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From the Desk of the Grand Secretary:
R.W. Clinton M. Brown, Jr.
Dear Brethren,
We are entering a very busy time of year. Since we were not able to meet for over a year, I thought it would be helpful to go over a few important items as a reminder to Lodges of certain requirements per the Washington Masonic Code.
Notice to Delinquent Members: The Washington Masonic Code requires that notice be sent out to all members who have not paid their dues for the year.
Section 17.14 B.L. Notice of Delinquents. It is the duty of the Secretary of each Lodge on or about September 1st of each year to notify in writing each member of said Lodge who has not paid his current dues. The notice shall inform the member that his dues are delinquent and that he will be dropped from the roll of membership if his dues are not paid on or before December 31st of that year.
I was shocked to learn how many Brothers who have been dropped by their Lodge for Non-Payment of Dues report that they were never contacted by their Lodge. Notices must be in writing and sent out on or about September 1. The Worshipful Master should appoint an N.P.D. committee in November who should interview each delinquent member (the interview does not have to be in person) to find out why they are delinquent and report that information back to the Lodge before the end of the year.
It is sad that each year we drop Brothers from our roles for non-payment of dues. It is made worse if no personal contact is made with a Brother to find out if he needs assistance. Please take the time to make personal contact either by phone or in person to find out why a Brother is delinquent in his dues. If there is a situation that prevents a Brother from paying his dues, please consider extending the hand of Masonic Charity. If he does not want to continue his Masonic membership explain to him the dimit process and suggest he may want to pay his dues for the current year and then ask for a dimit from the Lodge. If a Brother is on Active Military Duty, please consider honoring his service by forgiving his dues while the Brother is defending our country.
Don’t forget to remind a Brother that if he is dropped N.P.D. in one Lodge, he will be dropped N.P.D. in all his Lodges unless he has a Life Membership.
Dues Statements Lodge Secretaries should be getting their dues statements ready to go out soon. Lodge Secretaries can customize and print their own dues notices through Grand View. Remember that dues are due on January 1 of each year. It is important that you send the notices out well in advance of this date. Remind member that their current due card is good through 2022. However, if they have lost or damaged their dues card, they can order a new one through the Grand Lodge office. They can also use the virtual dues card which is available on Grand View. Simply go to My Portal and click on virtual dues card. It will provide a QR code that can be read by any smart phone and show the status of any member.
Lodge Elections We are now coming up on election season for many of our Lodges. Lodge Secretaries must enter their Lodge officers in Grand View.
To record a lodge election simply click on the Officers tab on the right side of the dashboard and then open the “Elections” on that page. Set the date and type of election. Types are “Annual Election” or “Special Election”. Special Elections are normally used to record an election that occurs to replace an officer who has passed or is no longer serving the remainder of his term. (Elections of Lodge Officers is covered in Chapter 15 of the Washington Masonic Code).
Upon creating the election, you are presented with the election worksheet where officers are divided into two different groups; elected and appointed. Select the “Add” button next to the office you are selecting and there you can search for the member who was elected. Select the member and click on submit.
The Washington Masonic Code requires that officers must be proficient in the Third Degree. This information must be in the member’s history before they can be installed into an office. If you cannot find a member, please verify they satisfy the requirements for holding that office.
If you are holding installations the same night at elections, you can begin installing your officers from this page. To install an officer simply click the “Install” button next to their office where you will be prompted for their term dates. You should leave the end date blank. By design Grand View does not require an end date for an installed officer and perceives an office record with no term end as the currently installed officer for that position. When new officers are installed through this interface the system will set the term end of the current officer to the term start date of the newly installed officer.
If some officers are not installed during your installation ceremony do not install those officers. Simply go back to this election record when they are duly installed. This will allow more accurate records of who manned an office on any given date.
If you select the wrong member when adding a new officer, you can remove that record by selecting the red X next to the member’s name. If you do not recognize an error until after you install the officer, you will need to contact the Grand Lodge office to have this record corrected.
Monthly Closeouts It is important that Lodge Secretaries log onto Grand View and complete their monthly closeouts. If there is no activity to report, then just click on the month, find the closeout button on the bottom of the page and click on it. It is as simple as that. Remember that an activity such as degree work or a dimit shows up during the month that it is input into Grand View, not in the month that it occurs.
Sincerely and Fraternally,
Clinton M. Brown, Jr.
Grand Secretary
From the Desk of the Assistant Grand Secretary:
V.W. Clayton LaVigne
My Brothers,
Greetings! I hope you have enjoyed our warm and dry summer! We might be getting a few drops of rain towards the end of this week, but even so, be careful, as the fire danger is still very high.
