FURRY.891       P 17    Readers Feed Back


Deer Brother Marsengill:

I am an American citizen, but a British
Freemason. Therefore, my view point
may be a little different from many of
your readers.

In my forty years of Masonic travel, I
have cut across lines of bigotry which
should not be part of the Freemasonry
ethic. I remember when the membership
criteria was "free, white and 21." I re-
ceived my degrees at age nineteen. Since
then I heard that the word "white" was
dropped as somewhere it was said that
Freemasonry was meant to unite men of
"every clime," etc. which should have
meant that a man should be acceptable
regardless of race, creed, etc. as long as
he believes in a Supreme Being.

Some jurisdictions still have a problem
as to the meaning of being "free-born. "
This, of course, means some one not born
to a slave or indentured servant. Such a
situation ceased to exist in the United
States over a hundred years ago and in
most of the rest of the world, with a few
exceptions, several years before.

The reasons why Prince Hall Masons
have not been recognized by the " other"
Brethren dates back to the days of the
American War for Independence and
had nothing to do with race as Brother
Prince Hall was "free-born" and a reg-
ularly-made Mason of a British military
Lodge.

It is encouraging to note that the es-
tranged American black brethren are fi-
nally being recognized as existing. All of
the Grand Jurisdictions of the United
States have been legally recognizing reg-
ular "black Lodges" since their (US
Lodges) inception, whether they admit it
or not. It is the membership they object
to.

American Freemasons, generally
speaking, do not understand that univer-
sal Masonry is made up of a large per-
centage of "not-whites. " Consult
Brother Rudyard Kipling's description
of his Lodge in India. Not only were
there "non-whites" present, but they
were "non-Christians" as well.

If an individual Mason has difficulty
relating to non-whites that is his prerog-
ative, but his opinions do not reflect the
"real world." This unfortunate brother
should be cautioned not to visit ANY
regular Lodge outside his own Grand
Jurisdiction. He may meet up with
Brethren not to his liking and will be
asked to leave rather than disrupt the
proceedings of that " foreign Lodge. "

To save further embarrassment of inad-
vertently attending a clandestine Lodge
while on vacation or business overseas, I
would suggest that the book " List of
Lodges, Masonic" be referred to. This
book is or should be in the possession the
Lodge Secretaries and/or Tylers as it is
the standard reference for checking a
visiting brother's Lodge. Check the end
of the appropriate Grand Lodge listing
for those Grand Lodges not recognized.
This book is updated annually and so
should be checked frequently. For exam-
ple, in 1989, my Grand Lodge recog-
nized the Grand Lodges in Spain and
Taiwan. In 1990, they recognized Italy.

Some regular "non-white" Lodges I
know of exist in the Bahamas, West In-
dies and Bermuda. The nearest clandes-
tine Lodges outside of the US are located
in Mexico. However, the recognition of
these latter Lodges varies from state to
state. Check "the Book."
Yours in the Crafi,
Paul R. Holmberg, MPS

        ****************************

Dear Brother Hilliard:

Below, you will find a comment on your
editorial in the President's Corner. I am
sending a copy of this letter to Brother
Marsengill and Brother Nocas.

Your editorial in Volume XLIV of April
1991 of The Philalethes seems to me to be
mostly feelings, to which you are enti-
tled, but lacking in facts. I do not want
further to hurt you any more than I want
to injure John Nocas for whom I have
great respect.

The York Rite may be doomed. At least
it is shrinking. But so is all American
Freemasonry. I think it is important that
we examine the parts of Masonry which
are apparently surviving, and try to dis-
cern the reasons for this and the differ-
ences .

I have worked with the Grand Lodge of
California since the time we got up our
courage to face the problem(s). None of
us will pretend to have the solution(s),
but we have mounted a project of search
and correction, some of which has been
adopted by the Grand Lodge. We,
among other Grand Lodges, have taken
steps, initial ones, to correct some of our
problems. Our worst problem, we are
agreed, is that we are losing about 50%
of our candidates. Why? There may be
two answers: l) the time required, and
2) most of our jurisdictions do not recog-
nize our candidates as members until
they are raised, thus losing their partici-
pation while they are still anxious to be-
come members. Both of these ques-
tions/problems are unresolved.

Or look at the jurisdictions which are
more successful. From a paper in the
United Masters Lodge of Auckland, NZ,
quoting a practice of the United Grand
Lodge of England: "A Lodge under the
United Grand Lodge of England may
work any ritual it pleases so long as it is
not inconsistent with the Ancient Land-
marks and the general laws and regula-
tions of the Craft. The form of ritual and
ceremonial is decided by resolution of
the Lodge in the same way as any other
procedural matter. A Lodge holding
charter from the Grand Lodge of New
Zealand is bound to use the form of
working from time to time approved by
the Grand Lodge, if its Charter was is-
sued after 16 May 1912 . Lodges formed
before that date have two options, to use
the method and mode of working cus-
tomary in the Lodge at that date, or to
use the approved form. It cannot modify
its old customs. It abides by the original
form, or adopts the approved one. " You
are, of course, aware that under the
Grand Lodge of England there is more
than one approved working.

And, quoting Ralph Herbold in the
Fraternal Review of the Southern Cali-
fornia Research Lodge: " Finally, all
men need relaxation and social life. Why
did Masonry prosper in the fifties and
sixties? Surely because men enjoyed
their Masonry, and spoke enthusiasti-
cally about it so that others wanted to
join. Let us bring the fun back into Ma-
sonry. Let us enjoy the present time,
without looking over our shoulders at a
vanished past, or dreading a future
which may never come. If we learn to
make our gatherings pleasant and enjoy-
able social occasions, which we remem-
ber and talk about with pleasure, it is just
possible that the world will once more
seek to join us, because it is good and
pleasant for brethren to dwell together in
unity. "

I don't put these suggestions forward as
THE solutions, but with their history it
may be that they have some weight. And
it may be that the Past Grand High Priest
of California, Most Excellent John R.
Nocas' ideas can help the survival of
York Rite Masonry. But, as stated above,
this is not only a York Rite problem. Nor
is it to be solved by closing our eyes and
ears. We must, as Brethren, attempt to
find what will work. Or we may find that
we have lost what we most desire to save
and build.
Sincerely,
W. F. Poynter

The Philalethes, August 1991
