‘Tis the Season! Check in with our Brethren who may be alone or ill this holiday season and brighten their day. Be safe in your travels and enjoy the season!
Constitutional Corner
105.4 A Master Mason holding a demit from any regular lodge, or obtaining a certificate of good standing from the same, may apply for membership to any lodge within this Jurisdiction. All such applications for affiliation shall be made on Official Form No. 9, and must be made in the same manner and take the same course as applications for degrees.
105.5 A brother suspended from membership for nonpayment of dues will be restored by the payment or remission of the amount due at the time of his suspension at any time within three years thereafter but after that time he can be reinstated only upon his application made on Official Form No. 10, after payment or remission of the amount in arrears, which shall take the same course as an application for initiation, and if rejected said applicant shall not again petition until six months after the rejection.
These two Sections of the Constitution have created a fair amount of confusion and frustration as of late. They are fairly straightforward and I have put them here as a reminder of how these similar but different processes work. And while some among us profess a non-human entity called Grand Lodge is making life difficult, I assure everyone the three humans here are well skilled and motivated to helping you accomplish your goals, while we all stay in the lane of our Constitution.
Friendly Reminders
First: If your lodge receives a Petition for Affiliation from a Mason who is from a lodge outside of Maine, STOP! Please contact us with the pertinent information so we can ascertain the Brother’s standing in his home Grand Jurisdiction. Once we do that and the Brother is in fact in Good Standing, you can proceed with the process of reading the petition, a Committee of Inquiry, voting, etc. If all of that has a successful outcome, advise us and we will enter the foreign affiliate. PLEASE do not attempt to do it yourself.
Second: As we approach the end of the year, let’s not forget Annual Returns and while we are at it, please make sure if your lodge has elected AND installed new Officers, fill out the Certificate of Elections in MORI, or let us know the dates and names and we will take care of it. This goes a long way toward keeping our data base up to date. If you have questions, CALL US!! Please do not ignore it, it just doesn’t go away.
Third: In addition to the five elected officers we will elect two to the Committee on Finance and two to the Charitable Foundation Board of Trustees. We are always looking for Brethren to serve and if you have skill sets that you feel may help guide the Fraternity, please consider offering yourself as a candidate. With modern technology (we use video conferencing regularly) serving on a board does not mean regular trips to Holden! Please think about it!!
Save the Dates
Dec 8, 2017-District 16 Semi Public Meeting 6:30 Supper, 7:30 Meeting, Oriental Lodge, Bridgton.
Dec 9, 2017-Holiday Open House at the Grand Lodge Office, 9AM-12PM
Dec 9, 2017-District 14 Semi Public Meeting 6:00 Supper, 7:00 Meeting, Village Lodge, Bowdoinham.
April 30-May 1 2018-Portland-Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Maine. We will be staying at the Clarion Hotel in Portland and the Communication will be held at the Masonic Temple on Congress St. This will be a one day Communication. Business, elections, Installation of Officers and the Grand Master’s Banquet will be held on Tuesday, May 1 at the Masonic Temple. Stay tuned for more details.
Check out the Grand Lodge Calendar for more events happening in your area!
For the Good of the Order
On behalf of the good folks who work here at your Grand Lodge Office, I want to wish each of you and your family a wonderful holiday season. While we communicate with many of you by phone or email and rarely see you, we consider all of you as part of our Fraternal family and it has been our pleasure to be of service during the past year. We look forward to a bright 2018 and connecting with you in one way or another.
The Grand Lodge Office will be closed from 12PM Friday, Dec 22nd until 8:30AM Tuesday, Dec 26th.for Christmas and we will also be closed on Monday, Jan 1st, 2018, reopening at 8:30 AM Tuesday Jan 2nd.
For the Secretaries
Don’t forget-Ask your Lodge Brethren to keep their contact info, including email updated with you and please make sure their data in MORI is correct!
As always, if you have any questions about anything to do with your Lodge, please feel free to call or e-mail us. We are here to help and support the Lodges and I encourage you to take advantage of it.
Fraternally,
Dan
From the Grand Librarian/Museum Curator:
While some of you will be out snowmobiling or chopping wood to keep that stove roaring, others may be spending a lot more time indoors this winter and that goes for your lodge members. Don’t forget: it’s a truly great time to make that ‘daily advancement’ in Freemasonry by reading – and it may help stave off the loneliness that many of our Brothers feel at this time of year.
We’ve got books on every imaginable facet of the Craft and your members can easily take advantage of this FREE service. Even if they’re far away from the Holden area, a simple phone call (843-1086) or email (grandlibrarian@mainemason.org) can get them one or more books on whatever topic may be of interest. If they know what they want, great – but if they don’t, we can likely help out. Go ahead: play ‘Stump the Librarian’! It might prove a pleasant surprise!
My Brothers, we try to ‘spread the good word’ about Freemasonry in many ways but word of mouth from Lodge Secretaries often carries special weight. Remind your Brethren, both new and seasoned veterans, that we have these opportunities for THEM.
Finally, Brothers: as we have members from many different faith beliefs, I’d wish you and your lodges the very happiest of whichever holiday(s) you celebrate.
May the best of your 2017 be the worst of your 2018!
Warmest fraternal regards,
Ed King
Grand Librarian & Museum Curator