‘MRF returns to Philadelphia’

    

The Masonic Restoration Foundation will return to the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia August 23-25 for its thirteenth symposium, President Andrew Hammer just announced.

A program of fifteen speakers is planned. If I’m not mistaken, in a first for the MRF, almost half of the presenters are either current or past elected grand lodge officers, which I take to mean the mission of the Foundation has taken root in a good number of grand jurisdictions. If Observant lodges themselves are not proliferating, then at least the inspirations behind them are resonating, which is what matters to me. It is not necessary for a lodge to see itself as an Observant lodge—and in some environments it is inadvisable—so long as the characteristics of Observant Masonry are evident in the lodge’s culture. What are those traits?

“Simply put, Observant Masonry means observing the intent of the founders of Speculative Masonry. That intent was not to build a mere social club or service organisation,” Hammer writes in this essay. “While the Craft—like any other human organization—always has been burdened by men in its ranks who subverted the purposes of the fraternity to a more mundane or profane enterprise, that was never the intent of the institution. That intent was to build an institution that calls men to their highest level of social being, in a state of dignity and decorum, which could serve as a place for serious, mindful discourse on the lessons and meaning of life, and search for the better development of oneself. That intent means building a space where such an experience can be created, and carrying ourselves in a manner that is consistent with our highest ideals and noblest behaviors.”

If you are unfamiliar with the Observant concept, click here to find several links to useful readings.

The format of the MRF symposium remains unchanged.

On Friday, August 23, a Harmony will be hosted inside the Masonic Temple’s Grand Ballroom. Attire: black tie. Keynote: “The Fortitude of Hiram” by MW Brad Billings, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Texas.

Saturday, August 24 will see the program of speakers, including names you know well and some you will want to get to know. The presentations:

Fraternal Greetings

and Opening Address

Masters of Ceremonies

Rt. Wor. Bro. P. J. Roup

Senior Grand Warden

Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania

Rt. Wor. Bro. Andrew Hammer

President, MRF

Master, Alba Lodge 222,

Washington, DC

Building Rectitude With Relevance:

The Next Generation of Masonry

Rt. Wor. Bro. Andrew Hammer

Walled Gardens, Chesterton Fences,

and Living Lodges

Wor. Bro. Erastus Z. Allen, PM,

Lodge Ad Lucem 812, Pennsylvania

Treasurer, MRF

Cutting Stones:

The New Observant Lodge

Bro. Anthony Augay,

Senior Warden

Robert Burns Lodge 59, Nevada

Most Wor. Bro. Louis Castle, PGM

Robert Burns Lodge 59

The MacBride EA Degree

Lodge Alba 222

Victory Through Harmony:

Transforming an Existing Lodge

Wor. Bro. Donald Carducci, Master,

Victory Through Harmony 94, Quebec

Rt. Wor. Bro. Jean-Frederic Dicaire

Victory Through Harmony Lodge 94

The Way We’ve Always Done It

Wor. Bro. Patrick Craddock, PM,

Prometheus Lodge 851, California

Vice-President, MRF

Are We Not Men?

Rt. Wor. Bro. Oscar Alleyne,

Past Junior Grand Warden,

Grand Lodge of New York

Time, Patience, and Perseverance:

Dealing with Challenges

in the Observant Lodge

Wor. Bro. Dan Kemble, PM,

Lexington Lodge 1, Kentucky

Rt. Wor. Bro. Dana Scofield, PM,

Fibonacci Lodge 112, Vermont

Rt. Wor. Bro. Robert McLeod, PM,

Templum Phoenix Lodge 57

New Brunswick

Most. Wor. Bro. David Cameron

Grand Lodge of Canada

in the Province of Ontario

Moderator: Bro. Andrew Hammer

A Prince Hall Perspective

on Observant Masonry

Rt. Wor. Bro. Kevin Wardally,

Grand Senior Warden,

MW Prince Hall GL of New York

Closing Address

A New Design Upon the Trestleboard

Rt. Wor. Bro. P. J. Roup

Closing Discussion with Speakers

Moderator: Bro. Andrew Hammer

Will the Magpie Mason be in attendance? I’m afraid only for the Friday banquet. D’oh! I am already committed to speak at the John Skene Masonic Conference across the river in Jersey on Saturday. As I’m sure all of you know too well, there are only so many Saturdays. But you should go.

Click here for registration. Click here for the hotel.

     

‘2024 Magpie speaking tour’

    

Royal Arch apron on display at the GWMNM.

The Magpie Mason’s calendar of speaking engagements is filling up fast with two dates packed into the 366-day leap year that is 2024!

The Royal Arch companions at Eureka Chapter 7 in beautiful Orlando, Florida want to fly me down for their next convocation for some reason. Actually, their next meeting will be tonight, but after that the next meeting will be Thursday, March 14.

