‘Friday: Reunion of Brothers in the Blue and the Gray’

     
Take a break from the Orwellian insanity being foisted on American society these days by treating yourself to a first rate historical lecture on one intersection of Freemasonry and the U.S. Civil War. Cornerstone Lodge 711 will host the curator of the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library a second time Friday, making this officially an annual happening. Catherine Walter will present the history of Freemasons aiding their brethren across the divide of war, and will display remarkable documents disinterred from the archives of the library. From the publicity:

Don’t miss the Second Annual Curator’s Civil War Lecture in Monroe, New York Friday evening.

Captain Dimmick, Captain Mosscrop, and Corporal Dubey, 10th Regiment NYS Volunteers; and Captain Hugh Barr, 5th Regiment, Virginia Riflemen.

Reunion of Brothers

in the Blue and the Gray

Friday, September 1

Cornerstone Lodge 711
300 Stage Road

Monroe, New York

Lodge opens at 7:30 p.m.
Lecture at eight
Free admission

On Friday, September 1, the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York; the Cornerstone Masonic Historical Society of Cornerstone Masonic Lodge No. 711, Monroe, New York; and Museum Village in Monroe will proudly present a free lecture highlighting one of the artifacts of the Livingston Library’s collection: a 1905 copy of a set of resolutions sent by three northern Masonic brothers to a former Confederate Captain and Masonic brother who saved them after the Second Battle of Bull Run at Manassas, Virginia.

On Saturday, September 2 and on Sunday the third, Museum Village will host its 42nd Annual Civil War Re-enactment, with the Livingston Library’s curator in attendance on Saturday.

The original of these resolutions was sent in 1881 to the Captain Hugh Barr, the former Confederate officer, whose actions reflected the commonly discussed theme of Masonic Brotherhood: that, even in the midst of battle, the bonds of brothers are stronger than any other affiliation.

Click to enlarge.

The artifact’s history was lost to time until recovered by Catherine M. Walter, Curator for the past 14 years of the Grand Lodge of New York’s collection. During the lecture, she will share the story of the resolutions and the Masonic brothers associated with it. The Library houses more than 60,000 rare books and 50,000 artifacts reflecting the material culture of a group filled with significant and historic figures.

Freemasonry has played an important role in the history of New York State, spearheading a social safety net for widows and orphans, and homes for the elderly, as well as supporting the establishment of public education in the fraternity’s aim to uplift the state of humanity in general. While known as the quiet fraternity, its members have stood as pillars of their communities across the state since before the American Revolution. Learning the histories of the men associated with the artifact collection only highlights the nature of those men who joined the fraternity and who embraced the core tenets of Freemasonry: Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth.

While there is a lot of misinformation about Freemasonry, its true nature has been best described as “a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.” The symbols often have layered meanings, but by using the working tools of an operative stone mason as symbols to teach moral lessons, a Freemason strives to keep his spiritual nature in control of his earthly nature, to remember that all men are equal, to be morally righteous and upright in conversation and action, to maintain a straight course of action in work and interactions, to work hard at labor and at home, to gain accurate knowledge, and to spread the cement of Brotherly Love.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see and learn about one of the amazing artifacts of the Grand Lodge of New York which sheds light on the incomparable bonds of brotherhood within the Masonic fraternity.
     

‘In the neighborhood’

    
A post for the benefit of our local and somewhat local brethren: Two great nights coming up in early February.

On Monday, February 7, Nutley Lodge No. 25 will continue its Lamp of Knowledge lecture series, hosting W. Henry of Humanitas Lodge No. 1123 in New York City, who will lead us into the Chamber of Reflection, so to speak, for an explanation of the many intriguing symbols that await initiates in the Scottish Rite tradition of Craft Masonry.

Henry also is Senior Deacon of The American Lodge of Research, the premier education lodge in the United States, and is active in other research bodies.

Apprentices and Fellows, properly avouched, are welcome to attend this lecture.

On Wednesday, February 9, at historic Alpha Lodge No. 116 in East Orange, our good friend and Brother Rashied Bey returns to the podium. Rashied is with Cornerstone Lodge No. 37, under the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York, and is very well known about the apartments of the Temple.

RW Rashied will speak on properties of astronomy found in Masonic ritual and symbol.

Also that night, W. Mohamad Yatim, Past Master of Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge No. 10, will visit Madison Lodge No. 93, also to speak on the Chamber of Reflection.

Curious things are happening in some of the lodges here. An amazing line-up for the week ... and that’s even before we get to Virginia for Masonic Week! I’ll need extra cigars and whisky to sustain myself. Let me also point out that all three of these traveling lecturers are of The Masonic Society family. Rashied is a Fellow, and Henry and Mohamad are Members.
    

