Heading towards the East Again....

The past eight years as a Freemason has been a rollarcoaster.  I served my lodge as Worshipful Master for two years and my Grand Lodge as District Grand Lecturer, Associate Grand Marshal and District Deputy for the following six years (two years for each position).  As April and the next Grand Lodge Annual Communication approaches, I find myself entering a situation where I have no position of authority in the Blue Lodge and it is truly exciting!

Come April, I will be able to rededicate my efforts to being a brother among the craft and to continue chipping away at my personal rough ashlar.  I am grateful for the several years of service that were granted to me and for the myriad of experiences I had while traveling throughout my district.  However, my focus during this time was on the terrestrial rather than the celestial, the mundane rather than the sublime and the practical rather than the spiritual.  The "business" of Masonry had to be my primary focus to fulfill my accepted duties.  Now, I return to the quarries, no longer an overseer of the work and once again labor with my brethren.  This is a time for celebration!  Laborare est Orare!

I titled this blog post "heading towards the east again...".  Many Freemasons may believe that I was alluding to reentering the progressive line to become Worshipful Master again.  This is not the East I refer to.  I'm referring to that spiritual East, for which we all should strive.  It is the East of knowledge and wisdom, the East of the devine.  It is the direction that all Freemasons should be traveling towards and I am blessed to be once again counted among the pilgrams traveling in the oriental direction.  Guided my the mourning sun, we all travel for the light.

I have been truly blessed to be accompanied by so many diverse brothers in my Masonic travels over the past 12 years.  Some of these brothers no longer walk the Earth and I am grateful for having known them.  Some of these brothers are now separated from me by geography and I hope that we will once again be reunited.  As the rolls of the craftmen decline, so too do they rise.  I have met many new brothers and am happy to continue my travels with them.

As the year draws to a close, I am bolstered by the company I keep.  These brothers, young and old, give me wisdom to find the truth, strength to persevere and continue to show me the beauty that is our gentle craft.  I thank them all for their company as I continue heading towards the east again.

A New Brother's Experience with Quinta Essentia Lodge U.D.

Brother Paul Speranza recently wrote about his experience at the latest meeting of Quinta Essentia Lodge U.D. (Connecticut's First European Concept Lodge) on Corinthian No. 103's website. Brother Paul is a relatively new Master Mason who has tremendous energy and is enjoying his Masonic Journey. It was great to read his perspective on our labors!

I had the pleasure on Saturday, February 18th, of attending a stated communication and festive board with the brothers of Quinta Essentia UD (Under Dispensation). This is Connecticut’s first European Concept lodge so check out their website and their beautiful Spring 2012 Trestle Board. Some of the things that make them different are, from their website:

• Meetings and festive boards will take place at a local restaurant with high quality food in a private dining space, instead of a Masonic Building.

• The lodge will meet only six times a year and each meeting will be an outstanding event.

• Every lodge meeting has an accompanying cocktail hour, festive board and open discussion topic during the dinner.

• Our discussion topics are typically philosophical in nature.

• We require excellence in dress. All brothers are required to dress in tuxes or dark suit and dark tie. Lodge paraphernalia will exemplify simplicity in an effort to symbolize the equality of our brotherhood.

This was actually my second communication with QE. The first time was on the day that we had a home make over for Brother Ted Doolittle, who also happens to be the Junior Warden of QE. When we finished working on his home, we all kicked in for a steak and lobster cookout and held a stated communication in Brother Ted’s living room. That was cool, and as I was an Entered Apprentice at the time and never experienced a communication outside of a temple, I had a grin on my face for days.

This time the communication was held at Mory’s on York Street in New Haven. When I walked in the hostess walked me up the stairs to the “Governor’s Room” but stopped in the hallway, handed me a stack of menus and said that she wasn’t sure if she should go any further. I told her it was ok but she turned and left anyway. I guess the mystique surrounding Freemasonry is very much alive and well.

I walked in and our Worshipful Master, Kristian Maiorino, who is the Senior Deacon for QE, was there with Brother Ted Doolittle. I made the rounds introducing myself to some and reacquainting myself with the others. The Worshipful Master of QE, Brad Cooney, shook my hand and immediately tasked me with coming up with a toast for the topic of commitment. I wasn’t sure where that was going but I was game.

The room is small but looks like something from colonial times and the mood was starting to take shape. We held a short communication and closed. Next, the waitress came in and took our drink order. Once the drinks arrived the toasts began. I was the third toast so by the time it got to me the Pino Noir started working its magic. I guess I did ok and so did the other brothers. There were 5 toasts in all, one for each of the 5 Essential principles, which are Enlightenment, Service, Commitment, Excellence and Dignity. What a great way to get the momentum started.

We had a delicious meal and then Brother L. Scott Brand gave a lecture on charity followed by a wonderful discussion. This is a great way to spend 4 hours with a group of brothers, which included a brother from New Jersey that heard about this meeting and decided to drive up. I was made to feel right at home and felt very comfortable participating in the various conversations that took place.

Now I need to buy a tuxedo. Although the dress code states that a dark suit and dark tie is acceptable, I am so enamored with attending the QE get-togethers that I feel it is the least that I can do to show my appreciation for being able to participate in such a wonderful experience with the brethren. I could have stayed longer and gone downstairs to the lounge for further merriment but I had to leave.

