Greetings!
Welcome to April where here in Holden the snow has almost disappeared and it is actually in the 40’s! Please read on…
Grand Lodge Website
We have made progress and corrected misinformation that you noted and told us about. Keep it coming. We want all the information accurate no matter how small a detail so let us know and we will fix it. As I said last month, we welcome constructive criticism. While our Grand Treasurer has done a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes on this, it is you, the Brethren who will polish this as we move along.
Constitutional Corner
SEC. 77.1 A stated communication is a regular meeting of a lodge and must be held on a definite day and at a definite time as provided for in its by-laws. A lodge ought to meet once in each calendar or lunar month, but may with propriety stand closed during any three consecutive months once in any fiscal year, provided its by-laws so provide and the lodge so votes.
77.2 When allowed by its by-laws, a lodge Master may, when weather conditions cause reasonable concerns for the health and welfare of the brethren of his lodge, postpone a stated meeting for up to forty-eight hours with due notice to the membership.
There are numerous lodges that have not taken the steps to amend their by-laws to afford the Master the flexibility of postponing due to weather. We became aware of several this winter who were caught by poor weather. Please take a few minutes at your Stated Communication to talk about this and follow the process to amend your by-laws to allow Section 77.2 of the Constitution to be used.
Friendly Reminders
First: We are less than 30 days from the Annual Communication. Please make sure your Proxy is elected! And, if you or your Brethren are spending the night and attending banquets that your reservations are made to enjoy all Point Lookout offers. The reservation form for meals is under the “News” section of the Grand Lodge website.
Second: We are processing Charitable Foundation Grants related to Bike for Books, Project Graduation. Community Betterment and Youth Activities at a pretty good clip. If you are unfamiliar with the process or are unsure how to fill it out, feel free to call us.
Save the Dates
April 15, 2017-Maine Masonic College is offering their annual “Celebration of the Arts and Sciences”. 9:00AM to 3:00PM Spectacular Events Center, Bangor
April 19, 2017-Special Communication of the Grand Lodge. Consolidation of Whitney Lodge with Oriental Star Lodge in Livermore.
April 29, 2017-Maine Masonic College offering “Alchemy” 9:00AM to 12:00PM Tuscan Lodge, Addison
April 29, 2017-Invited Elected Grand Lodge Officers & District Officers for 2017-2018 Training session 8:00AM-9:00AM Registration, Program 9:00AM-5:00PM Meridian Splendor Lodge, Newport (Rescheduled from April 1st)
May 2-3 2017-Annual Communication Point Lookout, Northport
For the Secretaries
You will find 2 additional pages this month titled Lodge Secretary Notes.
Their purpose is to briefly and succinctly capture some of the more important duties you have as a Secretary. I know many of you will look at it, chuckle and “round file” it and that’s ok. There are some among the 180+ brethren who serve as Secretaries in this jurisdiction who not only are new to the job but new to the Craft as well. This is directed towards those Secretaries to be a simple reference to excite their curiosity and maybe they will call for help before they are overwhelmed to the point of walking away. It happens. If you have been doing this successfully for a long time and you know there’s a new Secretary in your District or nearby, reach out and offer a hand. Most members of a Lodge have just a clue what the job entails unless they’ve done it themselves. If you know, please consider offering your Brother Secretary your assistance. Thanks.
Fraternally,
Dan