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Appendant body time commitments

hanzosbm

Premium Member
While my question could easily pertain to either York or Scottish Rite, I'm leaning toward YR so I thought I'd ask the question here.

How much time and energy is expected to be spent once a Mason joins an appendant body? I'm fairly newly married, my wife and I are looking to start a family and I work quite a bit. As it is, I'm the SW elect for my blue lodge, which means 2 meetings a month (stated meeting and Officer School of Instruction), which is pretty close to my wife's comfort level regarding time spent. As my blue lodge is quite small, I can reasonably expect to be an officer for more years than not, so this time commitment is likely to stay the same.
Aside from simply going through the degrees, what is the typical time commitment for the appendant bodies? Monthly meetings? More? Study time for proficiencies similar to blue lodge? Are the appendant bodies typically hurting for officers (i.e., will they be begging me to sit in a chair) as badly as blue lodge are? And if somehow I had a momentary lapse of sanity of volunteered for another office, is there as much memorization as there is in the first 3 degrees?

I'm feeling the itch a bit, but I'd like to get an idea of what I'm getting myself into.
 

David612

Registered User
I’m in no position to offer any real insight here I hear that some of the bodies meet quarterly or in off months however I belive the York and Scottish rights are more time intensive than other bodies.
 

CLewey44

Registered User
With the young family and SW duties, I would may hold out until after your year in the east. You're practically there. Maybe for now you and your wife could try OES just to dip her toes in it and it'll give you something to do there together maybe?
 

Glen Cook

G A Cook
Site Benefactor
If you join all three bodies of YR you should expect at least one meeting a month. I will defer to KY members as to whether there are more. They usually need officers. No memory work for degrees. The amount of memorization depends on whether your own YR bodies put on the degrees, or they use a festival system. I encourage all Masons to take the HRA. It completes the Hiramic legend and increases your traveling opportunities.

AASR SJ is a meeting a month. No memory work. However, if your participate in the degrees, you may have a requirement. It is pretty low impact otherwise.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
With the young family and SW duties, I would may hold out until after your year in the east. You're practically there. Maybe for now you and your wife could try OES just to dip her toes in it and it'll give you something to do there together maybe?
I should've been more clear; I don't intend to do anything until my time in the East is completed. Still, it seems that any more, Masonic years fly by.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
If you join all three bodies of YR you should expect at least one meeting a month. I will defer to KY members as to whether there are more. They usually need officers. No memory work for degrees. The amount of memorization depends on whether your own YR bodies put on the degrees, or they use a festival system. I encourage all Masons to take the HRA. It completes the Hiramic legend and increases your traveling opportunities.

AASR SJ is a meeting a month. No memory work. However, if your participate in the degrees, you may have a requirement. It is pretty low impact otherwise.
I'm in California now, but that's an excellent point that I'm sure each jurisdiction is different. Also, that's good to know that SR is 'low impact' (good term, by the way).

On the one hand, we all know brothers who join Masonry simply to get through the blue lodge an on to the appendant bodies. Generally, while it's their choice, this isn't great for blue lodges. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't doing the opposite; going through the appendant body for the degrees, but then negatively impacting the bodies by not being terribly active.
 

Glen Cook

G A Cook
Site Benefactor
Oh nice, that's a great idea. I'm actually in neither AASR or YR but I am in other bodies. I like the ones that meet maybe 4 or 5 times a year. That's the best vs. BL + YR+SR+OES unless your Brother @Warrior1256 :)
My problem is that when I add a bunch of four x a year, I still end up with a bunch of meetings : Mark lodge meets four x a year. AMD Council is four times. HRA chapter in Cheshire meets 3 x a year...
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
That reminds me of a recently passed brother from our lodge. He was our secretary, the secretary for the Red Cross of Constantine, Chief Adept for SRICF and about a million and one other things. A list was read off at his memorial and I believe in total he was a member of 49 different Masonic organizations. I can only imagine the depth of Masonic knowledge held by gentlemen like yourselves who have devoted such time.
 

David612

Registered User
That reminds me of a recently passed brother from our lodge. He was our secretary, the secretary for the Red Cross of Constantine, Chief Adept for SRICF and about a million and one other things. A list was read off at his memorial and I believe in total he was a member of 49 different Masonic organizations. I can only imagine the depth of Masonic knowledge held by gentlemen like yourselves who have devoted such time.
We lost a brother who was similar, he could walk into a lodge and regardless of the work the WM could ask him to deliver any charge in any degree and he would deliver it flawlessly.
 

Glen Cook

G A Cook
Site Benefactor
That reminds me of a recently passed brother from our lodge. He was our secretary, the secretary for the Red Cross of Constantine, Chief Adept for SRICF and about a million and one other things. A list was read off at his memorial and I believe in total he was a member of 49 different Masonic organizations. I can only imagine the depth of Masonic knowledge held by gentlemen like yourselves who have devoted such time.
You’re kind, and it’s some what hackneyed to say, but you really do get more out of it than what you put in.
 

Companion Joe

Premium Member
It's entirely up to what time you want to commit. My Lodge, Chapter, Council, and Commandery all meet locally in the same building, so I am pretty much there every time the door opens. More often than not, I'm the one opening the door.

If I had to drive a way for Commandery, I'm certain I'd miss meetings from time to time. Although York Rite College is perhaps my favorite body and it's large enough not to worry about attendance numbers, sometimes I miss meetings because of other commitments and where it meets.

I'd say it's fair to say many YR bodies across the country can use all the help they can get in terms of participation, sooooooooo if you attend regularly, you will perpetually be in a chair. As the old saying goes, if you want an office, be at the December meeting; if you really want an office, don't be at the December meeting.

The "it only meets four times a year" bodies can be a slippery slope. If you belong to something that meets, say, only on fifth Mondays, another that meets only on fifth Tuesdays, something else that meets fifth Thursdays, and one that meets fifth Fridays .... yeah, they meet four times a year, but those weeks with fifths in them are brutal.
 
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