The Masonic Roundtable Discusses CIVL #190 with Special Guest, Nick Laine

As many of you have seen over the years on this space and on others, I am a CIVL evangelist. CIVL, or Castle Island Virtual Lodge, is the world's first lodge to meet online. (You could read more about my first visit here.)

I was fortunate to invite my friends, the knights of the Masonic Roundtable, to attend a meeting. I think each of them experienced a profound re-imagining of what Masonry is. We were also very blessed to have CIVL's current Lodge Education Officer in attendance to explain the specifics of the lodge for our viewers. You can get the full scoop, including their thoughts, by watching the video below.



You can read the show notes here.

I really love each visit to CIVL. I love it so much that I think I will seek plural membership in the future.

What do you think of CIVL? Do you love it? Hate it? Are somehow indifferent? Leave a comment below.

The first every Grand Master AMA in Reddit history on now

The Grand Master of Masons of Connecticut, MW Bro. Simon LaPlace, is answering questions on the Craft, life, and anything else he wants right now on Reddit. Come on out to his AMA and ask him anything.

The Speculative Freemason Blog

I love blogging. I think more brothers should blog because of just how much fun it is to chat with brothers from all across the world. Ideas are exchanged that help your Craft grow and get better. That's why I'm happy to report that one of my best friends in Freemasonry is now a blogger.

Worshipful Brother Gary Thomas is one of the Master Craftsman who raised Red Wing Lodge No. 8 from the rubble to be a beacon of Masonry in Minnesota. In fact, Red Wing Lodge just won the Mark Twain award from MSANA. Anyway, Worshipful Brother Gary is the LEO of Red Wing Lodge and has a lot of things to say about Masonry. So many things, in fact, that Gary need a channel to post everything he had in his head.

I am happy to point out Gary's blog, the Speculative Mason. The first article is about an interesting video that he presented in one of his LEO talks. Go ahead and check out his blog. You will not be disappointed.

The Life Masonic Podcast

Pictured: Jason Van Dyke and Brent Morris

Masonry is blessed in this new digital age. Never has there been a time for information to be so freely available to all peoples in all places as right now. At this moment, interested men are looking for information about Freemasonry and Masons are looking for more information about the same. One great addition to this bulk of information has been created and presented free by the Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the United States of America. It's called the Life Masonic podcast and it has some great information for all Masons.

Jason Van Dyke is the host of the podcast. With the help of Eric Diamond of X-Oriente fame, the Supreme Council has created a first rate podcast. The range of topics has been great from discussing research methods with Brent Morris to discussing the need for leadership with the Sovereign Grand Commander, Ronald Seale.

The Supreme Council has proven once again that it "gets it." Embracing technology can only improve an organization's reach. I have found each episode engaging and of value, not only to Scottish Rite Masons, but to all Masons.

If you'd like more information, visit the Supreme Council's website. If you have show ideas, send them to Jason at thelifemasonic(at)gmail.com. I can't wait to listen to future episodes of this podcast.

The Osman Shrine Website Redux

I know I'm on a "technology is good" kick but it's because I truly believe that sentiment. With that being said, I noticed that the Osman Shrine website that has just been renovated.

The Osman Shriners completed a major overhaul of their website and it's looking great. The website has everything a member and a potential member might need, calendars, links to events, and other pertinent information.

I spoke with current Potentate, Frank Spevak, about the website overhaul. The main purpose the website was improved was to foster communication between the Divan and the members. The site is using Drupal which I think is good as long as you have a capable hand on the wheel which it appears Osman does. It also appears that Shrine Clubs will also have pages.

I am not a Shriner (yet?) but I know that without a strong web presence, no organization is going to be able to survive. Let's face it, the web is the new front door. In a world where television is the dominating pastime, we will need to open potential members' eyes to our organizations. When I was first checking out Masonry as a young man of 19 years, I could find no information on Masonry. The door was only opened to those that knew someone and finding that someone was near impossible. (My origin story can be found here. I literally had a Stonecutters' moment when I found out my Grandpa was a Mason and here I am.)

