Greek ORG and Freemasonry
 

I am currently seeking membership to the Masonic family. I am here in San Diego and have already put in my bid to become a member of a local lodge. San Diego Lodge #35 F.&.A.M
I am also a member of The Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity, INC. I was wondering if anyone else out there is part of a greek org. and Freemasonry and what is there take on it also how is the participation level for both?

Fraternally,
D


The Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity, INC.
Long Beach State '01
Founding Father, Beta Psi Chapter
"Dracula" 79613

Paging AlphaSigOU!! Chuck, where are ya?

He's the guy with lots of Masonic information and can probably help you.:)

Hm, it is my history, that you do not petition Free Masonary.

You are invited by a current member who has observed you.

You may show interest by asking a Mason and showing your interest.

They will then make The Decision whether to ask you to be indoctrinated.

From a 32 Degree Mason.

Not Necessarily,
You ask 1 to be 1, then they give you a petition to fill out. Once it's filled out they investigate you to insure you are a worthy individual, once the investigation is clean, they vote at a stated meeting. If accepted they call you for your first degree. I believe that is the process in full.

D

Here's a couple of threads on Freemasons.

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...ght=Freemasons

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...ght=Freemasons

I have plenty of information about freemasonry I just want to know of those in both freemasonry and in greek letter orgs. I want to know how those individuals time commitment is for both.

Brothers all
 

I am a seventh-generation Mason. I would guess the majority
of all our founders were Masons or became members of the Craft.
Our fraternity rituals were often designed by Masons.
Some folks seem heavily threatened by the Masonic order, many
ridiculuous stories. Some uniformed Catholics have claimed we
will not allow them in. Bullshit. Gimme your petition and let us
see.
The Prince Hall Masons, the oldest of the order in North America,
have finally been recognized by most of the others--finally.
We broke bread with them a long time ago in Kansas and Colorado.
There's more history written and available on the net on Masonry
than can be read in a lifetime. All Shriners are Master Masons.
Masonry is not a threat to anyone who believes in a widespread
concept of freedom. It is infinitely more tolerant than any of the
so-called "christian" groups I have found.
Welcome....to more light!

Mr. Conard, I have not heard that the Masons do not allow Catholics, but I do know that Catholics are forbidden to be Masons.

When Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles was asked whether or not a Catholic could be a Mason his designee replied,

"The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome issued a statement in which it held that since Masonic principles were still contrary to the teachings of the Church, Catholics would commit a grave sin in belonging to Masonic associations and so could not receive Holy Communion."

The website www.freemason.org issued the following caveat...

"The views expressed by the Reverend Thomas C. Anslow pertain to the Los Angeles Archdiocese and are not necessarily those of other Roman Catholic diocese. The official position of the Curia in Rome is that Masonic membership is still prohibited."

For a comprehensive look at Catholicism and Freemasonry, I found this site to be helpful.

I know that the original poster expressed no interest in the Masons and their relationship to the Catholic Church. But I didn't want you, Mr. Conard, to think that all Catholics were uninformed, ridiculous and full of bullshit. :)

AXOjen, you had better go back and reread EConards post.

You are wrong in your statement. He is right in His.

Masons will welcome Members of the Roman Catholic Faith.

Yes, the Members of The Roman Catholic Faith do not want Members to be Free Masons.

I beleive that Roman Catholics have their own type of Orgainzation and want members to join it instead of Masons.

Sorry, cant remember it off hand what the Roman Catholic Organization is.

its called the Knights of Columbus

And it has NOTHING to do with Freemasonry. It is definitely not an "alternative" as Mr. Earp implied.

--add

Mr. Earp, I'm searching... but I don't see where I misspoke. If you'll point it out to me I'll be happy to reconsider it. As it stands, I agree with what you wrote about Masons allowing Catholics to join but Catholics not being allowed by the Church to join.

Where I would disagree with you is that the reason that Catholics are forbidden by the Church to join the Masons is because the Church has it's own version. The Church does have various apostolates (Opus Dei, for example) but that's not why the Freemasons are forbidden.

