‘Masonic Con returns to Ezekiel Bates Lodge’

    

Believe me, you’ll hear about Masonic Con New York, next January, when the time comes, but this edition of The Magpie Mason concerns the originators of Masonic Con announcing their next event for the first weekend of October at Ezekiel Bates Lodge in Attleboro, Massachusetts. From the publicity:

The original Masonic Con returns with an exciting lineup! Join us for a weekend filled with forty unique vendors, six engaging speakers, and an unforgettable festive board.

The event kicks off Friday night with Ezekiel Bates Lodge’s 154th installation of officers, setting the stage for a remarkable experience. Saturday: an entire day of amazing guest speakers and masonic venders from across the country! On Sunday, immerse yourself in a historical tour of Providence, exploring Masonic landmarks, Revolutionary history, and the world of H.P. Lovecraft.

Don’t miss this extraordinary gathering that blends tradition, history, and camaraderie. Be part of a legacy at Masonic Con, where the past and present converge in celebration of Freemasonry.

Sponsors: Ezekiel Bates Lodge AF&AM, Grand Council Royal & Select Master Masons of Massachusetts, and Massachusetts Chapter of Research.

Click here for tickets.

This is on my calendar and, pending the announcement of speakers, I plan to be there.

     

‘Scrolling Alone & Social Atomization’

    

The Summer issue of American Affairs Journal is available; included is a review of Jonathan Haidt’s Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, published by Penguin this year. This review by Michael Toscano is titled “Scrolling Alone: Smartphones and Social Atomization.” If you cannot read the 400-page book, then click here to read this essay. Excerpted:

Haidt shows that Silicon Valley’s products are, by design, structurally at odds with the developmental needs of human children as members of the species. The only serious solution, then, is for government (and other responsible entities) to step in and restrict children’s access. ‘Even if the content on these sites could somehow be filtered effectively to remove obviously harmful material,’ Haidt says, it would not be enough.

 

But Haidt’s critique of Big Tech goes far deeper than concern for the mental health of Gen Z, as important as that is. His analysis reveals a more fundamental crisis of which the above is a mere symptom: that these devices and platforms sever the mental tissue that makes embodied relationships possible, dramatically weakening the possibility of collective action for the common good.

Yikes.

I do not believe government intervention will do anything except worsen the problem, but I’ll just mention a bill is percolating in the U.S. Senate that ostensibly would make it a little difficult for minors to access social media platforms. Introduced last month, the “Protecting Kids on Social Media Act” is intended to “require that social media platforms verify the age of their users, prohibit the use of algorithmic recommendation systems on individuals under age 18, require parental or guardian consent for social media users under age 18, and prohibit users who are under age 13 from accessing social media platforms.”

Toscano is executive director of the Institute for Family Studies.

Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU’s Stern School of Business. “My mission is to use research on moral psychology to help people understand each other and to help important social institutions work better,” he explains on his website.

     

‘English Masons, both sexes, correct The New European’

    

The United Grand Lodge of England, joined by both The Order of Women Freemasons and the Honorable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, issued a rebuttal today to juvenile criticisms leveled by a member of the House of Lords published in The New European.

That periodical was launched about eight years ago to give a platform for the minority who were outvoted in the Brexit referendum, because, as you know, the globalists are voiceless. Its motto, shown at the top of the top of the banner atop its homepage reads: “Think without borders.” Yes, really.

The House of Lords member is Patience Wheatcroft, the scribe responsible for “Forget the Garrick, What about the Freemasons?” published Wednesday. (The Garrick Club, founded 1831, is a private society for actors and theater lovers that voted May 7 to admit females.) Excerpted:

Patience Wheatcroft

Gentlemen’s clubs in one guise or another have been a feature of the social scene, particularly in London, for centuries while women have enjoyed their own institutions too. Those who were determined to break down the “men only” barrier in Garrick Street argued that it was a special case because really important matters were being discussed and decided by the really important people who met there and this only served to perpetuate the cruel patriarchy that persists in the UK… And right next door to the place where the Garrick’s historic vote was taken early this month–the Connaught Rooms–is the imposing Freemasons’ Hall. That’s home to the United Grand Lodge of England, an organisation which far pre-dates the Garrick and which remains firmly closed to women... This international movement lists its principles as “Integrity, Friendship, Respect, and Service,” all qualities that might be thought to have appeal to those of every gender and none. Undoubtedly, the movement does charitable works but there are some who suspect that its charity most decidedly begins at home.

