‘Craft population drops below 900K’

   

For the first time since the nineteenth century, the number of regular Freemasons in the United States totals less than 900,000, according to the Masonic Service Association of North America’s 2020 data published this week.

The exact figure is said to be 898,433, albeit with several jurisdictions not reporting. In 1900, there were 851,970 Master Masons, according to the book Facts for Freemasons (1979) by Harold V.B. Voorhis of The American Lodge of Research.

Click here.

Bro. John Ruark, of The Masonic Roundtable, among other things, is a curious statistician when it comes to Masonic membership. This afternoon on Facebook, he shared that link to the MSANA’s new figures. The topic of discussion tonight on TMR will be membership retention.

But wait, there’s more!

The data come from the mainstream grand lodges, which vary in their counting methodologies. For example, Grand Lodge A might include Apprentices in its tabulation, while Grand Lodge B double counts dual memberships. And a Mason at labor in both of those grand jurisdictions is counted by both.

These new numbers do not include any Prince Hall Affiliation memberships. (In my experience, PHA Masons do not disclose such information.)

So, you can understand this 898K number probably is unduly high, being how it is not a snapshot of just individual Master Masons in good standing as of last year. Counts are missing from Alaska, Oklahoma, and South Carolina, but a look at their numbers from recent years strongly suggests their input for 2020 would not bolster the nationwide tally. Overall, the fraternity lost 61,417 since 2019.

I think you need to know this information. Too many of us pine for the four million myth that hasn’t been real since Eisenhower was president (if it was accurate then).

My lodge is doing well. Coming out of COVIDmania, we are poised to initiate a dozen petitioners in the coming weeks—all vetted, motivated, and ready to become real Freemasons. Statewide, the Grand Lodge of New York has thousands similarly in the queue. No gimmicks, no mass initiations, no tricks.

How’s by you?

     

‘Need help identifying this pin’s origins’

     

There is no prize for the correct answer, but maybe someone can help MW Simon LaPlace track the origins of this pin. He was presented this September 11 commemorative piece several years ago, but does not recall whence it came.

If you know, please contact MW LaPlace (he is E.D. of the MSANA) here.
     

‘Hear ye, hear ye: Short Talk Bulletins’

     
For twenty bucks a year, you can subscribe to the Masonic Service Association’s Short Talk Bulletin Online Audio Library. There are more than 275 available currently and, it seems, they add a couple more every month. From the publicity:

For almost a hundred years the Masonic Service Association of North America has published the Short Talk Bulletin every month, discussing various symbols, lore, and Masonic historical figures and events, being the de facto public face of Masonry in North America. If Masonry in North America were a church, these would be the sermons.

These have historically been printed and mailed. By subscribing to the Short Talk Bulletin Online Audio Library, every month you will receive the current Short Talk Bulletin as a spoken audio file, and in addition will receive notification of and access to the growing collection of historical STB as they are produced. The vision of Anaba Publishing is to record all of the historical STBs, being spoken/delivered by various Masons around the country; to preserve this ongoing legacy to speak to the world about the value of Masonry; and provide real and tangible support to further the goals of the MSANA: disaster relief, educational publications, and Masonic information. Membership in the Short Talk Bulletin Online Audio Library equals direct support for the MSANA. All content is used with permission of the MSANA.

Participating Narrators:

