Call me Past Master?

This is the pocket watch given to me for my year as Master of the Lodge.

I have been mulling over how I should have brothers address me. I am a big believer in meeting on the level. The concept of meeting on the level with all brothers seems to exclude the use of separate titles. On the other hand, I spent a good part of a year and a half as well as three years as an officer taking care of the needs of the Lodge. I know I have led my brothers through a very successful year. This brings me to my quandary: should I have brothers address me as Brother Nick or Worshipful Brother Nick?

An amazing aspect of the Craft is the number of titles a brother can collect as he lives a Masonic life. I was fortunate enough to give the Hiram Award to a very worthy brother. He is very active in York Rite and its related degrees and has led all major bodies of the York Rite culminating in being Past Grand Commander. He gave me his Masonic resume for the ceremony and it extended over two pages. Without reservation I call him Worshipful Brother because of how hard he has worked for Minnesota Masonry and my lodge having served at least two terms in the chair.

My mind remains clouded; I just don’t know if I have earned the sacred appellation of Worshipful Brother. I worked hard for my lodge during my year but I also believe that I have not done as much as other brothers. Maybe I’m just being excessively modest. Hopefully, as I grow in Masonry and become a wiser brother, (Masonry is a progressive science after all), I will begin to accept the honor of Worshipful Brother as a representation of my service.

I also wonder if being addressed as Worshipful Brother creates an unnecessary separation between hard-working brothers who have never sat in the Oriental Chair and those who have. However, the brother serving as Master will expend many hours of extra work during his year. It is an honor to serve as Master of a lodge. As any Master knows, a lodge is essentially a small non-profit business with property, bills, and “employees.” This work is done without monetary gain. The job of Master takes you away from things that you would like to otherwise do, missing minor family obligations, driving to far off lodges instead of staying home during a heavy snow, and making phone calls on a Sunday night instead of relaxing on the couch.

I love Masonry. I love working and being of service to my brothers and their families. My hope is that one day, signing PM behind my name in a lodge guestbook will feel earned and not just given. Again, thanks to the brothers of Corinthian Lodge for letting me try new ideas and have fun. I hope to carry over some of those same ideas to Corinthian Chapter as I take on the role of High Priest. I am honored to carry the title of Past Master and I will carry it dearly for the rest of my life even if I am unsure now about my worthiness.

My Year

My year is complete and I am now happy to report of the great successes that we have had in Farmington, MN. When I first joined Masonry, I really didn’t know the brothers of the Lodge. I traveled to Farmington so rarely before joining that I didn’t even know the way to get there. Now, the path seems so well-worn that I sometimes forget the trip to the Temple. I have spent so many hours repeating ritual during that half-hour to lodge that I have probably conferred each degree a hundred times.

This year has been great. However, whatever success I have had has been a part of nearly a decade of growing from being small and nearly forgotten to well-regarded in Minnesota Masonic circles. I am proud of all the hard work we have done this year.

I started with some real goals to accomplish. The first task to tackle was my lodge’s website. We needed an overhaul. The ease of putting up content on the existing site was nearly impossible. Articles would disappear, trees would branch to nowhere, and I would have trouble transferring what I had written with pictures. I am a computer novice and sometimes these “compruters” confuse me. In just one simple switch, Corinthian Lodge No. 67 has one of the best sites in Minnesota. We switched to SquareSpace and Google Apps and never looked back. Our calendar is up to date and everyone knows what is going on at the lodge.

We started the year’s degree work with a Table Lodge/First Degree, something we had never done. All of the brothers were in good spirits and the meaning of brotherhood was never clearer. We had at that degree the just Past Grand Master, the sitting Grand Master, and the then Deputy Grand Master, now Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in Minnesota. At that first meeting, we had four candidates as well as a recently raised Master Mason from the One Day class.