“Every gender and none!” That phrase reveals all I need to know about our correspondent.

The Freemasons’ retort says, in part:

Beginning with the numerous claims about Freemasonry’s entry requirements, we are delighted that the author has visited the UGLE website and reflected on the organisation’s core values of Integrity, Friendship, Respect, and Service. While she was there, it is a shame, however, that Baroness Wheatcroft did not manage to locate the section of our website dedicated to Women Freemasons, who have been proudly meeting in this country for over 100 years. Indeed, even more simply, a cursory Google search would have revealed the websites of the two female Grand Lodges that meet in the United Kingdom, as well as their numerous social media channels. The links for all three of our websites can be found in the footer of this statement and we encourage you to peruse them at your leisure.

Read The New European piece here. Read the Masonic response here.

     

‘The new Grand Master is…’

    

GLNY

Puffs of white smoke are emanating from Masonic Hall—vanilla cavendish, if I’m not mistaken—meaning we have a new Grand Master! The Most Worshipful Steven A. Rubin, Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York, will be installed this afternoon.

No, I am not present at the Grand Lodge Communication. I’m simply following the updates on 1010 WINS.

I didn’t think they’d have results so early. Still waiting on tallies of the other contests. Will add those here later.

UPDATE—Those other elections: WOR-AM reports the names of the other winners.

RW Robert Hogan
Deputy Grand Master

RW Mark Loughran
Senior Grand Warden

RW John Haslam
Junior Grand Warden

RW Alberto Cortizo
Grand Treasurer

 
RW Richard Schulz remains as Grand Secretary, having sought re-election without any challenger.

The Senior Grand Warden election was interesting; when the deadline for declaring candidacies passed last fall, no one had stepped forward for the position! Had I known that was to happen, I myself would have filed on the Scald Miserable ticket. Maybe next time.

     

‘Civil War Dinner at Gettysburg this month’

    

Good Samaritan Lodge 336 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania has another creative collation planned for later this month. From the publicity:

We will be hosting a Civil War Dinner on Friday, May 24 at our lodge. Presentations from our Civil War guests will begin at six o’clock, and dinner will be served at 6:30. Menu: Union or Confederate.

Union will be Maj. Gen. James Wilson’s Beef Loaf specialty with Benjamin Wade’s lima beans and tomatoes.

Confederate will be Capt. Franklin Buchanan’s favorite Spanish Chicken with John Hunt Morgan’s Plantation Style collard greens.

Both will be served with a simple green salad and roasted potatoes. Dessert will be strawberries with whipped cream.

Join us for a great meal and excellent in-character presentations on Masons in the Civil War.

Tickets, at $50 each, can be had here. The lodge is perfectly situated at 9 Lincoln Square in Gettysburg.

     

‘Brent Morris receives UGLE Grand Rank’

    

Brent Morris shared this on social media, and says ‘Here is a photograph from Wednesday, April 24 of one of the newest Past Junior Grand Deacons of the United Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of England. We were particularly honored that HRH the Duke of Kent, KG, Most Worshipful Grand Master, was present to preside over the advancement of the honorees.’

Congratulations to Bro. Brent Morris, who was elevated recently to Grand Rank in the United Grand Lodge of England! Brent is among the newest Past Grand Junior Deacons, having been invested at Freemasons’ Hall in London April 24.

If I understand the UGLE’s Constitutions, Brent now is merely sixty-one heartbeats away from the Grand Mastership. Of course you remember he served as Worshipful Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076—the first lodge of research, etc.—for the 2007-08 term, and was the first American Mason to preside over the lodge.

The UGLE’s rules are a little too complicated for me, but there are ninety Grand Rank positions in the UGLE system. The appointment to Past Grand Rank, such as Junior Deacon, is in grateful recognition of good and faithful service to the Craft. Bravo!

You’ll observe the dove on the regalia. A different idea than the moon within the Square and Compasses most of us in America know. “A symbol of purity and innocence; also peace,” says Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie of the bird in his The Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia.

