From: (Don Wagner)
Post by Sam SchwarzmanIn some jurisdictions, it seems to me, the ease of obtaining a blank
petition
Post by Sam Schwarzmanoften puts the petition into a wrong hand.
I'd be interested in hearing what you consider the wrong hands.
Sure Don. When you advertise in movie theaters, the radio, newspapers for
members or even hand out petitions on street corners (all of which has happened
in New York) you are selling the fraternity. Kind of like going into a car
dealership or an appliance store and speaking to a salesperson. They want to
sell you a product which you may or may not wish to buy. Is it from the heart
or the result of a sales pitch?
Who will you attract? Well, keep this in mind, an Atheist can say he believes
in God and place his hand on a Bible. If he doesn't believe in God, he has
nothing to lose. You can attract anti Masons giving them the key to cause harm
to lodges. We have seen some of that on Alt.Freemasonry.
You also attract those that are not really sincere about their obligations.
Remember, Masonry claims to take GOOD MEN and to make them BETTER MEN, not
every man. A man sponsored by my Brother in my Prince Hall Lodge comes to me as
one who is highly recommended. The sponsors reputation is on the line so he is
quite careful who he brings in.
And yet the lodges in the 50's and 60's still had about a 30%+ drop
out rate after 3yrs from what I can tell from the data available to me
from my district in NJ.
I can't speak for your Jurisdiction Don, I don't know why you had that drop in
those years but I can speak for the First Nassau District, GLNY. By the time I
joined in June 1973, we had grown to 16 Lodges in our District. We met in 11
Masonic Temples all in our District. In 1973 we were a growing and expanding
District and it looked like we were going to grow forever. Some years before I
was raised, we had one District in Nassau County with 10 Lodges in total.
During the 1950s that had grown to 16 total lodges and was split into First
Nassau and Second Nassau. By the time I was raised in 1973 the number had grown
to 32 Lodges, 16 in each Nassau District. Today they are down to but 7 Lodges
in each District.
Where did they go wrong in letting the lodges disintegrate? These men
were the officers and PM's during the 70's-80's where mergers,
consolidations and outright disbandments were the norm. If someone is
to blame for the sorry state of affairs in the Craft, I feel these men
should step up and explain their actions or inactions.
Don, I find it odd that you would blame those that have remained Masons for
those that have fled. Were it not for your Dad and others who remained, you
might be an Elk or a member of some other fraternity today, they kept it alive.
It was when Masonry opened it's doors for every "Tom, Dick and Harry" that the
speeded up drift out of Masonry escalated.
Sure thing. I understand the process very well as my own Dad is one
of the Old Guys. He has no real explanation as to why the lodges
started falling a part other then to say that once they lost touch
with the community the number of men wishing to join declined.
Your dad might not but I do. All fraternal organizations have gone through
membership swings. It wasn't just Masonry that got clobbered by the decline, it
was every fraternity and service club. No one knows for sure why this happened,
maybe Monday Night Football, Wives going to work or the economy but it
happened. What many Grand Lodges didn't do was to curtail their expenditures to
match their lower income from memberships. Instead, many turned to membership
drives to balance their budgets.
In the short term it worked. More members equals more income but like a
Band-Aid on a large wound, it really just masked a growing problem and even
made it worse. Instead of addressing the real issue which was interesting Lodge
meetings that peaked the members interests, meetings were reduced to just plain
boring business meetings, coffee, a doughnut and a goodnight! Newly raised
Brothers that soon become Masters cannot be expected to create a wholesome
Masonic program. They tend to emulate the stale or boring programs of their
predecessors. It's not their fault, they just haven't seen or learned about
"programs geared to peak Masonic interest".
So just what are we left with to build on? Masters who have been Masons for two
or three years, those that became members because they were sold a bill of
goods and those that are not sincere about the fraternity. Sure there are
bright spots but they become fewer to find every year.
This has not happened to MWPH, they meet their expenses from their dedicated
members which means every Brother of the Lodge. We look to perpetuate the order
in the old fashioned manner that "You have to ask one to be one". What is most
important, we have programs of interest at each and every meeting, a large
collation after the meetings and no "short cuts" to close early. In short, we
have good, wholesome, old fashioned Masonry the way it used to be.
Sam Schwarzman