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Unexpectedly Transferred

Mark Petro

Registered User
I was supposed to be in El Paso for at least another year, and I was hoping to sit in the south, running for JW this month. Now I got the word I will be leaving for MO in a few months, KC to be exact. Should I demit? Should I join a lodge in MO? I will only be there temporarily, 3 years at most. What do you guys think?
 

Brother JC

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
Moving back to EP afterwards? Keep your membership where it is and visit while you’re in MO. Maybe become a plural member but there’s no real reason to quit this lodge.
 

Brother JC

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
Tough call, then. How many memberships do you want? You can stay with that lodge till you settle and then change.
Demitting isn’t as much a requirement as it used to be, unless you’re in a jurisdiction that forbids plural membership.
Me? I’d keep the one and wait. Your mileage may vary.
 

Winter

Premium Member
That's going to be a tough call then. I never plan to move back to Wisconsin but I maintain my membership there because it was where I was raised. It will all come down to how much connection you want to maintain with your Lodge in TX.
 

goomba

Neo-Antient
Site Benefactor
My father and both grand fathers were raised in Alabama. I was raised in Alabama. When I moved to Maryland/DC I demitted and joined a lodge near my home. I am grateful for the lodge in Alabama that accepted my petition and made me a Mason. However, I don't grasp the concept of maintaining membership in a lodge I'll not be active in. I may be missing a sentimental gene. Additionally by having members on the books that are unable to attend because they moved and won't go back it inflates membership numbers. I am assuming I'll be in the minority on this topic.
 

Mark Petro

Registered User
I'm on the fence on that one. The lodge I was raised in will always be my mother lodge, and I will always feel a love and connection to it and all my brothers there.
 

Winter

Premium Member
If your not attending the lodge then maintaining a membership in it is pointless.
Are you sure about that? A lot of Brothers, myself included, who have changed locations want to maintain a connection with our home Lodge. Even if life takes us to another location. I keep my membership in the Lodge I was Raised in to continue my financial support of it. And I maintain my membership in the Lodge that I am a Founder in because I helped to start it. Doesnt sound pointless to me.

Transmitted via R5 astromech using Tapatalk Galactic
 

David612

Registered User
Then nine-tenths of all Masons have pointless memberships (based on the average attendance in most lodges).
Locally I don’t see that issue-
Our dues being approximately $500 per year tend to weed out sympathetic memberships.
Obviously free money from absentees is great but lodges need butts in seats.
 

Brother JC

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
If US lodges would bring dues into the 21st century there would probably be a better average... and fewer members overall.
 

chrmc

Registered User
You don't have to make a decision here and now. You're dues for 2019 has been paid, so let time work for you. Move, see what you find at your new place and take it as it comes. It's a lot easier to pay due for one more year and then demit, than doing it and then have to be reinstated later.
 

CLewey44

Registered User
I was supposed to be in El Paso for at least another year, and I was hoping to sit in the south, running for JW this month. Now I got the word I will be leaving for MO in a few months, KC to be exact. Should I demit? Should I join a lodge in MO? I will only be there temporarily, 3 years at most. What do you guys think?

I haven't read all of the replies but I would say just keep in good standing at your 'mother lodge' there in El Paso until you settle down for good somewhere. You can find a nice lodge to have an extended visitation with and still be involved. You won't be able to hold any offices but that's ok because you can still help with ritual and other things that lodge does. Demitting and then joining somewhere in KC will take AT LEAST a year, believe me I know, then to have to turn around and move again in three years; it won't be worth the trouble. If you find out you're going to stay in KC forever or at least a long time, it may be worth it. I would definitely just pay your dues in El Paso and stay up to date on that so you don't have to be reinstated or worse yet, completely lose interest and drop out completely.

I wish you the best of luck in this decision.
 

Bloke

Premium Member
I was supposed to be in El Paso for at least another year, and I was hoping to sit in the south, running for JW this month. Now I got the word I will be leaving for MO in a few months, KC to be exact. Should I demit? Should I join a lodge in MO? I will only be there temporarily, 3 years at most. What do you guys think?
I'd stay a member of your mother lodge and visit while there.. fingers crossed they have dual recognition ? And even better dual membership.
 
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