‘To be known and hailed as Menorah Lodge’

    

Menorah Lodge 249 75th anniversary pin.

On this date 100 years ago, my original “mother” lodge was set to labor. This lodge no longer exists, but be that as it may.

Menorah Lodge in Bayonne, New Jersey was formed and began meeting Under Dispensation on Wednesday, January 9, 1924. They were U.D. for only a few months because, on April 16, the Grand Lodge granted a warrant to the brethren. The official record, in the form of a memo to the Grand Lodge, says:

Your Committee on Dispensations and Warrants, to whom was referred the question of granting a warrant to Menorah Lodge, U.D., beg leave to report that the petitioners are all regularly dimitted Masons of Arvada Lodge, No. 141, of the jurisdiction of Colorado; Golden Rule Lodge, No. 159; Fraternity Lodge, No. 262, of the jurisdiction of Michigan; Heroine Lodge, No. 104, of the jurisdiction of Missouri; Oriental Lodge, No. 51; Orient Lodge, No. 126; Bethel Lodge, No. 207, of the jurisdiction of New Jersey; National Lodge, No. 209; Marshall Lodge, No. 848; Mount Sinai Lodge, No. 864; Pilgrim Lodge, No. 890; Elbe Lodge, No. 893; Menorah Lodge, No. 903; Elmer Lodge, No. 909; Paul Revere Lodge, No. 929; Audubon Lodge, No. 930, of the jurisdiction of New York; Jellico Lodge, No. 527, of the jurisdiction of Tennessee, and were set to work by the Most Worshipful Grand Master on the ninth day of January, 1924; that they conferred the Entered Apprentice Degree on fourteen candidates; the Fellow Craft Degree on eight candidates; that seven petitions are awaiting action; that they have secured a safe and suitable lodge-room in which to do Masonic work; that they have secured suitable paraphernalia and have $2,017.96 in the treasury.

Your committee, therefore, recommend that a warrant be granted to Samuel S. Cohen, as Worshipful Master; Maurice Shapiro, as Senior Warden; and Martin I. Marshak, as Junior Warden; and their associates, for a Masonic lodge at Bayonne, Hudson County, to be known and hailed as Menorah Lodge, No. 249, F&AM.

Fraternally submitted,

A.M. Loudenslager,

Donald J. Sargent,

Thomas Rogers, Jr.,

Albert S. Riehle,

Joseph F. Lenox,

Committee.

Trenton, N.J., April 16th, 1924.

On motion, duly seconded, the report was received and recommendation adopted—and the rest is history. Seventy-three years later, yours truly was made a Mason in this lodge.

As you might guess from the lodge’s name, it was a lodge comprised mostly of Jewish Masons. The local men came from so many other lodges because Jews always seemed to have been blackballed when petitioning the existing lodges in that city. Purely coincidental, I’m sure.

Also by coincidence, likewise on April 16, 1924, a lodge that met in the City of Elizabeth received its warrant. This lodge also no longer exists, but it was Mt. Nebo 248. My grandfather was made a Mason there in 1968, and served in the East in 1976.

Anyway, it was on Saturday, May 3, 1924 when Menorah Lodge was constituted, and its officers installed, by MW Andrew Foulds, Jr. and a retinue of Grand Lodge officers during an emergent communication of the Grand Lodge. (Mt. Nebo would follow two days later.)

The Grand Master would return to Menorah, or at least at a banquet the lodge hosted in Newark, on May 28.

That “safe and suitable lodge-room” the Menorah brethren secured was in the Odd Fellows Hall at Broadway and Twenty-Ninth Street. I think the hospital stands there now. They met on the first, third, and fifth Mondays of the month (except July and August, and when legal holidays coincided). The lodge had fifty-two members at the end of the 1924 calendar year.

It was a fluke how I found my way to Menorah Lodge in 1997. At that time, I resided pretty far from Bayonne and in a town that had two lodges within its borders too, but I was glad it worked out that way. In retrospect, though, I must admit I’m sorry I didn’t act on my desire for Masonic Light years earlier. I was a student in the late eighties and early nineties, attending university just a mile south of Masonic Hall in New York City. I wouldn’t have had time to serve competently as a lodge officer then, but I would have attended meetings, and I wish I had knocked on that door some time around 1990.

Bro. (and Noble) Warren G. Harding.