Brothers, Quinta Essentia is a class act and I would encourage you to try to attend their communications. In my limited experience as a Freemason I would have to say that both of my experiences with QE have been great and I intend on attending as often as I can. This meeting cost $75 to attend and that included the drinks, meal, desert and gratuity. In my opinion it was worth every penny. The atmosphere at Mory’s fit perfectly and the only thing we did not do was write on the floor with chalk, although I think I did hear someone say not to rule that out when I mentioned it.

Fraternally,

Brother Paul Speranza

Is our Fraternity just a little too common? - By Most Worshipful Brother James T. McWain

This piece was written by Most Worshipful Brother James T. McWain, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut and posted to the Connecticut Freemasons Website.  Currently, I serve M:.W:.B:. McWain as his District Deputy of Masonic District 4A and have been deeply awed by his vision of our great fraternity.  Brother Jim has worked tirelessly to remind the brothers of our state that we can be better and that as Freemasons we should set an example for the rest of society.  I hope that my readers will take a moment to read this article and reflect on some of his points.

Is our Fraternity just a little too common?

Thoughts about the fraternity from the 19th Century---------

“A real Freemason is distinguished from the rest of Mankind by the uniform unrestricted rectitude of his conduct. Other men are honest in fear of punishment which the law might inflict; they are religious in expectation of being rewarded, or in dread of the devil in the next world. A Freemason would be just if there were no laws, human or divine except those written in his heart by the finger of his Creator. In every climate, under every system of religion, he is the same. He kneels before the Universal Throne of God in gratitude for the blessing he has received and humble solicitation for his future protection. He venerates the good men of all religions. He gives no offense, because he does not choose to be offended. He contracts no debts which he is certain he cannot discharge, because he is honest upon principle.”

— The Farmer's Almanac, 1823

Are we ashamed today to think that our fraternity is an elite organization? Or, perhaps, we do not believe that it is!

We have high standards; admit no one who is not moral, upright before God and of good repute before the world. We do “good works” throughout the United States that are worth billions of dollars. The secret is that it is okay to be elite; but we should not be elitist. Elite is to have high standards; elitist is to consider yourself better than everyone else and to let them know it.

To be an elite organization requires constant effort. It can never be satisfied with the status quo; the standards can always be lifted.

Masonic meetings are places of learning, a fostering of ideas, and the lodge is a sanctuary for nurturing and developing friendship. It is where we go to celebrate our brotherhood. In the 18th Century, Benjamin Franklin, Voltaire, Mozart all joined a Masonic Lodge to be with gentlemen who would debate the great questions of the day.

We must understand who we are and the road we’ve traveled. The philosophy of Masonry required centuries to develop and should be understood and venerated by all members of the fraternity.

Each lodge should have high standards. We need to foster the joys of gentlemanly behavior. Not phony gentlemanliness, but genuine fraternal good behavior. Consequently, at times, it may be necessary to give good counsel to a brother. This can be difficult, especially when it is misunderstood as criticism.

As gentleman, we should advocate a minimum standard of dress. When initiating, passing and raising a candidate, think of just how important an event that new man will consider it to be if the entire lodge membership looks first-class and is dressed for the occasion.

Good behavior is essential. We should not allow rude, coarse behavior among Masons. There was an Internet discussion recently regarding whether a brother, who showed up at a funeral home in jeans and a golf shirt to perform the solemn Masonic funeral service, should have been excluded. It should not be necessary to even discuss proper dress at a funeral, and it is sad that lodge members would condone such a lack of respect to a deceased brother and his family.

One may rationalize that society is more casual now. And some would add that it is "the internal, not the external qualifications of a man that Masonry regards."

We also say that our providence is to make good men better. If we are to polish the rough ashlar into a perfect one than we must conduct ourselves as the BEST men in society.

I have previously written that the Masonic fraternity is “out of step” with current society because we have higher standards. In other words, we should not lower ourselves to the behavior of the common group. If we are to be elite, when the world around us is rude and common, it should be our stated purpose to improve that world by improving men.

In Europe, Freemasonry is taken seriously because Freemasons take themselves seriously. We should also feel that our fraternity is solemn, noble, exclusive, dignified and special.

I am not advocating that our lodges should be stern, joyless places of strict, dreary ritualists. Not at all! A lodge should be, first and foremost, a place of brotherhood, of friendships, and close personal bonds. It is not a degree mill to be opened, closed and fled.

The degrees of Masonry should be formal, sincere, instructive and enlightening.

The business meeting should be brief.

The Feast, Philosophy and Fellowship should be the centerpiece.

Quinta Essentia Lodge U.D. - Connecticut's First European Concept Lodge

At the Grand Lodge of Connecticut Annual Communication on April 4th, 2011, a dispensation was granted for the formation of Quinta Essentia Lodge. This dispensation is the product of two years of hard work by brothers in the Southern Connecticut Region to create a European Concept Lodge. These brothers have been meeting as a dinner club during these two years and discussing their plans for the formation of a new lodge.  The structure and format of the lodge is similar to Lodge Vitruvian and other highly successful European Concept Lodges.

