TOWN HALL MEETINGS
by W:.Tim Bryce, PM, MPS
timb001@phmainstreet.com
Palm Harbor, Florida, USA
"A Foot Soldier for Freemasonry"
"If its a choice between attending a Grand Master's official visit and
attending a Masonic Town Hall meeting, I'll take the Town Hall meeting
any day of the week."
- Tim Bryce
Next week I celebrate my 10th year of service in Freemasonry. Although it
doesn't seem that long, I have had the opportunity to observe several inefficiencies
in the fraternity and have commented on them accordingly and made suggestions for
improving them. One that rubs me the wrong way is the Grand Master's official visits
to the various Masonic districts in his jurisdiction. When I first heard about the
visits I was anxious to attend and find out not only what was going on at the Grand
Lodge level, but at the District and Lodge levels as well. In other words, I was
looking for a "heart-to-heart" dialog between the GM and his constituents. Frankly,
I was disappointed as most visits consisted of nothing more than a long litany of
introductions of appointed officers, a glossy report of what is going on in the
jurisdiction, and then the GM sits back and lets the Craft pay homage to him by
making donations to his charity and accepting honorary Lodge memberships. In other
words, nothing of substance is actually accomplished at these visits and the discussion
is normally unidirectional. I realize the Grand Master is a busy man, but I was
expecting something more in-depth, such as a dialog regarding the problems facing
the Lodges in the District. Apparently, this is of little concern as it is never
discussed. This bewilders me as this is a golden opportunity to talk one-on-one
with the leader of our fraternity, but such is not the case.
Instead, it would probably be more productive to hold a "Town Hall Meeting" whereby
the Masonic leaders poll the lodges as to trends, ask what is going on at the
grassroots level, and seek cooperative solutions. In a way, it would be reminiscent
of the British Prime Minister's regular visits to Parliament to discuss the issues
of the day. Town Hall Meetings have been popular in recent U.S. elections, including
races for Congress and the Presidency. Such meetings are critical to nominees as it
allows them to get a pulse of what the voters are thinking and gives them some
important feedback. If nothing else, Town Hall Meetings comfort the constituents
that their voices are being heard; kind of a "feel good" session, although I would
hope we could get something more substantial out of them, such as energizing the Craft.
Interestingly, after a candidate has been elected, such meetings evaporate until the
next election. Nonetheless, Town Hall Meetings give the constituents a rare opportunity
to discuss the issues with their leaders. Frankly, I would rather see more Town Hall
meetings regarding Freemasonry and less GM official visits as they are currently
implemented. Whereas the former represents a bi-directional dialog, the latter
represents a unidirectional form of communications and doesn't encourage participation.
If Freemasonry is truly running like a fine tuned machine within a jurisdiction, Town
Hall Meetings might not be necessary. They are only of service to allow the constituents
to voice their concerns over the issues of the day. So, it comes down to this, "Do
we believe everything is running properly in our Grand jurisdictions?" If we do, Town
Hall Meetings are probably not necessary; if we do not, than it would be in the fraternity's
best interests to hold such meetings on a regularly scheduled basis.
Keep the Faith.
NOTE: The opinions expressed in this essay are my own and do not
necessarily represent the views or opinions of any Grand Masonic jurisdiction
or any other Masonic related body. As with all of my Masonic articles herein,
please feel free to reuse them in Masonic publications or re-post them on Masonic
web sites (except Florida). When doing so, please add the following:
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