In conclusion, while reading about these events, I discovered how a lodge named for the recently deceased U.S. president also was set to labor on the identical timeline. Warren G. Harding Lodge 250 in Woodcliff went through the same process: set to labor U.D. on January 9, 1924; and constituted May 3—just a few hours before Menorah Lodge. President Harding had died on August 2, 1923. He had been made a Mason at Marion Lodge 70 in Ohio in 1901. I otherwise never heard of this lodge.

     

‘Wah. Wah. Wah. Waaah.’

     

Courtesy Grand Secretary Quintana who plastered this all over Facebook

2023 and there still are people in leadership who think this is the way forward.

‘A chunk of Masonic history’

    

Joseph Fagan photo

Ionic capital rescued from the ruins of the former Masonic Hall in Orange, New Jersey last month by Mr. Joseph Fagan, a local historian.

A friend in New Jersey alerted me yesterday to a local news item concerning the destruction of an old Masonic temple in the City of Orange Township.

What he had seen was a Facebook post from Mr. Joseph Fagan, a historian and author who specializes in the Oranges of Jersey, and who told of a fire that destroyed the 135-year-old building on April 19. From there I was able to find Fagan’s news story published the day after the fire on Tap into West Orange, a website for local community journalism. Do read the story for its historical details on the building’s construction.

Located at 235 Main Street in Orange, the nineteenth century brick and terra cotta beauty ceased to be a Masonic temple long ago, and was a mixed use property in its final incarnation, with various retail tenants in business there. The blaze devoured the building’s interior before firefighters from several towns extinguished it. The facade remained standing, but had to be demolished later.

Joseph Fagan photo

The cornerstone was laid June 24, 1886, and the temple was dedicated November 16, 1887, according to One Hundred Years of Masonry in the Oranges, 1809-1909 by Bro. G. Howlett Davis. (Imagine a time when Freemasons authored books about their lodges and the local Masonic scene!) The temple was home to both Union Lodge 11 and Corinthian Lodge 57.

Joseph Fagan photo

Commemorative medal
from the dedication ceremony.

I won’t delve deeply into the details, but eventually—possibly the 1970s—these lodges, joined by Germania Lodge 128 in Newark, would amalgamate and form Germania-Corinthian-Union Lodge 11, and would acquire a former National Grange hall a few towns away in Livingston. About twenty years ago, this lodge merged with Livingston-West Orange Lodge 287, which was located a few miles to the west, and they carry on today as Livingston Lodge 11.

Anyway, Mr. Fagan was able to salvage one architectural embellishment from the rubbish of the temple on Main Street—one that is very recognizable to the initiated eye: a capital of an Ionic column. He guesses it weighs about a hundred pounds.

Union Lodge originally was numbered 21 on the roll of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, having been chartered November 10, 1809. It was a daughter lodge of St. John’s 2 in Newark, just as, I suppose, the City of Orange itself was a breakaway municipality of Newark. When the Grand Lodge reorganized during the 1840s, after the Anti-Masonry craze fizzled, its few surviving lodges were renumbered; Union was assigned 11 (and St. John’s became No. 1).

Historical photo courtesy Joseph Fagan

Corinthian 57 was set to labor Under Dispensation in 1861 at a time the Masonic Order in New Jersey was flourishing. Germania Lodge 128 was given its charter in 1872, a German-language lodge that had spun off Diogenes 22 in Newark.

Maybe Mr. Fagan would donate the piece for display at Livingston 11 or the Museum of Masonic Culture in Trenton.

Here are photos from Bro. Davis’ book:

When the Masonic Hall opened, the post office occupied the ground floor.

The lodge room in the new building.

At the cornerstone ceremony in 1886.

Bro. G. Howlett Davis was raised
in Union Lodge 11 on May 28, 1903.

     

‘The Magpie endorsement’

    

Ex-grand master

It’s sad only seven golden months remain in the tenure of the grand master of the grand lodge in New Jersey—although he is free to extend his term—but an encouraging recent announcement has lifted my spirits. Ex-grand master Glenn Trautmann is seeking re-election to his old job!

The Magpie Mason endorses this candidacy without any hesitation, mental reservation, etc. Give Glenn the tools to finish the job.

     

‘Weird Fact Wednesday: Amity with the Grand Orient’

     
I hope to make Weird Fact Wednesday a regular feature here on The Magpie Mason, but I also said that of Throwback Thursday, and that isn’t working out. Anyway, today’s Masonic Weird Fact comes from 100 years ago.

