When I volunteered to be on an investigation Committee, our responsibility was to assess if a Candidate could adequately support his family before paying his annual dues (then we could report this to the Lodge before a Ballot was taken)?
I like the way you put that, the lodge members knelt...not the "timeless" lodge itself.
We have a board of charities and it will match almost anything that a lodge can/will raise for a distressed worthy brother, but it drives the point home that "it is all of our duty to relieve one another."
Thank you. I do worry sometimes that it is too easy for us to write a Lodge check and then decide that we've done for our Brother what we are Obligated to do. Nothing wrong with the Lodge check, but we need to remember, I think, that the duty is incumbent upon us individually, not collectively.
Our Charitable institution that runs parallel to our Grand Lodge will also help a Brother financially, if requested to do so by a Lodge. A Lodge isn't required to provide assistance before asking the charitable arm to do so, but that's an error in our Code. A Lodge certainly should. In my unhumble opinion anyway.
As someone who early in my masonic career had kind brothers who helped me out financially with a few bucks here or there when things were really bad. We had recently lost our restaurant to a fire, and suddenly having to rely on my lone salary was a real burden on me. There were days where I couldn’t afford two dollars bus fare to get to work. I even sold some of my things to pay the mortgage. Things eventually got better, I got a significant raise at work, and money started to be less of a problem. I’ll never forget the help a couple of brothers gave me when needed, and I am more than happy to help my fellow brothers when needed.
But I’ve also seen a brother take advantage of lodge charity, begging for hand outs - yet had plenty of money to smoke pot every day. If you are not willing to make some sacrifices to better your situation, then are you really worthy?
Any man can fall on hard times, and when he does, we've taken an obligation to help him. That's truly important and a powerful expression of our Masonic Brotherhood.
But yeah, I've seen it abused too. The guy who comes to Lodge on Thursday asking for financial assistance, then posts a photo of the new collectable he just bought on Friday. Things of that sort.
I believe we do well to develop discernment. This happened when I was still a pretty new Mason:
A fellow came to our Lodge, declaring that he was from elsewhere, had come here and fallen on very hard times.
(Hey, such things happen. When I was a Brand Spanking New Adult my best friend decided to move to Florida. Once there he wasn't able to find good paying work, and he had a string of bad luck things. I ended up sending him the money to move back to Washington where he was able to get back on his feet.)
Anyway, this fellow came to our Lodge. He didn't claim to be a Mason, but he did claim that dead daddy had been one, and that dead mommy was OES.
And I remember, every one of us wanted to help him. His story was extremely compelling.
But, alas, assuming that a Worshipful Master wants to exercise it, that office does hold a lot of power over the Lodge. Our WM said no. He refused. He discerned that the fellow was a scammer. He was the only one, everyone else disagreed with him.
Not too long after that there was a story that went public about how this person had managed to scam another local fraternal organization out of a great deal of money.
I think that is why worthiness is emphasized so heavily in our instructions. As well as what the limits of that expectation are. I think we sometimes forget life and its challenges are not clean cut. We have to be willing to consider each situation from all angles if we are to be good stewards of those resources.
In the Intelligence and Cybersecurity communities there is significant overlap in the manner of approach to things. All the details are considered from the perspectives of best case, worst case, and most likely. I do not think it is unwise or unBrotherly to make sure the resources we offer are being put to best effect and where they will have the most impact.
𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧......
Hopefully this essay is friendly enough. I did consider exactly that while writing it.
When I volunteered to be on an investigation Committee, our responsibility was to assess if a Candidate could adequately support his family before paying his annual dues (then we could report this to the Lodge before a Ballot was taken)?
Yep, I always try to ask that question, fairly pointedly, as well. I'll ask it of the Mrs. if there is one.
We don't want to be Initiating a man into our Craft if doing so will be harmful to his family.
I like the way you put that, the lodge members knelt...not the "timeless" lodge itself.
We have a board of charities and it will match almost anything that a lodge can/will raise for a distressed worthy brother, but it drives the point home that "it is all of our duty to relieve one another."
Thank you. I do worry sometimes that it is too easy for us to write a Lodge check and then decide that we've done for our Brother what we are Obligated to do. Nothing wrong with the Lodge check, but we need to remember, I think, that the duty is incumbent upon us individually, not collectively.
Our Charitable institution that runs parallel to our Grand Lodge will also help a Brother financially, if requested to do so by a Lodge. A Lodge isn't required to provide assistance before asking the charitable arm to do so, but that's an error in our Code. A Lodge certainly should. In my unhumble opinion anyway.
As someone who early in my masonic career had kind brothers who helped me out financially with a few bucks here or there when things were really bad. We had recently lost our restaurant to a fire, and suddenly having to rely on my lone salary was a real burden on me. There were days where I couldn’t afford two dollars bus fare to get to work. I even sold some of my things to pay the mortgage. Things eventually got better, I got a significant raise at work, and money started to be less of a problem. I’ll never forget the help a couple of brothers gave me when needed, and I am more than happy to help my fellow brothers when needed.
But I’ve also seen a brother take advantage of lodge charity, begging for hand outs - yet had plenty of money to smoke pot every day. If you are not willing to make some sacrifices to better your situation, then are you really worthy?
I think that's exactly it.
Any man can fall on hard times, and when he does, we've taken an obligation to help him. That's truly important and a powerful expression of our Masonic Brotherhood.
But yeah, I've seen it abused too. The guy who comes to Lodge on Thursday asking for financial assistance, then posts a photo of the new collectable he just bought on Friday. Things of that sort.
I believe we do well to develop discernment. This happened when I was still a pretty new Mason:
A fellow came to our Lodge, declaring that he was from elsewhere, had come here and fallen on very hard times.
(Hey, such things happen. When I was a Brand Spanking New Adult my best friend decided to move to Florida. Once there he wasn't able to find good paying work, and he had a string of bad luck things. I ended up sending him the money to move back to Washington where he was able to get back on his feet.)
Anyway, this fellow came to our Lodge. He didn't claim to be a Mason, but he did claim that dead daddy had been one, and that dead mommy was OES.
And I remember, every one of us wanted to help him. His story was extremely compelling.
But, alas, assuming that a Worshipful Master wants to exercise it, that office does hold a lot of power over the Lodge. Our WM said no. He refused. He discerned that the fellow was a scammer. He was the only one, everyone else disagreed with him.
Not too long after that there was a story that went public about how this person had managed to scam another local fraternal organization out of a great deal of money.
Why did any of you need to become masons to help others? This is a bizarre take.
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Go to church for organized philanthropy.
Why would we need to go to church to help others? That is a bizarre take.
I certainly had my reasons for joining the Freemasons, helping others wasn’t one of them.
I think that is why worthiness is emphasized so heavily in our instructions. As well as what the limits of that expectation are. I think we sometimes forget life and its challenges are not clean cut. We have to be willing to consider each situation from all angles if we are to be good stewards of those resources.
In the Intelligence and Cybersecurity communities there is significant overlap in the manner of approach to things. All the details are considered from the perspectives of best case, worst case, and most likely. I do not think it is unwise or unBrotherly to make sure the resources we offer are being put to best effect and where they will have the most impact.