VW Bro. Peter Cutler, DEO 14th, Maine
Bro. Colin Briton, Freeport 23, Maine
RW Bro. Mark Rustin, Grand Secretary, Maine
Bro. Michael Smith, Freeport 23, Maine
RW Bro. Toby Williams, PDDGM 14th, Maine
RW Bro. Arthur L. Borland, DGM, Oregon
RW Bro. S. Joseph Esshaghian, Grand Orator, California
Bro. Erick Weiss, Freeport 23, Maine
MW Bro. Craig Hummel, PGM, Iowa
RW Bro. Dexter Rowe, DDGM 6th, Vermont
Bro. David Asherman, Freeport 23, Maine
Bro. Daniel Margasa, Amity Mosaic Lodge, Danvers, Massachusetts
WM Bro. Donald Cyr, PM Freeport 23, Maine
MW Bro. Brian J. Murphy, PGM, Montana
MW George Braatz, PGM and PGS - Ohio; Executive Secretary - MSA
Bro. Darren Marlar, Chaplain, Lodge 102, Rockford, IL
MW Bro. Russ Chardonia, PGM - California
MW Bro. William J. Thomas, PGM - New York
MW Bro. C. Michael Watson, PGM GS, Ohio
MW Bro. Walter MacDougall, PGM, Maine
RW Bro. Alan C. Hindley, DDGM 14th, Maine
Bro. Phil Pearce, Dallas 192, Georgia
Bro. David Kancz, United 8, Maine
     

‘LaPlace to head MSANA’

     

Simon R. LaPlace

Connecticut Past Grand Master Simon R. LaPlace will become Executive Secretary of the Masonic Service Association of North America beginning October 1.

LaPlace will succeed George O. Braatz, the Past Grand Master and Past Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ohio who announced his retirement earlier this year after serving the MSANA for five years as Executive Secretary.

Launched in 1919, the MSANA serves as a clearinghouse of educational publications and demographic data, as well as fulfills philanthropic needs as an organizer of disaster-relief funding in the Masonic fraternity. It also administers its Hospital Visitation Program for the benefit of military veterans across North America.
     

‘Coming soon to the Pennsylvania Academy’

     
The Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge has announced its plans for March 21. From the publicity:

The 2015 Spring session of the Academy of Masonic Knowledge will be held Saturday, March 21 in the Deike Auditorium of the Freemasons Cultural Center on the campus of the Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. Registration will open at 8:30 a.m. with the program beginning at 9:30. A lunch (requested contribution of $10) will be served at noon, and the program will be completed by 3 p.m. All Masons are welcome to attend. Dress is coat and tie.

The program for the day includes:

Professor Kenneth Loiselle will speak on topics from his research and his recently published book Brotherly Love: Freemasonry and Male Friendship in Enlightenment France in a lecture titled “From Enlightenment to Revolution: Masonic Friendship in Eighteenth-Century France.”

Kenneth Loiselle, Ph.D., is an associate professor of history and international studies at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Loiselle’s research focuses on the relationship between the Enlightenment and the political revolutions that unfolded during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the history of friendship and private life, and French colonialism in the Americas. He is presently conducting research on a book co-authored with Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire on Old Regime Freemasonry.

Brother George O. Braatz, PGM, Executive Secretary of the Masonic Service Association of North America, is a Past Grand Master and Grand Secretary Emeritus of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. The Masonic Service Association of North America, formed in 1919 and headquartered in Maryland, provides educational material, statistical reports, Disaster Relief and it administers a Hospital Visitation Program across North America. Bro. Braatz, has previously served for many years on the steering committee of the MSA’s Masonic Information Center and also as a member of the board of directors of the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia.

The great objective in Freemasonry is to gain useful knowledge, and the Academy provides a great opportunity for the brethren to learn and to understand more about the significance of the Craft. Plan to attend and bring a brother or two with you.

Pre-registration is required. Please send your name, address, lodge number and telephone to amksecretary(at)pagrandlodge.org

Please recognize that a cost is incurred to the program for your registration. If you pre-register and subsequently determine that you will be unable to attend, please have the Masonic courtesy to cancel your reservation by the same method and providing the same information.


I notice there is no mention here of what Braatz will discuss, but at the October session, which I still have yet to write about here, it was said he will disclose the results of a recent nationwide survey of things Masonic.
     

‘The Quarry Project, Part II’

     

Exciting news from Bro. Jim Dillman, President of The Masonic Society:

The Masonic Society, the Masonic Library and Museum Association, and the Masonic Information Center are pleased to announce that Phase II of The Quarry Project will be held September 18-20 in Indianapolis. The conference will be held in a downtown hotel to be determined within a few weeks.

