
~                         FRATERNAL REVIEW



    Editor - Ralph A. Herbold        ( 1-15-92)                        No. 642

    PRINCE HALL - WASHINGTON - ENGLAND
    As a follow up to information in SCRL Fraternal Review 638,
quoting from the Washington Masonic Tribune, necember 1991,
Editor-in-Chief James 0. Wood: "the Prince Hall Grand Loclge of
Washington and territory has written a letter to the United Grand
Lodge of England to establish communication, explain their
regularity as it relates to the various points which the United
Grand Lodge of England requires to extend recognition.

    "The External Relations Committee of the Board of General
Purposes will deliberate this matter at a meeting prior to the
Decemher quarterly communication of the United Grand Lodge, at
which time it is hoped that the visitation matter will receive some
favorable attention. This is an involved and unfolding process
which takes a considerable amount of time. With time, patience and
perseverance, as we are masonically taught to employ, I have faith
that this matter will sort out favorably."

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     TEXAS - BALLOT - ENTERED APPRENTICE~
     The Winter 1991 Texas Mason listed three items they would be
considering at their Annual Communication last December. A call to
one of their members, one of our members, brought the information
that they retained the three negative votes necessary to reject
petitioners by defeating the proposal, by a nine to one margin, to
return to the single negative vote. They also voted to join the
Masonic Service Association. A Grand Master's Recommendation to
make EAs and FCs full members, subject to dues, receiving all other
perquisites except to vote or demit, was not acted upon and
deferred until the next year.

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     ISRAEL - LODGE OF THE HOLY LAND NO. 50
     Have at hand Newsletter No. 3 - June 1991 (36 page booklet) of
the above Lodge and quote from the opening remarks: "It is with
great pleasure that we are renewing publication of our Bulletin
after a long interval due to circumstances beyond our control.
Information and application by contacting the Lodge at P.O. Box
33206, 61 331 Tel-Aviv, Israel.

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     CORNERSTONE - LOUISIANA
     Cornerstone and dedication ceremonies are newsworthy but
normally not noted, but this deserves mention because it is the
reverse procedure, a first, at least to my eyes, and we quote in
part from the July 1991 Louisiana Freemason:

     "History was made on the evening of June 10, 1991, when The
Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana officially closed the doors
of the Old State Capitol in Raton Rouge, prior to the start of a
two-year major restoration program.

     "The closing ceremonies were held in the rotunda where plans
for the restoration were outlined. Remarks were made by Governor
P~uddy Roemer, Secretary of State W. Fox McKeithen and
Mayor-President Tom Ed McHugh of Baton Rouge. The program
was then turned over to our Grand Master, M.W. Roy McDuffie, who
stated, 'our Grand Lodge has a unique kinship with the Old Capitol.
Our leaders officiatecl at the building's beginning, so we feel
honored to he participating in ceremonies to close it.'

"He related the details of the laying-of-the-cornerstone and then
asked all to vacate the building through the west facade whereupon
the Grand Marshal, W. Billy L. Wilson and the Grand Junior Deacon,
W. Richard P. Smith closed the massive doors of the Old State
Capitol. The closing is temporary because in 1993 it will be
reopened as the Center of Political and Governmental History."

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CHARITY
Even though some of our members will receive the November 1991
Pennsylvania Freemason I just had to pass along for all to read,
"From the Grand Secretary's Desk" by Bro. Thomas W. Jackson, R. W.
Grand Secretary, demonstrating a principal and also that those in
the ivory towers also work in the trenches:

"One Saturday afternoon after working in my garden, I went indoors
to lie on the bed and listen to a Penn State football game. The
telephone rang, and the caller was a representative of the Women's
Aid Society, calling from Texas. She told me that a young lady was
on an airplane scheduled to land at the Philadelphia airport in one
hour. Her sister, who lived in New Jersey, had been injured in an
automobile accident, and she was arriving to take her home to
Texas. The only thing she could tell the Women's Aid Society was
that 'her daddy was a Mason. '

"This lady called the Grand Lodge of Texas who referred her to my
office. One of the employees who happened to be in the office on
Saturday gave her my home telephone number.

"I went to the airport and after a two-hour search was able to
locate the girl. I learned from a Brother Mason who was a security
officer how to get to the small town in New Jersey. On the way
there, the girl told me that she needed to rent a truck to carry
her sister's furniture and clothing to Texas. They wanted to leave
the next day.

"Upon arriving at the location in New Jersey, I was unable to
contact the local Lodge or the Grand Secretary of New Jersey. I was
also unable to rent a truck that late at night. Being close to the
Delaware border I called the Grand Secretary of Delaware at his
home. He in turn made arrangements for four members of one of
Delaware's Lodges to come over Sunday morning, rent a truck, load
it and get the girls started to Texas. I stayed until 3 a. m.
helping them pack their belongings in boxes which I was able to
obtain from a local store.

"It is not significant that I was involved or, for that matter,
that any single person was involved in this episode. The individual
is not important. What is important is our feelilng of the need to
respond due to a Masonic obligation. What is important is that five
words, 'My daddy was a Mason,' given to a non- Masonic organization
in Texas precipitated a response that involved four states across a
continent. What is important is that it reveals the continuing
essence of Freemasonry, 'The Brotherhood of Man.'

"As long as we, as individual members, feel the need to respond to
this assumed obligation, we carry on the proud tradition credited
to the Craft. We justify our existence. We give reason for an
interest by others. We really maintain a reason for being. If each
Brother would express and respond to this motivation to practice
this 'essence' - what a giant step for our survival!"
