Lodge Leadership Tools - Hawthorne-Fortitude Masonic Lodge No ...

Masonic Status w/ Bro. James GreenAm I wrong in believing that we should let the public know who we are and what we areabout. For instance at funerals for our departed Brothers, there are different requests from thefamily of our Brother. First, that they do not desire for any type of involvement of the MasonicFraternity. Second type a request from the family, but the Church will not allow anytype of Masonic Ceremony, so then the Lodge should ask the family if they would like a MasonicTribute service the night before the funeral at the Funeral Home. Third, the family requestsMasonic Rites at the Funeral Home where the complete funeral service will take place.And finally the fourth kind is a request from the family at the Church and the Church will allowthe Masonic Rites to be given. Now I believe that the second, third and fourth type of request should show the MasonicFraternity in full bloom. Every Mason attending should wear an apron no matter that he is not participating in theceremony. Every Mason should, during the prayers presented by the Ceremony team be at the attitude of prayer, as wellas the reading of the Masonic Obituary which should be a document of interest to the family. If okayed by the family Ibelieve that Masons should stand, if they can, during the prayers and the reading of the Obituary.I go to a lot of funerals for our departed Brothers either as a part of those there to honor him or doing the Masonic Ritesand I am appalled at how many Masons do not ask or wear an apron and even more appalling when I see them not at theattitude of Prayer. I was at a funeral recently which was well attended and the Masonic Team was the only service beingheld. The Master of the Lodge did more than the usual Masonic Rite usually done. I think it is good when we arethe only participants in the services, but having our ceremony to long when a Minister has his part also, is not a goodthing. But at this funeral there was not even the opportunity to wear an apron. At the attitude of prayer the main onesnot doing it as far as I could tell was Past Potentates of the Shrine. I saw four that did not, but two did and one of thesewas on the Masonic team and the other is active in Lodge.I know that it is a growing feeling that without the Rites being a pre-requisite to join the Shrine the members of theShrine are not as gracious to Masonry as it was when it was a requirement to join. Now as I understand it there will beon the ‘Call’ at Imperial to drop the requirement of being a Mason to becoming a Shriner. Now this has been going onfor a good many years and as some Past Imperial Potentates have said they will never back the idea. But this time thecause is that a lot of Grand Masters are stopping the ‘One Day’ Class Lodges, because so many that went through neverwent back and did their proficiency on any of. the degrees. Here in Montana our Grand Master wants those that do notpass their required proficiency of the degrees they will be dropped from the rolls of the Lodge. We keep backing up onour standards and pretty soon we won’t have any at all. I can understand some need for a one day class for some peoplebut it should not be for the individuals to get it done so they can become Shriners, but for some other needs, conditionsand considerations. The appendant Bodies seem to be following the trend of going backward in their standards. Lookat the Youth Groups who have to put into the regulations that a person being on the advisory board of any of the threegroups must have a back ground checks. I am not against the checks, but for the reasons that they had to be started.Over the years we also had a situation here and there that was not in true Masonic values, so how did this happen. Situationslike what happened in Buffalo New York is a prime example of the fear these youth groups are receiving.As members of greatest fraternity in the world, we and I do mean we must get off our duffs and start working with ourYouth Groups as they will be either members of our Fraternity or enemies of it. The appendant bodies must take a lookat the things they have done stepping backwards to accommodate those outside of our fraternity so that they are being‘political correct’ or are doing things to increase membership. WE DO NOT NEED TO REDUCE OUR STAN-DARDS TO GET MEMBERS. All we have to do is show the Public what a great organization we are and that we arepositive members of the communities and society. If we show that we are an organization of good and respected membersand not giving excuses for those members who do not follow our ethics and rules, but ejecting them from our organization.This is very true for the Youth Groups and not only for the young girls and young boys who are the members,but their Advisors, Guardians, and other adult leaders.43 ON THE WEB AT WWW.TWTMAG.COM 43