For those of you who know I’m an active Freemason. Recently there has been a flurry of activity. Some good. Some not so good.
Some of it I’m not going to share, so you get to miss out on that. The rest is shared here:
1.) We’ll start with the unhappy news. A brother at my local lodge tendered his withdrawl from Freemasonry. He brought all of his books and everything else along with his letter of demission to the Worshipful Master. This man has recently been delievering short speaches on Masonic involvement in the history of the US. Not exactly full history lessongs, but little tid bits about things that are part of the history of the brotherhood. This man is a civil war history author, so he’s a published author. Now, his demit from the brotherhood could be taken as being busy or something else, but no. He came to the Worshipful with tears in his eyes and was unhappy to be tendering his resignation from lodge. He’s leaving lodge because the new Catholic priest made sure to tell him to leave Masonry or be excommunicated. So it’s a sad day that our brother leaves us; not because he believes we have done anything wrong, but because the Vatican decided for him. I can not fault him for his religion, but that doesn’t mean I have to like his and their decision.
2.) The elected and serving Junior Warden at lodge tendered his resignition of his position. He didn’t leave lodge; he is just unable to complete his dutes as JW. He unfortunately had to accept a position out in Virginia. And as I understand that’s a bit of a drive to attempt making it back weekly/monthly for lodge activities. So best of luck to him, but losing him will leave a hole in our core group.
3.) GOOD THING: With the resignation of the serving JW we had to have an election to choose a new JW. Guess who was elected by a unanomous vote? Yup, me. We’ve already set degree work for this month and next month. Should prove to be very busy from now until I become Worshipful Master (approx. 1.3 years) and be busy through that year…then I might get a little bit of a breather when I step down from the leadership position.
4.) More good for me: I was asked this week to become Second Vice President of the NexGen group at the Murat Shrine. Basically I’ll be the third in command and 3 years after taking office will be President of the group. Of course, this is only 95% certain. But I don’t forsee any problems taking that office.
Plus, just in case you’re wondering work is supposed to be picking up and keeping me busy. Like they might expect overtime through the week for a while. I’m already scheduled to be at work on Saturday the 19th and maybe the 20th. Sigh. I had hoped to go to the Indiana Masonic Home Foundation’s celebration on the 20th. They’re going to have a Red Skelton impersonator on the main stage at 1pm. Maybe we’ll get all of our stuff done on Saturday and I’ll still be able to go. We’ll see.
To bed!
August 11th, 2006 at 6:17 am
Wow, the whole Catholicism + Freemasonry thing is messed up. I don’t know enough about the masons, but this article definitely makes them seem like the worst evil imaginable.
This is kind of a sore subject with me recently, but I just don’t understand how people can let a religion shape them so strongly. No human can possibly understand all of the reasons you do something and where your true motivations lie. That’s between you and God. Man up and think for yourself. If he was in tears about leaving the lodge, maybe he should have stuck with the lodge and challenged his faith instead.
August 11th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Congratulations Luke, I am sure you will be able to help during the troubled time. Alas, work is work and that much I just wish you the best getting through
August 12th, 2006 at 10:23 am
We havce much the same problem with the RC / FM thing over here too, although for us it is rather higher in the church priorities, especially since this edict was issued by Ratzinger who, as you know, is the new pontif.
Our answer is to ensure that the membership of a Br.: who is also in the church remains something for him alone; we do not discuss who is Br.: unless they explicitly wish to have it disclosed. Perhaps it is time that some US Lodges considered returning to this old and worthy tradition too.
Pi.
http://www.private-intellectual.de
August 13th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Ah, well most guys in the states wear a ring, maybe a lapel pin of some sort, have a sticker on their car, and maybe a special license plate on the car.
Thus, it’s not particularly difficult to figure out who is a Mason and who isn’t. Doesn’t really require someone telling somone else - it’s usually a matter of seeing them or their car and the rest is in plain site.
August 14th, 2006 at 8:03 am
I thought masons were a little bit secretive; are you allowed to be telling us this stuff?
August 14th, 2006 at 9:13 am
He hasn’t given away the secret password or handshake.
August 14th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
M has the gyst of it. Most things can be discussed, but usually aren’t. Because without context what good are they to anyone else? Plus, I’m usually far too lazy to go into the detail necessary for the average person to follow.
For that matter, we had a candidate for the degrees of Masonry come to our meeting last Thursday to begin work on his FellowCract proficiency. I asked if he was there to work on his FC proficiency, and if he could remember any of the memory lecture. It seems that I may’ve overwhelmed him with the lodge jargon as he returned an answer about needing to do his master’s proficiency…and he hasn’t completed that degree. Took me a moment to slow down and catch him up to speed. Minor things like that can cause great confusion, so sometimes we keep things secret more for the sake of having to explain a lot of things.
That and, once upon a time, it was taught that Masonry was like Fight Club - Rule number 1: You don’t talk about it. Which isn’t wholly true. The parts that are explicity forbidden for discussion are the secret password(s) and/or handshake(s) and a few other tidbits. However, direct ritual work is usally not shared either. The number one reason is that you really don’t need to know. Number two, if someone were to decide to join, but already know certain portions of ritual, it would ruin some of the build-up/climax of the degrees.
In short, I can share a lot and as you can see on here: I do share a lot about my journey.
August 15th, 2006 at 10:45 am
Wow, that was a big explanation for a little joke.
August 15th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
You’d leave long explanations for little jokes if you were bored at work, too.
August 16th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
Luke,
Sorry to hear about the troubles at Lodge. The Catholic/Masonry feud has been raging for more than 200 years, and probably won’t be solved in our lifetimes. We American Catholics tend to pick and choose what we like from pontifical proclamations, and ignore what we don’t believe in. As a result, I know at least a dozen other Catholic Masons who see no conflict with the faith itself. Feh. Papal infallibility, even ex cathedra, is a sore subject, and has been for a very long time.
Masons in Europe really have been anti-clerical since the mid-1700s. And in the US, the Scottish Rite SJ carried on a truly offensive anti-Catholic tirade in their magazine, The New Age, for about thirty years. So, everybody has their bone to pick.
I’m truly disappointed that your friend couldn’t find a way to reconcile the two in his heart. Frankly, I would have changed parishes.
Nevertheless, in spite of the setbacks, congratulations on becoming Junior Warden! Sounds like a lot of activity at lodge!
August 17th, 2006 at 11:24 am
You best watch out for:
That’s the motherfucking Battle Pope by the way!
-Bob
Edited: Comments edited for Bob by Luke. Bluke is still operational when necessary.
Link: http://www.funkotron.com/battlepope/popebg.jpg
September 20th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
haha i love the BP!