Pointing out the Elephant...

[Frater Cliff Porter]

If you charge for Masonry you have to get off your duff and provide something for the money you are charging. The real elephant in the room is that Masonry is chalk full of idea havers and very few doers.

If you begin to charge for Masonry, Masons are going to want fulfilling, stimulating, and challenging programs at lodge. That takes hard work, planing and constant care.

I don't believe Grand Lodges can fix Masonry anymore than I believe more government can fix our country. GL's are supposed to be nothing more than the administrative head of a large volunteer group, not some sort of ruling class whose whims and fashions are the rule of the day.

We don't need GL's to fix this problem and in many ways we don't need their permission to fix it. Success is addictive and if you charge accordingly in your lodges to bring fulfilling programs, your numbers stabilize and the membership is excited and involved...even if your Grand Lodge doesn't like the fact that you are doing things a little different, it will be unpopular to work against you.

Then prevailing attitudes will change and you will find that your GL supports you and other lodges line up to emulate you.

This takes work. And from my personal experience it takes a couple of solid doers who are comfortable with the fact that a couple of Brothers will need to do the lions share of all the work at first and for a long while until others feel comfortable jumping in.

My lodge charges $400 to join and $365 dues and $42 per capita to the Grand Lodge for a total of $407 a year and I am certain we are the most expensive lodge in Colorado. We have a several year waiting list to become a member, our success is incredible, and we still work our butts off to provide quality programs. In August we are hosting the MRF National Symposium and bring in Timothy Freke from the U.K. to discuss Gnosticism.

Anyway, I agree...fund Masonry adequately to provide quality programs...but then we need to provide quality programs.

 

[peace out]

I was just passed from the NE corner to the middle chamber, so my perspective is narrow and probably naive. However, my view of the entrance into Masonry is crystal clear and I can already see some cracks worthy of attention.

A primary point of issue I have seen is a lack of visibility and complacency. It's not unfathomable why numbers have swelled lately given the media attention via books and movies. Heck, that's one of the sparks for my initial investigation. Why is it I almost had to beg someone to talk to me about Masonry? Why did I get the feeling people weren't jumping at the chance to work with me for the EA proficiency? As others have already said, there's a complacency in the ranks. When I did my EA test last week, another EA initiate came to watch. I quickly introduced myself to him. He has been an initiate for several months and apparently has only been trying to work with one person to prepare for the prof. Now, I am sure that could partly fall on him, but I instantly gave him my contact info and offered to get him going on it. It just didn't seem like anyone was excited to help him. It seems like there wasn't much excitement at all except for a few.

Well, there is a huge lack in civility, morals, and ethics in the world and I think the Masonic Lodges can be one of the bright lights on the "north" of the world. It doesn't take money, just time, desire, excitement, respect, effort, and goals. But we first have to bind together in our Lodges. We first have to really feel like true brothers with common goals before we can go out and start making differences. Complacency, I fear. But it is this current atmosphere that excites me. Maybe it's the doer in me that likes the challenge of bringing a Lodge from the edge to the beauty that once was. Imagine another portrait of a future president adorned in the regalia of a Mason like that of Washington!

I very much look forward to learning more from y'alls wisdom here and to the time where I can help apply ideas to my lodge.

I like this thread and this entire forum. What a great place Masons might meet for pseudo work!

 

[Dave in Waco]

I believe you've made some good observations Brother. I just attended the Junior Warden's Retreat this weekend, and one of the things they stressed was that in 1977, we lost 15% of EA's. 30 years later in 2007, that percentage rose to 33% loss of EA's. I do believe what you said is a prime example of why we have been losing so many EA's. One of the things my Lodge has done in addition to having mentor, we also have a weekly work night. It gives a chance for the EA to be involved with many of the brothers in the Lodge instead of having to depend on a single mentor. Since we've been doing this, we haven't lost an EA.

 

[JEbeling]

The Elephant in the room is : maybe we should shorten the EA work... ! make the second and third sections optional.. ? now before we hear from the committee on Hope and Change (Work) .. ! when Grand Master Jack Kelly did this in his year we lost very few.. !

Do we shoot our self in the foot when we are so hard headed .. ! rather than shorten the work we will except loosing 33% of the EA's..?

 

[Blake Bowden]

The retention problem with EA's is obvious: lack of education prior to joining or lack of support once they do.

 

[Dave in Waco]

The retention problem with EA's is obvious: lack of education prior to joining or lack of support once they do.

