Should the Order of the Eastern Star begin accepting women who currently do not have any Masonic affiliation?
Being a member of OES I think we should as long as there is a MM who agrees that the candidate should be a member. Lets be honest. It would be effective to have the same membership requirements for OES as they do for Masonry. Having these requirements the same would allow for OES to bring in new women with no affiliation that then could introduce masonry to there husbands. Its a win win for both organizations. Unfortunately though this was voted down and General Grand Chapter this year in Fort Worth. In order for the organization to continue on OES will need to start exploring other avenues of obtaining new and younger membership.
Being a member of OES I think we should as long as there is a MM who agrees that the candidate should be a member. Lets be honest. It would be effective to have the same membership requirements for OES as they do for Masonry. Having these requirements the same would allow for OES to bring in new women with no affiliation that then could introduce masonry to there husbands. Its a win win for both organizations. Unfortunately though this was voted down and General Grand Chapter this year in Fort Worth. In order for the organization to continue on OES will need to start exploring other avenues of obtaining new and younger membership.
Being that I'm not a member of the OES, I'm unaware of their membership statistics so take my opinion as just that. Not to be a pessimist, but I see the decline in Masonic Membership worldwide, not to mention the concerns I've heard from our local OES Chapter.
Currently, it's a group composed of honorable men and women, but most are at least 65+ years of age. Where will they be in 10 years? If given a choice, would you rather permit those without a Masonic affiliation to apply and go through the same process as we Masons, or see your Charter yanked and Chapter demise?
Currently, it's a group composed of honorable men and women, but most are at least 65+ years of age.
And from what I've been told the age majority is 50 to 65+