R:.W:. Brother Brandley K. Cooney will serve as our first Worshipful Master and I will serve as our first Secretary. Although our by-laws are not yet set, here are some of the concepts that the new lodge will be based on:

• Meetings and festive boards will take place at a local restaurant with high quality food in a private dining space, instead of a Masonic Building.
• The lodge will meet only six times a year and each meeting will be an outstanding event.
• Every lodge meeting has an accompanying cocktail hour, festive board and open discussion topic during the dinner.
• Our discussion topics are typically philosophical in nature.
• We require excellence in dress.  All brothers are required to dress in tuxes or dark suit and dark tie.  Lodge paraphernalia will exemplify simplicity in an effort to symbolize the equality of our brotherhood.
• The dues structure of the lodge will be significantly higher than most blue lodges.
• There will be no long introductions of past masters, officers from other lodges or appendent bodies. The only brothers to be recognized are the District Deputy, the Grand Master and his suite.
• The lodge will never have a large, inactive membership.  Brothers are required to regularly attend meetings unless there an acceptable reason not to attend determined by the Worshipful Master.  Brothers who do not regularily attend will be required to demit and join another lodge.   We will cap membership at about 35 members. Once we hit the maximum, a new lodge should be formed.
• We will demand ritual excellence.
• We will not elect officers based on a "progressive line". Brothers will be elected based on their abilities and may repeat several terms in the same chair.
• We will actively participate in community service. This lodge will not simply write a check. The mason's place is in the world, not separate from it.

The list of petitioning Brothers are as follows:

• Bro. L. Scott Brand
• M:.W:. Bro. Charles A Buck Jr.
• R:.W:. Bro. Bradley K Cooney
• W:. Bro. Paul L Chello
• R:.W:. Bro. Theodore J Doolittle
• W:. Bro. Martin Ede
• R:.W:. Bro. Kenneth I Greenhill
• M:.W:. Bro. Alfred J Lobo
• Bro. Kristian Maiorino
• W:. Bro. Randy S Stevens
• R:.W:. Bro. Charles H Tirrell
• W:. Bro. James A Tirrell
• Bro. Howard D Turner
• W:. Bro. Jordan T Yelinek

The date of our first meeting has not yet been set and will be publicized once it is.  We are currently working on a lodge web site that will have more details.

For more information about Quinta Essentia Lodge U.D., email Charles Tirrell (chtirrell at gmail dot com)

Using Technology to help with my duties as District Deputy

During the orientation of the new District Deputies and Associate Grand Marshals on Saturday, we were supplied with a CD containing a digital copy of all required manuals, documentation, rules, regulations and protocols required for District Deputies to have possession of and be familiar with. In past years, this was supplied in paper form and was sizable. I'm extremely excited to see the Grand Lodge move in this direction for two reasons; it saves the Grand Lodge money and I can transfer the documents to handheld devices and not carry them around in massive paper form.

Today, I transferred all the documents to my iPad. Now instead of carrying around several books and storing them in the back of my car, I have my single digital device, which I carry everywhere. Woot!

My First Week as District Deputy

On Monday, April 4th, I was installed as Right Worshipful District Deputy of Masonic District 4A in Connecticut, along with my Associate Grand Marshal, Wayne G. Bailey. Attending Grand Lodge came on the heals of a last minute business trip to Montreal for three days. Grand Lodge was a lot of fun and before the banquet on Sunday, I was given the opportunity to give a technology talk to an audience comprised of most of the several Worshipful Masters, Grand Lodge officers, the outgoing Grand Master and the incoming Grand Master. The presentation went very well!

On Tuesday, I attended my mother lodge where I currently sit as Tyler and on Wednesday, I performed my first visitation as District Deputy at Cosmopolitan Lodge No. 125 in New Haven. Cosmopolitan Lodge is one of the lodges that I formerly visited as Associate Grand Marshal, while accompanying Right Worshipful Brother Ted Doolittle. They are a bunch of great guys and I look forward to frequenting their meetings in the future.

Thursday was a night off, which I spent with my wife (an important part of my schedule that I can't forget about). On Friday, Illa and I (along with a brother from the Valley of New Haven) went to Lexington, Ma to attend the Scottish Right Leadership Conference. We got to meet up with brothers we haven't seen in a while, attend some great talks/workshops and had a wonderful time.

After rushing back from Massachusetts Saturday afternoon, Illa and I attended the Grand Masters dinner and orientation. We got to meet some great brothers and their ladies from around the state. At this event, we were informed of the new programs that the Grand Master, James T. McWain, is instituting. I'm looking forward to helping him implement his programs in my district and assisting the brothers of my district with keeping our fraternity the great brotherhood it is.

Overall, the past week has been very busy and this coming week will be likewise busy with a business trip to Boston, an awards night and a social event at my local lodge. Although busy, it's also extremely exciting and continues to fuel the fire in my soul for our great fraternity. Masonry is about establishing personal connections and meeting new people. This is why I love being a Freemason.

