Fred Milliken,Freemason Information,The Beehive

What is Freemasonry? A Response to Tim Bryce & Greg Stewart

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As the third writer on Freemason Information I’ll jump in with both feet and take a stab at this question. Both Tim & Greg have attempted to define Freemasonry as an intellectual enterprise of definition devoid of the feelings of individual Freemasons. And it is precisely those feelings that help define the Craft. Sometimes what counts is not reality but perception. One needs to get a sense of what motivates a person to join Freemasonry. Those reasons shed a lot of light on how Freemasonry is perceived, and how it is perceived is really what it is to flesh and bone human beings. The Craft then becomes not what one wants it to be but what it really is to its practitioners.

That is not to take to task my fellow writers for I do not disagree with their conclusions. I come not to bury Caesar but to praise him, which is a little twist on a famous quote. I just don’t think they take their cases far enough. Stewart tells us:

“As a fraternity, Tim’s conclusion is that while not a club, philanthropy, religion or political action committee, Freemasonry is a place where, and I’m paraphrasing here, moral men meet on common ground to act rightly to one another.  He concludes saying that men gathered like this for no more reason than to associate so.”

“While I can’t find a disagreement on that conclusion, one has to ask gather to for what end?”  

That’s a good question I will ask again and answer later. I don’t think Stewart ever really answered it. But first I would point out, as I have done many times before, that Freemasons are on different levels of Masonic development and practice. What one Freemason sees in the Craft another does not. What one man practices in Freemasonry another shuns. Some see Freemasonry as a philosophical society, some as a social organization, some as just a means to networking, some as a claim to prestige, some as a way of life and some as a bonding of like thinking human beings. I think what Stewart was saying is that they are all right.

What we perceive is shaped greatly by our personal experiences, our environment. I have had the pleasure to experience Prince Hall Freemasonry, unlike Bryce and Stewart who have not. And in that experience I have had the joy of some very tight bonding. Brothers in Prince Hall hug or embrace each other, always and often. There is a real concern for a Brother’s well being. We not only pray for a Brother in distress or mourning but we do the same for our sisters in OES and HOJ. We will not hesitate to provide direct aid. We tend to work together on projects outside of Freemasonry. There is one big word to describe this experience – FAMILY. In Prince Hall we are all family.

Now I am by no means putting down Mainstream Freemasonry in this regard. I am sure there is the same concern there. But to me and for me its “stiff upper lip” standoffness is a sharp contrast in demonstration of that concern.

I am at once reminded of the words of H.L. Haywood:

 “Freemasonry does not exist in a world where brotherhood is a mere dream flying along the sky; it exists in a world of which brotherhood is the law of human life. Its function is not to bring brotherhood into existence just as a hot-house gardener may at last coax into bloom a frail flower, though the climate is most unfriendly, but to lead men to understand that brotherhood is already a reality, a law, and that it is not until we come to know it as such, and practice it, that we can ever find happiness, together. Freemasonry does not create something too fine and good for this rough world; it “reveals” something that is as much a part of the world as roughness itself. In other words, it removes the hoodwink of jealousy, hatred, unkindness, and all the other myriad forms of unbrotherliness in order that a man may see and thus come to know how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. The hoodwink of cloth or leather that is bound over a man’s eyes is not the real hoodwink at all, but only the symbol thereof; the real hoodwink, and it is that which Freemasonry undertakes to remove from a man’s eyes, is all that anti-social and unhuman spirit out of which grow the things that make life unkind and unhappy. “Brotherhood is heaven; the lack of brotherhood is hell.”

So Freemasonry is a brotherhood with camaraderie. OK, but what difference does it make what it is, isn’t it really all about what it does, especially for the individual Freemason? So what does Freemasonry provide to its members?

My answer is that it provides Community. Everybody needs Community, from the gangbanger to the single mother with 3 children to the Freemason. It is an inherent need of all humankind, the social animals that we are.  If you have read Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled, Timeless Edition: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth you know what I am talking about. In case you haven’t Peck has a brief explanation of Community for us.

  • Inclusivity, commitment and consensus: Members accept and embrace each other, celebrating their individuality and transcending their differences. They commit themselves to the effort and the people involved. They make decisions and reconcile their differences through consensus.
  • Realism: Members bring together multiple perspectives to better understand the whole context of the situation. Decisions are more well-rounded and humble, rather than one-sided and arrogant.
  • Contemplation: Members examine themselves. They are individually and collectively self-aware of the world outside themselves, the world inside themselves, and the relationship between the two.
  • A safe place: Members allow others to share their vulnerability, heal themselves, and express who they truly are.
  • A laboratory for personal disarmament: Members experientially discover the rules for peacemaking and embrace its virtues. They feel and express compassion and respect for each other as fellow human beings.
  • A group that can fight gracefully: Members resolve conflicts with wisdom and grace. They listen and understand, respect each others’ gifts, accept each others’ limitations, celebrate their differences, bind each others’ wounds, and commit to a struggle together rather than against each other.
  • A group of all leaders: Members harness the “flow of leadership” to make decisions and set a course of action. It is the spirit of community itself that leads and not any single individual.

I think Bryce & Stewart are trying to make the symptoms the disease.

So if Freemasonry is Community we are back to Stewart’s question we promised to answer, for what purpose? First of all to be  Community. That’s enough of an explanation in itself. But to personalize it more to Freemasonry, to be a very special Community of morality and purpose with a message, to practice all of the above – all that has been written in all 3 articles on this subject.


What do you think? Leave your thoughts on what Freemasonry is in the comments below.

Also Read A Response to Tim Bryce’s What is Freemasonry?  and A Response to Tim Bryce & Greg Stewart

Walter Hunt, Freemason’s Information Age Pioneer

Interesting people do interesting things and some of the most interesting to me are Masonic artisans or craftsmen. The cream of the crop are those who are multi talented having expertise across a number of fields. When I wrote about Patrick Craddock I noted:

Successful people are multi- talented and multi-faceted people. If you take a look at Brothers David Naughton-Shires and Ryan Flynn you will notice that they have interests and expertise in a wide range of different areas. What they do in one field is buttressed by what they know in another. When you combine a working knowledge of mathematics, science, history and religion with such sub headings of scholarship perhaps such as numerology, sacred geometry, historical preservation, symbology, ancient mystery schools, Gnosticism, computer science and other such studies, you become a well rounded person able to pull from other areas for your vision.

Here are some of these multi talented Freemason artisans and craftsmen who have graced the pages of Freemason Information and Phoenixmasonry.

