An old man in his dotage

.

I don't think it's right to judge him because he might go off on side trips while talking.

Any man who seeks light should be welcome in Masonry.

Some of us seek light in our 20's
Some when we're in our 90's.

To me it's like an atheist finding religion at the end of life. It's not about when you find it. It's just finding it.

If he's willing to try and wants to better himself I think that's awesome.


Sorry but I feel passionate about this post.


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dfreybur said:

While legal systems need to declare ages for various legal status situations, Masonry does not need to do that. To me dotage is about mental acuity. I've met men in their 30s I didn't think could handle the content of the degrees and men at 100 who have a lot to teach about the content of the degrees.

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This. My understanding of the prohibition on making Masons of "old men in dotage" has to do with the "free will and accord" requirement. If a man is so addled by age-related dementia that you don't believe he truly is able to understand what he is obligating himself to, you should not make him a Mason. If you believe that he is able to understand the obligation, then dotage doesn't come into play.

In addition, unless he clearly signals that he is only joining to get to the Shrine, you should not assign some "suspicion" to him and assume "facts not in evidence."

We had an initiate who was 83, he enjoyed masonry for 7 years before going to the Grand Lodge above. He even enjoyed 12 months as a steward. His ritual was pretty good as well.


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Last Saturday I had the privilege of conferring the Master's degree on an 82-year-old brother... I had done his EA back last November, and all of his lectures and mentoring. Brother B wasn't able to memorize and repeat back the lecture word-perfect, but he was able to prove a working knowledge of the information. The fellow is mentally sharp, it's jutst that short-term memory centers sometimes get affected as we grow older. I lost both my parents in the past few years to Alzheimers and stroke-induced dementia, so to me, "dotage" means that the person is mentally impaired to an extent where he (or she) is unable to make reasonable decisions on their own behalf. Mere age is not that much of a factor as is mental capacity and the ability to make reasoned decisions.