# What issues are important to you?



## Blake Bowden (Aug 29, 2010)

Thoughts?


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## Ashton Lawson (Aug 30, 2010)

Other than the cipher, yes.

All of those are priorities, deciding which one is on top is an interesting question. I'll take them through the prioritization process before I vote, and then post my thoughts.


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## owls84 (Aug 30, 2010)

This is a tough one to answer. If I can only choose one I will have to think about it as well since all are very important indeed.


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## JTM (Aug 30, 2010)

money is always priority #1.  once you get that fixed, you can continue to other things


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## Papatom (Aug 30, 2010)

I have gave thought to this before, 1; PHA does not want us, 2; Money would improve if membership increased, 3; Cyper books should be against GL Law (period), 4; You will not change people about how they feel about other races, they may hide it, but it will still be there.


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## owls84 (Aug 30, 2010)

1. It will soon come up again that PHA does want visitation. I know this for a fact and the original compact had visitation but were instructed to remove it by the Fraternal Relations Committee. We didn't think recognition would pass OUR membership had visitation been there. 

2. You are correct here so what do we do to improve membership. Could it be done by education, being more transparent, etc? 

3. Thats an opinion but I for one feel they are needed. Anyone that has been to a COW forum sees that even that man as asked "Is this how you have it?" when there are more than one member. The Past Masters Voted to allow the use of them in certain methods so why would you recognize something but not embrace it. (Sounds familiar actually) 

4. You are correct but it doesn't belong in Lodge. It goes against most of the teachings of Freemasonry and you should be a Freemason at heart. I don't care if you hold a dues card and 90 titles to have this kind of hatred makes you unable to be a Freemason and therefore do not belong. Your thoughts are your own and should be your own but you can't possibly be a Freemason by having racist beliefs. Again, just my opinions.


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## owls84 (Aug 30, 2010)

I chose education because I think with an improvement and increase in education you can solve many of the other issues. Our declining membership is due to generations becoming complacent and if a member was not intrested or engaged no big deal we had others to take his place. More people are knocking on our door to learn and we need to teach them. Retention and remaining active are the most important to me and if we keep people engaged then we will keep them coming for more. 

Education can also help with some of the issues. If we show that the lessons of massonry do not allow tolerance of racisim or hatred then these guys will leave. I have seen it in my own lodge and it works. 

I think the cipher is the least of our worries. We have several issues that are contributing factors in our decreases of money and membership that we need to address before these and I am excited to see the years to come.


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## Dave in Waco (Aug 30, 2010)

I would have to say being more transparent, as in being more visibile in our community.  I think by being a bigger part of our community and becoming more vested in it, we better ourselves as Masons overall.  In the process, people like being part of good things, thus this would else help declining membership.  Also by playing a bigger part in our community, and more of the community becoming part of us, it will improve our relations with PHA and hopefully also combat racism as our intergrated community becomes part of us.  So I think this will help take care of some of the other priorities and giving them a jumping off point. 

Of course it will go without saying that by enlarging membership with the community, we are going to have to have something valuable to pass along besides just the lesson exemplified by our service in the community through Masonic education.


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## peace out (Aug 30, 2010)

I voted education.  That's why I joined!


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## HKTidwell (Sep 2, 2010)

Our declining membership would be solved with education of people becoming true Masons.  Transparency should be at the heart of a Mason.  Bigotry/racism would be solved by education, the example of what some might set would be frowned on by education and would embolden others to stand against it who might not otherwise.

If lodges are not doing a yearly budget or going in the hole yearly without changing dues or something else then why would Grand Lodge be required to?  If we want to change Grand Lodge we have to start at home.

Publishing a cipher book to me is a violation of a persons honor and integrity, the more I have thought about it the more I've come to the opinion that I'd never ask any brother to do this. 

Extend visitation with Prince Hall, I've heard a lot of mixed comments on this.  People who I've spoken with who have looked at PHA masonry have often commented that they seem more closed minded then AF & AM, this is hearsay because I personally have not looked into joining them.  Some claim that it is fact that they wanted visitation others claim just as emphatically that they never wanted this.  With their previous GM, visitation being requested seems doubtful.  I look at PHA as my brothers and if it occurs I would be glad to see it.  Getting tired of the discussion with no concrete facts.  Somebody either bring forth facts and not hearsay of previous request/denial or put forth a motion to grand lodge requesting visitation with PHA.

These are my opinions, it is up to each of us to make things better.  All of us would like Rome built in a day but it is impossible.


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## Dave in Waco (Sep 2, 2010)

My DI, who I was talking with Monday night, mentioned something about PHA.  He has a good friend who is one of their Grand Officers.  My DI is also in favor of visitation rights between us and them.  He also mention that it was them that stopped short of full visitation.  When asked why, he said it came down to membership.  He said that PHA in Texas has a $5,000 initiation fee and they pay $1,200 a year in dues.  He went on to say they were afraid of losing members because of the big difference in dues if full visitation took place. 

