Grand Lodge of Minnesota Fan Page

I know in a previous post that many people thought I was railing against Facebook. I should have been more clear by stating that I was against closed Masonic message boards. What is frightening is the lack of open communication. Nothing leaves the password protected message board. With all that being said, I want to tell you just how pleased I am to see lodges, grand lodges, and other Masonic bodies making a name for themselves on Facebook by creating a Facebook fan page.

Masonry is a brand and we should seek to use that brand to make the general public more aware of who we are. Each lodge and each grand lodge has a need to reach out to brothers and interested worthy men on the internet. My own lodge has a wonderful website but we also supplement this site with a Facebook Fan page and a Twitter page. That way, we can maximize our reach on the internet. These ways of reaching brothers and interested men is paying off dividends with the number of petitions and seats filled in our lodge room. Also, as the High Priest of Corinthian Chapter No. 33 (also in Farmington), I have created a Facebook fan page for both Chapter and Council. Again, brothers are starting to take notice of the appendent bodies in Farmington and we are starting to get petitions to join and affiliate in both bodies.

Thankfully, the Grand Lodge of Minnesota, A.F. & A.M. has created their own Facebook fan page. This Facebook Fan page is wonderful and can really help lodges plan their events. It appears that the fan page takes those events from the Grand Lodge's website and posts them. Now, any brother that is on Facebook can RSVP on these events and can really aid those lodges that are hosting the event in numbers and getting the word out to two different calendars, which again, maximizes the event's exposure.

I think this is wonderful; Masonic organizations are seeing the potential of the internet and using its power. This is a great and long overdue. Let's hope that more Masonic groups take the leap, especially when that step costs nothing. I can't wait to see how Masonry continues to evolve.

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.

Guest Article: Bro. Matt Gallagher, L.E.O. of Braden Lodge No. 168

Bro. Matt has again been so kind as to write another brilliant piece. He has recently been installed as the Lodge Education Officer for Braden Lodge No. 168 in Saint Paul. If you want a wonderful Masonic experience, visit Braden Lodge. You can visit their website or their newly established blog. Braden Lodge meets in the historic Triune Masonic Temple at 1898 Iglehart Ave, Saint Paul, MN on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month.

I sat just left of the big chair in the East. I wore my most professorial outfit I could put together: a suit jacket over a dress shirt over a black tee, no tie, buttoned down, with blue jeans and sneakers. The look was more Greg House, M.D. than Noam Chomsky, but it served. I finished it off with a scarf around my neck and a pipe in my hand, which Worshipful Master Jesse Williams insisted I should hold tight-lipped in my mouth so I could nod professorially at all the profound thing’s he’d no doubt say.

I was an academic now. A learned man sitting in the revered seat of Lodge Education Officer, and holding the sacred trust of educating both young and old brethren in all things Masonic.

Okay, it was a bit of a send up. The costume did help me get into the mindset of my new role, but it was a tongue-in-cheek attempt to say “Yeah, I get the joke too.”

Here I am, not even possessing my one-year pin (which I’m fairly sure they don’t make), and I’ve been installed as L.E.O. of Braden Lodge. I knew it was coming, but when Jesse officially requested me to take the job I was suddenly nervous. What do I know about Freemasonry?

I even asked a brother, someone who would make a fantastic L.E.O., if he was interested in the job at all. No, he said. That’s something that he wouldn’t be ready to do for maybe another ten years. He didn’t know nearly enough about Masonry.

I had to admit I may have made a misstep.

But then I have to remind myself that it’s not really a professorial role, is it? It’s not me lecturing the brothers every two weeks on exactly what Freemasonry is, and how it should be interpreted, and to detail its nooks and crannies like a particularly wizened English muffin. This is all up for interpretation. It’s all up for debate. This isn’t the office of Orator. I’m not a pontificator. It’s my job to educate not by telling people what to think, but by making sure they have the resources needed to think for themselves. To me an L.E.O. isn’t so much the possessor of knowledge, but the gatekeeper of access to light. The L.E.O.’s emblem isn’t an open book, but a lantern, used to direct people to the knowledge they must seek out to complete their own journey.

And that I can do.

Yeah, I’m a bit of a poser, acting out a part and sitting in a chair much to big for me to fill, but some clarity came to me that very night when the Worshipful Master, set to give a 45-minute reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail, leaned over and spoke to me.

“Sit in my chair, and hold this,” Jesse said, handing me his top hat; one worn by worshipful masters throughout Braden’s history. “And put it on,” he added.

And all of the sudden I was sitting in the east. And the hat even fit. And I sat upstraighter, and with more dignity. I hadn’t done anything to deserve the role, and to besure it was merely a ceremonial technicality, but for 45 minutes, I was master of Braden Lodge.

All chairs made for men greater, wiser, or more experienced than us are too big to fill. They were too big to fill even by these great, wise, experienced men before us. But no matter our qualifications, we fill the seats we’re given, because something in that seat of obligation fills us in return. And we grow bigger.

