Fulton Fellowcraft February 2010

From the East

I hope this note finds you all well and working diligently
towards making your New Year a prosperous
time.
I was pleased to see so many of our members in
attendance at the first night of the Lodge of Instruction
for the 5th District. Unfortunately Fulton Lodge’s
regular communication dates conflict with two of the
chosen nights for this annual event, which runs each
Wednesday evening through February 3rd.
Our Budget & Finance Committee met on January
13th and the budget was approved January 20th.
There are a few items of concern that I want to bring
to your attention on the 2010 budget.
For a number of reasons Fulton Lodge is carrying
over a deficit from last year’s budget into 2010. We
are therefore looking for every opportunity to reduce
cost. I would therefore present the following for your
consideration.
Annual Dues
Most of our brethren submit their dues upon receipt
of invoice. Twenty‐two (22) of our brethren did
not pay their dues through the end of 2009. This
represents a $1,650 shortfall in our current budget. I
call upon every member of Fulton Lodge who has not
paid his 2010 dues to kindly remit your payment upon
reading this notice (with my thanks). I would also like
to take this opportunity to thank all of our Past Masters,
our Emeritus members, our 50‐Year Members
and our Perpetual Members for their annual contributions
to Fulton Lodge, as we depend upon your generosity
and cannot maintain a balanced budget without
your gifts.
Cost of the Fellow Craft
It is of great concern that the annual budget for
our newsletter is $2,500, particularly considering that
100% of this cost goes towards the printing and mailing
of the publication (our Editor and others contribute
their time and talent to its production). I now call
upon each of you to send an E‐mail to
“FellowCraft@FultonLodge216.com” requesting that
you receive future editions to your personal E‐mail
account. Doing so offers a great savings to our Lodge
and is the right thing to do for our environment
(thank you again).
Our line officers are preparing for our first EA Degree
of the year at our second meeting in February. If
you have an interest in participating by offering a lecture
or serving as a conductor please contact WB
Randy Hazan.

Thank you again for all that you do. I look forward
to seeing you in Lodge.

Dean G. Watts, Worshipful Master

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Brother Ross Laver, PM forwarded this recent article from The New York Times.  The original can be found here:  http://bit.ly/8MTXED

January 8, 2010

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

The Not-So-Secrets of the Temple

By HOLLY BRUBACH

Pittsburgh

IN the final days of a year dominated by repeated — and mostly unheeded — calls for full disclosure on the part of Wall Street banks, pharmaceutical companies, the N.F.L. and any number of other organizations, transparency arrived out of the blue from an unlikely quarter if ever there was one: the Freemasons.

Thanks go not to Dan Brown, whose latest novel, “The Lost Symbol,” focuses on the notoriously mysterious fraternal order, but to Tom Sturgeon, a career law-enforcement officer, who was installed as Right Worshipful Grand Master for Pennsylvania on Dec. 28. His ceremony, in a break with centuries-old Masonic tradition, was held at a convention center here and open to the public. “We need to make Freemasonry more contemporary,” Mr. Sturgeon told me, “to make it reflect 2010, not 1910 — or 1810.”

Nonetheless, the audience of about 1,200 people seemed to consist primarily of members and their families with a sizeable contingent of Masonic dignitaries from 13 other states and Canada. Many had come in full regalia, sporting tailcoats, purple moire or black velvet “collars,” satin aprons embroidered with esoteric symbols, white gloves, swords — all telegraphing distinctions of rank legible only to insiders.

Freemasonry in America is organized by state — there is no higher governing body — and Pennsylvania is the largest Masonic jurisdiction in the world, with a spectacular temple in Philadelphia, completed in 1873, as its headquarters. Mr. Sturgeon was sworn in reciting the same oath, or “obligation,” Benjamin Franklin recited 275 years ago when he took the same office.

If the ceremony at the convention center was any indication, it appears that not much has changed in the interim, although the torches around the altar are now electric and the musical repertoire has been updated to include “Beer Barrel Polka” and “No Man Is an Island.” Membership has been declining (currently 120,000 in Pennsylvania, down from 260,000 when Mr. Sturgeon joined in 1965) and the median age has been steadily climbing (now 68).

“Brethren, ladies and friends,” Mr. Sturgeon greeted the audience for his installation. “The 21st-century Masonic Renaissance starts today!”