     

‘Kaywoodie lives on, thanks to New York Mason’

    

Magpie file photo

S.M. Frank and Co., the business that makes the legendary Kaywoodie brand of pipes, will live on, thanks to the Brother Mason who purchased the company. W. Bro. Nathan Davis, who has been selling the brand’s briars as Greywoodie, LLC in recent years, made the deal with longtime owner Bill Feuerbach, who continued his family tradition into its fourth generation until seeking retirement. From an announcement today:

It has been announced just about everywhere, and more interviews are coming, however, I wanted to take a personal approach here. I bought Kaywoodie after five years of selling Kaywoodie pipes, having given up a thirteen-year career to do so.

Greywoodie photo

I never imagined it would happen like this, for all the good and bad. Using a 100-year-old Kaywoodie pen to buy the 173-year-old company really just put that last piece together for me. I found a way to make this a true career, and not just a hobby.

Without Bill Feuerbach supporting me and teaching me quite literally everything, this could not have happened. I am honored that he trusts me to carry his fourth generation family business forward. I hope I can do something that would make the Kaufmann Brothers, Mr. Bondy, Mr. Frank, and four Feuerbach men proud.

Known for quality briar skillfully made into good smokers and retailed at reasonable prices, the brand dates to the early twentieth century. People aren’t aware, but there was a time when Kaywoodie enjoyed a stronger reputation than Dunhill when it came to quality pipes. Read more here at Pipedia.

Magpie file photo

In my own pipe racks, not only has Kaywoodie the largest population, but my all time favorite briar is a straight billiard I bought at the New York Pipe Show at the Ramada in 1999.

Nathan is Worshipful Master—at least until next month—of Cobleskill Lodge 394, located near Albany. He was one of several Masons I’d meet every December at the Northeast Regional Pipe Smoking Contest and Hudson Valley Pipe Club Holiday Party, which had been hosted at S.M. Frank’s factory when I began attending twelve or so years ago. The pandemic kiboshed that in 2020, but when asked on social media if he might revive that tradition, Nathan said he’d love to bring it back. (He actually did get the contest going this year, but naturally it’s not the same atmosphere without the party.)

Congratulations, Nathan! I, uh, kind of acquired all the pipes I need for this lifetime, but I may buy one more to celebrate your milestone.

    

‘Dennis Daugherty, R.I.P.’

    

Just days before Grand Lodge’s Annual Communication comes the sad news of the death of RW Bro. Dennis Daugherty yesterday. There will be better informed and more personal eulogies than I can offer, but I can say without any hesitation, mental reservation, etc. that Dennis was for many of us the embodiment of how Masons ever should meet, act, and part. Always an understated role model, for sure, but inspiring nonetheless.

Dennis affiliated with Publicity Lodge 1000 in 1991, and served in the East in both the 1997-98 and 2010-11 terms. Although he resided in Utica in recent years, Dennis still attended Publicity’s Communications until the pandemic, riding Amtrak five hours each way. He also was a Corresponding Member of The ALR for many years.

From the Office of the Grand Secretary:

SAD TIDINGS

RW Bro. Dennis A. Daugherty

Has Laid Down

His Working Tools 

New York - 2 hours ago 

Dear Brethren and Friends,

It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the passing of Right Worshipful Dennis Allan Daugherty, the Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Kansas near the Grand Lodge of New York. R.W. Dennis Daugherty was a 63-year member of the Craft with plural memberships in Bestor G. Brown Lodge 433 in Wichita, Kansas; St. John’s Lodge 1 in New York City; Publicity Lodge 1000 in NYC; Kane Lodge 454 in NYC; and The American Lodge of Research.

R.W. Brother Dennis was Initiated on December 6, 1960; Passed on January 31, 1961; and Raised on February 28, 1961 in Bestor G. Brown Lodge 433.

He faithfully served our Grand Lodge on several committees, including the Credentials of Members & Returns of Lodges Committee, the Publications Committee, and the Masonic Hall Tours Committee.

R.W. Brother Dennis was a Senior DeMolay, having actually met and served with Dad Frank Sherman Land the founder of the Order of DeMolay in Kansas City, Kansas.