I completely agree. At the JW Retreat this weekend, one of the JW's there spoke about a man who joined because he honestly thought we were actively trying to bring about the destruction of all the world governments. Unfortunately, this didn't come out until after he had been initiated. That lead to a discussion about properly investigating candidates. One suggestion that was brought it, was for the married guys on Investigation committees was to take your wife when you do an investigation, especially for married candidates. Because let's face it, if you ask any Brother who has been deeply involved in the Craft how they are able to be so active in Freemasonry, the first answer most will give is, "Because my wife let's me." I heard that answer many times this weekend from the Grand Master on down, and it's true.

Then once you have a newly initiated EA, it's very important that you get him involved as soon as you can. A good idea for that I heard, is to during his first meeting, appoint him to a Greeting Committee. His duties are simply to greet everyone who walks in for meetings regardless of if they are another EA, new MM, 50 year MM who's a PM, or other visitor. But it gives the EA a purpose in the Lodge while helping him to meet all his new brothers and they meet him. And for the brothers in the Lodge, it puts a face and person with the name as they get to know him.

 

[JEbeling]

Thats great Dave.. ! but 33% of our EA's are not advancing..? I don't have all the answers but we don't seem to be addressing the problem.. ! we keep looking over it hoping for some divine intervention.. ! every Grand Lodge has shorten the work.. ! they are starting membership drives.. ! doing everything they can at the Grand Lodge level to help the lodges.. ! our Grand Lodge goes out of its way to make things hard on EA's and new Worshipful Masters.. ! they seem to want fewer mason but all holding a certificate and club of Committe on Hope and Change (work) .. ! and when you talk to them about this they all say "well its so easy"... ? yeah for some its easy but other have trouble with it.. ! sometime its a matter of time others seem to have a hard time retaining the work.. ! but what ever the problem is.. ! we need to work around it to advance more of our EA's

 

[Dave in Waco]

Personally, I don't think it's the amount of work the EA's have to turn in. Lessening the work to me will devalue the degree. It's like any accomplishment, the one you are most proud of is the one you had to work the most at. As many have pointed out already Masonry is cheap in Texas, so why cheapen the EA degree even more, after all that is every Mason's foundation and without a good foundation your building will crumble.

The secret is getting EA's involved. When you belong to something, and not just simply a member, you become more vested in it. When young EA's are set to work in the Lodge on some type of greeting committee, they are given a purpose in the Lodge and a better sense of belonging to the Lodge. The brothers become his friends and not just the group of strangers who belong to the same club. The Lodge becomes his home and he has invested his time and energy into making the Lodge a better place and into his home. And when people are at home in a place and with the people there, they will spend time there.

Plus you have to look at lessening the work in another manner. If a guy comes in and only has to do half the work you had to do to get to the same level, does that really make him an equal in your eyes? Will you feel that he has truly achieved the same stand of being a MM or would you always see him as a MM* (* - turned in lesser work)?

 

[Frater Cliff Porter]

It is foolish to look at a symptom and believe that the problem is resolved by lowering a standard or creating relativism. This would be like saying that 33 percent of all marriages end in divorce due to adultery...so we should encourage polyamory and change the standard that multiple sex partners is standard and given....this way marriages won't end in divorce due to philandery, we will just make philandering the new standard.

It will not work, does not treat the problem, and will not fulfill those who are trying to seek the messages and meanings, the deeper meanings, of Masonry.

Get ride of the sporks and foons, stop pretending things are fine, stop believing that we can do the same thing over and over to larger groups of men and eventually it will fix the problem.

We need to immediately:

Follow our obligations and educate our Brothers

Let Masonry shrink when it needs to. (In other words the same 15 guys in a town can't keep pretending that both blue lodges are fine, that the YR, SR, Shrine, White Shrine, Amaranth, High 12, Eastern Star, etc....are all healthy. We should pull pack when needed, let the (hold on to your seats here) LESS IMPORTANT groups die or shrink away when their is not a realistic population to support them.

Get ride of unrealistic meeting schedules. Meet once a month for education and make it count. Put time, effort, and yes money into the meeting. Occidental Lodge in Colorado started doing just that and meeting attendance is up 250%. At my home lodge we suffer higher than 100% attendance at every meeting. It works. Limit your business meetings to the number actually needed...4, 6, 12 whatever, but get in, get out and handle business. Keep business and educational awareness and degree work separate.

This is important...if Masonry is special we have to treat it as such.

Plastic forks, crappy food, rushed degrees, and little to no care given to the temple does not communicate WE CARE and THIS IS SPECIAL.

