Quoted:
So much for Brotherly Love

After several weeks of relative quiet in Arkansas, a new wrinkle has developed in the last week or so. A meeting was held in little Rock on October 7th between Grand Master Billy Joe Holder and his line officers, and Masters of lodges across the state. It was presumed by many to have been called for the purpose of finally informing them of the suspensions of the Deputy Grand Master and the Grand Senior Warden, but it seems that subject was not discussed after all.

Word is slowly trickling out about the details of the meeting, and the principal message seems to have been "Don't believe what you read on the interwebs." It was suggested that Arkansas Masons should not read Facebook. But the major concentration of the meeting was to talk about purported cost savings within the Grand Lodge.

Meanwhile, an anonymous letter was circulated in recent days, reportedly to all lodges in Arkansas, blowing the whistle on some inside information from Little Rock that has previously gone unreported.

The most shocking allegation in the letter is the reporting of a thwarted five-year $100 assessment against all Masons in the state, amounting to a combined total of $500 per member. The fee was to be enacted last year by an edict issued by 2015 Grand Master Sam Lattin, co-written by Billy Joe Holder. Further, the edict would have suspended voting at the annual communication, and permitted the sitting Grand Master to remain in office indefinitely. According to the allegation, the edict had already been signed, sealed, and prepared for mailing. Only last-minute protestations by the Past Grand Masters prevented the letters from being sent out to lodges.

I am NOT a fan of anonymous letters in any institution, and especially not in Freemasonry. In the last year, anonymous letters have been sent in Kansas, Indiana, New Jersey, and more, in an attempt to inform Masons of what the nameless author claims to be skullduggery (usually within the ranks of their own grand lodge). I continue to think it is a terrible way to influence changes or right a wrong, and I have rarely posted them.

But in jurisdictions that forbid any discussion of Masonic matters outside of the confines of a tyled lodge, or in those that prevent open and honest discussions of contentious topics on the floor of their annual communications, I do understand the frustration of attempting to do things by the book. And in jurisdictions where grand masters pull the trigger on suspensions and expulsions at the drop of a hat instead of allowing members to air their grievances and addressing them, as a Brother is pledged to do, I sympathize with their terrible dilemma. In Arkansas, it is regular practice to send a Mason a summons to appear before a trial commission or just a hearing before the GM, accompanied by a letter to sign to waive proceedings and simply self-expel. Why must a Mason choose between complete silence in the face of injustice, versus voluntarily risking a lifetime suspension or expulsion from the fraternity he cares for so deeply, just for the offense of speaking up?

Not long ago, someone forwarded me a copy of the Digest of the Constitution and Laws of the MW Grand Lodge F&AM of Arkansas. As I read through it, I was struck by a curious feature of the book. I have read many such documents over the years, but I have never encountered a Masonic code that had more specific definitions of "un-Masonic conduct" in my entire Masonic career than this one.  There are a full 243 specific definitions and clarifications of offenses and specifications relating to Masonic charges and trials, comprising Chapter 4 of the Digest.

In his famed masterwork The Prince, the author Niccolò Machiavelli wrote, "There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things."


In light of the current state of affairs in Arkansas, I reluctantly post the letter that has been sent to the lodges. (Click images to enlarge.)