‘The Masonic Society has gone dark’

    

Not a surprise, given there hasn’t been a Journal published in nearly two three years, but an official announcement from President Oscar Alleyne on Facebook an hour ago confirms the Masonic Society is closed. May 1 would have been our seventeenth anniversary.

Sunday April 27, 2025 

Greetings all members, Fellows and friends of the Masonic Society, It is with great difficulty and sadness that we, as the members of the TMS Board of Directors, inform you that we have officially closed all operations of The Masonic Society and have ceased publication for the foreseeable future.

This decision was not an easy one. Over recent years, the leadership of TMS has been working steadfastly behind the scenes to maintain the viability of the organization while addressing a multitude of issues and concerns including having to mitigate prior management actions and breaches that inflicted irrevocable damage.

Central to these efforts has been our commitment to honoring the vision that resulted in the very creation of TMS. This dedication to Masonic Education first and foremost fueled the resolve to do our very best to meet the interests of our subscribers and members while ensuring compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and ethical standards. Throughout this experience, we operated from a perspective of simply doing the right thing and living up to our Masonic values and duties as the Board of Directors.

We are eternally grateful for all those who volunteered to serve in their various capacities during our period of restructuring. A special thank you goes to our Secretary Bro. Driver and Treasurer Bro. Doxsee who stepped in to help us pick up the pieces for what often felt like thankless work. However, the increasing costs of producing a print journal, the shift of available and sustainable resources to support the journal and an unrelenting series of administrative burdens have overcome our earnest intent and capabilities.

The Board is forever indebted and appreciative of Matt Dupee for helping to facilitate charitable donations in 2022 from the Edward and Lois Fowler Charitable Trust and in 2023 from the Robert and Margaret Cathers Charitable Trust which assisted TMS in meeting several of its critical operations and producing the last TMS journal sent to our subscribers. In full transparency, the Board made every good faith effort to prevent this outcome including the confidential exploration of a transfer of assets to another interested party to keep the Masonic Society name and journal alive however those negotiations closed unsuccessfully.

During the time of its activity, TMS benefited from the expertise of many authors, reviewers, editors, production staff, leaders, readers and others who contributed to creating and sharing content about this important Masonic area. Thank you cannot be expressed enough. Prospective authors are encouraged to seek alternative publication venues.

As we complete the remaining logistical steps for the shuttering of our doors, we encourage you to always cherish with pride the TMS patents, content, literature and ephemera that represents an important slice of Masonic history. What started as a dream, manifested into a reality and progressed through the very stages of mortality that we reflect upon within the very symbolism of our Craft.

I wasn’t privy to most of what the Board worked on the past couple of years. And I dislike the phrasing of “having to mitigate prior management actions and breaches that inflicted irrevocable damage,” as it is broad and impugns innocents. Conversely, finger-pointing would serve no purpose, but I imagine one day, after the passage of healing time, the true details will be voiced.

I thank all members who supported this great endeavor launched in 2008: everyone who wrote for The Journal; everyone who supported our annual and semi-annual meetings and Second Circles; joined in our forum; and all who took leadership roles, even if you didn’t work out, because that helped us mature too.

Participating in the Masonic Society was the defining arc of my labors in organized Freemasonry. I’ve been Worshipful Master of a Craft lodge, two research lodges, and served in the East in Royal Arch, Cryptic, AMD, and Rose Croix, but to be tapped for a leadership slot in a start-up that would fill a genuine need in Masonic education and publishing and that was so great that it positively influenced other periodicals…well, I always felt more honored than useful.

ADDENDUM: Having read Chris Hodapp’s account of these recent events on the Dummies blog, I have to offer a second opinion in epilogue. Chris writes:

Click to enlarge.

Our business plan was not sophisticated, but it was sound. Very simply, members paid dues annually and members received membership benefits, including four issues of The Journal of the Masonic Society.

When I took to the presidency of the Masonic Society in February 2020, we had approximately 750 members on the books (down from our high of more than 1,300 a few years earlier). When I left the presidency in February 2022, we were back up to 1,000 (I think 997 exactly). With 1,000 dues-paying members remitting $45 each, except those overseas who paid more, we had funds! Our business model was more than adequate. We had revenue; we had expenses; it all worked out.

No, our problem was a personnel crisis. I can’t explain it without besmirching brothers I care about, but the failure of the Masonic Society was a people problem. Nothing corrupt or untoward, I promise. Maybe someday, when it no longer matters, Chris, myself, and perhaps others might be willing to talk about it publicly, but by then who would care?

CODA: Over the years, one podcaster liked to slander those of us who worked in the Masonic Society by alleging we were lining our pockets with salaries. Not true. Never true. (Meanwhile, Mr. Podcaster solicits cash donations from his audience, sells merch, and sells tickets to self-aggrandizing events.)

We reasonably proffered perfectly modest stipends to the editor in chief, design director, treasurer, and secretary in thanks for professional services rendered. Actually, Chris was our first editor, and I don’t remember him taking a nickel. Anyway, it never amounted to much money in any given year because they are Masons—and great ones at that. Had we needed to pay outsiders for these labors, we really would have suffered from a poor business plan and gone out of business much earlier.

Sorry for ranting, but the designs upon the trestleboard at the launch of TMS were clear and feasible. Much better than what the Philalethes was up to in 2008—paying an “editor” who didn’t edit, and additionally paying someone else to do the editing, for example.

Magpie Mason

April 30, 2025