I have been around masonic orgs since I was 11 years old and can say that there are plenty of catholic masons. The church may not like it, but they won't kick you out if you become a Mason.

Back to the original quesiton... I am a member of Phi Sigma Sigma, Eastern Star and I was an active member of International Order of Rainbow for girls until my 21st birthday, and I feel I gave a great amount to all my organizations and they all have given something back to me.

Brother Tom... remember that you petition to the Fraternity of Freemasonry "of your own free will and accord, uninfuenced by mercenary motives". It is by a vote of the lodge assembled after an investigating committee makes its favorable (or unfavorable) report. The application for membership (at least here in Texas) is titled "Petition for the Mysteries of Freemasonry".

AXOJen is correct regarding the position regarding Roman Catholics to become Masons. I oughta know... I am a baptized but not a practicing Roman Catholic.

For Draculapkt1906: Generally, most Masonic lodges meet once or twice a month, with degree work or practice held on 'off' meeting nights. After your petition is approved and you have been initiated an Entered Apprentice, you will be paired off with a brother who is certified to instruct the Masonic ritual. Some Grand Lodges will allow you to use a ciphered ritual book for you to help remember the work, others (including Oklahoma and Texas, to which I belong; I am a dual member) prohibit the use of them, relying strictly on 'mouth to ear' instruction. You'll probably be meeting with him once or twice a week for maybe an hour or so, then when he feels you are ready to advance, you will be examined in lodge as to your proficiency. If the lodge feels you have made 'suitable proficiency' in the degree work (it doesn't have to be letter-perfect), they will vote to declare you proficient and pass you to the degree of Fellowcraft.

Again, you will be paired off with your instructor and learn the Fellowcraft degree lecture, and the proficiency examination follows the same as the Entered Apprentice. Finally, you will be raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason, and entitled to wear the Square and Compasses. Some Grand Lodges will require a proficiency exam in the Master Mason degree lecture before you may join the appendant bodies of Freemasonry (Scottish Rite, York Rite, Shriners and Eastern Star). Most will complete the requirement of all three degrees in about 3-4 months.

Good luck petitioning the Lodge; if you have any additional questions, please feel free to PM me.

AlphaSIG,
Thanks I appreciate the information and I'll PM you if I have any questions. Take care and I look forward to being apart of Freemasonry. How has it been being part of a Greek Org, and Freemasonry?

CO SIGN! i am from a LARGE family of masons and masonic concordinate bodies and i may not be catholic but my dad, his dad and his dad's dad were masons and catholic

i have TONS of masons on both my mom and dads side and you are not rushed or offered a bid you ask one to be one. you get a petition and you fill it out and moreless after you go thru a "investigation" ( nothing really but Q&A)your in if you can walk talk and breathe these days. The masonic lodges are faultering because they are very old men and not enough younger men to come after them.

for example.....i am a jobs daughter and in our lodge we have JD, Rainbow and demolay as well as masons and eastern star, Hi 12 and royal arch......me and ONE (1) mason are the same age ( early 30s) and the rest of the youth group advisors and the groups mentioned above are late 50s and above. 2 mid 30 somethings and kids and older ppl

I mean Jobs Daughters this very summer at supreme just voted to bring the age level down..... these masonic bodies need youth and new blood to survive they would be foolosh to not admit someone in unless they are really really bad ppl.

Co-sign!!

I was also in a masonic family! Granddad was a MM and Hi Twelve and Grandmother is an OES. Mom and aunts were Jobs, but I never had the chance to be Job's Daughter, but was a member of the International Order of Rainbow for Girls and am a member of Eastern Star.

We had the same problem with membership. The IORG assembly that my OES chapter sponsored we voted to close down because we were losing girls. I did not know that Job's was looking at lowering the age limit. When I was active with the youth organizations, we saw that the groups were losing members as well at all levels. At one time, when I first came into OES, there was a 25 year age difference between me and the next youngest members.

We cannot let these wonderful groups die out. It's good to see men interested in the Lodge so that potential family members can be active in their respective groups.

