October Issue 2015 PDF - The Small Town Texas Mason E

October 2015
The Small Town Texas Masons EE-magazine
The Small Town Texas Mason's E-Magazine is not affiliated with any state Grand Lodge or
individual Blue Lodge.
It was created to enlighten, educate and entertain Masons and non-Masons alike and as title
suggests, it does try to feature a small town Texas Masonic Lodge or a story of Texas Masonic
history in each issue.
Page#
Story
3. Thomas Jefferson Rusk, Secretary of War - Brigadier General - Chief Justice - U.S.
Senator Tex
5. England: The “Patriot Act” of 1799 That Almost Banned Freemasonry - Part II
10. Britain’s Greatest Masonic Secret?
16. Is Homosexuality Un-masonic?
20. The Irish Connection
22. A Brief History of the Grand Lodge of Ireland
23. My Masonic Ring
24 Don’t Look Behind the Curtain and the Generational Divide
27. The Profound Pontifications of Brother John Deacon Tex
31. Phoenix St. John
35. Cheap Brotherhood
36. Masonic Family Park, Granite Falls, Washington – A Masonic Did U Know?
37. Masonic Trivia- A Lodge Saved
38. Finally – After 179 Years Of Doubt Santa Anna’s Masonic Membership Confirmed Tex
39. THE OLD FOLKS PAGE
39. Surviving The Big Ones Tex
41. The Pine Island Pen Works
42. Australian Gun Law Update
Copyright Info. No Copyright - Free To Use — A very sincere effort was made to avoid
using any copyrighted material, without permission or giving credit to the author, in the
creation of this web site. If you discover something that is yours, without giving you due credit,
please let me know and it will be corrected or removed. This month’s cover was found by
searching the term “Small Texas Towns” on Google. Name Unknown.
Page 2
Thomas Jefferson Rusk
Secretary of War - Brigadier General - Chief Justice - U.S. Senator
(With a better press agent, Thomas Jefferson Rusk would have been as well-known as Sam
Houston.)
Thomas J. Rusk was born on December 5, 1803 to John and Mary Sterritt Rusk. His Father
was John Rusk was a stonemason who immigrated to America from Ireland in 1791. Mary Sterritt
Rusk his mother was a native of the Pendleton District of SC of a prominent in the region. She
was known to be a pious and intelligent mother who began her children's education at her knee
with the Bible as textbook. At Thomas’s birth, the family was renting a house from statesman
John C. Calhoun in SC, which is now the site of Clemson College. Stonemason John Rusk built
the nearby Old Stone Church. Tom Rusk grew to manhood at the family home on Cane Creek
near the current town of Walhalla.
Young Thomas’ future was determined when in about 1824 John C. Calhoun took an interest
in the young Rusk, encouraged him to study law. Calhoun loaned him books and tutored him and
later helped him land his first position in the office of William Gresham, Pendleton District Clerk.
In nearby. Rusk began his law practice in 1825 and practiced law in Clarksville for about nine
years
In 1827, he married Mary F. (Polly) Cleveland, the daughter of General John Cleveland. Rusk
became a business partner of his father-in-law after the marriage. He lived in the gold region of
Georgia and made sizable mining investments. A deed dated 18 Oct 1830 shows that for $1000
Rush obtained a 1/8 share to a gold and mineral mine. This and related investments turned out to
be worthless, the managers fled with the money to Mexican Texas in 1834. Rusk pursued them
to Nacogdoches where he discovered that they had lost his money gambling. In Nacogdoches,
Rusk became interested in the politics and the troubles of Texas. He remained there and began a
law practice.
After Rusk decided to stay in Texas, he became a citizen of Mexico in 1835 and applied for
a head right in David G. Burnet's colony. Then he sent for his family and in Dec 1835, his wife
and children, John Cleveland and Cicero joined him in Nacogdoches.
Rusk was tall and had a commanding presence. He had a dark, ruddy complexion, deep set
and benevolent eyes, and kindly and engaging features. A single glance won every heart, and the
whole people took him on trust. Without desire or effort upon his part, he became the leader of
the people of the old municipality of Nacogdoches in the first faint stirrings of a bloody
revolution. Rusk was at the convention which declared Texas an independent Republic when it
met at Washington, on the Brazos, March 1, 1836. He was a delegate from Nacogdoches and not
only signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, but he also chaired the committee to revise
the constitution of the Republic of Texas.
He organized volunteers from Nacogdoches and hastened to Gonzales, where his men joined
Stephen F. Austin's army in preventing the Mexicans from seizing their cannon. They proceeded
to San Antonio, but Rusk left the army before the Siege of Bexar.
The provisional government named him inspector general of the army in the Nacogdoches
District. As a delegate from Nacogdoches to the Convention of 1836, Rusk The ad interim
government, installed on March 17, 1836, appointed Rusk as Secretary of War. When informed
that the Alamo had fallen and the Mexican army was moving eastward, Rusk helped President
David Burnet to move the government to Harrisburg.
After the Mexicans massacred James W. Fannin's Texan army at Goliad, Burnet sent Rusk
with orders for General Sam Houston to make a stand against the enemy. Rusk
participated with bravery in the defeat of Santa Anna on April 21, 1836, in the Battle of Page 3
San Jacinto. From May to October 1836, he served as commander-in-chief of the Army of the
Republic of Texas, with the rank of brigadier general. He followed the Mexican troops westward
as they retired from Texas to be certain of their retreat beyond the Rio Grande until he got to
Goliad. There he called a halt and had the bones of Fannin's four hundred and eighty massacred
men to be collected and interred. Over the remains of the martyred dead he delivered an address
that moistened the cheeks of every man in the motley group of half-naked, half-starved and illarmed volunteer soldiers, who with him performed these last sad rites.
As chairman of the House Military Committee in 1837, he sponsored a militia bill that passed
over Houston's veto, and Congress elected Rusk major general of the militia. In the summer of
1838, he commanded the Nacogdoches militia, which suppressed the Córdova Rebellion. In
October, when Mexican agents were discovered among the Kickapoo Indians, Rusk defeated
those Indians and their Indian allies. He captured marauding Caddo Indians in November 1838
and risked an international incident when he invaded United States territory to return them to the
Indian agent in Shreveport, Louisiana.
On December 12, 1838, the Texas Congress elected Rusk Chief Justice of the Republic's
Supreme Court. He served until June 30, 1840, when he resigned to resume his law practice. Later
he headed the bar of the Republic of Texas. He and J. Pinckney Henderson, later the first governor
of the state of Texas, formed a law partnership in 1841.
Early in 1843, Rusk was called upon once again to serve as a military commander. Concern
over the lack of protection on the frontier caused Congress, in a joint ballot on January 16, 1843,
to elect Rusk major general of the militia of the Republic of Texas. But he resigned in June when
Houston obstructed his plans for aggressive warfare against Mexico. Rusk then turned his
energies to establishing Nacogdoches University. He served as vice president of the university
when the charter was granted in 1845 and president in 1846.
in 1845, when a convention was called to form a constitution for Texas as a proposed State
of the Union, he was unanimously elected a delegate from Nacogdoches. When the convention
assembled on the fourth of July, he was unanimously elected its president, and when the
Legislature, under its new constitution, assembled on the 16th of February, 1846, he was elected
by the unanimous vote, of both the Senate and House, to be one of the two first Senators from the
State of Texas to the Congress of the United States, his colleague being Gen. Sam. Houston. In
1843 he had been elected Major-General of the Republic.
Together, they took their seats in March, 1846---together, by the re-election of each, they sat
eleven years, till the melancholy death of Rusk in 1857. Together, they represented the
sovereignty and defended the rights of Texas together, they shed luster on their State---together,
they sustained President Polk in the prosecution of the Mexican War---together, they, each for
himself, declined a pro-offered Major-Generalship in the army of invasion in Mexico---together,
they labored to give Texas the full benefit of her mergence into the Union in regard to mail routes,
frontier protection and custom house facilities--together, they labored in behalf of the
compromises of 1850, the adjustment of the boundary of Texas and sale (as a peace offering), of
our Northwest Territory to the United States---and together, they sought to encourage the
construction of a transcontinental railway, on the parallel of thirty-two degrees north latitude from
the Mississippi river and the Gulf of Mexico, through Texas, to the Pacific Ocean, an achievement
that found its final accomplishment December 1, 1881, twenty-four years after the death of Rusk.
For several years Gen. Rusk was elected to the honorable position of president pro-tem of the
United States Senate and presided with a dignity and impartiality that commanded the respect and
esteem of every member of that body. In 1851, with a select band of friends, he traversed Texas
from east to west on the parallel of thirty-two degrees to see for his self the practicability of a
railway route, and became thoroughly satisfied of its feasibility and cheapness.
Page 4
During the special session of March 1857, the Senate elected him President pro tempore.
While Rusk attended the spring session of Congress, his wife died of tuberculosis on April 23,
1856. Five of their seven children were still living at the time. Despondent over the death of his
wife and ill from a tumor at the base of his neck, Rusk committed suicide by a self-inflicted
gunshot wound on July 29, 1857. He was 54 years old. He is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in
Nacogdoches.
Thomas Jefferson was a great leader that gave his all to establish our Republic, our State and
our fraternity under trying conditions. He was a dedicated Mason. He joined Milam Lodge No.
40 (Later Milam Lodge #2) in Nacogdoches in 1837 and was a founding member of the Grand
Lodge of Texas, organized in Houston on December 20, 1837.
Compiled from Wikipedia, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Lone Star
Junction, Infoplease.com, Sons Of Dewitt Colony and Handbook of Texas On Line, by John
“Corky” Daut, P.M. Waller Masonic Lodge #808, and Contributing Editor to the Grand Lodge of
Texas History Committee.
England: The “Patriot Act” of 1799 That Almost
Banned Freemasonry – Part II
Fear of invasion gripped Britain in 1799. In such dire circumstances the Prime Minister took
steps to curtail civil liberties: The Unlawful Societies Act of 1799
A Lecture by Prof Andrew Prescott of the Centre for Research into Freemasonry, University
of Sheffield. Presented at the second international
conference of the Canonbury Masonic Research Centre,
4-5 November 2000.
One major difficulty which had become apparent [with proposed restrictive legislation] was
the position of freemasons. The provisions of the bill against the use of secret oaths in societies
potentially placed freemasons in a difficult position, although arguably these oaths were outside
the scope of bill since they were not seditious. More problematic was the requirement that
initiations should take place in a public meeting.
The grand lodges must also have been uneasily aware that
John Murray, 4th Duke
they did not have a comprehensive register of members of the of Atholl (1755 –1830) was
sort required by the bill, and that the compilation and the son of john Murray, 3rd
distribution of such a register would have been an enormous duke of Atholl and his wife,
undertaking.
Charlotte.
The two English Grand Lodges and the Scottish Grand
In 1774, he married Jane
Lodge had quickly taken action to try and deal with these Cathcart, daughter of the 9th
problems before the bill got to committee. On 30 April, the day Lord Cathcart.
on which the bill received its second reading, Pitt received a
He was Grand Master of
request for a meeting with masonic representatives, and a the Antient Grand Lodge of
delegation went to Downing Street on 2 May.
England from 1775 until 1781
The masonic representatives included Lord Moira, Acting and again from 1791 until
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England, the Duke of 1812.
Atholl, Grand Master of the Ancients' Grand Lodge and Past
Grand Master Mason of Scotland, as well as other grand officers.
Page 5
The most important official record of this meeting is a note in the minute book of the Hall
Committee of the Modern Grand Lodge, reporting that the Prime Minister had 'expressed his good
opinion of the Society and said he was willing to recommend any clause to prevent the new act
from affecting the Society, provided that the name of the society could be prevented from being
made use of as a cover by evilly disposed persons for seditious purposes'. William White, Grand
Secretary of the Moderns, afterwards recalled the meeting in similar terms, recalling that Pitt 'paid
many compliments to the Society and said there was no imputation against its conduct, and that it
was only wished to adopt some regulations to prevent the name of our Society from being
perverted by bad people to a cover for their machinations against the government'.
Lord Moira also subsequently recalled how 'I have pledged myself to His Majesty's ministers
that should any set of men attempt to meet as a lodge without sanction, the Grand Master, or
Acting Grand Master (whomsoever he might be), would apprise parliament'. Pitt himself reported
to the House of Commons that the freemasons 'were very ready to acquiesce in any security the
legislature would require from them for the tranquility of the state'.
However, it seems that Pitt probably also pointed out that the government had worrying
information which suggested that the masons needed to be more vigilant. Among the documents
which had been shown to the secret committee was a letter sent to the Home Office by John
Waring, a catholic priest at Stonyhurst, who described how an Irishman named Bernard Kerr had
told him he was 'a freemason, a Knight Templar, and belonged to a society of people who called
themselves United Englishmen'. Kerr had shown him the printed rules of the United Englishmen,
which he kept in a large portfolio together with his papers of admission as a Knight Templar.
These concerns about connections between the united bodies and freemasonry were not idle. Many
of the United Irishmen were freemasons and many features of their organization, such as the use
of oaths and secret signs, were drawn from masonic models.
Moreover, the problems were not restricted to Irish masons. On 17 April, shortly before Pitt
met the masonic deputation, James Greene, a freemason and lawyer staying in Leeds, wrote to the
Home Secretary, describing a meeting of a lodge at Leeds. 'Being no stranger to the disaffected
principles of too many in this place and especially among the lower class of freemasons', he wrote,
'I made it a point to visit a lodge of that class; and tho' politics are never introduced while the lodge
is sitting, it became a topic out of the lodge when a part of the fraternity withdrew from the lodge
room to supper, when a shrewd sensible fellow began to inveigh against the measures of the
government, and spoke in very high terms in favour of the Cannibalian government in France, to
which I exhibited a seeming pleasure. After the lodge was over, and since, I got a great deal of
information from him by seeming to be one of that infernal class, and being desirous to obtain
more, I begged to see him as often as he could make it convenient to talk matters over. He called
upon me several times at my lodgings, and having given credit to the seeming sincerity of my
attachment to that they call the cause, and confiding in my secrecy as a free mason, produced a
letter from one of the leaders among the United Irishmen, dated Dublin the 31st of March ult[im]o.'
This letter referred to a major United meeting which was to take place, under cover of a
masonic gathering, at Paisley in Scotland. Greene concluded his letter as follows: 'Now my Lord,
if your Grace will approve of it, as I am in the higher orders of masonry, and as I have every reason
to believe that I can be of signal service in this matter, I will very readily undertake to conduct
matters as occasion may serve so as to nip the evil in the bud, or let it run to such a length as may
come to a riper maturity, and tho' there are too many rotten of the Craft fraternity, I can
Page 6
with great truth aver that the general part of the mass are strictly loyal'
The aftermath of Pitt's meeting with the masonic delegation suggests that he gave them the
gist of the information received from Greene. Although it seems that the lodge in Leeds was not
an Antient lodge, it as the Antients who took these concerns most seriously, perhaps because of
their greater strength in the north-western industrial towns, where the United groups were
strongest, and their closer connections with Irish masonry. Immediately after the meeting with
Pitt, the Grand Officers of the Antients met at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand
[London]. They agreed to recommend two emergency measures.
