‘As necessities might require and ability permits’

    

Masonic Book Club

Q. Have you any key to those secrets?

A: Yes.

Q. Where do you keep it?

A. In a bone box that neither opens nor shuts but with ivory keys.

1720s Masonic ritual—the “Enter’d ’Prentice’s Part”—as divulged in Masonry Dissected.

Magpie readers, I never ask for anything, but with this difference: While we’re slowing down at this time of year to contemplate the blessings for which we are thankful, I hope you will help a distressed Brother Mason.

Exactly six months ago, Bro. Tyler Vanice was hit by a truck while en route to his employment at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Virginia. It was bad. Today, he faces massive surgeries, especially on the “bone box” and “ivory keys,” and requires financial help.

Click here for the Go Fund Me page where you can read the details and, hopefully, “contribute to his relief as liberally as his necessities might require and your ability permits.” Perhaps inquire if the charitable arms of your Masonic groups might assist.

Bro. Tyler, to those who know him, is a true asset to our fraternity and our world. If you don’t know him, you’d be happy if you did.

     

‘U.K. grand lodges in the news this week’

    

Cheers to the media relations teams at both the grand lodges of England and Scotland, and to The Times, for their respective collaborations that produced fair news coverage of the Craft in the United Kingdom in recent days.

The Times, founded in 1785, self-identifies as “the oldest national daily newspaper in the U.K. and holds an important place as the ‘paper of record’ on public life, from politics and world affairs to business and sport.” The United Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Lodge of Scotland self-identify as two of the oldest Masonic grand bodies in the world. The former says it dates to 1717 (although it’s actually 1813) and the latter was established in 1736.

Sunday Times

Unfortunately, there is a template in media coverage that cannot evolve: The Freemasons are opening their doors to the public for the first time to show there’s nothing to hide. In fact, the headline on the Sunday Times story by Marc Horne this week reads: “‘Nothing to hide’: freemasons to welcome public for first time.” Yesterday’s package from Times Radio lures us with “Inside the Freemasons HQ: The secretive society accused of ‘ruling the world.’”

To the reporters’ credit though, their work goes beyond the tease, and I think everyone can be pleased with the reportage.

The Scotland story seems to have been sparked by publicity of a jurisdiction-wide “open house,” in which all of the Grand Lodge of Scotland’s member lodges worldwide will, you know, “welcome members of the public for the first time” next February. The report from London, as you’ll see in the video, is thanks to Grand Secretary Adrian Marsh’s enterprising invitation to Darryl Morris to visit Freemasons’ Hall on Great Queen Street for a look around and a friendly, but firm, denial that Masons are reptilian.

Click here for the Scotland story. Click the image at top to see the Times Radio piece. (I assume the almost simultaneous publishing of the reports is coincidental.)

I know I post often on things Masonic in the U.K.—maybe too often—but, being from Publicity Lodge, this kind of thing excites me.

     

‘Civil War Lodge’s plans’

    

Civil War Lodge of Research 1865 has its designs upon the trestleboard for next month and the ensuing year.

Matthew Szramoski

First, the big news: At the annual communication yesterday, Grand Lodge elected and installed MW Matthew Todd Szramoski into the Grand Master’s chair. The name probably rings a bell; he is in charge at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. And the Research District has a new DDGM: CWLR’s very own Secretary, RW Bennett Hart! Congratulations to everybody on the leadership team for 2026.

Civil War Lodge will meet Saturday, December 6 at Babcock Lodge 322 in Highland Springs, Virginia for our own installation of officers. Our thirtieth anniversary arrives this Thursday, so the Stated Communication will be an extra celebration. As you know, CWLR meetings typically are built into a weekend of activities (I encourage all research lodges to incorporate this idea into your schedules) so there will be Friday and Saturday things to do outside the lodge room, to wit:

Friday, December 5

Dinner at 6:30 p.m.

Roberto Italian Restaurant in Sandston

Saturday, December 6

Babcock Lodge 322 in Highland Springs

Open Lodge at 10 a.m.

Installation at noon.

Lunch at one o’clock.

Cold Harbor Battlefield

in Mechanicsville at 3 p.m.