The “renaissance” is Mr. Sturgeon’s agenda for reform, jump-starting a membership drive with a new strategy that permits “selective invitation,” replacing the old “To be one, ask one” policy that forbade Masons to proselytize. He also decreed a lifetime dues exemption for any Mason over 60 who brings in two new members under 30. Like other Pennsylvania grand masters before him, Mr. Sturgeon designed a necktie, to be distributed as a token of appreciation. Typically, the ties are a vehicle for the Masonic insignia; his is more in the style of Jerry Garcia, something he thinks younger guys might be more inclined to wear.

In his most radical move, Mr. Sturgeon has mandated that the ritual be published in book form. In Pennsylvania, since the order’s beginnings, each Mason has learned his obligation from another Mason, one on one. The ritual had never been written down. For the two lowest ranks of Freemasonry it lasts 30 minutes or so; for the third and highest degree it takes roughly an hour and runs to some 8,000 words. “It might take a man away from home maybe 50 nights to sit and learn it,” he said.

Though candidates will still be required to perform the ritual from memory, the printed text allows them to learn it on their own. Mr. Sturgeon assured his fellow masons that photocopying will be prohibited, that all copies will be signed out and strictly audited. Even so, this announcement met with silence, a response he had foreseen. “Many Masons will tell you that one of the great bonds of this fraternity happens when I meet with you 40 times to go over this work, and I become your mentor,” he said. “Now, that’s true. But for the greater good, we have to make a decision.”

Not a secret society but “a society with secrets” is how the protagonist of “The Lost Symbol” describes the Masons. Has that secrecy served a purpose? Is the famous Masonic bond based, at least to some extent, on shared information that nobody else knows? If that was once the case, it seems safe to say that it isn’t any longer, now that detailed accounts of the Masons’ procedures have been posted online, including YouTube videos of the secret handshake.

The drama seems to be in short supply. Any Dan Brown fans who came to the convention center in Pittsburgh expecting daggers pressed to bare chests or red wine drunk out of a skull surely left disappointed. Mr. Sturgeon says that he thought Mr. Brown made that stuff up until a friend reminded him that in one ceremony they attended for a branch of Masonry called the Scottish Rite there had indeed been a skull; he is, however, quite certain that he didn’t drink wine out of it. And if there is a pyramid with Freemasonry’s highest secrets inscribed on it, as “The Lost Symbol” purports, he has yet to hear about it.

Some Masons may regret losing the mystique — though surely not as much as the conspiracy theorists, who now have less room for speculation about the order. While it’s hard to put much store in allegations that Freemasonry is Satan worship or a plot to dominate the world when its membership has included such disparate characters as Count Basie, Daniel Boone, Winston Churchill, Paul Revere, Clark Gable, J. Edgar Hoover, Mozart, Colonel Sanders, Peter Sellers, Cy Young, Pushkin and Brad Paisley, those suspicions thrived nonetheless. The conspiracy theorists, it seems, needed the Masons’ secrecy even more than the Masons needed it themselves.

Holly Brubach is a frequent contributor to The New York Times.

2010 Officer Installation

Last night's officer installation went smoothly. Fulton Lodge was honored to have MWGM Leonard Buffington with most of the Grand Line and DDGMs there to officiate. WB Randy Hazan was presented his Brother of the Year award with Sydell Little there in honor of the late Shelton Little.

In addition to a couple guest brothers in attendance we also welcomed approximately 25 family and friends who got to enjoy a wonderful dinner of beef bourguignon and see a lodge closed Grand Master-style. If the installation was any indicator - this year promises to be exciting!

Pictures coming soon....

Fulton Fellowcraft January 2010

From the East

My Brethren,
This will be my final address from the East. I would like to take this opportunity to comment on the future of the Lodge.
The lodge’s elections went smoothly and well. I was quite pleased with the results. Brother Dean Watts will do well in the continuing growth of the Lodge. I know him to be a kind and generous brother; one that will inspire and motivate our officer line. Our whole line is filled with very good men and the addition of Brother Adam Davis will only assure a successful future for us all. I see many things for our master to do, and I now truly understand what is required to do them.
I see great growth for our lodge, and I want to ask all of us to bask in the warmth of knowing that our lodge is growing, and in my opinion, the right way.
Also, I wanted to take this opportunity to directly thank my good friends and brothers Ross Laver, Mike Kessler, and Neil Schwartz. Each of you should understand why. And to all my brethren, I love you all and pray that you be Healthy, Wealthy, and Happy.

May the Grand Architect of the Universe find favor in you and bless you always and in all ways.

Adam I Brodofsky


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