Last month I talked about inquirers, and how we should be contacting them on a regular basis and establishing relationships with them as they go through the 6 steps towards joining your Lodge. But has your Lodge been in contact with the members who haven’t attended in a while, or who live in other areas? I have attended Lodges where one or more of the active members continuously point out it’s the same 6 Brothers who are holding the officer positions, chairing the committees, contacting the local schools for scholarships and Bikes 4 Books, maintaining communication with community leaders, and other important Lodge duties. If I bring up an idea that could improve the Lodge in some manner, one of those same Brothers will say, “and who is going to be in charge of that? The 6 of us are already overextended!” And in many cases, the Lodge has more than four dozen members!
Remember, just because you might only have 6 Brothers who can attend all of your Stated Communications, and perhaps another 6 who show up from time to time, doesn’t mean your remaining Brothers might not be able to assist in community work. Let’s say your Lodge has a scholarship program, but none of your officers can attend the High School’s scholarship assembly due to work or other obligations. But there’s a member of your Lodge who’s involved in the local schools who is planning to attend that assembly. If your Lodge had been maintaining communication with all of its members, this would have worked out great! The same thing could apply to a Bikes 4 Books assembly at one or more of your local Grade Schools. Also, you might have a member who cannot drive at night, or cannot get out of the house for some reason. He might be willing to become your Brother who gets on the phone and calls the membership to offer reminders of Lodge meetings and events, or just to call those Brothers for wellness checks (keeping in mind that all of us should be doing that from time to time.) Just because your members cannot attend your Stated Communications doesn’t mean they cannot participate and become an active member of your Lodge in another manner.
It is true that some of our Lodges might have only a couple dozen members, and it can get trickier to delegate duties with fewer Brothers to handle them, but I just checked Grandview and noticed the median Lodge has roughly 5 dozen members. My brothers, if you look at your Lodge roster and don’t know most of your fellow Lodge members, it’s time you get to know them! Give them a call, or you might be able to find time to pay them a visit. There are no disadvantages to getting to know your fellow Lodge Brothers better, only benefits!
This month is proving to be quite eventful, from a handful of outdoor degrees to some Grand Lodge events, including another cornerstone for a high school in Southwest Washington. I hope to see you at one or more of these events!
Have a great summer!
Fraternally,
Clayton LaVigne
Assistant Grand Secretary
From the Desk of the Grand Master:
M.W. Cameron M. Bailey
Money
Freemasonry Can't Thrive Without It
If it is to enjoy a bright future, Freemasonry must address the issue of money.
The simple fact of the matter is that for decades and decades now we have been putting far too low of price on Freemasonry, and our Ancient Craft is suffering as a result. We must all pay more today if we hope to transmit our fraternity to our children’s children. The lack of adequate funding shows itself from the very first moment that we Initiate a new man into our mysteries, at least in most of our Lodges. We tell him that we are presenting him with a lambskin or white leather apron. We explain that it is the badge of a Mason. Then, in most of our Lodges, we give him a vinyl apron. The manufacturer might call it ‘lamtex’ or something, but let’s be honest, it’s vinyl, some kind of plastic, made from petroleum.
Is that a suitable badge for a Freemason? Is the lamb, an ancient holy symbol adequately replaced by plastic made from crude oil? Lambskin aprons are available to us. So, why do we do this? Why do we take this ancient symbol and adulterate it beyond all reason?
Money.
We do not charge enough money for the Degrees of Masonry, in the overwhelming majority of Lodges, to be able to present our new initiates with an actual badge of a Mason. Instead of increasing the fees for the Degrees, we shame ourselves, our fraternity, and our newest Brother by giving him vinyl.
Do we really believe that if we doubled the fees for the Degrees so that we could afford to give our initiates that which we tell them we are giving them, we would end up with fewer men seeking initiation? If we do believe that, we are dead wrong. The history of our Lodges shows that in the past men were willing to pay extraordinary amounts of money in initiation fees and dues. Only since the middle of the 20th Century did we start making financial commitments to Freemasonry an afterthought.
When our new initiate is brought to light, what does he see around the waists of many men? A thin cloth mockery of a Masonic apron. Sagging, and looking sad. Loaner aprons. All our Lodges have them, most of our members wear them.
Why? Because those who came before us in the Craft decided that men wouldn’t want to spend some money on a quality apron of their own, at least not before they became a Past Master. So instead of having a loaner apron or two for the member or visitor who happened to forget his apron at home, Lodges bought them by the score, and it somehow became normal for Freemasons to desecrate the badge of a Mason.