American Lodge of Research

     

The elected officers of American Lodge of Research for 2009.

It was another fine meeting of American Lodge of Research Thursday night, with brethren elected to membership, officers elected to their 2010 stations, and a very useful paper delivered. ALR meets three nights per year, in March, October, and December. It is the oldest lodge of Masonic research and education in the United States, receiving its warrant from the Grand Lodge of New York in 1931.

The secretary’s desk was a busy sight. It was announced that the new book of transactions, with research papers presented in 2007, was published recently, and that copies have been mailed to the members. The next book will cover both 2008 and 2009, and will be out next year.

In the new members department, two worthy brethren were elected to Active Membership, which is achieved by those who do the work of the lodge: writing and presenting papers. W. Bro. Philippe of Heritage Lodge No. 371, and W. Bro. Gilbert Ferrer, Master of Shakespeare Lodge No. 750 have been immortalized! And a good thing too, because Gil was to be the speaker for the evening.

Among those elected to Corresponding Membership was Bro. Luther from Cornerstone Lodge No. 37, who might actually learn about this good news by reading The Magpie Mason. Surprise!

And, as always, there were plenty of familiar and friendly faces. Aside from WM Bill Thomas and his officers, there were John Simon-Ash, Mark Koltko-Rivera, and John Mauk Hilliard, one of the deans of Masonic education in the United States, who dutifully took the vacant Senior Master of Ceremonies chair. And also Bro. Alessandro (with short hair!), and Bro. Frank, and about 35 others.

One cannot attend lodge at 23rd Street without being dazzled by the diversity of regalia on display. My unofficial Magpie Apron Award for the evening goes to the young Mason who was sporting a most elegant apron from a Scottish Constitution lodge he joined in Belgium while serving in the U.S. Army attached to NATO.

But on to the paper for the evening. W. Bro. Ferrer, an attorney by profession, employed his expertise in both logic and rhetoric to illustrate the illogic and incoherence of anti-Masons, particularly the fundamentalist Christian sort indigenous to the United States who appear on the John Ankerberg Show.

If you’re familiar with fundamentalist Christian anti-Masons, then you know how they operate:

They present themselves as the experts on Masonry; and since they all are in agreement on their opinions, then those opinions are facts; and therefore it is up to Masonry to defend itself. And of course there are numerous instances of jerking quotations out of context, and of citing obscure writings as popularly accepted texts for Masonic education purposes.

For example, the characters studied by Ferrer had mailed questionnaires to 50 grand lodges in the United States. Half replied to the questionnaire. Of those 25, a total of four stated that Albert Pike’s widely distributed (but frankly, rarely read) tome Morals and Dogma was a valid source of Masonic information. Therefore, they cite M&D as a kind of Masonic bible and, naturally, they use its index to find all kinds of scary ideas to misquote or otherwise abuse to alarm their legions of the dangers of Freemasonry.

Yes, these people still exist in 2009. In the United States.

Here is one quotation from M&D that especially frightens the antis:

Masonry, around whose altars the Christian, the Hebrew, the Moslem, the Brahmin, the followers of Confucius and Zoroaster, can assemble as brethren and unite in prayer to the one God who is above all the Baalim, must needs leave it to each of its initiates to look for the foundation of his faith and hope to the written scriptures of his own religion. For itself it finds those truths definite enough, which are written by the finger of God upon the heart of man and on the pages of the book of nature. Views of religion and duty, wrought out by the meditations of the studious, confirmed by the allegiance of the good and wise, stamped as sterling by the response they find in every uncorrupted mind, commend themselves to Masons of every creed, and may well be accepted by all.

In the Temple Room at the House of the Temple in Washington stands this massive altar of black and gold marble. (It’s bigger than my car.) Upon it rest copies of the volumes of sacred law of the world’s major religions.

W. Ferrer performed an expert job of demolishing not only the thoughtless opinions held by this particular strain of anti-Mason, but also the very methods it employs to form those opinions. These antis seize a similarity Masonry might share with, say, sun worship, to draw the conclusion that Masonry is sun worship. They rely on non-sequiturs to connect dots that otherwise never could be connected to claim that Freemasonry is incompatible with Christianity. They cite the fate of William Morgan in 1826, an aberration in Masonic history, to paint Freemasonry as a secret society that threatens the very existence of America in 2009.

The paper sparked a lively discussion afterward, with the brethren sharing many ideas varying from suggested readings to articulate replies to this form of anti-Masonry. It was Bro. Alessandro of Mariners Lodge No. 67 who simply pointed out that the question is not “Is Freemasonry compatible with Christianity?” (it certainly is), but “Is this form of Christianity compatible with Freemasonry?” (it certainly is not).

