Mike Martin

Breaking news. after nearly 200 years the Library and Museum of Freemasonry in London has changed its name to the Museum of Freemasonry. Details and visit the new website here: https://museumfreemasonry.org.uk/

There are none so blind as those who will not see! snippet: The Bishops’ Conference of Cameroon (CENC) recently published a pastoral letter condemning Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, and sorcery, by which the conference called on all Catholics to oppose these groups and beliefs. The signing of this text appears to be one of the first public acts of the newly named president of the national bishops’ conference, Bishop Abraham Bialo Kome of Bafang (western Cameroon). All the other Cameroonian bishops also supported the text through their national conference. It comes after a similar initiative in the 1990s, when the Cameroonian episcopate first published a document condemning “esoteric sects.” Full story: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/african-bishops-blast-freemasonry-sorcery-in-new-pastoral-letter

I agree AND disagree as there is more than one "G" (3 at my last count) and no one, other than the GLoI, seems to be clear which one they are putting into the S&C.

It's for a temporary Manager of the shop: https://museumfreemasonry.org.uk/shop-manager

This will help as it is not actually a secret

It's up to your own personal choice really, personally I find S&C gloves a bit tacky. I do wear a ring though.

Snippet: In the parlance of freemasonry, Michael Walker, who has died aged 83, “served” no fewer than five grand masters of the order in Ireland as the grand secretary of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Ireland on Molesworth Street in Dublin. However, as the present grand secretary, Philip Daley, put it to The Irish Times last week, Walker “was effectively grand master” during his tenure from 1981 until his retirement in 2005, given that during that period, although not in recent years, the position of grand master had been one “of figureheads”. Full story here: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/michael-walker-obituary-freemason-who-opened-up-masonic-lodge-1.3961487?mode=amp

Hi Jake and welcome to the Forum, You can ask questions here and most of the responses will be from English Freemasons

In 2019 Freemasons’ Hall London will once again be joining a host of important and historic buildings in London that are opening their doors to the public as part of the annual Open House weekend. This year FMH will be open on both days - Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd September. As well as the opportunity to take a leisurely stroll through the building and see the parts that others do not see there will also be the following activities: · Lodge Room tours · Children’s Trail · Lego Make and Take (see attached) · Freemasons in regalia in the Grand Temple · Tea and Coffee for guests · An MCF stand with large teddy for raffle prize More information on the buildings taking part will be available from the Open House website (https://openhouselondon.org.uk/ ) from 20 August 2019.

Sadly this Forum is in the UK so our membership won’t be able to help you. However, your petition for assistance should be made to your own Lodge and Grand Lodge.

I approach volunteers when I feel that the Forum is in need of them. At the present time we have enough. Regarding Tom I fear the worst but have been unable to confirm anything as my approaches (both private and public) have gone unanswered.

I'm sure that you had a good giggle to yourself as you put that lot together. Based on what you've written there is a door in front of you and it's got a great big knocker with a sign saying "knock to enter" but you instead of knocking are searching for piles of extraneous stuff to pile against that door so that it doesn't open, this in itself is pretty strange as all you have to do is turn around and walk away from it. Now I don't know why and to be frank I don't really care as you seem to be enjoying yourself but please understand that we can't tell you why you're doing it!

Wow, so like a "tribute" Lodge in effect. Well I do hope that the Goose and Gridiron Lodge No. 1717 is a great success.

Hi Mike and welcome to the Forum. That's an interesting idea how will you be able to visit an English Lodge in Ohio?

I'd say contact Lewis Masonic or the ELoI to see if anyone has produced them.

Sorry it took so long, I've now put another search function button in on the section under the header.

Beat me to it. Details here:

Ha ha yeah dabbing, big craze with kids a couple of years ago.

That may be your opinion (about Grand Lodge) and you're entitled to it but I can tell you based on my own interactions with friends and acquaintances who are staff and officers of UGLE that when we talk about such things, and we do a lot, not one of them has ever said we need more Masons regardless of quality. Even the statement that started this topic which is an official pronouncement of Grand Lodge does not support your contention. It may be that because you're pretty new to Freemasonry that you don't realise that English Freemasonry was very much in the "public eye" from its very beginnings and even more so following the foundation of the Grand Lodge in 1717 and that it ONLY fell from public view during the second world war. Prior to that people didn't believe mad conspiracy stories about what was a very open and public organisation and had been for over 200 years and this is what UGLE is trying to combat. Any complaints that you have about how a Province deals with its recruitment have to be laid at the door of that Province because each of them is free to find its own way of doing things and they invariably do. I often poke fun at Provinces when giving presentations by pointing out that "the 47 Provinces plus London are very adept at finding 30 plus different ways of doing the same job or implementing the same initiative". Grand Lodge's direction ends with the Provincial Grand Master as he is the Grand Lodge Officer who takes it into his own Province where everyone does what he says. The same is true of private Lodges, they decide who they wish to accept into membership no one else does it for them and definitely not UGLE. I would also point out that Grand Lodge has made great progress since it first gave (back in the late 1980s) the instruction to drop the unnecessary and excessive secrecy employed by some of our brethren since the 1940s. You won't realise but we used to see evidence of the damage that had been done to the Craft on the first iteration of this very Forum, back in 2000, fighting (and it was fighting which is why the Forum Rules were devised) with those who had no idea what Freemasonry was but believing the most ridiculous trash being spouted on telly, newspapers and the newly burgeoning Internet about us.

Ironically that is the point of the statement from Grand Lodge. Although Grand Lodge and Provinces are making great efforts to get the public profile of Freemasonry back to where it was before WWII it still remains the duty of individual Lodges to ensure that they are not Initiating Candidates who are not going to be a good fit for Freemasonry.

Initially anyway.

Dr James Naismith accredited with inventing and writing the original rules for the game of basketball in 1891 was a Freemason: http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/naismith_j/naismith_j.html

Could be but the circle itself is just the frame, as per the other symbols around the building.

Pretty terrible behaviour! Although in a Masonic Hall no guarantee that it was actually Freemasons, only time will tell. Snippet: An investigation has been launched into a shocking 'blackface' stunt filmed in a masonic hall in Belfast. The video has been met with outrage and widely condemned by local politicians. The footage shows a man dressed in a controversial costume historically used as a caricature of a black person and now widely considered highly racist and offensive. Full story here: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/video-fury-over-sickening-blackface-skit-performed-at-belfast-freemasons-hall-38143222.html

Having now looked at the rest of the engravings on the walls, I am pretty sure that it is a poorly drawn mitre as in Grand High Priest in AMD.