The first was 'to inhibit and totally prevent all public masonic processions, and all private
meetings of masons, or lodges of emergency, upon any pretence whatever, and to suppress and
suspend all masonic meetings, except upon the regular stated lodge meetings and Royal Arch
chapters, which shall be held open to all masons to visit, duly qualified as such'. It was also agreed
'that when the usual masonic business is ended, the lodge shall then disperse, the Tyler withdraw
from the door, and formality and restraint of admittance shall cease'. These two measures were
formally approved on 6 May at a Grand Lodge of Emergency, with the Duke of Atholl himself in
the chair.
The actions of the Antients and the assurances given to Pitt convinced him that the Grand
Lodges were determined to ensure that freemasonry could not be used as a front for radical
activity, and at the committee stage of the bill Pitt himself accordingly introduced amendments to
exempt them from the act. He proposed what was essentially a system of self-regulation operated
by the Grand Lodges. The relevant clause read as follows: '...nothing in this act contained shall
extend, or be construed to extend, to prevent the meetings of the Lodge or society of persons which
is now held at Free Masons Hall in Great Queen Street in the County of Middlesex, and usually
denominated The Grand Lodge of Freemasons of England, or of the Lodge or society of persons
usually denominated The Grand Lodge of Masons of England, according to the Old Institution, or
of the Lodge or society of persons which is now held at Edinburgh, and usually denominated The
Grand Lodge of Free Masons of Scotland, or the meetings of any subordinate lodge or society of
persons usually calling themselves Free Masons, the holding whereof shall be sanctioned or
approved by any one of the above mentioned lodges or societies...'
No amendments were made to the clauses concerning freemasons, but concern was expressed
about them in the course of the debate. Lord Grenville himself observed that 'With respect to the
clause adopted by the other house of parliament for exempting societies of freemasons from the
operations of the bill.., though he did not mean to propose setting it aside, yet it did not appear to
him to be fraught with that clearness and certainty which he could wish. He was free to express
his belief, that whatever the conduct of masonic societies in foreign countries might be (where in
some instances designs of the most destructive tendency were brought to perfection) these
societies in this country harboured no designs inimical to the state, or suffered or entertained such
in their lodges. Yet what the clause provided was of an anomalous nature, and new to the functions
of parliament. The officers, & c., of the subordinate lodges were to be approved by the grand
master and others of the principal lodges before they could be entitled to hold their meetings. Now,
how such officers, who were to have the licensing power, were to be constituted and appointed,
that house, as a legislative assembly, knew nothing. It was not his own intent to propose any
specific amendment to the clause; he only throw out the observation, in order that other lords,
more conversant in such matters, might if they were willing, come forward and suggest
something...'
Grenville thus felt that the idea of self-regulation raised serious constitutional
difficulties; it seemed to him inappropriate that Grand Officers should be given statutory Page 7
authority effectively to license masonic lodges when parliament itself had no control over how
those grand officers were appointed. The Duke of Norfolk, declaring himself to be a mason,
expressed some alarm at Grenville's remarks and 'deplored the idea of setting aside the exempting
clause, as tending to their annihilation.' Grenville assured Norfolk that he was not proposing
removing the clauses, just asking for a better method of regulating lodges. Norfolk was unable to
suggest a new formulation and proposed instead that the act last only for a year, which was
unacceptable to Grenville. The clauses concerning the freemasons survived the committee stage
in the House of Lords, but the concerns raised by Grenville were soon to resurface and present a
serious threat to freemasonry.
On 20 June, the bill came up for its third reading in the House of Lords. The first speaker in
the debate was the pedantic and cantankerous Earl of Radnor, who proposed an amendment to
drop the exemptions for freemasons. He said that 'Not being himself a mason, and having heard
that they administered oaths of secrecy, he did not know, whether in times so critical as the present,
it was wise to trust the freemasons any more than any other meetings'. He went on to add that 'their
meetings were, in other countries at least, made subservient to the purposes of those illuminati
who had succeeded in the overthrow of one great government, and were labouring for the
destruction of all others. This he conceived to have been proved in a work some time since
published by a very learned Professor (Dr Robinson), and he was desirous to guard against any
similar practices in this country'. It seems that this was the first point at which Robinson's famous
1797 anti-masonic work was mentioned by name in the course of the discussion of the 1799
legislation.
The Duke of Atholl responded to Radnor, and, in the words of the
report in The Senator 'defended with great earnestness and ability the
institutions of freemasonry'.
The fullest account of his speech is in The Senator, and is worth
quoting at length: The Noble Duke contended, that the imputations thrown
upon freemasons by the Noble Earl, on the authority of a recent
publication, however justified by the conduct of the lodges on the
continent, were by no means applicable to those of Great Britain. His Grace
avowed, that the proceedings in masonic lodges, and all their obligation to
secrecy simply related to their own peculiar little tenets and matters of
form. There were no set of men in the kingdom, and he had the best
opportunities of knowing, having had the honour to preside over a great
part of them in England as well as in Scotland, who could possibly be more
The Prime Minister,
loyal or attached to the person of their sovereign or the cause of their
William Pitt, the
country. There was nothing in the masonic institution hostile to the law,
younger
the religion or the established government of the country; on the contrary,
they went to support all these, and no person who was not a loyal or religious man could be a good
mason.
Of those well-established facts perhaps the Noble Earl was ignorant in consequence of his
not being a mason, but they were strictly true: added to these considerations, the masonic system
was founded on the most exalted system of benevolence, morals, and charity, and many thousands
were annually relieved by the charitable benevolence of masons. These very laudable and useful
charities must necessarily be quashed did the bill pass into a law, as recommended by the Noble
Earl. The very nature and foundation of freemasonry involved in them the most
unshaken attachment to religion, unsuspected loyalty to sovereigns, and the practice of Page 8
morality and benevolence, in the strictest sense of the words. To such regulations as went to
prevent the perversion of their institution to the purposes of seditious conspiracy, he could have
no objection, and as a proof of the readiness with which they would be acceded to by the masonic
societies, he need only mention that this subject had occupied their attention for several years
past...
The Bishop of Rochester, Samuel Horsley, who produced a famous edition of Newton's works
and was a former secretary of the Royal Society, spoke next. He declared that he was 'a member
of the branch of masonry which existed in Scotland' and agreed with everything the Duke of Atholl
had said: 'the innocence of these [masonic] institutions was unquestionable, and other objects
which it embraced were of the most laudable nature'. However, this applied only to genuine and
regular lodges in Britain and was not, in his view, true on the continent. There was a risk that
continental influences could affect freemasonry in Britain:
'As secrecy was absolutely necessary, no person could say that the doctrine of innovation,
which had diffused itself on the continent, had not found its way into this country'. The Bishop
reminded the House that Robison had calculated that there were no less than eight illuminated
lodges in Britain. He felt torn between his loyalties as a mason and his duty as a legislator, but in
the end his obligations as a member of the House of Lords required him to support Lord Radnor,
since 'By the bill as it then stood, the meetings of such lodges were sanctioned, or were approved
by persons appointed they knew not how, or by whom; by individuals, however respectable they
might be as such, of whom they, as a House of Parliament, had no cognizance'. In other words,
the Bishop felt, as Grenville had earlier, that a responsible parliament should not countenance a
system of self-regulation by the grand lodges.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After retiring, I went to the
Social Security office to apply
for Social Security. The woman
behind the counter asked me
for my driver's license to verify
my age. I looked in my pockets
and realized I had left my
wallet at home. I told the
woman that I was very sorry,
but I would have to go home
and come back later.
The
woman
said,
'Unbutton your shirt'. So I
opened my shirt revealing my
curly silver hair. She said, 'That
silver hair on your chest is
Proof enough for me' and she
processed my Social Security
application.
When I got home, I excitedly told my wife about my experience at the Social Security office.
She said, 'You should have dropped your pants. You might have gotten Disability,
Page 9
too.' And then the fight started...
Britain’s Greatest Masonic Secret?
From the Rural Lodge Newsletter
PhilipCoppens (Born Filip
St Edmund’s Masonic Church might lay claim to being Coppens, 1971) is a writer who
Britain’s greatest Masonic secret. Labeled by experts as a started his career as an investigative
“temple to Freemasonry” and “a total concept as exotic as Philip Coppens (Born Filip
Roslin Chapel in Scotland”, St Edmund’s Church is one of Coppens, 1971) is a writer who
England’s hidden gems. So much so, that it is almost totally started his career as an investigative
journalist, who specialized on the
unknown.
subject the world of politics and
Philip Coppens
intelligence agencies. As a result,
http://www.philipcoppens.com/
material uncovered on the life of
Though
President John F Kennedy’s alleged
Rosslyn Chapel,
assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was
the star of The used by a US government enquiry in
Da Vinci Code, 1994.
is often seen as a
In 1995, he established Frontier
Masonic
Magazine (formerly Frontier 2000)
The
found- together with Herman Hegge, a
ation stone was newsstand magazine in the
laid in 1870, in Netherlands and Belgium. He has
the
northeast written in various fringe magazines,
church, in truth, only certain modifications from the late 19th both in the UK (Fortean Times,
century contain some references to the Craft. St Edmund’s, NEXUS Magazine) and abroad
however, was built by Freemasons, and apparently for (HERA, New Dawn Magazine), as
Masons, not so much as a church, but as a Temple of well as appearances on radio and
television. Since 1995,
Solomon. Many Rochdale churches from the 19th century
Frontier Sciences Foundation
have Masonic symbolism, such as Christ Church in Healey, has grown to incorporate, amongst
but none can compare to St Edmund’s. The church was others, Frontier Bookshop and
designed by James Medland Taylor, with input from Albert Frontier Publishing.
Hudson Royds, sponsor and Freemason, and the first
In 1999, he was the principal
incumbent, EW Gilbert, artist and Freemason. The church researcher for Lynn Picknett and
has been described as “probably James Medland Taylor’s Clive Prince’s The Stargate
finest work.corner of the building – as Masonic ritual Conspiracy, which investigated
politicians’
apparent
stipulates. The lewis bolt with which the stone was current
obsession
with
ancient
Egypt.
suspended and the working tools with which it was proved,
He is the author of The Stone
were subsequently handed over to St Chad’s Lodge, No.
Puzzle of Rosslyn Chapel (2002), on
1129, in Rochdale.
The church was opened on 7 May 1873, with various the enigmatic Scottish chapel and its
relationship with freemasonry and
Masonic ceremonies held. The cost of its construction is
the Knights Templar The Canopus
known to have been at least £28,000, whereas the cost of a Revelation
“normal church” in those days was roughly £4000. No
CONTINUED
wonder therefore that Sir Nikolaus Pevsner [the great
architectural historian] catalogues the church as “Rochdale’s temple to Freemasonry, a total
concept as exotic as Roslin Chapel in Scotland.”
Page 10
Pevsner added that “Almost every fitting and feature has reference to the lore of masonry.”
The Masonic design of
Philip Coppens Continued
this church begins with its
placement
within
the (2004), on the lore of the star
landscape. It stands on a Canopus in ancient cultures Land of
diamond
shaped the Gods (2007), on the Scottish
churchyard, the focus of Lothians region, its megaliths and its
links with the story of King Arthur
four streets, at the highest and Camelot
point of the town. Like The New Pyramid Age (2007), a
King Solomon’s Temple on survey of the pyramid debate,
the top of Mount Moriah, so arguing that most pyramids around
St Edmund’s dominates the the world conform to a "pyramid
skyline of Rochdale. But template"
apart
from
Masonic
Servants of the Grail (2009), an
investigation
into the medieval Grail
planning, the church was
also
built
with legends.
He has edited Saunière’s Model
intervisibility be-tween the
church and Mount Falinge and the Secret of Rennes-le-Château
(2001), by André Douzet.
(the Royds family home nearby) in mind.
Together, they have written The
Mount Falinge, of which only the windowless facade
Secret Vault (2006), on the existence
exists today, is now alas neglected. Alas, so is St Edmund’s. of an underground complex in NotreThe Builder
Dame-de-Marceille.
St Edmund’s Church is the brain and/or lovechild of
In 2008, they co-authored La
Albert Hudson Royds, a most prominent and wealthy Quete de Sauniere. He is also the
Mason. The earliest traces of the Royds family are to be Vice-president of the French Societe
found at Soyland, then a small town approximately five Perillos and president of the English
miles south-west of Halifax, and can be traced back to one Societe Perillos.
He is the author of three Dutch
John del Rode, who died in 1334. The Royds family
language
books. One was published
remained in the Halifax area until approximately 1500, when
they relocated to Rochdale, roughly twenty miles away from in 1994, on what he alleges is a
their home. Wool apparently made the family rich and in megalithic civilisation of Western
1786, James Royds of Falinge purchased land at Brownhill Europe.
In 2004, he wrote De Da Vinci
and later, in the same area, built Mount Falinge, which was
Code Ontcijferd, a introduction to
built in a commanding position on sloping land between the mysteries incorporated in Dan
Cronkeyshaw and Falinge Road.
Brown's The Da Vinci Code, which
Albert Hudson was born on 11 September 1811 and was had a Dutch and Italian translation,
baptised at St Mary’s Church in Rochdale. His family had both published in 2005.
now largely moved into banking and he took his seat in the
family bank in 1827 when he was 16. His brother, William
Edward, who was six years younger, joined him some time later. Both men soon became active
partners in the firm and, by the 1840s, had became responsible for its general management,
replacing their father, Clement, who by this time had become almost wholly involved with public
life and a political career.
St Edmund’s wasn’t the first church Albert Hudson Royds constructed. Following his father’s
death, he opted for a complete change of life and in 1855 purchased an estate of 382
acres, mainly in Rushwick, near Worcester, called Crow Nest or Crown East. He rebuilt Page 11
the house, renamed it Crown East Court, and erected new outbuildings and stables, cottages and a
church. Soon afterwards, he sold the estate and bought Ellerslie in Great Malvern and moved there
in 1869. He remained there until 22 May 1878, when he moved back to Rochdale, first to Falinge
Lawn and later to Brownhill, where he had lived before his father’s death.
From the window of Mount Falinge it would have been possible to look out on St Clement’s
Church, Spotland, dedicated to that saint out of compliment to his father. From this vantage point
it would also have been possible to see Christ Church, Healey, where so many members of the
family lie buried; finally, he would be able to see St Edmund’s, the construction of which he had
begun in 1870, and saw completed in 1873.