The Bridge Builder

The Bridge Builder is a poem written by Will Allen Dromgoole around the turn of the 20th Century. This poem is used by many fraternal societies to teach the importance of building for future generations. In fact, this poem was extensively used by my college fraternity and I have heard it used during additional lectures of masonic ritual.

Please take a moment to read this humble poem and reflect. What bridges have you built in your life?

The Bridge Builder

"An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him."

An Amazing Lodge Newsletter - The Rural Lodge Newsletter

Recently, I came across the Rural Lodge Newsletter via a Facebook Masonic Group. Rural Lodge is a Masonic Lodge in Quincy, Massachusetts and their webmaster/ambassador RWB Graeme Marsden produces a weekly newsletter. This newsletter is available digitally and is typically twenty pages or more long. Currently, more than 4000 people internationally subscribe to this lodge newsletter!

Check it out here.

So, how does a single lodge newsletter get a subscription list so large? Here are several of the items that make it unique.

• It's very frequent. This newsletter is weekly and if you're on the mailing list, you'll receive an email notifying you that a new edition is out. This makes it very current and very relevant.
  
• It's packed with content. In addition to listing the activities of Rural Lodge it has a calendar that encompasses all of their district with dates going five months forward. After the calendar, it's has stories and pictures from the happenings around their district. It also has several pages of stories from all around the Masonic world, making it interesting to more than just MA Masons.
  
• It's in a universally readable format. Unlike many digital newsletter that created in a digital format that is windows/mac/linux-specific. This newsletter is in the PDF format that is viewable by all systems, allows for the compression of images and isn't a potential digital security threat (like viruses in an MS Word Doc).
  
• It's bright, colorful and fun. It's not dry and boring. It shows that Masonry is alive and well. People are doing things in their lodges and enjoying themselves.
  
• It's digital only. RWB Graeme doesn't have to worry about costs or postage or stuffing envelopes. He posts it to the web and emails his list a web address. That's it. Cheap, fast and easy to distribute.
  

I am absolutely amazed that RWB Graeme can put out such a great publication ever week. I enjoy reading the articles within and seeing the different kinds of events going on with my brothers to the north. This is a great example of a brother who has adopted the technology of the information age and is using it for the betterment of Masonry.

For a free subscription, contact Graeme Marsden (graeme0marsden@gmail.com). Include your name, title (RW, Wor, Bro), Blue Lodge (city and state) and your email.

Are you a traveling man?

One of the most important rights and privileges of a Master Mason is his freedom to travel. In ancient times, this privilege permitted Master Masons to work and travel in foreign lands, unlike other craftsmen. This special privilege was afforded to our craft, because their labor was required in different locations depending on which cathedral was being built at the time. As Operative Masonry gave way to Speculative Masonry, this ancient right was retained and a Master Mason was allowed to freely travel from one lodge to another, even though he is not a member of that specific lodge.

In the modern day, "traveling" is the primary method by which a Masons expands his Masonic horizons, gains increased knowledge of our craft and meets new brothers. By visiting another lodge, a Mason gets to see variations in the work and gains insight into the different ways Masonic Lodges handle their internal business. This valuable experience will make the man traveling a better Mason and in return will make his lodge better by virtue of his experience.

For the past four years, I have had the privilege to serve as a Grand Lodge Officer, first as District Grand Lecturer and then as Associate Grand Marshal. During this time, I visited dozens of lodges in my jurisdiction. Each lodge had its own particularities, which I found fascinating. Here are some of the differences that you will find between lodges:

• Differences in the "Work" (floorwork, additional lectures, different officers doing different parts, etc.)
  
• How budgets are executed (Voting on standard items once annually, Masters discretionary funds).
  
• How minutes are circulated (posted, emailed, read out loud, etc.)
  
• Different lodge dress (Tuxes, business suits, come-as-you-are, Tails, Colonial Dress, Variant Aprons, etc.)
  
• Different Programs
  
• How candidates and new brothers are mentored
  
• Lodge bylaws
  
• How fellowcraft clubs, board of managers, temple building associations, etc. are handled
  
• Much, much, more
  

Many of the superior differences in operations that I experienced in other lodges, I brought back to my mother lodge and helped to implement. Many of the programs that I implemented during my two years as Worshipful Master were taken from the best practices of other lodges. The majority of the improvements implemented at the local lodge level are the product of imitation after a brother has traveled to other lodges. "Traveling" is one of the primary methods by which we "improve ourselves in Masonry." Without it, your lodge and Masonry will grow stale. Unfortunately, I have met many brothers who have not traveled. Their only Masonic experience is their own lodge and their small circle of brothers. There are many brothers who sit as Worshipful Master, who have never even visited another lodge. It is important to encourage your brothers, from the youngest Entered Apprentice to the oldest Past Master, to travel. Here are some methods to get out there and to be a true traveling man:

• Attend Blue Lodge Council or District Wide Meetings and meet other brothers/officers in your area.
  
• Ask your lodge secretary for copies of local trestleboards to find out when other lodges are holding events and degrees.
  
• Many lodges have websites and Facebook pages, check these out for information.
  
• Meet brothers from your area at Appendent Body Meetings, such as the Shrine, the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, etc.
  
