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December 16, 2022

THE LOUISIANA FREEMASON is the Official Publication of The Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, F & A.M., digitally published quarterly and in print annually for members of Lodges in Louisiana. The Louisiana Freemason eEdition is published weekly on Fridays. Articles that are published do not necessarily reflect the views of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana. Email/Address Changes should be sent to the Lodge Secretary.

In the Bosom of Misfortune:
The Perpetual Need for Festivals of Light

by Bro. J. Gary "Gar" Pickering,
Worshipful Master
Goose & Gridiron No. 1717

"It is true that at the time we allude to (1794), Free-Masons were obliged to meet secretly in Louisiana. Neither the prudence nor the good will of the officers who then governed the country in the name of Spain, could free our Fraternity from the political and religious interdiction under which it laboured. Its members had to be very cautious, and to conceal, as it were, deeds of truth and of virtue. But this persecution had rendered them dearer to each other. Far from discussing the expediency or merit of certain forms and of certain words, they thought only of helping one another, and of entertaining by mutual counsels of true friendship, that spirit of strength and wisdom which will, at all times and in every circumstance, secure the triumph of human rights and of justice in society.

Shall we say now that an association thus formed in the bosom of misfortune by men who aimed at the same end, is to perish for ever under the brilliant sky of the prosperity which we enjoy? Shall we believe that the attraction of such an Association and the zeal with which it filled the hearts of its members, when they had to unite to conquer political and religious liberty, are now to disappear, and be changed into a fatal spirit of opposition when Masons of all ranks and of all Rites can celebrate openly their common victory?"

- James Foulhouze, in an 1849 committee report to the Grand Lodge of Louisiana

Detail from “The Story of Hanukkah” by Ori Sherman. (Magnes Collection of Jewish Art, University of California, Berkeley )

There is no doubt that Solomon’s Temple, at least symbolically, is important to all Craft Masons around the world. We tell how it was constructed, use its parts in our lodge furniture, and the tools of its construction in our symbols and lessons. We praise the glory of its design and the artistry of its edifice. What happens beyond its construction, completion, and eventual destruction is not covered in the Craft Degrees. In certain appendant bodies, the story continues.

The brethren who experience those degrees see it completed, hear the story of its destruction, the exile of its people into a foreign empire, and their triumphant return back to their Promised Land. Then they hear of Zerubbabel overseeing the construction of the Second Temple over the ruins of the First. What happens beyond its construction, completion, and eventual destruction is not covered in these additional degrees. For the rest of the story, the inquisitive Mason would have to turn to the apocryphal book of Maccabees*. There is told the story of a time of great religious persecution in Israel at the hands of Antiochus, who desecrated the temple and outlawed the religious observations of the Jews under his domain:

“After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred forty-third year. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils. He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off. He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures that he found. Taking them all, he went into his own land. He shed much blood, and spoke with great arrogance. Israel mourned deeply in every community, rulers and elders groaned, young women and young men became faint, the beauty of the women faded. Every bridegroom took up the lament; she who sat in the bridal chamber was mourning. Even the land trembled for its inhabitants, and all the house of Jacob was clothed with shame.”

After Antiochus had seized control of Israel, he began to make ordinances to force unification of all people under him, so that they be made one people. The pagans adopted his religion and sacrificed as he decreed, but for Jews who refused to follow his orders and give up their particular beliefs and customs, he sentenced to death.

“…the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and festivals, to defile the sanctuary and the priests, to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and other unclean animals, and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, so that they would forget the law and change all the ordinances. He added, "And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die." In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the towns of Judah to offer sacrifice, town by town. Many of the people, everyone who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land; they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had. Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding towns of Judah, and offered incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. The books of the law that they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. Anyone found possessing the book of the covenant, or anyone who adhered to the law, was condemned to death by decree of the king. They kept using violence against Israel, against those who were found month after month in the towns. On the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar that was on top of the altar of burnt offering. According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers' necks. But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Very great wrath came upon Israel…”

As the story continues, a rebellion forms against this tyrant, and those rebels are the namesake of the book; Maccabees. It was after their leader Judas, called Maccabeus, a son of Mattathias, that they were named, and when Mattathias died in the initial rebellion, he admonished his sons to give their lives for the covenant of their ancestors:

