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BACK NEXT Issue 53 Letter from the Editor Grand Secretary's Column Grand Lodge News Grand Lodge Speeches Grand Chapter Speeches Grand Chapter Convocation Grand Chapter News News and Views On The Level Masonic Education International News Freemasonry's Dream The Beautiful Game Honourable to the Builder Singapore and Freemasonry An Argonaut - A Journeyman Hermes 'The Philosopher' Celebrating Wives and Friends A Frog in a Beer Mug Review: Researching British Freemasonry Review: The Portfolio of Villard De Honnecourt Review: Nightfighter Navigator Review: Belief and Brotherhood Letters to the Editor Library & Museum of Freemasonry Grand Lodge: Board of General Purposes Grand Charity Masonic Samaritan Fund RMBI RMTGB Revealing Our Craft Copyright 1997-2010 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint

FREEMASONRY TODAY Development of Masonry University Freemasonry The Universities Scheme was established in 2005 by the Assistant Grand Master, David Williamson, following a chance conversation with Lord Northampton. They felt that it could be highly beneficial to the Craft if the United Grand Lodge of England could capture the spirit of enthusiasm for Freemasonry long shown by the young members of Apollo (Oxford) and Isaac Newton (Cambridge) lodges and share it amongst students, graduates and staff of other ... Support is the Keyword Each year about nine thousand men are initiated into our lodges and hopefully each one will be introduced to the meaning, teachings and traditions of our Craft. Those who do this introduction, whether formally appointed or not, will be mentoring the new Freemason. These mentors require support – depending on their knowledge and experience. How is this maintained? It is no exaggeration to say that the idea of mentoring, since its formal introduction in 2008, has been enthusiastically embraced by a large number of Freemasons and there has been a great deal of activity ... Dramatic Masonry The mandate was clear from the start: in May 2008, Derek Young, then Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire, asked me to set up a Provincial Demonstration Group, requesting that I, ‘Research for material that can be presented in dramatic form to inform, inspire and entertain Brethren regarding the history, origins and meaning of Craft Freemasonry and the Royal Arch’. The first few months were busy gathering information, researching old material, recruiting members and visiting other demonstration teams. They were all ... Embracing Change During my forty year career in telecommunications, I was often struck by the rate of change not only in the technology we were producing but also our business processes and methods. When you are in the middle of all this change it is at times frustrating and annoying. However, on looking back it is very much apparent that we had to evolve or the world would have passed us by. In a similar vein I often reflect on the day to day work and processes in the Provincial Secretary’s office here in Leicester. For the past six and a half years I have been involved; first as a volunteer, then Assistant Secretary for four years and now Secretary for two. There have been some remarkable ... Who Cares? The office of Lodge Almoner is completely different from any other office within the lodge. His duty is to look after the welfare of the members and their wives or partners during times of distress which can arrive in any shape or form. And he must also be able to lend a sympathetic ear as those in trouble may have difficulty discussing it with another. His low-profile report in the lodge during the meeting is often the only glimpse lodge members get into his world. I should like to give you some insight into the world of Lodge Almoners, the reports I will give ... Thinking of Joining Freemasonry? It has often been said that Freemasons are quite good at recruiting, not so good at retaining, newly-made masons. And it is a fact that most people join Freemasonry without knowing what they are getting into. Should they know more? Could this be part of the reason for any later loss of enthusiasm? Certainly up to now there has not been a comprehensive guide to Freemasonry for the non-Freemason, despite the many good publications which deal with the detail of masonic custom and practice. The scarcity of books written for the non-mason has been due partly ... Off the Record Initiation is a rite performed by all main stream religions and many wisdom schools throughout the world. ‘Initiation’ is given various names and the rituals performed in very different ways; in fact, the word initiation is often carefully avoided. Freemasonry is different in that it uses this word. Importantly, Freemasonry is an institution that awaits your ‘adult’ decision to make this commitment which initiation demands. Many religions allow parents to make this decision for you, for example, early life Baptism and Confirmation. In Freemasonry, which of course is not ... Graduates into Freemasonry Travelling with David Williamson, the Assistant Grand Master, to Singapore for the celebrations of the District Grand Lodge of Eastern Archipelago’s 150th anniversary provided a good opportunity to reflect on the Universities Scheme. The Assistant Grand Master is the President of the Universities Scheme, while Eastern