St Edmund’s position was similar to King’s Solomon Temple, but the church’s dimensions
were equally based on a temple that would inspire Freemasonry. It is four-square in plan and is
built on mathematically symbolic principles. Raised on a roughly hewn plinth, the overall
dimensions are proportional to those of King Solomon’s Temple; its length is three times and its
height one and a half times its breadth. The interior volume is of six cubes, one for each arm and
two for the nave, plus that of the crossing. The lantern was the seventh cube, but the lantern tower
was ceiled off in 1887 (some reports mention 1911), on the advice of J Murgatroyd, in response
to complaints about downdraughts. It means that the centre was deprived of a flood of light, but
also that the sacred dimensions of the building were mutilated.
The Design of the Masonic Church Approaching from the south up Clement Royds Street,
the building rises up out of the ground. First to appear was the pentagonal bronze star of the
weathervane that left no doubt at all that this was an unusual church. Presently, the star has been
removed. Noting that for many, a pentagram has Satanist connotations, having a church crowned
by one, might have posed some questions.
These doubts might not have gone away when people saw how the stone finials on the gables
were crowned by even more pentagrams and other enigmatic designs: thefive pointed emblem of
the Craft is there; the six pointed star of the Royal Arch; the square crosses of the Christian degrees,
etc. All of them leave the casual passer-by with the distinct impression that this church is unlike
most – if any other. On the gable end, there is the motto “Semper paratus”, “Always Ready”, a
motto that is used by many organisations. It was the slogan of the Royds family, but for Masons
might be a reminder of how they are supposed to always be vigilant, in keeping the secrets secret.
Around the actual entrance are several depictions of the vesica piscis. The design is linked
with divine proportions and architecture and its presence here must be an indication for the visitor
that the building he is about to enter, is indeed a sacred design. The tympanum has a pentagram,
inside of which are water lilies and the side panels with oak leaves and acorns. For Freemasons, it
is seen as an expression of the need to give a password before being able to enter and its presence
above the entrance is therefore perfectly chosen.
In many so-called “enigmatic churches” (read: Rosslyn Chapel and like), the stained glass
windows are often later additions and hence shed little light into the mind of the original builders.
Here, because the church is relatively modern, all are original, except for those of the south
transept, which are missing.
Originally a Te Deum, they were exhibited in Vienna in 1887 – but apparently never returned,
or at least never reinstated. The scheme on display in the windows was developed by Lavers,
Barraud & Westlake. It is fascinating to know that Henry Holiday (who was behind the frieze at
Rochdale Town Hall) also designed for them. In the nave, as one enters to our left, the story that
the windows tell appropriately begins with Genesis, and Adam and Eve. In the North
Page 12
transept is a Jesse Tree, with Jesse stretched out over two lights.
This design, less exposed to direct sunlight, is able to reveal some of the original
magnificence of these windows. However, the western rose window does make one wonder
whether we might not be in Chartres or some other French medieval cathedral.
What theme went into which window was not done haphazardly. Analysis reveals that on the
south side, the theme is building – a favourite for Masons, of course – and we find depictions of
Noah’s Ark and the Tower of Babel. On the north, the theme is sacrifice, with Abraham and Isaac,
and the Last Supper. In the west: creation, fall and redemption.
Building has connotations with Freemasonry, but the Masonic interest is openly depicted in
the East Window, situated in the Royds Chapel. It is a marvellous example of Masonic symbolism
in its architectural design, and is appropriately filled with pictorial representations of the
designing, building and decoration of the Temple at Jerusalem. In the centre light the three Grand
Masters are shown with the plan of the Temple, or what purports to be the plan. There is also the
figure of Hiram Abif, wearing a Master Mason’s cap, preserving the lineaments of Albert Hudson
Royds. The right hand light shows the workmen busy with the masonry, while the left hand light
shows the priests and populace celebrating the completion of the building.
In the central pentagon of each pentalpha are, from left to right, the emblems of the Craft, the
Ancient and Accepted Rite and The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders.
Albert Hudson’s Masonic path began on 8 December 1847, when, at the age of 36, he was
initiated into the Lodge of Benevolence No. 273 (later No. 226) at the Red Lion Hotel,
Littleborough, near Rochdale. It marked the start of a life in which he would join and rise in several
– if not most – Masonic rites. He held office in the Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire
from 1850 to 1856 as Provincial Grand Junior Warden and from 1856 to 1866 as the Deputy
Provincial Grand Master. In 1860, Albert Hudson Royds was one of the petitioners for the
foundation of his “own” lodge, The Royds Lodge No. 816, which was consecrated on 3 October
1864, still several years before he would begin the construction of his own Masonic oeuvre. It was
not the only lodge that would carry his name. On 30 December 1867 the Provincial Grand Lodge
met at Townsend House, Great Malvern, for the consecration of The Royds Lodge No. 1204. At
the consecration, Albert Hudson’s son, Edmund Albert Nuttall, was appointed as Junior Warden.
He also is known to have joined both Royal Arch and Mark Masonry, as well as being a
founder member of the St Dunstan Chapter of the Scottish Rite.
On 8 April 1862 he was elected a member of The Supreme Council – also known as the 33rd
degree – and appointed Grand Captain General from 1869 to 1872, the time when St Edmund’s
was built.
The specific spark that initiated St Edmund’s might have come when on 10 August 1869 the
Provincial Grand Lodge convened in the Chapter House of Worcester Cathedral to march in
procession to the Cathedral where the Provincial Grand Master unveiled the new Masonic window
that had been built in the north transept. On this occasion, Royds proclaimed: “I ask you to accept
this gift from the brethren of our ancient Craft and sometimes, when you look upon its mellowed
light, may you be induced to say, ‘O, wonderful Masons!’” The cost of the windows, nowadays
more often referred to as The Twelve Apostles Window, was £530.
After the completion of St Edmund’s, Royds, on 24 May 1875 proceeded to lay the
foundation stone of St Luke’s Church in Dudley. Alas, in December, he lost the use of his legs
which, together with the loss of his daughter, at first made him unable to attend, and then
compelled him to resign from office on 7 March 1878.
The Church Design… There Is A Plan.
Page 13
St Edmund’s is a Temple of Solomon masked as a church. Built roughly at the same time
when the enigmatic Bérenger Saunière constructed his enigmatic church in Rennes-le-Château,
Saunière’s church supposedly contains “hidden clues” either to the location of a treasure or to the
nature of the secret as to how he became so extraordinarily rich. But what detail is significant and
might mean what precisely, is a matter of great controversy – and subjectivity. In the case of St
Edmund’s, the Masonic references are sometimes underhand, but always clear to the Mason –
quite often, they are straight in your face. There is, in short, no doubt that this church is Masonic
in design.
On the East wall, a reredos by Rev. EW Gilbert is
integrated with the stone of the building. At first sight,
it appears to be nothing more as if they are cement
leaves; on closer inspection, they are meant to grow out
of the wall, and are actually vine leaves; inside them,
you can read the words “I AM THE”. For those “on the
level”, this is supposed to be read as “I am the vine” –
the vine not written, but portrayed. It is a reference to
John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit.” It appears to be astraight forward Christian
message, but only Masons will know that this is
actually a Masonic prayer, and a famous one at that:
Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon and a Mason,
used it during a private moment on the Moon – leaving
non-Mason Neil Armstrong apparently somewhat
perplexed as to what his colleague was doing. Looking
up, we find the stone bond and the timber close
boarding to the roof in enigmatic patterns, almost like a
Masonic board. It is indeed accepted that it is to remind
of the woodwork of King Solomon’s Temple, which
was carved with knops and open flowers, having a
variety of geometrical designs. If there is any doubt about this interpretation, the Masonic
connection of the lectern is so obvious, it is actually often referred to as the Masonic lectern.
Indeed, the lectern has been described as “the symbolic climax of the whole scheme”. On an
imperfect block of black marble stands a perfect white cube of ashlar marble. The cube, of course,
is already significant within the Craft. Upon that are three columns of brass: Doric, Ionic and
Corinthian, representing Wisdom, Strength and Beauty. However, engraved upon their bases are
the symbolic tools of the Craft, specifically the jewels of the Master and the Senior and Junior
Wardens – the three degrees of Masonry. On top is a horizontal brass tray, fretted with
pomegranates, lilies and intertwined snakes (a variation on the ouroboros, but within a Masonic
context symbolising unity), with a horizontal design that represents the Blazing Star or glory, and
finally, to carry the Volume of Sacred Law, a pyramid formed out of square and compasses –
making an obvious – Masonic – statement the congregation was impossible to miss.
As mentioned, further straightforward Masonic imagery is present in the Royds Chapel and
its stained glass windows. But there are more hidden messages. The chapel – structurally – carries
one of the massive buttresses which really carry the tower, which is made out of ashlar
stones. The mastery that went into the construction of this buttress – this pillar – is Page 14
extraordinary. The Royds Chapel is divided from the chancel by a screen of granite columns, their
overscale capitals representing fig, passion flower and fern – continuing a “leafy theme” that this
part of the church shares with Rosslyn Chapel.
Direct references to the Craft are also present in the iron gates of Royds Chapel, which have
square and compasses and a Seal of Solomon. For Freemasons, there is – again – a secondary level
of reading this chapel. First of all, Royds chapel occupies the position in the church where the
finished craftsman is placed after his passing. In the windows, of course, Royds has depicted
himself as a Master Mason; and if he attended mass, he would hence sit in the position of Master
Mason – inside the Royds Chapel. Furthermore, in the opinion of Rod H Baxter, two pillars
between the chancel and the chapel are meant to represent Jachin and Boaz, though he admitted
that they were placed in an unusual position if they were meant to represent them. He noted that
the donor of the church would have had to look out from his sanctuary between these two pillars
to contemplate the altar – and hence that they are the best candidates for this honour.
Indeed, though the giant pillars near the lantern at first sight seem obvious candidates for the
role of Jachin and Boaz, there are four of them – alas, two too many.
Whether the church was ever meant to be used as a lodge is open for interpretation. And
between intentand execution, is another major chasm. But it is clear that the church could have
been used for Masonic rituals – or at least was designed with these rituals in mind. Take, for
example, the crypt – even though the Royds never designed or saw it as being used as a burial
place. First of all, the crypt runs along the entire length and width of the church. It does not seem
to have a real purpose and must have come at an extra cost. Entry to it is by a flight of stairs, as
well as two trapdoors. In the third degree of Freemasonry, a crypt is a functional aspect, where the
initiate is “raised” after being lowered in a crypt and reborn. In most lodges today, a tarp is laid
out in the middle of the lodge temple, but could it be that the Church’s Masonic architects rendered
it more spectacularly in St Edmund’s? Even if he intended to use it for Masonic ceremonies, Royds
never much could enjoy his Great Work. In December 1875, as mentioned, he lost the use of his
legs. He walked again in 1879, but moved to Lytham in 1881, to return to Rochdale six years later.
He died on 17 January 1890 and was buried at Christ Church, Healey.
The Future of the Building
On 12 February 1985, the church became a Grade Two listed building. For a church familiar
with Masonic Degrees, it must have been a somewhat familiar step to be raised to the level of
Fellowcraft. But Masonic initiations are all about conquering death, and alas, that is currently the
challenge the church is facing. In 2006, the Rev. David Finney, vicar at both St Edmund’s and St
Mary’s, was informed by the diocese that the church would close. Several services were being
held without a congregation. In February 2008, the church was therefore finally closed to the
public, but being a Grade Two listed building, it cannot be demolished.
Its future is therefore uncertain, though other denominations have expressed a potential
interest in securing at least the short to medium-term future of the building. What might therefore
be seen by some as the end of this church, might, of course, only be a sleep, or rebirth. Rosslyn
Chapel too had numerous episodes when it was unused, derelict and even close to collapse.
Equally so, the Temple of Jerusalem had – and continues to have – a controversial history. In the
end, it will be a question of whether the Great Architect of the Universe is willing…
I would like to thank Andy Marshall for his extraordinary efforts in photographing the church,
as well as guiding me to and through it. I would also like to thank Charlie Watson and the Royds
Page 15
Lodges for cataloguing their history and the history of their founder, as well as Andrew Gough,
for providing me with several Masonic insights, or confirmations.
www.fotofacade.com
Philip Coppens
Is Homosexuality UnUn-masonic?
Editor’s Note; I realize homosexuality is a very sensitive subject for many Masonic Brothers,
because in the USA ninety something percent of us are Christians and homosexuality is recognized
as a sin.
BUT, Freemasonry is neither a Christian nor a religious organization. It is a NonReligious organization with mostly Christian members. But, we also have many Jews, Arabs,
Indians and other religions as members. And, Grand Lodge law forbids us to even discuss
religion in the Lodge. And, Grand Lodge has no rules against sin.
But now, in our fast changing world, homosexual men is a subject that faces us.
According to current reports, two percent of the population is homosexual. That doesn’t sound
too bad… Huh? Well there are currently 6.18 million people in the Houston area. Two percent or
123,600 of them, are Gay.
Homosexuality has been legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court. We no longer have the old
hodge podge of local laws that for hundreds of years criminalized Homosexuality and kept it
hidden. Now we have an elected official sitting in jail as I write because she refused to obey the
new laws, for religious reasons, requiring her to do business with homosexuals in her job. The
President of the U.S even congratulates sports figures for admitting they are Gay.
All Freemasonry maintains that it is not a religion, so homosexuality being a religious sin for
Christian Masons could hardly be called a Masonic offence or a legitimate Masonic reason to
reject a homosexual just because he is homosexual. Freemasonry will be forced to deal with it in
the very near future. We can no longer just say, “That ain’t the way we did it in my year,” and
hope it to go away. Corky
Well it started quicker than I thought, read “Grand Lodge of Georgia Bans Gay Men” on Page
23, below.
By Midnight Freemason Contributor Bro: Jason Richards & Guest Contributor WB: Jon
Ruark
On Friday, 26 June, 2015, the United States
Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in
support of homosexual marriage equality. This
nationwide declaration of equality and the changing
societal norms it represents necessitates taking a hard
look at Freemasonry--long having been recognized as an
organization that celebrates all men as equals--and its
attitude toward homosexuality in order to ask the
question: “If all men are equal, and now have equal
rights to marriage across the United States, is the practice
of homosexuality in and of itself ‘un-masonic’?”
Before delving into such a discussion, it is necessary
to define the term “unmasonic” for the
purposes of our discussion here. Un-masonic Page 16
conduct is often referenced--even by Albert Mackey on numerous occasions--but has seldom been
defined. Most often, it is utilized either as a synonym for
“immorality” or described as “conduct unbecoming of a
Mason.” However, both of these uses are deeply subjective,
and interpretation could vary widely depending on a given
culture or circumstance as moral laws differ greatly from
culture to culture. For the purposes of our discussion here,
we would pose a more objective and measurable definition
of un-masonic conduct: “an action that causes serious harm
within the fraternity or its public image outside of the
fraternity.” As a society of good men who strive to make
each other into better men, it is important to retain harmony
within the organization so it doesn’t crumble from within,
but also just as important to retain a positive public image
so that the organization can persist and attract membership.