• If you're in the "line" of your lodge, personally contact brothers in other lodges that fill the same position and set up a time to meet them. These brothers will be your peers when you are in the East and are an invaluable resource.
  
• Attend the meetings of your Grand Lodge, especially the night before. Grand Lodge events are filled with meet-and-greets and hospitality rooms, which are fantastic opportunities to meet other brothers.
  

Finally, "Traveling" is just plain fun! Brothers love to meet someone new and welcome them as a guest. So, get out there, travel some and have some fun. You'll be surprised at the adventures you will have and the friends that you will make!

Masonic Resource: The Website of the Masonic Renewal Committee of the Conference of Grand Masters of North America

Keeping with the theme started in the post Masonic Education Program Basics, I will showcase another great resource for Masters and Officers to use in their respective lodges, the Website of the Masonic Renewal Committee of the Conference of Grand Masters of North America.

According to their website, the purpose of the Masonic Renewal Committee (MRC) is:

"to provide continuity for Masonic Renewal efforts by Grand Lodges of North America and bring about the renewal of Freemasonry as an active, viable and relevant institution for the 21st Century."

In accordance with this charge, the MRC developed this website to help share information between the Grand Lodges of Canada, the United States and Mexico. This website is a virtual treasure trove of information relative to Masonic Renewal and acts a clearinghouse for documents from the member Grand Lodges of the CoGMoNA. The raw documents (policies, procedures, guides, slideshows, etc.) from the member Grand Lodges are available in their original form for visitors to download and use as they see fit.

The website is divided into the following sections:

• Lodge Programs
• Membership
• Mentoring
• Leadership
• Community
• Retention
• Promotional
• Communication
• Training
• Secretarial
• Renewal

Each section contains dozens of documents, from a multitude of Grand Jurisdictions, relative to the topic. In addition, the website hosts documents written by the MRC with the collaboration of many Grand Jurisdictions. Of particular interest to incoming Worshipful Masters is the section dedicated to Lodge Programs. This section contains documents focusing on developing interesting programs to use during a stated communication. Here are a few of the more interesting examples that I found:

• Charter Night Program
• Hobby Night Program
• Honor our Veterans Program
• Masonic Hero's Night
• Re-Obligation Night

This is just a short sampling of the great documents that this website holds. Check it out, explore it and use this invaluable resource for the benefit of your lodge!

A special thanks to the Grand Junior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut, Simon LaPlace, for recommending this website to be reviewed on Masonic Renaissance. RWB Simon is a shining example of a forward-thinking Grand Lodge officer, who strives to keep Masonry relevant through the use of new technology. Thank you Simon for your efforts and your continued support!

As the Grand Master rises in the Grand East, so rises his Son in the East

Tonight, Most Worshipful Brother Charles A. Buck, Jr, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut, presided as Installing Master at Ansantawae Lodge No 89 in Milford, Ct.

MW Brother Buck had the privilege to install Worshipful Brother Christopher J. Buck as Worshipful Master of Ansantawae Lodge. In addition to being brothers of the same Mother Lodge, the Brothers Buck are also father and son. It is a rare occasion and perhaps a singular circumstance to have a sitting Grand Master install his son to the oriental chair.

In addition, Worshipful Brother Charles A. Buck, Sr., Chris' Grandfather and Charlie's father served as Worshipful Master of Ansantawae Lodge in 1968. The cuff-links and Tux studs worn by Worshipful Master Chris this evening were also worn by his Grandfather in 1968 and his father in 1985 when he was installed as WM of Ansantawae Lodge and in 2010 when he was installed as Most Worshipful Grand Master.

After the installation, the guests were treated to a fantastic dinner and to this wonderful cake made by the wife of Ansantawae's Senior Deacon, John Hanson.



Congratulations to Worshipful Master Chris and to his suite of officers for 2011!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Milford Masonic Temple

Masonic Resource: The Short Talk Bulletin

Continuing with the theme of resources for Masonic Education Programs started in the previous posting entitled "Masonic Education Programs Basics", this post presents another resource for Worshipful Masters and other masons to develop ideas and content for education programs.

Since 1923, the Masonic Service Association of North America has been producing a monthly "Short Talk Bulletin" available to Masonic Lodges and brothers. These Short Talk Bulletins are designed specifically to be a resource for programs given during a Stated Communication and typically contain 10-15 minutes worth of content.

The categories for the over eighty years of content are:

• Leadership
• Entered Apprentice
• Fellowcraft
• Master Mason
• About Individuals
• Body of the Craft
• Bypaths
• Civic and Patriotic
• Historical
• Inspiration and Charity
• In the Lodge
• Literature
• Philosophy
• Religion and Ethics
• Symbols and Symbolism
• The War and After

During my two years as Worshipful Master, I relied heavily on these Short Talk Bulletins for education programs. They make great stepping off points for additional research or can simply be just read in lodge.

A yearly subscription costs $6.00 and is an absolute steal. Back issues of the bulletins can be purchased from the MSA for 50 cents per issue. Alternatively, you or your lodge can buy the entire set of past bulletins, all the way to 1923, for $417.60 plus shipping and handling.