I also tried experimenting with our practices. One such practice is performing the full third degree on each candidate for Master Mason. The Minnesota Masonic Code allows for an abbreviation of the third degree for all but the last candidate. We, as a Lodge, had been abbreviating the experience for years. I wanted to see just how different it would be for the newly raised brothers if each brother received his degree in full. I called as many learned brothers as I could to share the degree workload and we did a wonderful job. The day was raining, the building was hot, but everyone had fun learning the important lessons of the third degree.  These brothers are now truly dedicated and rarely miss meetings and are completely engaged in the Lodge.

We hosted a great pancake breakfast for our scholarship fund, the first in many decades. We had fun discussing Masonry with interested men, showing off our nearly a century old temple and seeing all the brothers and their families. Chris Cakes worked the griddle which gave us more opportunities to chat with the public about who we are. Bro. Jarrod stepped it up along with Bro. Rick to make the event a great success. Kudos.

We also have done quite a bit of traveling as a lodge. Traveling is something that most Master Masons will never do while they are on this earth. In Minnesota, the right to travel is codified as an Ancient Landmark and every Mason in good standing should travel as often as they can. The types of Lodges a brother can visit in Minnesota alone are mind boggling. And once you have traveled in Minnesota, both A.F. & A.M. and F. & A.M., look to other states. Fraternal bonds can be formed in nearly every country in the world.

I won’t describe everything that we have done this year but I invite you visit the Lodge’s blog that lists all that we have accomplished. I have had one of the best years of my life and I hope that in my own little way, as I am an Eagle Scout, that I have left the lodge in as good, but hopefully better condition, than I found it.

You Must Mean Someone Else

Okay, so I am still writing up stuff, especially now that it’s summer.

I had an interesting thought during my Lodge’s dark period. I was watching a show on TV and decided to “research“ the people on Wikipedia. Funny thing was, as I was going down the lead’s Wikipedia page, I noticed an interesting entry about the lead. He was, in fact, a Freemason. The entry was even sourced with a link to an article in a prominent paper with a named source naming this particular brother.

This leads to my question: are we using their fame for our own gains? We talk about George Washington, Ben Franklin, and FDR, but we also name drop brothers like Ernest Borgnine who are still alive.

I have certain misgivings about name dropping. Certainly I’m proud to know that there are many famous brothers but sometimes I wonder if we should call them out as our brother. In England, our Masonic brothers are distrusted. It’s a sad existence but it just is what it is. In the United States, we don’t have that problem (well, maybe a little). However, is it still wrong to name them?

Is there a way to discuss both the famous members of our Fraternity as well as to protect their privacy? Do we have to wait until the brother has passed away to discuss his and our fraternal bond? Am I being overly cautious? What are your thoughts?

5 Reasons Why I Joined the Freemasons

I asked Brother Matthew to write something on the subject of anything that came to his mind. He has written a very well-thought out piece. Thank you Brother Matthew.

I couldn’t tell you what specifically prompted my interest in Freemasonry two years ago, or what spurred me to actually join early this spring. I think I just knew I needed an overhaul, and Freemasonry’s business was “making men better!” But I can give you the five reasons I ultimately joined, and made one of the very few totally good decisions of my life.

1. Friendships

I’m 32 years old, and part of a generation that was tagged pretty early on (probably deservedly so) for being slackers and man-boys, but even we have to grow up sometime. I was the second of my good friends to get hitched, and within three years all of us had wives. Some of us even have kids. What none of us had anymore, it seemed, was time for each other.
It’s no one’s fault. Even man-boys grow up, get careers, move away, have families, etc. but what can be so unexpected is when you finally carve out a free evening in your schedule and suddenly realize you don’t have anyone left to spend it with. And frankly, making friends at 32 is hard. Joining a lodge almost instantly gave me about a dozen fun, interesting friends, and about six million more whom I haven’t yet met.

2. Charity

I am not a charitable man by nature. If I’ve got money in my pocket, I’ll hand it out freely, but that’s because I don’t really value money. Giving anything of me has been almost an anathema. But though my sense of charity is underdeveloped, my sense of guilt does double-overtime.
I may be selfish, but I’m not dumb; I realize that living in service to others is how one truly learns to live in service to oneself. Freemasons don’t just write checks; they serve.

