Six officers take part in the ceremony that we have used lately. Three of them were absent, so we threw in people with no notice. They did fine. But that’s not what this post is about, either.
What was significant, to me, was we had seven prospective Masons attend to witness it. These seven were not all from our lodge. Three of them came from two other lodges. I think that’s great.
But there’s something that’s bothersome.
Two of them showed up because I met them earlier this week after a function at the lodge they are looking at joining. I invited them. A third couldn’t come but two took me up on my offer. They would not have known about it otherwise, even though notification was sent to secretaries in the two local districts.
These men came on their own; no one in that lodge could find the time to accompany them.
Some of the local lodges have seen a jump in interest by young men. These lodges have various functions for potential Masons.
Why aren’t lodges coordinating their efforts to have their prospects come to each other’s events? They can meet more members of the fraternity, and talk with other would-be members about their interests and why they want to join.
Inter-lodge communication can be dreadful. Too many members don’t seem to have any clue what’s going on Masonically outside their own lodge. Nor do they seem to care. They’re “too busy” to visit, let alone coordinate events. But they don’t have a second thought of asking members of other lodges to bail them out on degree nights when they don’t have enough of their own officers to do the work.
I think we owe something to men who are prepared in the hearts who want to join our labours to show them as much about Freemasonry as we can. We can do that by talking and working together. If it happens, it doesn’t seem to happen often enough.
Note: the tiresome cliché “guarding the West Gate” was not used in this post.
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