It has been my experience as a NC Mason that visiting prince hall even in our state is a little bit tricky. Most visitation apparently happens in city areas, not rural. The Prince Hall GL website does not list the numbers for the masters and secretaries, only the DDGMs. Ours is the opposite.
It gets rather frustrating when I've got to call a DDGM only to find out he's not the head over the district of the lodge I'd like to visit , and then be told I don't know what district that's in by the DDGM. It makes for quite a bunch of calls to make , just to find out if I'll even be accepted into their local lodge. Unfortunately; even though there is recognition I've been yelled at over the phone for a solid 30 minutes on more than one occasion by a particular Prince Hall AGL for wanting to visit lodges that are Prince Hall in NC....even in his district
His question to me " Why do you find prince hall Masonry interesting ( and no this wasn't in a friendly tone )" ? And " Why on earth do you want to visit our lodges"?
How about , it is steeped in tradition and history , they do tons of service for the community and their ritual is quite different than NC Mainstream ritual PLUS we have recognition. I've also heard more racial slurs then I care to count in my local lodge that I'm from about prince hall brothers, I want to prove some brethren in my lodge wrong as far as their actions by the love I choose to extend to ALL brethren , if that makes sense.
Another avenue where things get tricky as far as my experience with prince hall has been finding out transportation to lodge meetings or degree work ( I can't drive due to a visual impairment)
Recently , I've been invited to a district raising in Durham . That's 30 minutes from my campus. The master of the lodge is looking into people to get me there, dome hell or high water. He did advise me to check locally as well. So that's what I did. The local PH DDGM lives near my campus . I asked him if any of the members of his lodge or district were attending. He said no, which was fine. But then he said something that threw me for a loop . He told me to call the Grand Secretary for MWPHGLNC and ask him about finding transportation.....
As much as I'm willing to try that I'd rather not run the risk of pissing any more Prince hall brothers off. But then again I'm not in Masonry to be a people pleaser
I love fellowshipping with my prince hall brothers , I just wish it wasn't such a tough process to go visit.
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