(Left to Right) Bros. Robert Johnson, Jason
Richards & Jon Ruark broadcasting TMR
Masonic laws concerning homosexuality vary widely
from Jason's house in VA
from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Many jurisdictions have no
stated policy on the matter, but some Grand Jurisdictions
(who will remain nameless) list transvestitism, homosexual behavior, or even the sheer promotion
of homosexuality as Masonic offenses punishable by suspension or expulsion. Many of Masonry’s
rules and Landmarks originated in time immemorial; however, the laws, rules, and edicts of each
sovereign Grand Lodge comprise a governing framework established by men in authority at a
given period of time, based on personal--and therefore subjective--worldviews influenced by
societal norms. We would posit that as societal norms change and evolve, regulations at the Grand
Lodge level should be revalidated and updated to reflect the greater society within which Masonry
operates. As such, the Supreme Court decision on Friday gives leaders of the Masonic fraternity a
distinct opportunity to reevaluate existing policies on homosexuality.
But back to the original question of this article. If we look at unmasonic conduct from the
objective lens postulated earlier, we find it difficult to reconcile calling homosexuality
“unmasonic.” Homosexuality causes no inherent harm within the lodge. Regardless of race, age,
or sexual orientation, brethren are expected to treat each other with the utmost respect.
Furthermore, as societal norms have changed and homosexuality is no longer the social taboo it
happened to be several decades ago, the presence of homosexuals in the lodge does not harm the
fraternity’s public image. Quite to the contrary--as we have seen in recent times with organizations
accused
of
anti-gay
sentiment
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-A_samesex_marriage_controversy), even a perceived lack of toleration can do harm to an organization’s
public image. If we care about public perception--and we should given the past 50 years’ worth of
membership trends--then a reexamination of our rules and perceptions toward homosexuality is
prudent.
If homosexuality is now accepted as a societal norm (much like minorities were increasingly
accepted as equal members of society after the Civil Rights movement of the 1970’s), and causes
no inherent harm within the fraternity or to the fraternity’s public image, then where are these
regulations rooted? Arguably, much of the resistance to homosexuality in Masonry has roots in
Christianity, the principles and dogma of which have long been interpreted as condemning the
practice of homosexuality. But whether or not a given brother or grand officer
subscribes to those interpretations is irrelevant where Masonry is concerned as religion Page 17
has no place inside the walls of the lodge. The fraternity’s most recent addition to the landmarks
of Freemasonry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonic_Landmarks) is that religion and politics
(and sometimes nationalities/borders) are not to be discussed in lodge as those topics only serve
to divide, rather than unite, brethren. For the sake of the fraternity, brethren are exhorted to
celebrate the common belief of a Supreme Being within lodge while, at the same time, respecting
each brother’s right to subscribe to his own religious dogma.
As a result, a brother’s religious-inspired belief that homosexuality is immoral (and therefore
“unmasonic”) has no place within the confines of the lodge room. Likewise, a man’s sexual
orientation should have no bearing on his being accepted or rejected as a candidate to receive the
degrees in Freemasonry. After all, candidates are balloted upon within the lodge room during a
tiled meeting. As such, religious and political biases should have no bearing on a candidate’s
internal qualifications for Masonic membership.
Friday’s Supreme Court decision has presented our brotherhood
with a distinct opportunity to move forward in line with the ideals
upon which our great fraternity was founded: tolerance, harmony,
and unity. By embracing toleration for all men under the fatherhood
of God regardless of race or sexual orientation, we can set ourselves
above today’s polarized society. That toleration, in turn, will promote
harmony and build unity within our lodges. By celebrating our
diversity rather than condemning it, our fraternity will grow stronger
and attract innovative, exceptional young men to join our ranks as
Left to Right) Bro. Jon Ruark,
men and Masons for years to come.
Bro. Jason Richards
Bro. Jason Richards is the Junior Warden of Acacia Lodge No.
16 in Clifton, Virginia, and a member of both The Patriot Lodge No. 1957 and Fauquier Royal
Arch Chapter No. 25 in Fairfax, Virginia. He is also Chaplain of Perfect Ashlar Council No. 349,
Allied Masonic Degrees. He is the sole author of the Masonic weblog The 2-Foot Ruler: Masonry
in Plain Language, and is a co-host on the weekly YouTube show and podcast The Masonic
Roundtable. He lives in Virginia with his wife, cats, and ever-expanding collection of bow ties.
W. Bro. Jon Ruark is a Past Master of The Patriot Lodge No. 1957 in Fairfax, VA. His love
of technology and gadgets led him to start The Masonic Roundtable as a Hangout on Air. His
Masonic interests lean toward the esoteric and philosophical aspect. He lives in Virginia with his
wife, 2.5 children, a dog named Copernicus, and a cat named Tesla who’s a jerk.
(Editor’s Note;I did include this one comment from the BLOG because he makes sense.
Corky)
DrSketch said...
Same-sex marriage presents some difficulties within the lodge. Difficulties that, as an
organization, we will need to face if we hope to remain relevant.
My obligation, for example, gave certain protections to the wife of a brother. Does that same
protection extend to a husband? In spirit, of course it does, but not in letter, and unfortunately we
all know brothers who subscribe more to the letter of the law than the spirit.
Another possible concern of disharmony comes from two men who are married sitting in lodge
together. No matter how great the marriage is, there will always be the occasional fight, which
could
bleed
over
into
lodge
if
they
both
attend
the
same
one.
An even bigger concern, which every Grand Lodge is struggling to figure out, is how Page 18
do you deal with trans-gender people. If you were born a man, but had a sex change, are you still
able to be a Mason? Conversely, if you were born a woman, but are now a man, do you qualify to
become a Mason?
These aren't issues that should stop the craft from accepting and loving brothers, regardless of
their orientation, however they are issues that we will have to face and solve at some point. Until
very recently, most Grand Lodges have taken the stance of putting their fingers in their ears,
closing their eyes, and pretending this doesn't exist. We have the opportunity to be proactive in
our acceptance, but only if we have the bravery to face these issues head on, and set the example
the rest of the world should follow.
Thank you brothers for this excellent article; there is much food for thought here, and we need
to come together as a society of friends and brothers to tackle equal rights.
The Irish Connection
By R.W. Bro. Michae! W. Walker Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge of Ireland
This Short Talk Bulletin has been adapted from remarks given at the 200th
Anniversary of Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. We thank R.W. Bro. Walker for
permitting us to share them with his American Brethren.
The Grand Lodge of Ireland was five years old, at least, when the first record
exists of a Time Immemorial Lodge—St. John’s Lodge-in Philadelphia. This was,
of course, followed by the first Regular Warranted Lodge in America, three years
later, in Boston. I say the Grand Lodge of Ireland was at least five years old in 1730, because we
date our Constitution from the first record, in 1725, of a Grand Lodge Meeting “June 26th, St.
John’s Day: More than ‘100 gentlemen ‘ met in the ‘Yellow Lion in Warbrough Street’ and later
went to King’s Arms. The procession included ‘the Masters and Wardens of the Six Lodges of
Centlemen Freemasons, who are under the jurisdiction of the Crand Master, and the Private
Brothers, all in coaches’ (it being a very rainy day). A new Grand Master, Rt. Hon. the Earl of
Ross was elected. After a meal they went to a play. “Clearly, therefore, Grand Lodge was in
earlier existence though we cannot say exactly when, or challenge the claim of our much larger
Sister Grand Lodge that she is the Mother Grand Lodge. There are, of course, records of Time
Immemorial Lodges going back much earlier in Ireland. The first definite clue we have is that
when Ball’s Bridge was being rebuilt in Limerick in 1830, a brass square was recovered from the
foundations on which is engraved “I will strive to live with Love and Care, Upon Ye Level By Ye
Square, 1507”. We are, therefore, within sight of a 500th Anniversary of Speculative Masonry.
In Ireland we have evidence of skilled Operative Masons very far back in time. We can state
with pride that Irish Freemasons were involved before “Warranted Masonry”, and subsequently,
in promoting and developing the Craft in, what were then styled, “The Colonies”. Irish Lodges
were warranted in many “British” Regiments, though often mainly manned by Irishmen. The 1st
Irish or Blue Horse, later the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards had its Warrant issued by Grand
Lodge on 24th June, 1758. This Warrant is still held in the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and the
Lodge is working in West Germany, where the Regiment is stationed as part of the NATO Defense
Forces. This is our last truly Travelling Warrant which remains of 185 Warrants issued in Artillery,
Cavalry and Foot Regiments of the Line, as well as 43 Warrants in Irish Militia and Fencible
Regiments. Our only other survivor, Glittering Star Lodge No. 322 originally warranted in the
29th Foot in the following year, 1759, was working in Boston in 1765 where on St. John’s Day,
December 27th, 1769, it helped form the “Ancient” Grand Lodge of that State, and some years
later it was in Quebec. These contacts, no doubt later on when the Regiments moved away, led to
applications for Regular Warrants from the local Freemasons, made in those Lodges, who were
left behind; and so the Craft spread.
In the years between the early 1730’s and the eventual, and inevitable, War of
Independence, many of the leading and influential Colonists became Members of the Page 19
Order so that the history of the gaining of Independence and the Craft is inextricably
entwined. We must not, however, fall into the trap of imputing a revolutionary or political aspect
to Freemasonry because of this. So many of our detractors make the basic and elementary mistake
of correlating a man’s, or a group’s, actions to membership of the Order, when that is coincidental
and the same things would have been done or said in, or out of, the Order.
A focal point of the early part of that period must be the granting by Henry Price, in Boston,
of the Deputation or Charter applied for on November 28th, 1734, by Benjamin Franklin, when
he was appointed Provincial Grand Master for Pennsylvania on February 24th, 1735, barely three
months later. So many great names are remembered by us from that period, to which distance
lends enchantment: Henry Price; George Washington—elected Master in 1788, if my information
is correct, in a Lodge at Alexandria in Virginia, though still under a warrant from Pennsylvania;
Benjamin Franklin, who probably did more than any other to establish Freemasonry in
America and whose reprint of Anderson’s Constitutions was the first, and is the rarest, Masonic
book in America; Paul Revere, the silversmith, whose romantic ride from Boston to Lexington
warned of the approach of Crown Forces—this has been immortalized by Longfellow; and the
gallant and romantic action of Major General Joseph Warren of the Colonial Forces, and Grand
Master of Massachusetts, who, having declined to assume command, picked up a musket and
tragically fell at Bunker Hill;
John Paul Jones, father of Continental Navy; the Marquis de Lafayette; not to mention the
Brethren who signed the Declaration of Independence, and many more.
A famous Brother and Commander in Chief, George Washington,
was initiated in Fredericksburg on November 4th, 1752. Another
famous Brother and Soldier, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
was initiated 38 years later in our Lodge No. 494 at Trim, in the Royal
County of Meath. Some 25 years later, at Waterloo, he finally routed
his old enemy Napoleon, himself not a Freemason, to the best of our
knowledge, though a promoter of the Craft and whose brothers and
most of his Marshals were. Wellington’s elder Brother, Richard, 2nd
Earl of Mornington, later Marquess of Wellesley, was our Grand
Master in 1782 as his father Garrett, the Ist Earl of Mornington, had
been in 1776.
We Freemasons of the Old World were with you in those days to
help kindle a flame which has spread throughout America in the intervening years to become the
great institution it is to-day. I know that many Grand Lodges are suffering a reduction in numbers,
but we must never be seduced into an acceptance of the attitude “never mind the quality, feel the
width!” In the first half of this century there were few competitors for the membership of those
whose minds and spirits felt the need for some philosophical inspiration—now they are legion.
We have come back now after the seed, which we may have helped to plant some 250 years ago,
germinated, grew, became mature and branched out on its own 200 years ago like all sons and
daughters to take control of their own destiny.
We had our links with you then—the First Volume of the History of Grand Lodge of Ireland
says, in the section on Irish Masons Abroad, “Fortunately we have learnt from many other sources,
that the issue of Warrants was the very least of the services rendered by Irish Masons in spreading
the Craft in the New World, and, we can claim with justice, that these Brethren bore a considerable
share in founding some of the greatest and most highly reputed Grand Lodges in the
United States.
Page 20
The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania we may almost claim as a child. Leaving aside
the obscure early Masonic History of this State, when it would appear that English and Irish
Masons held meetings by Time Immemorial right, the foundation, in 1759, of the Provincial Grand
Lodge after the Antient forms, which subsequently budded into the Independent Grand Lodge,
“was primarily due to an Irish Mason who had been made in a Belfast Lodge. “ I regret the author
does not elucidate further and I am not sure to whom he refers, or the Lodge in question, but I bow
to his erudition. You may or may not agree according to your point of view, but ties there certainly
were. Springett Penn, great grandson of Admiral Penn, and grandson of the Founder of your State,
apart from owning an extensive property in Pennsylvania also had an estate at Shanagarry in
County Cork; his father, grandfather and great grandfather having been landlords before him. He
was an ardent Freemason and was Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Munster in
1726/27 before its amalgamation with the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1731. It is not improbable
that he encouraged Brethren from Cork to colonize on his Pennsylvania estates. For instance, in
1734, in Benjamin Franklin’s Account Book which he began on July 4th, 1730, appears an entry
“Mr. Newinham Dr. for Bindg. of a Mason Book gilt 4/= “. The old and distinguished Newenham
family still thrives a bare 10 miles from Shanagarry as the crow flies, and several of whose
members are Brethren of our Lodge No. 1, the “First Lodge of Ireland”, which had been a Time
Immemorial Lodge before Grand Lodge was constituted. I wonder is there a link there? It does
seem likely.
Incidentally, on October 9th, 1735, the Pennsylvania Gazette had a notice of a meeting of the
Grand Lodge of Ireland, and previously on May 13th, 1731, referred to a Masonic meeting in
Dublin; and similarly again on May IIth, 1732, a year later.
Freemasonry has waxed and waned, been popular and unpopular, been promoted and
persecuted, but it has survived. Freemasonry made errors such as the political intrigues and anticlerical activities of some European Grand Lodges in the 18th and 19th centuries, but today I
believe that Regular Freemasonry is back on its correct course worldwide, endeavoring to create
in Anderson’s words “a bond of union amongst those who would otherwise have remained at a
perpetual distance”—a brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God.
I leave you with a few words of Irish: “Co m’beannaigh Dhia dibh, go n’eiri an t-adh is an
bothar libh, agus go m’beirimidh beo ar an am seo aris”—which translates as “God bless you, may
your good fortune increase and your way be made easy, and may we all be alive this time next
year”.