You know that the Grand Orient of France became estranged from the mainstream Masonic world in the 1870s after deleting from its constitution an affirmation of belief in deity,* but did you know that grand lodges in the United States re-established relations with the Grand Orient during and after World War I?

(Actually, nearly every grand lodge in the United States broke off relations with the Grand Orient in 1867 on account of the GOF’s meddling in Louisiana Masonry, but that’s another story.)

The First World War transformed Western Civilization and many parts beyond, and it made lasting changes on Freemasonry as well. In the United States, there took place a membership boom that caused the chartering of lodges throughout the then 49 grand lodges, as newly sworn military men sought the rights and benefits of Masonic membership in anticipation of being sent overseas. Plenty of civilians petitioned for the degrees of the Craft as well, of course, and the cumulative effect of all this prompted the construction of who-knows-how-many Masonic temples, Scottish Rite cathedrals, Shrines, and other infrastructure nationwide—those grand marble or limestone or brick, etc. edifices that today have been or are being abandoned as we speak.

In Masonic international relations, the influx of more than a million Americans into France created situations where U.S. soldiers sought lodge memberships in France. The National Grand Lodge of France was only a few years old, but enjoyed the approbation of the United Grand Lodge of England because, frankly, the English created it. There also existed the Grand Lodge of France, which too had been delegitimized and then found itself embraced anew because of the war, but this Masonic Weird Fact concerns the Grand Orient, into whose lodges a number of Americans sought entrance.

“New York set the ball rolling in September 1917 by granting to its members the right to fraternize with the Masons of France during the war,” says a 1918 report by the Grand Lodge of Nevada. “New Jersey went further and unequivocally recognized the Grand Lodge of France and repealed its edict against the Grand Orient. In December 1917, the District of Columbia recognized the Grand Lodge of France without a dissenting vote. California appointed a committee to devise plans for renewing relations with the French brethren, and extended the right to its brethren to visit any lodges in France, Belgium, and Italy. In Kentucky, Utah, Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Alabama also favorable action has been taken enabling their members to fraternize with the craftsmen of France. With the return of peace, this will make easy the establishment of permanent relations of amity and good will.”

Nevada itself joined that list of U.S. grand jurisdictions in 1918. Others, as far as I know (there may be others), would include Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Rhode Island. (Louisiana rescinded recognition after a couple of years.)

In New Jersey, on May 18, 1918, MW Bro. William M. Thompson was appointed Grand Representative to the Grand Orient of France near New Jersey. On July 25, RW Bro. Justin Sicard de Plauzoles was appointed Grand Representative of New Jersey near the Grand Orient. Plauzoles writes:


Dear Brother and Most Worshipful Grand Master,

I have received with joy and gratitude the patent by which the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of New Jersey has constituted and appointed me its representative to the Grand Orient of France. I am very happy and proud of the title, and of your trust and confidence. The Freemasons of France and of the United States possess the same ideals for which formerly Lafayette and now Pershing have crossed the ocean.

At that time, at this time, at all times, we have fought together the same battles for right and liberty.

Henceforth, nothing shall be able to break the bonds of friendship which unite our nations.

The admiration and gratitude for your heroes make more precious the title which you have conferred upon me.

I thank my beloved brethren of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of New Jersey most heartily, and beg you to believe me to be your faithful and devoted brother.

Maréchal Bernard Magnan

Further correspondence between New Jersey and the Grand Orient ensued. In October 1918, the secretary of the GOF’s Council of the Order (in 1871, after France’s defeat by Germany, and the fall of the Second French Empire, the office of grand master was abolished—its final grand master being Bernard Pierre Magnan, Marshal of France—and was replaced by a President de l’Ordre) wrote to ask if GLNJ would object to the Grand Orient conferring the degrees of Freemasonry upon New Jersey natives currently located in France. New Jersey’s response was to say no blanket approval was possible, but that a waiver of jurisdiction would have to be granted on an individual basis. New Jersey’s Grand Master, speaking to the 132nd Annual Communication of his Grand Lodge in Trenton on April 16, 1919, said:


The resumption of our former friendly relations with the Grand Orient of France by the rescission of the interdict of non-intercourse led to correspondence which has indicated not only a lively appreciation of our action, but as well an apprehension of conditions arising from the war and American participation therein and a sense of the Masonic properties involved, that justifies making it in part a matter of record in this address.

