Freemasons seeing revival

[jason]

At a time when membership in community groups is on a decline, Ontario Freemasons saw more than 1,300 men join last year, bolstering their numbers to nearly 50,000.
During a visit to Granite Lodge here last Friday and Saturday, Ontario Grand Master Raymond Daniels said Freemasonry is enjoying a revival.


“We are the oldest and largest fraternal organization in the world,” noted Daniels, who lives in Kitchener-Waterloo.
“We are founded on high moral standards and ethical values—the old-fashioned core values of honesty, integrity, justice.
“We also have a philanthropic side. In other words, we try to help people in need not only within the fraternity but without,” Daniels added, noting each district has a project, such as the MasoniChip child identification program being done here in Rainy River District.
“We are an initiatory order because we do initiate our brethren into the three degrees of Freemasonry, and that means we are in, what I say, the life-changing process of men,” Daniels remarked.


more Freemasons seeing revival | Fort Frances Times Online

 

[Kevin C Livingston]

My lodge in Smyrna, DE is starting to have more and more new guys in. We're inititating , passing and raising so many this year that other projects had to be put on hold. Of course, this is a problem that I am glad that we have! So, yeah it does seem that Free Masonry is having a rivial!

 

[TrowelTalk]

Our little Lodge will have processed in 13 new members this year, not so long ago we would only do 1 or 2 a year. The GL is seeing similar increase in petitions and the bestowing of the three degrees by Lodges throughout Maryland.

There is a television and radio campaigned scheduled for launch after the first of the year. Will offer more on that as information is available. But we are already establishing formal Membership Committees in every Lodge, and scheduling simultaneous state-wide "Open House" events to welcome interested parties.

 

[Brother Liberty]

Trowel Talk, MA has been doing radio and TV for a couple of years with fantastic results! We have so many interested now that some are having to wait months and months before they can even get entered. The good news that these men are so interested that most attend and help at our pancake breakfasts and other charitable events. Good luck!

 

[Firenze23]

Yes my lodge is getting a little more attention now but we need more people. It would be a good idea if we could go to a school and do a presentation about us to try and get teenagers involved with us

 

[Kevin C Livingston]

Yes my lodge is getting a little more attention now but we need more people. It would be a good idea if we could go to a school and do a presentation about us to try and get teenagers involved with us

The problem with that is that it could be seen as "recruiting" which we are not allowed to do. The OTHER problem with that is that this will fans the flames of the Chruch groups who call us "Satanic". You see I am NOT of the belief that "bad publicity is better than no publicity".

 

[PatrickWilliams]

The problem with that is that it could be seen as "recruiting" which we are not allowed to do. The OTHER problem with that is that this will fans the flames of the Chruch groups who call us "Satanic". You see I am NOT of the belief that "bad publicity is better than no publicity".

I dunno. DeMolay allows its members to recruit. If you were helping DeMolay, I don't think that any grand jurisdiction would have a problem. AND there are so many DeMolay who become Masons when they're old enough ... so in a way it is recruiting for the Lodge.

 

[Winter]

I think people are looking at this situation from the wrong angle.

My point is, rather than Freemasonry being in decline, I see our numbers actually returning to where they should be after the unusual membership spikes that we saw post WWI & WWII. Those were aberations and will almost certainly never happen again.

Now we are left with the relics of that legacy in the form of these huge Lodge buildings that maintain only a fraction of the membership compared to when they were built. So the "obvious" answer to so many Lodges and Grand jurisdictions is.... Yup, you guessed it, Get more Masons! And as a result, the rules about how men come to our Order have been bent, twisted, and sometimes completely ignored.

I say we ditch these anchors around our necks, go back to meeting in taverns, back rooms of restaurants, and wherever. Smaller Lodges where you "actually" know all the Brothers in your Lodge. (Seriously, how many Brothers on your rolls and how many can you name. In my Lodge? 100%.

Then we can get back to being Masons instead of just trying to keep the lights on in a building where 6 Brothers come together once a month to pay the bills. (I know this does not apply to everyone, but it does to enough that we should be concerned.)

 

[Duncan1574]

We have 100 dues paying members at my Lodge. The WM challenged the Lodge to increase that number by 10%. Okay, now we have 108 and there are about 15-20 active. There were 12 at my EA....

 

[Brother Liberty]

I think people are looking at this situation from the wrong angle.

My point is, rather than Freemasonry being in decline, I see our numbers actually returning to where they should be after the unusual membership spikes that we saw post WWI & WWII. Those were aberations and will almost certainly never happen again.

Now we are left with the relics of that legacy in the form of these huge Lodge buildings that maintain only a fraction of the membership compared to when they were built. So the "obvious" answer to so many Lodges and Grand jurisdictions is.... Yup, you guessed it, Get more Masons! And as a result, the rules about how men come to our Order have been bent, twisted, and sometimes completely ignored.