Eureka meets in Eola Lodge 207’s building, located at 3200 East Grant Street. (Happy 100th anniversary!) There I will reprise my talk on Kabbalah and Royal Arch Masonry. I changed the title so it don’t look like the same lecture I’ve been delivering for ten years, so now it is “Mystical Interpretations of Royal Arch Symbols.”

Leave it to me to visit Florida after winter. Wear something red, and I’ll see you there. 7:30 p.m.

In May, on a date to be determined, I’ll join the brethren at Audubon-Parkside Lodge 218 (another A-P Lodge!) in New Jersey. We had a date picked, but it seems the lodge is relocating, and therefore its schedule is changing, but we’ll work it out.

This talk will cover two broad topics: choosing best practices for lodge life (I’m avoiding “The O Word” because it makes some people crazy), and finding the right subscription memberships for further Light in Masonry.

I’m exhausted just talking about these.

     

‘Observant Masonry coming to NY Royal Arch’

    

The 226th Annual Convocation of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the State of New York just concluded—oh, ten weeks ago. I’m finally getting to it.

M.E. Jason P. Sheridan is the new G.H.P. “Chapter Pride” is the motto for his term in office.

Inspired by “Pride in Freemasonry,” the byword of Grand Master James Sullivan during his term a decade ago (Jason was on his staff), Chapter Pride means to remind us to relish the Royal Arch experience.

“I believe strongly that as we lived through the pandemic, we reassessed those values that are most important to us,” said the new GHP in his speech. “It is no longer a constant work life that is key, but flexibility of work that allows us to live our lives to the fullest. Likewise, by focusing back on our individual chapters and feeling the sense of pride when we are with our companions is the most important thing I can communicate as part of my message for 2022. Let the focus be on our chapters.”

One component of Sheridan’s term, with education, communication, charity, and other essentials, is Observant Masonry. Jason is a longtime member of Ancient Chapter 1 in Manhattan, and he also is with Suwassett Chapter 195 on Long Island. Suwassett has adopted elements of the Observant model, and wouldn’t we all be wise to do the same?

Of course excellence cannot be imposed, but chapters desirous of enhancing their Masonic enlightenment now have a resource for guidance. The Observant Chapters Committee promulgates guidelines to follow. (There is a twelve-page booklet, but I don’t think I’m permitted to share the link.)

“Observant Masonry has become a familiar phrase, synonymous with excellence in ritual, education, and the formality of its events and festive boards,” Sheridan also said. “It will not be for every chapter, but there are a number of chapters I know very well that would appreciate this recognition from Grand Chapter.”

The installation of officers on March 5 in Utica was a memorable ceremony. It was fun seeing so many Masons again after prolonged absence caused by the pandemic. Jason was obligated with his hands upon a familiar looking VSL. It resembles the George Washington Inaugural Bible; it was published by the same printer as the Washington Bible, but this edition is improved with illustrations not included in its famous sibling.

GCNY

The day before, I had the good luck to have arrived in time to attend the Order of AHPs. I received the Order in my own jurisdiction in 2006, but hadn’t seen it since. (It’s always scheduled on the Saturday of Masonic Week!) But that was very impressive and touching. My thanks to David D. Goodwin (speaking of Masonic Week), who happened to have been in front of me in the procession into the room, and who reminded me—I hadn’t a clue—of the pass. Whew!

The time and place of the next Grand Convocation will be March 9-11, 2023 in Binghamton. I hope to see you there.

     

‘Pure Ancient Masonry T.O. style’

     

The chapter room of Suwassett 195.

Last night, Suwassett Chapter 195 hosted a Zoom meeting where the HP reprised his lecture on “Traditional Observance Royal Arch Masonry.” As the Grand Chapter of New York’s representative near the Grand Chapter of New Jersey, I felt duty-bound to attend, but I would have anyway as a lover of both Capitular and Observant Masonry.

Chartered in 1857, Suwassett, located in Port Jefferson, New York, recently adopted the tenets of what is called “Observant Masonry,” if I understood the HP correctly, to save itself from extinction. Sounds like it’s working. My chapter also dates to 1857, and I’m trying to introduce Observant practices there to revivify an uninspired group.

(In my opinion, if you want the Observant lodge model—summarized quickly as solemnity and excellence in making Masons, profound education, quality dining, elegance in attire, et al.—but are stymied by the institutional atrophy that deadens too much of the Craft, you may find an easier way forward by bringing those practices to smaller, more flexible groups, such as those found in the York Rite. True, we don’t make Masons there, but great purpose and satisfaction can be realized.)

