Does Freemasonry Today Meet Your Expectations?

D. W. Brown · 04-21-2006, 05:22 PM

Does Freemasonry in today current state meet your expectations?

Dawn Robel · 05-20-2006, 10:53 PM

If they open their doors to all humans, ok not "all" humans but at least the free thinkers and not just the stuffy old men.

D. W. Brown · 05-22-2006, 01:23 PM

I believe you are going to see a change here very soon.

AlabamaFreeMason · 05-25-2006, 09:39 AM

Free-Masonry in the current system has failed. The example of this is look at the membership decline that has occured in the last 40 years.

The Grand Lodges cannot blame anyone or any circumstances. If Free-Masonry had been intune with what their real mission is this would have not occured. The over emphasizes of the ritual work has been a major reason so many left Masonry. Yes the ritual is important but how many know why they do certain things? What does that phrase mean? What is the number 15 in the Master Mason Degree signifiy? What is the candidate obtaining by acting out Hiram Abiff?

1. Meeting, read bills, telling who is sick, who has died, running through degree work, having fund raisers that only fund keeping the lodge open and going home. All of this is meaningless, stale and no one comes away any better from it.

2. No education. Why? Because you have Masons deciding what is education and what will be taught when they don't even know what to have for materials.

3. GL permission to go to the bath room. There is nothing a lodge can do unless the GL says so. Even websites have to be approved from Daddy.

4. Many lodges do nothing and then whine about their membership dropping. Blaming TV, sports etc, etc. If these lodges did something that gave men reason to attend they would.

5. Red tape. Everytime something is done or planned it meets with the Masonic red tape and eventually it is killed.

So next time you want to complain about yor lodge attendance place the blame at the right place with the lodge.

G. David Cooksey PM
Master Pro-Tem
Temple of Regulus
Grand Secretary UNLofA

David Herman · 05-29-2006, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlabamaFreeMason

(a bunch of stuff)

I'm glad I'm not in your lodge, Brother Cooksey.

1. Our fund raisers are only for charity. While we do have minutes, bills, and sickness, we also have presentations each month which are open to the public.

2. We have educational presentations (usually masonic in nature) each month.

3. We don't requre GL permission for much. Even our webiste - just a motion in lodge.

4. We have outings, picnics, fishing trips, parties, and visits to other lodges, and sporting events.

5. I have seen some of our initiatives delayed - but never stopped - by red tape.

AlabamaFreeMason · 05-29-2006, 01:08 PM

I'm glad you have presentations but here we were not given that opportunity. We tried to have an educational series after lodge but some who attended only did so to stop it. The younger guys went away mad becasue no discussion took place only those attempting to kill it.

Many Alabama lodges have fund raisers and the money is to keep the lodge afloat which is decietful to say the least.

The list is long why I demitted and would take too long to list here.
I look to a bright future out of the old system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atlanta Mason

I'm glad I'm not in your lodge, Brother Cooksey.

1. Our fund raisers are only for charity. While we do have minutes, bills, and sickness, we also have presentations each month which are open to the public.

2. We have educational presentations (usually masonic in nature) each month.

3. We don't requre GL permission for much. Even our webiste - just a motion in lodge.

4. We have outings, picnics, fishing trips, parties, and visits to other lodges, and sporting events.

5. I have seen some of our initiatives delayed - but never stopped - by red tape.

D. W. Brown · 05-29-2006, 02:04 PM

I hate to admit it but this has been my experience exactly within my lodge and the ones in my area I have visited. There are some Sunday morning meetings where they usually bring in someone to discuss on some topic but to date it usually revolves around medical issues or religious propoganda.

Not long ago there was the same old topic of how to raise awareness brought up and a group formed to come up with ideas. When they presented their ideas I was amazed at the lack of "out of the box" thinking that had gone into their ideas. One was to pick an elderly person and clean their home, while this is an honorable thing to do it ranks low on attracting new members, the other was to place flags at the grave of vets, doesn't the VA/VFW/AL already do this? I had mentioned another idea to the committee before the meeting about something I was working on that is a national initative and involves partnering with Wal-Mart and a large non-profit foundation. The person making the presentation when he saw their ideas wasn't meeting well with the brothers, mentioned what I was working on as their idea. He got caught when he was questioned in more depth about it and I had to stand up and take over their presentation.

