The Old Grand Master Battles Mainstream Madness – Part 2
May 19, 2012 by BeeHive
Filed under The Bee Hive
Exactly two weeks to the day The Old Past Master pulled into the Lodge’s parking lot and parked right next to the Master’s car. He was extra early but still the Master had beaten him there. Breezing into the office he found Worshipful Reynolds at his desk.
“Evening Worshipful,” offered The Old Past Master. “What’s new since we talked on the phone a couple of days ago. Did you get to have a tête-à-tête with the Grand Master?”
“Yes I did,” replied Master Reynolds. “And the news is all bad?
“How so, Worshipful?”
“The Grand Master would not give an inch and even added the requirement, coming out soon in a follow-up edict, that every Lodge will have to submit a budget to the Grand Lodge. It will have to include all expenses and proposed expenditures of the Lodge as well as all income and resources upon which the Lodge plans to draw.”
“Well that’s going a little overboard, isn’t it”
“It fits right in with their micro management of chartered Lodges and points to a continued grab for power. I am afraid we must proceed with Plan B. How have you and your committee come along with a solution to our problem?”
“We have all the preliminaries in place. All we need now is for the go ahead to execute.”
For the next hour The Old Past Master and Master Reynolds huddled in deep conversation, planning that night’s meeting and how everything would be presented.
On the dot of 7:00 PM Master Reynolds opened the Special Communication of Lodge and addressed the Brethren. Due to the Summons outlining the topic for the evening and word of mouth, the Lodge room was packed.
“Brethren, I bring you bad news from our Grand Master with whom I have personally met this week. He refuses to compromise on the order that we received and discussed at the last stated meeting two weeks ago. Furthermore he has added the requirement, forthcoming in a written order, that we submit a budget, along with every other constituent Lodge, to the Grand Secretary revealing all our sources of income and forecasting all our expenditures. The question becomes Brethren do we submit or do we refuse?”
“The chair recognizes,” Brother Andrews, declared the Master.
“Why that’s outrageous, ” bellowed Brother Andrews. What are the consequences should we refuse to comply with the Grand Master.”
“The consequences could be my expulsion and the expulsion of any and all others as well as the Grand Master taking our Charter and closing the Lodge,” replied Master Reynolds.
“Then I say that we should not fight the Grand Master on this,” countered Brother Parantopoulos after being recognized by the Master..
“And I say that if we give in now we will face yet another showdown in the future on an equally contentious issue,” said Brother Allendes jumping up from his seat and getting the nod from the Master.
Senior Deacon Jackson slowly rose and after getting the eye of the Master wearily uttered, “When will it all end? When will we decide enough is enough? Is it now or later?”
“LATER,” rose a chorus from the sidelines.
“NOW,” rose another chorus from the sidelines.
“I move that that we take a vote for informative purposes to see where we stand, ” offered Senior Warden Leavitt.
“I second the motion,” chipped in Brother Garcia.
“Brethren we have a motion before you to take a vote to see where we stand on this issue,” declared the Master. Do I have any discussion on the motion.
“All those in favor say aye, those opposed nay.”
“The ayes have it, ruled Master Reynolds. “The Chair declares that this will be a secret ballot. The three top officers will count the ballots. Brother Deacons, prepare a secret ballot which will be in written form. Brethren you will write on a slip of paper ‘yes’ to signify that we should resist the Grand Master and ‘no’ to signify that we should submit to the Grand Master.”
After the vote had been counted Master Reynolds addressed the Brethren. “Out of a total of 63 total votes cast, the results are 41 yes votes to resist and 22 no votes to submit to the Grand Master.”
Past Master Early asked for the floor. “Worshipful, what does this mean? How can we proceed if we are divided? Either decision will alienate some Brethren. Do we go just by majority rule?”
At this point Master Reynolds looked over at The Old Past Master. With a nod The Old Past Master assumed the floor. You could hear a pin drop as he stated, “Brethren the Committee that was appointed to look into an escape route has a plan that will satisfy both those in favor and those opposed to refusing to submit to the Grand Master. Here is the plan…”
TO BE CONTINUED
Related articles
Social Media Code of Conduct for Massachusetts Freemasons
May 11, 2012 by BeeHive
Filed under The Bee Hive
The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts has just enacted new rules concerning the use of Social Media by Massachusetts Freemasons.
Social Media Code of Conduct for Massachusetts Freemasons
- A Mason should conduct his Social Media activities in a way that reflects his membership in the Craft.
He should act in a way that presents a positive image of his membership in Freemasonry to the world. - As a Mason, he must be aware that his postings are a permanent record; therefore, his conduct may
influence the world with a positive or a negative opinion about him personally and also about any organizations to which he belongs. - His actions on the various Social Media outlets should reflect the highest standards of morality and integrity he would practice within the Lodge.