Shot From The Cannon – David Naughton-Shires And The Masonic Art Exchange

Patrick Craddock And The Craftsman’s Apron

The Multi Talented Masonic Graphic Artist Brother Ryan J. Flynn

Brother Jim McBeth, Masonic Knife Craftsman

Walter Hunt 1Now it is time to add another multi talented Masonic artisan to the group, Right Worshipful Brother Walter Hunt, Grand Historian for the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts AF & AM.  Hunt is a most remarkable man who has been a writer all his life and a full time professional since 2001. He is the author of four science fiction novels by Tor Books – The Dark Wing series, which has been compared to the works of, Orson Scott Card, Frank Herbert, David Weber, and J.R.R. Tolkien. The series has been published in English and German and The Dark Wing has also appeared in Russian.

 

Since these works he has written “A Song In Stone,” which deals with the mystery of Rosslyn Chapel and the secrets of the Templars.

Hunt writes of his inspiration for A Song In Stone:

Walter Hunt 6“In the summer of 2005, I had the opportunity to visit Rosslyn Chapel, an extraordinary site just seven miles from Edinburgh. The final scenes in the best-selling novel The DaVinci Code take place there; it’s said to be the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the Grail, among other things. It also has Masonic and Knight Templar connections. My tour guide that day was a fellow Mason, who was very knowledgeable about the place – both the traditional lore and the somewhat more esoteric stories. While I was standing with him in the northeast corner of the chapel – highly significant, that, as my fellow Masons will attest – he and I had a conversation similar to the one below.”

 “Look up there,” he said, pointing to the ceilings. I could see the pendant bosses hanging down from the place where four arched supports met; each arch was decorated with hundreds of boxlike projections and an assortment of carvings and decorations – animal and human figures, angels and devils, nature emblems and Green men.

“Extraordinary,” I managed.

“Unlike anything else,” he said. “There are countless numbers of places of worship, holy places, all across Europe and the world. But this is different, Ian. This is not merely a work of art: it’s a text written in stone. More than that – it’s a song.”

“I don’t quite get your meaning. A song?”

“Take a look around the arches. There are seven slightly different shapes for those boxes. There are seven notes in the scale. In fact, if you’ve a good ear, you could strike each of them and hear a slightly different sound.

“Now imagine if all of them – there are more than fourteen hundred – were arranged as music . . . It’s the healing music of Rosslyn,” Madson said softly, looking away from me as if he were trying to remember something.

“I don’t think that was in my briefing.”

“No, it wouldn’t be,” he said. “But if it could be found . . .” “What happens then?”

“It heals the world.”

. . . And, as sometimes happens in my line of work, I had a moment of inspiration. A song, I thought. A whole plot dropped into my head; what if that song was truly the key to healing the world – what if it unlocked something of great importance? People have been trying to unlock the music for centuries; someone claims he’s actually done it, though my guide suggests that this falls short of the true “healing music”. But if the music was more complex, there might be an even more complex reason for it to have been encoded in the stones of the Chapel. From such small things are great things born. By the time I headed for home a week and a half later, I’d sketched out a plot for a new novel; by Labor Day there were five chapters. Within a year, there was an entire book. It was the first book I’ve written that isn’t part of the Dark Wing universe. The quoted portion above is from that book.

He goes on to describe Rosslyn Chapel:

The Apprentice Pillar

The Apprentice Pillar, which is said to be tied to Freemasonic legend. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Even the dimensions have meaning. As I began to plan out the plot of A Song In Stone, I became more and more aware of the strange field of sacred geometry – the way in which medieval builders created remarkable structures without resorting to advanced mathematics, computer-aided design, or any other modern convenience. There is a great confluence between the Gothic architectural style and the mathematics of music. It shows at Rosslyn, at the great cathedrals such as Chartres (explored later in the book, and to be described in a later post) . . . and at Rosslyn as well. Rosslyn is rightly called a “mystery chapel” – and it deserves better than to be an anticlimactic footnote. From the Lady Chapel to the decorated ceiling, from the pillars to the sacristy, Rosslyn is full of little mysteries waiting to be discovered.

Walter Hunt 7Lately Hunt has a few more irons in the fire. He is writing a sequel to A Song In Stone titled A Word In The Air. He is also working on another novel titled King & Country. “It’s an alternate-history timeline” he says, “an America with no United States; the American Revolution never happened. In fact, there is no hint of a revolution: the Atlantic colonies never consider the possibility of separation, because their relationship with the mother country is on a fundamentally different footing.”

Now so as you get the picture that is a very serious author who does not just dash off a bunch of words and slap them into a book, here is his reading list for research for this undertaking:

The Earlier Colonial Period

  • Andrews, Charles MThe Colonial Period of American History. This work is the definitive text on the colonial period. It is in four volumes, though Volume 1 and Volume 2 are the most important, as they provide the most complete descriptions on the origins of the British colonies (including offshore and Caribbean ones).
  • Bourne, RussellGods of War, Gods of Peace. An excellent insight into the religions of native societies as they came into contact with European ones.
  • Cordingly, DavidUnder the Black Flag. A real-life history of piracy, with considerable information on the lives of the most notorious pirates.
  • Fischer, David HackettAlbion’s Seed. An excellent study of the cultural origins of English-speaking colonies in America. While not as historically in-depth as the Andrews book for facts and details, it’s an easier and more fluid read. 0195069056
  • Jones, Daniel PThe Economic and Social Transformation of Rural Rhode Island. A dry discussion of early Rhode Island economics, particularly informative for the period just after King Philip’s War. 1555531210
  • Mandell, Daniel. Behind the Frontier. A study of the role of native peoples in Massachusetts Bay Colony during the eighteenth century. This is a good companion piece to the excellent Taylor book on New York natives (see below). 0803282494
  • McCormick, Richard PNew Jersey From Colony To State. A Rutgers University study of the transformation of the Jersey shore settlements up to the creation of the United States. (New Jersey’s development is less linear and more complex than other colonies, so this is a very useful book.) 081350662X
  • Mason, LauraSugar-Plums and Sherbet. Subtitled “The Prehistory of Sweets”, this book is an insightful discussion of the development of sugar and sugar products. 1903018285
  • Peckham, Howard HThe Colonial Wars: 1689-1762. Detailed discussion of the “forgotten wars” in America (not forgotten here, needless to say!) prior to the French and Indian War. 0226653145
  • Salinger, Sharon VTaverns and Drinking in Early America. A well-researched book about the culture of taverns and the social mores of drunkenness in colonial America. 0801878993
  • Singleton, Esther. Social New York Under the Georges. A wonderful source of information on New York life – furnishings, etc. – with pictures. Great stuff. 1406770493
  • Taylor, AlanAmerican Colonies. One of the best all-around books about colonial development in America. I had a conversation with a reenactor at Jamestown in the summer of 2007 who had some issues with Taylor’s conclusions, but the book is comprehensive and detailed. 0142002100
  • Vaughn, Alden PThe New England Frontier. A detailed discussion of relations with natives in New England during the seventeenth century (before King Philip’s War). 080612718X
  • Warden, G.BBoston 1689-1776. The 19th of April was famous in New England long before the Revolution – it was the day that Bostonians took Sir Edmund Andros prisoner in Fort William. This very informative book begins with that event and takes the reader all the way through the coming of the American Revolution. B000NOYL1M
  • Zemsky, RobertMerchants, Farmers and River Gods. Zemsky’s book is a study of leading citizens in Massachusetts Bay Colony prior to the Revolution. This B000KLXLY6

Eighteenth-Century Britain

  • Buchan. Crowded With Genius.
  • McLynn. Bonnie Prince Charlie.
  • Preble. Glencoe.
  • Preble. The Highland Clearances.
  • Schama, Simon. A History of Britain (3 vols, DVD)
  • Treasure. Who’s Who In Early Hanoverian Britain.
  • Treasure. Who’s Who In Late Hanoverian Britain.