Archipelago is the first District in the United Grand Lodge of England to discuss involvement. Although still in its early years, the Universities Scheme has grown and expanded, not so much like a balloon ... The Business of Freemasonry There was a time, not so long ago, when Freemasonry was run discreetly, like a private gentleman’s club and the Grand Secretary seemed a distant, even aloof, figure gazing down from privileged heights. But no longer: Freemasonry is now run as a modern business and the Grand Secretary is a hands-on chief executive but accountable, not to shareholders, but to a large and diverse membership. It is a job needing skill, business acumen and ... Masonic Mentoring Masonic mentoring has been with us for many years in various guises and yet Grand Lodge records show that we are still losing one in four of our initiates within the first five years of membership. Somewhere something has failed. A brother who was questioned why he had put in his resignation within just two years of joining gave this reply: ‘I didn’t really know what I was joining, but I knew that my Proposer was a decent and honourable man and he always spoke so highly of Freemasonry. My first night was overwhelming and I’m still not sure what ... Orations Piloted in Dorset For some time the Pro Grand Master had been considering how the experience of Freemasonry may be deepened and intensified for Brethren. He recognised that there was no formal method within the Lodge for communicating or raising awareness of the richness and depth of our traditions, with the result that the art of reading symbolism and allegory seemed to have been forgotten. The then Provincial Grand Master for Dorset, Harry Barnes, had been assisting the Pro Grand Master with a project designed to further education and awareness amongst ... Our Future's Debt to the Past When you enter the office of the Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England, you feel the palpable weight of the history of Freemasonry over nearly three hundred years, and the way in which Grand Secretaries have influenced affairs in that time. Yet Robert Morrow, in the first few words we exchanged, proved himself to be the most approachable of Grand Secretaries. ‘Where does that easy contact with people stem from?’ ... A New Mason's Impressions There are some points I was aware of before making enquiries into Freemasonry about five years ago. It was a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. It was ‘a most happy association of friends which provides interest, a discipline of life, many social activities and has a long history of charitable support’. It was not a secret society, nor a religion, although its members are required to have a belief in God and its principles are common to many of the world’s great religions. It was fun and provided a wonderfully happy social life ... Giving our Past a Future... The power of communication is no longer restricted to the ‘mighty pen’ or the ‘powerful word’ or even the interpretation of the stories that a picture can tell. In fact ever since the early visionaries saw the potential value of sharing information via a network of computers way back in the early 1960s, we have seen the skills of the pen, the word and, to a lesser degree, the picture become far less important when interacting with our fellow man. The serious researcher cannot deny the power that the Internet can offer, nor can we ignore the cost and time saving benefits that accompany this medium. Interestingly, the internet started its journey under the name ARPANET ... A Temple which never sleeps: E-Masonry It was so pleasing when the Editor of Freemasonry Today kindly invited me to travel to Pennsylvania to meet a person - Josh Heller - with whom I had been in communication for over seven years: also, to meet and be royally entertained by his lovely family and other members of the E-group. Josh began by explaining how he had first become interested in Freemasonry. ‘It was in 1998, travelling to work I daily passed by a large masonic Centre and a Scottish Rite Cathedral. It was curiosity: what was it all about, where did these people come from and why ... Masonic Traditions for the Twenty-First Century Reports and comments critical of mass initations in the United States have been regularly carried in the pages of Freemasonry Today. The large majority of the American Brethren who responded have given their wholehearted support to our stand. Partly as a result of the spread of mass initiations, but also as a result of other evidence of a decline in masonic practice in the United States, the Masonic Restoration Foundation has ... "We Should Square Corners, Not Cut Them" My father was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason in 1950, two years before I was born. He also became a member of the Scottish Rite and the Shrine, and cherished his memberships. ‘When you turn 21, I hope you’ll become a mason’, said he to me one day when I was about nine, and these words, coming from this very laconic gentleman made a lasting impression on me. They were steeped in time and forged in a sense of loyalty. They were part of a masonic process. As a result of this exchange, and watching my father proceed through life as a man who ... United States Grand Master's One-Day Classes There is a growing practice in the United States of