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Conferring Degrees

Does your Lodge Confer Degrees?

  • No, we have a district degree team

    Votes: 1 1.1%
  • Yes, we confer degrees in house

    Votes: 90 98.9%

  • Total voters
    91

JTM

"Just in case"
Premium Member
That's great! Not only does that help those Brethren to prepare for a "B" certificate but it also makes them much more useful when helping other Lodges confer degrees.

it's true

Wow, out of 19 votes Gonzales is the only one who doesn't confer their own Degrees.

to be honest, i didn't know of any specific lodges that needed help with this. it's good to know that there are lodges there that had a problem so that we can help with that.

The problem I've seen with "District degree teams" is that Lodges come to depend on them & lose the ability to confer their own degrees. Even if your Lodge has to ask for help, I find that preferable to not being involved at all in the degrees. After all, the candidate joined a Lodge, not a district.

that's a wonderful point. perhaps a "district degree team" could not only confer, but be available for correct teaching, as well?

if i start a degree team, now that you've said that, i'll incorporate teaching.

Thanks for the post. GLoKy instituted a similar program last year. I think.

that's wonderful.
 

Bill Lins

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
that's a wonderful point. perhaps a "district degree team" could not only confer, but be available for correct teaching, as well?

if i start a degree team, now that you've said that, i'll incorporate teaching.

Great idea!
 

Timothy Fleischer

Registered User
I think for the A, you also have to know the circumabulation and prayers for the degrees, which are not strictly esoteric, as they are written down in full in the monitor.
 

Txmason

Registered User
JTM said:
i've thrown around the idea of putting a degree team together.

have dues and such for just the team to buy our wardrobe with, travel expenses, etc.

Do you need a traveling Masonic photographer? I have a website. Just PM me.

Jerry
 

Gerald.Harris

Premium Member
Premium Member
That is a great concept my brother. If you continue with this practice, sooner or later, everyone in the lodge room should be capable of working every station including the lectures. I wonder how many lodges could lay claim to that one?
some nights we'll do three EAs or multiple of the same degree. we usually have enough to have 3 seperate degree teams.

we have a guy named this years "degree master" and he puts people into parts they can do. nobody has their traditional "spots" that they stick to... usually everyone does everything.
 

Beathard

Premium Member
I am in the process of starting a certificate program at our lodge. Goal is to have several A certificates by summer 2012. We are also putting together a traveling degree team. I will implement the traveling instruction piece ad well. Thanks for the idea.
 

tom268

Registered User
In Germany, all lodges do their degrees by themselves. I think, nobody here would even have the idea to have it done by outsiders.
 

Beathard

Premium Member
The idea of a traveling team is to support small rural lodges. We have some lodges with 30 or less members. Many of these brothers are not able to work any longer. We can supply 1 or more parts in the degree and only where the need the help. As the grow, we can help teach the new brothers to do the work until the lodge can work on it's own again.
 

tom268

Registered User
It is always a matter of what we are used to. In my Province, we have 14 lodges, 3 of them have less than 20 members, the smallest has 14 members. They always do the ritual themselves, only in real bad times (vacation season) they need one or two brothers from neigboring lodges to fill in officers posts.

Degree teams just have no tradition here, and a lodge, that is not able to do their degree alone, is closed, the brothers join a neigbouring lodge.
 

Benton

Premium Member
It's worth noting that when many Texas lodges say degree teams, they mean a number of brothers within their own lodge that is the primary group who works degrees. Our lodge has a 'degree team' composed entirely of members in our lodge. If, for some reason, one of the brothers on the team can't make it to a degree, another brother within the lodge will step in and fill the role. We only require brothers from other lodges to assist during the summer when, like you said, many people are on vacation and it can be tough getting turn out for a called meeting.

