FRATERNAL REVIEW

Editor - Ralph A. Herbold          (11-15-91)                            No. 638

VIDEO CASSETTE
Two video cassettes on Freemasonry, produced by professionals, now available:

"Unseen Journey" is a product of the Grand Lodge of Illinois and is an
excellent tool for showing to the uninitiated. Quite a bit of Mozarts' "Magic
Flute" mixed in with solid Masonic information from Jerry Marsengill, editor of
the Philalethes Magazine and John Robinson, author of "Born in Blood." $29.95
plus $5 P&H (portion benefits Grand Lodge programs), check to GRAND LODGE OF
ILLINOIS, order to Eye Films and Video, PO Box 3606, Oak Brook IL 60522.

William M. Brass, P.G.M., Editor of The Montana Masonic News, member of our
Lodge, had this to say about this video:

"It is the best, most accurate public relations item the Editor has ever seen,
heard of or read. The 60 minute tape is absolutely Professional! The settings
are magnificent! The narrators extremely well informed about our Order. It is
a tape that every Mason who has ever wondered how to explain his love for the
Order must have in his library. It is a film that could and should be viewed by
as many of our non-Mason friends as possible."

"Born in Blood," a product of the public television station in Cincinnati, Ohio,
features the author of the book, "Born in Blood," who, as you can see, is
rapidly becoming one of Freemasonry's best spokesman, the Junior Grand Warden of
Ohio and a representative of an officer's association. The format is opening
statements followed by questions from an audience. As it is a product of a
public television station it must be ordered from them on a release form which
can be obtained from the producer, Brother Robert H. Harmon, currently Master
of Harry S. Johnson Lodge #763, Ohio, at 16 Japonica Dr., Greenhills OH 45216.

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PUBLIC RELATIONS
The September 1991 Grand Lodge (Illinois) Newsletter shows a Lodge doing what
can now be done in California (if I interpret Resolution 90-19 correctly).

"Springfield City Police Officers are now part of a growing contingent of
police officers throughout the country, Bicycle Cops.

"Having learned of the deparrment need for lightweight collapsible bikes for a
program called Walk/Talk, the members of St. Paul's Lodge No. 500 voted to
purchase six bikes for the program. The bikes were purchased through
Springfield Cycle Shop at a cost of about $325 each."

From the September 1991 New Jersey Freemason:

"Around the state, Masons carried out many 'Child Identification Projects' for
the protection of our children.

One instance: "On May 4th, 1991, Mozart Lodge in conjunction with Merchantville
Lodge, provided a program of child identification. The project, officially
known as Masonic Child ID Day, served 166 children. Dave Kemble of
Merchantville Lodge was the overall chairman. The two non-Masonic participants
were officers Whitmore and Burns of the Merchantville and Pennsauken Police
Departments."

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PRINCE HALL
The 1777 Quarterly of the Virginia Research Lodge No. 1777, quoted from a
letter from K. W. Aldridge, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Quebec, to
M.B.S. Higham, Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England, in part:

"This Grand Lodge wishes to go on record as being badly disappointed with the
myopic decision made by your Board of General Purposes ... concerning the
prohibition of visitations by members of your Grand Lodge to lodges in North
America currently recognizing Prince Hall Grand Lodges in their own territorial
jurisdictions for purposes of inter-visitations between the two bodies.

"There is no uniform state of recognition in the world and further there is not
one Grand Lodge in North America that can be said to recognize every Grand
Lodge recognized by its sister Grand Lodges with whom it is in amity. As a
consequence, to be fair your Board shold have expanded its decision to include
every Grand Lodge in North America because in every Grand Lodge recognition is
extended to many Grand Lodges not recognized by the United Grand Lodge of
England."

(RAH: As a point of reference, the Grand Lodge of England recognizes the Grand
Orient in Brazil and does not recognize the state Grand Lodges while our Grand
Lodges recognize the state Grand Lodges of Brazil but not the Grand Orient.)

Because of interesting information in the November 1991 Washington Masonic
Tribune, I called the editor, James O. Wood, P.G.M., for further details. The
first item mentioned was "There are eight Grand Lodges in the United States as
of this writing that recognize Prince Hall Grand Lodges." My information, as
you know, has been seven. He told me that in September the Grand Lodge of Idaho
granted full recognition to the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Oregon as that Grand
Lodge had Lodges in Idaho.

Quoting now from the Tribune:

"The External Relations Committee of the Board of General Purposes, United Grand
Lodge of England, which is responsible for visitation policy for members
traveling abroad, is keenly interested in solving the Prince Hall recognition
problem. I just learned in a telephone conversation with brother Oscar F.
Boehringer, Chairman of the committee, that for some time they had been
attempting to learn more about Prince Hall Masonry in the United States but
their inquiry had been directed to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and since
that Grand Lodge does not now recognize Prince Hall Masonry, nothing was
accomplished.

"The purpose of the call from Bro. Boehringer to me from England on October 11,
1991, was to ask if I would serve as an interface to secure information
necessary for procedures to pursue recognition. This to me is a great start and
I will be very pleased to keep you informed of developments as they unfold."

In the conversation brother Woods told me that he had further contact with
brother Boehringer and was asked to have the Prince Hall Grand Lodge frame a
letter, and he was working with them on this, to the United Grand Lodge of
England, explaining their position. This should be a great help in bringing
this particular problem or situation to a successful conclusion one would hope.