If your Grand Lodge is a member jurisdiction of the MSA, then your lodge should already be receiving these Short Talk Bulletins, since each constituent lodge of member jurisdictions automatically receive them. If you haven't seen one before, ask your lodge secretary if he is receiving them. Many lodge secretaries receive the bulletins and just file them away. They do no good in a filing cabinet. They should be in the hands of the Worshipful Master, so he can use them for lodge programs.

In addition to the Short Talk Bulletin, the MSA also produces national Masonic statistics, CDs, videos and a few other items. Their full catalog can be found here.

Masonic Resource: Paul Bessel's Website

As a follow-up to my previous post Masonic Education Programs Basics, I will be writing a series of articles focusing on various Masonic Resources on the web. These resources should help brothers to get ideas for Masonic Education Programs and to serve as resources for these programs.

One of the best Masonic Resources on the internet is the website created and maintained by Brother Paul Bessel. Brother Bessel is a Past Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Washington DC and holds a multitude of honors (all of which can be found here). He is an author of a wide variety of Masonic books, articles, talks and papers. His knowledge of the craft is impressive, but his willingness to spread this knowledge to others and to take the time to make this knowledge available on the internet is truly extraordinary.

Since 1998, he has faithful compiled a site that pulls together his original Masonic research, statistics from the Masonic Service Association, information from Grand Lodges around the globe and much, much more. All of this information can be an invaluable resource for Worshipful Masters and other brothers who need to develop a program for a stated communication. Here are just a few papers and articles listed on his site that would make great presentations to a lodge for Masonic Education:

• Freemasonry and Pearl Harbor
  
• Masons at the Battle of Gettysburg
  and the Masonic Friend to Friend Monument
  
• Freemasonry and Judaism
  
• Freemasons & the U.S. Constitution
  
• Paul Revere - His Ride & Associations with Freemasonry
  
• U.S. Capitol Cornerstone Laying Ceremony
  

Overall, this is a great site with lots of information. As a warning, the navigation of the page can be a bit tricky at times and it still has the look and feel of a website from 1998 (No special CSS, social features or anything Web 2.0-like). A brother can literally spend hours or days looking through the site, finding out something new with each click of the mouse. Spend some time there, learn something new and bring it back to your lodge!

Tis the season for installations

Today marks the beginning of the Masonic Officer Installation Season for me. Today I'll be attending Temple Lodge No. 16's Installation in Cheshire, Connecticut. Here is the schedule of Installations for this week:

Temple Lodge No. 16 - Sunday, Jan 2nd at 2:00 PM

Ashlar Lodge No. 332 - Monday, Jan 3rd at 6:00 PM

Adelphi Momauguin Lodge No. 63 - Tuesday, Jan 4th at 7:30 PM

Ansantawae Lodge No. 89 - Friday, Jan 7th at 6:00 PM

Annawon Lodge No. 115 - Sunday, Jan 9th at 3:00 PM

These are the installations on my calendar as of right now, which is subject to change. There may be a few more added by tonight.

I recommend to all Masons to go out and visit the installations of officers for the lodges in your area. You'll get to meet the new Worshipful Masters and their officers, and hear about the plans set for the coming year. In addition the excitement of a lodge is at its peak during an installation and excitement is contagious!

Masonic Education Programs Basics

In 2005 and 2006, when I was Worshipful Master of Adelphi Momauguin Lodge No 63, I added several education programs to our standard schedule of Stated Communications. If we were not doing a degree, then we were doing some sort of Masonic Education program.

Having the element of Masonic Education is essential to the lifeblood of a Masonic lodge. If all a Worshipful Master does during a meeting is read minutes and pay bills, why would our brethren want to keep coming to meeting after boring meeting? Masons join masonry to receive "light" and a Worshipful Master's job is to give "light". This is not limited to degreework.

Most lodges in Connecticut meet twice a month throughout the year with the exception of the summer. Removing degrees, the annual meeting and the awards night, it typically means that a Worshipful Master has between 10 and 12 nights that he must plan a program for. This can feel like a daunting task for some brothers.

In an attempt to help brothers who are apprehensive about putting together Masonic Education Programs, I have compiled the following list of tips to help:

• The content of a program does not have to be original. Referencing someone else's work or reading someone else's content is completely acceptable. For example, reading Rudyard Kipling's The Mother Lodge and leading a discussion about it would be a fine program with no original content.
  
• The content of a program does not have to be new. Although you may have heard the topic before, it doesn't mean your lodge has. Even if a brother has heard the topic before, you might have new information or a different viewpoint about it, which will be enjoyable for that brother to hear.
  
• You can use the internet. Finding "good" Masonic Education is not constrained to dusty old books. The internet is literally filled with thousands of Masonic papers and topics. When in doubt, go to google.com and type in "Masonic Education", "Masonic Programs" or "Masonic Papers". You'll find tons of resources at your disposal.
  
• The Worshipful Master sets the schedule, but he can delegate the program to another brother. If your Senior Deacon is reading a book on King Solomon's Temple, ask him to lead a short lodge program on the description of King Solomon's Temple in the bible. Most officers and brothers would love to have the opportunity to lead a program in lodge. Delegation is a vastly under-appreciated leadership strategy in Masonic lodges, when it is by far one of the most important strategies there are in organizational leadership.
  