Time you say...I don't have the time...well, back to my other point. Join less stuff and lets all turn to Blue Lodge. Until we heal blue lodge, everything suffers and all the appendant bodies in the world will not save blue lodge...the tail doesn't wag the dog.

 

[JEbeling]

Well you see thats the problem.. ! everytime anyone address the problem you hear words like "Devalue" or what ever word they chose that refers to some type of uneducated EA...? but when you meet other brothern from other Grand Lodges.. ! do we view them as second class masons' because they didn't learn the second and third section of the EA...?

It boils down to matter of numbers.. ! if we go from 264,000 in the 60's to 120,000 in the 2010's .. ! we hear that all orginizations are having membership problems.. ! but we don't seem to be able to address ours.. ! it just seems like we are willing to live or die protecting some notion that this was handed down from the Grand Lodge of England and must be defended... ! most of the work we do was developed in the 1930's to 40's and very few Grand Lodges have any where close to the amout of the EA work..?

 

[Dave in Waco]

Bro. Cliff, I understand what you are saying and believe you make some good points. Even at the Blue Lodge level in my town, we have 8 Lodges in a city with a population of just over 100,000. and another 8 in surrounding towns. Many have memberships of 100+, but most of those members haven't adorned the Lodge room in decades. Many of those same Lodges couldn't open an EA Lodge on a normal stated meeting night for lack of people. Many of those Lodges need to either merge or go dark.

Out of curiosity Bro. Cliff, could you provide an outline and/or example of one of your meetings?

 

[owls84]

I don’t think the amount of EA work is the issue. It is an ownership issue. Why would they become involved in something that is not theirs? What do we do with our EAs? Sit them with a Brother one on one every time they come to Lodge while the rest go practice a degree? How much ownership can one have in this process? We have begun to engage our EAs with educational programs and other means. Look at some of the other Grand Lodge educational programs. Now look at ours? How can you expect a new candidate to care if we don't care enough to update our mandatory programs in over 10 years? It’s sad. Since we have begun having EAs present papers and host educational programs we have about a 1 out of 6 dropout rate for the past 2 years. Our program has been sent to the education committee and it was handed to Tommy Griffin but not one person cared to contact us or follow up.

To single out the amount of education the EA has to do I think is wrong. We require our EAs to present a paper whether they found it, or wrote it, along with peer review of their personality and approval of a mentor before they move to EA. Our results of retention have gone through the roof. So I respectfully disagree. I think we need to change the way we educate and show there is more to what we do than Q&A. If you look at the proceedings of the Q&A it is a direct result of the membership quality going down and the intent was for a measureable requirement is made so not just anyone would join. It was an elimination process. Problem is a majority of the older members don't know anything outside of the Q&A. They don't know that a lot of our ritual is Pagan and not Christian and focuses on Astrology and the movement of the planets and stars, nor do they care. Masonry to them is not what people are joining for. I have heard a guy that transferred to my Lodge from another flat out tell me that the other Lodge was a joke and we "get it". So want to know why people are leaving, then make it something worth staying for. Otherwise stand aside while the Lodges that “get it†can grow but for Pete’s sake don’t make us the Kiwanians.

 

[owls84]

The Elephant in the room is : maybe we should shorten the EA work... ! make the second and third sections optional.. ? now before we hear from the committee on Hope and Change (Work) .. ! when Grand Master Jack Kelly did this in his year we lost very few.. !

Do we shoot our self in the foot when we are so hard headed .. ! rather than shorten the work we will except loosing 33% of the EA's..?

Yeah the guys that joined during this time went NPD. Good solution. Lets get em through the Masters so they can just pay dues each year and not show up. Hell why not have one day degrees and put on many at once so there is no ownership or sacrifice.

 

[Dave in Waco]

Well you see thats the problem.. ! everytime anyone address the problem you hear words like "Devalue" or what ever word they chose that refers to some type of uneducated EA...? but when you meet other brothern from other Grand Lodges.. ! do we view them as second class masons' because they didn't learn the second and third section of the EA...?

It boils down to matter of numbers.. ! if we go from 264,000 in the 60's to 120,000 in the 2010's .. ! we hear that all orginizations are having membership problems.. ! but we don't seem to be able to address ours.. ! it just seems like we are willing to live or die protecting some notion that this was handed down from the Grand Lodge of England and must be defended... ! most of the work we do was developed in the 1930's to 40's and very few Grand Lodges have any where close to the amout of the EA work..?