Now me personally, I don't know of any PHA Masons to confirm the difference in dues and fees, so I have to take him at his word.


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## David Duke (Sep 3, 2010)

I voted education, as Bro. Ows84 stated with education most of the other problems could be solved.


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## rhitland (Sep 3, 2010)

Education without a doubt.  If you educate yourself worries and troubles seem to melt away.  Knowledge is the ultimate in power.  

Educating ourselves on the Prince Hall Issue seems to cause a ton of confusion in about the temple.  Brother Dave I am curious to the DI mention the name of his friend at PHA?  We are having a function before long with them and many of there GL officers show up and I would like to to talk with him.  A few of us have had first hand conversation with PH brothers and we always recieve a different answer than what we get from our frat.  I do not claim to know who wanted what but I do know someone is not telling the truth or there was some severe wire crossing the day the compact was signed and I would like to know who or why.


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## Dave in Waco (Sep 3, 2010)

rhitland said:


> Educating ourselves on the Prince Hall Issue seems to cause a ton of confusion in about the temple. Brother Dave I am curious to the DI mention the name of his friend at PHA? We are having a function before long with them and many of there GL officers show up and I would like to to talk with him. A few of us have had first hand conversation with PH brothers and we always recieve a different answer than what we get from our frat. I do not claim to know who wanted what but I do know someone is not telling the truth or there was some severe wire crossing the day the compact was signed and I would like to know who or why.



He did not mention a name, but I will contact him and see if I can get it.  

Is there any way we could get a copy of the original PH Resolution from 2005 that was voted on and passed?  That might help to clear up some of the fog that seems to surround this.  Looking at the timeline, it doesn't look like our GL delayed anything since it was submitted after May 2005, it wasn't considered until the GC of 2006.  Of course a lot can happen in a year and a half without it being delayed.  Either way, I think there is a lot of heresay surrounding this issue, and to intelligently work toward improving relations, we would need to better know where the hold up really is.


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## JEbeling (Sep 6, 2010)

Membership.. ! If we don't do something about the decline .. ! none of the other will matter.. ?


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## MGM357 (Sep 7, 2010)

Rather than quanity of membership, we need to address quality.


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## Benton (Sep 7, 2010)

MGM357 said:


> Rather than quanity of membership, we need to address quality.



I'd rather have 10,000 amazing brothers than 100,000 'ok' brothers. I know quality is a relative thing, but just my .02.


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## Christopher (Sep 8, 2010)

I put "crack down on bigotry and racism", and by that I mean that lodges should work very hard to look open-minded and accepting.  My experience has been that inside a lodgeroom, tolerance is very real.  However, outside a lodgeroom, either at dinner, or even just in public, Masons can be very opinionated about religion and politics, and at times downright mean about other opinions.  While everyone is entitled to speak their mind and have their opinions, even strong opinions, I wonder sometimes how many men might have become Masons except they didn't think they'd be accepted because of derogatory comments about their political, religious, or social positions made by Masons going about their lives.

Whatever the personal opinion of individual Masons, the fact is that the  younger generation that lodges are trying so hard to court and bring in  are very socially and religiously liberal, and much more likely to be  politically liberal, too, even in Texas.  So I think it will help our ability to bring in new and younger members if individual Masons try to look a little less intimidating to people less conservative than themselves when out in public.

At the end of the day, I think the biggest part of our issue with membership is our public perception as a "good ol' boys" club.  Public service won't change that.  Open houses won't change that.  People will just be more inclined to think well of the good ol' boys or be more informed of what they're doing.  We have to get people to stop saying "You're a Mason?  I think my grandfather was a Mason."  If the average Millennial can't picture someone his age or of his political or other persuasion being a Mason, then we have a serious problem.


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## jack357 (Sep 11, 2010)

_"He said that PHA in Texas has a $5,000 initiation fee and they pay $1,200 a year in dues. He went on to say they were afraid of losing members because of the big difference in dues if full visitation took place. 

Now me personally, I don't know of any PHA Masons to confirm the difference in dues and fees, so I have to take him at his word"_


I am positive that those numbers are incorrect. I don't know of any Brother that has paid that much in initiaion fees or dues.


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## Frater Cliff Porter (Sep 11, 2010)

I picked education, as I believe it solves all of the other problems.

If we are educated Masons and truly practicing Masonry we would:

Guard the West Gate
Promote tolerance
Deplore Racism
Have trouble keeping men out of the Fraternity because it would be living up to its potential

All of the other things are symptoms of a greater problem...Masons not practicing Masonry...because they don't even know what Masonry is beyond the brick building they meet in and the ring they where on their finger.


