The Masonic year that was 2009
December 30, 2009 by masonictraveler
Filed under Masonic Traveler
Highlights are a staple to every nightly news, we live in bits and bytes, electronically and in our day to day doings. With that in mind, I thought a recap of some of 2009’s Masonic blogs would be a great way to close out the year. Obviously this isn’t everything that happened, but these are some of the illuminated moments that stood out to me.
I have to admit, this started as a collection of all things newsie and/or important in 2009, but what I soon realized was that its not so much the important points, but the conversations and ideas that surrounded them. So, in the end what I’ve collected are some of the posts that particularly caught my attention in 09.
I apologize if I missed any particular post. If there is a particular one you think should be added, or a link to something from 2009 that belongs on this list, drop it into the comments!
January:
William R. Singleton-Hope-Lebanon Lodge #7 of the Free and Accepted Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia holds the First Ever Masonic Presidential Inauguration Ball for President elect Barack Obama – From The Millennial Freemason
Don’t Tread on Me – From The Metaphysical Freemason
February:
No Second Chances, living life as a Mason. – From The Relevant Freemason
One-Day Ritual Class – From the Grand Master’s Musings
March:
Lewis Masonic Publisher Launches US Website , from Freemasons for Dummies
Jennifer Emick, formerly of the about.com/altreligion blog, launches the new Symbol Dictionary
A Short Masonic Look at Cuba—In Pictures – From Justa Mason
Grand Master’s Job Expectations – From MNGrandMaster09
England around 1717 – From Leon Zeldis on FmI
A Masonic Bill of Rights – From Tim Bryce on FmI
April:
Joint GL Meeting and Cornerstone of Ceremony with PHA and A.F. & A.M. in North Carolina – From Freemasons for Dummies.
Tornado Destroys Arkansas Lodge: Kills OES Member – From Freemasons for Dummies
‘So help me God’, on the 220th anniversary of George Washington’s first presidential inauguration – From The Magpie Mason
Masonic Duties: Citizenship – From Masonic Minute
Are Illiterates Raising Illiterates? – From John Nagy on FmI
Connecticut and Rhode Island to merge Grand Lodges Special to The Hartford Times
Dateline: Farmington, CT. – From The Tao of Masonry
and not to forget the aboves follow up: Grand Lodge merger talks stalled – From the Tao of Masonry
and the follow up to the follow up… Hoax, Deconstructed
May:
Henry W. Coil Library & Museum Launches Website – From Freemasons for Dummies
Federal Probe of the Shrine’s Royal Order of Jesters Expands in the wake of its prostitution and other spurious charges. – From Freemasons for Dummies
It Was So Much Better Back Then. Really. – From Justa Mason
York Rite Alchemy – From Lodgical
The Catholic Church and Freemasonry – From Gate City Lodge on FmI
Solomon the Magician – From Isaiah Coffey on FmI
The “truth” on Conspiracies with Chris Hodapp – From Masonic Central
June:
Masonic Bigotry and Georgia – From Freemasons for Dummies
and My brother’s keeper. Open Racism in Georgia Freemasonry. – From FmI
Not just a Club for Old Men – From A Christian Mason
Mormon and Mason – From The Sprig of Acacia
The Restaurant at the End of the Masonic Universe – From Stephan Dafoe on FmI
July:
Grand Master of Kentucky Issues Edict on Race. – From Freemasons for Dummies
He coined G.A.O.T.U. – From The Magpie Mason
The heart is deceitful above all things. – From Manthanein Chronicles
What will Freemasonry Offer My Son? – From Tim Darnell on FmI
August:
Edict Issued by Grand Master of Georgia on the issues of Racism Raised earlier in the year. – From Freemasons for Dummies
Last Saturday He Died – From The Relevant Mason
The Back Nine of the Magnum Opus – From the 47th Problem of Euclid on FmI
Social Media & the Non-Profit – How Social Media is vital to fraternities – From Masonic Central on FmI
September:
FmI’s Greg Stewart released the Free e-book “What is Freemasonry?”