Dinner at Mexico Restaurant

in Sandston at 7 p.m.

Plans for next year (meetings will be in Virginia except where noted) are:

April 11: New Market Battlefield

July 18: Monterey Pass, Pennsylvania

August 29: Grand Master’s Research Lodge Official Visit at Hay Market Lodge 313

October 10: Fort Monroe

December 5: to be determined

I think all these are close enough for me to attend, so hopefully I’ll see you around.

     

‘New leadership in New Jersey’

    

Gill Raoul Calderon

Grand Master Omar Morris
and Junior Grand Warden Glenn Visscher.

Congratulations are in order upon the huge news pulsating right now from Atlantic City: Omar Morris is the new MW Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, and RW Glenn Visscher has been elected and installed in the Grand South. Huzzah!

I’ve known both for a long time (Omar is from my former lodge), and I couldn’t nominate Masons more worthy for these top jobs. Personally, being a refugee from that Grand Lodge, I believe the single most important task for the voting members of that jurisdiction is to continue electing decent human beings to their highest offices. The coming four years are looking bright indeed over there.

Congratulations to all.

     

‘Time to join/renew to receive AQC 138’

    

It is time to renew with (or join) QCCC for 2026. Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle is the corporate side of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 in London. Membership in the lodge is limited to a small number of scholars who are elected, but guys like you and me may join QCCC, the principal benefit of which is possession of the treasury that is Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, the lodge’s annual book of transactions.

QC2076 will meet one more time this year for its installation of officers next Thursday at Great Queen Street. Bro. Richard Gan will be seated in the Solomonic Chair and will present his inaugural paper. From the summons:

Printed Masonic Periodicals

in England 1793-2024

Richard’s paper tracks the progress and regress of Masonic publishing through to the present day, a time when there is no longer any Masonic periodical with a national circulation in England, the last having ceased hard-copy publication in December 2024 when it transferred online.

Richard L. Gan was born in 1950 Bradford to Polish parents. He was educated at the Becket School, Nottingham, and graduated in Geology at London University, where he also took a Master’s Degree in education; in addition, he holds a Degree in Management Studies from the Open University. Richard’s professional career included teaching, educational management and Masonic administration.

He retired in June 2010 as Deputy Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons and thereafter was editor of The Square until 2014.

Richard was initiated in Ribblesdale Lodge No. 8020 in Nottingham in 1977 and promoted to Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies in 2008. He is a Grand Officer in all the major Orders of Freemasonry and in addition has served as the Grand Principal Conductor of the Work (Assistant Grand Master) in the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters and as Provincial Grand Master in the Mark for Middlesex.

Richard lives in Lincolnshire and writes and researches on subjects that include Victorian Freemasonry and the Orders beyond the Craft. He was elected a full member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge in 2014. He has been a regular Masonic speaker and has delivered more than fifty talks and lectures on a range of Masonic subjects; he has authored four monographs, six papers and eight books.

For next year’s meetings, the lodge has scheduled:

Thursday, February 19

Rob Hammond

“Does Freemasonry

Follow the Railroad?”

Thursday, May 14

Paul Calderwood

“Welsh Freemasonry

& the Unlawful Societies Act”

Thursday, June 25

Rod Taylor

“Masonic Firing Glasses”

Thursday, September 10

Daniel Johnson

“Solomon’s Temple in Myth & Ritual”

The 2026 Prestonian Lecture

Thursday, November 12

Installation Meeting

Installation Paper

Someday I will visit, I keep telling myself. Click here to join QCCC or click here to renew your membership.

     

‘2026 Prestonian Lecture’

    

Magpie file photo

Other big news from earlier this year, during my dereliction from blogging: the announcement of next year’s Prestonian Lecturer! At the Quarterly Communication of the United Grand Lodge of England in June, the Board of General Purposes said Bro. Daniel Johnson will present “Solomon’s Temple in Myth & Ritual.”

To my knowledge, he is not related to the Bro. Johnson in the post below. 

Every year, one scholar is chosen for the distinction. The job is to travel about the jurisdiction, delivering the lecture in lodges, and raising funds for a charity. I see Bro. Johnson will appear at QC2076 next September. There’s nothing stopping them from traveling abroad, of course, and I have a history of hosting these outstanding workmen here in the New York City area. Maybe something can be arranged for 2026 too.