I say we ditch these anchors around our necks, go back to meeting in taverns, back rooms of restaurants, and wherever. Smaller Lodges where you "actually" know all the Brothers in your Lodge. (Seriously, how many Brothers on your rolls and how many can you name. In my Lodge? 100%.

Then we can get back to being Masons instead of just trying to keep the lights on in a building where 6 Brothers come together once a month to pay the bills. (I know this does not apply to everyone, but it does to enough that we should be concerned.)

Winter, this is a very interesting thought....I intend to disect it over many beers in the coming days. As I mentioned earlier, MA has seen a huge resurgence of interest, but many lodges struggle with maintaining interest and activity. We have about 180 paying members but only about 30 that we see on any given month, and realistically only about 15 that can me counted on to attend things and help at charitable events. We are also saddled with a large building that currently houses two lodges. We have no mortgage but the bills for the building run pretty high. Its no secret that the other lodge is actively looking to leave the building as they see it as the only way to keep their lodge from going dark. That would saddle us with the burden of the whole building. As it stands right now, we do not collect enough in dues to cover our "rent" each year have to dip into our contingency funds to cover a portion. What happens when they go?

What if we went back to meeting in a tavern? How would the grand lodge react? I don't know. Are we better off selling our current building and purchasing retail space to rent out and meeting in the basement? What about purchasing a house as opposed to a hall?

Its getting late here on the east coast and I am rambling, but I surely will have some more thoughts on this later....What a great site this is.....

 

[Ashlar2006]

I think people are looking at this situation from the wrong angle.

My point is, rather than Freemasonry being in decline, I see our numbers actually returning to where they should be after the unusual membership spikes that we saw post WWI & WWII. Those were aberations and will almost certainly never happen again.

Now we are left with the relics of that legacy in the form of these huge Lodge buildings that maintain only a fraction of the membership compared to when they were built. So the "obvious" answer to so many Lodges and Grand jurisdictions is.... Yup, you guessed it, Get more Masons! And as a result, the rules about how men come to our Order have been bent, twisted, and sometimes completely ignored.

I say we ditch these anchors around our necks, go back to meeting in taverns, back rooms of restaurants, and wherever. Smaller Lodges where you "actually" know all the Brothers in your Lodge. (Seriously, how many Brothers on your rolls and how many can you name. In my Lodge? 100%.

Then we can get back to being Masons instead of just trying to keep the lights on in a building where 6 Brothers come together once a month to pay the bills. (I know this does not apply to everyone, but it does to enough that we should be concerned.)

Agreed , we are getting back to our fighting weight . So much time and effort is spent trying to figure out how to gain new members , when that time would be better spent focusing on our members we have now . Those who truly want Freemasonry will seek us out .

My lodge has had a huge gain in the last couple of years , but out of all those who have become members only a handful do I deem serious Freemasons . The rest are dues paying , card carrying members and that is it . I don't even know their names , just a blur of faces .

 

[Zack]

Brother Winter,
I agree completely with what you said.
I think the spike in membership in 50's was one of the worst things that could have happened. I don't fear the loss of members at all. Some lodges may close up shop and have to merge and GL's may have to tighten their belts but I hope the contraction will force Blue Lodges into doing what has been gotten away from in the last 50-60 years.

IMO we have enough members, too many lodges and not enough Masons.

 

[Duncan1574]

Jumping into this fresh from a post in another thread about what degree we open Lodge.

::VENT MODE ON::
How can we hope to increase membership when we have new members that CAN'T attend Lodge? In the USA we are excluding all the EAs & Cs from lodge because they have not attained their MM, in a word they are unworthy of Lodge IMHO. How can I become integrated into Lodge when I can't go there and be a part? I go to posting with one or two other Brothers and my mentor, since that posting is not on lodge nights due to my work schedule I haven't met the Brothers of my Lodge. What it has done is make me an E-Freemason, this IS my Lodge (or what I hope Lodge, an exchange of ideas, debate on the nuisances of FM, camaraderie, and laughter.
::VENT MODE OFF::

 

[Gary]

Jumping into this fresh from a post in another thread about what degree we open Lodge.

::VENT MODE ON::
How can we hope to increase membership when we have new members that CAN'T attend Lodge? In the USA we are excluding all the EAs & Cs from lodge because they have not attained their MM, in a word they are unworthy of Lodge IMHO. How can I become integrated into Lodge when I can't go there and be a part? I go to posting with one or two other Brothers and my mentor, since that posting is not on lodge nights due to my work schedule I haven't met the Brothers of my Lodge. What it has done is make me an E-Freemason, this IS my Lodge (or what I hope Lodge, an exchange of ideas, debate on the nuisances of FM, camaraderie, and laughter.
::VENT MODE OFF::

While I share your frustration (it happened to me too), it's not about quantity, it's about quality. Freemasonry doesn't need numbers. It needs dedicated men who are willing to go the distance instead of those who join and get instant gratification. Think of the issue you face as an apprenticeship.