So degree team doesn't necessarily refer to an outside team conferring the degree. In fact, I would assume it was an inhouse team unless told otherwise. (Or it's the particular topic of discussion, like in this thread.)
 

tom268

Registered User
Ah, interesting. I did understand that differently. But why not having the WM and his officers doing the degree? The candidate is the most important person at that moment of initiation, and he should be handled by the most important officer in the temple, not the "second guard".

A brother, who is not able to do the rituals would never become WM or any other officer's post.
 

Beathard

Premium Member
That hits the nail on the head. Our best ritualists are not necessarily interested in administration. Our best administrators do not necessarily know the entire ritual. If we relied on the officers in my three lodges to do the degrees, they would be no degree work. I do believe that our current officers are some of the best at running the lodge. In Texas I believe that it would be an exception to the norm for the officers to do the degree work in their stations and places.
 

tom268

Registered User
You see, how different masonry can be. A WM, who is not willing or able to do the degree, would be ...... extremely exotic. And a brother, who cannot do the ritual would never become an officer other than organist or table steward. I'm an officer for 12 years now, and an Assistant WM for 3, and I never saw administration of a lodge as a difficult task. But maybe that is, because few of our lodges excedes 100 members.
 

MikeMay

Premium Member
That hits the nail on the head. Our best ritualists are not necessarily interested in administration. Our best administrators do not necessarily know the entire ritual. If we relied on the officers in my three lodges to do the degrees, they would be no degree work. I do believe that our current officers are some of the best at running the lodge. In Texas I believe that it would be an exception to the norm for the officers to do the degree work in their stations and places.

I agree, if we relied on the installed officers to do "all" the work...they'd get burned out in a hurry. Having the degree teams allows younger brothers to learn the rituals and get's them involved as well. Its good to have our more experienced brothers along side our younger brothers teaching and mentoring inside the lodge.
 

tom268

Registered User
I agree, if we relied on the installed officers to do "all" the work...they'd get burned out in a hurry.
I really need to take a closer look into your lodge business, some day. In Germany, the lodge officers do the degree work and the administration alone. We have only one general meeting per year, where things like annual fees and such are discussed. All other meetings are ritual meetings or social events, where no business is discussed. All else is done among the officers and by the officers. Usual term of office for my jurisdiction is 3 years, but GL expects the WM to do 9 years, if no circumstances prevent that.
 

Benton

Premium Member
Wait, nine whole years as Worshipful Master? If that's the case, our lodge officers rotate much more frequently. Most lodges have the WM serving a term of only one year.

They often refer to going through the 'chairs', as in the sequence of offices leading up to the East. It typically goes from JD, to SD, to JW, to SW, then WM. Although lower offices can be included, and I believe there is some leeway within the individual lodge as to how the chairs are set up.

One can be WM multiple times, but unless there is some special circumstance (a SW not wanting to move to the East) the WM only serves as such for one year at a time, typically. He would only go back into the office, as I said, to fill a void, or if he wanted to move through the chairs again.
 

Dave in Waco

Premium Member
We had one of those situation in my lodge a few years ago where the WM did more then 1 term. The SW was getting ready to move to the East, and he got a big promotion onto a project that was going to take enough of his time that he didn't think he would have the time to properly execute the duties of the WM for the year. As luck would have it, the SD coming up was being transferred with his job so the SW and JW just switched chairs and the WM stayed there for another year. I would say it worked out good in the long run, since that SW is WM this year and has done a great job with the lodge.
 

tom268

Registered User
We don't have this walk through the chairs here. We have jurisdictions with shorter terms, 1 year like you have, but most have at least 2 years, and my GL 3 to 3x3, as I mentioned before. Candidates for WM election usually were officers before, but that is not necessary. You just need to be MM in most jurisdiction, or 6th degree in mine, the Swedish Rite in Germany. Many officers, especially the wardens, keep their office for many years, if they are good (and stay interested). Our SW has his office for over 10 years now, and it is very likely, that he never advance to the chair in the East. Most brothers never do.
 
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