French and Indian War

  • Anderson, Paul Crucible of War
  • Harvey A Few Bloody Noses
  • Jennings. Empire of Fortune
  • Parry Trade and Dominion

American Revolution Era

  • Allgor Parlor Politics
  • Middlekauff. The Glorious Cause
  • Middlekauff. Benjamin Franklin and His Enemies
  • Schecter. The Battle for New York

Early 19th Century

  • Key, Jane Holtz. Lost Boston. A photographic essay on the city of Boston, 1558495274

Middle 19th Century

Land and Sea Warfare

  • Black, Jeremy Warfare in the Eighteenth Century
  • Herman To Rule the Waves
  • Lavery, Ship of the Line (2 vols)

Hunt says this bibliography is a bit out of date as he has added to it. My goodness, that is a lot of reading to do for one book!                     Elements

But before he completes this epic work he is going to publish a 1632 novel with the help of Eric Flint. It is set in 1636, and takes place mostly in the New World.

Hunt has still another work in progress, this one almost complete. The Book is title “Elements of Mind,”  a novel that is set around 1860, and deals with mesmerism – a sort of pseudoscience that swept England in the middle 19th century. The principal characters are almost exclusively real people, though in many cases their histories have been altered or elaborated to fit the story.

Hunt doesn’t just limit himself to writing, however. He is also the designer of a board game called Rails of New England.

Rails of New England

 Rails of New England 3If this is all Hunt did it would be quite an accomplishment. Yet this man is also an active Freemason. Grand Historian,Right Worshipful Walter Hunt is a member of Norumbega Fraternity Lodge, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts AF & AM, which was originally  a merger of  Norumbega and Brookline Lodges, 03/12/1984, where Hunt was Master in 1993-1994 and then that merger merged with Fraternity & Fuller Lodge to form Norumbega Fraternity Lodge,10/05/2001. Hunt is also Past Master of Mount Hollis Lodge of the same jurisdiction where he served as Master in 1999 and 2006.

Hunt writes for the Trowel, the magazine of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts AF & AM. He has an ongoing series right now of in depth looks at Massachusetts Past Grand Masters you have never heard of. When the editorship of the Trowel became available recently Hunt was one of two semi finalists for the position.

Here is a list of articles that he has authored for the Trowel:

  • Summer 2009: “A Grand Historian For Our Grand Lodge.”
  • Winter 2009: “Masonic Team-Building.”
  • Spring 2010: “Our Grand Master Visits Our Brothers in Panama.”
  • Fall 2010: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: John Cutler and Samuel Dunn.”
  • Winter 2010: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Isaiah Thomas, Benjamin Russell – Printers, Patriots, Freemasons.”
  • Spring 2011: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Joseph Jenkins, John Abbot – The Builder of the Temple and the Defender of the Craft.”
  • Summer 2011: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Joshua B. Flint.”
  • Winter 2011: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Paul Dean – Careful Steward.”
  • Spring 2012: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: George Randall – Apostle in the Wilderness.”
  • Summer 2012: “Browsing the Proceedings of Grand Lodge.”
  • Fall 2012: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: John T. Heard.”
  • Winter 2012: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Augustus Peabody – A Profound Thinker and Good Man”
  • Spring 2013: “Grand Marshal to Grand Master.”
  • Summer 2013: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Charles C. Dame – The Fraternity Rebuilds.”
  • Fall 2013: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: William Sewall Gardner – Holding the Scales in Equipoise.”
  • Winter 2013: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Sereno Dwight Nickerson – ‘Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice.’ “
  • Spring 2014: (pending): “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Claude LeRoy Allen – A Different Time.”

But his crowning Masonic achievement, the pièce de résistance , is his website  Masonic Genealogy.

MasonicGenealogy is intended for use as a research tool for Masonic historians. It is the synthesis of readily-available sources presented in the form of a wiki, a searchable database consisting of pages connected by links. The content is constantly evolving and enlarging, and all material on the site is subject to change as new material becomes available.

Here is how this project came about in Hunt’s own words:

“The primary author was at the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts at one of its Quarterly Communications in the fall of 2009, and met three Brothers from Rufus Putnam Lodge in Rutland, Massachusetts. These Brothers were interested in finding out information about their Lodge’s history.”

“Their initial inquiry ran up against one of the greatest problems with our otherwise-terrific Grand Lodge Library and its extensive records, the Proceedings which chronicle the doings of our Grand Lodge from 1733 to the present: there is no comprehensive index. There are indexes in some of the more than 140 volumes of the Proceedings (though not all), and there is a card catalog (incomplete) composed around 1951 that covers some (but not all) of the topics – people, places, lodges, events – from our long history. But there is no overall, up-to-date index.”

“And so began the quixotic notion of creating an index – by, as another of Masonic Genealogy’s principals says, “turning every page.” Thus, over a series of months, every page of the Proceedings from 1792 to the present has been turned (the work is ongoing). The site now contains pages for every lodge ever chartered, and virtually every lodge for which a dispensation was ever issued, in Massachusetts. Similar data sets exist for other states. There is a page for every year of the Grand Lodge’s history (the work is ongoing), listing all of the events of that year, in some cases illustrated by pictures from the Proceedings and elsewhere. Other topic pages are being developed; see the Current events page to see what exists and what’s new.”

It is real genius placing a cataloging system into a wiki. Hunt explains some of the benefits:

  • By referencing a Year page, the user can readily see the events of that year, including the Grand Master, the dates and events of Quarterly Communications, elections and decisions, and necrology information from that year. Each year also includes a summary of all lodges in existence during that year, both chartered and under dispensation.
  • By referencing a Location page, the user can see a list of all lodges that met in that place, along with the years they met there. It is intended eventually to list the building locations and information about those buildings, but that is not yet in place.
  • By referencing a Lodge page, the user can see information about the lodge of that name, along with a list of years the lodge was active; where the date appears in bold, there is a reference for that lodge in the corresponding year. Each lodge page also includes the charter and dispensation date, the Grand Master issuing the charter, the places it met, and the current disposition of its charter, if known.