The Internet has changed that reality. A man can now go on a Grand Lodge website, write an email to Grand Lodge, and receive a name and email address or number to a lodge near his home. A man interested in Shrine can visit Be A Shriner Now and be connected to a local Shrine group. This is the new reality. It's now our time to take control of our destiny.

As a plug for my buddy Dan, you can visit his company's website, Club Management Services at http://manage-your-club.com/ to learn more about what services he can offer clubs. He was the website designer of the new Osman Shrine site. He does great work and is an all-around nice guy.

How has you lodge or Masonic organization used the web? Have you found results, good or bad? Leave a comment.

Castle Island Lodge U.D.

“So I visited a lodge in Manitoba.”

“Wow, Manitoba, isn’t that like 8 hours from your house? When did you find the time?”

“Actually, I visited the lodge in the spare bedroom of my house.”

“Wait, what?!”

I’ve had one of the most interesting Masonic experiences of my short time as a Freemason; I visited a virtual lodge. In fact, I believe I visited the virtual lodge, Castle Island Lodge U.D. The reason I say “the” is because I don't think there is another virtual lodge in the world.

So what is a virtual lodge? I would describe it as the next logical step after an Internet Lodge. An Internet Lodge is a lodge that is open to brothers of many jurisdictions. It is oftentimes seeking only brothers to affiliate or subscribe as degree work is not their focus. The lodge is instead a marketplace of ideas and a way for the fraternal spirit to spread across the world. An Internet lodge meets in the physical world but corresponds in a variety of Web based ways, email, message boards, etc. on daily basis. Some examples of Internet lodges are Internet Lodge No. 9659 and Lodge Ireland 2000.

A virtual lodge meets online. That's right, online. The brothers assemble online at wherever they are located. The meetings have a ritualistic opening and closing and the business of the lodge is dispensed in the same manner that a physical lodge would. It is a lodge in every sense of the word… well, maybe not every sense. This type of lodge begs the question: what is a lodge? Is a lodge the people or is the lodge the building? Or is it both?

Now for a little backstory: Castle Island Lodge U.D. is a lodge under the Grand Lodge of Manitoba. The name Castle Island originates from their first meeting location which was in Second Life. The lodge owned a virtual island that had a castle as its virtual meeting room and all of this existed within that virtual world. Second Life is a MMO World. describes it

Sidebar: I've used Second Life in the past and in some places, it has redeeming qualities but in many respects, the content and activities that go on in the Second Life world are, to put it delicately, weird.

I visited Castle Island Lodge during its June 29th stated communication. The manner in which Castle Island meets is through an online video conferencing service. I sent the lodge secretary a letter of introduction from my Grand Lodge and was invited to attend the web conference. We ritually opened and began the business of the lodge in the same recognizable format that thousands of lodges do each and every month. After all business was dispensed with, the lodge was ritualistically closed. The brothers performed the duties of the lodge as a lodge. There was a Worshipful Master, Wardens, Deacons, Inner Guard, and an Immediate Past Master. There was a VSL open with the square and compass. Every necessary component of a lodge was there.

This is an important first foray into combining Freemasonry and the Web. The Web is redefining our sense of place and our sense of time. We listen to podcasts and use DVRs. We use telepresence devices to conduct meetings from any place with Internet access or Skype or FaceTime to chat with family and friends. I would describe a virtual lodge as being a place on the Web, each brother tyling his own surroundings and within himself, guarding against the vices and superfluities of his life. Castle Island Lodge is breaking down the conception of what makes us Masons. Can Speculative Masonry work without a physical meeting place? Can we experience Freemasonry wherever we are so dispersed? I think the answer to both these questions is a resounding yes.