Fraternally,

Cheryl
OES

Not a problem at all. I've been a Mason for five years (this September 30) and an Alpha Sig for 20. I've really enjoyed being a part of the 'world's oldest fraternity'.

As a Master Mason, once you learn the secret modes of recognition you can visit any Masonic lodge in the world, provided your dues are current and the lodge is in fraternal relations with your home Grand Lodge. I've had the opportunity to visit lodges in Oklahoma, Texas, Nevada, Florida and Mexico.

WOW!!!,
So it seems to me that being part of two "Fraternal" organizations really don't bog you down, you can be active in both and still enjoy life. I am very excited about joinning and everyday it seems as if I learn something new. The more information you guys give me the more and more anxious I get and being on 22 I will be the second youngest person in the lodge...as someone said it is mostly made up of older men.

Fraternally,
D

It's more the rule rather than the exception that the local lodge is composed mostly of older gentlemen (average age for a Masonic Lodge is about 65), but more and more younger members are joining. One lodge I regularly attend has quite a few younger members; at my mother lodge I was the youngest active member when I was raised (at 34). At the lodge where I am a perpetual member (Will Rogers Lodge #53, AF & AM, Claremore, OK), one past master was only 24 or 25 when he was installed as Worshipful Master. He currently is a deputy grand lecturer in the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma.

What really impresses the older brethren is if you can pick up on the ritual work and lectures quickly. With the help of my instructor, he taught me the Texas work so well that I was able to 'self-examine' myself (asking both the questions and answers) of the ritual of all three degrees, one of the few in my mother lodge that have done so. (It was a pain in the a** but very satisfying.) Three weeks after being raised to Master Mason, I sat in for certification as an instructor in the ritual work and passed. Sure enough, I was quickly put to work on a degree team or two.

Currently, I am the Associate Patron of the local Eastern Star chapter (Plano #703 OES) and if all goes well and I don't screw it up, I hopefully will be elected Worthy Patron (the highest position a man can hold in an OES chapter) next year. I've also started up the officer line in two lodges, but work had forced me to drop out of the line. Eventually I'll get back into the line at one of the lodges.

What OES chapter are you in ,in Oklahoma? when i was living in OKC i tried to get to a few oes chapters but was busy with being bethel guardian in OKC.....

Nope, my OES chapter is in Plano, Texas. I did have the opportunity to visit Claremore Chapter #93 OES in Claremore, but I was too busy with other Masonic activities, not to mention being an officer in Will Rogers Lodge. (I was Junior Steward in 2000-2001 and Senior Steward in 2001-2002).

There's a really cool documentary called Inside Freemasonry brought together by John Wesley Chisholm (a journalist) on Vision TV. Since Vision TV tends to replay its shows often, those Canadians interested might want to check it out.

This documentary is really good PR for freemasons, but it does reflect over onto secret fraternal organizations quite well as they try to explain why there is ritual, symbolism and "initation". They interview a lot of "general public" about their views on the subject as well as following two or three new masons during their first three degrees.

Very interesting documentary.

I am being raised this monday
 

To All,
Thanks to all for the information and motivation. I have been going through the degrees and I am learning a great deal about myself and the people around me. It has made all the difference. This Monday after I complete my proficiency I will be raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason, so wish me luck and I continue my studies.

V/r & Fraternally,
D (FC)

Congratulations on your accomplishment! I am an Eastern Star, so I'm glad to hear about a young man entering the Masonic Lodge. You are needed.

when you get out...
 

When you get out of school and settle in a community, why not
take a look at the Jaycees and/or Elks (Moose, Eagles) as well
as the Masons?
Service clubs do good work, too...like Kiwanis, Rotary, Sertoma,
Lions, Exchange, Optimist, Ruritan, Civitan, etc. They are as a rule
dining clubs with a particular mission, fun, too.
You will immediately rise to the top of each of these groups, if you
want to...'cause you have had the greatest experience and the
most wonderful preparation by having been a Greek in college.
Now, go out and change the world, right the wrongs, and I wish
you godspeed. And we NEED you...
Erik P Conard, Exhausted Rooster of Jaycees, Life Member of the
Scottish Rite (32 degree), Life Member of the Elks, Sertoma.
And it will all be fun, not to compare with our Fraternity life, but
a positive contribution to our society.