From a layman’s point of view the wiki format has obvious advantages. It is on a database not web pages.  It doesn’t exist until you click on it. There is no realistic limit to how much data you can enter. It’s easy to set up and has the ability to rapidly locate things. It is very fast!

And the links, did I mention the links? You can put links on a page which link to another page which has numerous links to other pages which when you link onto them have still more links. And this goes on forever and can bring you back to where you started. It’s like one big circle. Hunt says, “Think of a wiki as a roll top desk with pigeon holes.”

Some of the other advantages are that a wiki has an edit link for every page. It writes the html for you. Most wikis store old copies of pages and often will show you what changes you have made on those pages.

Nathan Matias at Sitepoint – has some further wiki advantages to mention.

  • Creating New Pages Is Simple With Wikis: Wikis let you link to pages that don’t yet exist. Click on a link that points to a nonexistent page, and the wiki will ask you for initial content to put in the page. If you submit some initial content, the wiki will create the page. All links to that page (not just the one you clicked) will now point to the newly-created page.
  • Wikis Simplify Site Organization: As wikis work like hypertext databases, you can organize your page however you want. Many content management systems require you to plan classifications for your content before you actually create it. This can be helpful, but only if what you want to convey fits a rigid mould. With a wiki, you can organize your page into categories if you want, but you can also try other things. Instead of designing the site structure, many wiki site creators just let the structure grow with the content and the links inside their content. But you don’t have to have it either way. I do all three on my own site. Visitors can navigate the site by following a storyline, drilling down through a hierarchy, or they can just browse with the natural flow of the internal links. Without the wiki, such complexity would be a nightmare. Now that I use a wiki, I also find my site structure easier to manage than when I used a template system and a set of categories.
  • Wikis Keep Track of All Your Stuff: Because a wiki stores everything in an internal hypertext database, it knows about all your links and all your pages. So it’s easy for the wiki to show back links, a list of all the pages that linking to the current page. Since the wiki stores your document history, it can also list recent changes. Advanced wikis like the Wikipedia can even show a list of recent changes to pages that link to the current page.

Hunt tells us again, “A wiki grows organically. Take things in any order, in any time. Look at any page and see its history.”

Some come with me now to explore Masonic Genealogy. Under regional sections on the right click on Massachusetts. Click on Lodges and we will look up one of my former Lodges. Go to the P’s and click on Paul Revere.  Now under Anniversaries or Visits by Grand Master, take your pick, click on 2006- 150th anniversary. Now we find ourselves on the Jeffrey Hodgdon Grand Master page for 2006. Scroll down the page to Special Communications and find 10/14 2006 Brockton. Click on Brockton and then Paul Revere and we are back where we started.

Now this is a very simple route that we took. But you might have noticed along the way all the options you had to go elsewhere and make a bigger circle or a longer route. The cross referencing in this wiki presents you with the best cross referencing you have ever seen and you can use it without getting lost.

Lately Hunt is working on expanding and explaining all the annotations in the pages of the Grand Constitution.

The bottom line is that this is a tremendous tool for research and getting to know your Grand Lodge. It is the new Grand Lodge Search Engine!

Walter Hunt, a historian, writer, author, science fiction buff, board game aficionado and Freemason is making his mark on society and Freemasonry. His Masonic Genealogy will be a model for every Lodge in the United States if not the world and will bring Grand Lodges fully into the 21st century Information Age with both feet.

War of the Worldviews

If you are reading this you are going to think that this is a little far removed from Freemasonry. You may even think that it violates the principle of discussing religion inside Freemasonry. But you would be wrong.

The prohibition in most jurisdictions is against allowing sectarian religion and partisan politics into the Lodge room.

So if I am proselytizing for a religion or denomination within a religion and/or a political party then I am in violation. But if I want to talk about honesty in government or the power of prayer, well I think that is a different story.

War Of The WorldviewsEarly American Freemasonry was the nation’s biggest booster of the public school system. Are you prepared to tell me that advocating government schools is a violation of the Masonic prohibition about political discussion?

I think that this point is so very, very important because I think that Freemasonry has missed two giant opportunities to teach and help the world, especially America. First Freemasonry could have been the leader in promoting race relations. In 1898 MW William Upton, Grand Master of Mainstream Masonry in the state of Washington recognized Prince Hall. What if that recognition had spread then and there throughout Freemasonry? What if the Craft was able to influence secular government to harmonize the races? Would Martin Luther King’s protest movement have been necessary?

Instead Freemasonry ran from its responsibility for a variety of reasons among them being its timidness towards mixing the secular world and its doings with the fraternity of Freemasonry and its world. So in reality what it ended up doing as a compromise was similar to what the states did before the Civil War – free states and slave states.

Secondly Freemasonry missed its opportunity at promoting World Peace. Our beloved fraternity is one that considers all its members on the level, that is equal regardless of race, religion, political persuasion, creed, culture or economic circumstances. Now what is wrong with promoting that to humankind?

Ultimately Freemasonry must decide whether it is a cloistered society or a community involved society, whether it is a secret or private society or one that is willing to share its philosophy with the public.

While you are thinking about that enjoy the video about science and spirituality. Just don’t tell me it’s a prohibitive sectarian religious discussion.

Grand Lodge Of New Jersey Destroys Another Great Masonic Career

403-Copy-300x225The Grand Lodge of New Jersey is at it again. This time it has suspended well respected PDDGM Dennis R. Winter for correcting and disagreeing with Grand Lodge – essentially nothing. And at the same time it has refused to grant him a Masonic trial.

This has become a common tactic of Napoleonic Grand Masters as they use a loophole of suspending indefinitely, perhaps forever, without expelling thereby not being able to be accused of arbitrarily ruining a Mason’s Masonic life.

You might remember that we have been this road before with Mike McCabe who was railroaded out of the Craft in New Jersey for essentially the unMasonic conduct of opening his mouth.

New Jersey has a long history of tight fisted out of control Masonic government.

The bone of contention is once again as it was with McCabe, Landmark #3 which states:

“The Grand Master…may suspend, at his pleasure, the operation of any rule or regulation of Masonry not a ‘landmark’…suspend the installed officers of any Lodge, and reinstate them at his pleasure, and is not answerable for his acts as Grand Master.”

In other words the Grand Master can do as he dam well pleases. There is no limit to his power for this Landmark can overrule every other Landmark in the New Jersey Constitution. It’s a SUPER Landmark. In fact all that is really necessary for New Jersey Mainstream Freemasonry is to just have this one Landmark as it voids all the others anyway.

Furthermore as we exposed 3 years ago in the Mike McCabe story, the New Jersey Landmarks were never voted on by the body of the Craft in Grand Session as required by the New Jersey Constitution. They were never officially approved but merely inserted into the Constitution by taking an end run around the proper procedures of the Grand Lodge as so stipulated in its Constitution. And the powers to be today will never submit the Landmarks to the New Jersey Craft as a whole for approval because they know they would not pass with Landmark #3 in them. So these Landmarks are illegal, the Grand Master’s rulings are illegal and the suspension of Winter is illegal.