• It doesn't have to be long. Many people believe that a program must be 30 minutes long or some other amount of time. A concise and interesting topic is much better than a long and boring topic. Some of the best Masonic Education Programs I've seen were less than five minutes long.
  

Overall Masonic Education Programs don't have to be difficult to put together. They can be recycled, borrowed, short and done by someone else. Don't get overwhelmed by trying to put together the "perfect" program. Any program is better than just reading minutes and paying bills.

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Masonic Technology: Call Em' All

During the past year, the Grand Lodge of Connecticut began an initiative that encouraged their lodges to use a technology called "Call Em All". Call Em All is a service that allows a admin user to set up a call list of phone numbers and record a single message. The service then calls all the numbers on the list and plays the recorded message. Our Grand Lodge paid for the accounts for all the lodges in Connecticut and automatically set up their call lists based on the lodges' membership roll.

The lodges can use this service to record messages to go out to all of it's members. Examples of this includes:

• Stated Communication Reminders
  
• Master's Messages
  
• Event Announcements
  
• Funeral Notifications
  
• Monthly Birthday Lists
  
• Calendar Updates
  
• Masonic Education
  

This list of ideas is by no means comprehensive. There are tons of ways that lodges could use this service. Lodges within our Grand Jurisdiction have been using it for several months now and many lodges are seeing an increase in meeting attendance and activity.

For lodges outside of my Grand Jurisdiction, who do not have the service automatically paid for, the service is relatively inexpensive and costs between five and ten cents a call, which is far cheaper than printing and mailing a notice. There are also bulk rates for the same list if used several times a month. More information on pricing can be found here.

This service is a great way to reduce costs and to reach out to members that do not have standard electronic communication, such as email. If a receiver of a call doesn't wish to receive more notifications, the recording has an option to opt out of additional calls.

My lodge has been using Call Em All for about two months now and we plan to use it heavily in the coming year. What other purposes could we use this for? I'd love to hear some additional ideas.

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New Year - New Purpose

For those of you who are long time readers of Masonic Renaissance, you'll recall the previously tackled topics of this blog; technology, leadership, and educational resources, all from the perspective of a Masonic Lodge.

With the advent of the new year, I hope to reinvigorate this blog. The topics of the blog will remain the same and most of the format will stay the same. However, the purpose of the blog will be slightly altered.

Previously, I wrote this blog with the intent that the audience was the whole of the Masonic Fraternity and specifically, the like-minded brothers who wanted to breath new life into their dusty halls. This was a great exercise, where I was able to experiment with some new ideas and get great feedback from brothers around the globe.




In April, I will be installed as a District Deputy of the 4th Masonic District in Connecticut. Our incoming Grand Master is a prolific Masonic Leader and wants to use his District Deputies to assist lodges in generating new programs, fostering Masonic Education and using technology to their advantage. In an effort to assist my local lodges in my jurisdiction, I plan to focus the audience of this blog specifically to them and align my topics with the initiatives our Grand Master is promoting.

Overall, this won't change the blog very much, but it will mean more frequent posting. The blog will still cover the same topics and will aim to help Masonic Lodges to grow and prosper. The specific ideas that I will be promoting for the lodges I work directly with can just as easily be used by lodges around the globe.

I also hope to use the blog to promote the happenings around the district and to chronicle my travels. For the past two years, I've accompanied my predecessor, Right Worshipful Ted Doolittle, on this travels throughout the district as Associate Grand Marshal and I've seen some really wonderful programs. These programs should be shared, so that other lodges can adopt them and adapt them.

I truly look forward to beginning this next leg of my Masonic journey and I sincerely hope that the readers of this blog will enjoy virtually traveling with me.


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Technology Experiment: Blogging from the iPad

It's been a while since I last posted on this blog. Unfortunately, the past year has been extremely busy in my Masonic, personal and vocational lives, which has made it difficult to add content. However, I do plan on reactivating this blog in the near future. The new focus of the blog will be to help brethren, both locally and around the globe, to find Masonic resources on the web and to identify technologies that could assist with enriching the Masonic experience. I'll have more information on this initiative and the reason behind it in a follow-up post.

One of the new tools that I hope to employ with helping me to become a more active blogger is my iPad. Today, I downloaded some software for my iPad that should help me post on-the-go easier. This is the first post using this software and I hope it makes it to it's intended destination.

One of the cool features of this software is being able to see the location of the post. If I was at a lodge meeting and there was something important occurring, I could add a post and the location of the event will appear. Right now, I'm in a cabin in the woods during my vacation.


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Location:Abner Ln,Killingworth,United States

Facebook is a Useful Tool for Lodges, Too

This blog post is a reprinting of an article that I wrote and was published in the January 2010 issue of the Connecticut Freemasons Newspaper.

The November issue of Connecticut Freemasons included an article that introduced Facebook, the social networking site that has taken the internet by storm. A December Connecticut Freemasons article showed how a timely interchange could involve several people, sharing opinions and thoughts. A Masonic lodge can also use Facebook to bring its members together, by sharing announcements, discussions, and information.