“The days drew near for Mattathias to die, and he said to his sons: "Arrogance and scorn have now become strong; it is a time of ruin and furious anger. Now, my children, show zeal for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of our ancestors. Remember the deeds of the ancestors, which they did in their generations; and you will receive great honor and an everlasting name. Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness? Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and became lord of Egypt. Phinehas our ancestor, because he was deeply zealous, received the covenant of everlasting priesthood. Joshua, because he fulfilled the command, became a judge in Israel. Caleb, because he testified in the assembly, received an inheritance in the land. David, because he was merciful, inherited the throne of the kingdom forever. Elijah, because of great zeal for the law, was taken up into heaven. Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael believed and were saved from the flame. Daniel, because of his innocence, was delivered from the mouth of the lions…”

Judas and his brothers fought for Israel, and eventually they gained victory over their oppressor, and immediately began to restore and purify the Temple. They witnessed the great destruction and profanity wrought by the hands of the King and his tyranny. Undefiled priests were found who could perform the ceremonies, and the second chapter of the Second Temple was underway:

"Then Judas and his brothers said, "See, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it." So all the army assembled and went up to Mount Zion. There they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned. In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket, or as on one of the mountains. They saw also the chambers of the priests in ruins. Then they tore their clothes and mourned with great lamentation; they sprinkled themselves with ashes and fell face down on the ground. And when the signal was given with the trumpets, they cried out to Heaven. Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary. He chose blameless priests devoted to the law, and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place. They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned. And they thought it best to tear it down, so that it would not be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it.

So they tore down the altar, and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them. Then they took unhewnd stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one. They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple, and consecrated the courts. They made new holy vessels, and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. Then they offered incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the temple. They placed the bread on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken. Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering that they had built. At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals.

All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and joyfully offered burnt offerings; they offered a sacrifice of well-being and a thanksgiving offering. They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and fitted them with doors. There was very great joy among the people, and the disgrace brought by the Gentiles was removed"

This is the temple that was in use in the time of Jesus, and that would be torn down by Rome in the first century AD, following another rebellion against pagan oppressors in Israel; one that failed, leading to the diaspora of the Jewish people exiled once again from their Promised Land. The reason I chose to write about this story, at this time, is because it is very important to the story of Hanukkah, a Jewish festival which begins this Sunday evening (December 18, 2022) that will be celebrated for eight days by Jews around the world. Hanukkah is called “The Festival of Lights”, and is commemorated by the lighting of eight candles, one each day of the celebration, in the menorah. This is done to commemorate the re-dedication of the Second Temple following the victory of the Maccabees.

For the Mason, whether or not he is Jewish, this festival can be seen as one that celebrates one of our own historic philosophies; that people should be free from the tyranny and oppression of compulsory beliefs and religious persecution. Throughout the history of our Fraternity, we have sought to free the minds of people from those who would keep them under their control for their own ill gains or corrupted visions. In the United States, we profess to be one made up of many; many diverse and particular customs, ideas, cultures, and beliefs. However, we are not one compelled by force of conformity, holding sacred the freedom of thought, speech, conviction, and belief of each individual, and/or group of individuals, so long as they are not used against another or forced through compulsion of law and decree.

We Masons are seekers of Light and through eras of oppression and destruction, we have preserved the light in our lodges and temples in much the same way that the Festival of Lights evokes. Though tyrants rise and fall across the ages of time, men, women, and children have died for thinking freely when faced with compulsory belief and threat of violence. In those same ages there have been the blind, the profane, the ignorant, and the morally corrupt who not only follow their tyrants, but become little tyrants themselves, turning against their own. Freemasons are not like this, and I believe that when truly facing force many of us would give their lives rather than deny their beliefs or force another to do the same.

This Sunday night, while some may be in their Temple or Synagogue in religious observation, I hope that those who read this article with look into their own hearts and think about how it must have felt to see a holy temple stripped and defiled by an autocrat whose motives, a forced unification of belief, were acceptable and justified for some, thus causing them to commit vile acts against their fellow man. Think of what it means to meet as Free Men and Masons in our lodges, of the fraternity in our halls, the festivities at our tables, and imagine if those were stripped away by another era of oppression. We have been there before, and we would be foolish to think that we are safe from it now and forever. Even in Louisiana, in lodges that still meet today, men have met in secret to escape the spies and inquisitors of a foreign crown who would compel them to believe as he decrees or face the threat of violence.