Guest Article: Installation Speech of WM Jesse Williams

I had the wonderful chance to again see Worshipful Master Jesse Williams at the Actual Past Masters' degree in Saint Paul. Worshipful Master Jesse is the current sitting Master of Braden Lodge No. 168 in Saint Paul. If you have never been to Braden, you need to go. They are one of the most active lodges in the state of Minnesota with an intelligent, guiding light in this brother.

At the Actual Past Masters' degree, we chatted about how I was getting back into blogging and he offered his speech from the Lodge's officer installation as content to put on the website. He will explain in the audio more completely but he will be attending the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota; the Humphrey Institute is a top ranked public policy school in the United States. This particular piece explores the social structure of Freemasonry with special focus on the duties of the officers of the Lodge within the social structure.



The Worshipful Master would like to extend an open invitation for brothers to visit 1st and 3rd Thursdays, opening ritual begins at 7:30 and non masons to visit 2nd, 4th and 5th Thursdays from 7:30 and later. Also, there will be more content from the brothers of Braden on this site as well. Thank you Worshipful Master for this wonderful piece on Masonry.

Adding the Capstone to Corinthian Chapter No. 33

As I reported a few months ago, I began my Capitular journey with the Mark Master degree. A Royal Arch Chapter is a great place to extend the tactile learning we as Masons crave. You are a candidate, and you take a physical part in the ceremonies. There may only be four degrees but those four degrees contain some of the greatest lessons a Mason can learn. The Royal Arch degree has been called the most beautiful degree and I am apt to agree.

Now that I've completed my term in the East as Master of Corinthian Lodge No. 67, I've been elected and installed as High Priest of Corinthian Chapter No. 33 which also meets in Farmington. The analog of High Priest in the blue lodge is the Worshipful Master. I'm hoping to ride the train of trying new ideas into my work in Chapter. I will present different ideas on this site for comment and criticism.

One of my first goals is to get the two bodies of the York Rite that meet in Farmington, Corinthian Chapter No. 33, R.A.M. and Northfield Council No. 12, R&SM on the web. I've created a Facebook page that will be used for event planning but also to discuss Royal Arch and Cryptic Council in general and its importance to further light for the Masonic student. Of course, the goal is to one day have a great web presence for York Rite Masonry in the south Metro. We are very close now.

What all Royal Arch Masons should explain to new brothers is not that you are a York Rite Mason. I know this seems counter-intuitive but we should focus on our Chapters before the Council or Commandery is discussed with a candidate. The Royal Arch is Act II of the Master Mason degree, should we be so restrictive of our brothers of other faiths as to restrict them from enjoying the completion of their labors? If a Companions seeks more degrees, then he may go forward but we should focus on the Royal Arch first.

What I'd really like to do is encourage all Royal Arch Masons to come down to Farmington and work to make Corinthian Chapter what we would like it to be. We have many options.

1.) We could work as a "Teaching Chapter". What I envision is a Chapter dedicated to performing degree work even when we have no candidates for the Royal Arch. Other Chapters would be invited to come down and work on whatever degree they would be performing soon. We would read through their parts, discuss what they need to work on, and help degree work throughout the state.

2.) We could work as a "Learning Chapter". The Companions would bring in a paper or presentation about Chapitular Masonry. This Chapter would resemble an Educational Lodge or Lodge of Research. We would ask for papers around the state and have them presented for the betterment of the assembled companions.

3.) We could work as an "European Concept Chapter". I have wondered a lot about using European Concept with Corinthian Chapter. The European Concept is in the family of revitalizing stylistic changes happening within some Masonic bodies. Another similar concept would be Traditional Observance. Two European Concept Royal Arch Chapter already exist and would serve as the model, Meridian Chapter No. 60 of Oregon and Norwood Chapter No. 18 of Edmonton, Alberta. European Concept requires a lot of dedication from the Companions but when the work is done, great things can be accomplished. Thankfully, Corinthian Chapter is open for any change and it would only require dedication from the Companions. Also, because Corinthian Chapter only meets every other 1st Monday from September to May totaling 5 meetings in all, work would be focused on each degree plus one paper and an installation night.

4.) Of course, we, as a Chapter, could use a combination of these concepts to improve the work of the Chapter. Perhaps a paper or presentation will be made during a meeting while we practice the degree that the paper was describing. Perhaps we could host a Festive board. There are many possibilities.

If you are a Companion in Minnesota and live near Farmington, why not pay a visit to Corinthian Chapter? If you want to help to improve Royal Arch Masonry in the South Metro and you are looking for more leadership opportunities in Royal Arch, come on out and affiliate. We have many places and parts that need to be filled and improved. If you're a Master Mason and would like to join the Royal Arch, send an email to highpriest@farmingtonyorkrite.org. We will begin the Mark Master degree on February 7th starting at 7:30 pm. Space is limited to three total candidates, only two spaces remain.