so-called ‘Grand Master One-Day Classes’. Each State has its own Grand Lodge, and in many jurisdictions a composite initiation, passing and raising is being practised in which all three degrees are conferred in one day on many candidates, in some cases thousands of them. One unhappy lodge in Connecticut which declined to participate in this bizarre routine had its Warrant summarily withdrawn. The practice is one whereby the Grand Master of a masonic jurisdiction in the United States requests ... Sir Alfred Robbins's Greatest Defeat The inauguration on 1 October 2003 of a Metropolitan Grand Lodge will mark the end of over 200 years of debate about the organisation of London Freemasonry. It will also, after nearly 90 years, bring to fruition a project close to the heart of Sir Alfred Robbins (1856-1931), who as President of the Board of General Purposes from 1913 until his death, was described as ‘the Prime Minister of English Freemasonry’, and who suffered one of the few reverses of his Masonic career in his attempt to reorganise London Freemasonry ... Off the Record From 1983 to 1999 , I served on the Board of General Purposes of the United Grand Lodge of England; during the latter years I was Chairman of its Information Committee. That Committee was set up in the 1980s in an early attempt to promote the public relations of the Craft, at a time when, despite the Grand Master’s call for openness, that concept was still unfashionable and a majority of Lodge members were nervous about countenancing it. The first Chairman of the Information Committee was Jim Davis and I was a founder member. One of our first projects was to commission the making of a Video about the Craft and, after massive opposition and scepticism from ... Freemasons Make Music Music used to play a great part in Freemasonry, as witnessed by the vast amount of old masonic music which exists. As far back as 1723, Anderson’s Constitutions contained sixteen pages of songs and music. But by 1875 the United Grand Lodge of England was becoming concerned about the hymns being sung in lodges. Grand Lodge declared that "hymns form no part of the Masonic Ritual, and the singing of hymns in Lodge is an innovation..." Off the Record Freemasonry, for all its appearance of being a conservative part of the civil establishment, is at its heart a radical institution. What we do not realize today is that the ideas espoused by Freemasonry in the 18th and early 19th centuries, while sounding common-place to us, were truly revolutionary in their own day. The heart of Freemasonry is its ritual. If we truly listen to the music of the words and understand that ideas have consequences, we will come to see the revolutionary implications for our own day of the great masonic virtues: Brotherly Love, Relief, Truth, Equality, Temperance, Friendship, and, above all, Justice. The face and promise of Freemasonry has changed greatly ... From Role-Play to Ritual Not long ago the Chapter of York Minster, the governing body of the Cathedral, decided that the time had come to replace the stone-work around the arch over the main West doorway. The figures that were originally carved there had slowly worn away. The scenes to be newly carved included the Garden of Eden, the story of Cain and Abel, the dramas of Noah and Jonah, as well as three scenes of our Lord and St. Peter. To achieve this end ... Off the Record I have read with interest the many examples of articles arguing for change in Freemasonry. Some have discussed removing the festive board or changing the meeting times. All focus upon the recruitment and retention of candidates, especially those in the younger age categories. Having only been initiated in October 1997 at the age of twenty-nine, I believe that I fall into this socio-economic group. Not that I knew it at the time. Certainly, the pressures on the ‘younger professional’ in terms of time are, I believe, as great now as ever before. The need to work longer days, devote additional time to train, retrain, appraise, be appraised, or study for further qualifications, has become ... The Constitutions of the Freemasons Our Constitutions are a natural evolution of the ancient charges of the operative Freemasons. These ancient or old charges and regulations, as they are referred to, are far from being exclusive to freemasonry. Many of the London Guilds, the medieval equivalent of the modern Trade Unions, had ancient charges to guide the moral comportment of their members. By 1987 a total of some 128 such documents had been discovered or identified. They are all true rarities and museum pieces. They are often in the form of 6 foot, or longer, parchment rolls, some 9 inches in width ... Is It All Daydreaming? There has been much comment about daylight lodges in Freemasonry Today recently which prompts me to offer some observations based on experience, having been a member of Golden Harvest Lodge No 9234 in South Africa for 11 years and secretary for the last eight. Golden Harvest draws its 40 members not only from the 46 lodges in the Johannesburg municipal area, but local Scottish, Irish and Grand Lodge of South Africa lodges as well. We meet on the odd months of the year at 10.30am, with a committee meeting at a local country club on the even months. Recruitment is unexpectedly difficult. Our membership has been almost static for years. Why do we