A Brief History of the Grand Lodge of Ireland
From the Grand Lodge of Ireland website at http://www.irish-freemasons.org/index.html
The Grand Lodge of Ireland is the second oldest in the world and the first evidence for its
existence comes from the Dublin Weekly Journal of June 26th 1725. The paper describes an event
which took place two days previously on June 24th - a meeting of the Grand Lodge of Ireland to
install the new Grand Master, the 1st Earl of Rosse. Unfortunately the exact date of the foundation
of the Grand Lodge is not known, but the installation of a new Grand Master would suggest it was
already in existence a couple of years. 1725 is the year celebrated in Grand Lodge anniversaries.
There is considerable evidence that there were Masonic Lodges meeting in Ireland prior to
the eighteenth century, for example the manuscript known as "the Trinity Tripos" dating to the
1680s, and the Baal's Bridge Square, discovered in Limerick in the mid nineteenth
Page 21
century, which purportedly dates to the early sixteenth century. The story of the "Lady
Freemason", Elizabeth St. Leger, also dates to a time prior to the existence of the Grand Lodge.
During the eighteenth century hundreds of Lodges were founded in every part of Ireland, and
most of these would have met at inns, taverns and coffee houses. In Dublin, Lodges were known
to have met in the Yellow Lion on Werburgh Street, the Centaur Tavern on Fishamble Street, and
the Eagle Tavern on Cork Hill, amongst others, and in Belfast meetings were held in the Sailor on
Mill Street and the Donegall Anna. The meetings of the Grand Lodge however, generally took
place in civic and guild buildings such as the Tailors' Hall in Back Lane, the Cutlers' Hall in Capel
Street, and the Assembly Rooms on South William Street.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century the number of new Lodges being founded
increased dramatically at the same time as the popularity of the Volunteer Movement expanded.
Several Lodges were associated with Volunteer Regiments, and in Dublin, the First Volunteer
Lodge of Ireland No. 620 was founded by the Officers of the Independent Dublin Volunteers in
1783. The Ballymascanlon Rangers were associated with Lodge No. 222, Dundalk, and in
Fermanagh there was a regiment known as the Lowtherstown Masonick Volunteers,
The political influence of the Volunteers combined with the success of the American War of
Independence and the French Revolution created new ideals of democracy in Ireland. Following
the founding of the Society of United Irishmen several Lodges, particularly in the north of Ireland,
made public proclamations in the press about the need for reform of the Constitution. Whilst the
vast majority of Lodges that did this disavowed violence as the means to an end, some were quite
rebellious in their proclamations. Other Lodges, it must be said, publicly dissociated themselves
from their more revolutionary Brethren.
Government pressure was brought to bear on Grand Lodge and notices were sent out
reminding Lodges of the Grand Lodge Law forbidding quarrels of a religious or political nature
to be brought within the doors of the Lodge. However, several well-known United Irishmen
including Henry Joy McCracken, Henry Monroe, and Archibald Hamilton Rowan were also
Freemasons.
In 1826 the papal Bull of Leo XII against secret societies was widely promulgated in Ireland
unlike the previous bulls issued against Freemasonry in the eighteenth century. Catholic members
of the Order were threatened with excommunication if they failed to resign from their Lodges.
One of the most prominent figures in Irish history to have been a Freemason, Daniel O'Connell,
resigned after pressure was put on him by Archbishop Troy of Dublin.
The nineteenth century saw the expansion of Irish Freemasonry to all four corners of the
globe with Lodges established in Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, India and the Far East.
Prominent during the century was the 3rd Duke of Leinster who presided over the Order as Grand
Master for an impressive sixty one years. The nineteenth century also saw the expansion of the
Masonic Female Orphan School, founded in 1792 to educate the daughters of deceased
Freemasons. In 1881 a brand new school building was opened on the Merrion Road in Dublin
while in 1867 the Masonic Orphan Boys School was founded.
By the 1820s the Grand Lodge of Ireland had arranged to lease No, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin,
for use as the headquarters of Irish Freemasonry. From there, following a brief sojourn in the
Freemasons Coffee House in D'Olier Street, the Order moved to another rented premises,
Commercial Buildings on Dame Street, which became the Masonic Hall until 1869 when the
present Freemasons' Hall opened for meetings. The new building was designed and purpose built
as a Masonic Hall and it remains the headquarters of Irish Freemasonry, housing
Page 22
dramatically decorated Lodge rooms, a library. a museum, offices and dining areas.
Grand Lodge of Georgia Bans Gay Men
From Freemason Information
Fred Milliken posted: "Here we go again in Georgia. Remember Victor Marshall who the
Grand Lodge of Georgia tried to expel for being a Non-White? If not refresh your memory with
the Freemason Information article My Brother's Keeper - Open Racism In Georgia Freemasonry.
Grand Lodge of Georgia Bans Gay Men
by Fred Milliken
Here we go again in Georgia. Remember Victor Marshall
who the Grand Lodge of Georgia tried to expel for being a
Non-White? If not refresh your memory with the Freemason
Information article My Brother's Keeper - Open Racism In
Georgia Freemasonry.
Now it's open war on homosexuals. Where will it all end?
Do you think that Georgia can mimic Florida and ban all Pagan
religions also?
Chris Hodapp on his Masonic Blog
Freemasons For Dummies reports:
Last week in Georgia, the Grand Master,
Douglas McDonald, issued an edict with the
endeavor to change their
Georgia Map
adultery provision to additionally read, "Homosexual activity
with anyone subjects the offender to discipline."
I'm afraid there will be more of this. Brethren should consider that they have all probably
been sitting in lodge with homosexuals since the day they became an EA. I strongly encourage
Masons to check their state's code and take steps to remove these provisions. I'm no gay activist,
but we live in different times now, and the Supreme Court has spoken on the subject. Like it or
no t, such rules may subject us to lawsuits, and I humbly beseech Grand Masters not to act rashly
because homosexuality conflicts with their own personal views of morality. We have had
thousands of gay members since our beginnings, almost entirely without incident or without
bringing disgrace upon the Craft. What someone does in the privacy of their own
bedrooms is none of our business, as long as they don't bring their politics into
the lodge room.
Hodapp also reports on the Grand Lodge of Tennessee attempting to expel a
Gay member.
Author Brother Michael Karpovage has this to say:
Michael Karpovage
What an utterly embarrassing day it is for Freemasonry in the state of Georgia. An angry
day. We are a non-religious educational institution based on Brotherly Love for our fellow man.
Tolerance is a key tenet of the organization. A man's character is all that matters. Not his race,
his personal religion, his wealth or social status. And certainly NOT his sexuality.
Yet, our deeply religious Grand Master just shoved down our throats (pun intended) an
edict that bans a homosexual from becoming a Mason on the basis that it's moral sin under God.
His version of God. There was no debate, no unanimous decision. There wasn't a statewide call
for this action by the brethren. It was issued like an executive order in the very last month of his
term. He opened Pandora's Box and I certainly gave him an earful of which I'll probably be
reprimanded for or worse. But I will not sit idly by without raising my voice.
This is what scares me about these Ralph Reed-type religious far-right wingers in our
country. I believe in separation of church and state. I joined this institution specifically because
religion and politics (two of the most divisive subjects of mankind) are strictly prohibited from
being discussed within a lodge. And with one man's actions, now all GA Masons will be painted
as backward ass bigots.
Brotherly Love. Oh, the irony.
Don’t Look Behind the Curtain and the Generational Divide
By Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor Bro. Robert Patrick Lewis 32°
Waking up this morning I was pleasantly amused to read an article by Brothers Robert
Johnson and Brian Schimian that I’ve been hearing about and eagerly waiting for. I’ve been lucky
enough to share some fellowship with Brother Brian during his “California dreaming” time here
with us in La La Land, and over a few conversations I’ve had with him leading up to that article
and reading it myself this morning, I felt inspired to pen this article based on some feelings and
events in my own Masonic career of late. Brothers Robert and Brian didn’t go so far as to name
the specific event that led to the creation of that great article, and it seems as if it wasn’t necessary.
From conversations and communications I’ve had with other Brethren around the country of my
generation, and from events that I’ve personally witnessed it seems as if the onus for their article
isn’t needed, because the same story is being repeated in Lodges, Valleys and Bodies around the
country.
The problem became apparent to me at a reception dinner my Valley hosted for the Grand
Master of California last month (January). It was a pleasant event and dinner, my first function as
the general secretary of my Valley (we’ll get to that later). After dinner and some entertainment
the Grand Master and several other members of my Valley took the time to speak a few words.
What resonated most in my mind was one very small part of the Grand Masters speech that left
me, well, speechless. About halfway into his speech about the various charities he’s associated
with and things he’s seen in his career, he took a moment to mention the generational divide
occurring in Masonry, citing a statistic that the largest numbers of new Masons by far are coming
from my generation (I believe the age range he gave was something like 20-35 year olds). As my
education is primarily in marketing I love statistics and metrics, as they can tell us so much about
trends and what we are doing right or wrong, so when he followed it with a “we don’t know why
they’ve come, what they’re looking for, or how to keep them” I was floored. It’s not so much that
technology and popular culture have allowed Masonic discussion to be found anywhere that an
iPod, phone or laptop can reach, with such outlets as The Midnight Freemasons Blog,
Page 24
From Whence Came You podcast, The Masonic Roundtable, etc, which are primarily
hosted by Masons of the very generation he seems to have no understanding of. It’s not even so
much that those of my generation have started countless discussions in our Lodges about why we
came to Masonry and what we were searching for.
Moreover, it amazes me that with all of the minutiae Grand Lodges around the country have
the time and resources to dedicate to things which seem utterly pointless to men of my generation,
it doesn’t seem they’ve taken the time to do the most elementary function an organization can
undertake when trying to discern information from a particular demographic: to ask us. I spent the
first month of this year in the general secretary seat for my Valley, and after my time in that seat
I
[Type the document title]
can safely say that I’ve seen more than I ever wanted to concerning one of the largest
generational disconnects I’ve ever encountered; specifically for me in the Scottish Rite, but after
talking with Brothers who’ve held positions in Grand Lodges before, it’s one that seems to be a
common theme: politics. There are several recurring themes I’ve encountered in conversations
with other Masons of my generation and during my short stint in the secretary’s seat for my Valley
that I’d like to address here, concerning and attempting to explain this generational gap and what
it is that my generation came to Masonry in search of. I know that a large part of the very
generations who don’t understand younger Mason’s don’t really understand this media and means
of communication, so hopefully someone reading this can use it as a way to begin the conversation
within their Lodge, if you are in agreement with the points I’d like to address.
We don’t care about the politics. This “look behind the curtain” dealt a nearly deadly blow to
my view of the Scottish Rite, in seeing Brethren treating each other extremely un-Masonically,
concerning themselves more with alliances and future positions than what was going on in their
Lodge/Valley. The men of my generation are absolutely sick of politicians that have done their
best to ruin our country, and fully appreciate why Brother Pike spent so much of his writings in
Morals and Dogma talking of the repugnancy and pestilence that are self-serving politicians.
Politics should have no place in Masonry, and when a Brother of my generation sees someone
playing politics in the Lodge, all respect is immediately lost.
We don’t care about titles. That’s great that you have an “Illustrious” or “Honorable” or “Sir”
in front of your name. While it does show that you’ve logged some serious hours in a Lodge room
or Valley Temple, that’s not what we came here searching for. Many of my generation have spent
time across the ocean on battlefields, and much like those who returned from WWII or Vietnam
to find solace in the Lodge, we believe that respect is something earned, not given as easily as a
large donation or time spent in a certain chair. For those of us who truly came seeking “further
Light in Masonry,” no matter what title comes before your name, you are still a man. Just as the
skull is used to remind us of our own mortality, it should also remind you that no matter what your
title, we are all meant to meet on the Level when in Lodge.
We don’t care about the minutes. Seriously. Both my Blue Lodge and Valley have the same
group of people who regularly attend stated and special meetings. We were present when it opened
last month and heard what happened. No need to repeat it. That valuable oxygen and energy could
be used doing what the men of my generation came to Masonry for: spreading further Light
through Masonic education.
We value our time. Please don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not sure why or how this
occurred, but I’ve noticed (even within my own family, friends and friends families)
that the men of my generation just seem to value time at home with the family Page 25
differently than those who came before us. Maybe it’s because we were raised by
fathers who spent long hours toiling away at work or taking part in other social activities, but my
close friends and I value our time with family above all else. Please go back and read #3 again.
We work smarter, not harder. I can’t tell you how many times I tried to explain just how
efficient, easy and profitable the use of technology can be these days to our Personal
Representative (I created a Facebook, Twitter and Google Drive for our Valley to try and get us
into the technology age). I get it, we’ve sent out brochures, flyers and put trestle boards out in the
Lodge for time immemorial, and that’s what you’re comfortable with. The men of my generation
fully embrace technology, and have an understanding that there are a finite amount of trees on our
planet, and not everyone can be at every stated meeting (please re-read 3&4). Websites, Email,
Facebook and Twitter are just plain smarter, faster, easier and more widespread than
their paper predecessors, and give us access from wherever we are, whenever we want to
figure out what’s going on in our Lodges/Valleys. Please put some effort into understanding this,
as it is at the core of my generation’s culture.
We don’t care about the pomp and circumstance. At the beginning of this article I spoke of a
reception for the Grand Master that my Valley hosted. This was another “look behind the curtain”
for me, and watching the dizzy fervor that this event whipped our PR into made me take a step
back and wonder why in the world we were even doing it. Yes, it’s fun to dress up in tuxedos and
wear our regalia every once in awhile. But please go back and read 1,2,3&4 before you schedule
one of these events for your Lodge or Valley. From the conversations I’ve had with Brethren of
my generation, all would be much better served to bring a Masonic scholar like Arturo de Hoyos
or Rex Hutchens to shed some further Light to your younger Brethren.
We want to learn from you. We didn’t come to Masonry for the institution; we came for the
education, the Light, and the community. For us a meeting could be in a Lodge room just as well
as a chat room or a dimly lit tavern, as were our forefathers. We know that there are numerous
lessons and experiences to be taught, but the resounding narrative I hear echoed from the Brethren
of my generation is that those experiences just aren’t being passed on from “mouth to ear” between
generations. Sure, we have degrees a few times a month. How about taking some time to impart
your thoughts on those degrees. Yes, we can read any number of works to explain the esoteric to
us in black and white text. But as we’ve been taught through our developing careers, the best
lessons in Masonry aren’t written down. We yearn for our elders to show us the Light, teach us
the ways and impart us with knowledge, not just have dinner, read the minutes and go home.
If any of the above has been taken as argumentative, disrespectful or out of place, I truly
apologize. It is not meant to be so, but I have to admit I feel flabbergasted to hear an officer of my
Grand Lodge state that he doesn’t know what the men of my generation are looking for, when
we’ve tried so hard to express that very knowledge. We feel that society has done us wrong and
taught us lessons that were untrue; we can’t believe our media, our politicians, most of our
textbooks from school, or most of what we hear or read in the news. We came to the Order seeking
others who, like us, know that there is more to life than what we’ve been told and taught, and were
directed that the path to the answers we sought began by walking up the steps into our local Lodge.