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## gilv (Sep 22, 2010)

I am new to the fraternity (still an EA),


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## jonesvilletexas (Sep 22, 2010)

_All hinges on our declining membership, the rest will work themselves out._


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## Dave in Waco (Sep 22, 2010)

jonesvilletexas said:


> _All hinges on our declining membership, the rest will work themselves out._



Our declining membership is really a bit misleading.  Yes, we are losing more members then we are bringing in, but we are bringing in more dues paying members then losing dues paying members.  The majority of the members we are losing are either exempt from dues or are endowed.  So by the fiscal numbers we are really gaining despite member numbers losing.


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## MacFie (Sep 22, 2010)

But it's still declining.  Some of the smaller lodges in the area here who split apart originaly because there were too many members, are now having to work together.  Working together is always good of course, but having more brothers out at each lodge would be great imo.


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## Dave in Waco (Sep 22, 2010)

MacFie said:


> But it's still declining. Some of the smaller lodges in the area here who split apart originaly because there were too many members, are now having to work together. Working together is always good of course, but having more brothers out at each lodge would be great imo.



True.  A lot of Lodges are choosing ploy-membership to help out some of these Lodges.  Others are shrinking because they've been in cruise control for so long and haven't tried to gain new members.  But to me, membership is more of an issue on the Lodge level rather then the GL level.


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## MacFie (Sep 22, 2010)

Yeah it'd be hard for me to guess at how the GL could help out in such a situation...would be interesting what ideas other lodges could give each other maybe.


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## Dave in Waco (Sep 22, 2010)

MacFie said:


> Yeah it'd be hard for me to guess at how the GL could help out in such a situation...would be interesting what ideas other lodges could give each other maybe.



I think one of the best ideas is being visible in your community.


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## MacFie (Sep 22, 2010)

Yes most definitely.  My mentor and I have spoken several times about getting more active in our area, even if it's small things.


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## BillyWaltmon (Sep 23, 2010)

It is my opinion that all of these issues would be taken care of with education. Therefore; more or better education on all of these issues and others would be the best issues for the Grand Lodge of Texas to focus on this upcoming year. SMIB


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## rhitland (Sep 23, 2010)

Take a look at the Grand Lodge of California's website and that would be a start for what the Grand West could do to help both membership and education.  One major component to almost everyones life is the virtual community especially the men curious of Masonry so why are we not in the virtual community where all the possible candidates are?  We have 28 lodge in Tarrant County alone and 1 maybe 2 have good websites.  To me, a lodge today without a premium website is the same as a lodge not having a phone in the 1960.


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## AhimanBeard (Oct 8, 2010)

definetly 'Crack down on bigotry and racism'
there were some brethren out on the street in front of the temple using some questionable (derogatory) language that doesn't shine a nice light on masons for anyone who was passing by.

I knew not all of it was serious, perhaps mostly ignorant. But it was frustrating and, though I don't mind if they do that in privacy, but when at a temple dressed up, it's quite inappropriate.


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## DavidM (Oct 11, 2010)

Impotant issues to me? 


I am finding it harderd and harder as days go by to find a fraternity in my area. I thought 2b1ask1?? Ive been asking simple questions that i feel deserve rescpectable answers. So is there anybody that can point me in the right direction as to where or whom i would to talk to someone? Thank you for your time in reading this. Have a good day.


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## rhitland (Oct 11, 2010)

DavidM said:


> Impotant issues to me?
> 
> 
> I am finding it harderd and harder as days go by to find a fraternity in my area. I thought 2b1ask1?? Ive been asking simple questions that i feel deserve rescpectable answers. So is there anybody that can point me in the right direction as to where or whom i would to talk to someone? Thank you for your time in reading this. Have a good day.



I sent you a PM about this check your personal message.


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## cmcminn (Oct 13, 2010)

In the beginning we are taught the ancient signs,symbols and work of Freemasonry. Through the eyes of a child we are brought from the darkness to be taken and shown light upon our paths. However throughout a mans journey within the passages of FM he can be  still lost in the darkness. These men that stand before us are stones not carved but still rough and without foundation. Men who will eventually fall  without the guidance of fellow Bretheren lighting their path . 
As an FM you can learn what all and everything means but learning and knowing are two different things. We as Freemasons should not be caught so much on what we hear but by what we actually learn from the craft. The work is there for us to pass on to the  future as a guide to let masonry give each person what they need from masonry. A wise Master Mason told me at one time 'Masonry gives each one of us a different piece of what we need for ourselves and builds our brotherhood on the lessons each of us has learned".   Have we forgotten that true honor before us? The honor that has tied us together the honor of being   a *BROTHER*
guide the Bretheren and bring them completely out of the dark this is what will bring change and initiate true brotherhood and keep making Good men better.


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## rhitland (Oct 13, 2010)

great post Brother Chad very well put


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