Yet the question that needs to be asked is a statement of all power to the Grand Master without limitations really a Landmark? This is what we will explore further but first let’s hear Winter’s story in his own words.

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I was summoned to the Grand Lodge Fellowship Center on August 28, 2013 to meet with the  Grand Master for allegedly “Having issues with the Grand Lodge on the way the Grand Lodge was being run.”

Rather than sitting down as men and as Masons to discuss the issues, the meeting was more of a Police interrogation. (Note: the Grand Master is a retired Police Sergeant from the now disbanded Camden Police Department).

The entire Elected Line was there and I was informed that my conversation was being recorded and I informed the Grand Master that his conversation was being recorded as well. He did not like that.

My issues with the Grand Lodge were 1) I found out that the ads in the Freemason Magazine were Not being paid for; 2) I called the Editor of our privately paid magazine which had an ad in (by Reverend Frank) advertizing Marriages, Civil Unions, and renewal of vows. I took issue with the fact that it looked like we, as Masons were promoting Civil Unions and I do not believe that as Masons, who are taught that the “Holy Bible the Inestimable gift of God to man is given to us as the Rule and Guide for our faith and Practice, and in that Book it states that marriage is between a man and a woman, that we should not have such an ad in our magazine; 3) I found out that a District Deputy Grand Master in one of our Districts tried to qualify a Senior Warden, who had not been elected Master. I called the Grand Instructor and told him what this District Deputy tried to do and he told me that he would talk to the Grand Master about this problem; and 4) I called the Grand Lodge to inform the Grand Secretary that a piece of Legislation that was passed at Grand Lodge was listed incorrectly in the Freemason and since I knew that the Grand Lodge was updating the Constitution, I wanted to make sure that the wording would be correct.

The Grand Master told me that I “berated” the Editor of the Freemason for a half an hour. That  never did happen. We talked about the issues that concerned me. The Grand Master told me that I should know, as a Past District Deputy Grand Master that any Volume of Sacred Law can be on the Alter. I do know that. And I also know that No recognized volume of Sacred Law condones civil unions or gay marriage. He told me that I should know the chain of command, that the Freemason Magazine is the Grand Master’s magazine and if I had an issue 1 should have called him. (I thought, #1 that the Freemason was “OUR” magazine and if someone has a problem with what is published, that they should talk to the Editor of that paper or magazine.)  Note: I did apologize to Grand Master if he thought I did not go through the correct chain of command … He then told me that I should not interfere with another District or District Deputy Grand Master. I told him that my concern was with the entire fraternity and what was being done in this fraternity is being done properly.

After the interrogation was over, the Grand Master told me that “You can go home now”. 

On September 20, after just getting home from giving the Funeral oration for a departed brother of my Lodge(Note: 1 also did a Funeral Oration for another Lodge on the morning of the day that one was to appear for the summons), 1 received a phone call from a brother Mason asking what was going on .. I asked him what he was talking about and he told me that he was just informed that the Grand Master had suspended me. 1 was not officially informed until I received the letter from the Grand Master on September 23,2013. (Emails went out to the Elected Line, Past Grand Masters, all Lodge Secretaries, District Deputy Grand Masters and appendant and coordinate bodies before I was informed of my suspension).

He did this by suspending any By-Law, rule or regulation relating to Title Four, Article XI, and Trial of Charges by (Printed Landmark #3) In addition the wording in this so-called “Landmark” cannot be justified from Mackey’s list of 25 Landmarks or any other adopted Landmarks recognized in this country or by the Grand Lodge of England. To this date I have been suspended even though the preferment and determination of charges has not been made and the Grand Master has not allowed me to have a Trial, even though I have asked for one …

Also take notice that the Grand Lodge of New Jersey has not adopted any Landmarks … Some Grand Masters in New Jersey have used this (Landmark) even though it has not been adopted by our Grand Lodge.

This is evident by the 1903 Grand Lodge proceedings and the Wallis Report of Masonic Jurisprudence and also the Past Grand Secretary’s remarks in The Masonic Service Association’s pamphlet on “Landmarks” which states “Our records from 1903 show that the report of the Committee was received and adopted, but nothing in the report recommends the adoption of the ten “Landmarks”. We have adhered to them even though there was no official acceptance by the Grand Lodge”.

The Grand Lodge Constitution of New Jersey clearly states in Title Four, Part 5. Legal Rulings “Opinions of the Grand Master, in the interpretation of Masonic Law or Landmarks, become established decrees and permanent rules of action only when adopted by the Grand Lodge”.

This Grand Master has violated the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey and denied me my Civil Rights as an American, as guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the New Jersey Grand Lodge Constitution. Title Four, Section 3, Part 3 Protection of Civil Rights: A Lodge cannot derive a brother of his civil rights, such as a resort to courts of justice for the redress of injuries, nor compel him to first submit his complaint to the lodge for its action.

Also, since all of the issues that I had are now being addressed by the Grand Master, it sure proves that they were legitimate concerns.

Please remember, this action by the Grand Master is a vendetta against me. I do not hold the Fraternity in New Jersey responsible for the unmasonic and improper acts of this Grand Master.

As I have told many concerned brethren, there is nothing wrong at all with the Institution of Freemasonry. The problem is that we sometimes elect a brother who really does not understand the fraternity and will abuse the authority of the Office of Grand Master to satisfy a personal vendetta …

Dennis R. Winter, P.D.D.G.M. 21st Masonic District
November 8, 2013

There are three main points to consider in analyzing this abuse of power by the Grand Master of New Jersey.

1) The New Jersey Landmarks were never voted on and approved by the Grand Lodge as a whole. They were never legally passed but merely inserted into the constitution thereby bypassing proper procedure.

2) An unlimited power clause is not a Landmark. Landmarks are the basic principles or cornerstones that define the fraternity. Putting into the Landmarks a tactic is an illegal grab for power.

No other Grand Lodge gives the Grand Master absolute power as contained in the Wallis Committee’s Report of 1903, which attempted to identify 10 specific Landmarks. Specifically parts of Landmark 3, which state:

“He may create lodges by his warrant and arrest the warrant of any lodge.

He may suspend, at his pleasure, the operation of any rule or regulation of Masonry, not a “Landmark.” He may suspend the installed officers of Any lodge and reinstate them at pleasure, and is not answerable for his acts as Grand Master”

The language contained in this part of the new “Landmark”, nor the concept of a Grand Master being able to disregard whole sections of a written constitution is not found in Mackey’s list of Landmarks. No Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States has ever granted their Grand Masters such broad expansive authority based on their Landmarks as New Jersey’s Landmark No.3 suggested.