     

‘Freemason helps thwart knife attack’

    

The Telegraph

Andrew Johnson

One of the two London North Eastern Railway employees credited with helping stop the knife attacks aboard a commuter train last night is a Freemason, according to a number of laudatory messages shared on social media by Brother Masons today.

W. Bro. Andrew Johnson, a 17-year Royal Navy veteran who served in the Iraq War, was driving. Upon hearing an alarm and learning of the violence onboard the King’s Cross-bound train, he had its route changed from express tracks (125 m.p.h.) to local, thereby allowing for a stop at Huntingdon that allowed British Transport Police to board, make arrests, and evacuate the wounded.

Eleven were reported injured. Johnson’s co-worker, who physically confronted an assailant, is in “a life-threatening condition,” according to the BBC.

Two suspects initially were apprehended, one of whom was released, for the stabbings and slashings of eleven victims, and one weapon has been recovered. 

The government there somehow was able to proclaim very early that this is not a “terrorist incident.” Makes you wonder what would qualify as a terrorist incident.

After a little poking around, I think I can say Bro. Johnson is affiliated with Ceres Lodge 6977, of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire. He also is a Royal Arch Mason.

God bless you, Bro. Andrew. Prayers for all the injured victims.

     

‘The Revolution WILL be televised’

    

Documentarian Ken Burns will have his latest, The American Revolution, debuted on PBS in two weeks. It’s a long shot, but I am hoping some mention of Freemasonry will fit in the six-chapter, 12-hour series coming November 16.

It’s only fair. Many of his previous works involve historical Freemasons but do not mention the fraternity, such as The Statue of Liberty (1985), Lewis & Clark (1997), Mark Twain (2001), The Roosevelts (2014), and, most recently, Benjamin Franklin (2022). I’ve always believed his style of filmmaking would be ideal for a story about Freemasonry itself. He excels at telling of generational histories (Baseball, 1994; Jazz, 2001; Country Music, 2019) and epochal events (The Civil War, 1990; The War, 2007; The Vietnam War, 2017).

Who better to chronicle the adventures of a folkway that germinated in sixteenth century Scotland and spread around the globe, influencing cultures and societies everywhere while embracing the giants of Western Civilization? Many years ago, I emailed his office pitching that idea, but received no reply.

     

‘Webinar on New York genealogical research’

    

Sorry for the short notice but, if you can be available Thursday afternoon, I think you’ll find this webinar on research techniques profitable. From the publicity:

Unlocking the Mysteries:

An Introduction to Using

American Fraternal Records

in Genealogical Research

Thursday, November 6

6 p.m.

Free (registration is required)

Click here

Join us for a virtual webinar hosted by the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society about American Masonic and fraternal organizations, focusing on New York, and how their records can help you in your genealogical research.

Join Jeffrey Croteau and Sarah Shepherd of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library for a webinar about American Masonic and fraternal organizations, focusing on New York, and how their records can help you in your genealogical research.

The presentation will start with a brief introduction to popular fraternal organizations such as Freemasonry and Order of Eastern Star, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World, and Knights of Pythias.

The presenters will discuss what types of fraternal records exist, go in-depth on where to find them, and talk about what kind of information these records may contain. This talk will be followed by a Q&A session. This virtual webinar will take place on Thursday, November 6, at 6 p.m.

The event, part of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library’s fiftieth anniversary programming, will be hosted by the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society.

This is a free online webinar, but registration is required.

     

‘Good Samaritan’s Thanksgiving’

    

Good Samaritan Lodge 336 in Gettysburg will host another of its famous Civil War Dinners in three weeks. If it wasn’t hundreds of miles away, I’d be there every time, but if you are nearer, you should go. Here is the publicity:

Click to enlarge.

As you know, November 22 is the anniversary of the death of C.S. Lewis in 1963. The scholar-author (and Inkling!) was inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) to exhort Christians to convert the moral instruction of that Scripture into personal action. As the C.S. Lewis Institute puts it:

C.S. Lewis Institute

Click to enlarge.