People use social networking sites to connect with others and to talk about the things that they are interested in. Facebook users come together to discuss books, holidays, movies, school events, and countless other topics. Our brothers are excited about Masonry and about their lodges, so they are naturally drawn to Facebook to learn more about others’ experiences in Masonry and to share their own. Since its beginning, brethren have met together on the internet to exchange ideas and discuss how Masonry is practiced in their various jurisdictions and lodges.

So how can your lodge use Facebook to inspire its brothers and help excite them into action? First, you need a central presence on Facebook. For this presence, there are two options: Pages and Groups. Pages and Groups are Facebook features that assist organizations to promote themselves and disseminate their information. There are slight differences between these two options, but generally Pages are preferred for lodges.

A Facebook page is primarily a public relations tool. Any Facebook user can become a “fan” of the page and it is therefore open to brothers, friends, family, and community members. The advantages of a Facebook page are numerous. A lodge can post its upcoming events on the page and invite people to attend. This can allow your lodge to save money on postage and advertising, while reaching a wider audience of brothers and friends. Your lodge can post photos about the great events that it has had. The page’s fans can then get a more intimate look into your lodge and its happenings.

Large amounts of content can also be posted onto the lodge page. Trestleboards can be posted on the page via a web link. Videos of an installation of officers or even a Masonic family picnic can be uploaded. The Worshipful Master could even digitally record his Master’s message and upload it to the page. Links to your lodge’s website can be included, as well as a link to the Grand Lodge’s website and other pages about Freemasonry. Facebook pages can allow its fans to start interactive discussion topics, for brothers to discuss everything from refreshments to the lodge budget. The options for posting content about your lodge are countless.

Finally, one of the primary benefits of your lodge having a Facebook page is that it is completely free. As long as your brothers have an email address and an internet connection, they can use Facebook.

Facebook is not a replacement for real life, nor is it a replacement for Masonry. There is no such thing as virtual Masonry. The lodge and our face-to-face brotherhood are what makes Freemasonry special. However, Facebook can help keep brothers informed and help excite them about your lodge’s events. This, in turn, may inspire them to come out and enjoy the fellowship of the lodge.

Like email, websites, and online documents, Facebook is just another virtual working tool by which we can perfect our art. Hopefully, your lodge can find a way to use this new tool to help bring brothers, friends, and family a little closer together.

What the Heck is a “Facebook”?

This blog post is a reprinting of an article that I wrote and was published in the November 2009 issue of the Connecticut Freemasons Newspaper.

You have probably heard something about Facebook either in the news, from an email, or you might be on Facebook already. However, you might have been left wondering “What is Facebook?” and “Why do I need to know about it?” Since this is a tool that many people are using sometimes on a daily basis, perhaps we can shed some light on the subject and help you figure out “What the heck is a Facebook anyway?”

Let’s start off simple; Facebook is a web site that people use to network socially, that is, leave messages with their friends that all their other friends can see. A user logs into Facebook and has the ability to post, either publicly or privately, information about themselves such as photos, notes, their taste in music, or even events they are attending. A user can then become a “friend” with anyone who is already on Facebook. This might be a family member, a coworker, a friend, or a Masonic brother. “Friending” is the act of declaring a social connection between two people and allowing them to see each other’s personal information. Becoming a friend is a two-way street, both users must agree to the friendship and confirm it. Therefore, if you don’t know someone and they request to become your “friend,” you can simply reject the request. Once someone is your friend on Facebook, they can see all the interesting stuff that you post. For example, here is a link to my Facebook profile, check it out and you can see what a Facebook profile looks like - www.facebook.com/charles.tirrell. I left it public for anyone to see, not just my “friends” on Facebook.

Two important features of Facebook is the “status” field and the “news feed.” A user has a “status” field, where they can type a short note about what they are doing at that moment. Updating your Facebook status is similar to another internet phenomenon, twittering, which allows users to post short little messages to the public. For example, a lodge member who is about to attend a Halloween party hosted by the Fellowcraft Club may post “I’m going to the Fellowcraft Club Halloween Party. Hope they play the Monster Mash!” This “status” is then prominently displayed on the users Facebook page for his friends to see. The feature is also broadcast to his friends’ “news feed.” The “news feed” is an activity aggregator, which gives a listing of all the recent updates that have occurred on your friends' pages. Most users check the “news feed” regularly as a way to see what their friends are up to. Therefore, another brother may see the status update about the Halloween Party in his “news feed,” become aware that this party is happening, and decide to come down to the lodge and bob for apples. Another useful feature of Facebook are “fan pages.” A “fan page” is a Facebook page that is not specifically for a person, but for a product, a place, or an organization. Becoming a fan is sort of like becoming a friend, except when you become a fan of an organization, it is a one- way street. A user chooses to become a fan of a page and there is no confirmation needed from the “fan page.” Once a user is a fan, the page can then post status updates and notifications to the users news feed. Photos, events, or even videos can be posted to the page, for fans to explore. The Grand Lodge of Connecticut has a fan page on Facebook and you can check it out by following the link on the Grand Lodge website.

Next month, we’ll have an article about what resources for Masons are available on Facebook and how lodges use Facebook to help the craft stay connected.