And later:

The great war has convulsed nations, cost emperors and kings their heads, and disturbed the great heart of mankind, but Freemasonry emerges from the conflict stronger than ever in her history. The eyes of all the world are upon the craft. They realize the tremendous possibilities for good that rest in our organization, and expect great things from us in the reorganization of society. I have no hesitation in affirming that we will live up to every expectation.

Ours in an order that shall stand

A light upon a nation’s hill,

A voice forbidding all that’s ill—

A source of strength for all that’s good

In Justice, Love, and Brotherhood.

In the Grand Lodge of New York it was said: “We still question, nevertheless, the wisdom of the move, from a Masonic standpoint, and we trust New Jersey will, before long, reconsider the matter. We love her too much to see her go astray unwarned.” (The Grand Orient had chartered a lodge in New York City, which didn’t sit well with GLNY.)

I do not know when the American grand lodges resumed their fraternal divorce from the Grand Orient—or maybe they never did, and everyone forgot? Maybe the amity lasted to 1940, when the Grand Orient was shuttered during the Nazi occupation? I’ll keep reading.





*The story is more complicated than that. Writing his Modern Masonry, Joseph Fort Newton explains:

As a matter of fact, from its foundation till 1849, the Constitution of the Grand Orient contained no declaration of belief in deity, yet during all those years it was fully recognized by the Masonic world. In August 1849, the following clause was inserted in the Constitution: “Freemasonry has for its principles the existence of deity and the immortality of the soul.”

As this declaration brought the Grand Orient into direct conflict with the Church—on the ground, as the clerical party affirmed, that it was setting up a rival religion—in September 1877, the following words were substituted:

Bro. Frédéric Desmons

“Masonry has for its principles mutual tolerance, respect for others and for itself, and absolute liberty of conscience.” For making this change, the Grand Orient was disfellowshipped by nearly every Grand Lodge in the world, especially in English-speaking lands, whereas it was only a return to its original position, when, as has been said, it was regarded as truly Masonic. The change was proposed, not by an atheist—if there be such a thing outside an insane asylum—but by Brother [Frédéric] Desmons, a Protestant Christian minister, the object being to parry the criticism that Masonry was trying to foster a spurious religion. At the same time it was left optional with the lodges to display or not to display the Bible in their ceremonies.
     

‘Death of a past grand master’

     
Today on social media the sad news of the death of Bro. Anthony Montuori was spread. Tony was grand master of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey in 2015.

MW Anthony Montuori
Grand Master, 2015

I can’t say I knew him well, but several years ago, when I really needed friends in high places, he was there to help me out of a jam. Honestly, I don’t know why he chose to get involved, other than doing so fit his understanding of Masonic obligations, but he did. This was before he became grand master.

By the time he had taken office, I had become a New York Mason, and basically had turned my back on the New Jersey approximation of Freemasonry, so I don’t know firsthand what things really were like during his tenure. I’ve read eyewitness accounts of events that struck me as hard to believe. Maybe Tony wasn’t flawless, but he wasn’t a EDITED—like EDITED—either.

Alas, my brother.
     

‘Calvi and P2 Lodge topics next month’

     
Bro. Michael Kearsley, who served the United Grand Lodge of England as its Prestonian Lecturer in 2014, will return to New Jersey next month for another speaking engagement. On the first Saturday of December every year, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of New Jersey hosts its Feast of St. John, which is highlighted by a keynote speaker. Rarely is there a Masonic topic—if I’m not mistaken, 2007 was the last such talk, delivered by Chris Hodapp, which was the only of these events that I’ve attended—but Bro. Kearsley is slated to break with form and present something of important and odd Masonic history.

Feast of St. John

Saturday, December 5

Social Hour at 5:30

Dinner at 6:45

Program at Eight

Fellowship Center

1114 Oxmead Road

Burlington, New Jersey

$45 per person

RSVP no later than Friday. Tables for eight or ten guests can be booked. Phone 609.239.3950, and have your credit card ready.

RW Michael Kearsley

RW Bro. Michael Kearsley will speak on “The Roberto Calvi Affair.” In addition to his Prestonian tenure, Bro. Kearsley served as the Right Worshipful Grand Orator of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex, and is a Past Master of four lodges, and is secretary of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076. His research is widely published—one paper garnered QC2076’s Norman Spencer Prize—and he is editor of The Square, among other distinctions.

Roberto Calvi, nicknamed “God’s Banker,” was murdered in outlandish circumstances in 1982 after being at the center of the billion dollar mafia-Vatican bank collapse that is said to have involved a Masonic lodge named Propaganda Due, or P2 for short.

