Official Visit Corona Lodge #454 – Dec. 6, 2007
By R.W. Bro. Harold J. Johnson, DDGM

Masonic Lodges: Relevant or Old Boys Club

This evening I will try to address the issue of the relevance of Masonic lodges in this day and age.

Masonic Lodges have often been referred to as old boys clubs due to their aging membership and their adherence to old traditions that to the outside world seem to be out of step with modern society. People view us from the jaded opinions offered by modern filmmakers, and media sources that seem to have some kind of axe to grind and use the few scanty and often times erroneous details to shade us in an unpopular light.

Organized religious groups have from time to time out of some uninformed and incorrect information labeled us as heretical or demon worshippers, and this type of attack still rears itself today in some quarters. Many of these attacks stem from the simple truth that these organizations see our reluctance to talk about our fraternity to outsiders as a sign that we have some deep dark mysterious secrets to hide. They relate that reluctance to a sinister or in the vernacular of today’s youth “dark side” of our nature and beings.

Some of our ritual references to penalties only seem to confirm to the rest of society that we actively pursue that way of life and we are thus painted in some circles, with that brush that associates us with the worst of society’s evils.

So much has been made of this over the years that some of our Grand Lodges worldwide have deleted references to traditional penalties from the ritual entirely and that option has certainly been discussed at the committee levels of our Grand Jurisdiction.

We somehow need to get the message out that this is not what we are all about, but how do we accomplish that task when we are exhorted in our ritual to shun all occasions that may inadvertently lead us to divulge information that we do not want to be revealed. We are told to refrain from writing, marking, printing, carving or engraving those items we hold so closely to our vests.

Thus my brethren we are marked by the outside world with all of those monikers previously referred to in this oration.

Does the fact that we have an aging membership categorize us as an old boys club that is self serving and resistant to change?

The real facts of this issue are that society is changing as are the attitudes and priorities of the world around us. We are not alone in the need to have more involvement from the younger generations. Service clubs, churches, and charitable organizations all face the same tribulations as we do.

Modern society has seen the deteriorization of the family unit, and the values of work ethic, respect for others, honesty, and morality are being lost as we see children being brought up in one parent families, or families where both parents must work at two or more low paying jobs to make ends meet.

This leaves our children in a situation where their only values are coming from the world of games and fictional characters on that high definition 48 inch screen, where it is in terms of today’s youth “cool” to react with violence and blow away that bad guy because after all responsibility and accountability no longer exist. That which is real and that which is fictional may easily become blurred to the developing minds of our youth.

With the rapid advancement of modern technology we see any spare time being eaten away in front of a video screen where socialization can be partaken of without risking face to face meetings.

We are seeing the demands of the work place require that people work intermittent hours and varying shifts that preclude them from making a commitment to attend and participate in any group on a regular and recurring basis.

Deep down inside all of us however, is that basic human need to rise above that tawdry day to day rat race, and see ourselves as better men. By doing so we gain that self respect and dignity we so urgently strive to obtain.

This my brethren is where our Masonic lifestyle fits in, and continues to be relevant as we stress in our efforts to communicate with the outside world that we take good men and make them better. We exhort our brethren to be better men in their daily lives and work.

We give them allegorical examples of the ideals that can make all of us better people with respect and self esteem.

We promote and value the ideals that people in society need to adhere to in order for them to have that feeling of peace, humanity and accomplishment, and the inner satisfaction of having done something for the cause of good without expecting something in return.

We can communicate that message to the community beyond our tiled recesses by setting that example we are petitioned to observe so that others in our sphere of life can have that shining example to emulate.

Brethren as time goes on you will see more and more people searching for those value that we espouse in our Lodges. We need to effectively communicate our values to society until they are able to get the message they are truly seeking and can only get in a very few organizations.

We can in short by sticking with our principles and values remain that shining example and rest assured good men will eventually gravitate to our way of life and our Lodges will continue to be a growing and vibrant entity in society.