01 April 06
The irregularity of the UGLE
Was the United Grand Lodge of England formed from irregularity?Were the 4 Lodges that formed it regular?
If they were true lodges, why did they not keep records?
Did their decree make all the other Freemasons irregular?
Who was documenting the other Lodges in existence?
Was the Grand Lodge of Ancients irregular?
Has England remade history in their own image?
When was irregularity invented?
Freemasonry is greater and more respectable than any one Grand Lodge or that GL’s politics
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1717 Membership decline!?!
Having grown up in England I can well understand why 1717 happened.Self appointed committees in England have an amazing habit of
becoming governing authorities, particularly if you can obtain royal
patronage. Having established your supremacy as THE sole governing
authority then no one seems to question your divine right to confer
regularity on subordinate bodies. Through your royal patronage you
can also reward loyalty and subservience with "service awards" like
MBE's & Knighthoods. Even aging punk-rockers succumb to the
temptation of a knighthood!
It has been speculated that Masonic membership was in such decline
in 1717 that the main thrust of the meeting was to find ways to
boost membership. If that theory is true then they certainly
succeeded particularly once royal patronage was achieved.
S & F
Colin 334SC
South Africa
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Masonic Books Banned
George Washington Masonic National Memorial has banned public access to their library!?!However, the Librarian will admit some “Scholars”,
And calls for control of all Masonic information on the internet!
THIS IS NOT A JOKE!
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Masonic News Release
I received this clipping from a Mason in XXX and thought you'd beinterested, but I XXX'd out the name of the state so that there would be no
finger pointing re: irregular procedures.
Fraternally
John Worlein
(Press release - for immediate release)
The Masons, oldest and biggest community service club in the world wants you
to join in the fraternal fun. Recent 'One-Day-To-Masonry' campaigns were so
successful that a new and even more fun one is on its way to you. 'ONE
MINUTE TO MASONRY' is an even more exciting and painless way to join 'The
Masons' than ever before. You may have heard that Masonry takes time and
effort, but that was the past - the new Masonry just focuses on the
important things like fun.
It works like this: look for a certificate in the Sunday supplement of over
20 XXX metro & regional newspapers. Fill in the information and take it to
a lodge in your community, pay a small fee, enjoy a 20 minute presentation
and you are a fully fledged Master Mason, just like the ones that used to
spend months or years to earn the distinction. If you have the time to get
"All the Light", as Masons say, another 20 minute program will reveal
everything in all other Masonic bodies including the Scottish Rite, the York
Rite and for a limited time even the 'Mystic' Shrine! WOW!! How can you go
wrong, all the secrets of this secret society in less than an hour!
Watch the Sunday newspaper for your opportunity to become a genuine Master
Mason.
*Some restrictions may apply
PROGRESSIVE MASONS SEEK NEW WAYS TO RECRUIT MEMBERS
By Amy Jackson
Freemasonry is a very old organization, going back more than 100 years, some
claim. Recently, they seem to have fallen on hard times and have seen large
drops in membership, but one of the largest Masonic grand lodges in the
world has some ideas about how to turn all that around. In coming weeks, a
'blow-in' card promotion through newspapers, penny pinchers and used car
flyers is hoped to open the floodgates to new membership. Will Kilbros,
Renewal Committee Chair and spokesman for the Grand Lodge of XXX said of
their new promotion, 'One Minute To Masonry', "We needed to fill all those
empty seats in our lodges and I think this will do it, the old Masonry just
wasn't fun enough to be attractive anymore. You know, we were started by
George Washington during the Civil War, and have not changed much since
then, that's our main problem. By the way, we don't use the term
'Freemasonry' these days, it gives people the impression that we don't
charge to join, or for meals, or are free thinkers or something. Even the
term Masonry gives the wrong idea that we are a bunch of bricklayers or
cement guys - no one knows why Masons are called that and we may change the
name when we can find a better and less confusing one, maybe like 'The
Watchers' or 'The Waiters' or something."
For those busy people who don't have the time to stop in at their local
Masonic Lodge, Kilbros told us that his committee is looking into producing
a radical new program called 'Email to Masonry', this state of the art
program allows it all to be done by email, fees are paid by credit card and
all the secrets are available to new masons via a secure server called 'The
Tiler'. "We need to stay on top of the technology and popular trends",
Kilbros says.
"My committee also investigated other trendy ways to get attention and
membership, one of the really cool ones was to work with a fast food chain
for publicity, maybe even to offer memberships when a person bought enough
XXL sized meals. The chain wanted the promotion to have a theme and action
figures though, unfortunately we really don't have a theme and there's not
much action around here, so we had to drop that plan. Too bad, it would've
been kinda cute to have little plastic ruffians with little working tool
weapons."
Asked about some of the many promotions that he has employed previously,
Kilbros said, "Other programs have put new member in our lodges in the past,
but one must keep up with the times". Back when the "X-Files" was still on
Fox, we did pretty well with our 'Join the Conspiracy' campaign, but that
kind of petered out in the last season when the plots were bad. We had a
couple of really unsuccessful ones too, like the "Freedom, Tolerance,
Integrity" one and the others that promoted outdated values - well, we got a
few eggheads, and idealists to join, but they didn't bring their friends in,
they just argued with us about what it says in our constitution and what we
are actually doing today; all of them washed out in a few months. They were
very disruptive people, but I guess it wasn't a complete bust because we
learned who we wanted to attract and who we didn't."
What kind of 'fun' can a new member expect from their membership when they
are a full fledged Master Mason, Kilbros was asked? "My committee has been
working on that, but first we have to get enough people to join and then
survey them to find out what they really want, Masons have always been
democratic and believe in the right of self determination, you know"
In the ad it implies that "One Minute to Masonry' only takes a minute, and I
asked why Kilbros spoke about a 20 minute induction program, he answered,
"it only takes a minute or so for the important stuff." I also noted that
the press release stated '*Some restrictions apply', when asked about what
restrictions there were on membership, Kilbros answered, "Unlike the past,
we no longer discriminate against the very young or old, or those with a
mental health, substance abuse, moral alignment or criminal history issues -
this is an organization for today and it's for everyone". Asked again why
the disclaimer mentioned restrictions, he said, ".there are some minor
gender ones, we're working on that".
So, it seems that you can teach an old dog new tricks, even one as old as
the Masons. The progressive attitude of the Grand Lodge of XXX in making
their lodges available to everyone insures that Masonry, or whatever they
finally choose to rename themselves will be around for a long time to come.
BTW - April Fool
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False Masons
Ran across this term the other day and it turned my stomach.It was used by the author to refer to all Masons not in diplomatic relations with his “Group”.
In Fact there are No False Masons!
There may be Masons you wish not to recognize or socialize with;
Masons you wish to emulate or despise,
Masons who are female or male,
Masons who are suspended or expelled,
Masons who are not yet labeled,
But Masons all.
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