Dan Brown’s long awaited “The Lost Symbol” hits the shelves to much fanfare in both the Masonic and the profane world. The Lost Symbol – it’s the symbol of the symbolism. From Greg Stewart on FmI
Interview with Baphomet – From The Setting Maul – Voices From The Clefts…
The Seven Blunders of the Masonic World – From The Euphrates on FmI
October:
Explain to us in detail a Christian can be a Freemason. – From A Christian Freemason
Tolerance Awareness Tuesday – What Do We Fear? – From MNGrandMaster09
Masonry and the Pursuit of Happiness – From The Rose City Mason
What is Gnosticism? – From the Papers of Robert G. Davis
Praise vs. Prayer – From the 47th Problem of Euclid on FmI
Symbols and Symbolism – From Carlos Antonio Martinez on FmI
November:
My Two Worlds of Masonry – From Grand Master’s Musings
Which Public Image Do We Claim? – From the Papers of Robert G. Davis
November is Upon Us – From The Weekly Owl
Lon Milo Duquette on Masonic Central – From Masonic Central on FmI
December:
TSS, The Sanctum Sanctorum joins forces with FmI as the message board of choice for Masonic Discussion.
Halcyon Lodge prevails in court case brought against them by Grand Lodge of Ohio. From The Burining Taper
Changes at the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania – From Freemasons for Dummies
Tennis Shoe and T-Shirt Wearers Should Read This – From the Palmetto Mason
Free eBook – What is Freemasonry? Available Now!
Have you… June 24, 2009 by The Euphrates When we discuss the events taking place in the Grand Lodge of Georgia, it is easy to say “let the Grand Lodge take care of it and let’s see what happens.” This is easy, because it is the same thing that we’ve done with Prince Hall recognition, West Virginia, the Jesters, and an array of other serious issues affecting the craft. The truth is that the Grand Lodge of Georgia will almost certainly do something that gets this issue out of the limelight. They may sweep it under the rug or find that it is in fact perfectly legal for a non-white man to be made a Mason. They may grant the men that brought the charges against the Worshipful Master of Gate City lodge a pass or they may be brought to trial for their racist beliefs. Regardless, we will have lost our chance to rid Masonry of racism and move into the 21st century (or even the 20th for that matter). The problem is that once the issue has run its course and the Grand Lodge has taken some sort of action, we will forget about it, ignore that it ever happened, and go back to business as usual. We will wait until the next piece of explosive and surprising news that shows that Freemasonry is not quite the best of all possible worlds that we thought it was and we will repeat the process again. This issue isn’t about how the Grand Lodge of Georgia handles the matter, it is about eradicating racism, bigotry, prejudice, segregation, and hate from Freemasonry. This is why Grand Lodges should at least issue a statement calling for Georgia to abide by the Masonic principles of equality and tolerance. This is why Georgia must have a clear understanding that if this is not handled properly, recognition will be removed. This is why every Mason should go to his next lodge meeting and explain this issue and explicitly state that he supports equality and will not tolerate racial prejudice in his lodge or grand lodge. We need to come together, we need to put our foot down, we need to take a hard line stance. But we won’t. Unfortunately, the sky won’t fall for Masonry and this will too pass. The reason is that I do not believe that the mainstream media will pay much attention to this story. Why would they? I’m sure that any journalist that found these charges on his desk would say, “Oh surprise, surprise, some organization of old guys in Georgia doesn’t like black people. I didn’t even know that Masonry still existed.” We have turned the other cheek to this behavior for so long that nobody cares about us anymore. We are irrelevant. We are not needed by society. We are too far behind civilization. Really, we all know this to be true, because we’ve experienced racism in Freemasonry. I have had a South Carolinian brother proudly tell me that “We don’t have no n***** Masons in this state” when I asked him if they recognized Prince Hall lodges. I have watched traveling Brothers bothered by the color of skin of some of the men in my lodge and become truly disturbed by the sight of the Koran on my lodge’s altar. I have had a man who nearly joined a Masonic lodge ask me if “Masons in South Dakota wear their white hoods to lodge like the guys in Alabama?” (he never joined by the way). And no, I’m not criticizing the south. I’m criticizing men that have been allowed into our fraternity that maintain their bigoted views of the world. Nevertheless, we will ignore this problem. We missed the point. We were so eager to disagree with those “Quasi-Masons” and the more rebellious Brothers out there that we were only concerned with defending our Grand Lodges and ignored the fact that there is irrefutable evidence of racism in the fraternity. Something tells me that Georgia is not the only place that it exists. I am sticking with this cause. If we won’t take this opportunity to rid Masonry of racism and bigotry then we are nothing but hypocrites. It was a whole lot easier to be in the back of a Civil Rights march in the 60’s than be Martin Luther King and it was a whole lot easier to support segregationist governments than be in the back of a march. Like what you are reading at the Euphrates? Email the author at euphratesblog@gmail.com to join the Banks of the Euphrates mailing list.
