April - Grand Encampment of Knights Templar, USA

formal reading (in French, of course) ofthe charter for the American body. SirKnight William H. Koon, II was then dulyinstalled by the group of internationalKnights as the Master of the Grand Prioryof the Scottish Reformed and RectifiedRite of the United States of America.The Knights then adjourned to a nearbydining facility for yet another celebratorybanquet. At the banquet, Sir Knight Koonconferred the honor of Knight Commanderof the Temple on some of the participatingEuropean Knights who had been instrumentalin facilitating this historical event.knight templarThere had been previously establishedin the United States the Grand Priory ofAmerica Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la CitéSainte (C.B.C.S.) in 1934 under a chartergranted by Grand Prieuré Indépendantd’Helvetie (Great Priory of Switzerland),but it was subsequently determined bythe Jurisprudence Committee of theGrand Encampment and previous GrandMasters that membership in the C.B.C.S.,in the United States, of Knight Templarsunder the jurisdiction of the Grand Encampmentwas forbidden by the GrandEncampment Constitution, because theC.B.C.S. is a Templar Order. Templar membershipin the Grand Priory of America(G.P.A.) was determined to be in conflictwith Section 3 of the Constitution of theGrand Encampment of Knights Templar ofthe United States of America. This createda problem which was resolved when theGrand Priory of the Scottish Reformedand Rectified Rite of Occitania (in thesouth of France) issued a new charter tothe Grand Encampment of Knights Templarof the United States of America toform a new “GrandPriory of the ScottishReformed andRectified Rite ofthe United Statesof America.” Thisenabled AmericanTemplars to becomea member ofthe Rectified Riteunder the jurisdictionof the GrandEncampment andnot be in conflictwith the GrandEncampment Constitution.I wouldrefer you to ChrisHodapp’s web site http://freemasonsfordummies.blogspot.com/2010/12/grand-priory-of-scottish-reformed.htmlfor a more detailed explanation of thehistory of how this unfortunate circumstanceevolved.This web site explains that by widespreadagreement, even though it possessesits own degree rituals for theEntered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, andMaster Mason degrees, like the ScottishRite systems in the United States and11