Our lecturer seems to keep his name off the web, so I won’t divulge it here, and I’ll get to the point. He wants Master Masons to know that although everything they have been entrusted to keep and conceal is massive and absolutely essential, it is not the entirety of the “pure Ancient Masonry” prescribed by the Articles of Union that amalgamated the rival English grand lodges in 1813. No, there is a certain revelation, a Word, a greater context that a Master Mason should know to see the mystery completed.

In addition, our speaker called our attention to elements of Craft lodge ritual that would seem to foreshadow a Royal Arch culmination. There are several arches incorporated into the floorwork of the Craft degrees (think about it); the Pillars in the Porch seem to map a subsequent journey in the unknowable future; and the lodge altar communicates in symbols not comprehended by Master Masons.

He also recalled to our minds the unfinished state of the SS of KST and the climax of the Hiramic legend itself to illustrate how “Blue lodge is the sound foundation, and Capitular Masonry is the superstructure of Freemasonry.”

The Q&A was light and fun, with some in the audience augmenting the lecture with commentary on local New York historical facts. Another Companion was innocently confused about one point of history, saying he believed Royal Arch Masonry was extant in the 1600s(!), and cited from memory the proof that there was a parade of RAMs in that era. Of course he is thinking of the Saint John the Evangelist Day public procession of Youghall Lodge 21 in Dublin, but that was 1743. A local paper reported the parade featured “the Royal Arch carried by two excellent Masons.”

All in all, it was a great way to enjoy an hour on a Wednesday night, and I hope this lecture is repeated for the enlightenment of Masons everywhere. Perhaps your lodge or chapter might contact Suwassett and extend an invitation.

     

‘Mississippi Lodge of Research DCXL’

     
I was wrong. Yesterday’s edition of The Magpie Mason does not close out the month of August. This one does.

Just a few hours ago, Mississippi Lodge of Research held its Called Communication in Jackson. What made this meeting different is the brethren chose to adopt aspects of Observant Masonry.

The research lodge dressed up its meeting with candlelight, music, and incense, according to an update on its Facebook page. For their meal together, the brethren went Festive Board-style. “This will be the standard format of our meetings in the future,” it says.

Courtesy Mississippi Lodge of Research DCXL

Makes me wonder if someone there attended the Masonic Restoration Foundation symposium two weeks ago. 

Courtesy Mississippi Lodge of Research DCXL

In other news, this research lodge is part of various programs in the jurisdiction of Mississippi that have educational components, like Deputy School, for example, and the Emerging Leaders Program. Imagine that: The Craft’s leaders being educated on the subject of Freemasonry. I’m in somewhat regular contact with many lodges of research and education around the country, and I cannot name another that is part of such initiatives. Bravo!

The lodge will meet for its quarterly communication on Monday, October 14 at the York Rite building in Jackson.

There also is the Collegium Masonicum, which unites the state’s Craft lodges under a single purpose to educate Masons. Each member of the college is already a member of the research lodge, and serves as a delegate from his mother lodge. The master of the research lodge is the magister of the Collegium Masonicum, and he appoints brethren to the college.

On August 8, Indianola Lodge 450 hosted its quarterly Masonic Education Lecture Series meeting, welcoming the research lodge’s senior warden who discussed the moral applications of the working tools. Indianola Lodge submitted a press release and photo to the local newspaper, which published the news.
     

‘Andrew Hammer to visit Inspiratus’

     
Andrew Hammer, president of the Masonic Restoration Foundation, will return to New Jersey next month to visit the area’s Observant lodge, Inspiratus 357, in Lyndhurst. The flier has all the info:

Click to enlarge.

     

‘Andrew Hammer to present Walker Lecture’

     

Andrew Hammer, Past Master of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, president of the Masonic Restoration Foundation, and author of Observing the Craft, among other proofs of service to the fraternity, will present the Wendell K. Walker Lecture in March.

Follow the instructions on this flier:

Click to enlarge.

     

‘MRF 2016 Symposium’

     

I am in Philadelphia now, enjoying the Masonic Restoration Foundation’s Sixth Annual Symposium, where it was announced just now that next year’s event will be hosted in Asheville, North Carolina, August 19-21.

Both the grand master and the deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina are in attendance, displaying a level of commitment to the cause of the MRF that I do not believe I’ve ever seen from top ranking officials from anywhere. The two lodges that will share hosting duties next year are Sophia Lodge No. 767 in Salisbury, the jurisdiction’s first Observant lodge; and Veritas Lodge U.D. in Asheville, which I suppose will be the second such lodge in the Tar Heel State. And I must mention how MRF President Andrew Hammer is Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina as well.

Oh! And the MRF will meet in Vancouver, B.C. in 2017!

Full Magpie coverage of this weekend’s wonderful activities to come in a few days.