WM Bill Thomas called on brethren around the room who had raised their hands waiting to speak, and the conversation shifted from how one benighted group views Freemasonry to how Freemasons view Freemasonry. It is a great debate within Freemasonry about its own identity: Is Masonry nothing more than a host of spaghetti dinner fundraisers or is it a private society of exceptional men exploring the great mysteries of human existence?

W. Bro. Sam from Mariners suggested that Masonry is not a “secret society” because a secret is learned but once, whereas a mystery is gradually explored through continuous search. Bro. Mark Koltko-Rivera, who appeared on television this afternoon on the Discovery Channel’s Hunting the Lost Symbol, asserted “we really do have secrets. Secrets are forbidden to be spoken; they are ineffable. We hold our rituals in confidentiality, and no one has the right – in the United States of America – to criticize us for it!”

The next Regular Communication of American Lodge of Research will be Monday, December 28 when the newly elected officers will be installed. The inaugural paper of the new Worshipful Master, Bro. P.F. De Ravel D’esclapon, is titled “The History of French Lodges in New York City, 1760 to 1800.”

(I’m looking forward to hearing this paper. The francophone side of the Grand Lodge of New York, such as L’Union Française Lodge No. 17 – are there others? – is of particular interest to The Magpie Mason. Somewhere in the back of my mind is the goal of introducing these lodges to La Maison Française at NYU. French House maintains a limitless schedule of literary readings, fine arts exhibits, symposia, and other cultural happenings in support of French culture, and I hope to bring the subject of Freemasonry to its attention. French Freemasonry’s past, present, and future offer a lot to talk about! The arts, politics, faith, and other subjects could be starting points toward innumerable discussions. I’m digressing myself a bit too much here.)

Brethren, make an evening of it. Before the meeting be sure to duck into the Limerick House next door for dinner. After the meeting, the brethren take their time saying good night, preferring to mingle in the lodge room and hallway to chat. The stalwarts head out for cocktails.

And there is more to ALR than its meetings. WM Thomas has taken the lodge “on the road” somewhat this year, hosting the sojourning Prestonian Lecturers and taking them to Albany. And he was a recent guest lecturer at Nutley Lodge No. 25 in New Jersey. And don’t forget the occasional social function at the Cigar Inn!
     

A new year at ALR

The new elected officers of American Lodge of Research.

The annual installation of officers took place a few hours ago at American Lodge of Research in New York City. RW Bill Thomas is the new Worshipful Master.

About 70 Masons filled the French Ionic Room to capacity for the occasion. The brethren came from multiple lodges representing many jurisdictions to salute the incoming Master and to honor the country’s oldest lodge of research. There was a dizzying blur of regalia, as aprons, collars, jewels, crests and other pieces displayed more designs and colors than one usually finds in a single lodge, especially an educational lodge. And speaking of diversity, it was difficult to place every one of the many foreign accents heard across the room. (And no, I don’t mean Queens and Brooklyn!) Did someone say “cosmopolitan Freemasonry?”

Lots of familiar faces also. As so often is the case in the field of Masonic education, the inhabitants are relatively few, and tend to find each other at the same kinds of events. I finally got to meet Steve Starkes, the new Junior Warden; we’ve been internet penpals for a number of years. There was Ted Harrison and George Harrison. Spiro, Philippe, Daniel from the library, Henry, Frank, the other Henry, a François or two, John Simon-Ash, the officer line of Boyer Lodge No. 1 of New York Prince Hall, and Luther from Cornerstone No. 37. And a lot more.

Shakespeare Lodge, Sibelius, Composite, King Solomon-Beethoven, Allied and other lodges were represented, as was the Grand Lodge, with multiple Right Worshipfuls showing their interest in the research lodge. (Something that can’t be taken for granted, believe me.) Also Thomas Smith Webb Chapter of Research. France L.C.A.C. And Hibiscus Lodge No. 275 in Florida was present too. An interesting lodge. Not a research lodge, but nonetheless publishes its own “International Journal of Masonic History and Culture,” copies of which were presented to WM Bill.

The inaugural paper of the Worshipful Master concerned a darkly amusing topic: the life of one George Cooke, a brother from Mt. Vernon Lodge No. 3 in Albany during the 19th century who made a name for himself as a con man, claiming to be everything from an attorney to a medical doctor to a major general.

The next Regular Communication of American Lodge of Research will take place Monday, March 30. A paper will be presented by RW Bruce Renner, Senior Grand Warden.