R.W. Bro. Dennis was 85 years young and he presently resided at the Masonic Care Community in Utica.

We will provide information pertaining to funeral arrangements as soon as they are known. 

Ted Jacobsen photo

MW Bill Sardone, Dennis, and Grand Master Kessler at Grand Lodge last May.

Our Grand Master, MW Richard J. Kessler; Grand Secretary and Senior DeMolay, RW Richard T. Schulz; and the Past Grand Master of DeMolay, MW William M. Sardone, PGM, share in their expressions of sympathy and sadness on behalf of all of our Brethren and DeMolay for this great loss.

May our Almighty Father welcome our dearly departed Brother into His celestial home above. Amen.

     

‘MM° on Song Mountain’

    

The brethren way out in Onondaga County are planning a Third Degree on a mountain top. That’s up by Lake Ontario. From the publicity:

The Onondaga District will host a collective Third Degree at the top of Song Mountain in Tully on June 8 (rain date June 15).

The performance of this degree is something we have been planning for, and working on, for more than a year, and we are extremely excited to be able to present this to the brethren of our state. Many of us cannot remember the last time our entire district has gotten together and worked to raise a class of Master Masons, let alone 22 brothers in a picturesque environment on the top of a mountain, overlooking Otisco Lake. The amount of effort, time, and dedication the district team, as well as all of the degree participants, are putting into this all but guarantees that this will be one for the ages.

We’re excited to have you be a part of it and look forward to seeing many of you on the mountain! There is a capacity of 250 brothers. Cost of attendance is $30 per person, the same for spectators, degree participants, and candidates alike, to cover operating costs and lunch on the top of the mountain.

The degree will be an all day affair. The gavel will drop at 9 a.m. sharp. Please arrange to be there well in advance in order to be seated in time for the opening. Seating will be on bleachers. Dress in long pants (jeans are fine) and a button-down or polo shirt. Wear shoes appropriate for walking and be prepared for being in an outdoor environment.

R and R Imports

There will be a buffet dinner at the conclusion of the degree at the base of the mountain. This incurs a separate cost of $40 per person, and is open to all Masons and their families regardless of participation in the degree at the top of the mountain. A separate reservation will be required.

The reservation process begins here. When your reservation is accepted, you will receive an email confirming your spot. When we reach 250 reservations, the reservation portal will close.

     

‘Researchers to look at Pope Leo XIII’

    

Kolbe Foundation

Pope Leo XIII

Western New York Lodge of Research will meet next Saturday for its Installation of Officers, Festive Board, plus a paper on the papal past. From the publicity:

Western NY Lodge of Research

Annual Election,

Installation of Officers,

Festive Board

& Presentation

Saturday, May 11, 10 a.m.

Bro. Ken Stuczynski will present “The Libel of Pope Leo XIII.” Menu: vegetable soup and turkey sandwiches, and dessert. $20 at the door. RSVP no later than May 8. Attire: jacket (tie optional).

These guys have their whole year planned. Click here. They meet in the Scottish Rite Valley of Buffalo, located at 2379 Union Road in Cheektowaga.

If I understand, there is a chance this meeting will be available via Zoom. Also, if you’re a regular, hopefully you know how to RSVP. (I don’t want to publish the phone number.) I would go just for the soup, but it’s 300 miles away.

   

‘NYU is next prospect for campus lodge’

    

WSN

New York University may become the next institution of higher learning to inspire the chartering of a Masonic lodge, according to Grand Lodge’s Fraternity of Campus Committee.

I hope they reconsider.

This committee, inspired by the UGLE’s Universities Scheme effort to connect the Craft to colleges and universities, has thus far led to the founding of lodges affiliated with both Columbia University and City University of New York. They are in the news this month for permitting some of the lowest forms of Leftist scumbaggery on their campuses. (For clarity, the lodges meet in Masonic Hall, not on campus.)

NYU does also, but police have been able to intervene because NYU doesn’t have a private campus; it’s properties open onto public streets and parks, which allows the city to interrupt the Islamo-Nazi outbursts somewhat, depending on the political will of the feckless mayor, who’s been partying in Miami while this has been happening.

