If lodges would do education by zoom maybe those brothers who live far away can get the Masonic education. Isn’t that what we are truly here for, to educate the craft. I myself am an Indiana Freemason who lives in Washington; I’ve asked my lodge many times to do a zoom education so I can still be part of their good work.
You are right to point out that in our highly mobile society, we do have members dispersed everywhere. My Seattle Lodge has one Brother living in New York State (He's on this thread with us as well.) Another in the Philippines, and a third in Vietnam. Technology gives us an excellent opportunity to remain in fellowship with them, if we grasp it.