Free eBook – What is Freemasonry? Available Now! Have you… June 8, 2009 by masonictraveler I just happened to open CNN this morning and the story of the Shrine Hospitals is front page news. For any Mason following the media, it isn’t the story on the Jesters, or in membership, its the very real and distressing story of the potential closure of 6 of its 22 hospitals, following the loss of $3.3 million dollars in the stock market crash. Obviously, this will affect a large number of people in a very negative way, and no one wants to see it come to pass. The challenge that they face, however is such that potential options include letting Shriner’s hospitals themselves accept insurance or Medicaid from those families who have it covering the co-pays and deductibles or having Shrine doctors perform major surgery at partnered hospitals, and allowing insurance to bill what it can, then cover the rest. The challenge is losing oversight in the work performed and having to follow Federal oversight curtailing the ability to treat as they see best. Since its earliest inception, the Shrine is still a significant contributor to the hospitals which also accepts outside contributions and donations. Today, the Shrine arranges and pays for the transportation of children and parents to the hospitals and donate time driving families to the hospitals and entertaining the patients. Additionally, Shriner’s helps support the hospitals financially by paying an annual $5 hospital assessment assessed in their dues. Various temples and clubs also hold fundraisers to contribute to the hospitals. Originally founded in 1922, it has, in the past 20 years, had more than 8,000 physicians who have received residency education or postgraduate fellowship in their facilities. The Shrine is a adjunct unit of Freemasonry, pulling its membership from the roles of the Craft Lodges. Given the present situation, and the continued decline in membership, It leaves me wondering if this will be the straw to break the camels back in the separation between the two fully developed organizations and allow the Shrine to further its aims. You can read the full story “Possible closure of six free Shriners hospitals scares parents” at CNN.
Free eBook – What is Freemasonry? Available Now! Have you… May 5, 2009 by mtadmin Chris Hodapp at the blog Freemason for Dummies has posted up a pretty revealing (and scathing in its own way) analysis of the story that appeared Monday in the Buffalo News. The story is the further sentencing of brothers, who were also members of the Shrine’s Royal Order of Jesters, who committed felony violation of the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting people across state lines for prostitution. In this story, it details the expansion of the federal investigation where now other states are becoming involved as more allegations of bizarre actions of members are coming into question. And, consequently, a 2nd group in Big Sandy, Kentucky has been suspended pending investigation. Truth be told, this has some very dark tones to what it portends, and if true, it will denigrate the fraternity more than one isolated situation. What is being reported in the story are: Brother Gary N. Martin, who is the president of the 22,000-member Royal Order of Jesters, says that he is “disturbed about the allegations”. But that, to his knowledge, such conduct is extremely isolated and never condoned by the organization. As a brother, the allegations disturb me too, and so to does the possibility of what this will say about the moral and upright fraternity of men. Proudly, the Royal order of Jesters say on their home page “The Royal Order of Jesters proudly believe and participate in Masonry“. Is this really so “extremely isolated”? And does the activity warrant instructive tongues to correct? Read Br. Hodapp’s piece on the article, then read the article. In my opinion, I think its time for the Masonic Billiken to go, before its mirth making takes the fraternity down the drain.
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Losing the Battle After the First Volley
Filed under The Euphrates
The first volley of a battle can tell you a lot, especially when your troops are gun shy, frightened by the noise, and abandon the front lines.
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The Shrine Hospitals closure hits CNN
Filed under Masonic Traveler
visited the Freemason Information Book Store?
visited the FmI Gift Store?
listened to the Masonic Central Podcast?
Royal Order of Jesters and bizzare sex acts.
Filed under Masonic Traveler
visited the Freemason Information Book Store?
visited the FmI Gift Store?
listened to the Masonic Central Podcast?