May we always meet and light our candles together, and may we always value the freedoms we have to share our Light with others.

* All quotes are from 1 Maccabees.
Further reading on the history and meaning of the Menorah.

New Borne Lodge No. 500

Welcomes and Celebrates Young Shrine Patient

"The ladies were honored to join the Mason/Shriner brothers, Worshipful Grand Master of
the State of Louisiana, the Grand Hospitalier, the Eastern Star and especially Isabella Castanza.

After 14 months of surgeries and countless therapy, Isabella is on the mend and kicking footballs.
True Miracles do happen thanks to Shriners Children's Hospital." - Rhonda Combel

Noble John Combel with Miss Isabella Castanza in February 2022 at Shriners Children's.

"9-year-old Isabella Castanza was hit by a dump truck while getting off her school bus near her home in Plaquemines Parish in October (2021). Troopers said that the dump truck driver failed to come to a stop, swerved onto the shoulder to avoid the bus, and instead struck the fourth-grader, leaving her with serious injuries." - 4WWL Article

Miss Isabella Catanza, with football, and ladies of New Borne lodge members and Eastern Star members.

L to R: (Front Row) M∴W∴G∴M∴ Jay McCallum, Miss Isabella Catanza, and W∴B∴ John Combell,
and (Back Row) New Borne Master W∴B∴ Landon Greene,
Grand Hospitalier W∴B∴ Eddie LeBoeuf, and New Borne Secretary, W∴B∴ Donald Spell.

Miss Isabella demonstrating her recovery progress, kicking her LSU football.

Athens Lodge No. 136

Installs New Lodge Officers for 2023

L to R: (Front Row) Perry Anderson, Shane Huffstetler, Rusty White, Mel Conrad, Keith Cook
(Back Row) Joshua Wilkins, Kenneth Volentine, Jr., William Frasier

On Monday, December 12, 2022, Athens Lodge No. 136 met in an open meeting to install elected and appointed officers for the ensuing year. The meeting also served as the lodge’s annual Christmas Community Supper. W.B. Kenneth Volentine, Jr., Lecturer for the 2^nd Masonic District served as Installing Master and W.B. William Frasier, Lecturer for the 3^rd Masonic District served as Installing Marshal.

Brother William Russel “Rusty” White, a Master Mason for 3 years was installed as Worshipful Master. Brothers Shane Huffstetler and Mel Conrad were installed as Sr. and Jr. Wardens respectively. Brother Keith Cook, P.M. was installed as Treasurer and W.B. Perry Anderson, P.M., Grand Chaplain, was installed as Secretary. The appointed officers are W.B. Brother Kenneth Volentine, Jr., Chaplain; Brother Joshua Wilkins, Jr. Deacon and W.B. William Frasier, Master of Ceremonies.

After the ceremony, all in attendance retired to the fellowship hall to enjoy the Christmas Supper consisting of Turkey, Ham, Chicken & Dressing, Green Beans, Sweet Potato Casserole and Rolls, There were a plethora of desserts to top off the meal.

Send your tidings to gar@la-mason.com.

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Louisiana Grand York Rite Session - 2023

March 2 - March 4, 2023

The 2023 Louisiana Grand York Rite Session kicks off on Thursday, March 2, 2023, with a jam-packed schedule full of Masonic education, business, and fellowship. Ladies’ dress for the banquet is formal (preferred) or semi-formal and for all other occasions business casual. Members should wear their uniforms or coat and tie as the event requires.

Purchase your tickets for all of the meals online using our secure payment portal. For those guests who pre-register, we will have a special check-in desk at the Session where you can zip right through and pick up your tickets and credentials without having to stand in the registration line.

IF YOU ARE A CURRENT GRAND HIGH PRIEST, GRAND ILLUSTRIOUS MASTER, OR GRAND COMMANDER OF ANY OTHER JURISDICTION, please contact Cash Melville directly at cashmelville@gmail.com to register.

Click Here for Schedule

Coming in April from Goose & Gridiron No. 1717

Goose & Gridiron No. 1717 is an Observant Scottish Rite Craft lodge
that meets at 1415 Horseshoe Dr in Alexandria Louisiana.
Festive Board meetings require dark suit attire for guests and members.
Stated meetings are 5th Saturdays of the month.

Registration for Contemplative Masonry Retreat opens in January 2023.