                      Fraternal Review
      

                        (9-15-94)                     No. 700

MILESTONE
Reaching SCRL Review 700 could or might be considered a milestone but only on
the way to 1,000 which will be reached about the time I reach 93.  If you are
reaching for a pencil or a calculator remember we are dark one month, the last
few years not making the January mailing which is put together in December,
giving us more time for Christmas shopping and family gatherings.

CHARITY - PUBLIC RELATIONS
The 93 Lodges, 9,750 Freemasons of the Grand Lodge of Vermont, as noted in The
Green Mountain Freemason, Spring 1994, continue their splendid record with 
over $60,000 in contributions this year to such as California Earthquake 
Relief, $1,000; Order of DeMolay, $4,000; Shrine Crippled Children's 
Hospitals, $5,000; Vermont Educational Television, $10,915; American Red 
Cross, $500; piano for Veteran's Home, $1,575; Girl and Boy Scouts, $500 each; 
George Washington National Memorial Association, $5,000; Special Olympics, 
$500; Midwest Flood Relief, $2,000, MSA Hospital Visitors Program, $7,500.

DeMOLAY
Todd Peterson, P.M.C., M.M., when asked for his views on the transition from
DeMolay to Freemason, came up with the following in the June 1994 Iowa Grand
Lodge Bulletin:

I was asked to write what going from a DeMolay to a Master Mason is like.  I
thought on the subject for awhile.  The same thought crossed my mind again and
again: I NEVER LEFT DeMOLAY! So now I'm in a bind.  How can I talk about going
"from"a DeMolay "to"a Mason?  So, back to square one.

In the Majority Service we speak of exchanging the crown of youth for the 
crown of manhood. To many I have just done so. I believe that I will never 
exchange those crowns. I believe that the crown of youth is something you will 
carry with you your whole life.  It will remain in your heart as a reminder of 
what you were, what you are and what you're trying to achieve.

What I've done is gone and reshaped my crown of youth into the crown of man-
hood through Masonry.  To me that was the next logical step of my developmemt.  
I have taken many steps in the past five years.  Some of them forward, some of
them backwards.  I've tripped and fallen square on my face. I'Il do a lot more
of that as the years progress -- THAT'S LIFE.

I didn't go "from" DeMolay "to" Masonry. Instead I evolved THROUGH DeMolay 
INTO Masonry. The base I formed as a DeMolay is the same one I'm building my 
Masonic future on.  A base which I have no fear of ever crumbling and of which 
I am very proud.


DUES
Interesting thought on dues and lodge financing from Grand Master's (Clarence 
E. Carter, SCRL member) Message in the June 1994 Montana Masonic News:

In my travels both within and without our state I find that every lodge and
every jurisdiction has the same problem. Money. The daily cost of running our
lodges and our Grand Lodges is continuing to go up while our income is staying
the same or in some cases going down.  As I travel I note that the successful
lodges everywhere are not depending alone on just dues to support the lodge.
Each has an outside money making project.  Not only do I find that their 
project is making them successful, it is bringing their membership out because 
they have a positive reason for giving up something else so they can come to 
lodge.  I'm sure each of you will agree if you look at the problem head on, 
dues alone will not support a lodge in today's time.

And he had another good thought:

When a friend or a brother is in trouble, my brothers, don't annoy him by
asking if there is anything you can do; think up something appropriate -- and
DO IT!



Jim Tresner, Editor of the Oklahoma Mason, in the June-July 1994 issue, in
answer to a letter from a member saying he had not attended lodge for some 
time because of the use of Christian prayers.

Let me answer from the position of an individual, not as editor. Your point is
well taken. I will admit that, as a Christian Mason, it bothers me when I hear
obviously Christian prayers offered during a meeting.  There are, after all,
many Masons who are of other faiths, and it does seem to me, personally, to be
discourteous.

There is another point of view, however, which has much to recommend it. I 
know of only one Grand Lodge which has actually spoken on the topic, and I 
can't find my notes at the moment, so I won't identify the Grand Lodge and run 
the risk of getting it wrong.  But, in essence, their policy says this:  When 
a prayer is part of the ritual, the prayer in the ritual should be used. When, 
however, a Brother is asked to pray for some reason, for example to pray 
before a dinner, it should be understood that he is asked to do so as an 
individual, and may, therefore, pray in the manner dictated by his individual 
faith, it being understood that everyone else in the room is entitled to 
interpret that prayer in terms of their own individual faith.

Most often, I think, it happens that a person is called upon to offer prayer
without adequate forewarning, and while frantically trying to think of what to
say, falls into the pattern with which they are most familiar.

[Ed. note:  This is when "100 Short Prayers" ($6 postpaid) would come in 
handy.]

Masonry certainly is not a religion.  Whether it is a religious organization
depends entirely on one's definition of that term.  Books have been written on
the topic, and it's far too complex to go into here.

But one point I would urge.  Never confuse Masons and Masonry.  None of us
manage to live up to what we should as Masons in any area of our lives.  I
would certainly hate to have the whole fraternity judged by me.  So do not let
it drive you away.  The essence of Masonry is what it teaches, not the very
imperfect way we manage to follow those teachings.


