Torence
2010-10-05 05:47:58 UTC
There is quite a bit to look forward to this weekend for those of
us attending the Grand Lodge session in Illinois; and, I hope that
those of us who communicate through the vehicle of soc.
Freemasonry.org but who have not had the opportunity to grip one
another as Masons should will find that opportunity to do so that we
have so long sought.
Our Grand Master, M.W. Bro. Rick Swaney, has announced that this
year the delegates will receive his report on Thursday before the
session starts. That is a wise practice and indicative of the openness
and positive practices for communication with the lodges that has
defined his administration and one that will facilitate discussion on
Friday. It has been many years since we have seen an entire Line of
Grand Lodge Officers as accessible to the Craft as this one; and we
can anticipate successors who are equally dedicated and available.
Last year we had legislation up to require distribution of the
Grand Masters Report before the session. If the delegates favor it,
we could always reintroduce it again for permanent inclusion in our
Code.
While elsewhere we have discussed the proposed codes, there is much
to consider when we go to do business. In particular, I would like to
hear discussion, not necessarily on the floor of the session, but in
the various apartments and chambers of the hotels and restaurants as
to the proper role and place that we have for discipline in lodges.
Illinois Grand Masters have a particularly heavy burden to bear
regarding the fate of the individual members of the Craft; and the
Grand Lodge delegates here in Illinois have exceeded their authority
in light of our landmarks to require expulsion based upon the decision
of the civil courts. That recent decision denies a Brother his
immemorial right to trial within the Craft, a value for our fraternity
that is as old as King Johns Great Letter. Hitler would have loved
it. He made being a FreeMason a felony in his Germany. How ironic
would it be that we passed legislation that may someday require self-
destruction.
In every case, IMHO, should a Brother desire that his local lodge
review his case regardless of what crime he was convicted, he should
receive that opportunity especially in these economic times when
mistakes involving money can be made out to be criminal malfeasance.
The decisions of the Courts have grown increasingly suspect here
particularly when judges and juries feel that their hands have been
tied to rule one way or another considering bad lawmaking imposed on
us by grand standing legislators. Their criteria, motivated by the
election and re-election process rather than our Masonically required
Solomonlike astuteness for fair play for our Craftsmen, has often
led to bigotries, idleness in investigation and prosecution, and cruel
and unusual punishments in the common courts.
When his report is distributed, the Craft will find that this
years list of disciplinary expulsions has been dominated by
convictions from our failed and perverse, forty year war against
drugs. Here at the start of this century for our decisions, I would
rather that Freemasonry land on the side of human rights and
demonstrate for the world how we can practice what we preach. We
should show His particular gift for us, Brotherly Love and Affection
for those who put their trust in their peers. And in all cases take
the role of discipline off the already burdensome workload of our
Grand Masters and completely within the dimensions of the Local Lodges
who should be solely responsible for their material.
Fraternally,
Torence Evans Ake
Secretary Auburn Park Lodge No. 789 Crete, Illinois
PM Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 Lansing, Illinois
us attending the Grand Lodge session in Illinois; and, I hope that
those of us who communicate through the vehicle of soc.
Freemasonry.org but who have not had the opportunity to grip one
another as Masons should will find that opportunity to do so that we
have so long sought.
Our Grand Master, M.W. Bro. Rick Swaney, has announced that this
year the delegates will receive his report on Thursday before the
session starts. That is a wise practice and indicative of the openness
and positive practices for communication with the lodges that has
defined his administration and one that will facilitate discussion on
Friday. It has been many years since we have seen an entire Line of
Grand Lodge Officers as accessible to the Craft as this one; and we
can anticipate successors who are equally dedicated and available.
Last year we had legislation up to require distribution of the
Grand Masters Report before the session. If the delegates favor it,
we could always reintroduce it again for permanent inclusion in our
Code.
While elsewhere we have discussed the proposed codes, there is much
to consider when we go to do business. In particular, I would like to
hear discussion, not necessarily on the floor of the session, but in
the various apartments and chambers of the hotels and restaurants as
to the proper role and place that we have for discipline in lodges.
Illinois Grand Masters have a particularly heavy burden to bear
regarding the fate of the individual members of the Craft; and the
Grand Lodge delegates here in Illinois have exceeded their authority
in light of our landmarks to require expulsion based upon the decision
of the civil courts. That recent decision denies a Brother his
immemorial right to trial within the Craft, a value for our fraternity
that is as old as King Johns Great Letter. Hitler would have loved
it. He made being a FreeMason a felony in his Germany. How ironic
would it be that we passed legislation that may someday require self-
destruction.
In every case, IMHO, should a Brother desire that his local lodge
review his case regardless of what crime he was convicted, he should
receive that opportunity especially in these economic times when
mistakes involving money can be made out to be criminal malfeasance.
The decisions of the Courts have grown increasingly suspect here
particularly when judges and juries feel that their hands have been
tied to rule one way or another considering bad lawmaking imposed on
us by grand standing legislators. Their criteria, motivated by the
election and re-election process rather than our Masonically required
Solomonlike astuteness for fair play for our Craftsmen, has often
led to bigotries, idleness in investigation and prosecution, and cruel
and unusual punishments in the common courts.
When his report is distributed, the Craft will find that this
years list of disciplinary expulsions has been dominated by
convictions from our failed and perverse, forty year war against
drugs. Here at the start of this century for our decisions, I would
rather that Freemasonry land on the side of human rights and
demonstrate for the world how we can practice what we preach. We
should show His particular gift for us, Brotherly Love and Affection
for those who put their trust in their peers. And in all cases take
the role of discipline off the already burdensome workload of our
Grand Masters and completely within the dimensions of the Local Lodges
who should be solely responsible for their material.
Fraternally,
Torence Evans Ake
Secretary Auburn Park Lodge No. 789 Crete, Illinois
PM Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 Lansing, Illinois