At the next meeting our new Brother attends we will most likely see him in one of those loaner aprons.
Why? Because by giving him a vinyl apron we have communicated to him that a Mason’s apron is of no importance. By letting him see so many other men wearing old loaner aprons, we have communicated to him that doing so is the right thing to do.
Neither of these things is true, but that is what we have done.
We have, within five minutes of his initiation, communicated profound error to this new Brother. Instead of the good and wholesome instruction we are supposed to be communicating.
A Lodge should communicate to its members that its loaner aprons are going to be retired, and tell them where they can purchase actual Masonic aprons. Allow a couple of months to pass in order for the members to buy and receive them, and then retire those loaner aprons. Keeping just one or two for the man who forgets his at home.
Do we believe that the money a man would need to pay to purchase himself a quality apron would put an undue strain on him? Do we believe that if we did away with loaner aprons less men would come to Lodge?
If we do believe those things, our beliefs are wrong.
What it would do is help renew the pride men felt in Masonry as they fastened actual Masonic aprons around their waists, instead of some modern mockery of the badge of a Mason. It would help build the spirit of the Lodge as the men within it would look sharp, instead of looking as tired as the sagging cloth they far too often wear.
This would of course require that Masons pay for an apron. Well, such is the cost one must pay to be a Freemason. If a man can’t afford an apron, he can’t afford Masonry.
Let’s go back in time just a bit though, perhaps two hours. Let’s think about our building, and let’s try and picture it through our soon to be obligated candidate’s eyes. Is it in disrepair? Is maintenance obviously being deferred? Does it need new paint and carpet? Is it clean?
Let’s face it, Masonic buildings cost a great deal of money to own and operate. We need to figure out exactly how much money that is each year. We need to include budgeted costs for ongoing maintenance. Then we can subtract any income we might receive from the costs. The balance? Well, that’s the amount that we must get, from ourselves.
How much? It’s easy enough to figure out, once we have determined how much money we need in a year to own, operate, and maintain our building, we simply divide that number by the number of Masons in the Lodge.
The dues we pay must, if we are to survive, be greater than that amount.
We have to raise our dues so that they are greater than that amount.
If the amount is so high that raising them to that level would be truly harmful to our members, then the answer is simple. We must sell the building and meet somewhere else. For some reason, in modern times, our fraternity confused itself. It started to believe that owning a Masonic Temple was important. That we needed our own buildings, for our own exclusive use. That belief is badly misguided.
The modern form of Freemasonry was founded in a Tavern, and Lodges met in Taverns, for decades upon decades. A Lodge does not need a building to be successful, but owning a building that a Lodge can not afford is a certain way to destroy a Lodge.
Either raise the dues, figure out a rental program, or sell it. There is no other option.
This goes for Life Membership Dues as well. Those are very shamefully low. Dues must be raised for those who pay each year, and dues must be raised for all future purchasers of Life Memberships.
Is the Lodge building that our new candidate sees dirty?
In my experience, more often than not, the answer is yes.
What does that communicate to him about the value we place on Freemasonry? What does it tell him about the amount of pride we have in our Lodge?
Nothing good. I assure you that.
Are we truly unwilling to raise our dues high enough so that we can afford to have a cleaning service come in once a month to keep our buildings in top shape? Don’t we think our members would be happier, and feel more pride, if they were meeting in a clean temple?
Likely before his degree we are going to feed our candidate a meal. Will it be a questionable sandwich with some soup, or will it be a feast? What do those two options each communicate to this new candidate?
Do we really believe that asking our Brothers for five or ten dollar donations so that we can feed them bad sandwiches and soup is preferable to asking them for twenty or thirty dollars so that we can feed them a feast?
If we believe that Masons would balk at paying twenty dollars for a great meal, we are delusional. Yet following that delusion is what we do. After we initiate this new man, how excited is he going to be to return to the next not great Lodge dinner? How much more excited would he be to do so if it were a great quality meal?
It is likely, in many of our Lodges, that we don’t have men who can cook exceptionally well for a large group. That’s OK. That’s what catering is for. We don’t have to do everything, we simply have to pay for that which we can’t or don’t want to do ourselves.
We have initiated our new man. He is excited by what he has just gone through, and we want to celebrate with him for a few minutes. So, we return to the dining room.
Do we pour left over coffee still warming in the pot into styrofoam cups, with perhaps some off brand soda pop for the anti-coffee guys?
Do we stand around with this libation in little cliques, spending a couple minutes draining our foam cup before rushing out the door?