We love you, we respect you, and we need you, as Brethren, elders, and educators. When we came
seeking knowledge and further Light in Masonry, we came to Masonry seeking you. Please don’t
let another new Master Mason’s first experience after his raising be a reading of the minutes,
because if that is all we have to offer, there won’t be too many more raisings to be had.
Page 26
~RPL
Bro. Robert Patrick Lewis 32° is a member of Los Angeles Lodge #42, and the
Los Angeles Valley of the Scottish Rite, SJ.
The Profound Pontifications of Brother John Deacon
Editor’s Note; I think that Chris Williams’ “The Profound Pontifications of Brother John Deacon” stories are
the best modern replacement for Brother Carl Claudy’s “Old Tiler” that I have found for Masonic education. And,
they have earned a permanent Place in this magazine. I hope you readers are enjoying them as well as I am.
By PM Chris Williams
The noise was so loud that it felt like my head was going to explode. I couldn’t figure out
where it was coming from. Suddenly something hit me in the back… hard… that’s when I woke
up from a sound sleep. It was the phone ringing and the blow to the middle of my back came from
Pam followed by an order to “ANSWER THE PHONE”!!!
There wasn’t time enough to focus and read the caller ID so I when my hand finally found
the hand set I just pressed the button. That was my first mistake of the day. The second was that I
didn’t just hang it up right then. I still wasn’t awake all the way and the voice sounded familiar.
He was talking way too loud and way too fast, “Helloooo Brother Chris, I thought I would catch
you on your way to work and see if we could have breakfast.” By the time he finished the first
sentence my mind had cleared, I had glanced at the clock and had realized it was John Deacon.
“What the heck are you calling me at… I looked again at the clock……oh my God John it’s 4:30
in the morning,” I yelled into the phone causing another blow to my back
and a different order. “Are you crazy? It’s too early to even have breakfast.”
“Awwww quit whining, my Brother,” he said. “I need some direction.
I am hungry and I need to know where to go.”
By this time having been rudely awaken, sarcasm and anger were
starting to kick and I flatly said, “I’ll tell you where you can go.” And before
I could relay that special destination to him, one more blow landed to my
back with an admonition, “be nice”. Grrrr, in my then condition being nice
was not my first choice.
I realized that I was not going to win this with the enemy on both sides, so I took a deep
breath and told him to meet me at Bill Millers in 30 minutes. I heard him whining about not
wanting BBQ for breakfast as I hung up. He would find out in a few minutes that Bill Millers has
pretty darn good breakfast tacos. I know because I have almost every morning of the year. I hurried
through my shower and when I got to the restaurant, John was already inside. They had just opened
up and were heating the food up as he stood there looking at the menu smacking his lips. As I
walked up next to him, I smiled at Sarah who knows me as “potato, egg and cheese taco with an
unsweet iced tea refill” cause that’s what I get every day. She already had my taco and drink ready
and nodded to John and got a questioning expression on her face. I told her that he was becoming
“one” with the menu and he would speak at some point. “He has been staring at the
menu for several minutes,” she said. “I thought he had fallen asleep.” “Nope, he’s not Page 27
asleep,” I answered. He is just coming up with a plan.” Without taking his eyes off
the menu he growled, “You know, I can hear you both. And neither of you are funny.” And then
looking down at Sarah he began to order. “Since my Brother Chris is buying breakfast, I think I
will have three of those potato, egg, and cheese tacos. Also I want three carne guisada with cheese.
I just have to try a couple of sausage and egg and a couple of bacon and egg and add about four
bean and cheese for later and I will be in good shape…..and I will have some tea also.” I don’t
think that good shape is something you ought to worry about Brother John unless you consider
watermelon a good shape.” As he glared at me, I silently calculated in my mind and as best as I
could figure, he was getting ready to consume along with generous portions of sausage, bacon,
potatoes, beans, and carne guisada at least a dozen eggs and a dozen tortillas.
Heck, that wasn’t breakfast, it was a whole week’s worth of groceries. Sarah handed us our
drinks and called out the cavalry to get busy on making tacos. When they were done it took two
trays to haul it all out to our table. One for the tacos and one for all the hot sauce and pico de gallo
to put on everything. I looked across the table at the mountain of breakfast tacos and heard John
ooohing and aaahing over how good it all tasted and realized he was going to be a while and called
Leonard to tell him I was going to be a little late. I was not going to be dragged
out of bed this early by John and not get something to put in the newsletter, even if I had to force
it out of him. The morning crowd was filing in to get their tacos and John’s pile attracted a lot of
attention. I just kept my head down and avoided eye contact and waited.
Soon he was done and I informed him that it was rude to wake someone up as early as he did
me without a day’s prior warning. He told me that he had a big meeting early this morning and
had gotten to town the night before and spent the night and woke up hungry. I listened closely but
never got anything that remotely resembled an apology so I just shook my head and moved on.
“I hope you have something really good for me this month,” I said evenly. “And you need to
start talking because I have to get to work.” “Well,” he said. I don’t have much but it has been
making me think since it happened.” I groaned… the day looked like it was going to get worse. I
leaned back and motioned for him to bring it on.
He took a deep breath and began, “On our way out of Lodge after our last Stated Meeting
several Brothers had congregated just inside the front door. Among them were a newly passed
Fellowcraft and his instructor. The instructor was sharing with the group that the new Fellowcraft
had been trying to assign a meaning or symbolism to every word and phrase in the degrees and
laughingly made everyone think that the Brother was wearing him out with all the questions. The
new Brother was enjoying the joke and as I walked up he turned to me and asked what could
possibly be the meaning behind one of the questions asked in the esoteric work of his first degree.
The question concerns how he knew there was a door blocking his path. And the answer verifies
the fact by reminding that at first he could not proceed and later on he could. In true amateur shrink
form I asked him what he thought it meant. Due to his short time as a Mason he could come up
with nothing that told him why this particular part of his degree and the question and answer
pertaining to it was important.
After a few moments of the group waiting for my answer, and none of the others offering an
opinion, I told him, “I believe that, because you were in the dark at the time, that it was to impress
upon you that entrance into a Lodge was not something automatic or easy. That there were tests
to pass, promises to be made, and passwords to be given before you would be trusted with the
knowledge and beauty to be found on the other side of that door.” I waited a couple of
seconds for a response but nothing was offered, just a few nods and a far off look in the Page 28
eyes of the student.
I left them contemplating my answer, and as I drove home I got to thinking about the Brother
attempting to make sense out of all that had happened to him. I acknowledged sadly that way too
many Brothers new and old have no desire to, and have never even make the attempt to understand
or make sense out of the lessons they are given. Many others take a literal view of all that was
taught them and with only a basic understanding of their working tools, are perfectly content with
working at just a basic level of Masonry and many times reject the deeper philosophical study and
discovery.
This rejection is not necessarily because they aren’t interested in the deeper meanings. It is
many times because of something that I read a few years ago. In a book that was explaining some
of the deeper meanings, there was a phrase that stuck in my mind and it is the reason, I think, that
many Masons don’t dig into the deeper meanings and mysteries of the Craft. The phrase was…
“Always in new knowledge we meet new intellectual frustrations because, every answer searched
for and found, creates new questions”.
“Oh wow, “I blurted out without realizing it. “That’s absolutely true … and it is frustrating
sometimes. But still it’s all good.”
“Like I said, he snarled at me, obviously irritated that I threw my own opinion in there, “it’s
not that they aren’t interested in the deeper meanings and philosophy… in many cases they don’t
have the time to continue searching for more and more answers.”
I nodded vigorously but didn’t interrupt as he rolled on, “This old world has changed so much
in just one generation, from a time when people actually had time for reflection, and time to read
and study, to a world that is moving so fast, it is all but impossible to keep up. The men of this
generation, and women, are growing their families in a time where their children are involved in
sometimes two and three or more activities outside the school and church. Both husband and wife
are being pulled in many many different directions every minute of every day. We are asking
men… good men… our Brothers… to spend time… time that most of them don’t have, in
thoughtful reflection… in study of their lessons … and in search of new meanings and truths
within themselves. And we are disappointed in them because they don’t seem to be spending
enough of that time. Well I assure you that they are more disappointed than we are, because they
can’t. If there ever was a case for a strong Masonic Education program in our Lodges, this is it. I
am not sure that this will explain it properly so it can be understood but Masonry is like a motor
in a car. It has many different parts and systems and if the motor is to run the way it is supposed
to, all the parts have to do what they are supposed to, when they are supposed to.” I must have
looked like I was not getting what he was saying because he frowned and said with an exasperated
voice, “Brother Chris, I used the motor analogy to make sure you understood it. You run an Auto
shop, for God’s sake. It ought to be easy for you.”
“You need to climb about two steps down off my rear end, there Brother,” I shot back at him.
“I was getting it just fine, just waiting for you to make your point.”
He shook his head slightly like I was full of it, and continued, “Like I was saying, I see
Masonry as an intricate combination of words, symbols, emotions, AND timing. All the different
parts are equal in importance to the “motor” running properly, including the timing. When a man
petitions a Lodge for the degrees, the motor starts. As the process works its way through the
reading and investigation and then to the ballot, the motor gains RPM’s. You understand RPM’s
don’t you,” he grinned a sarcastic grin? As I fought the urge to reach across the table and beat him
vigorously about his head and shoulders, he continued, “Then he is initiated into the Lodge, and
with the motor RPM’s getting higher he learns his work and becomes a Fellowcraft, learns that
work, and finally is raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason, and then learns his Masters
work. Our new Brother has now learned all the fundamentals and is now ready to begin his
personal journey of self-improvement and self-discovery. And that motor is really cruising now
and running perfectly, just the way it was meant to. But, right about now is where things start
breaking down. That valuable part of that motor called timing, malfunctions. More often than not,
the new Master Mason comes to the distressing realization that he is on his own from this point
forward. He probably was never given a learned Brother to be his mentor. His instructor
who may have mentored him to a certain extent, has other students to teach or may only Page29
have the questions and answers to give and not the meanings and now seems to not have any time
for him. He attends meetings in hopes of finding that light he was told would be available to him.
Instead he has to listen to the usual motions and reports and a word by word reading of minutes of
the last meeting which he sees as redundant since he was at that previous meeting and heard all of
it then. He understands that business is part of the meeting but continues to hope for more
knowledge of the Craft. He sits through other degrees hoping for things to become clearer all the
while wishing he had the time to read and study, knowing that with his obligations to his job and
his family that attending Lodge meetings is all his schedule will allow. While he enjoys the
fellowship of his Brethren, the reasons why he became a Mason, the promise of deeper moral and
spiritual truths and finding an understanding of his inner self does not seem to be a possibility.
The RPM’s of his motor have dropped significantly, and soon, feeling unfulfilled and maybe a bit
taken advantage of, he allows himself to be drawn into other things and stops coming to Lodge.
He may continue to pay his dues out of a feeling of duty or obligation to something once believed
in, but his growth as a Mason ultimately stopped as soon as he was raised. What I am trying to
make you understand, Brother Chris, and what all of our Brethren need to understand, is that
timing is very very important and that a Brothers journey must proceed immediately after his being
made a Master Mason and that the lack of Masonic education being given in the Lodges and
especially at stated meetings effectively stops Brothers from growing within our Craft system and
renders all of Masonry ignorant of its true mission and purpose. Men do not become better men
just because of the three degrees. Those teach the fundamentals, introduce them to the tools of
their new trade, and provide a few basic examples of how to use them. They provide a basic
education for a lifetime course of study and discovery and to deny all Brothers the higher education
we promised them is to make Masonry nothing more than a social supper club with a rather
dramatic and interesting entrance requirement, instead of a rite of passage and transformation
leading to a lifelong journey of building his inner being for the service of God, Family, Self, and
all of mankind. This is why so many believe that Masonry has become irrelevant this day and age,
because we say that we do all these great things for men … but we don’t. Maybe that is one of the
reasons why many of our Brethren are afraid to talk about the Fraternity, maybe deep down they
see the contradiction between what we are supposed to be doing and what we really do. I see more
and more Brothers whose motors have broken down from lack of maintenance and neglect,
disillusioned by finding out that what they were promised in Masonry and what they hoped for by
becoming a Mason, was instead a fraternity that had forgotten its purpose… had forsaken it’s
duty… and had lost its way, and was now wandering in the wilderness possibly towards that
undiscovered country from whose bourne, no traveler returns.”
He stopped and I was still writing on my napkin. I had forgotten my recorder and figured if I
got the high points I could fill in the middle later. My hand was shaking as I wrote… dang, they
were all high points and this was really good stuff. I looked up at John and I said, “I know you
don’t use bad language Brother John, but I have to say… DAMN, that was good. I didn’t know
you had that in you.” He had been looking off in the distance and that word brought him back.
He smiled and said, “I will allow you that one, my Brother because I know how you are.” I
wondered what the heck he meant by that as he slid out of his chair and announced that he had to
get on down the road to his appointment. I was ready to go too. I waved at Sarah and the crew
who were still in shock from all John had eaten. I followed him out to his truck and realized that
the extra tacos he had ordered for the road he had already eaten.
Page 30
He shrugged and said that he would just have to get a snack later. I just laughed and shook
my head and told him thanks for the material for the newsletter, shook his giant hand, and watched
him roar out of the parking lot in a cloud of dust.
On my way to work I got to thinking about that new Fellowcraft who was trying to figure it
all out and I hoped that he continued to search for meaning in all that he experienced, but also that
he wouldn’t stop at just the most obvious meanings. To do that would be to miss the real reward
and beauties waiting for only those who are determined to find the most profound truths
and the answers to life’s most hidden mysteries. Until next month….I wish you all well Page 31
Phoenix St. John, A New Super Masonic Website
Editor’s Note; We have a new Super Masonic Website, “Phoenix St. John” on the internet. I
hope to be reprinting some of the more interesting articles like, “The Virgin of the Rocks, by Da
Vinci: the controversy”, “Albert Pike on trials and triumph” and “” in The Small Town Texas
Masons E-magazine. From the tabs across the top of the banner it seems like the site will have
something for everyone. However, if you can’t wait, you can always visit the site on your own at
http://www.phoenixstjohn.com/. The following was an interview with Phoenix St. John by Fred
Milliken of Freemason Information
I had the honor and privilege to sit down and interview Phoenix St. John and this new website
owner explained what you will be seeing on this new website:
I am pleased to introduce to Freemasons and non-Masons alike the opening of a new website,
Phoenix St. John – http://www.phoenixstjohn.com/
The author will remain anonymous using
the pen name of Phoenix St. John. Page 31
But let that not dissuade you. This is
a site written by a multitalented author who is
proficient in a number of different fields of
study. The breadth and scope of what this
author writes about is truly quite amazing. And
that is precisely what it is going to take to be
successful in today’s Masonic Internet market.