The Quarry Project is a continuing effort to promote Masonic research and preservation by providing instruction and guidance to Masonic writers, researchers, and editors both within and without the fraternity, and also to Masonic librarians and museum curators on the display, preservation, and cataloging of Masonic archives. Phase II will feature a third track on Masonic public relations sponsored by the Masonic Information Center, an arm of the Masonic Service Association of North America.

The format for Phase II will remain basically the same with a few tweaks based on feedback from Phase I attendees. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will begin with a general session featuring a keynote speaker. Attendees will then break out to the instructional sessions of their choice on Friday and Saturday with both days adjourning at approximately 5 p.m. Lunch on Friday and Saturday will be included in the registration fee. A banquet will be held on Saturday evening. Sunday will feature a roundtable discussion immediately after the morning keynote address and the conference will adjourn by noon.

We invite anyone, Freemason or not, with an interest in these topics to attend the conference. The programs are currently being developed and will be made available as soon as they are complete. Further information will be released as it becomes available. Registration will begin March 1.

In conjunction with The Quarry Project, The Masonic Library and Museum Association will hold its annual meeting prior to this event on Thursday, September 17. Please contact the MLMA for further details on that meeting.
     

‘Errors and omissions’

    
The 2009 Annual Report of the Masonic Service Association of North America has just(!) been released. In it is a four-page accounting of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, offering different aspects of the novel – the author’s comments, factual inaccuracies in the book, and even Brown’s letter to the Mother Supreme Council.

Addressing the errors found in The Lost Symbol, the MSANA report cites and reprints an excerpt from the November-December 2009 issue of Scottish Rite Journal. That’s all well and good, but The Masonic Society, supposedly acting in conjunction with the MSANA and the George Washington Masonic Memorial, exerted not insignificant effort to launch a website that gently corrected the book’s various factual inaccuracies and examples of literary license that misrepresented things Masonic.

If you look to the left of your screen, you will see beneath the Previous Posts index the rectangular red button linking The Magpie Mason to this informational website. Go ahead and click on it, because it is still active eight months after the novel’s release, and in fact was updated only three days ago to reflect information about the upcoming paperback release and other timely information.

How did this happen? For starters, poor Chris Hodapp had to read that crappy book on the day of its release. Then, armed with knowledge of what it contains, he was able to author the webpage... that still gets hundreds of hits per day.

The site also features links to all the grand lodges, you know, in case any curious man wanted to contact the fraternity and inquire into membership? It also has a recommended reading list. It is an impressive resource, especially when you consider that no one else in Masonry bothered to create anything that might help the fraternity appear to be relevant during the explosion of mass popularity surrounding this novel.

But apparently it did not merit mention in the MSANA’s report. Thanks guys.
   

Masonic relief for Haiti

     

Brethren from the Grand Orient d’Haiti at Alpha Lodge, 2009.

Brethren, the Masonic Service Association of North America will make an appeal today (January 14) for contributions to help, aid, and assist the survivors of the earthquake in Haiti, according to an e-mail just received from Executive Secretary Richard E. Fletcher.

The Magpie Mason respectfully suggests the brethren channel their giving through this single, organized resource. Whatever goods you may be shipping individually probably will not reach their intended destinations, as the destinations themselves may no longer exist, and looting is rampant. Similarly, monies transmitted via ad hoc fundraising drives might not be received in their entirety, whereas every penny received by the MSANA will go to relief in Haiti.

“To All Poor and Distressed Masons, wherever they may be, dispersed over the face of the earth or on the water, here’s wishing them a relief from their sufferings, and a happy return to their native land, should they so desire it.”

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ADDENDUM:

MSANA’s appeal:

Appeal for Relief – HAITI

You’ve seen the destruction vividly portrayed by TV coverage. Much of Haiti is in ruins. All Haitians need assistance. Our Brothers in the Grand Orient D’Haiti desperately need assistance as they work with their communities in trying to rebuild their shattered lives.

