My latest message to the Craft.


My Friends,

When we were children, we all had our parents walk into our room and it looked like a hurricane had blown through.  After staring in shock they would ask, “What have you done?”  Our answer was always the same, “Nothing.”

I had the privilege and honor of attending the Installation of Officers for the Wisconsin Grand Bethel, Job’s Daughters International.  These young ladies are amazing and it was wonderful spending time with them.  During the course of the various speakers it was mentioned that Job’s Daughters International had removed the Masonic affiliation requirement for membership.

I instantly thought, ‘Are we going to dumb-down Masonry until there’s no requirement to be a Mason, to be a Mason?’  Jobies aren’t the first Masonic affiliated organization to either do or try to do this.  But then I objectively analyzed why these organizations are deciding they don’t need Freemasonry.  It’s because they can no longer survive with us as their only source of members.  

Freemasonry is dying.  The world no longer knowns Freemasonry exists, nor does it know what we do.  It’s like we’ve stopped trying to grow.  We’ve kept it in its room, and the place is a mess.  

So, how do we fix it?  We seek out and bring good men to Freemasonry.  And how do we do that?  We explain to them what we’ve all promised - to aid and assist our fellow man.  That's it in a nutshell.  We aid and assist.  And, we're good at it.  In fact, we’re far and away the best at it.

Every day, good men walk for cures and ring bells because they want to aid and assist others.  They don’t realize it, but they’re already Freemasons in their hearts.  So let’s show them vascular diseases treated and cured.  Let’s show them diabetics keeping their limbs and sight.  Let’s show them burn victims healed and crippled children walking.  Let’s show them cardiac arrhythmia corrected.  Let’s show them dyslexic children reading.  Let’s show them a fraternity that does all that and so much more.  Let’s tell them, “This is who we are and this is what we do.”  Or, we can just continue to say, "We make good men better."  Any bets which attracts more good men who want to be better?

Freemasonry is the greatest philanthropic organization in the history of the world. That's the message we should be spreading.  We must tell the world who we are and what we do.  We must seek out and bring good men to Freemasonry.  We must constantly replace ourselves.  We must do it today, for there is no tomorrow.

Let’s clean up the mess.

With Brotherly Love, Affection and Zeal,

John

Thank you for the very eloquent reminder brother.

I see this happening.  In my jurisdiction they push membership pretty hard, and I completely understand why, but Brothers let every tom dick and harry join up. They just join up, sit there, don't do anything, then they drop out.



 

I've seen this, too. Masonry is not for everybody. Sometimes we get so obsessed with growth that we forget what we tried to grow.

Actively seeking good men is not lowering standards or bringing in the wrong sort.  In fact, the opposite is true.  They're more of a known quantity.

I believe there's much truth in what iNuhBaDNayburhood said about the "skipped" generation.  Which is all the more reason that we must now fix it.

It might help if they explained a bit more as to what it is about. My friend's father was one. He acted like it was WWII and he was in the OSS.

I figured fine, it's the old man version of a tree house club. Whatever...

Jobies is / was the only youth group within the Masonic family that required membership affiliation.  Rainbow For Girls and DeMolay do not.  I do not feel it is a dumbing down but a building up.  With both Rainbow and Jobies in Virginia I have know many Jobies who feel they are better because of their relationship to a mason.  I can assure that on more than one occasion they were wrong.  
I have also found that in the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls that the quality of many of the young ladies is unimpeachable.  But not in every case.
I also have know many a good and upstanding Mason who has joined the fraternity because he saw what his daughter was becoming due to her membership in IORG.   In Virginia we call them Rainbow Masons