Masonic Blogs are really out. So many
have disappeared that one can find only a
handful of worthy ones still publishing. One of the reasons is that Masonic blogs tend to be one
dimensional. They concentrate on one person’s opinion on one subject matter at a time. Sometimes
they are more emotional than factual. They do not take in a blending of Masonic, philosophical,
religious, historical, artistic, architectural, musical and archeological thought. Few Freemasons are
that talented or knowledgeable across many different fields of study. That takes a truly
multitalented person to accomplish that feat. And Phoenix St. John is one of those people.
In the previous article I wrote for Freemason Information and Phoenixmasonry, “The Craft
Unmasked,” I can distinctly remember the words of Coach Nagy.
Nagy claims, “Without a foundation in classical literature, scripture and related materials,
there is little likelihood of any man truly appreciating anything other than superficial aspects of
what the Society offers him. What’s more, when they don’t appreciate what is offered, they do not
stick around much.”
Those Masonic websites that are more than just a blog and offer many aspects of life and
Masonic expression are the Masonic Websites still alive and thriving. There is:
1.
David Lettelier’s Phoenixmasonry
2.
Greg Stewart’s Freemason Information
3.
Blake Bowden’s My Freemasonry
And now we add to this prestigious list:
4. Phoenix St. John’s Phoenix St. John
I had the honor and privilege to sit down and interview Phoenix St. John and this new website
owner explained what you will be seeing on this new website:
The Phoenix St. John site has two purposes. One is to present my thoughts on Masonic topics
and literature and the other is to provide a place for Masons to explore various disciplines within
Masonry and related to Masonry through the Liberal Arts and Sciences. The site has galleries of
Masonic and world artifacts, history, and architecture. It has a gallery of Masonic art by the best
Masonic artists of today, such as Bro. Ryan Flynn, Bro. Greg Stewart, and Bro. Chad Mesteller.
It also has a gallery of inspiring artwork from non-Masonic artists. It has a music history timeline
with samples of music from around the world and numerous educational videos on all kinds of
subjects such as Knight Templar history and music, biographies of notable philosophers,
Freemasons, and scientists. I have provided links to many research and study sites for the more
dedicated Masons. You will also find poetry, both old and current, Masonic (including some of
yours, Bro. Frederic) and from different philosophical traditions such as Zen and Sufi, as well as
my own. I will be updating the Masonic News section of the site with interesting occurrences from
the Masonic world. I am a huge fan of quotes and I make memes so you will find galleries with my
original memes and thoughts, as well as Masonic memes and thoughts and the same
by non-Masons.
Page 31
I will be posting bi-monthly studies on Masonic literature. I will begin with The
Meaning of Masonry by W.L. Wilmshurst. The idea is to study the book, cover to cover, adding my
own insights and research. I am not sure which book I will study and post about after The Meaning
of Masonry. Since the site is very multidimensional you will see posts on Masonic art, architecture,
literature, history, museum pieces, and more. People can subscribe to the site’s posts to get them
by email.
As the “about me” section on the Phoenix St. John site states, I am a lifelong student of
numerous religious and esoteric traditions. My interest began as a kid, when a few documentaries
on mysterious ancient civilizations sparked my interest. I was drawn to old religious and
philosophical beliefs from civilizations such as Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and South America.
When I was about 14 years old, my father bought me a rather cheap but heavily researched
encyclopedia of religions. It was heavy reading, one book per religion. I did my best to process
what I could from them. I grew up around Jesuits, with whom my parents had a close academic
relationship. I was a spoiled teen because I was invited to religious and philosophical discussion
groups they organized for adults only and even a poetry group they put together for college
students.
I became interested in the history of Christianity
and the Bible after being re-baptized by a Jesuit friend
of the family in my mother’s garden fountain in a simple
yet profound ceremony. I read the Bible in its entirety
pausing to research terms and reflect on its ideas. From
there, I studied Judaism and its history, as well as the
history of the Temple of Jerusalem. I studied the history
of the Catholic Church and various heretical
philosophes it has fought. Once I learned that the
Temple of Jerusalem is such a prominent feature in
Freemasonry, I just had to research Freemasonry and I
was hooked. I studied Knight Templar and Freemasonic history for many years prior to becoming
a Mason in 2008.
Religion and philosophy remain strong interests of mine and this is reflected on the Phoenix
St. John site. I have studied ancient Greek philosophy on my own time and in college and law
school. I have endeavored to understand the gnostic currents of Christianity, such as Cathar
history, from the middle ages back to its known origins. I was lucky enough to visit Carcassonne
and Toulouse in France, two Cathar sites where much fighting took place between Cathars and
the Catholic Church. Seeing the Languedoc region in France, the places where Cathar massacres
occurred, and such controversial ideas flourished was incredibly stimulating for me.
I developed an interest in the history of the Prophet Muhammad in Junior High School when
I had a fantastic history teacher so the history of Islam and the Crusades is also a favorite subject
of mine and this is reflected on the site. Finally, I have also studied modern religious cults and
movements such as FLDS and the history of Jonestown, where residents ended up committing
suicide and were poisoned, but the site is focused on non-recent history. In short, I am interested
in all things religious and historic. I could go on and on as this subject has truly captured me for
life, which is one reason I love Freemasonry so much: Freemasonry is inclusive as far as religion
goes. I believe my sincerity and long years of study on these subjects qualifies me to produce
Masonic and philosophical insights Brethren will hopefully find worth reading.
I am an attorney by trade. International Law is my forte but, of course, I also love
historic topics within law such as how the U.S. Constitution came to be and the Page 33
numerous Freemasons involved in constituting this great nation. I also appreciate just
how many Masons have done the same in countries such as France, Mexico, Argentina, England,
you name it! Our fraternity is incredibly rich in history and has produced so many movers and
shakers throughout the world, it is an honor to participate in the preservation of our traditions
and history, even if in such a small way as having informative galleries on Masonic history online.
I am also a musician, which is why you will find a lot of music included on the site. I am a
singer/songwriter, I play the guitar, and have done a lot of theatre. I have played in many bands
over the years and have toured with various music and theatre groups. I did three years of
intensive Theatre training at a performing arts school. I have studied and performed classical
music, choir, and opera. Of course, music history has been a favorite interest of mine as well. I
love traditional world music and that always has been my contribution to groups I have played
with. I love to add native flutes, chants, and elements to electronic and acoustic music alike.
The site contains all these interests of mine with an eye to providing valuable education. The
only other time I felt I could bring these elements together was during my last trimester in law
school, when I wrote and performed a musical which had an esoteric theme based on
Michelangelo’s work. It had music, theatre, esoteric undertones, art, and law. I was in Heaven!
That is exactly how I feel about the site now. It is truly a pleasure for me to offer a varied and
hopefully stimulating website.
To me, as I state on the site, Freemasonry is a stable philosophical system that, nevertheless,
allows each Mason to interpret its tenants and contribute original work and thinking. Therefore,
I support today’s Masonic writers, artists, and promoters. Each Masonic piece of art, each
original article or paper, each lecture a Mason prepares and shares with the Brethren contributes
to the philosophical system that is Masonry, both originality and newness and an appreciation for
our history and tradition. Not all Brethren are engaged in creating new Masonic works or
celebrating our old, but for those who are and for those who benefit from what other Masons
create and contribute, I believe it is important to support each other’s work. That is why you find
poems by Masons and artwork by Masons on the Phoenix St. John site. I try my hand at poetry
myself, as you will find if you visit the site but I have yet to produce presentable art. I do make my
own memes though.
Phoenix St. John is a pen name. I do not wish to
make my real name known at this point because I am
writing a book in which the creation of this site is
included. Once I finish the book and, hopefully, publish
it, I can reveal my name but I want to keep Phoenix St.
John as my pen name for life. Did you know Voltaire is
a pen name? Most people know or have heard of
Voltaire but how many can tell you his real name?
François-Marie Arouet. My real name isn’t as exciting
as Phoenix’s. I can write under a name that means much in its symbology so I will. I understand
you have also used a pen name, Bro. Frederic? ( yes, Squire Bentley).
Manly P. Hall tells us that the Phoenix is one
sign of the secret orders of the ancient world and of
the initiate of those orders, for it was common to refer
to one who had been accepted into the temples as a
man twice-born, or re-born. St. John refers to St. John
the Baptist. The theme is that of the Baptism of St.
John and the initiates of secret orders, many of which
had Baptism rituals. You see a Templar Cross on the
chest of the Phoenix and also two red roses,
symbolizing the blooming of human consciousness. The undulating line with two dots is my secret
signature. I have used that symbol since I was 17 years old. I just had to include it. Another fun
secret, or used to be secret, is that I use two periods instead of three as can be seen in this meme.
So as you can see we are all in for quite a treat. If the Craft is to move forward, if it is to grow,
if it is to flap its philosophical wings then websites such as Phoenix St. John must be on
the scene. If Freemasonry slides into a social club or a service organization everywhere Page 34
and neglects its philosophical roots and its intellectual capabilities it is doomed to wither and die
on the vine. The rise of the Super Masonic Website is quelling the tide of superficiality in
Freemasonry and sparking the interest of Millennials. This is what will be Freemasonry’s Savior.
And one of those Super Masonic Sites is now Phoenix St. John.
Cheap Brotherhood
Brotherhood
A rebuttal to "Have We Cheapened Our Fraternity?" By: R.W Mohamad Yatim; Living Stones
Magazine, October 2014. By Midnight Freemason Contributor Bro. Aaron Gardner, 32°, MPS
There was an article in Living Stones magazine
this past October that asked a very interesting
question. Have we cheapened our Fraternity? The
article goes through an entire spiel of what initiation
fees and dues cost in various lodges during different
time periods. Right Worshipful Brother Yatim
insists his article is not a call to increase dues.
However, it is a call to brothers who are able to reach
into their pockets and help provide more than what
the dues are capable. I am in agreement with RW
Brother Yatim that the Fraternity is much more than
showing up and paying yearly dues at an ultra low
price. It is a requirement for a lodge to effectively manage their budget. I have even written about
a lodge budget myself for the Midnight Freemasons.
I however, cannot get over the fact that he seemingly attacked lodges that typically cater
toward the Blue Collar workers. Most of these men show up to their lodges without suit and tie.
They have a suit and tie ready for the one instance they may use them in the year, however, the
usual attire for a brother in these lodges are jeans and a button up. Honestly, some of these brothers
show up in work clothes. He further asks if we are supposed to portray the “Cream of the Crop”,
the first class citizens of our society are within this Fraternity, how would visitors or a potential
candidate see our Fraternity with these individuals in the lodge? I believe the real question is: Are
we making judgments on a brother who works hard all day, comes to lodge before seeing his
family and dedicates the only time he has to the Craft; to better his community, his friends, family
and himself?
Have we really cheapened the Fraternity to the point of worrying more about the money than
the cause? My brothers, Freemasonry is having a hard time finding the funds to support our many
programs. It could be because our retention is low, our dues are lower than what our ancestors
paid based of their salary, or, it could be because we continue to live in the glory days. Honestly,
I believe it is a combination of it all. What should we do in order to fix it? Brothers, there are
books upon books, articles and podcasts dedicated to fixing our problems as a Fraternity. Our
problem is not JUST that we don’t charge enough, it’s not JUST our retention numbers, and it’s
not JUST that we are living in the old days. Brothers, it is that we won’t do anything about it. Our
Grand Lodges have pushed out plan after plan, strangling some jurisdictions control. Some Grand
Lodges have issued a “Big Government” ideology that tells the lodge verbatim what they will and
will not do.
Page 35
Is it a control thing? Is possible, but I don’t think it started out as such. I believe the Grand
Lodges that are issuing out these laws, originally had no choice because our subordinate lodges
failed to do what they were supposed to. Some were too lazy to keep up with their own bylaws,
adopting the “Grand Lodge Basic”. I have even seen lodges give up their individual rights to vote
in Grand Lodge to the Worshipful Master of the Lodge. It wasn’t because the Worshipful Master
was the only vote that mattered in Grand Lodge, it was simply because the members of the Lodge
didn’t want to stay in session to hear the issues being brought forth to Grand Lodge. It is not “at
the will of the Worshipful Master”. The Worshipful Master’s vote represents the majority of his
Lodge.
Brothers, we can point the finger and say what and who is to blame, but that will never solve
the issue. It has been expressed and debated multiple times in various forums the reasons we are
in this predicament of decline. It is time to stop talking about it, and do something about it. In my
presentation “Man in the Mirror” I ask the commonly referred joke “How many Master Masons
does it take to change a light bulb?” Usually you hear the answers from the crowd, “Three” or “I
don’t know…” It’s not a trick question. The answer is One. All it takes is a Master Mason to see
the problem, address it and fix it. It all starts with that man in the mirror, The Change you want to
see.
Allow the individual Lodges to determine what is best for their lodge and community. If it
means the lodge turns to Tuxedos and higher dues, as long as it works for that lodge to stay alive.
If the lodge is mostly blue collar, there is nothing wrong with a brother wearing jeans and a polo
to regular scheduled meetings. We are the cream of the crop, brethren. It isn’t about how we look
on the outside, but how we conduct business on the inside. From the inside we can change our
image, which will change the world. We, my brethren, are the ones that must step up and say what
is right for our lodge. With our participation and discussion with each other inside lodge, we can
determine what is right, what is wrong, what works and what doesn’t. Once we do that, retention
will not be the issue, appearance will not be the issue, the dues will not be the issue and we will
soon realize the glory days are not behind us, but, right in front.
~AG
Bro. Aaron Gardner, an American Soldier who just recently transitioned into the Reserves after 8 years
serving the Active Duty Army. He dedicates the majority of his free time to Freemasonry with his constant studies,
writing and traveling from lodge to lodge to learn as much as he can regarding Freemasonry. He likes to relate
his everyday life to the Craft and anything he finds he wants to spread to the world. It is his passion to study
people, religion, history and Freemasonry. When he isn't working as a Soldier he is dedicating his time to the
amazing and supportive Emily, writing about Freemasonry and writing his very own novel. His blog page is
Celestial Brotherhood.
Masonic Family Park, Granite Falls, Washington
A Masonic Did You Know From W. Bro. Dwight D. Seals
The Masonic Park is the property of the Master Masons Club of Snohomish and Island
Counties. It consists of 245 acres of beautifully wooded land on rushing Canyon Creek and is
located in the foothills of the majestic Cascade Mountains. This beautiful park was donated by
Jacob Anthes, Mathias and Johanna Quist, the Soundview Pulp Company, and the Des Moines
Timber Company in four separate bequests between 1922 and 1948.
It was donated for the purpose of constructing a park for Master Masons and their
Page 36
families. The Park has been developed entirely by donations of time, effort, money, and materials
from many devoted brethren and many of the surrounding lodges.