An NYU lodge was an idea I had ages ago (there are mentions of this in past posts), long before there was a Fraternity on Campus Committee, but I reconsidered more recently because of the character of the university today. Personally I no longer admit to having any connection to the place. I did contact NYU twice more than a decade ago, via its Affinity Clubs office, about investigating the feasibility of discerning any interest in a Masonic lodge among the university community… and didn’t get any reply.

It’s been a nuthouse for generations, of course, but today NYU allows racially segregated housing—that’s black students willfully separating themselves from everyone else—and the entire suite of anti-Americanism from the political Left, including this recent Islamo-Nazi paroxysm. 

This degradation was underway during my time there as an undergraduate. One of the last stories I filed as an editor of The Washington Square News more than thirty years ago was on a University Senate meeting where the little commissars imposed Free Speech restrictions. I totally misread the writing on the wall, thinking it was merely a dumb fad that would be forgotten. Free Speech codes—at a university!? It seemed impossible. One of the creeps responsible, as I recall, had the first name Boaz.

Getty Images

(Click here to watch one brilliant supergenius admit she doesn’t know why she is protesting.)

My unsolicited advice to the committee is fuhgeddaboudit. I guess there aren’t any normal, healthy schools among the big money institutions, but there must be others amid the more affordable schools elsewhere in New York. Believe me, NYU doesn’t want us. Even if its students have heard the word Freemasonry, they count us as part of the white supremacist patriarchy blah-blah. The fraternity doesn’t need them.

     

‘Masonic Hall wins award, plans for upgrades’

    

Hoffman Architects + Engineers

Our beloved Masonic Hall is making news.

The headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York, located on Twenty-Third Street in Manhattan, is a winner of the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award for 2024. The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s 34th annual awards night on April 10 was a sell-out with 600 attendees at the Plaza. Masonic Hall was among fifteen properties honored with the Conservancy’s top honor for preservation.

The improvements to the building included replacement of the roof and repair of the building façade, all completed last year. Just speaking as a nobody, it was great to see, at last, the removal of the scaffolding that had enveloped our home for so many years.

Also newsworthy is the Masonic Hall and Home Trustees’ recent decision to convert 71 West 23rd Street from Class B office space to Class A. This will be a big undertaking, as the differences between B and A are substantial. Class A spaces are prized and command premium prices per square foot.

For those who do not understand, Masonic Hall actually is two buildings. Our lodges meet in the building fronted on Twenty-Fourth Street. The Twenty-Third Street property is where many commercial tenants lease their office spaces. With extensive capital improvements, rents will increase sharply, and I have to assume a fancier character of rental client will replace our current neighbors. The point of it all is to create capital to develop Masonic Care Communities around the state. (There had been a few other plans under review, including turning our godsend parking lot into either office space or 460 apartments, but these were shelved.)

I think it’s amazing how a building nearing its 115th birthday can be improved and kept relevant in the Manhattan cityscape.

     

‘Geometry and Joyce at Pennsylvania lodge’

    

Be sure to attend The Pennsylvania Lodge of Research’s meeting in June at Williamsport.

From the summons:

You are hereby summoned to a stated meeting of the Pennsylvania Lodge of Research to be held on Saturday, June 15, 2024, at Williamsport Masonic Lodge, 360 Market St., Williamsport, PA 17701, beginning at 10:00 o’clock ante meridian, Eastern Time. A luncheon will be held following the meeting, at approximately 12:00 p.m. (Reserve here.)

Presentations:

Bro. Theodore Schick, PM, Fellow of the Lodge of Research: “How Geometry Demonstrates the More Important Truths of Morality.”

Bro. J.L. Pearl: “Craftygild Pageantries: a Masonic Introduction to James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.”

There was talk at New Jersey’s research lodge about carpooling to this meeting. Usually our Saturdays coincide, making visitation impossible, but not this time.

     

‘Congratulations Bro. Chris!’

    

Congratulations to Chris Ruli on being named the 2024 Anson Jones Lecturer at Texas Lodge of Research! TLR says:

The Anson Jones Lecture is one of the most prestigious lectures in the Masonic world. Second only to England’s Prestonian Lecture (which commenced in 1820), the Anson Jones Lecture brings with it a membership in the Texas Lodge of Research. But it brings much more. Being asked to deliver the Lecture tells the recipient that he has been recognized as a Masonic scholar. It tells him that someone has noticed what he has written, and noticed it favorably. It is a sign of coming of age as a writer in Freemasonry; it is extremely flattering. Small wonder that the typical reaction of a lecturer upon being invited to deliver the Lecture is, “Who, me?”