3) Grand Lodges were never set up to be a tyranny. Grand Lodges were not designed to operate in this manner. This is not the tradition of Freemasonry. Grand Lodges were created to be the administrative arm of a group of constituent, local Lodges.

M.W. Brother Dorworth’s 2013 Masonic Leadership Conference in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania for the Officers of Lodges in New Jersey had a book that was required reading for the participants.

The Book titled Laudable Pursuit: A 21 st Century Response to Dwight Smith by the Knights of the North states under Part Three: the section on “To be invested with what we were divested”. (Pg.12)

1. “Can we expect Freemasonry to retain its past glory and prestige unless the level of leadership is raised above its present position?”

James I of England once purported, it is … “sedition in subjects, to dispute what a king may do in the height of his power.” We give to our Grand Masters the Devine Right of Kings and pray that use such powers wisely. Sadly, our law does NOT take into account the man who believes in his own divinity. Nor does it take into account for the simple man who gets his feelings hurt and retaliates against those who disagree with his actions. Specifically, the power of a Grand Master to suspend a Mason until the next meeting of Grand Lodge must be eliminated. There must be checks and balances in the form of a required seating of a Trial Committee, made up of Past Masters, NOT Past Grand Masters or Grand Lodge officers to rule on the suspension.

[5] Even the Grand Lodge of England in 1723 and until today, who’s country was and is ruled by a Monarch, state in their Book of Constitutions: General Laws and Regulations for the Government of The Craft:,”#15., Abuse of Power by Grand Master: If the Grand Master should abuse his power and render himself unworthy of the obedience of the Lodges, he shall be subject to some new regulation, to be dictated by the occasion; because, hitherto, the Antient Fraternity have had no reason to provide for an event which they have presumed would never happen.

Like the Pope who is absolutely the last word in spiritual matters but not infallible in civil matters, the Grand Master was never intended to have life and death powers over individual Masons or even local Lodges but rather possess the power to organize and manage his jurisdiction while at the same time holding the post of ceremonial leader.

The government of Freemasonry was modeled on the monarchial system that was in vogue in the 18th century, but the Grand Master was a King with a Parliament which means he governed with limitations. Those limitations were the by-laws and the Constitution of his jurisdiction along with voting rights where applicable. It was never intended to be a Fraternity where the average Mason had no civil rights at all and was in a position to be at the whim and mercy of its leader. Those Grand Lodges that are now operating in the United States as tyrannical dictatorships trampling the civil rights of the Brethren at large are illegal, immoral, unconstitutional and totally outside the bounds of Masonic tradition.

The Grand Master of New Jersey has taken this abuse one step further by becoming a bully. There is nothing like sticking the blade in and then twisting it around to cause maximum pain. His latest edict is to prohibit any suspended or expelled Mason from attending an open installation, open to the general public.  It seems as if the motto of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey is – when we screw you over we do it doubly well.

MW DAVID A. DORWORTH
GRAND MASTER

 

EDICT

WHEREAS, The ceremony of Installation of the Officers of a Masonic Lodge is Masonic ritual; and subject to Title Four: By Laws Part 8 paragraph d & Title Seven: Appendix 7.5.8d; and,

WHEREAS, pursuant to Masonic Regulations,(above) an “Open Installation” of Lodge Officers is permissible if the members of the lodge shall have voted therefore, and the District Deputy Grand Master of the District shall have approved of the same; and,

WHEREAS, the authorization of an Open Installation by the District Deputy Grand Master is conditioned upon him being satisfied that the ceremony shall be conducted in a dignified and commendable manner; and,

WHEREAS, the persons who may attend an open installation are Master Masons in good standing, and their invited family and friends, who are members of the community and who may not necessarily be Masons; and,

WHEREAS, since the ceremony will be open to members of the community, and may be their only exposure to Masonic ceremonies, and hence is even more important that the ceremony be conducted with dignity and peace and harmony; and,

WHEREAS, suspended or expelled Master Masons may be tempted to attend such an open installation, and whose presence could disturb the peace and harmony of the Lodge, and also be interpreted as violating the Obligation of all Master Masons to refrain from holding Masonic conversation with suspended or expelled Masons; and,

WHEREAS, the preservation of peace and harmony within this Grand Lodge is of great importance to this fraternity, for the good of the craft and for the preservation of such peace and harmony, it is this Day of November 12,2013.

EDICTED AND ORDERED, that no suspended or expelled Masons, who remain within the penal jurisdiction of this Grand Lodge, may attend any open installation of any Lodge within this Grand Jurisdiction. The District Deputy Grand Masters and Worshipful Masters are directed that in the event that a suspended or expelled Mason endeavors to attend any open installation, they shall prevent the ceremony from proceeding until such time as they are satisfied that the suspended or expelled Mason has departed the premises, or that the installation is to proceed as a closed installation. The identity of the suspended or expelled Mason shall be communicated to the Grand Lodge at the earliest practical opportunity following any such incident.

So Ordered,

M.W. David A. Dorworth,
Grand Master

Dated: November 12,2013
William L. Morris,
Grand Secretary

None of the actions of PDDGM Dennis R. Winter consisted of Masonic misconduct. This is simply a case of a thin skinned Grand Master  who cannot countenance anybody having a different opinion than his and who will not allow, correction, suggestions or input from others in his jurisdiction. And to squash all other Masonic thought and intimidate those who might be considering speaking up he resorts to suspension and expulsion without cause and without due process. This is exactly why Mainstream Freemasonry is in trouble. Grand Lodges and Grand Masters have become control freaks.

Until Mainstream Freemasonry in the United States decides to discipline itself, these abuses will be repeated over and over again. While each jurisdiction has its own sovereignty it does not have the right to change Freemasonry or to make up bogus Landmarks. And when it does those compliant Grand Lodges must threaten those who disrespect Freemasonry with non recognition.

HELP PUT “FREE” BACK IN FREEMASONRY

The Grand Master’s Rooftop Table Lodge

R to L: GM Wilbert M. Curtis, DGM Michael T. Anderson, GSW “Big” Bryce Hardin, GL Ivory Johnson

R to L: GM Wilbert M. Curtis, DGM Michael T. Anderson, GSW “Big” Bryce Hardin, GL Ivory Johnson

The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas recently held the Grand Master’s Table Lodge on an open air rooftop overlooking a view of downtown Dallas, Texas. The event was hosted by Metropolitan Lodge No. 146, Wor. Jerome D. Lacy presiding.

The Table Lodge is a tyled Entered Apprentice Masons Lodge. It harkens back to the Mother Grand Lodge of 1717 where one of the reasons for its formation was to hold the Annual Feast. Soon the Grand Master of that time directed there be installed into the ceremony the old, regular and peculiar toasts and health’s of Freemasons. Over time a Table Lodge became a prescribed ceremony with a ritual all its own.