Mystic knight · 07-07-2008, 03:35 PM

There needs to be meaning behind Masonry. You can't have all this talk of brotherly love and doing the right thing and then it just be talk. If you see something wrong and look the other way is this Masonic? If you could stand up or help a brother and don't what does this say to other Masons? And if you laugh at the April Fool's joke about letting Prince Hall Masons join us or even visit us I don't see much hope. Masonry is melting down in West Virginia where they throw away their best Masons with little thought. It really makes me wonder. And yet we say justice is one of the four virtues. But do we practice it?

Brotherly love is tantamount to loyalty. Without loyalty there is no love. How many Masons have been loyal to M.W. Bro. Haas of West Virginia? If all Masons everywhere stood up against this injustice The Grand Lodge of West Virginia would have to change their ways. I guess it's easier to say "better not get involved."

chgregory · 07-07-2008, 05:50 PM

My Brothers,

So we have a poll that askes (at least as I read it), what satisfaction each of us is experiencing in our lodges and being masons, because those are very much two distinct questions, satisfaction is the root of both.

I am not judging posts or thoughts with this statement, I am assessing the question into terms to help me formulate my thoughts into a reasonable post.

Good Counsel whispered mouth to ear.

As I read these posts I can see that most of us are at least ok with the actions of Freemasonry, and those who are unhappy are disheartened by the actions of their lodge. If my understanding is at all close to on the mark, we have an opportunity to help make things better and to help our brothers in need of it.

I must pause here and say that I am satisified with Freemasonry in general and pretty happy with my lodges (not a typo) because I am active in them and I meet and work in the community with good men and that is one of my important goals. Making me a better man for having met them and worked with them. My needs are met by crossing masonic pursuits and I am as active in each as I choose to be. (Blue Lodge, Scottish Rite, Royal Arch Chapter, Shrine and Commandry.) Different things are gained for me in making up the whole of Freemasonry. There are other groups and organizations, I know, but these are meeting my needs today.

When I started to write this post, I had in mind to suggest that we are the bricks and mortar of our lodges, but defining the question has made me see a more complete response as appropriate.

Dissatisfaction and disinvolvement are both at least part owned by us. I sort of see it as one part our expectations, one part our actions, one part others actions as we see them, one part achieving our goals and one part how we are seen by the community. You can't control all of those things, can you? Maybe or maybe not. You can control the things you think and do at least on some level, you can likely control your expectations, and your goals. You may not control the actions of others or how the organization is viewed, but you can be an influence in those things. We are men, living in a free nation and we are (or at least I believe and have reason to believe) thinking men who care about our community, and our fraternaty (otherwise why post and discuss.) So, if we can control part of the process and we are the raw materials from which the orgaization is built, than does it not follow that we can solve it. Working together, in real brotherly love.

To quote a famous US General and Freemason, Douglas McArthur: "The Lord Almighty, merciful and all-wise, does not absolutely protect those who unreasonably fail to contribute to their own safety, but He does help those who, to the limit of their understanding and ability, help themselves. This, my friends, is fundamental theology."

The quote refers to war, but in the fight to help Freemasonry succeed and be somewhere we are all proud to be partners and brothers, I think it says what I was trying to put into terms, we are it and it is us, we can choose to succeed and with the help of our lord and master, we as honorable free thinking gentlemen can accomplish that lofty task. (Man...I did not mean this to sound so high minded, just to say we can fix anything if we all try together as brothers)

S & F

Bro. Shabazz · 10-10-2008, 07:28 PM

frist off I would like to say hello to all the brothers out there I just signed up to the blue lodge and i answerd no to the poll because what is you as a brother told in da E.A often tryed never and so on well I as a brother have been turned away from a lodge because of the color of my skin ond nothing else because the brother that went with me was permitted to enter and I got rasied befor him and had everything I needed so no