Yes, I think a lot of people would look down a bit at those that didn't put in the same work they did. Probably not openly, and probably not all. There will still be those that would go above and beyond what is required of them. They do it now when you look at some of the old PM's verses some of the new. The old PM's conferred their degrees or at least had conferred a degree before they advanced to the East. Now many of the old ones don't quite give the same respect to the newer PM's especially if they know they have never conferred a degree.

I disagree that it boils down to numbers. What would you rather have 200 people where you got work out of 10% or 50 people where you got work out of 90%? Plus those numbers of 264,000 in the 60's to 120,00 in 2010 don't tell the whole story. Right now, membership is on the rise in Texas. The gap is coming from from the huge drop in new membership in the late 60's and 70's, when many young men chose not to follow in their father's footsteps, which included following them into Masonry. Right now, we are still losing more Masons to death then we are bringing in as the demographics shift. It used to be the 60+ demographic made up some 80-90% of all Masons in Texas. That is shifting and the under 40 range now makes up about 25-30% of Texas Masons with that older generation making up less then 60%.

Regardless, lowering standards only serves one purpose and that is to elevate quanity usually at the cost of quality.

 

[Sirius]

Our program has been sent to the education committee and it was handed to Tommy Griffin but not one person cared to contact us or follow up.

They don't know that a lot of our ritual is Pagan and not Christian and focuses on Astrology and the movement of the planets and stars, nor do they care. Masonry to them is not what people are joining for. I have heard a guy that transferred to my Lodge from another flat out tell me that the other Lodge was a joke and we "get it". So want to know why people are leaving, then make it something worth staying for. Otherwise stand aside while the Lodges that “get it†can grow but for Pete’s sake don’t make us the Kiwanians.

I here a lot of call to action. But what is that action? Is there a legislative agenda that could fix some of these things. Just putting a paper in the hands of a GM does not actually do anything.

As for the Kiwians. I Agree whole heartily. And I've been called some ugly things for doing so. We are a lot more than just your run of the mill fraternity. But how do we preserve that? Again is there a way ,you think, to fix this using the power of the state wide organization?

 

[Frater Cliff Porter]

Brother Dave the way we operate is this (insert disclaimer: I am certain that lodges should be independent, free, and individual with their flavor, flare, and approach to Masonry. I also believe that all lodges should fulfill their members and far to many Masons spend time talking about why we can’t do something instead of trying something new):

A lodge meeting for our lodge looks/feels/sounds like this:

Brothers start to gather at the temple around 8:00 a.m. on Saturdays. We have a Saturday meeting day so that we can work this way. The “set up crew†sets up the temple and then grabs a bit to eat together.

The regular attendees show up around 2:00 for the 3:00 p.m. meeting.

Brothers are dress in tailcoat tuxedos with white pique shirt, vest, and tie. The brothers also wear white gloves (most wear a pair of white cotton with a skull and cross bones stitched on the back of the hand with the numbers 198 in roman numerals circumscribing the skull. This is the lodge uniform and we even have a by-law restricting the wearing of lapel pins.

Benadictine chant picked for its numerological and vibrational qualities is played as the brothers, led by the marshal process slowly into lodge. First visitors are led in, then members, then officers. All circumambulate the alter slowly prior to walking to their seat at the direction of the marshal. All stand at the sign of Fidelity until the Master raps the gavel.

The room is set with many candles and this serves as the lighting source, except for the “G†which is illuminated by a soft light shinning down upon it.

Lodge is opened using standard Colorado work.

We move to a period of meditation to quiet are minds and ready our spirits for the Work.

We present the speaker which could be and has been:

Authors of books such as Kevin Townley, Tim Hogan, Louis Sahagun, Dr. Casey Blood, Dr. Josh Gunn, Prof. Jim Garrette, etc.

or a Brother presenting a paper that is important to him…

or a Masonic speaker from a different lodge such as Ray Mahoney who walked us through some Native American drumming and explained similarities between Masonry, the Native American traditions, and Tarot.

or a Degree. In which event only one Brother is done on any given night. If it an EA degree he is picked up at his home in a large limousine by several Brothers who hoodwink him at his home and he rides in silence to an undisclosed location where he will remove his hoodwink the Chamber of Reflection and spend an hour or so. The answers to his questions will be read in lodge prior to initiation and we ascertain that there are no objections to proceeding with the work.

The degrees are practiced heavily by the members and those who do not step up during practice are seated for the degree and Brothers showing proficiency are put in their place. We do not allow poor ritual work because we do not want to hurt someone’s feelings. It hurts everyone’s feelings when someone does crappy work and it is disrespectful when people fail to practice….so we uphold this standard.