Table Lodges in Colonial America were quite common as many Lodges actually met in taverns and a full course meal became part of “going to Lodge.”  As the decades passed and a new century began, Table Lodges were continued as a way to promote fellowship, kinship and pride in Masonry.

 

“The Table Lodge had a most unusual pattern. Its entire meeting was conducted around the table, and the helpings of food and beverage were served in such a way they did not interfere with the other concerns of the Lodge. The arrangement of tables resembled a giant horse-shoe, with the worshipful Master in the East, at the center, and both Wardens in the West, at the opposite ends. The Lodge was opened with an invocation and closed with a song.”

“At first, there was an address, followed by many toasts and songs, but as time went by the lecture was omitted and the number of toasts and songs decreased. The final figure that was set for the toasts was seven, and in some Jurisdictions that number is still retained today.”

Under its skillful formula, the names of objects in the room were changed. The table was the Trestle Board, the cloth – the standard, the food – the materials, the glasses became cannons, the beverage – powder, the bottles – casks, the napkin a flag, forks were pickaxes, knives were swords, and spoons were trowels. To fill the glass was to “charge” it, and to drink it was to ‘fire’”.(1)

Fred at the Grand Master’s Rooftop Table LodgeToday a Table Lodge has its own set of rituals, with its own particular opening and closing ritual as well as a seven course meal with seven toasts, one after each course.

The ritual of The Ceremony of the Seven Toasts is as follows:

Right hand to arms.  (The right hand touches the glass).
Ready.  (The glass is raised breast high, aim extended forward).
Aim.  (The glass is brought to the lips).
Fire, Good Fire, Fire All.  (All drink).
Present Arms.  (The glass is brought to the second position in unison with the Worshipful Master, then the glass is brought to the left breast, then to the right breast, then again to the second position so that the movement makes a triangle.  This triangle is made three times: then the glass is brought to the table in three moves – it is first carried a little to the left, then to the right and finally forcibly in unison to the table).

The Battery, three times three ( clapping 3X right over left, left over right, right over left).  (Done)

ALL    Vivat,  Vivat,  Vivat.  (Right arm thrust upward with each Vivat).
Advance swords.  (Knife is raised breast high, arms extended forward).

Poise swords.  (Knife blade is elevated slightly, about 45°)

Salute with swords.  (Knife handle is brought to within a few inches of the chin with the blade elevated about 45°)

Swords at rest.  (Knife handles are carried in unison forcibly to the table – preferably in a flat position to prevent table damage).

The Battery, three times three.  (Done)

ALL    Vivat,  Vivat,  Vivat.  (Right arm thrust upward with each Vivat).(2)

Wor. Jerome D. Lacy led us in all the toasts except the one to himself and other Worshipful Masters. The toasts were as follows: To the –

  1. President of the United States of America
  2. Most Worshipful Grand Master and the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge
  3. The Worshipful Master and all sitting Masters
  4. The Wardens and all sitting Wardens
  5. Past Masters
  6. Other Officers and visiting Brethren
  7.  To all Masons where-so-ever spread over the face of the globe

A great meal was had by all. The Table Lodge closed with all Brethren forming the Mystic Chain (arms crossed in front and clasped to the Brother to your right and left)  and singing the ancient song written by Scottish  Poet Laureate  Brother Robert Burns in 1788– Auld Lang Syne.

Should old acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind
Should all acquaintance be forgot
And auld lang syne

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne

(1) HISTORY OF THE “TABLE LODGE” – State College Masonic Lodge No. 700 F&AM – http://www.lodge700.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=41

(2) How To Conduct A Table Lodge, Phoenixmasonry – http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/table_lodge_history_ritual.htm

Masonic Temples Converted To Luxury Condos

 

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article recently on Masonic Temples being turned into luxury Condos. This process, is sadly occurring because Freemasonry in the United States is dying a slow death. Lodges who have only 25% of the members they had 50 years ago find it increasingly difficult to afford the beautiful, magnificent and sometimes classical monstrosities they housed themselves in way back then.

Some of the blame for loss of membership must be placed squarely on the hands of Freemasons themselves who either refuse to treat race, religion and individuals with respect and tolerance or who refuse to police their ranks of those who exhibit such prejudicial behavior. The younger generations will not join organizations unless they are color blind, tolerant of all religions and respect the worth of the individual including basic civil rights and being treated with due process.

Of the many sales and near sales of great Masonic structures I can think of two recently in the news. First the Masonic Temple in Quincy, Massachusetts just last week gutted by fire was sold to a Realty Company with rental rights to the Masonic organizations that met there. It was the Realty Company doing much needed upgrading in the building who set off the blaze. Then there is the magnificent Detroit Temple which was saved from oblivion by a wealthy donor.

The-Level-Club

Here is a portion of that Wall Street Article:

 

Today, with membership down to about a million from four million in the 1950s, the Masons can’t afford the upkeep of all these antiquated buildings, which are typically in downtown areas with limited parking. The absence of working elevators also makes the buildings difficult for aging members to use.

As a result, more Masons have sold their temples and relocated to smaller, more modern structures in the suburbs. Developers and individuals have snapped up the buildings, encouraged by the rebounding real-estate market and demand for luxury condos.

Last year, Craig Boardman says he was just accompanying a friend to a showing in a former Masonic temple in Columbus, Ohio. The condo had 40-foot-high ceilings, three enormous stained-glass windows, a spiral staircase and the original fireplace. “It was pretty awesome,” says Mr. Boardman, a professor of public policy who bought a two-bedroom, two-bathroom for $300,000. (When he had the unit painted he found a lunchbox-size hiding spot behind the wall molding. Alas, it was empty.)

Called the York Temple, the red brick building was built in 1914 when the group, having grown to more than 1,000 members in 20 years, needed a bigger space. “It was busy most nights of the week,” says Bill Hochstettler, who is on the board of trustees. At its peak in 1928, the lodge had more than 2,200 members. But by 2003, the number had fallen to less than 800 members—while the building’s maintenance costs were averaging $30,000 a year. The group sold the building for $250,000 to Joe Armeni, owner of Re/Max City Center, who put about $4.5 million into a top-to-bottom renovation. Today it has 25 units, ranging from 700 square feet to 1,800 square feet, that have sold from $149,000 to $399,900.

In downtown Champaign, Ill., developer Robert Grossman bought a 33,000-square-foot, 1914 Masonic temple with terrazzo floors and intricate carvings in the staircases for $800,000 in 2008. “It was in terrible shape. But I looked at it and fell in love with it,” he says. He spent $2.5 million converting it into 19 apartments, which rent for $900 to $2,000 a month each. He then re-christened it as the Lodge on Hill. The two- and three-bedroom apartments were all leased before the two-year construction project was finished. Even though he owns a 5,500-square-foot home nearby, Mr. Grossman kept the temple’s best apartment for himself: a two-level, 3,600-square-foot unit with a roof patio.