3. Ritual

I was raised in a mostly secular home; we never went to church. But more than that, we never really did anything religiously. Our holidays were inconsistent; we had no traditions to speak of, no yearly vacations or barbeques; we never said Grace, or had favorite bedtime lullabies. It was life devoid of ritual. Ritual is important, though; it’s how we remember. I don’t mean the memorization, I mean ritual is what keeps us, and what keeps our history, personal or cultural. It’s daily exercise for your soul.

4. The Bling

I have to admit to a certain retro-raconteur streak in my personality. I’ve always loved classic Mad Men-esque manliness culture. Couple that with my love of badges and accessories, and I was pretty much meant to be a Mason. No, it’s not the noblest reason to become a Freemason, but it is an aspect and connection to our history.

5. Good Things Deserve to Survive

There are some institutions in this country and this world that are…well…institutions. They’re good things. They do good things for their members and their communities. Damn the society that lets them die thinking they’re too out of touch, or too old, or too rigid. They’re not. They’re the sum of their members. My lodge is filled with young, fun, wise men and recovering man-boys. Freemasonry is helping them do that. Freemasonry is not going to die on my watch.

Those are five pretty great reasons, but the best part is that when I got in, there were dozens more: leadership training, exposure to diversity of race, religion, and politicals, education… Really, it can all be summed up in one word: light.

We’re a much younger generation than who is usually perceived to be a Mason, but that’s our strength. Yes, there is an age gap in a lot of lodges. There weren’t too many Baby Boomers who took up the apron, but that is indicative of our strength. Many of us are drawn to fraternity and Masonry without simply following in our fathers footsteps, but because of the reasons above. But how many young men and new dads have these thoughts and don’t know anything about Freemasonry? Sadly, it’s almost all of them.

We can’t ask them to join us, but we have to remember that we are truly not a secret society. Wear your lapel pins. Get one of those tacky car magnets your grandpa had. Go bowling with your Shrine or Grotto brothers and wear your fez, damn it! Talk about us to anyone who will listen. Let people know that we’re out there and that we are anything but irrelevant. We’re brothers.



Matthew Gallagher is a freelance writer in the Twin Cities, the head writer of Transylvania Television, and a proud Master Mason of Braden Lodge No. 168

Passing of a Brother

It is my sad and solemn duty to report that my grandpa, Dick Johnson, has passed away. My grandpa was a member of Fidelity Lodge No. 39 for 60 years and is the man who got me into Masonry. More than that though, he was a great man and highly respected in the Austin community. I know that I will miss him and everyone who knew him feels the same way.

Richard Donald Johnson, age 82 of Austin, MN died at his home Tuesday evening, May 25, 2010. He was born November 11, 1927 to Alfred and Almeda (McDonald) Johnson in Madison, South Dakota where he grew and graduated from high school. He attended Dunwoody Institute for one year and received his boiler's license. Moving to Austin in 1946, he went to work for Milwaukee Railroad. He entered the US Army in 1950 stationed in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He married Betty Lien on November 28, 1951 in Mason City, Iowa. They made their home in Austin. After Richard's honorable discharge in 1953, he returned to work on the Milwaukee Road where he retired in 1988. A member of Our Savior's Lutheran Church, 50 years with the Masons, Knights Templar and Royal Arch Masons, American Legion and the Eagle's Club, Richard also enjoyed bowling, crossword puzzles and fishing. He was an avid do it yourselfer.

Survivors include his wife, Betty Johnson of Austin; one son, Rick (Chris) Johnson of Eagan; two daughters, Jill (Michael) Novak of Las Vegas, Nevada and Sue (Reggie) Smart of Ham Lake; two grandchildren, Nick and Kerry; many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Bill and Ed; and two sisters, Ruth Marie and Marilyn.

Memorial services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, May 28, 2010 at Our Savior's Lutheran Lutheran, Austin, MN with Pastor Glenn Monson officiating and military rites by American Legion Post 91. Friends may greet the family for one hour prior to the service.