I really enjoyed my time with the brothers. I met Grands, Past Grands, and as well as officers of various lodges throughout Manitoba. I've met brothers dedicated to moving our Fraternity forward. I’ve seen a new route that Freemasonry is taking as she enters the burgeoning world of technology.

My opinion is that Grand Lodges need to encourage these types of experiments. Evolving doesn't mean discarding or ignoring what once was, is, or will be nor is Castle Island Lodge an innovation. I'm glad to see a Grand Lodge, like Manitoba, embracing something like this. I don’t think we need to completely dismantle the physical Masonic world and reassemble it online like the laser on TRON because we need those places as well. (I’m not going to lie though; I wish I could have a light disc and light cycle. Dare to dream.)I don’t see a virtual lodge as interfering with our practice or the only way that Masonry should be worked. What I do see it as is a new effort at making connections. That is what Masonry is all about.

When we enter into the lodge door, we enter in the same or similar manner as every other brother of that lodge. Our personal impressions and perceptions belong only to us but the process is completely set before we enter. I’m a man that sees Masonry as a process, not an outcome. Oftentimes, we are driven to outcome-only thinking, how many brothers were raised in a given year?, how much to charity have the members donated?, or how many lectures have we memorized?, but really that’s not the purpose of Freemasonry. We seek new places and new ways to further our light. It’s not the third degree as an end but as a beginning. We are a process-driven organization.

Castle Island Lodge is a new place and a new way for gaining light. The venue may be different but the process is the same. Who knows where this concept will lead except perhaps the Great Architect. But this is something that has to be done. We must investigate new ways of bringing light to brothers. Another lasting benefit is that our infirm brothers may continue to take part in our labors. A brother in a land that is not necessarily hospitable to Freemasonry can still find fraternity. And of course, I know my wife appreciated that it took me 5 seconds to get home.

Of course, some things can never be recreated in the virtual world. You cannot have a festive board with all the brothers assembled around a table. (Although you could each eat dinner and have toasts at each individual location) You cannot use all the modes of recognition and outer lodge chats don’t happen at the pub. I think all these are relative. A virtual lodge, and indeed any lodge with a different take on Freemasonry, will invariably lose one aspect to gain another. The Masonic world like the profane world is a series of trade-offs.

This isn't the one single answer to rule them all but this is an important thread to follow. The lodge will still have to perform the three degrees in the physical world. The lodge will still have to be installed in the physical world. That's okay with me. The idea that brothers from every corner of the globe can and will be available to labor and feel the fraternal bonds of our Craft is revolutionary.

As with all things on the Web, I was reminded by the brothers of Castle Island that this lodge is still improving, or in Google terms, currently in Beta. And just like a Google product in Beta, this lodge and its novel concept will continue to improve. All the parts are working and only minor tweaks will need to be made to be ready for primetime.

I will cherish the new found friends that I have met during my visit to Castle Island Lodge. I want to thank Castle Island’s Worshipful Master, M.W.Bro. Dave Love - (Grand Master in 2009-10)
and
M.W.Bro. Chibu Uson (current Grand Master) - Senior Warden
M.W.Bro. Steve Kane - Junior Warden & Treasurer (Grand Master 1995-96) current Executive Secretary of Grand Lodge
M.W.Bro. C. Rae Haldane-Wilsone - Secretary (Grand Master 1997-98, Gr Sec 2001-2010)
R.W.Bro Bernie Gross - Past Grand Director of Ceremonies and current Grand Historian
R.W.Bro. Norm Pohl - Chaplain (current Grand Chaplain)
R.W.Bro. Jake Mohns - Past District Deputy Grand Master and WM, Mystery Lodge #174 Thompson, Mb.
R.W. Bro. Fred Heinrihs

I will be visiting again in August and I'm very excited with the prospect of presenting an educational piece to the lodge. This is a brave new world but unlike Huxley's dystopian vision of the Fordian World State, technology is here and it's wonderful, ubiquitous, and game-changing. Thanks go out to all the brothers of Castle Island Lodge. I had a wonderful time.

