Tiny Book Club No. 9

Better Lodge Leadership

We haven’t had a meeting of the Tiny Book Club here on Emeth since August of 2021, so it’s about darn time! You’ve got to slap the guy who runs Emeth around once in awhile to keep him on track I guess!

Photo by Florencia Viadana on Unsplash

Back when I was a brand new Mason, a young and impressionable whippersnapper, I ran across a short online book called The Laudable Pursuit, by some Masons calling themselves The Knights of the North. I don’t remember for certain, but I imagine that I first found The Laudable Pursuit on Chris Hodapp’s blog.

Wherever I found it, I was darn impressed by it. I’ve read it quite a few times in the years since, and I’ve tried to incorporate its ideas into my own Masonic thought and action.

This all came back to me today, and I was inspired to write this post (I actually have a series of posts in mind) thanks to Brother Clevenger who mentioned it in response to yesterday’s essay here on Emeth. So, Thank You Brother!

The Laudable Pursuit makes a number of recommendations for the revitalization of Freemasonry. I would strongly recommend that you read it if you haven’t, and read it again if you have.

It would be great for a Book Club, but here we are only having a Tiny Book Club, and it’s just too long for that.

But, the authors provided a very handy list of specific recommendations. And those are perfect for us to discuss here. Today I’d like to hit on the first three out of thirteen recommendations.

They might not all be applicable to the practices of your Grand Jurisdiction, in fact, numbers one and two are not applicable in mine. But that’s OK, let’s discuss the ones that are applicable.

And since it’s been so long since we’ve had one of our Tiny Book Clubs, just as a reminder, that is how it works. We’ll read the author’s short text, and then discuss it in the comments below.

So here we go! I’ll slap a few really quick comments under each.

“1. EAs and FCs should be allowed into our business meetings. They have been since the fraternity began, in every corner of the globe except in the US after the 1840's. It is US Masonry that created an innovation in the body of Freemasonry. It's time we stopped it.”

I don’t view this first recommendation as applicable to the Grand Lodge of Washington because EA’s and FC’s have been welcome in our Stated Meetings for longer than I’ve been a Mason.

But, perhaps some other Jurisdictions continue to restrict them from this, I don’t know.

“2. Demand better leadership at the Grand Lodge level by allowing nominations from the floor. The current system of appointment to the line by the sitting Grand Master is flawed, irresponsible and subject to abuse, however well-liked and well-meaning the Grand Master may be.”

I also don’t view this as applicable to my Jurisdiction because we do not have an appointment or quasi appointment system for our Grand Lodge. Our elections into the line at Junior Grand Warden are free, fair, and open to any Master Mason. We have had competitive elections for a great many years now.

But I do know that other Jurisdictions still use an appointment process to select the Mason who will ultimately become Grand Master.

“3. Demand better leadership at the Lodge level by ending the reliance on the progressive officer's line. If a man is not qualified, he should not make the jump from SD to JW, nor should he ascend to the East just because he has put in his time. Both tyrants and amiable dunces can wreck a Lodge in a year.”

This is applicable to my Jurisdiction. I believe that the overwhelming number of Washington Lodges still hold quite strongly to the idea of a progressive officer line.

So, there you have it, three recommendations from the Knights of the North, made in 2004.

To my mind, all three are solid recommendations and should be seriously considered.

What do you think about them?

Has your Lodge or Grand Lodge adopted some or all of them? If not, should you?

Let’s discuss it in the comments below.

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On the same topic, I’m pleased to recommend this playlist from The Working Tools Podcast.