Don’t Google it. Let Bro. Kearsley’s telling of the story stimulate you and leave you with much to talk about.
     

‘Your brother will rise again’

  
A lot of positive things are happening in New Jersey, among them the creation of a “new” lodge in the Camden area.

This edition of The Magpie Mason borrows its title from the Gospel of Saint John, Chapter 11, when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. There are different interpretations of these verses, one of which posits how Jesus in fact did not restore physical life to a four-day-old corpse, but instead brought to light a man living in darkness. Another suggests Jesus returned to community/brotherhood a man living in exile.

There has been a lodge in Camden, New Jersey named Lazarus Lodge 001 at labor under something called United National Masons. Full name: The United National Supreme Council, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Free Masons of the World, 33rd and Last Degree and Order of Eastern Stars, Inc., headquartered in North Carolina.

Currently located near our Valley of Southern New Jersey in West Collingswood, Lazarus Lodge, through certain personal contacts, expressed an interest in affiliating with the Grand Lodge of New Jersey. Last December 17 came the dispensation needed to create Lazarus Lodge under the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, with our Deputy Grand Master and Grand Wardens serving as the Master and Wardens of this lodge, which will meet in Haddonfield, where our Rising Sun Lodge meets. On Saturday, February 2, Grand Lodge will convene a one-day class to initiate, pass, and raise the men from Lazarus, “healing” them (although that is not a term we use), and preparing them to begin new Masonic lives as New Jersey Masons. This will take place at USS New Jersey Lodge No. 62 in Cherry Hill.

Throughout 2013, the brethren of Rising Sun Lodge will teach the Lazarus Masons the rituals, jurisprudence, etiquette, etc. of their adopted grand jurisdiction. At a certain point, Lazarus will take up permanent residence inside the Camden Performing Arts Center, and New Jersey Freemasonry will have a lodge inside Camden for the first time, probably, in decades. Its warrant will be issued when Grand Lodge meets in April.

Cheerful best wishes and congratulations to all involved.
    

‘Second Circle plans’

  
The Masonic Society’s New Jersey Second Circle will not host a Feast of Saint Andrew next month, as we have done the past two years on November 30, to allow some slack in the cabletow so our brethren might attend the Grand Lodge of New Jersey’s Feast of Saint John the following night instead. Our Second Circle will sit tight through the end of the year, allowing the hectic holidays and Installations to pass, and will get together in early 2013. Plans TBA.

But about this Feast of Saint John: The guest speaker will be Bro. Robert L.D. Cooper, curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland’s museum, and a knowledgeable debunker of Templar myths and legends. I have no idea what he will say from the podium on the evening of Saturday, December 1, but I’ll be there to hear. I have not attended one of these dinners since Hodapp was the speaker, and that was about five years ago, so I am very happy about this. I am trying to assemble a couple of tables worth of Masonic Society brethren. Tables can be booked for either eight or ten seats, so let me know if you’re interested, even if you’re not a member of The Masonic Society yet. Leave a note in the comments section below—not for publication—with your e-mail address, and I’ll get back to you.

And about Saint Andrew’s Day itself, I just heard Bro. Cliff Porter will be guest speaker at Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge No. 10 on Friday, November 30. Apprentices and Fellows are welcome. See you there too.
  

‘Have you heard the good news?’

     

Like I mentioned in a post somewhere below, there are some good things happening in New Jersey Freemasonry these days, some beginning at the top, but others rising from the grass roots.

Every year, our grand lodge hosts what it calls a leadership conference at the Elizabethtown campus of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. I don’t know what goes on there – when I used to bother asking about it, brethren either would just stare at their shoes or start gushing wildly about brotherhood, and frankly I don’t perceive a statewide improvement in leadership – so I can’t describe it to you in any detail, but it is several days of classroom-type instruction and break-out sessions, and the like. This year it will take place at the end of October.

Anyway, and don’t ask me how this has come to be, but Cliff Porter will be the guest lecturer this year!

W. Bro. Cliff is a Past Master of Enlightenment Lodge No. 198 in Colorado. He is the author of several books: The Secret Psychology of Freemasonry and Masonic Baptism among them. In addition, he is one of the guiding lights behind the Sanctum Sanctorum Education Foundation, and Living Stones Magazine.

Undoubtedly one of the sharpest thinkers on the Masonic scene today, and I’m sure he’ll be great at the leadership conference.