At the end of a meeting we have a formal meal around a set of tables set up in a “U†pattern.

We have a small ritual to open dinner and we toast and have discussion. We pay $25 a meal and enjoy it with wine, beer, and spirits.

When dinner is complete we usually wrap up with Scotch and cigars.

I usually return home around 10 p.m.

Many of the wives often get together and split a sitter or the like and it is not uncommon for me to beat my wife home on a lodge night as she is still hanging with the other wives and is out having a good time.

I love lodge and look forward to every minute of it.

 

[Dave in Waco]

Brother Cliff, that sounds a lot like the English Lodges in its set up and formality. As a side note, I remember Brother Cliff saying their dues are over $400 and I know dues over in English Lodges are usually at least that high and neither seems to have a shortage of members. Again that can go back to Masonry here being too cheap.

But back to the subject, one can see how an EA degree would certainly make a strong impression upon a candidate. A reflection chamber is something one of my Lodge brothers has brought up in our discussions. With such attention to the details and getting skills honed to such a degree, it would put the candidate in awe that some much work had been done for his benefit.

I love the idea of a formal Lodge meeting like that. In Texas there are some things we wouldn't be able to do since by Grand Lodge Law all of our Lodge buildings are dry. Plus most buildings are also "No Smoking" buildings. Still I think there are some solid practices that we could adapt to our Lodges here. I know for me personally, every degree should be almost a stage production in itself. The players should all be practiced. I know a few months ago I passed on my first chance to confer an EA because I was still stumbling on a part of it, and I didn't want to give the guy a bad degree especially on his first degree.

I do thank you for the valuable insight Brother Cliff. Next time I'm in Colorado, I am definately looking you and your Lodge up Brother Cliff.

 

[Frater Cliff Porter]

We love to share in lodge with visiting Brethren. You are welcome in my home as well.

 

[Ashton Lawson]

Your lodge sounds like heaven to me Cliff. Shame I can't get my wife to move to Colorado...and I've been trying for ten years!

 

[Benton]

As an FC soon to be raised (looking at tomorrow night!), I'd like to jump in and add, shortening the EA work is NOT the answer. In fact, if anything, I wish there was a bit more to it or the FC to further explain many customs and symbolism not covered in the work! (Perhaps some of it will be further covered in the MM degree, I'll find out tomorrow.)

I'll further say, I think the dues ought to be upped, both because of what we can potentially do with the money (charity and programs within the lodges) and because they are kinda insultingly cheap right now. I'm a broke college student, but both of my college fraternities (I'm in two) are more expensive than Freemasonry. And one of them is the cheapest fraternity on campus!

So, Freemasonry is cheaper than any Greek organization at my University. I know that a couple of them are outrageously priced because of their houses, or all the alcohol they buy (not the frats I'm in!), but still. Coming out of the two fraternities I'm in, it was kind of a shock to find out that the oldest fraternity in the world was cheaper. On the one hand, I was extremely relieved. Helps us poor youngins working on our degrees afford the fraternity! Still, it was kind of a jarring impression that isn't easily forgotten.

I think the biggest thing I've observed over the past months is simply we, as Masons, need to take pride in our fraternity and take it seriously. I'm not saying we don't need to laugh and joke around, shoot the bull and meet in fellowship! That's vital. But pretend when you're presenting work that its for a grade, or an job interview, or whatever. Whether you're the JD or the WM, every part is vital, and should be appropriately polished and respected. If we don't respect our work, no one else will. It's up to us to raise the standard.

That said, if our lodge's dues had been $400, I wouldn't be petitioning for another two, maybe three years. That's out of my price range. When it's that expensive, you really do cut out some potential members. I'm for a price increase, but a modest one. No disrespect meant, Cliff, none at all. That's a viable price for some lodges, but not all. Which is the beauty of diversity in our lodges.

Anyway, to the point, I don't want my Masonry cheapened. Don't give me shorter EA work. Don't give me one day degrees. None of that garbage. The best things in life are worked for, by the sweat of the brow. We are to await the time with patience: Something we have far to little of in today's world! No, the answer isn't cheapening anything, making anything easier. It's taking pride in what we do and holding ourselves to a higher standard. Being a light in your community of virtue, charity, and manhood that others can look up to. That will drawn men into Freemasonry and keep them there.

My generation doesn't want a quicker, easier lunch like some people think. They may not know it yet, but they want to be challenged and presented with something of substance and value. Masonry can give them that, if we treat it properly.