In January, Thomas Thramann won zoning approval to convert a 13,000-square-foot, four-story Masonic lodge in Newport, R.I., into eight luxury condos—a process he estimates will take about two years—that would list for about $500 a square foot. Mr. Thramann bought the building 15 years ago for $156,000 and used it as a vacation home for several summers, sleeping on a bed in the middle of its roughly 5,000-square-foot meeting hall. “It was like camping,” he says.

Still, selling the building to Mr. Thramann was difficult for the members. “It broke my heart,” says Dan Titus, who was the lodge’s worshipful master, the senior officer, at the time. The group couldn’t afford to do the work required to meet safety codes and there was no parking. Mr. Titus sent out a ballot to all 500 members of the lodge and only two voted against selling. (One, a close family friend, never spoke to him again, he says.) “My father and grandfather were in that lodge. But when you have so many aging members, what can you do? If I won the lottery tomorrow, I’d buy the building back.”

Ohio-Condo-Copy

Historic Quincy, MA Temple Gutted By Fire

Quincy, MA Temple

Quincy, MA Temple

WATCH VIDEO:

http://video.bostonherald.com?freewheel=90017&sitesection=bostonherald&VID=25212589

Historic Quincy Temple in the heart of downtown Quincy, Massachusetts was gutted by fire yesterday.  Apparently the fire was started by workmen who were grinding stone in the building.

(Quincy, MA - 9/30/13) Quincy and Boston firefighters battle a blaze at the Masonic Temple on Hancock Street, Monday, September 30, 2013. Staff photo by Angela Rowlings.

(Quincy, MA – 9/30/13) Quincy and Boston firefighters battle a blaze at the Masonic Temple on Hancock Street, Monday, September 30, 2013. Staff photo by Angela Rowlings.

The Boston Herald has the story:

 

Smoke and flames filled the Quincy sky for more than four hours yesterday as firefighters fought a raging four-alarm blaze at the historic Masonic temple that gutted the building.

“I grew up in this building, 65 years,” said a distraught Dave Smith, a mason who is treasurer of the Masonic Building Association of Quincy. “My father was a mason that went to a lodge here and it’s just unbelievable to see what’s happened to it.”

Smith said the 1170 Hancock St. building was home to the Rural Lodge of Masons and was recently sold to Martin Realty in an agreement that would have let the masons keep meeting there. They had just started construction, Smith said.

Quincy Fire Chief Joseph Barron said it appeared that workers grinding stone material accidentally sparked a fire. They initially tried to put it out but failed.

Quincy police received the first call of the blaze at 12:08 p.m. from construction workers who said they saw smoke coming through air ducts.

Quincy Police Chief Paul Keenan told the Herald the fire started in the basement of the temple and firefighters had to be pulled out of the building just as the ceiling fell in.

The building, erected in 1929, was listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1989, said Edward Fitzgerald of the Quincy Historical Society, who called it an example of classic Greek revival architecture.

Smith said the inside had a lit vaulted ceiling and the main room could fit up to 600 people.

“It was just gorgeous on the inside, absolutely gorgeous,” Smith. “People who looked at it just walked in and went, ‘Wow.’”

I have personally been in Lodge at this building and it was a marvelous structure. It was a very large building capable of hosting many Lodges. This is a devastating blow to Massachusetts Masonry and one that will leave a gaping hole until a replacement structure is rebuilt.

Freemason RC Priest Relieved Of His Priestly Duties Walks 39 Days For Audience With The Pope

French Roman Catholic priest Father Pascal Vesin had served his parish in Sainte-Anne d’Arly Montjoie in the Alpine resort of Megéve since 2004, almost 10 years. That is until this spring when the Church discovered that he is a Freemason.  Father Vesin is a member of the Grand Orient de France’ That watchdog of the church, The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asked for his resignation in March. Three members of the diocese of Annecy then met with him but Father Vesin said he would not leave the Lodge.

Father Pascal Vesin is seen outside his church in Megeve

Father Pascal Vesin is seen outside his church in Megeve

So in May Vesin was removed of all Priestly duties by his Bishop. He appealed for a hearing with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but was turned down. He wrote to the Pope saying that he was “wounded by the injustice’ and requested a reversal of the decision. To no avail.  Not willing to give up Vesin set out on foot leaving the town in the Haute Savoie region of France on July 14th for a hike through the Alps – final destination, The Vatican in Rome, Italy. Before leaving he blogged to his congregation, “This adventure is a step towards openness, dialogue and debate.” Bringing nothing but a knapsack, his journey took 39 days before arriving in St. Peter’s Square where he hoped for an audience with the Pope.

“I hope I am received by Pope Francis or one of his secretaries” a very tired Vesin said when he got there.

“I feel my initiative is in synch with what this new pope is preaching and seems to be starting.”

Conservative Sectarian Christianity’s main criticism of Freemasonry is that it’s a false religion. But Vesin belongs to The Grand Orient of France where there is no test for a belief in Deity. Funny looking religion that doesn’t require a belief in God. But there always seems to be another charge that authorities can levy.

Father Vesin has a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pascal.vesin?fref=ts

After his 900km walk from Megeve, France to the Vatican, he still awaits an audience with Pope Francis.

double headed eagle

Mainstream Scottish Rite Recognizes Prince Hall Scottish Rite In All States

From Federal Lodge No 1  Washington, D.C.

“Exciting news today from Washington D.C.! The Supreme Council, 33º, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, and Mother Supreme Council of the World, in session this week, announced that it is formally recognizing the Prince Hall Scottish Rite Supreme Council. Further, the Sovereign Grand Commander for the Northern Jurisdiction said that if the Southern Jurisdiction recognizes the Prince Hall Supreme Council, they would do it also.”

Those who watched the streaming session of the Supreme Council Southern Jurisdiction saw this announcement live. You can re-watch that HERE: http://www.realworldstreaming.com/scottishrite/ This announcement was made Monday, August  26, 2013 by SGC Southern Jurisdiction  Ill. Ronald A. Seale, 33º and seconded by SGC Northern Jurisdiction  Ill. John William McNaughton, 33° and presented to Prince Hall SGC Ill Deary Vaughn, 33°.

Scottish Rite

Scottish Rite Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction, Ill Ronald A Seale

Finally the leadership at the top has responded. This has breakthrough ramifications for those Confederate states that still refuse to recognize Prince Hall. If the Scottish Rite Bodies in these states recognize each other how can the Blue Lodges not do the same? This breaks the back of objections to mutual recognition throughout the United States between Prince Hall Freemasonry and Mainstream Freemasonry. It clears the way for all Mainstream Grand Lodges in the United States to recognize all Prince Hall Grand Lodges with mutual visitation included.