- To ensure our fraternity represents itself to the high standards we believe in, we must regulate our actions through Brother-to-Brother intervention. As a Mason, you should advise a Brother if you feel that what he has posted is improper within the framework of our Grand Constitutions, rules, regulations, and edicts.
- Do not identify any Freemason as a member of the Craft unless he has provided his consent, or has already identified himself as such.
- Lodge notices, and information contained within Lodge notices beyond the time and place of meeting, should not be discussed.
- There should never be discussion related to the application, background or investigation of an applicant.
- There should never be discussion regarding the ballot of an applicant.
- There should never be discussion related to the business of a Lodge and what is discussed within our tyled doors.
- The posting of pictures or videos of Lodge events must comply with the Grand Constitutions, rules, regulations, and edicts.
- Information about Lodge or District social activities must comply with the regulations already in place for Lodge Notices (for example, no reference to alcohol or games of chance).
- The posting of social activities of a Lodge or District should comply with the regulation standards already in place for the distribution of Lodge Notices and inserts.
- No official communication with other Grand Lodges or their subordinate Lodges may take place online. Contact must be conducted through the Office of the Grand Secretary.
May 1, 2012
Social Media Committee
You can read the original Massachusetts Freemasons Social Media Code of Conduct PDF document here.
While most of these regulations are common sense rules promulgating proper protocol and etiquette, still there seems to be the continued penchant for Grand Lodges to feel that they have to control the behavior of their members. It was not so long ago that some Grand Lodges forbade its members to operate their own Masonic websites.
The regulations on videos, references to alcohol and games of chance, and the prohibition of communication with other Lodges and Grand Lodges using social media seems to be a bit draconian and to harken back to an era of stricter public moral regulation.
Freemasons are free thinkers and free – free from the restraints of conservative sectarian religious dogma. The attempt to CONTROL the daily lives of Freemasons rather than merely offering a pathway to enlightenment is a disturbing use of Grand Lodge power, especially in the 21st Century.
Related articles
The Old Past Master Battles Mainstream Madness
May 6, 2012 by BeeHive
Filed under The Bee Hive
The Old Past Master loved to get to Lodge early. There was something about opening that Lodge room door and gazing on that altar when all was quiet. And then sitting down in a seat on the sidelines and just thinking and mediating about all that had gone on over the many years in that room. It sent shivers down his spine.
All the Masters gave him the keys to the Lodge. They welcomed someone dependable who could open everything up in case they were running late. This evening Master Reynolds was early coming in right on the heels of the Old Past Master. Worshipful went right to the office and plumped down in the chair at his desk. The look on his face could have frightened a scarecrow.
“What’s troubling you, Worshipful,” the Old Past Master softly ventured.
“It’s this darn letter from the Grand Lodge. They are instituting new financial reporting rules. Seems like every year that goes by Grand Lodge has more rules and regulations to impose on us,” replied Worshipful Reynolds.
“What are they looking for,” queried the Old Past Master.
“They want a complete evaluation of our property, the building and everything that’s in it, certified by a reputable estimator. Furthermore, and this is the real kicker, they want statements from our banks and brokerage houses as to exactly how much money we have, after which they want a complete written rundown on how we have spent every penny.”
“Do they explain why they feel that they need to have this information?”
“Grand Lodge says that if one of its constituent Lodges is sued that the litigators will always include Grand Lodge in the suit. Some of these suits are for embezzlement or suits when the Lodge gets in financial difficulties. The Grand Lodge feels that it needs to know our financial standing and that we are following acceptable accounting practices.”
“And what do you intend to do? It feels as if you are wrestling with a tough decision.”
“I intend to tell them to go fly a kite but I’m a little nervous about doing that”
“Who are you going to tell to go fly a kite,” asked Secretary Levin as he stepped into the office.
“Oh, nobody special,” piped up the Old Past Master, “Just Grand Lodge.”
After the two filled him in, he retorted, “I’m not surprised. Last year Grand Lodge issued rules on exactly how candidate instruction was going to be performed and what material was to be covered. The year before they required all Lodges to have both property and liability insurance and that it be purchased by the Grand Lodge provider.”
“Well it’s time to open Lodge,” Master Reynolds declared, “I think this issue should go before the entire Lodge. We will discuss it tonight and I would appreciate support and help from both of you. Oh, and Secretary Levin please post this issue in the next summons.”
“Right,” replied Secretary Levin.
“We have your back,” added the Old Past Master.
After opening the Lodge, Worshipful Reynolds dispensed quickly with the minutes, sick brethren concerns, charitable events, and other petty business. He then read the letter from Grand Lodge, explained his reluctance to comply and opened up the floor for discussion.
