EA Topic Master certification

[Ashlar2006]

I have been reading were some jurisdictions require the Master to hold a ritual cert . So I will ask it here , before someone may be elected as Master , should they hold a certification in Masonic ritual ? Should they be well versed in all the degrees ? Or is leadership alone enough ?

 

[Ashlar2006]

I put EA topic because they can also state their input . It is for EAs' and above .

 

[removed12612]

Tough call..... While I think the WM should be well versed in ritual, the WM is to rule and govern....I feel at the very least, he should give the candidate the OB....

 

[Winter]

Without a doubt, the Brother who is going to sit in the East should be well versed in Masonic ritual, symbolism, and history. He is the one that is responsible for guiding the Lodge and maintaining the standards. Without a proper understanding of the Craft a Lodge can lose sight of it's purpose.

 

[DavisB]

I think a solid knowledge of the ritual is very important. I saw a PM who wanted to give the EA degree another shot, absolutely butcher the obligation. Of course the candidate had no idea. But everyone else was cringing with every other word.

The ritual work is the first impression of the actual lodge that the candidates see. And during that ritual it becomes quickly obvious who the Master (and therefore leader) of the lodge is. If the Master is constantly being prompted and messing up lines, than that first impression of the ritual and Masonry in general can be a bad one. I think it is very important that candidates see, through the example of the WM, that the ritual is important and something to be taken seriously.

 

[Ashlar2006]

Without a doubt, the Brother who is going to sit in the East should be well versed in Masonic ritual, symbolism, and history. He is the one that is responsible for guiding the Lodge and maintaining the standards. Without a proper understanding of the Craft a Lodge can lose sight of it's purpose.

I tend to agree .

I want to add , I am just trying to create some thoughtful discussions with these threads I have been posting the last couple of days .

 

[removed12612]

A first impression of the Lodge can make or break how serious the candidate will take Masonry or the Lodge.

 

[Winter]

It is kind of tough to lead a Lodge when you don't know the workings yourself. Past Master is not just a badge to get under your belt. The Master should have a serious desire to be the knowledgable leader of a Lodge and be able to make decisions on all things Masonic based on that knowledge.

 

[Ashlar2006]

Again , I agree . It is a sad state when a new Master Mason approaches the Master with questions about the ritual and/or floor work itself and he can not answer the question .

 

[mdonahue66]

Our current master is very dedicated to the men of our fraternity and our lodge (I won't say to masonry in general, because he doesn't know the ritual well), but he is not good at degree work. He hasn't sat in the East for a degree, and I doubt he ever will. He's OK at the opening and closing of lodge, and OK at running a stated communication. He's sat through at least 4 chairs before assuming the East. I would not have considered voting against him, but will support him whole heartedly. He's also a good friend and asks advice when needed, and I believe he deserves his year in the East. I think there are a lot of lodges with a guy like this.

 

[Gary]

In Florida we have such certifications. As a "Gold Card Holder" you know ALL of the ritual, lectures, catechisms, etc., verbatim. (There are other color cards as well)

Legislation was presented at this years GL on this very topic and was unfortunately voted down because it would have affected all of the elected officers. I personally think that to be a WM you should have a Gold card. The legislation didn't require that level for a WM, and it still failed.

 

[Windrider]

Again , I agree . It is a sad state when a new Master Mason approaches the Master with questions about the ritual and/or floor work itself and he can not answer the question .

Our outgoing WM, Barry Patterson, is considered one of the best people with Ritual in the Jurisdiction. He was selected by the GM back when we did One Day to Master Mason classes and he is in constant demand when an emergency replacement is needed for any degree work.

After our Installation rehearsal, Barry told us that he would be available for each of us to learn Ritual with him as we progressed. I hear the fee is a cup of black coffee

Barry is the man who gave me the gift of wonderful Ritual through my degrees. He gently corrected me when I stumbled and encouraged me to reach for the stars even when he might not have believed what I was trying to do would work.

In five years, I could be sitting in the Oriental Chair. Barry's are the big shoes I'll be trying to fill.

 

[mdonahue66]

There's the matter of what's desirable, and what's practical. I know of many lodges that would be recycling 2 or 3 masters constantly if there was too much of a requirement placed upon them. Not everyone has the aptitude for ritual, or even just memorization (parroting). Do we exclude them from the line when they're good leaders otherwise (my prior post regarding my current WM)?