In other good news, and this one strikes close to home because it concerns publishing, is the complete change of direction given to New Jersey Freemason magazine, the official periodical of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey. When I was a young Master Mason, this publication was produced on newsprint, in tabloid shape if I recall correctly. Through the foresight and toil of the editors then, it made the transition to magazine format on glossy paper about 10 or 12 years ago. The problem through all that time to the present has been the content of the magazine, which ran the gamut from uninspired to unnecessary. Actually it has been very typical of grand lodge magazines: big on posed “grip & grin” photos, charity work, necrology, and bureaucratic odds and ends, but bereft of anything Masonic. I guess they did the best they could, but now the magazine is under the direction of W. Bro. Cory Sigler, editor and publisher of The Working Tools e-zine. Cory reached out to New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education No. 1786 to tap into its talent, and otherwise has made a strong effort to build a staff of writers to provide solid Masonic education pieces, current events reportage, and other content that thinking Masons actually will want to read. I haven’t seen the finished product yet, but it’s in the mail somewhere.

The first printed issue of The Working Tools.

In addition, let me congratulate Cory on his first hard copy publication of The Working Tools. After 51 issues over the course of six years, he has just gone to press with an actual magazine magazine. (Cory, forgive me, but except for your first issue, I’ve never really read The Working Tools before. I can’t read magazines on-line. I need the physical book in my hands. It catches my cigar ash, you see.)

And last but not least in the Good News Department is the launch of a book club in northern New Jersey. The brethren of the Second Masonic District, chiefly at Fidelity Lodge, but also drawing Masons from other lodges, recognized a need to discuss real ideas in Freemasonry, and thus this book club and discussion group.

You know they mean business and are hungry for reform when the first text they choose is Laudable Pursuit, the biggest plum among the fruits of the labors of the Knights of the North. Truth be told, it mainly is the work of Chris Hodapp, but it was published anonymously at the time (around 2005) for reasons I hope we’ve all forgotten by now.

I found out about the book club’s first meeting by accident, but then was contacted by the organizers. I said sure I’ll come! I thought they’d get a kick out of having a KOTN alum present, and I did get a few minutes to speak and share some inside baseball.

For better or worse, the topics confronted by LP stimulated the group to the extent that conversation was hard to organize, and we realized a second meeting to discuss LP was necessary. I missed that one. But what was really cool was the group itself: about 30 Masons, varying from a newly raised Master Mason to the District Deputy Grand Master.

The group will meet next on Monday the 21st at Nutley Lodge No. 25, and another KOTN alum will be there: none other than Hodapp himself, who will be in New Jersey for a few days to co-star in our 2012 Scottish Rite Symposium, with Bob Davis and Brent Morris. Click here for info on that! Thanks to the size of the auditorium, we actually have some seats remaining. Only $50 per person, which covers breakfast, lunch, and souvenirs.

There are other good things in the works here, and I look forward to telling you about them when the time is right or as they develop.
    

Bro. Washington on St. John’s Day

    
Another Magpie Mason crosspost with the famous American Creation blog.


December 27 is the Feast Day of Saint John the Evangelist, and therefore is one of two major celebrations for Freemasonry (June 24, the Feast Day of Saint John the Baptist, is the other). On the 27th of December, 1779, while encamped at Morristown, New Jersey during the Revolution, the Masonic brethren serving under Gen. George Washington celebrated the Feast Day in the Masonic style of that period, with a church service, a lodge meeting, and a meal together.

From the records of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey:

“…the headquarters of Washington, at the close of the year 1779, were at Morristown, in this State. The American Union Lodge, which was an army Lodge, whose Warrant had been granted by Colonel Richard Gridley, Deputy Grand Master of Massachusetts, was at that time with the army under Washington at Morristown. At the festival meeting of this Lodge, held to celebrate the festival of St. John the Evangelist, December 27, 1779, the record shows the presence of sixty-eight brethren, one of whom was George Washington.”



One of Washington's aprons
is displayed in the museum
of the Grand Lodge
of Pennsylvania.

Considering the hardships faced by the Continental forces at Morristown (better informed historians know it was Morristown, not Valley Forge, that was the site of the most grueling, bitter winter for the troops during the war), it is not surprising that Masonic paraphernalia was not on hand for this celebration. The daunting feat of sending to Newark for the proper regalia was successful, and St. John’s Lodge No. 1 answered the call, providing the needed items. (St. John’s Lodge still exists, and will celebrate its 250th anniversary on May 14, 2011.)

