No Mason Left Behind Pt. One

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. "Doc" Gentry

Ok everyone repeat after me, "No man takes a step in Freemasonry alone." Say it again. Come on louder! Like you mean it! LET ME SEE YOUR WAR FACE! Sorry, I got carried away. Now, what does that mean? The saying, not being carried away. It's simple, oh so simple. From the point where a man says,"I need to talk to a Mason about this Mason thing.", he is not left alone in his steps. He is guided, step by step, and only by taking our time and doing it right, do we see the wisdom in this action.

A man comes to your lodge and says, "I want to be a mason." I encourage you NOT to throw a petition in his face. Take the time necessary to get to know him and his life. In fact, two or three brothers should take somewhere between 6 months to 2 years (whatever your Grand Lodge says to do on the petition ironically) to get to know your potential candidate. "But Brother Doc, he might leave if  we don't push him through." Well then brothers, who's to say that he would actually come to lodge then? Besides, we are Masons, our word is our bond, so don't start the potential brother off on the wrong foot by lying on his petition. Please don't get him started off wrong by pushing it through either. I know, I know, Grand Lodges are freaking out about numbers and attendance and this reason alone should be the basis of you vetting potential brethren more thoroughly. Besides that, how will this potential brother get work and receive instruction if you don't know where his passions are to give him work? Ok step one, get to know the potential brother, check. Step two, get to know his family as well. Don't leave that poor man to try and explain Freemasonry to his family all by himself, he has no idea what Freemasonry is....in fact, I still don't know all of what Freemasonry is, so don't send me in alone either! Invite the family to functions and events. If you don't know what you can and can't tell families, and there are things you can tell them I assure you, go back and read my Mentoring piece. In fact, Brother Johnson, can you link that piece right HERE ?

*Editors Note* I can and I did! ;) ~RHJ

Once the allotted time has passed and he still wants to join you crazy kids, oh and you all still want him to become a brother, then have him fill out the petition. Once he has filled it out and way before you initiate him, assign him a mentor. Do not wait, you will miss valuable opportunities for him to grow, even before he is voted on. What's the worst thing that happens? He doesn't join but is a better person for the expierence?

No Mason Left Behind is not just some cute catch phrase that Brother Robert Johnson branded me with, it is a creed all Brethren should live by. No matter what you do, no one takes a step in Freemasonry alone!

Read Part Two

Red Part Three

~Doc

Brother Daniel "Doc" Gentry is a Brother Master Mason under the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Mason's of the State of Illinois, in the 1st Northeast district. His sign is Leo, and has been known to enjoy long walks in blizzards. He is stubborn and has no plans of joining the York or Scottish Rite anytime soon. Also in his spare time, he is a great DM for D&D games. Sacred Geometery! You can reach him by email at doc@midnightfreemasons.org

Ritual is a Work of Art

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

RWB Michael H. Shirley

"The Angelus” by Jean-François Millet 

Brother Robert Johnson’s post on the Parrot Mason, and my response to it, have in common a belief that Masonic ritual, while meaningful in itself, requires that its exposition be meaningful in order to make its full impact. Words spoken dryly and without emotion, no matter what their potential impact, have about as much effect as the recitation of the telephone book. 

We are hardly the first to make that observation. Brother John M. Pearson, Most Worshipful Grand Master of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons in Illinois, said it well in his address to the Brethren assembled for the Annual Communication in 1890:

A ritual is a work of art, and like all works of art is valuable not merely for what it represents, but mainly for what it suggests to the mind. This is true, whether the work be a poem, a painting, a piece of music, or statuary. The material representation may be good, and the technique beyond criticism, but if no thought or feeling is suggested, but little value attaches, and we soon tire of them; but a little picture of two poor peasants in a rough field, pausing in their work, with bowed heads, at the call of the bell in the little church beyond, tells the whole story of a life of toil, hardship and devotion. Men do not tire of such pictures and the grand lessons taught by them.

So of our ritual. It suggests to our minds great thoughts, in simple, homely words. To the humblest mind there is a lesson that it can understand, and to the noblest of men, grander truths yet to be learned, are clearly taught. Do not change it by a word. No matter if some of our phrases are quaint, and perhaps passing out of current use, hold to them, fix them in the memory. Let our Entered Apprentices and Craftsmen hear them again and again, until they find them fixed indelibly in the mind, and so ever after to influence their daily life and conduct. Allow no novelties to intrude themselves in any part of the ritual. They may seem at first harmless and even attractive, but, in the end, they tend to lessen the force of the more important truths we wish to teach.

Our ritual is not mere words, but the truths those words represent. Fix them in the mind, meditate upon them, and speak them with meaning in a way that communicates to the neophyte the essence of Masonry. Above all, live them. Otherwise, they are meaningless. It is the purpose of Freemasonry to put our ritual into practice in our everyday lives, to live outside of lodge according to the ideals we seek to exemplify within it. Our ritual teaches us how to do that, but only if, as Most Worshipful Brother Pearson suggested, we treat it as the art it truly is: without pretense, full of meaning, and simply spoken. Like peasants praying in a field to the echo of a higher call, my Brethren, let us exemplify our ritual with simplicity and grace, in humble gratitude for the gift of Freemasonry in our lives. 