WOW!
Is there anything Erik Conrad didn't do? :) I will definitly look into all of those different organizations as time permits. I know for sure that I want to do Scottish Rites and York Rites before I venture out any further. Thanks to all for the support..TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT!! Any suggestions anyone?

You're getting your EA degree tonight? Congratulations, my soon-to-be Brother!

Once you are raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason, you will be cornered by everyone and their uncle for you to join the Masonic appendant bodies. While the ceremonies for the Scottish Rite, York Rite and the Shrine are impressive, it would take a lot of commitment if you wish to become active in these organizations as well as in Blue Lodge.

I'm a member of both Scottish Rite, York Rite and the Shrine, but am currently inactive in those bodies. It took the better part of my free time attending meetings and ceremonies. Eventually I'll get back to them, but first I have to complete my term as Associate Patron and Worthy Patron in Eastern Star before I focus my time in other organizations. I might consider going through the chairs in my local Blue Lodge afterward.

NO NO NO!!! Tonight I am being raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason

Whoops! My bad... Congratulations on your raising to MM! Below is a poem that neatly sums up your duties and responsibilities as a Mason. I'm proud to say that I've memorized this poem in its entirety (except for the preamble) and is my gift to you from one Brother to another.

THE MASON'S TIES AND DUTIES

M.W. Benjamin Hadley, PGM of the Grand Lodge of Maine wrote this poem. Some Masonic jurisdictions use this same poem at the end of the MM degree with only minor variations. This is the version used in Oklahoma. The optional preamble below is recited before the poem in Maine.

It must indeed be gratifying to know that you are at last a Master Mason, and once you have affixed your signature to the Bylaws of this lodge, you will have sealed your allegiance to the oldest and greatest fraternity in existence, one that encircles the globe and whose influence for good is never ending.

Only yourself know the particular reason that you chose to become a member of this grand and noble order. It might have been the prompting of idle curiosity. That being true, you should now be well satisfied. It might have been for financial reasons. That being true be at once undeceived, for Freemasonry offers no financial benefits to any of its members. It might have been for social aspirations. That being true, you are now afforded the opportunity to acquaint yourself with many interesting and intelligent gentlemen. It might have been because a relative or close friend (can also name the relative such as father, brother, etc. as appropriate) is a Mason and expressed a desire that you should become one also and follow in their footsteps. That being true, it is not only an honor to you, but to the fraternity as well.

But, be the reason that it may, there are two great questions that still confront you. Will you be worth anything or nothing to Freemasonry and, will Freemasonry be worth anything or nothing to you? The answers lie within you yourself, for if you will apply to your own life the lessons that you have received in the three degrees, it will make you a better citizen, a better father, a better son and a fonder husband… for:


In Mason’s Lodge, with darkened eyes,
And cabletow about me
I swore to hele (pronounced: hail) all mysteries
That Masons keep, that Masons prize;
All Brothers’ secrets whispered low,
All words they speak, all things they do
In mystic manner taught me.

CHORUS

On yonder book, that oath I took
And will I break it? NEVER!
But stand by this (1), and this (2), and this (3),
Forever and forever.

I swore to answer and obey,
All summons sent me duly.
By Brother’s hand or Lodge array;
I swore that I would never stray.
From ancient laws and rules that bound
Freemasons in the days renowned,
But would observe them truly.

REPEAT CHORUS (4), (5), (6).

I swore to help with generous care,
All those in sorrow hidden;
The Brother on the darkened square,
The mourner with disheveled hair,
The orphan doomed, alas, to stray
Upon a cold and wintry day
While tears gush forth unbidden.

REPEAT CHORUS (7), (8), (9).

I swore to deal in honesty
With each true heart around me;
That honor bright should ever be
Unbroken bond ‘twixt you and me;
No wrong, no guile or cruel fraud
Should ever loose the noble cord
By which my vows have bound me.

