FRATERNAL REVIEW

Editor - Ralph A. Herbold      (12-1-91)     No. 639

STATED MEETING
As mentioned previously, several Grand Lodges have had legislation regarding
returning the holding of Stated Meetings to the First degree, the only one
adopting it, Connecticut, if I remember correctly. New Jersey is experimenting
with this premise as noted in the September 1991 New Jersey Freemason:

"Comments were made regarding the test program to be conducted by four
districts relative to the opening the lodge and doing business on the E.A.
Degree. The M.W. Grand Master deferred the questions and comments to the Grand
Instructor, M.W. Melvin K Oxenreider, Sr., who announced the program would be
finalized this summer and information will be distributed to the lodges by
September 1, 1991."

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CEMETERY - GRAVESTONES
More than one member has commented on the following so here it is and I found
it in the September 1991 Occasional Bulletin of the Texas Lodge of Research-

"Q. Why do so many old gravestones show the Square and Compasses with only one
Compasses point above the square?

"A. Brother Carl N. Newman, Sr., of Cleveland TX, calls our attention to the
Constitutions and Laws of the G.L. of Texas (as printed in the third edition in
1956, page 248) which says:

"'When a Fellow Craft dies, it is proper to display the square and
compasses on the monument in the same manner they are displayed on
the altar in the Fellow Craft Degree. (1924 p. 79 Dec. 172)."'

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GRAND LODGE - TITLES
Was recently asked by a brother as to the proper way to correspond with a Grand
Lodge officer to which I replied that I had been writing to Grand Masters and
Grand Secretaries for a good many years and always used the term Brother ---
in the greeting but showing the title in the letter address but not on the
envelope and could not recall ever having any comment.

And I say this with the full realization that our Monitor says: "Marshal then
says: 'Worshipful Master, I have the honor to present the Most Worshipful .....
......, Grand Master of Masons in California."'

Evidently not universal for here is what Brother Ralph Berry, (then) M.W.G.
Master Vermont, is quoted as saying in the October 1991 "Further Light" of the
Florida Lodge of Research:

"I have been concerned for some time relative to the use of titles, Most
Worshipful, Right Worshipful and Worshipful. There is no question but that
these titles are rightly assigned to certain Grand Lodge officers, both present
and past, along with the Masters and Past Masters of the Particular Lodges.
However through misunderstanding, these titles are sometimes used in connection
with the brother himself, e.g., Right Worshipful Brother John E. Doe, District
Deputy Grand Master. The correct designation is, of course, Brother John E.
Doe, Right Worshipful District Deputy Grand Master - for all Brother Masons are
on the level and equal."

Brother Berry ruled as a Grand Master's Decision, that the titles of Most
Worshipful, Right Worshipful and Worshipful should be a part of the designated
office of the Grand Lodge of Vermont and that as Master and Past Master of the
Particular Lodges.

When attending a North East Conference of thirteen Grand Lodges some years ago
I noted that everyone, from Grand Masters to committee men, were introduced as
Brother ........, followed by position or station.

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PORTUGAL
SCRL Fraternal Review 634 told of the new Grand Lodge of Portugal, including
mention that representatives of the Grand Orient of France and one of our Grand
Jurisdictions were in attendance.

Have a note from Robert L. Dillard, Jr., P.G.M. of Texas, Secretary-Treasurer
of the Commission on Information For Recognition of the Grand Masters
Conference of North America, member of our Lodge, that he was there but there
was no representative of the Grand Orient of France. He also included the
September 1991 issue of the Dallas Scottish Rite Herald that had additional
information on this new Grand Lodge and it included:

"On June 29, 1991 at Lisbon, Portugal, in an epoch-making consecration ceremony
performed by Grand Master Andre Row of the Grand Lodge Nationale Francaise
(G.L.N.F.) the Grande Loge Reguliere De Portugal became the third national grand
lodge in recent months to re-kindle the lights of Masonry after years of
darkness, thus following the lead of Hungary and Czechoslovakia in joining the
community of 'Universal Regular Freemasonry'. In the words of Grand Master
Fernando Teixeira, 'it has been a long and dangerous journey.'

"Masonry in Portugal has had a turbulent history since the early 18th century
because of the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church and consequently at
various times the government of Portugal. There have been eleven organizations
over the years which claimed to be masonic, but none have been recognized since
the early l9th century. Following the re-establishment of a democratic
government in Portugal, the old Grand Orient was revived but did not require a
belief in God by its candidates nor did it require the V.S.L. on the altar. It
was also tied to the irregular Scottish Rite in Portugal and was influenced by
the Grand Orient of France.

"As early as 1984 a number of the brethren decided to break away from the Grand
Orient and join regular Freemasonry. In 1987 the G.L.N.F. decided to help them
and after 'regularizing' the brethren, chartered six lodges in the next three
years. In June 1990 the G.L.N.F. formed its District Lodge of Portugal with
Nat Granstein of Paris, France as District Grand Master, who guided them in the
formation of the Grand Lodge of Portugal

"Brother Dillard says, 'One of the highlights of the visit to Portugal was the
opportunity to meet and visit with the President of the Republic of Portugal,
Brother Suarez, a Mason who gave me an autographed picture. We met him at the
Presidential Palace in Lisbon the day we arrived in Lisbon."'
