Rich Lodge - Poor Lodge

As with all things, there must be balance

At this point in my Masonic career I find myself primarily practicing Freemasonry in two very different geographical locations.

I spend a lot of time on Freemasonry where I live. A largely rural area where Lodges are spread out, membership numbers are largely static, and Lodges generally don’t have very much money

I also spend a lot of time on Freemasonry in Seattle. An extremely prosperous city where our Lodges are concentrated in the northern parts, membership is growing, and some of the Lodges hold vast financial resources.

Now, of course, these are generalizations. Some Lodges in each area don’t match the generalities stated above, but on the whole, these largely hold true. And, there is a way of thinking that seems to reflect these generalizations.

Photo by Aidan Bartos on Unsplash

Recently I was visiting a Lodge near my home. I was struck by how it seems to be sabotaging both itself, and Freemasonry more generally, by being far too cheap. I’d sort of noticed that at this particular Lodge in the past, but my most recent visit really drove this perception home for me.

This particular Lodge is in really rough shape. It’s had some fairly significant dissention within its membership, but far and away its largest difficulty is a lack of membership. Its active membership has declined to the point that it has become a struggle to elect officers each year. Currently it is working to decide if it should merge with a neighboring Lodge, or stick it out for a while longer.

But one problem this Lodge doesn’t have is money. It’s got a lot of money. Investments which if some portion of each year’s gain was drawn off would allow the Lodge to do some good things, and as long as what was drawn off was only a percentage of the yearly increase, those investments could continue to grow forever.

The Lodge seemingly doesn’t do that.

Collectively it acts as if it is as poor as a church mouse.

Continuing to do that will only make the problems the Lodge is facing worse.

Prudent Lodge financial management means that a Lodge demands that its members carefully steward its resources, thoughtfully consider financial decisions, and not waste money.

It does not mean that the Lodge hold on to every cent it has ever acquired.

At this meeting I recently attended, four things were brought up that the reaction to them really stood out to me.

The Temple has some problems with its electrical wiring. Nothing too major, but something that really needs to get fixed. The Temple Board had gotten some bids from reputable electrical contractors, selected the lowest bid, and had come to the Lodge with a request that the Lodge transfer enough funds to pay for the work to be done.

The Lodge did. And that’s all fine and good. The Lodge even added a bit of a cushion to the amount, in case of a small cost overrun. The right decision was made.

But getting there was painful.

Before authorizing the money Lodge members seemed to demand every detail. Who the bids were from, what precise work was going to be done, had the Temple Board checked this, and this, and this.

That isn’t how these things should work.

Currently there are is no light in the Tyler’s Room, the Preparation Room, or at the outside entrance to the building. That’s dangerous. The cost to fix it, based on the bids received, is minimal.

The Lodge should provide the Temple Board with enough resources each year so that the Temple Board can simply fix emergent problems as they arrive, without having to wait for a Lodge Stated Meeting in order to get funds necessary to handle a small emergency.

My own Masonic Temple suffered a flood recently. Within a couple of hours of that flood being discovered a professional flood restoration company had its machines set up inside the building removing the water.

That couldn’t happen at this neighboring Lodge, because the Lodge withholds adequate resources from its Temple Board, despite holding significantly more financial resources than my own Lodge.

And, honestly, when you walk into that building, it is very plain to see the results of this denial of adequate resources.

Lodges in the area want to hold a picnic this summer. Bring themselves and the appendant/concordant bodies all together for an afternoon of food and fellowship in the sun. It’s a good idea. Fellowship outside of the Lodge is vital for feelings of Brotherhood to grow between Masons.

Two recent experiences at the grocery store have really struck me. One afternoon I was in there, standing in line behind some fellow. The checker rang up his purchases, and everything he bought fit into two bags. His bill was almost $250. More recently Mrs. Bailey and I decided that nothing in the house sounded good for dinner, so we went off to the grocery store in search of something else. We bought nothing other than what we were making for dinner that night. It wasn’t steak, and it wasn’t lobster, but the bill came to $50. For one meal for two. (Plus the dog of course, gotta feed the dog, and lemme tell ya, he don’t eat no dog food.)

The Lodge has $100 for the picnic.

The Master was able to add another $100 from some discretionary funds he is budgeted, but only that additional $100 because even though he has more alloted, the Lodge only allows him to spend a maximum of $100 in any given month, no matter what it is for.

So, because the WM fought for it, they have $200 to spend on what will likely prove to be a well attended summer picnic. I guess they will be eating hot dogs a month past the expiration date and drinking tang.

Is that a Lodge experience that will bring Masons back?

A Brother stood up to announce that the local Job’s Daughters have a jurisdictional event coming up and don’t have all the funds needed to cover the kid’s participation. He hoped that the Lodge could help out, so that the girls could attend. No dice. Apparently the Lodge had already given the girls $100 this year, and that’s it. No one even suggested that (as I’ve seen many poorer Lodges do) the hat be passed.

Is $100 per year, from a Lodge with extensive financial holdings all the daughters of our Masons are worth? If Lodge money can’t be spent, shouldn’t a hat be passed around? Don’t we, as Masons, sort of imply a promise to be of help to the children of our Brothers?

Another Brother, apparently holding out hope against hope, arose to announce that a brand new Chapter of Demolay was being formed in the town. The very first meeting is coming up in a few days, and they need a few bucks to get things kick started. Sorry, the Lodge declared. It ain’t in the budget. No cash for the sons of Freemasons.

Now, of course it isn’t in the budget. Because it didn’t exist when the budget was drafted. But a budget does not handcuff a Lodge. A Lodge, with a vote of the Lodge, can spend its money on any legitimate thing, budgeted or not. ‘Not in the budget’ was just an excuse to hoard $100 bucks.

None of this is Masonic.

None of it was required because of the Lodge budget, nor the Masonic Code.

Indeed, both of the decisions regarding the youth were rather shameful.

And none of those decisions will grow the Lodge or Freemasonry. No one wants to join an organization that meets in a building that is in painfully obvious disrepair because the Lodge starves its Temple Board of resources. No one wants to attend Lodge events that are done as cheaply as possible. No one wants to join an organization that refuses to even support its own children.

They said that I was in a Masonic meeting. The ritual made it appear to be a Masonic meeting. But when it came to money, I didn’t see any Masonry at all.

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On a completely separate note:

Since I have three separate Substacks that I have to somehow keep organized, I’ve decided to give Linktree a try. You can find mine here Cameron M. Bailey’s LinkTree.

Or if you’re really snazzy, give this a shot:

Damn. If I keep this up, I’ll have to stop calling myself a Luddite. Next I’ll be using PayPal or some other such craziness.