It was at this meeting where a project was launched to bring some order and unity to the Masonic fraternity in the colonies by establishing a single grand lodge for America. Mordecai Gist, representing the Masons in the armed forces of Maryland, was made president of the committee that several months later would formally issue the call for this general grand lodge... with Gen. and Bro. George Washington as its Grand Master.

From this committee’s petition:

TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL,

The Grand Masters of the Several Lodges

in the Respective United States of America.

Union.    Force.     Love.

The subscribers, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in convention, to you, as the patrons and protectors of the craft upon this continent, prefer their humble address.


Unhappily, the distinctions of interest, the political views, and national disputes subsisting between Great Britain and these United States have involved us, not only in the general calamites that disturb the tranquility which used to prevail in this once happy country, but in a peculiar manner affects our society, by separating us from the Grand Mother Lodge in Europe, by disturbing our connection with each other, impeding the progress, and preventing the perfection of Masonry in America.


We deplore the miseries of our countrymen, and particularly lament the distresses which many of our poor brethren must suffer, as well from the want of temporal relief, as for want of a source of LIGHT to govern their pursuits and illuminate the path of happiness. And we ardently desire to restore, if possible, that fountain of charity, from which, to the unspeakable benefit of mankind, flows benevolence and love. Considering with anxiety these disputes, and the many irregularities and improprieties committed by weak or wicked brethren, which too manifestly show the present dissipated and almost abandoned condition of our lodges in general, as well as the relaxation of virtue amongst individuals, we think it our duty, Right Worshipful Brothers and Seniors in the Craft, to solicit your immediate interposition to save us from the impending dangers of schisms and apostasy. To obtain security from those fatal evils, with affectionate humility, we beg leave to recommend the adopting and pursuing the most necessary measures for establishing one Grand Lodge in America, to preside over and govern all other lodges of whatsoever degree or denomination, licensed or to be licensed upon the continent, that the ancient principles and discipline of Masonry being restored, we may mutually and universally enjoy the advantages arising from frequent communion and social intercourse….”

While Washington was not named in this petition, it was made known that he was the choice of the brethren. Washington did not accept the position, and the general grand lodge in America never came to fruition.
  

‘Consecrating the stone’

    
The Magpie got scooped by the Dummies blog! Fair enough. I’ve been a negligent blogger in recent weeks.

It’s rare that Freemasonry gets to display its timeless traditions in public, but the afternoon of Sunday, September 19 was one such occasion, as the Grand Lodge of New Jersey and the brethren of the local lodges in Union County performed the ceremony of consecration and cornerstone-laying at a church in Cranford.


Trinity, an Episcopal church that has stood in the center of town since 1875 (the church had been incorporated three years earlier) on land donated by parishioners, has renovated and modernized its building and grounds several times during its history. Hopefully this remodeling endeavor will serve the faithful for many years to come. The congregation will hold its first service in its newly renovated building on December 5, and on January 15, The Right Rev. George E. Councell XI, Bishop of New Jersey, will re-consecrate this sacred space.

This affair immediately brought to mind the 2009 Prestonian Lecture by Bro. John Wade, whose “Go and Do Thou Likewise” explained the purposes and history of English Masonic processions from the 18th to the 20th centuries. His title is borrowed from the King James Version of Luke 10:37, when Christ relates the parable of the Good Samaritan as the right thinking and right action rewarded with eternal life, so the connection to this ceremony on the grassless front lawn of Trinity Church is natural.

And we indeed had a procession. A century ago there would have been hundreds, if not thousands, of Masons and Knights Templar marching through town to celebrate an important cultural event for the town, but we do what we can these days. I’d say there were about 65 Masons present, with church congregants and other citizens drawn to the curious sight. The local police and fire departments were extremely helpful, closing off streets and hoisting an enormous 48-star flag for the occasion.

Templar honor guard leads the procession.

Members of local lodges approach the church.

An officer of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey addresses the audience.

The ceremonial Working Tools

and the Elements of Consecration are ready.

The Cranford Fire Department hoists

an enormous, antique 48-star flag over the site.

The Rev. Dr. Gina Walsh-Minor, Rector of Trinity Church,

sprinkles holy water onto the stone.

According to Bro. Wade’s research, there traditionally are three types of public Masonic processions: Display Processions, in which the brethren show themselves and their regalia; Ceremonial Processions, where Masons celebrate religious or civil occasions in public; and Building Processions, at which Freemasons demonstrate the operative origins of the Craft by inaugurating buildings. This occasion encompassed all three varieties.

