Golf Event

Well Brothers and other readers, until yesterday, I had not golfed in 2 years, and it showed. It was the first of three golf events for our Lodge and apparently Wii Golf is not the same as really golf. I had so many slices, I was surprised to even find my ball half the time. When I was golfing, I thought of how great our Fraternity is. One of the major tenets of our organization is brotherly love and I believe that all my brothers were able to come together (my real brother was able to come along as well with slightly better results than my own). It is important that Lodges remember these kinds of activities. We do not just exist in this esoteric sphere of mystery but truly have laudable goals that we perform. When brothers are able to get together and have fun, our Lodges will be strengthened by a sense of collegiality. 

Hopefully, next month, I will at least keep the ball on the course.

West Virginia: Grand Lodge in Crisis?

I am sure that many brothers and fellows have seen the articles concerning M.W. Bro. Haas’ lawsuit against the Grand Lodge of West Virginia. I have taken a different tact while examining the "crisis" in West Virginia. I took a look at the listing of Lodges in West Virginia on the Grand Lodge website and began to look at how many Lodges are being led by Past Masters. The numbers are surprising: according to the website, out of the 140 Lodges in West Virginia, only 47 of the Lodges are being led by Masters who have not served before. That means that only 33.57% of Lodges have first time Masters. It is my opinion that the Grand Lodge officers and Past Grand Masters, including M.W. Bro. Haas, are missing the fact that their Grand Lodge appears to be stagnating. If the brothers on both sides of this top level strife would take off their blinders, they might realize what is happening to their local Lodges. Perhaps they would think about fixing the bigger problems in West Virginia, such as being marginalized as an organization.

Party On, Masons?!

A story that ran in the Boston Herald today described another group that has found Masonry, rockers. I have to say this is great. I really admire a statement made by one of the brothers in the article:
“Some people just aren’t ready for it,” Norton said. “Any man can join. You just have to have the right reasons for it.”
The changes felt in Masonry are just a further example that we, brothers, are merely opening up to a new generation.

Creation of the Membership Committee

It is my pleasure to have started a membership committee at my Lodge. I saw it as way to improve our social and fraternal events at the Lodge. The way I have set up the committee is that the LEO, Junior Warden and Senior and Junior Deacons and all the brothers that have been raised in the last two years. I hope that this committee will be able to provide the ability to get some good ideas from the brothers on what they would like to see in the Lodge, from stated meetings, LEO programs and social events like Friendship Nights. I also have invited the newest brothers to give me some new ideas as they will be in the committee as well. I am planning an agenda but would like to hear some ideas in the blogosphere of your Lodge's fraternal programs. I have already received some really good ideas from a brother in Michigan and have used them in planning but I could really use some more.

Vetting a new candidate

On my Lodge's webpage, we have a contact form in which a potential candidate can send us a request for more information or becoming a member. An important piece of information that is missing is that we do not have a petition anywhere on the page. Instead, we contact those new brothers from the contact information that they provide to us. We set up a time to meet to talk to them about what being a Mason is all about. It is essential that a Lodge create a level of trust between both our own members but also the new potential candidate. The new candidate doesn't normally know what Masonry means until he enters the Lodge for the first time. With face to face, both the candidate and the Lodge can create that level of trust, especially that now Lodges are not the place of social climbers but every good moral man. I have also heard that other lodges have similar procedures but have the candidate go to the Lodge building to pick up a petition and go home for a number of days. It is essential that a Society built on making Good Men Better find only Good men. With these procedures in place, vetting can be more effectively done for all involved.