Will Walking Away From A Clandestine Lodge Ruin My Name?

[Derric]

I mentioned in another thread that I was supposed to be up for initiation soon. But was told that the particular lodge I was joining is clandestine. I asked the guys in the lodge about they and they said they couldn't talk with me about that because I'm not a member. I wanted to be sure because I don't want to be unrecognized by the others. I want to be able to show my face at other lodges.

Well, these guys aren't recognized by neither the GL of GA nor the PHGL. They say that they aren't Prince Hall. I called the GLofGA to see if there was a possibility that this lodge could be legitimately, but not added to their site. They assured me that the only lodge they have under that number is in a completely different part of GA.

I would hate to walk away from the initiation since these seem to be good guys, but I don't want to waste my time with a bogus lodge.

Question: will walking away from this initiation ruin my name in the masonic community?

 

[Ashlar2006]

No , walking away would not ruin your name within OUR Masonic community . If anything , we would be proud that you did walk away from that bogus group and petitioned a REGULAR GL .

It is sad when young/new members of these bogus lodges come on these forums or meet Masons in person and find out that they can not communicate with us because we do not recognize them as true and lawful Brother Masons .

 

[Duncan1574]

No, that lodge is clandestine and you would find out that you had wasted time when you walked up to the tyler of a regular Lodge and he turns you away.

 

[Duncan1574]

Adding to my previous post. Freemasonry is about defining yourself as a man, of having principles, ethics, morality, and boundaries.

By stepping up to the, now known to be clandestine, lodge you are involved with and telling them that they are good men but you would rather join a regularly recognized Lodge, you are taking a step towards those goals.

 

[removed12612]

These fine Brothers have offered you GREAT advice.... the ultimate decision has to be yours.... but you need to keep in mind
A) Join and not be recognized
B) Walk away and join a recognized lodge...

Its not about them being nice guys..... I know plenty of "nice guys" that arent masons either...

 

[Derric]

I made up my mind before I made this thread that I was gonna walk away from the initiation. I guess I just wanted to see how I'd deal with a possible damage to my name. They were telling me that they can blackball a person from masonry and whatnot.

 

[Custer148]

Nice guys, and in a clandestine lodge -- they are not recognized by legitimate Masonic lodges, how are they going to blackball you from Blue Lodge Masonry???

They are mad because you found out about them before you gave them any money & they are trying to get back at you.

I applaude your decision and wish you all the best. Keep us posted.

 

[Ashlar2006]

Nice guys, and in a clandestine lodge -- they are not recognized by legitimate Masonic lodges, how are they going to blackball you from Blue Lodge Masonry???

They are mad because you found out about them before you gave them any money & they are trying to get back at you.

I applaude your decision and wish you all the best. Keep us posted.

Agreed . There is not a single thing they can do when you petition a regular Masonic lodge as they have no say so within our lodges seeing how we do not even consider them Masons . When you do petition and if they ask you if you ever petitioned a lodge before (I do not know if other jurisdictions do this but we do) . Be honest and tell them what happened and that you walked away from them once you found out the truth about them being bogus .

 

[FF Sparky]

Agreed . There is not a single thing they can do when you petition a regular Masonic lodge as they have no say so within our lodges seeing how we do not even consider them Masons . When you do petition and if they ask you if you ever petitioned a lodge before (I do not know if other jurisdictions do this but we do) . Be honest and tell them what happened and that you walked away from them once you found out the truth about them being bogus .

I agree with everyone here on this. They may be nice guys, but there are nice guys is regular lodges too. Your making the right move if you really want to be a Mason and travel.

 

[Winter]

We will think better of you for walking away from joining a Clandestine Lodge!

Has anyone helped you to find the Regular Lodge closest to you? If you need any assistance, please PM me and I will help any way I can.

 

[Bob Franks]

It looks like the 'mainstream' Grand Lodge in Georgia is at
Home

On the left side are several selections, the third is "Lodge Search."
It looks like Fulton County is in District 5, but I couldn't figure out how to run the search engine. Scrolling down the list of lodges would show all the ones in your area, though.


The Prince Hall Masonic Grand Lodge is at
MWPHGL of Georgia
Click on "Districts" near the top, and you'll find "Atlanta East" and "Atlanta West" and the lodges displayed below the heading.


Bear in mind also that as of today, these two grand lodges are not in amity, but each recognize grand lodges nationwide. [insert political feeling here]

S&F

 

[edwmax]

It looks like the 'mainstream' Grand Lodge in Georgia is at
Home

On the left side are several selections, the third is "Lodge Search."
It looks like Fulton County is in District 5, but I couldn't figure out how to run the search engine. Scrolling down the list of lodges would show all the ones in your area, though. ....

S&F

Move the mouse over the column headings and click. A popup box will show, click search. Then a number of boxes will show under the column headings. fill in one and click. ...

The webmaster changed the page again. I hate it when he does that!!!!!

