It seems that at least within the Jurisdiction of Washington the concept of a progressive officer line is the norm in all of our Lodges. I don’t know where this tradition originated. It certainly is not required by our Masonic Code, and it results in harm to our Lodges.
If a man is not qualified to lead our Lodge, he should not be elected Master simply because he is next in line.
It is, frankly, a little bit nuts that we will vote for a man who does not have the skills, or in some cases, the interest needed to run our Lodge, but we do just that in far too many cases.
Perhaps a large Lodge starts its line with the Junior Steward. Skykomish Lodge did that when I was active there. Perhaps a small Lodge starts it at Junior Warden. Wherever it begins, those years are training years for the man who will eventually lead the Lodge. Equally important though, those years should serve as evaluation times of the man who hopes to lead the Lodge. As he moves through the chairs, the Lodge should evaluate his performance. If it isn’t up to snuff, he should be removed from the line.
This disqualification of a man is never more important than when he steps up to make himself available for the office of Worshipful Master.
Over the course of five or ten years a struggling Lodge can continually improve and grow, eventually reaching a point at which it is truly thriving and providing meaning to its members lives. Yet all of that can be completely wiped out with just a single year of an unsuitable Master. When that happens, it can take yet another five or ten years to build up again. Of course if unsuitable Masters come in before it is truly thriving, then the Lodge risks never rising above its struggles.
When we vote for officers in our Lodge, we must vote for the good of Masonry.
We must vote in such a way that only qualified men are elected to the East. We can not vote for someone just because it is his turn, and we don’t want to hurt his feelings by electing someone else. We owe that basic duty of care to our Lodge, and our Brothers.
Someone will likely mention this in the comments, so I’ll just state it here. In my opinion, this holds true for Grand Lodge officers as well. If there is a Brother in the line who seems to be unsuited to the office of Grand Master, well then, it would be wrong to elect such a man.
I can think of very few things that have done more damage to Freemasonry than our almost iron commitment to the concept of the progressive officer line. As a fraternity, we would do very well to re-think it.
Last week’s Emeth schedule was off because my days were spent on the road, adding a huge number of miles to the car. Things will revert back to normal this week and into the future.
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I’d also like to thank everyone who participates in the comments following my essays, and in the weekday discussions. The insight and information you provide is extremely valuable, and each of you are effectively adding your voices to the improvement of our Gentle Craft.
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As with every Sunday, we will have a gathering via zoom for all of those with a paid subscription to Emeth this evening. I hope to talk about improving the Lodge experience, and share some concrete examples of that from a Lodge right here in Washington.
The email with login information will go out at 3:00 PM, Pacific, and the zoom gathering will begin at 7:30.
Just in case you missed them:
Let’s Discuss Helping A Brother
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To make the blanket statement that this “tradition” causes harm is false. Harm is caused by the member neglect in that they fail to mentor/ train.
Yes to everything you said Grand Master!
During my tenure in my lodge we've twice elected WMs who were not up to the task. One became mean spirited and resentful when much needed help was offered. The other was a very jovial older Brother and we elected him out of kindness. The kinder thing to do would have been to guide him to a role where he could be successful. And I greatly appreciate your acknowledgement that a Brother who is not a good fit for Grand Master should not advance to the Grand East. I'll not name names but in the most friendly manner I'll just say I've been very disappointed in a few GMs.
Why does this happen? A lodge's WM and our jurisdiction's GM should be the supreme ambassador for our reason to be: Brothers dwelling in harmony to help each other become better men. Instead we sometimes have leaders who are intoxicated with their authority and take obvious pleasure in giving orders.
This problem has been around for a while and it's probably going to be around for a while longer, but with an enlightened approach to management and leadership training there may be a way out. Let's start with the Proficiency in Lodge Management Program, which I have completed and greatly benefited from. The problem is it doesn't teach anything about managing a lodge. Truth in labelling suggests that a better title might be Proficiency in Memorizing the Open and Closing Rituals and Finding Stuff Using Ctrl+F in a Searchable PDF. Again, a worthwhile program, but not management training. As to Leadership training, we do a lot of things at the Leadership Retreat that are really management training. Yes, there's a little bit of leadership training there, but only a little. And there's nothing wrong with a Management retreat, it's just not a leadership retreat.
We need to expand our teachings in leadership, and whether or not a Brother wants to advance in a Lodge or the Grand line, all should consider getting this training as the benefits can extend far beyond what happens in Masonry. And it would better inform Brothers of the qualifications we seek from those we elect to sit in the East.
Leadership Lesson #1: The most powerful thing a leader can do is to never resort to power.