“Processions are where we are most obviously in the public sphere,” Wade’s lecture concluded. “I suggest that we should explore the possibility of a return of these activities. I am concerned that, with regard to our public image, we have lost that civic association that we have had for hundreds of years. As we move further into the 21st century, we surely need to be proactive about our civic identity. For the man in the street, we should be demonstrating that we have a civic association with the community, and that we are not a secret society or private members’ club. Certainly we have our private space – and that is what distinguishes us from other charitable organizations – but we also have a rich heritage of moral integrity with its allegorical ceremonies and symbolism that has continued in unbroken tradition for close on 300 years. With such a sense of display, we can restore confidence in the genuine meaningfulness of what it is that makes us Masons.”

No argument here.

Plaridel!

MW William Berman presents the gavel of authority
to RW Jose Daguman, inaugural Master of Plaridel.

RW Jose Daguman, RW Constantino Buno and RW Ross Rosales are the inaugural Master and Wardens.

The new altar cloth is in place.

The festivities are still underway as this edition of The Magpie Mason goes on-line, a celebration of the constitution of New Jersey’s newest lodge: Plaridel No. 302.

Above: MW John Colligas, our junior past Grand Master, reads aloud the warrant issued to Plaridel as MW Berman looks on. Below: the warrant.

It isn’t every day that we form new lodges; the trend for decades has been merging, consolidating, or just going dark. In the past 20 years or so, the Grand Lodge of New Jersey has constituted four lodges, including our research lodge (which the authorities say is not a lodge). The last Ceremony of Constitution took place seven years ago, when Sons of Liberty Lodge No. 301 quit the Garden State Grand Lodge and affiliated with us. The celebration tonight marks the constitution of Plaridel Lodge No. 302.

Above and below: officers and brethren of Plaridel Lodge.

What these two new lodges share in common are their urban origins and ethnic identities. If you have any communication with Masons from outside the English-speaking world, you undoubtedly have been told of a fraternity that is heavy on initiation and instruction in the Craft’s symbols and teachings. The hotdog eating contests, kiddie parties and other ridiculous activities that have undermined Masonry in the United States are unknown to them, and if they do know, they’re mortified. Polite about it perhaps, but mortified.

I’m really hoping Plaridel adopts the cause of meaningful initiation supported by true impartation of the Craft’s secrets. Of course the lodge must function within the laws of our Grand Lodge (some of whose officers say there are no secrets in Freemasonry), but a lodge can walk that tightrope if its officers know what the rule book says – and what it does not say.

Both Sons of Liberty and Plaridel are at labor in New Jersey’s Fifth Masonic District, which covers Hudson County and is home to most of this jurisdiction’s urban lodges. These two lodges consist of brethren who are immigrants or first generation Americans, and I believe the advent of these lodges hints at the future of Freemasonry in New Jersey. Almost all of the other lodges in the state exist in suburbs, where they in effect become part of the civic club landscape alongside the Elks, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc. These “ethnic” lodges however offer the promise of true Freemasonry: a brotherhood informed by our unique God-centered psychology, and united in labors of intellectual, moral and spiritual growth. The names of these lodges recall fights for freedom from oppression. Those battles were not waged for the right to host chili cooking contests. Freemasonry is about more serious things, and is intended for more serious men. I wish them great success.

W. Phil Caliolio, left, as president of the Philippine Masonic Association of New Jersey, helped establish Plaridel. RW Steve Wolfson, on left in photo at right, had the goal of adding to his District a new lodge that adds to the ethnic diversity of New Jersey Freemasonry.



Plaridel Lodge is named for Marcelo H. del Pilar, a hero who is dear to The Magpie Mason’s heart because he was a journalist who labored to end three centuries of Spanish colonialism in the Philippine Islands. If only we had one of his kind in this country today. Read more here.

One aspect of fraternal life at Plaridel is confirmed: They eat well. This roast pig was the main course tonight, but hardly the only choice facing kosher/halal diners.

Approximately 100 Masons from across New Jersey, plus New York and the Philippines packed the lodge room at the Bayonne Masonic Temple, home of mighty Peninsula Lodge No. 99 (The Magpie Mason’s mother lodge). The 85-year-old temple has a special energy to it, albeit without air conditioning! It was the site of the first Rose Circle conference and salon in 2006.