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by Christopher Hodapp A former secretary of the Saladin Shriners in Grand Rapids, Michigan has just been charged with embezzling $1.39 million from the Saladin Temple's Children's Trust Fund. According to police reports, it seems Richard Ivan Williams has been siphoning off money from the...

PHOTO: SARAH MEYSSONNIER / REUTERS by Christopher Hodapp The near-miraculous rebuilding of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral after the horrific fire of 2019 culminated in its internationally celebrated reopening over the weekend, with great fanfare and well-deserved accolades from all corners of...

Credit: Rick McKee, Counterpoint / CTNewsJunkie via Cagle Cartoons by Christopher Hodapp Hopefully, all of my readers had a happy – and mostly harmless – post-election Thanksgiving surrounded by family and friends, with as few fights on the lawn as possible. WB Carlos Diez Jr., Grand Orator...

by Christopher Hodapp From the always informative Hiram.be Blog Maçonique French language website comes a report that the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel's headquarters in Tel-Aviv were damaged last month when a Hezbollah missile fired from Lebanon struck the building next door...

by Christopher Hodapp UPDATED 6:50PM November 7, 2024: The Minneapolis Valley of the Scottish Rite has posted a tribute to Illustrious Brother Neddermeyer 33°. It is posted below. UPDATED 11:05PM November 4, 2024: RW Brother Neil's obituary appeared in the November 3rd, 2024 issue of the...

by Christopher Hodapp When Joe Morrow, former two-time Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, completely resigned from the fraternity 'for personal reasons' back on September 17th, the silence as to why he really did so left a wide-open field for speculation. Over the weekend, the...

by Christopher Hodapp The trouble with owning a publicly visible building is that, occasionally, it's image pops up in the damndest places. Take this one, posted by Shawn Eyer on Facebook Thursday. It seems the local Democrat Party in Alexandria used an image of the George Washington Masonic...

by Christopher Hodapp The very first Masonic Con New York is coming to the magnificent New York Masonic Hall on the weekend of January 17, 2025. Built around the theme Freemasonry in the 21st Century: Self and Society, this premiere Masonic Con will showcase experts discussing the urgency of...

by Christopher Hodapp A young Indiana filmmaker joined the Masons at Broad Ripple Lodge 643 in Indianapolis, where he quickly became very active and was appointed to the Senior Steward's chair. Within a year of his degrees, he also signed on with Lodge Vitruvian 767, one of just a few...

Seems like East Coast Masons have been infected off and on by various and sundry ill winds off the Atlantic ever since 2020 when COVID whacked us all. Grand Lodges in New Jersey, DC and South Carolina, along with the Prince Hall GL in Massachusetts all had long, tough, knock-down, drag-out...

by Christopher Hodapp THIS ought to play out predictably. With lots of noise and gnashing of teeth. MW Donald W. Cowart (photo), Grand Master of the Grand Lodge F&AM of Florida has just issued an official decree on October 17th forbidding all Masons in his jurisdiction from sharing "any...

by Christopher Hodapp A really good, effective interview on local TV news yesterday with MW Andre H. Faria, Jr., Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island. They're rededicating the cornerstone of the East Providence, RI Masonic Temple and Grand Lodge headquarters on its 100th...

by Christopher Hodapp The Masonic Service Association of North America has officially issued Disaster Relief Appeals for the grand lodges of Florida, North, and South Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene two weeks ago. MSA Administrator Craig Davis, PGM, has posted the following...

The 600-mile path of Hurricane Helene (Image: New York Times) by Christopher Hodapp NOTE: THIS POST WILL BE UPDATED. The path of destruction and devastation over the weekend from Hurricane Helene stretched 600 miles across six states. Thousands are without homes in Florida, Georgia, South...

Illustration by Logan Guo for Slate by Christopher Hodapp There's been no dearth of reports over the last few years about what many sociologists and psychologists are calling an 'epidemic of loneliness' among men under 40 or so. Several emails this weekend alerted me to an article on Slate...

by Christopher Hodapp The Grand Master Mason of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, RW D. Joseph J. Morrow, resigned unexpectedly on Wednesday, according to a message circulated to lodge secretaries and posted on their website. According to messages on Redditt, GM Morrow is currently traveling...

by Christopher Hodapp The 4th Esotericism In Freemasonry 2024 Conference will be held the weekend of September 27-29 at Occidental Lodge in the Ballard Masonic Center in Seattle, Washington, featuring a lineup of some of the top contemporary writers and researchers in Western esotericism...

Photo: Indiana Landmarks by Christopher Hodapp On Tuesday, October 15th, Indiana Landmarks will be presenting a program, Understanding Masonic Temples, featuring guest speaker Will D. Moore, author of the 2006 book Masonic Temples: Freemasonry, Ritual Architecture and Masculine Archetypes...

Article and photos by Christopher Hodapp On Saturday, September 7th, the San Antonio (Texas) Philharmonic Orchestra and the San Antonio Valley of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite (SJ) announced the formation of a new 501(c)3 partnership to preserve and modernize the city's beautiful downtown...

Photo: Janesville News Report by Christopher Hodapp Shots were fired at the Masonic Center in Janesville, Wisconsin at about 2:30 AM on the morning of Sunday August 25th. Bullets were found by police after they struck multiple windows. No injuries were reported, and no suspects have been...