Or do we instead pour a fine quality spirit into proper Masonic firing cannons, and with it toast our new Brother? Toast the health and successes of ourselves? Toast the Brothers who could not make it this night? Toast our Lodge and Freemasonry?
What does the stale coffee and off brand pop communicate to our newest Brother?
What does the fine whiskey, firing cannons, and toasts communicate to him?
Which will make him want to return to Lodge?
If we are too cheap, as Masons, to pay enough dues so that our Lodge can own custom engraved firing cannons and buy a good bottle from time to time, well is it any wonder that so many EA’s don’t return to become FC’s?
A day or two has passed. It is time to begin mentoring and educating our newest Brother. Freemasonry is deep and it is complex. He, like all Masons, must be taught. If we own our own building, do we have a quality space to do this in? Do we have a warm and cozy space where two to four of us can sit together and learn from one another? Does it have nice, comfortable leather chairs surrounding an adequate table?
If not, why not? Are our low dues once again forcing us to fall short? We know that they are, so why do we refuse to fix it?
As we are trying to get this new Brother started, probably not in a comfortable space as mentioned above, do we at least have good books in the Lodge library to get him going down his own Masonic path? Do we have titles such as Freemasons For Dummies, and Pike’s Esoterika, or are all of our books over fifty years old? All of us who have traveled to Lodges know the truth. In most cases, Lodges do not own any newer Masonic books.
How sad is that? Will we teach him using the dusty and outdated volumes?
Well, no. We won’t do that. What we will do instead, far too often, is we will not teach him at all.
In most Lodges, an extremely minimal increase in dues would allow a quality Lodge library to be created. Why in so many cases are we unwilling to do even this?
In this article about money, and selling Freemasonry too cheaply, I touch upon only a few examples. Specifically what the new Mason encounters on the night of his initiation, and its aftermath.
These are just a few examples to try and illustrate a much broader problem within our fraternity. We must recognize that everywhere in the United States, lack of adequate Masonic finances, because of dues that are far too low and do not rise with inflation in most cases, are destroying Freemasonry. Not only because of the few examples given above, but truly in a myriad of ways.
Freemasonry must have adequate financial resources, adequate dues, if it is to survive and thrive into a bright future.
I hope that these few examples help to illustrate that fact.
I hope as well however that these few examples also point out that by having more financial resources, a better Lodge experience can be had.
A better Lodge experience justifies higher costs.
Most importantly though, a better Lodge experience will result in better men being attracted to our Ancient Craft, and more of those men remaining active Masons for life.
Live the Legend
Cameron Bailey
Grand Master
Electronic Standard Work
At the Annual Communication, the Brethren approved a Resolution to allow the distribution of an electronic copy of Standard Work-Freemasons Guide. We have been working to update the Standard Work and create a secure copy so that it can be posted on Grand View and accessible to our Membership. We hope to have the project completed by the end of August.
Grand Lodge Events
August 7, 2021 - 9:00 Am - Outdoor Third Degree - Masonic Family Park
24310 Mountain Loop Hwy, Granite Falls, WA 98252
August 8, 2021 - 1:00 PM - Grand Lodge Candidate Forum - Zoom Teleconference
Links for this meeting can be found on the Grand Lodge Seminar page
August 8, 2021 - 4:00 PM - Unity March - Ifrati Park
120 Barksdale Ave, DuPont, WA 98327
August 21, 2021 - 7:00 PM - Torchlight Degree - Masonic Family Park
24310 Mountain Loop Hwy, Granite Falls, WA 98252
August 27, 2021 - Toledo School Cornerstone
Robert Morris Lodge, No. 97 - 116 Hunting Road, Silver Creek WA 3:00 PM - Early Dinner
4:00 PM - Opening of Grand Lodge
5:00 PM - Leave Lodge for Toledo High School - 1242 Hwy. 505, Toledo WA
August 28, 2021 - Outdoor Degree - Quilcene-Jefferson Lodge, No. 107 170 Herbert St, Quilcene, WA 98376
August 29, 2021 - 1:00 PM - Forks Salmon Fry - Mount Olympus Lodge, No. 298
130 West Division Forks , WA 98331
September 9, 2021 - 6:00 PM - Methow Valley Lodge Reconstitution - Methow Valley Lodge, No. 240
5th Ave. & Highway 20, Twisp WA 98856
October 2, 2021 - Manito Lodge Rededication - Manito Lodge, No. 246
2715 S Grand Blvd, Spokane WA 99203
The Grand Lodge office has been open to visitors since Monday, June 21, 2021.
We do ask that you abide by all applicable state and local health regulations and
that if you are ill or have been exposed to anyone known or suspected to have COVID-19 you delay your visit.