“The Chair recognizes Secretary Levin”
“Last year Grand Lodge issued rules on exactly how candidate instruction was going to be performed and what material was to be covered. The year before they required all Lodges to have both property and liability insurance and that it be purchased by the Grand Lodge provider,” exclaimed Levin. I say it is time for us to put our foot down and call their bluff.”
“Let’s not forget what has been going on in other jurisdictions,” added Brother Garcia as he rose and was recognized by a nod from the Master. We have the racial mess at Gate City Lodge #2 in Georgia where they sought to expel the Master, the expulsion of Past Grand Master Frank Haas in West Virginia, the almost expulsion of Derek Gordon in Arkansas, the expulsion of Mike McCabe in New Jersey, the recent expulsion of Past Grand Master Neal Bidnick of New York and the expulsion of the Deputy Grand Master of Arizona to name just a few. Could you be headed for expulsion, Worshipful, if you refuse to go along with Grand Lodge?”
“I can’t rule out the possibility,” replied Master Reynolds. “And if I choose that route I don’t want to bring any of you others with me.”
“Oh, I will gladly go down with you and the ship,” the Old Past Master replied.
“Here, here,” rang up a chorus from the Lodge room.
Rising the Senior Deacon, Brother Jackson pointed out, “What is really so very wrong and un-Masonic about many of these prominent Masonic expulsions is that they are done without a Masonic Trial, probably because there was no due cause for them in the first place. In the case of PGM Haas the Grand Master lured him into his Lodge on false pretenses and then before his Father expelled him without due recourse.”
Rising and being recognized Brother Brown chips in, “Are we going to all make a decision and all go along with that decision or are we going to let the Master, alone take the fall if we choose to fight Grand Lodge on this issue.”
“The chair recognizes Past Master Hathaway.”
“As you all know I just received my 50 year pin so I have been around awhile, explained Hathaway. It didn’t used to be this way. Grand Lodge was our ceremonial head much like the Queen of England is to the government of Great Britain. It required a uniformity of ritual and sent out District Deputies to insure compliance. We were all inspected but in the vast majority of cases if we were abiding by the Landmarks it was routine. We had our reports to file, but it wasn’t information that Grand Lodge used against us. Grand Lodge’s job was to represent us across the nation and worldwide, to charter new Lodges and approve of mergers and to offer instruction and help. It was not to micro manage the daily affairs of every constituent Lodge. Today Grand Lodge has become a control freak.”
“And it has to stop here and now,” yelled Brother Renault without being recognized.
The Master frowned at such an outburst but then looked over at the Old Past Master inviting him with his body language to take the floor and provide some leadership.
“Well before we go off half cocked,” said the Old Past Master as he rose with a nod from the Master, let’s pursue avenues of accommodation. Let’s discover how pliable Grand Lodge will be. Perhaps we can meet Grand Lodge halfway, they give a little and we give a little. I think that we should try to settle this amicably with a meeting of the minds.”
“So be it,” declared Worshipful Reynolds. I will schedule a meeting with the Grand Master if he is willing and try to work out some sort of middle ground solution. In the meantime I would like a committee to explore other possibilities should the ax fall and come up with an escape route. Old Past Master would you chair such a committee?”
“Aye, Worshipful, I will do just that,” answered the Old Past Master.
“I will appoint Secretary Levin and Past Master Hathaway to that committee. Old Past Master please enlist up to two more Brothers of your own choosing,” said Worshipful Reynolds. The measure is tabled until our next Communication which will be a Special to be convened two weeks from today. Now let us adjourn.”
TO BE CONTINUED
Related articles
Happy Patriots Day
April 19, 2012 by BeeHive
Filed under The Bee Hive
Once again it is time for The Beehive’s annual Patriot’s Day message. Patriots Day is an obscure holiday celebrated in just one county – Middlesex – in Massachusetts. In the early years of our nation it was a National holiday but gradually July 4th supplanted a similar celebration.
Patriot’s Day commemorates the first battles of the American Revolution in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775 where the shot was fired heard round the world. Having been born and raised in Lexington, the history of these battles was ingrained in me from an early age and later in life would mix with my Freemasonry.
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,
–One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.”
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,—
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
William Munroe
Freemasons were prominent that day. While Paul Revere is the most notable Freemason involved, my favorite was Brother William Munroe an orderly Sergeant in the Lexington Minutemen. Brother Munroe was proprietor of the Munroe Tavern, one of two taverns in Lexington at that time, the other being the Buckman Tavern at the Lexington Green where the Minute Men assembled awaiting the arrival of the British. He was stationed on an all night watch on the Lexington Green through the night of April 18,1775 into the morning of the April 19th. It was Munroe who received Paul Revere riding into Lexington with the news that, “The British are coming, the British are coming” (although historians are apt to point out that he probably said The Regulars or The Redcoats). Revere stopped at the Reverend Jonas Clark’s house to wake up and warn Brother John Hancock and patriot Sam Adams.