REPEAT CHORUS (10), (11), (12).

I swore to guard the portals close
Of the Masonic Temple;
And purge the quarries of their dross,
And build the mystic walls of those
Of bodies perfect, honest hearts,
Of minds matured in moral arts,
By precept and example.

REPEAT CHORUS (13), (14), (15).

I swore the chastity to shield
Of woman true and tender;
Of Mason’s widow, wife and child,
His mother, sister undefiled;
Each pure and innocent whose love
Makes Mason’s homes like that above,
I am their sworn defender.

REPEAT CHORUS (16).

Brethren:
These are your vows, be they your cares;
And may such aid be given
In answer to your honest prayers,
That you may ever do and dare
All God’s gracious laws enjoin,
So when life’s evening shade declines,
Your life may be found in Heaven.

FINAL CHORUS

On yonder book, that oath WE took
And will WE break it? NEVER!
But stand by this (1-3), and this (4-6), and this (7-9), and this (16),
Forever and forever.

NOTE: The numbers in parentheses cover Masonic esoteric work and, for obvious reasons, cannot be published openly here. Master Masons will know what these mean.

oops! Sorry, Dracula....
 

Guess I omitted being a Shriner. And I was once upon a time
a Moose and an Eagle, but mostly for the poker games.
Which reminds me...
How 'bout the guy who returned from hunting? He got an
Elk, an Eagle, a Moose and a Mason.
Okay...okay...I'll go to my room.....LOL

Re: oops! Sorry, Dracula....
 

Now, now... behave, Brother Erik! :D

Re: when you get out...
 

Actually, APO has this brochure for seniors about life after college, and Jaycees is one of the organizations recommended. :) I joined in 1995 and it seemed like a natural progression.

-Rachel, 10th Degree Jaycee, announced candidate for Bolingbrook Jaycee State Director :D

I too was a member of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls. I was a four year Grand Officer. and I have since Joined Eastern Star, but Have gone inactive. Most of my family is in Eastern Star or are Masons

I am currently a member of Kappa Alpha Theta.

Thanks for the poem Brother Alpha SigOU I appreciate. Being raised to the sublime degree has been one of the best experiences I have partaken in. I will continue to uphold all traditions and spread brotherly love wherever and whenever possible. There is still much more light to uncover and become familiar, I appreciate all the support I received through my upbringing.

V/r & F,
D
MM

Not a problem, Brother D. Any question you might have about Freemasonry or the appendant bodies, I'm sure that I or anyone here who's a Mason, Eastern Star, Rainbow or a Job's Daughter can answer it.

Again, congratulations, my Brother!

A Phi Tau/Mason
 

Do what your heart say's is right! We have alot of Phi Tau brothers who are Masons. I'm one, Rick Keltner is one, and alot of bro's at CSUF want to be one's. You have alot of bro's who have knowledge in the craft don't be shy, talk to us. Here is my yahoo email (phamason2003@yahoo.com).


-Heath T.Hamaguchi

I was also a Rainbow Girl! YAYYYYYY*

As was I!!! It makes me sad that it is shrinking in Texas...I remember when our Grand Assemblies could fill entire municipal convention centers. Now they have them at hotel convention centers...

Until a couple of years ago, my IORG experience was going to be the extent of my masonic affiliation b/c I come from a non-masonic family (joined as friend of a Rainbow Girl), but they changed the rule to allow Majority Members to join OES...I just haven't done that yet...not sure I will, since I would be joining a chapter that is hundreds of miles from my Rainbow Assembly, and I don't know anyone out here in OES. I want my daughter to have the Rainbow experience at least...

Andi, your story is a lot like mine. I was able to join Eastern Star about 4 years ago when they admitted the majority Rainbow Girls. My Rainbow assembly has also gone dark now. Yes, I remember those days of big Grand Asssemblies and how we would have 50 sideliners at regular meetings. Now the few assemblies here in town barely have enough to fill all the offices.:(