If you’re interested in more information, please use the contact form here. Welcome Freemasonry to the Web, you’re really going to get along well.

Guest Article: Internet Age Masonry: The Working Tools of Communication

Brother Matthew Gallagher has again been gracious enough to present his craft for the betterment of the Craft. He is the Lodge Education Officer of Braden Lodge No. 168 A.F. & A.M. in Saint Paul.

Freemasonry is often inaccurately referred to as a secret society. We’re not, but it’s undeniable that we’re something similar: a private club.

There’s a strong case to be made for keeping even mundane Masonic business on the down low. Excusing yourself to a private corner of the room to conduct your mysterious Masonic affairs is undeniably cool, and that coolness is valuable. Saly, however, the hesitance of Masons to discuss any part of Masonry has taken it off the public stage to the point where you’re much more likely to get a “Huh?” in return for telling people you’re a Mason than any sour looks of resentment for what a terrible job we’re doing controlling the world and keeping the Martians under wraps.

How, or even whether we should promote Freemasonry is a topic of debate, but for those potential brothers who are already interested in becoming a Mason, what can they find out about your lodge? What gets them to knock on your door as opposed to any other lodge in the area?

Just as operative masons have dozens of tools to help them erect quality, functional buildings, the Internet provides hundreds of tools to help us erect quality, functional lodges, but these tools aren’t interchangeable. They each have a specific purpose. Here is a list of tools you have at your disposal to support awareness of your lodge, and how they are best utilized.

Facebook

If you’re reading this blog post, you probably already know what Facebook is (if not, please ask). Over a billion people worldwide use Facebook, including many Freemasons and as such it makes an excellent venue for keeping both our brothers and the public connected and informed. There are two ways to do this: Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups.

Facebook Pages are designed to promote an organization. They’re completely public, and updates appear in users’ news feeds. People following a Masonic Facebook page will be a mix of your lodge brothers, brothers from other lodges, and the public so it makes an ideal medium for provoking conversation on Masonic topics which we can discuss, which frankly is most of them.

Facebook Groups are different. They’re not used for promotion, but for collaboration. Group updates don’t show up in a user’s news feed, so users have to go right to the group page to contribute to any discussions, which makes them easy to forget about. The big benefits of Groups, however, is that you can set them so that any members must be approved, and you can message all members of the group at one time, which sends the note directly to their message inbox, and frequently their email inbox as well. This makes Groups ideal for informing brothers and friends of your lodge about specific events that require quick action.

So which should your lodge have, a page or a group? Both! They each serve a different purpose, and should both be in your lodge’s toolkit.

Blogs

Blogs are usually wrapped around a theme, like millennial masonry, but you can also wrap one around your lodge. At my lodge’s blog we’re not just casually chronicling dates and events, we try to exemplify our philosophy and unique culture in every post we make. Our goal is that anyone who has heard of Braden Lodge should be able to go here and learn exactly who we are.

WordPress, Blogger, and TypePad, are the top blogging tools, and unlike websites, they’re easy for anyone to figure out; no coding required.

Flickr

Photo storage sites have been around for a long time, but Flickr stands out by being a searchable database of peoples’ lives. Creative use of tags (searchable keywords for labeling photos) can mean that prospective brothers can learn about your lodge without ever knowing about your lodge in the first place. If your lodge skips rocks down at the St. Paul Curling Club, someone searching for “st. paul curling” will find you, letting you attract potential brothers by virtue of the activities you do, not just because you’re Freemasons.

Ning

Message boards have been around pretty much since the Internet began. While they will continue to be useful for collaboration and community, their big draw back is their top-down control by the administrators. You play in their backyard, and creativity and collaboration can suffer. Think of it like conducting lodge business. When decisions need to be made, is a stated meeting always the best venue for that? Often ideas are realized through smaller, independent teams, and it’s the same way on the Internet.