Please forward to the MSA such funds as you feel appropriate to help our devastated Brethren and their families in this stricken jurisdiction. Please make checks payable to the MSA Disaster Relief Fund and send to:

8120 Fenton Street, Ste. 203,
Silver Spring, MD 20910-4785

Thank you very much for your help!

Most sincerely and fraternally,

RICHARD E. FLETCHER, PGM
Executive Secretary

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English Freemasonry assists also:

Information Release by The Freemasons’ Grand Charity of the UGLE:

14th January 2010

£30,000 IN RELIEF FOR HAITI EARTHQUAKE

Following the devastating earthquake which took place in Haiti on Tuesday 12th January 2010, the President of The Freemasons’ Grand Charity has approved two emergency grants totaling £30,000. The funds have been issued to the British Red Cross and Plan.

The 7.3-magnitude quake, Haiti’s worst in two centuries, struck at 1653 local time (2153 GMT) on Tuesday. The epicenter was within 10 miles of the center of the densely-populated capital, where around one million people live. More than 50,000 people are feared dead.

The British Red Cross has been awarded £20,000 to assist with their relief efforts. Red Cross volunteers in Haiti are currently assisting the injured and supporting hospitals who do not have enough capacity to deal with this emergency. The most urgent needs at this time are search and rescue, field hospitals, emergency health, water purification, emergency shelter, logistics and telecommunications.

Plan has also been granted £10,000 in support of their efforts in dealing with the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Plan’s priorities are assisting children and their families and getting people into safe accommodation wherever possible, as well as working with survivors to help ease their psychological trauma.

     

Quest is XXX in MMX

QUEST, the Grand Lodge of New York’s Queens District’s annual Masonic education seminar, will mark its 30th anniversary in 2010 with its regularly scheduled day of forums and discussions on March 13.

QUEST meets at the Advance Masonic Temple, located at 21-14 30th Ave. in Long Island City. The day will begin at 9 a.m. and should conclude at 1:15. Breakfast will be served at 8, and lunch at 12:15.

Among the speakers scheduled to appear is MW Edward Gilbert, Grand Master of New York, who has been missed for a number of months as he recovered from some health troubles. The keynote speaker will be MW Richard Fletcher, Executive Secretary of the Masonic Service Association of North America. The speaker during lunch will be MW Gary Henningsen, Past Grand Master and Past Grand Secretary.

The cost to attend is $20, and tickets can be purchased from your lodge’s Master.

As always, there will be many printed educational materials distributed, and other items for sale.

8:00 - 8:50 Check In/Breakfast - Collation Hall All

8:50 - 9:00 Go upstairs to Lodge Room All

9:00 - 9:05 Invocation/Present Colors/Pledge Allegiance RW Ken Wagner/Queens Veterans/All

9:05 - 9:15 Introductions/Program/Handouts/Web Site RW Jay Marksheid

9:15 - 9:20 In Memoriam RW Ken Wagner, Grand Chaplain

9:20 - 9:40 Keynote Address MW Richard E. Fletcher

9:40 - 10:00 LSOME/Protocol/MDC/RTTE RW Robert Russell & RW Robert Olmo

10:00 - 10:20 LDC-8 & Moodle Access/iDC VW Rubin, W Edwards & W John Robinson

10:20 - 10:35 Break All

10:35 - 10:45 Mentoring RW Maurice “Chick” Berger

10:45 - 11:05 Ritual and Masonic Education RW Richard C. Friedman

11:05 - 11:40 Q&A Session MW Fletcher, RW Davis, RW Friedman

11:40 - 11:55 Grand Master’s Address MW Edward G. Gilbert, Grand Master

11:55 - 12:05 Wrap Up: Attendance Recognition RW Jay Marksheid, GDC

12:05 - 12:10 Benediction and Retire to Collation Hall RW Ken Wagner, Grand Chaplain

12:15 - 1:15 Lunch - Speaker MW Gary A. Henningsen, PGM