Membership in the Master Masons Club is maintained by an annual fee to all Master
Masons belonging to a lodge in Snohomish and Island Counties and is the primary source of
revenue for maintenance of the Park. In recent years, the use of the Park has been extended to
other Master Masons belonging to lodges outside of Snohomish and island Counties, who wish to
maintain an annual associate membership for the same fee per year. This beautiful park is open to
all Master Masons, their family members and guests. In addition, members of Eastern Stat,
Amaranth or majority members of Rainbow and Job's Daughters along with family and guests are
welcome.
Planned development of the Park, inaugurated several years ago to protect this
tremendous resource, has made possible the development of timbered portions and the expansion
and beautification of picnic and camping areas.
Provisions for future development of the Park have been made by the adoption of a
Memorial Trust Fund from life memberships that will one day provide income for the perpetual
maintenance of the Park.
Donations to this fund can be made directly to the Master Masons Club or at the entry gate.
Washington state Masons hold an annual ‘Outdoor Degree’ on the first Saturday of August
every summer in an amphitheater area of the park.
May We Meet Upon The _|_ Act By The ! And Part Upon The |_
W. Bro. Dwight D. Seals - Camden Lodge #159 - Camden, Ohio
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Why Old People Still Need Newspapers
I was visiting my DAUGHTER last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.
"This is the 21st century" she said. "We don't waste money on newspapers.
Here, use my iPad."
I can tell you one thing ... that damn fly never knew what hit him...
++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Obligation and the Oath: The obligation is a promise made by the candidate to the members of
his Lodge and to the Fraternity. The oath is the "So help me God!" that follows the obligation.
Masonic TriviaTrivia- A Lodge Saved
From the book Masonic Trivia: Amusements and Curiosities by Peter Champion
The year 1828 was the height of the anti-Masonic fervor arising out of a controversy called
“The Morgan Affair.” During this period, local anti-Masonic authorities resorted to unlawfully
seizing Lodges and Lodge possessions. Morgan Park Lodge #999 of Chicago, Illinois, found itself
in such a pickle when their Lodge was sealed by county officials.
As the years passed, the anti-Masonic fanaticism quelled. Brethren of the Lodge wished to
reopen, but lacked their Charter, lights, officer regalia, and tools of the craft. They called a meeting
to brainstorm a solution for their dilemma. Much to their astonishment, the Lodge Tiler, Past
Master Charles M. Gray, walked into the meeting with all of the above items. Needless to say, the
brethren were surprised, but not dumbfounded enough that they failed to ask how the
Page 37
possessions had escaped impoundment.
Gray explained that he had foreseen the possible seizure. As Tiler, he had the keys to the
Lodge and storage areas and was able to secure the items in advance of the approaching authorities.
Thereupon, he’d entrusted the items to the care of “a maiden friend.” Gray went on to state, “She
deposited them between the straw and feather ticks of her bed, where they remained unmolested.”
+++++++++++++++++++++
An Irishman moves into a tiny hamlet in County Kerry, walks into the pub and promptly orders
three beers. The bartender raises his eyebrows, but serves the man three beers, which he drinks
quietly at a table, alone. An hour later, the man has finished the three beers and orders three more.
This happens yet again.The next evening the man again orders and drinks three beers at a time,
several times.
Soon the entire town is whispering about the Man Who Orders Three Beers. Finally, a week
later, the bartender broaches the subject on behalf of the town. “I don’t mean to pry, but folks
around here are wondering why you always order three beers?”
‘Tis odd, isn’t it?” the man replies, “You see, I have two brothers, and one went to America,
and the other to Australia. We promised each other that we would always order an extra two beers
whenever we drank as a way of keeping up the family bond.”
The bartender and the whole town was pleased with this answer, and soon the “Man Who
Orders Three Beers” became a local celebrity and source of pride to the hamlet, even to the extent
that out-of-towners would come to watch him drink.
Then, one day, the man comes in and orders only two beers. The bartender pours them with a
heavy heart. This continues for the rest of the evening – he orders only two beers.
The word flies around town. Prayers are offered for the soul of one of the brothers. The next
day, the bartender says to the man, “Folks around here, me first of all, want to offer condolences
to you for the death of your brother. You know-the two beers and all…
”The man ponders this for a moment, then replies, “You’ll be happy to hear that my two
brothers are alive and well… It’s just that I, myself, have decided to give up drinking for Lent.”
Finally
Finally – After 179 Years Of Doubt
Santa Anna’s Masonic Membership Confirmed
DAL
Thanks to W. Bro. Gary Mosmeyer for submitting this one from the Texas Historical
Foundation LAS – The Texas Scottish Rite of Freemasonry has confirmed that Mexican General
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Commander at the battle of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto,
was a Scottish Rite Mason in Mexico. His original Scottish Rite membership certificate is located
in the Livingston Masonic Library of the Masonic Grand Lodge of New York.
According to M. Douglas Adkins, the top Scottish Rite official in Texas
and a member of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
in the Southern Jurisdiction, a person must be a Master Mason to be eligible
for Scottish Rite membership in Mexico, as in the United States. Today’s
announcement resolves arguments by Texas historians who have contended
there has been no proof of General Santa Anna’s membership.
The significance of this announcement in terms of Texas history stems
from numerous reports that General Santa Anna saved himself from
execution after being captured at the battle of San Jacinto in 1836
by giving secret Masonic signs to Texas soldiers and later to Page 38
General Sam Houston, a well-known Mason. The Texas critics of these reports have said that
General Santa Anna would not have known of such secret signs unless he actually was a Mason,
for which no proof had previously been provided.
Mr. Adkins explained that this confirmation of Masonic membership does not provide proof
of the story that Masonic membership saved General Santa Anna’s life, but rather only refutes the
arguments that General Santa Anna was not a Mason. Some Masons have said that General
Houston and many other Masons at San Jacinto would have known that General Santa Anna had
disowned Masonry and that his offenses in Mexico, the Alamo and Goliad would have forfeited
any rights for protection he may have had as a Mason. Sources in Mexico have confirmed that he
was kicked out of Masonry.
Mr. Adkins emphasized that the Texas Scottish Rite is taking no position in this historical
controversy, and is only confirming General Santa Anna’s Masonic membership.
Mr. Adkins said Masonry always has celebrated its history and the lives of many of its
members, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, William B. Travis, James Bowie and
Davy Crockett. The Texas Scottish Rite is pleased to provide this information for the use of present
and future Texas historians.
An enlarged and enhanced graphic image of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s Scottish Rite
Masonic Membership certificate, as well as his Masonic Apron, his spurs, items from his tent at
San Jacinto, Davy Crockett’s pistol from the Alamo, and other Texas history artifacts will be on
display before and after the presentation of the new play, “Leaving San Jacinto,” on April 23,
2013, in Dallas. For more information, please visit http://www.leavingsanjacinto.com. .
Surviving The Big Ones
Surviving The Big Ones
By John “Corky” Daut
The big ones for me were that 16 year period between the Great Depression and World War II. Being
born in 1928, I grew up during the hard times between the stock market crash of 1929 and the end of
World War II in 1945.
Some of the readers have told me that they enjoyed reading about the good old days in the country so
this is the second of three columns about Pine Island during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s with stories
my mother told me.
In the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds the people, at least in the country, enjoyed
a simpler God fearing life that was reflected in their social life and entertainment’s.
One of the more popular social events, of the time, was visiting friends and kinfolk. The whole family
would load into the wagon or later the car or truck and go to visit Uncle John's or Aunt Kate's family just
to talk and enjoy each other’s company. It wasn't at all uncommon, especially in the earlier "horse and
wagon" days, to put pallets on the floor for the children and spend a night or two on such a visit. When
the farm work was caught up, my great grandfather would load up the wagon with family food
and quilts and head for the Fields Store community. There, they would pay a visit with his Page 39
brother and the family for a few days, then load up and make the 12 mile trip back to Pine Island. Now,
don’t laugh about a 12 mile trip that would take you 15 minutes. With a team of horses and a wagon on
the roads of that day it was at least a half days journey.
Visiting was popular enough around the turn of the century that people overcame many obstacles that
most current day persons with modern automobiles and highways would not consider trying.
Mama talked about going with her friend Lena, Lena's father Joe and the rest of Joe's family to all
went to visit Lena’s grandfather. They all loaded into Joe's truck one morning and headed toward Chappell
Hill. When they reached the Brazos River the water level was so high that the ferry wasn't running. Not
allowing Mother Nature to halt a visit, Joe hired a man with a rowboat to row the whole family across the
river in two trips. Once across the river, Joe used the phone at a nearby store to call his father in Chappell
Hill. His father drove down to the river, loaded the whole group into his car and they continued the
journey. After they spent the day visiting, "grandpa" loaded them all back in the car and drove them to
the river. There, they were rowed back across the river and loaded into Joe's truck for the drive home.
Most citizens of the area were very religious and their social life often consisted of singings and bible
study held at each other’s homes and at the church. Even attending the official church services or prayer
meetings was also a semi-social event, although most members would have been very upset to hear it
called that.
Church services allowed the members to meet before and after the service to exchange the
neighborhood news events of the past week. It gave the women a chance to let the other ladies see their
new dresses or sunbonnets that came far and few between. It allowed the men a chance to meet with their
neighbors and discuss the crops, or the weather, or the new horse that one of them had bought.
The church also gave the people a place to join together and share their grief at funerals and after
natural disasters as well as their joy at weddings and christenings.
Maybe once a month or so, if the young people were lucky, they could talk one of their families into
giving a "Play Party" for the teens and young adults. The word “party” had a slightly different definition
in those days. It usually meant that the furniture would be moved out of a room and chairs would be
placed around the walls for the guests. Sometime cake or cookies were served, but often the only
refreshment offered was a cold drink of water, fresh from the well.
At the party the young people would play "party games" such as Snap where a boy and girl would
hold each other’s hands high up like an arch and name a boy to start the game. He would call a girl's
name and she would chase him around the couple. When she caught him, he had to replace the boy
holding hands. Then the girl called a boy's name and he chased her around the couple and on and on.
Some of the other "Ring Party Games" that were very popular, were actually square dances, but of
course no one dared call them dances in those days, so they were party games. Some of the ring games
of the day were called "Black Them Boots and Make Them Shine", "Build My House, Wilburn", "Same
Old Two and Go Right Through", "Four In The Middle", "Dusty Miller" and "In And Out The Window".
Occasionally some of the neighbors would get out the old hand cranked ice cream freezers and have
an ice cream supper at the school or someone's home. At these events the young people would play the
same games that they did at the play parties.
The schools were sometime used for events such as plays or special holiday programs that were
presented by the students.
The older men would sometime play dominoes, shoot the moon or forty two or even a hot game of
checkers. And, of course there was horseshoe pitching. Card games were out of the question for most
families however, as they were "Tools of the devil" that were used for gambling and therefore sinful.
+++++++++++++++++++
Bubba and Abe met up after their fishing trips and Bubba asked Abe if he had any luck. Abe
replied, "Yep, I caught a 65 lb catfish, how about you?" Abe replied, No luck with catching fish
but I fished out a lantern I lost about 10 years ago, and the light was still burning."
Page 40
Rubbing his chin, old Abe looked at Bubba and said, "Well perhaps that fish wasn't that big
after all. Tel ya what, I'll knock off 30 pounds from that fish if you'll blow out the light in that
lantern." Thanks to W. Bro. Paul Weathers
The Pine Island Pen Works
No, this is not a paid advertisement. It is just a story about my other
hobby. Really, it’s not an advertisement. But, if you are interested you can
always email me.
Hi, I'm "Corky" from Pine Island, Texas. I started
working with wood in wood shop class at Stonewall Jackson
Junior High School in Houston, Texas in 1941 at 14 years
old.
Now, 73 years later at 87 years old, I'm still working
with wood. I saw my first turned wooden ball point pens
about 7 or 8 years ago. They were beautiful and I knew that
someday I would be making some.
After my wife passed away 4 years ago, I started making
pens to occupy my mind. Well, you can only give away so
many pens as gifts, so I started selling some at the “First Saturday Trades Day” in Bellville, Texas
once a month. I don’t make any real money, but it does pay for the hobby.
The Bolt Action Bullet pen is the best seller.
I’ve sold 22 so far this year at $30.00 each. A metal
parts kit cost me $14.95 and a few more dollars for
fancy woods, finishes and shipping. So, I make
about $10 on one, but the hobby pays for itself.
The Masonic pens were in second place with 19,
but that is misleading. One Worshipful Master bought 16 Masonic pens as gifts for his officers.
The new Lever Action pens just came out and will be introduced to buyers at the October sale.
Looking for another hit??? Operating the bolt or the lever advances and retracts the replaceable
“Parker” type ink cartridges,
I just finished completely overhauling my Pen Shop
on the internet. You can visit the site at
http://oldcorky.com/PenWorks
There are 22 different kind of pens including Masonic,
some desk top items and some shaving items all made
with wood as a major part.
$5.00 off on all prices for Brothers.
Page 41
Australian Gun Law Update
Editor’s Note; Thanks to Brother May, who is one of my regular contributors, for this one. This
is a message I have been supporting for years. CRIMINALS ARE NOT LAW ABIDING
CITIZENS, WHO Will TURN IN THEIR GUNS. BUT, THEY WILL THANK YOU FOR
MAKING THEIR JOB SITES A MUCH SAFER AREA TO WORK IN.
From Lowry May
To
BCC
pineisland2@yahoo.com
Today at 8:35 AM
Australian Gun Law Update
Here's a thought to warm some of your hearts....
From: Ed Chenel, A police officer in Australia
Hi Yanks, I thought you all would like to see the real figures from Down Under.
It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by a new law to surrender
640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by our own government, a program costing Australia
taxpayers more than $500 million dollars. The first year results are now in:
Australia-wide, homicides are up 6.2 percent,
Australia-wide, assaults are up 9.6 percent;
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!
In the state of Victoria... lone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent.(Note
that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not and criminals still possess
their guns!)
While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with
firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since the criminals now are
guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.
There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the elderly, while the
resident is at home.
Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such
monumental effort and expense was expended in 'successfully ridding Australian society of
guns...'
You won't see this on the American evening news or hear your governor or members of the
State Assembly disseminating this information.
The Australian experience speaks for itself. Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives
and property and, yes, gun-control laws affect only the law-abiding citizens.
Take note Americans, before it's too late!
Will you be one of the sheep to turn yours in?
WHY? You will need it.
FORWARD TO EVERYONE ON YOUR EMAIL LIST.
DON'T BE A MEMBER OF THE SILENT MAJORITY.
BE ONE OF THE VOCAL MINORITY WHO WON 'T STAND FOR NONSENSE
AUSTRALIA: MORE VIOLENT CRIME DESPITE GUN BAN