Let's Mentor Our Officers
To give them an opportunity to succeed
This past week I was sitting at my dining room table with the newest member of Centralia No. 63, helping him learn the Entered Apprentice Posting Lecture. While we were working, it suddenly struck me that we properly devote a lot of time and energy helping our new Masons prove their proficiency through the Posting Lecture, but we don’t do the same with new or upcoming Lodge Officers.
Helping our upcoming or new Lodge Officers become proficient is certainly a Lodge responsibility, but I think it is a responsibility completely neglected in most of our Lodges.
We are failing our new Officer when we don’t take the time to teach him his role in the Opening, Closing, and Degrees. But we are also badly failing ourselves, for in far too many cases he will struggle to learn on his own, and we will have to sit through poor ritual, something none of us want to do.
Luckily the solution to this, the solution to helping the man and the Lodge is a truly simple one. We must only sit down with him and teach him. Just as we sat down with him and taught him the Posting Lectures.
But this is even easier than that, because in the minor chairs he will have little ritual to learn. The entire process can probably be easily whipped out in an hour or two.
Here in Washington, in a few short months Installation season will be upon us. Upcoming Worshipful Masters will be considering their Officer lines, and making phone calls to the men they want to appoint into Chairs.
Instead of those calls going something like:
“Hey Jim, I’d like you to be our Junior Deacon next year. Installation will be on November 19th.”
Let’s change it up a bit. Let’s instead say something like:
“Hey Jim, I’d like you to be our new Junior Deacon next year. Installation will be on November 19th, but you need to know your part before then. How about you come over to my place on Tuesday evening, we’ll have a beer and I’ll teach you the ritual?”
That second conversation does three things:
It saves the new Mason/new Officer from embarrassment at his first meeting or first half dozen meetings because he will know his parts in the ritual, instead of standing there, with all eyes on him, trying to somehow struggle through it, hearing prompts from all sides. It improves the Lodge experience for him.
It saves everyone else in the Lodge from having to listen to poorly performed Ritual for a meeting, or a lot of meetings. It improves the Lodge experience for everyone.
Lastly, it sets an expectation for the future. This new officer will know that in the years to come he will be expected to know the ritual before he is installed into Office. Setting expectations in this way helps us to build truly Legendary Freemasonry.
None of this is hard. Working one on one, most Masons could have the Junior Deacon’s part down in less than an hour. Senior Deacon in less than two, likewise with the Warden’s parts. The upcoming WM should be coached by a Past Master, and it will take a bit more work, but certainly much less work than when he was coached through the Posting Lectures.
This very small investment of time will pay the Lodge, and the Officer, dividends for years to come.
All we have to do, is do it.
In my working years I had the responsibility of keeping enough work to keep my customers happy and my employees informed what projects were in the pipeline. I didn’t have the time or energy to petition a lodge until I was 67. I don’t want to sound boastful but it came easy for me to learn ritual. I’m now 84 and try to mentor younger brothers that are interested in learning parts but, as many times I’ve offered the interest isn’t there.
Failure wasn’t an option and it took hard work and to be honest being at the right place at the right time on a couple occasions. In my mother lode I’ve had the opportunity to know three brothers who were active at 102 and I hope I have that in my future.
Where are going Brother Mercer? To demonstrate that age isn’t the end all or be all of life and nothing is impossible if you really believe you can do something.
If you’re a viewer of “The Working Tools “ brother Dunham believes we don’t put enough effort into developing officers as we do getting them to MM.
It is one thing for the officers to know the ritual. I also think they need to know what is expected of the man filling the role.
I am a member of two Lodges. One requires PiLM before you sit in the East. As this is a good practice, I think rather than watch the last minute scramble to "check the box", this should be something that is expected of the Sr. Deacon to complete and required for the WM. This would ensure the incoming WM has the time and intention to thoroughly learn more than just ritual prior to his Lodges' year with him at the helm.
Aside from PiLM, I think relying on the right PM to mentor the incoming WM is vitally important. Sometimes, I think we place too much emphasis on a man's time in the East. I know many PM's in both jurisdictions to which I have been a part of, who have no business mentoring anyone. Conversely, I know many great leaders who are excellent examples of Lodge Leaders, but have never served in the East.
Just like mentoring the newest Mason, we must put some thought into our selection.