~MHS

R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley serves the Grand Lodge of Illinois, A.F. & A.M, as Leadership Development Chairman and Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master of the Eastern Area. A Certified Lodge Instructor, he is a Past Master and Life Member of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and a plural member of Island City Lodge No. 330, F & AM, in Minocqua, Wisconsin. He is Past Most Wise Master of the George E. Burow Chapter of Rose Croix in the Valley of Danville, IL; he is also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the York Rite, Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, Eastern Star, Illini High Twelve, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon.The author of several article on British and American history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.You can contact him at: m.h.shirley@gmail.com

Phoenix Lodge No. 663

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

RWB Michael H. Shirley

One of the things I’ve learned in my short time in Masonry is how dependent lodges are on the actions and attitudes of their members. A single new Mason can revitalize a moribund lodge; likewise, a Brother’s poor choices can spread, and result in a once prosperous lodge falling apart. In both cases, it’s hard to predict the results. The case of Phoenix Lodge No. 663, of Mapleton, Illinois, is instructive.

Phoenix Lodge was chartered on October 3, 1871, in Kingston Mines, Illinois, a small village in Peoria County. It moved to Mapleton, a smaller village some four miles away, in 1885. The Right Worshipful District Deputy Grand Master for the Fourteenth District reported the next year of his visit to install Phoenix Lodge’s officers on New Year’s Eve, 1885: 

This lodge had but recently been moved from Kingston Mines. The installation was public, and though the brethren had not got fairly settled in their new quarters, everything passed off in a pleasant manner. There was a large number of ladies present; a good representation from Lancaster Lodge, No. 106, at Glasford, accompanied by the Glasford band, which discoursed music for us during the evening; a sumptuous repast was spread, and a very enjoyable time was had. I predict a bright future for Phoenix Lodge.

The following year he reported that,

In March I visited Phoenix Lodge, No. 663, at Mapleton, on invitation of the Worshipful Master, and conferred the third degree. There was present a large delegation from Lancaster Lodge, No. 106, at Glasford. Phoenix Lodge is in a prosperous condition. Their room is neatly and comfortably furnished; supplied with an organ, and with several good players and singers among their number, the brethren of Phoenix Lodge make their meetings one of pleasure as well as profit.

There’s no record of what happened at Phoenix Lodge over the next several years, but apparently they did not live up to their projected bright future. Indeed, they did not survive two months past the turn of the new century. The Grand Master’s report in 1901 went on at some length about Phoenix Lodge: 

Early in the year, I was apprised of some irregularities on the part of some of the members of Phoenix Lodge No. 663 at Mapleton, Illinois. It was reported to me that on evenings of lodge meetings, buckets of beer were taken to the lodge room. Further, that for more than a year, it had been known to members of the lodge, that one of their members was implicated in a very serious and unmasonic offense. I wrote to the Worshipful Master, stating the nature of the reports and requested an explanation. 

In response, the Worshipful Master called on me. He denied the beer story, but admitted the truth of the report concerning the member. On further investigation, I found that not only one but two and possibly three, were implicated. The condition of morals was at so low an ebb in that lodge, that it was a stain and blot upon the whole Masonic fraternity. 

I instructed R.W. Bro. G. O. Friedrich to visit Phoenix Lodge and make an investigation and unless the charges were cleared to arrest the charter.  R.W. Bro. Friedrich instructed the Master to notify his lodge that he would visit them officially February 12, which he did. After opening the lodge, R.W. Bro. Friedrich stated his reasons for being present and requested the members to make their explanations. No explanation wa, made or attempted. He then, agreeable to my instructions, arrested the charter, records and seal, closed the lodge, placed the furniture in the custody of the Master and delivered the charter and records to me. 

They are now in the custody of the Grand Secretary. I, without hesitation, recommend that the name and number of Phoenix Lodge No. 663 be erased from the roll of constituent lodges.

And so it was. Phoenix Lodge No. 663 ceased to exist, barely thirty years from the date of its charter. 

The District Deputy Grand Master, who had predicted such a bright future for the lodge, was doubtless chagrined at the necessity of the Grand Master’s action, and perhaps rued his own certainty. That did not stop him from acting in the best interests of the Craft. Charles F. Hitchcock, Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in Illinois, who ordered Phoenix Lodge’s charter to be arrested, had been District Deputy of the Fourteenth District when he had waxed rhapsodic about the lodge’s future. 

We can learn a lesson from Phoenix Lodge’s fate and from Most Worshipful Brother Hitchcock’s actions. Just as it only takes a few good men to make a lodge thrive by their leadership, so can the misdeeds of a few men, when they are ignored by their Brethren, kill a lodge. We must, if we would be Masons, take the right actions in all circumstances, even when it’s painful to do so, for the action we ignore is the standard we accept. MW Brother Hitchcock knew that, and acted accordingly. So may we all.

~MHS

R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley serves the Grand Lodge of Illinois, A.F. & A.M, as Leadership Development Chairman and Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master of the Eastern Area. A Certified Lodge Instructor, he is a Past Master and Life Member of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and a plural member of Island City Lodge No. 330, F & AM, in Minocqua, Wisconsin. He is Past Most Wise Master of the George E. Burow Chapter of Rose Croix in the Valley of Danville, IL; he is also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the York Rite, Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, Eastern Star, Illini High Twelve, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon.The author of several article on British and American history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.You can contact him at: m.h.shirley@gmail.com