“If its a choice between attending a Grand Master’s official visit and attending a Masonic Town Hall meeting, I’ll take the Town Hall meeting any day of the week.”
– Tim Bryce
Next week I celebrate my 10th year of service in Freemasonry. Although it doesn’t seem that long, I have had the opportunity to observe several inefficiencies in the fraternity and have commented on them accordingly and made suggestions for improving them. One that rubs me the wrong way is the Grand Master’s official visits to the various Masonic districts in his jurisdiction. When I first heard about the visits I was anxious to attend and find out not only what was going on at the Grand Lodge level, but at the District and Lodge levels as well. In other words, I was looking for a “heart-to-heart” dialog between the GM and his constituents. Frankly, I was disappointed as most visits consisted of nothing more than a long litany of introductions of appointed officers, a glossy report of what is going on in the jurisdiction, and then the GM sits back and lets the Craft pay homage to him by making donations to his charity and accepting honorary Lodge memberships. In other words, nothing of substance is actually accomplished at these visits and the discussion is normally unidirectional. I realize the Grand Master is a busy man, but I was expecting something more in-depth, such as a dialog regarding the problems facing the Lodges in the District. Apparently, this is of little concern as it is never discussed. This bewilders me as this is a golden opportunity to talk one-on-one with the leader of our fraternity, but such is not the case.
Instead, it would probably be more productive to hold a “Town Hall Meeting” whereby the Masonic leaders poll the lodges as to trends, ask what is going on at the grassroots level, and seek cooperative solutions. In a way, it would be reminiscent of the British Prime Minister’s regular visits to Parliament to discuss the issues of the day. Town Hall Meetings have been popular in recent U.S. elections, including races for Congress and the Presidency. Such meetings are critical to nominees as it allows them to get a pulse of what the voters are thinking and gives them some important feedback. If nothing else, Town Hall Meetings comfort the constituents that their voices are being heard; kind of a “feel good” session, although I would hope we could get something more substantial out of them, such as energizing the Craft. Interestingly, after a candidate has been elected, such meetings evaporate until the next election. Nonetheless, Town Hall Meetings give the constituents a rare opportunity to discuss the issues with their leaders. Frankly, I would rather see more Town Hall meetings regarding Freemasonry and less GM official visits as they are currently implemented. Whereas the former represents a bi-directional dialog, the latter represents a unidirectional form of communications and doesn’t encourage participation.
If Freemasonry is truly running like a fine tuned machine within a jurisdiction, Town Hall Meetings might not be necessary. They are only of service to allow the constituents to voice their concerns over the issues of the day. So, it comes down to this, “Do we believe everything is running properly in our Grand jurisdictions?” If we do, Town Hall Meetings are probably not necessary; if we do not, than it would be in the fraternity’s best interests to hold such meetings on a regularly scheduled basis.
Keep the Faith.
by W:.Tim Bryce, PM, MPS
[email protected]
Palm Harbor, Florida, USA
“A Foot Soldier for Freemasonry”
Originally printed on FmI in 2007.
NOTE: The opinions expressed in this essay are my own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of any Grand Masonic jurisdiction or any other Masonic related body. As with all of my Masonic articles herein, please feel free to reuse them in Masonic publications or re-post them on Masonic web sites (except Florida). When doing so, please add the following:
Article reprinted with permission of the author and FreemasonInformation.com, and please forward me a copy of the publication when it is produced.
Copyright © 2007 by Tim Bryce