Ning is a tool that allows anyone to make a social network of their very own. Sort of like if the entirety of Facebook was all about your lodge. The thing I love about Ning is anyone in it can create their own groups, which others on the network can join. Brothers can create their own committees and interest groups, letting them more easily collaborate away from the lodge than they can with basic email or message boards.

Twitter

Because Twitter posts are limited to 144 characters, the average user will have no trouble following the day-to-day happenings of 400 people or more. Because people are willing to subject themselves to endless streams of information, Twitter excels as a marketing tool. Its usefulness to a lodge, however, is in direct proportion to the effort put into it. Using Twitter effectively means using it a lot, and forming relationships with other users. If you can do this, it’s a great tool for promoting lodge events to masons and non-masons alike. If you can’t do this, it’ll sit there and collect internet dust.

FourSquare

Another micro-tool, FourSquare is all about location-based advertising. When you go to any public place you can whip out your phone and “check in”, which tells anyone who’s looking exactly where you are at that moment. Believe it or not, this has its uses. If your brothers are avid users, FourSquare is great for initiating out-of-lodge fellowship.

It’s also an advertising tool. If a guy is hanging out at Brit’s Pub and checks in, seeing an account called Mpls19masons checking in frequently at the same place might get him wondering just what the Freemasons are up to nowadays.

There are hundreds out there. Some are effective, some aren’t. And some are MySpace, which should probably be avoided by all civilized people. Use the tools that are right for you and your lodge, but remember, even in the Information Age, it’s still hard to be found if you don’t want to be found, and to those lodges that do, what are you doing to make that happen?

Come out, come out, where ever you are...

So I have returned to blogging about Masonry and I have found that there are very few of us left. As I mentioned in my last post, I think the problem is the many walled gardens that have been erected throughout the internet closing the avenues for Masonic ideas. That means it's my job to get you guys back out of the woodwork again. I know you're out there.

I would like to encourage more brothers to blog even if it's about their experience becoming a Mason. Ask yourself, why did I join?, what do I want out of Masonry?, or any other question you can think of and start a journal of your Masonic experience.

All of us want to get something out of our time which is why we joined this Fraternity. We want a place to learn and present ideas. Some of those ideas should be behind closed doors but some ideas should be allowed to flourish, to create a set of best practices. Frankly, if we are are presenting a Masonic idea that should be behind a closed door, then that door should be both physical and tiled not merely behind a computer password.

My hope is that, in the coming months, I will present a full list of my experiments as Master and how they have changed Corinthian Lodge. If you are a Masonic blogger, post a comment below with the name and address of your blog so that everyone can find and read your material.

The Lodge Website

I know I've been away from writing for far too long. Apparently, I had no idea just how strong the hat can pull you away from everything but Lodge business. As a way to segue of comparing my duties as Master of my Lodge, my Lodge has put together a wonderful new website. You can visit the site at corinthian67.org. The Lodge site is an incredibly important tool for Lodges in terms of recruitment but more especially, for retention. I'm going to reveal a few secrets so that other Lodges can take them and utilize them in their own websites. And yes, I may run this website but that does not mean I have any technical skills with "compruters."

First, use an easy to update Content Management Service or CMS. During my time in the East, I said that although free options are available, I wanted to look at the full gamut of CMSes that we could use. We finally arrived at SquareSpace. SquareSpace is an amazing way to present a website. We required little to no training to get the website off the ground. We can update the content on the fly and if we are bold, we can even use the iPhone application to update. Also, the backend is flexible and allows us to try all kinds of different looks, feels, and logical arrangements of content. It is well worth the money you will pay.

Second, if you publish a newsletter, you can recycle the articles used on the site for the newsletter. And obviously, put your newsletter on the web as a way to get brothers to click and look at the full color option, thereby saving money on a color printing. You can even offer your newsletter as an email to those brothers with email while sending out a newsletter to brothers that don't.