 

[Winter]

There's the matter of what's desirable, and what's practical. I know of many lodges that would be recycling 2 or 3 masters constantly if there was too much of a requirement placed upon them. Not everyone has the aptitude for ritual, or even just memorization (parroting). Do we exclude them from the line when they're good leaders otherwise (my prior post regarding my current WM)?

My experience has been that many who say they are unable to memorize the ritual only need to work at it more. We all memorize things with varying degrees of success and some take longer than others. This is not an indicator of a bad Brother. But the system we are "supposed" to use has worked for a long time, until the current age where we allow more excuses for sloppy work in the Lodge.

While you feel that it may be unfair to a Brother who is not proficient to bar them from the line or the Oriental Chair, I posit that it is unfair to the Lodge to have a Master or Warden who is not proficient. A Master can only supervise the Work correctly if he knows how it is properly done. And the chairs are a privilege, not a right.

 

[mdonahue66]

My experience has been that many who say they are unable to memorize the ritual only need to work at it more. We all memorize things with varying degrees of success and some take longer than others. This is not an indicator of a bad Brother. But the system we are "supposed" to use has worked for a long time, until the current age where we allow more excuses for sloppy work in the Lodge.

While you feel that it may be unfair to a Brother who is not proficient to bar them from the line or the Oriental Chair, I posit that it is unfair to the Lodge to have a Master or Warden who is not proficient. A Master can only supervise the Work correctly if he knows how it is properly done. And the chairs are a privilege, not a right.

It is also unfair to a lodge to have the same guys get burnt out occupying the chairs over and over again. Not every lodge has that many men with the same outlook as you. (If that sounds like a crack at you, it is not. It's a compliment intended with the utmost respect). I'm just saying that your opinion on the need for proficiency is very desirable. I would love to see it. The only way to make it practical, IMHO, would be to drastically reduce the number of lodges. Then we can have a discussion all night long on the benefits or pitfalls of that subject.

 

[removed12612]

I am with mdonahue66 on this one....while there is no debate that we would all prefer to have a Brother in the East that knows it back and forth, the reality is that not every Lodge has that luxury......I know of lodges where the chairs are nothing more than a game of musical chairs.....and sometimes the Brother taking the East does so by default...

 

[Winter]

Thank you for the compliment Brother, I did not take any of it as derogatory.

The burden of leadership would (should) not fall on the shoulders of only a few Brothers who are proficient. If every Lodge adopted and maintained a program of regular education many of our woes would solve themselves.

Instead of excusing the lack of proficiency among Brothers because many do not have the inner desire to be more proficient, we should instead ask ourselves how to instill that desire and drive in all our members, new and old.

(And none of my posts are a crack at you, Brother! )

 

[Custer148]

I think the WM should know the ritual, the bylaws, and how to run a meeting. That said I agree with the other posts that a lot of lodges don't have this luxury, but on the other hand if the WM has gone thru the chairs -- he is supposed to be able to do the EA degree as JW, the FC as SW and the MM as WM, this should mean he knows the ritual.
I know one brother who indicated to me that he had been WM of his lodge for 14 consecutive years (talk about recycling) and this year he had decided not to take the East again and feels great. That particular lodge had raised 2, 3 or 4 brothers every year but they suspended 4 or 5 every year for NPD. This year they have raised 6 and suspended 0.

 

[removed12612]

I think the WM should know the ritual, the bylaws, and how to run a meeting. That said I agree with the other posts that a lot of lodges don't have this luxury, but on the other hand if the WM has gone thru the chairs -- he is supposed to be able to do the EA degree as JW, the FC as SW and the MM as WM, this should mean he knows the ritual.
I know one brother who indicated to me that he had been WM of his lodge for 14 consecutive years (talk about recycling) and this year he had decided not to take the East again and feels great. That particular lodge had raised 2, 3 or 4 brothers every year but they suspended 4 or 5 every year for NPD. This year they have raised 6 and suspended 0.

The bold statement would be better if you substituted "should" with "supposed"......because not all jurisdictions require it...

 

[Duncan1574]

My Lodge voted down a resolution to require our WMs to have completed the GL Masonic law course. It was a good idea, however the GL laws are tweaked and changed every year so to be current you would need to do the course yearly.