have ... Strength in Unity In September Grand Lodge approved an amendment to the Book of Constitutions giving power to the Grand Master to grant a Certificate of Amalgamation when two Lodges desire to amalgamate into a single Lodge. Throughout the history of organised Freemasonry, Lodges have come and Lodges have gone; that is the nature of life and things in general. Sometimes a Lodge has simply died, its Warrant has been returned to the Grand Master (whose property every Lodge Warrant is) and has been erased from the register of Grand Lodge ... Capital Developments in London London is the largest single masonic group within the international family of Freemasons. With more than 55,000 Craft members and some 2,300 Lodges and Chapters, it has been difficult to steer. Its biggest boost was when the Assistant Grand Master, RW Bro the Marquess of Northampton, now Pro Grand Master-designate, became chairman of London Management, the new structure for the capital’s Freemasons. The need for structural change was glaringly obvious, particular as London, because of its size, did not have the local feel about it ... Developing a Brand Image Journalists are driven people. They are required to fill vast areas of newspapers even if there is nothing worth writing about. In the event of a slow news day, they must fall back on inventiveness. Freemasonry is good stuff to ginger up a slow news day. Sadly, the problems with the media often come from within. Attempts to feed "good news" stories about Masonry to the media are often frustrated because senior members of Lodges refuse to speak with journalists who will, they say, "twist everything". Image is less about reality than about perception ... Making of a Cyberspace Mason I was surprised, to say the least, when only a week or two after my initiation into the Craft in July 2000, I received an e-mail from freemason.com, asking if I would write about the part played by the Internet in my introduction to Freemasonry. At 34, I am from that generation that left school as pocket calculators became a luxury item, yet have had to rapidly adopt technology in all its guises to survive in the work environment. Having had a long-standing interest in Freemasonry, I was a confirmed "fence-sitter" on all aspects of the fraternity until the summer of 1997, when I began to read ... We Must Change Our Ways Whilst I would not wish to criticise or denigrate the efforts of those who have gone before us, we are suffering as a result of excessive secrecy since the days of the Second World War. When I became a Mason in the 1950s I was told that under no circumstances must I ever discuss Masonry with non-masons, and never let it be known that I was a Mason. This probably happened because of the war and the fact that our continental brethren suffered because they were Freemasons. We are almost in a catch 22 situation. If we tell everyone that we are Freemasons ... Scrap the Festive Board Whenever friends bemoan the falling membership and current unfashionable image of Freemasonry, I attempt to cheer them. But the Order has been going 300 years, seen bad times before and will still be here in another 300 years. English Freemasonry must address the shortage of good candidates in many lodges. There are many different answers, but one simple practical measure for some Lodges would be to scrap the festive board. This is not a new or revolutionary idea. Struggling Lodges in London were advised in this way some years ago. Many English lodges abroad ... Brainstorming The following conversation took place recently between Bro. Dieter Stephan, a Hamburg businessman and member of the city’s Roland Lodge, and Bro. Christopher McIntosh, a British citizen and member of the Pilgrim Lodge, London, who lives in Hamburg. CM: Brother Dieter, what masonic event have you attended during the past year that you found particularly significant? DS: Without hesitation I can name the evening when two actors appeared in the roles of Ernst and Falk in the famous masonic dialogue written by the 18th-century dramatist and mason ... The Importance of Recognition In September, the United Grand Lodge of England adopted the resolution to recognise the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Indiana, bringing the total now recognised to 136. This may sound just like high-level masonic diplomacy, but in fact it can make a very real difference to our members if they travel abroad. When another Grand Lodge is recognised it means that United Grand Lodge of England members can visit its lodges and their members can visit ours. Freemasonry over the centuries has had plenty of imitators and splinter groups which have established their own ... Some Personal Thoughts on Freemasonry The move towards openness in Freemasonry which began in the eighties and continues to this day is to be welcomed. There are, however, some members who feel apprehension about this new direction and whether it is desirable or not. Openness may seem to be a recent trend in Freemasonry, but openness of the heart is now, and always has been, the goal of a master mason. We need to be more open because our reticence to answer questions about ourselves has led to a difficult situation where the public’s perception of us, fuelled by media speculation ...   Development of Masonry © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2010