Third, have a box for sending messages easily accessible. Ours is within one click of any page. This means that the curious reader, or person looking for information can easily research through our site and then hit us with an email to ask a question.

Fourth, create Lodge specific emails for all officers. Therefore, if you're looking for a specific officer, you can easily send them an email with little to no effort. Therefore if someone sends a message to master (at) corinthian67 (dot) org, that email will come to me only. If a person is curious about what is being served, they can write an email to srsteward or jrsteward. To talk to the secretary it's just secretary (at). This makes the flow of emails manageable. Also, if some event needs the attention of a few of the officers, you can mix and match who you will be sending the message to. Setting this up is easy and free through Google Apps. And yes, it is free. Included in Google Apps is the ability to use and to place a Google Calendar for your Lodge on your site. Another really great Lodge site is for Accacia Lodge and specifically their use of the calendar. Unlike most Lodges, Accacia is a moon lodge which means it meets on the Wednesday during the week of the full moon. How can brothers find out when they meet? By checking the Google calendar right on the site. A brilliant use for an important need. (Also, check out the rest of Accacia site, it looks amazing. Brother Greg, awesome job.)

Fifth, create a MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter page for your Lodge. You may ask why you would do something like this if you already have a website up? The reason you would put up these types of sites is to complete the circle. Men are looking for our Lodges in every corner of Internet and you need a presence at every location you can. Additionally, these services are free. My Lodge has a Facebook and MySpace to post upcoming events while our Twitter account posts the content from either of these sites for more mass consumption. On Facebook, brothers can be invited to upcoming events and it can give you a better sense of the number of brothers who will be coming. On Facebook, the concept of Fan page is incredible. Brothers and friends can see when some event, pictures or other content is posted on their news feeds and can then be shared even further out. It's that old commercial of telling two friends and their friends and so on and so on.

Sixth, make sure to check with your Grand Lodge to find out what they expect from your site. In Minnesota, a site is presented to the Grand Lodge and they approve it. If it is approved, a message is to be displayed at the bottom of the site showing that this site has been approved. After the site has been approved, the added benefit in Minnesota is that the site is included in the Lodge's general listing on the Grand Lodge site.

Finally, you need to be willing to keep up the content. That is you're number one job. If the content is not adequately up-to-date, people will think that you are irrelevant. You need to make sure that all of your officers' names are up on the site and up-to-date. No one wants to see Officers 2005-2006. Just like the ritual, if we don't present our website content well, the petitioners and candidates won't take us seriously either.

I have to give credit where credit is due. Our current Senior Steward and newly awarded Mason of the Year for Corinthian Lodge, Dan laid out our site and helps keep it up to date. He has done an incredible job and I want to applaud just how well he has done this task.

What ideas do you have for Lodge websites, how do you make them look good, and what hosting service do you use? Leave a comment so that we can make all our Lodge website look as good as we possibly can.

Masonic Question of the Week

Okay, so have I mentioned that I am on Twitter? (Crowd boos, "Enough about Twitter already.") Anyway, as I am sure many of my friends on Twitter know, I used to do a Masonic Question of the Week or an #MQW. These questions sought to give those on Twitter the ability to answer the question in a way that they saw fit. I got lazy and stopped posting those questions on Twitter mainly because my uncreative brain ran out of things to ask about. With all that being said, I would like to bring MQW back but I need your help. ("I'll give you some help, getting a fat lip!")

I will be asking for questions from my readers and followers on Twitter. You can send them either in e-mail form at millennialfreemason (at) gmail (dot) com or as a direct message on Twitter. To direct message, all you have to do is type "d nickjohnson" (remove the quotes) and then your question. And remember, please keep it under 140 characters and no questions violating any Masonic obligations. I will post the question, with attribution, on both Twitter and this site. Alright everyone, let's get crackin'.