Click here to see the, frankly, stunning list of previous lecturers.

Bro. Chris has agreed to visit The American Lodge of Research in 2025 as part of the Grand Lodge of New York’s longterm celebration of the Lafayette bicentenary. More on that to come later this year.

     

‘Founding Martyr author to speak’

    

Christian Di Spigna, author of Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution’s Lost Hero, will speak at Wyoming Lodge in Melrose, Massachusetts tomorrow night, as you can see above. From the book’s publicity:

A rich and illuminating biography of America’s forgotten Founding Father, the patriot physician and major general who fomented rebellion and died heroically at the battle of Bunker Hill on the brink of revolution.

Little has been known of one of the most important figures in early American history, Dr. Joseph Warren, an architect of the colonial rebellion, and a man who might have led the country as Washington or Jefferson did had he not been martyred at Bunker Hill in 1775. Warren was involved in almost every major insurrectionary act in the Boston area for a decade, from the Stamp Act protests to the Boston Massacre to the Boston Tea Party, and his incendiary writings included the famous Suffolk Resolves, which helped unite the colonies against Britain and inspired the Declaration of Independence. Yet after his death, his life and legend faded, leaving his contemporaries to rise to fame in his place and obscuring his essential role in bringing America to independence.

Christian Di Spigna’s definitive new biography of Warren is a loving work of historical excavation, the product of two decades of research and scores of newly unearthed primary-source documents that have given us this forgotten Founding Father anew. Following Warren, from his farming childhood and years at Harvard through his professional success and political radicalization to his role in sparking the rebellion, Di Spigna’s thoughtful, judicious retelling not only restores Warren to his rightful place in the pantheon of Revolutionary greats, it deepens our understanding of the nation’s dramatic beginnings.

The author is based in both New York City and in Williamsburg, Virginia, and is no stranger to Masonic audiences, in case a lodge somewhere might want to host him. Follow him on X.

     

‘Lafayette arrive’

    

Lafayette is coming.

More accurately, the celebration of the bicentennial of Marquis de La Fayette’s farewell tour of the United States is coming to fruition, as tangible plans are on paper to guide us through multiple events around the State of New York.

He was a Freemason, as you know—that’s why we’re going to party—but if you don’t know, be on the lookout for Chris Ruli’s book Brother Lafayette this summer.

In the meantime, bookmark this Craftsmen Online page for current information on the upcoming events from Manhattan to Schenectady.

     

‘Washington inauguration celebration’

    

And speaking of Freemasons who have been American presidents (see post below), it soon will be time again for Grand Lodge’s re-enactment of George Washington’s first inauguration as chief executive of the United States. And, man, what would you give to have him back again?! From the publicity:

Tuesday, April 30

11:45 a.m.

Federal Hall

Wall Street, Manhattan

A re-enactment of the inauguration of George Washington as the first president of the United States of America, performed by Freemasons of the State of New York. The event is held on the anniversary of the inauguration on April 30, 1789. We proclaim our heritage by honoring our Founding Fathers and the Heroes of 1776, many of whom were Free and Accepted Masons.

The sponsor of this event is the George Washington Inaugural Reenactment Committee of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York, under the chairmanship of RW Martin Kanter, RW J. Scott Nagel and RW Teodulo Henriquez. MW Richard Kessler, Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York and other elected and appointed Grand Lodge officers will attend. The Color Guard will be provided by the Masonic War Veterans, Sons of the Revolution of New York, and the Knickerbocker Greys.

We’d love to have as many Brothers as possible from your lodge join and support us on this great occasion. The ceremony lasts approximately 45 minutes. We invite all brothers, friends, and families to join us in a hospitality room for refreshments after the event. There is no charge for the event, but we do appreciate donations for refreshments onsite. RSVP here.

     

‘Roosevelt Pilgrimage at Oyster Bay’

    

Bro. Roosevelt never was a Past Master.
He was asked to pose for this photo.

