What a concept!

So what do you think?

We’ve been focusing on the social aspects and brotherhood of the Fraternity.  Spreading the word, gaining petitioners like crazy, increasing participation and attendance.  All by putting some fun and informality inside and outside of the Lodge.  We’re meeting for breakfast once a month, have organized a bowling event for friends and family, we’re planning on participating in a parade later this year to raise awareness, and as a district, we’re looking at a golf tournament and more!

However there is also a movement afoot to belittle the efforts of the RWGM to increase membership and appeal to new social sensibilities in the 21st century.  Brethren out there are considering formation of Traditional Observance Lodges – a strict focus on intiatory experience, taking a candidate much longer to proceed through his degrees.  Meeting quarterly and including a banquet-type meal each time.  Limiting membership to 50-75 members and requiring participation.  The focus on a strict adherence to hundreds of years of initiatory traditions, less focus on other fellowship opportunities and charitable community projects.

So what’s best?  Trying to appeal to young family men with busy lives who would like to join our ranks but might find it stuffy or old fashioned….or relying on an older, stricter adherence to tradition, a pricey and lengthy admission process in which the candidate would theoretically develop a greater understanding of the Fraternity and, feeling he has a vested interest, participate more regularly within a limited, truly selective membership.

I sometimes waffle as I can see some salient points in both approaches.  Trying to resurrect this organization and build for the future is not a black and white situation. 

I see the need for a better understanding by our members of what Freemasonry is supposed to be – that means better training and more effort be required on the part of new members.  I also see an advantage in having a smaller, tighter group of members who know each other and participate freely with a good level of comfort.  Other than for purposes of paying bills, what good purpose are 400+ members if no one knows who they are and who are either too intimidated, too busy or too disinterested in whether we make a left turn, or a right turn in Lodge, or any other ritualistic nuance on which we officers spend hours trying to master.  Is our effort truly worth the time, when new members see it, don’t totally understand it all and opt to find something more active and fun than a typical Lodge meeting? 

However, we also talk alot about Charity and Social responsibility in Lodge (check out the ancient charges) – we cannot abandon that.  The RWGM is right when he notes that most households are two income households, the pace of life and the fabric of the family unit is quite different than it had been even 20 years ago, let alone a century or more ago when Masonry was growing!  Many new, young candidates may not even own a suit (our latest candidate had to go out and buy one just for his degrees)- business casual is the dress code for most business people, including those in many Fortune 500 companies and we even see it in church congregations.  So outside activities, social bonding and community/social activities that do not require formal dress and have an element of fun and family involvement would be appealing. 

Perhaps a Lodge model can be created that incorporates some elements of both of these concepts – limited, exclusive membership levels - required mastery of the lessons of Freemasonry (including some memorization), even if it takes a little longer to accomplish – required participation/attendance minimums for maintaining membership – informal social activities outside the lodge which involve families – a pre-determined number of community service and charitable projects each year – relevent programs of interest which rely on technological advancements (in our lodge, we do not have an organist so we don’t even have music, and an Ipod picks up interference) such as powerpoint presentations, video and audio programs – greater reliance on electronic comunication and correspondance – greater competency in degree conferral (there may actually be members who can memorize and deliver a great degree, but haven’t the time, desire or ability to manage an organizaton, and conversely, there may be great managers and visionaries who can truly LEAD an organization, but have no desire or ability in the ritual performance realm)…so all star degree teams utilized to truly impress new candidates rather than bore them – meet in smaller venues which would not entail burdensome overhead for maintainence and upkeep and would more intimately accomodate a smaller number of members (our lodge had not always met in a “Masonic Center”…in fact at one point, the lodge met on the second floor of a burlesque house, and another Lodge I know of met on the floors above a State Store).

I’m not sure how we could constitute, organize or propose such an organization, or if enough brethren would even buy into this “blended” Lodge concept.  But those are some of my thoughts to create a more relevent, cohesive, financially viable, yet elite and ritualistically faithful Lodge.

What are your thoughts?

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