acjohnson53
Registered User
Where are you from???
Big Dawg not hating on you about your age, but what does a fifteen year old have in common with a fifty year old???you should be focusing high school stuff, like football, basketball, girls..we are not going anywhere.
Speaking of change, what's anyone's thoughts on allowing 16 and 17 year old guys to petition and even receive the EA degree and then receive FC and MM after the age of 18 or 21? Also, hold stated meetings on that degree? Idk, just thought of it as a way to keep good, young men on the right track and instill some lessons in them for manhood.
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=3051Speaking of change, what's anyone's thoughts on allowing 16 and 17 year old guys to petition and even receive the EA degree and then receive FC and MM after the age of 18 or 21? Also, hold stated meetings on that degree? Idk, just thought of it as a way to keep good, young men on the right track and instill some lessons in them for manhood.
Good article from a great hospital nearby actually. I understand the human brain isn't fully "set" until around the age of 25 (which would by default put into question allowing 18 or 21 year olds into Masonry as well) but the EA degree is the most basic degree in regards to its obligation and how it relates to that age group pretty well.
18 in my jurisdiction
And we don’t have the demolay
Demolay doesn't exist in many areas....or its hanging by a thread.
Speaking of change, what's anyone's thoughts on allowing 16 and 17 year old guys to petition and even receive the EA degree and then receive FC and MM after the age of 18 or 21?
Also, hold stated meetings on that degree?
Idk, just thought of it as a way to keep good, young men on the right track and instill some lessons in them for manhood.
Good idea actually.Noted, and I expected those answers when I posted. So... how to go about it?
Getting this accomplished at Grand Lodge level could take years, decades. The first thing to see is do you have a target audience? Are there 16-year olds in your area who are interested in Freemasonry? Yes? Then start a club at your local lodge; Balderdash #101 Young Apprentice Club or some such. There are many lessons within the Degrees that can be studied without going through the Degrees. Basic lessons in Citizenship, social consciousness, working within the community, etc. There is much that can be done with youth that will instill a sense of pride in the Craft without them needing to join, and they will feel they are a part of the membership. Go to refreshment during the Stated, bring them in, honour them. Create a small ceremony for them.
Or wait till they're 25 and hope for the best.
Our area has Demolay but only one member from what I heard. It is alive in some places but unfortunately dying a slow death.Drinking age laws have already been rolled back up to 21 in most of the US. Lowering the age to petition to 18 was enough. To me that topic is over. I am not willing to compromise matters of age without hard data from jurisdictions that did that and that it actually works to admit boys who are not yet mature. The closest I know to such data is DeMolay and their data says to not do it.
The world wide standard is and has always been business meetings in the first degree. Holding degrees in the third degree was a mutant reaction to the panic of the anti-Masonic movement in the US in the 1840s. It's a mutation that should have been culled out of our ways by the 1880s. It is not correlated to age of petitioners.
That's why DeMolay was chartered.
To be fairl the 50 year old is probably out numbered by the 80 year olds-
Should just wait to be 80.
Exactly right, just the idea of waiting until your 40-50+ seems pointless.I agree - but in my lodge, the largest cohort is 34-45. It was not like that ten years ago but we should not forget to survive for more than a generation, Lodges need to always have an eye and take action on renewal. Our youngest member is 21 and joined when 18. It is not the age that matters, it is the maturity, good character and good heart.
Here, you can petition at 17 but cannot join until 18. This means we could initiate someone on their 18th Birthday.
I always remember my proposers words;Exactly right, just the idea of waiting until your 40-50+ seems pointless.
I actually got told by a rabbi that I shouldn’t look into the Kabbalah until I’m 40 at least.
Frankly being a numpty knows no age.