I’ve never been able to get to one of these—and I probably won’t this time either, but at least it’s on my calendar—but the 77th Annual Theodore Roosevelt Pilgrimage is scheduled for next Saturday. That’s April 27 at Matinecock Lodge 806 in Oyster Bay, Long Island. (Wednesday the 24th will be the anniversary of his MM Degree in 1901.)

Everyone will gather at 9 a.m. for refreshments and a look at the museum, followed by the ceremony at ten. After the program, the group will undertake the pilgrimage to Bro. Roosevelt’s final resting place, about a mile and a half away, at Youngs Memorial Cemetery for the wreath-laying ceremony.

Check the images below for the details. Maybe I’ll see you there.

     

‘These Masons are going to prison’

     

It’ll be thirty next year.

I just read the minutes of Saturday’s Civil War Lodge of Research meeting, and it is confirmed that our July meeting will take place in Delaware, and will include a visit to the historic site prison at Fort Delaware.

This will be Saturday, July 13. The lodge will meet at Jackson Lodge 19 in Delaware City. Probably at 10 a.m., with refreshments before and lunch after. Then the group will travel the half-mile to Fort Delaware State Park for a look at the infamous former prison where captured Confederate soldiers were incarcerated.

Then dinner at a local restaurant is likely, but these details will be forthcoming in June, and I’ll share them all here.

I couldn’t get to North Carolina Saturday, but I will attend this meeting, and hopefully will bring brethren from New Jersey’s research lodge along.

     

‘Mozart and More on Sunday’

    

Bro. Erik, Organist of my lodge and others, invites us to a free concert Sunday. From the publicity:

Bro. Erik Carlson will perform a free concert, “Mozart and MORE,” at the Church of Saint Thomas More in New York City Sunday, April 21 at four o’clock.

Included on the program will be Mozart’s Missa Brevis in G Major for choir and strings alongside works by Haydn, and others. A reception will follow.

Bro. Carlson is the Director of Music and the Organist at St. Thomas More. The church is located at 65 East 89th Street, between Madison and Park avenues.

     

‘Hodapp in the Bronx Tuesday’

    

Chris Hodapp will be in New York for a speaking engagement Tuesday.

D. Hosler photo

Pelham Lodge 712, in the Bronx, will host America’s favorite Masonic author, raconteur, Dummy, etc.

Lodge tiles at 7:30. The lecture on Freemasonry will be very different from that you’ll receive from your wife upon your return home.

     

‘Back in the Philalethes Society again’

    

The Masters Craft

Philalethes Society membership jewel.
New York’s colors: orange and blue!

I rejoined the Philalethes Society—again. I had been a member in the nineties and into the early years of this century, but quit because the leadership back then deserved Moe Howard nose-pulls and foot-stomps.

I rejoined several years ago, when Rashied was president (and when I was president of the Masonic Society), but that lapsed when I wasn’t paying attention. But I’m back again and just received the electronic version of Volume 76, Number 4 of The Philalethes, the final issue under President Ben Williams’ tenure. His President’s Message mentions the launch of a Philalethes chapter in Texas. If you know the history of Texas and the Philalethes Society, you appreciate how times have changed!

Anyway, when I rejoined two months ago, I volunteered to revive Knickerbocker Chapter, New York City’s Philalethes chapter, so if you are a member of the Society who resides in or near the city, you’ll hear from me eventually to ascertain your interest in getting together for pastrami, fellowship, and Masonic learning.

Knickerbocker Chapter has been dormant for a number of years, at least since Bill Thomas relocated to Florida, but applying the defibrillator shouldn’t be too difficult. I received a list of Philalethes members who reside in New York and environs, and I will contact everyone in the New York City area to enquire into their willingness to reform the chapter. According to The Rules, we’ll need four officers to complete a modicum of paperwork; a membership to do the eating, drinking, (smoking, hopefully), and supplying of the Masonic learning; and a place to meet.

Officers are asked to sport the Society’s membership jewel; members are encouraged to do likewise (and I ordered mine yesterday). Everyone shall be Master Masons. Chapter officers will be Philalethes members, and everyone else will be shown how to join.

It’s simple. Click here. And look for my email inviting you to get involved.