‘International Conference set for next March’

    

Nothing for me to add. I’ll just get straight to the publicity:

2024 International Conference

on Freemasonry:

Rites in America

Saturday, March 30

University of California, Berkeley

Admission: $30; optional lunch $20

Register here

The twelfth International Conference on Freemasonry is returning to the campus of the University of California in Berkeley on March 30, 2024, with a focus on “Rites in America.”

This exciting and informative yearly event brings scholars and academics from a wide range of disciplines together to present new research on topics of interest to Masons. This year’s theme, “Rites in America,” examines the almost countless forms and iterations of Masonry that have sprung up on this side of the Pacific, often in the particular context of immigrant communities or other, larger social movements.

Says event organizer Susan Sommers, a professor of history at St. Vincent College, “Freemasonry is one of the oldest and most successful fraternal, initiatory societies in the Western world. Despite its reputation for secrecy, it is well known and well documented.” As different Masonic and quasi-Masonic groups formed in the Americas, they often built on Masonry’s ritual framework while adding their own features. “Why reinvent wheels when you can simply change the hubcaps?” she says. “Over the centuries, especially since around 1750, Freemasons have added, edited, and invented orders, rites, and rituals with something close to wild abandon, all the while claiming that the landmarks are immutable, and have been since Adam.”

And click here to read about the speakers and their topics.