I did basically the same thing you did. I looked elsewhere (here) for an exchange of ideas, debate on the nuisances of FM, camaraderie, and laughter. I focused on my studies at Lodge, and the rest worked out.

I think it was better for me in the long run, because I got different view points from the get go. I wasn't stuck with a set way of doing things. keep the faith brother. We are glad you are here!

 

[Duncan1574]

While I share your frustration (it happened to me too), it's not about quantity, it's about quality. Freemasonry doesn't need numbers. It needs dedicated men who are willing to go the distance instead of those who join and get instant gratification. Think of the issue you face as an apprenticeship.

I did basically the same thing you did. I looked elsewhere (here) for an exchange of ideas, debate on the nuisances of FM, camaraderie, and laughter. I focused on my studies at Lodge, and the rest worked out.

I think it was better for me in the long run, because I got different view points from the get go. I wasn't stuck with a set way of doing things. keep the faith brother. We are glad you are here!

I don't want to rush the process of learning that should be a deliberately paced progress , I want to rush the connectedness, the sense of community, and the Brotherhood. Which I don't have with my own Lodge.

 

[PatrickWilliams]

::VENT MODE ON::
How can we hope to increase membership when we have new members that CAN'T attend Lodge? In the USA we are excluding all the EAs & Cs from lodge because they have not attained their MM, in a word they are unworthy of Lodge IMHO. How can I become integrated into Lodge when I can't go there and be a part? I go to posting with one or two other Brothers and my mentor, since that posting is not on lodge nights due to my work schedule I haven't met the Brothers of my Lodge. What it has done is make me an E-Freemason, this IS my Lodge (or what I hope Lodge, an exchange of ideas, debate on the nuisances of FM, camaraderie, and laughter.
::VENT MODE OFF::

I hope you feel better after your venting. Now that it's over, let's talk turkey! Gobble, gobble. Now that we've talked turkey, let's think about what you've said and discuss it a little:

First - there is ALWAYS a movement going on in our jurisdiction to allow Stated Meetings (business meetings) to be opened in the EA degree. ONE DAY that movement will be successful. But even though 'Stateds' are only opened in the 3rd right now, our membership IS GROWING. So how can we expect membership to increase? IT IS!! (And let me tell you ... Stated meetings are not all that you have cracked them up to be. Trust me on this.)

Second - if you have been made to feel unworthy, then shame on your Lodge. If you are not involved where and how you CAN be, then shame on you. EA's can attend most Table Lodges, all dinners, can be involved in committees, etc. You can even choose to go down on Lodge night and hang around, going through your catechism with the Tyler and/or fellowshipping with the Master Masons before and after Lodge. Just because you haven't had the 3rd (or in your case, the 2nd) does not mean that the doors are shut, it just means you cannot attend a meeting opened on a degree you haven't had. If your work schedule conflicts with Lodge night, then change Lodges or change work schedules. Even once you have attained the vaunted status of Master Mason, if you can't attend Lodge - well, what's the point?

Third - if this is your Lodge, then you have done yourself a disservice. I love this place, but it is NOT A LODGE. We cannot sit with one another. We can only have "e-fellowship". We cannot "do the work" here. There is nothing like sitting in open Lodge preparing to confer a degree, nothing at all. And YOU are eligible to do the work of an Entered Apprentice! YOU can sit in on EA's. Heck, they may even put you to work!

Take the reins in your hand, Duncan. Then, once you have become a Master Mason, you can help us change the jurisdiction!

 

[Gary]

Understandable. You'll get the community atmosphere once you complete the tasks set before you. Most of the brothers I found, aren't opposed to treating you like part of the family. It's that they know you have work to do, and it's about letting you do it. At least that was my experience.

 

[Zack]

Stated meetings are not all that you have cracked them up to be. Trust me on this.)

Amen to that.

 

[Gary]

Zack, You know that you love listening to the Treasurer/ Secretary reports ad nauseum...

 

[PatrickWilliams]

Understandable. You'll get the community atmosphere once you complete the tasks set before you. Most of the brothers I found, aren't opposed to treating you like part of the family. It's that they know you have work to do, and it's about letting you do it. At least that was my experience.

Yeah, Gary, that is the experience of most of us, I'd warrant. But maybe it's time to go backwards, to an older experience. We may be currently unable to have our EAs and FCs sit with us in open Lodge at Stated Meeting, but it doesn't mean that our EAs and FCs cannot be involved in the fraternity and most of its workings. Now I've just ripped Duncan a new one for not insisting on being involved, but let's rip ourselves and our Lodges a new one for not involving the Duncans in our Lodges.

How many times have I heard the complaint that we "go to all that trouble to raise a new Mason and he disappears"? Why does that happen? Could it be that, other than taking his money and putting him through 3 degrees, we haven't done a darned thing to get him involved? There are committees he could be working on. There's ritual he could be learning. There's fellowship that we could be offering. There's so much available in Freemasonry that no Brother can do it all. Why aren't we getting our candidates to do some of it?