Munroe Tavern Lexington, Massachusetts
Meanwhile Munroe got the word out to Captain John Parker and other Minutemen. They were able to muster some 77 patriots on the Lexington Green to face about 700 British soldiers. Of those 77 some 20+ were Freemasons even though there was no Masonic Lodge in Lexington at that time. When Percy came in with British reinforcements later in the day he took over Munroe Tavern and used it as a command post and hospital.
Paul Revere
William Munroe was later to petition the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for a charter for Lexington’s first Masonic Lodge. When he took his request to the Grand East he was there met by Grand Master Paul Revere. Hiram Lodge became Lexington’s first Masonic Lodge and Munroe its first Master. The Lodge met for some 40 years at the Munroe Tavern.
In 1992 when I joined the Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team that exemplified the Third Degree in colonial costume accompanied by a patriotic message, I searched for a Revolutionary War Freemason to represent as all the team members did. I chose William Munroe. As Master of Paul Revere Lodge in 1999 I took the Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team to Simon W. Robinson Lodge bordering the Lexington Green where once again we exemplified the Third Degree remembering those who fought dearly for the freedoms we enjoy today. Afterward three Lodges that had come together for this special occasion held a Tri Table Lodge.
Today Munroe Tavern stands as a historical building just a stone’s throw from the Scottish Rite National Heritage Museum where you can visit their exhibit of “Sowing The Seeds of Liberty: Lexington & The American Revolution.” You can also see the ‘Lexington Alarm Letter” sent out on April 19,1775.
If you visit Lexington visit these two places as well as the Lexington Green and the Buckman Tavern. A great day to go is April 19th, Patriot’s Day.
Buckman Tavern Lexington, Massachusetts
Related articles
The Ultimate Masonic Lesson
April 8, 2012 by BeeHive
Filed under The Bee Hive
Recently I had the joy of instructing a class of our newly raised Master Masons. Going over “what’s in the book” is vitally important and we did that. But equally important is to teach what is not in the book, what is not part of the curriculum per se.
For me that means teaching the new recruits that Freemasonry is a non judgmental, non confrontational, tolerant, peace loving fraternity. That doesn’t mean that we will accept evil, immorality or injustice. What it does mean is that as Masons we need to refrain from criticizing another lifestyle, another culture that is legitimate and acceptable in the eyes of God.
Every Lodge room is a haven of peace where harmony prevails and where no harm should 
come to any Brother. Nor should any be subjected to racism, slander, cussing, berating or other vulgarities.
As Masons we check our guns at the door. We also check our argumentative attitudes, the chip we may have on our shoulder, the cause du jour we may be promoting and the path of immortality we may believe is the one and only true way.
That does not make us a bland, superficial society, however. We stand firmly by the religion common to all faiths. Freemasonry is not a religion but it does promote and instill in its members those tenets of morality common to all religions without prescribing a particular path. It also stands foursquare for justice. Just looking at the Four Cardinal Virtues – Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice should give anybody an insight into the character of Freemasonry. For this reason we talk about the Universality of Freemasonry.
This is the ideal of Freemasonry. Ideals sometimes get sidetracked. Such has been my criticism of some Southern Mainstream Freemasonry that blackballs African Americans, non Christians and foreign speaking people. Freemasonry was never organized to be an all White, Christian only, Protestant only, English speaking only, born in America society. It is inclusive of all peoples of good character who profess a Faith.
Practiced as it should be, Freemasonry brings together Brothers of different races, religions, creeds, cultures, economic circumstances and political persuasions all under one roof. It brings them together in the pursuit of truth, peace, justice and brotherly love and affection. It’s not what divides us that is important, it’s what we have in common as children of God, a God, however interpreted, who wants us to recognize the fact that we are all one and that in His eyes we are all His children, that is of the utmost importance.
The lessons of the Craft are not complete until we have instilled in each and every Brother that the Lodge is an oasis of peace, that harmony and accord are its modes of operation resulting in a universal society where we are all one.
Related articles
- Knights Templar – Freemasonry Connections (freemasoninformation.com)
- Is Mainstream Masonry Primed For Another Morgan Affair? (freemasoninformation.com)
- The Besmirching Of Freemasonry’s Reputation (freemasoninformation.com)
- Blue State – Red State Freemasonry (freemasoninformation.com)
- Supply Side Versus Vulture Freemasonry (freemasoninformation.com)
- Of Revolutions & Reforms, A Revisit (freemasoninformation.com)
- March 6th A Legacy Of Having Been Tried, Sometimes Denied, But Always Ready To Be Tried Again (freemasoninformation.com)