 

[Paramemetic]

I made up my mind before I made this thread that I was gonna walk away from the initiation. I guess I just wanted to see how I'd deal with a possible damage to my name. They were telling me that they can blackball a person from masonry and whatnot.

While it is true that they can black ball a person within their lodge or even their grand lodge, they cannot black ball a person from regular Freemasonry because they are not regular Freemasons.

Keep this in mind when you do petition a true and lawful recognized Lodge, that when asked "have you ever petitioned a lodge?" you have not, if that lodge is the only one you've petitioned, because it is a clandestine lodge and doesn't count. You cannot be held under their Masonic jurisdiction because they really aren't Masons, no matter how much they want to claim to be.

 

[Gary2112]

While it is true that they can black ball a person within their lodge or even their grand lodge, they cannot black ball a person from regular Freemasonry because they are not regular Freemasons.

Keep this in mind when you do petition a true and lawful recognized Lodge, that when asked "have you ever petitioned a lodge?" you have not, if that lodge is the only one you've petitioned, because it is a clandestine lodge and doesn't count. You cannot be held under their Masonic jurisdiction because they really aren't Masons, no matter how much they want to claim to be.

Good points.

 

[Bob Franks]

While it is true that they can black ball a person within their lodge or even their grand lodge, they cannot black ball a person from regular Freemasonry because they are not regular Freemasons.

Keep this in mind when you do petition a true and lawful recognized Lodge, that when asked "have you ever petitioned a lodge?" you have not, if that lodge is the only one you've petitioned, because it is a clandestine lodge and doesn't count. You cannot be held under their Masonic jurisdiction because they really aren't Masons, no matter how much they want to claim to be.

I would still tell the lodge you are petitioning about it.
My step-grandfather was raised in a clandestine lodge in the early 20th century (it was a TRUE clandestine, not a PHA lodge), and years later when petitioning a mainstream lodge in Indiana, he noted the petitioning and degrees on his (new) petition and was accepted for the degrees. He also submitted a letter detailing the circumstances of the earlier degrees.
I got a copy of his petition and letter for his daughter.

BTW, in NC (AF&AM) you can only 'blackball' a petitioner to your own lodge. You have no say in any other lodge.


S&F

 

[Duncan1574]

I would still tell the lodge you are petitioning about it.
My step-grandfather was raised in a clandestine lodge in the early 20th century (it was a TRUE clandestine, not a PHA lodge), and years later when petitioning a mainstream lodge in Indiana, he noted the petitioning and degrees on his (new) petition and was accepted for the degrees. He also submitted a letter detailing the circumstances of the earlier degrees.
I got a copy of his petition and letter for his daughter.

BTW, in NC (AF&AM) you can only 'blackball' a petitioner to your own lodge. You have no say in any other lodge.


S&F

IMO, To willfully omit information would be a concern. Instance: You are not the first one who thought about the C-lodge and they too petitioned a R-lodge (the you are) thy know some of the guys from the C-lodge and they have talked about "that guy"...

Honesty is the best policy and harmony is as well.

 

[Ashlar2006]

as I stated in my post on page one , tell them you petitioned a clandestine lodge and backed out because you found out they were not legit . Honesty is the best policy . And to be honest , it will look good on your part that you did your homework and corrected your mistake by petitioning a regular lodge be it "Mainstream" or PHA . As Winter and I stated , we would be happy that you withdrew your petition of the clandestine lodge .

 

[jaya]

If and when you petition a regular lodge, tell them about this experience. I find it interesting that when you asked about it, they said that they could not answer that because you were not yet a member. I have been on a few investigation committees and we swayed ask if the man has questions for us. We do our best to answer any of them except for those that might ruin his experience and those that are secret. There are very few that are truely secret. We do talk about visiting other lodges.

I am glad to see you decide not to go through with the initiation. How you were treated wither you asked shows the character of those involved. They are trying to hide something. I wish you luck on your future masonic journey if you decide to petition.

 

[Windrider]

I mentioned in another thread that I was supposed to be up for initiation soon. But was told that the particular lodge I was joining is clandestine. I asked the guys in the lodge about they and they said they couldn't talk with me about that because I'm not a member. I wanted to be sure because I don't want to be unrecognized by the others. I want to be able to show my face at other lodges.

Well, these guys aren't recognized by neither the GL of GA nor the PHGL. They say that they aren't Prince Hall. I called the GLofGA to see if there was a possibility that this lodge could be legitimately, but not added to their site. They assured me that the only lodge they have under that number is in a completely different part of GA.

I would hate to walk away from the initiation since these seem to be good guys, but I don't want to waste my time with a bogus lodge.

Question: will walking away from this initiation ruin my name in the masonic community?

To answer your question, IMHO your reputation would not suffer, it would be enhanced. As others have pointed out, you did your homework and followed through after finding the truth. That's what all Masons should do no matter where that leads.

Be straight with the Regular lodge. If it was my lodge and you allowed us to talk about it, you would be the man of the hour. If you didn't want your experiences with the clandestine lodge to get out, we are pretty good at keeping secrets, too.