# How does the double affiliation work?



## Silvio3Magno (Dec 26, 2018)

Can an Italian petitioner be initiated in Italy but on behalf of a foreign Grand Lodge?


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## Winter (Dec 26, 2018)

What you are asking for is called Courtesy Degrees, where a Mason receives one or more degrees from a different jurisdiction than they reside in.  These are done for many different reasons, most often because a person was transferred for employment but they want to remain a member where they began their Masonic journey.  Different jurisdictions allow different degrees to be conferred, i.e. some you must have received at least the EA degree in your home jurisdiction.  But there are no universal rules.  The only solid information you will get will be to contact both the Grand Secretary from your home jurisdiction and the Grand Secretary from the jurisdiction you want to confer the degrees.  They will be the ones to have the info you need.  Here in the United States Courtesy Degrees, while not common, are not unheard of on occasion.


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## Silvio3Magno (Dec 27, 2018)

Got it! That is very kind of you my brother! 


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## Bloke (Dec 29, 2018)

Winter said:


> What you are asking for is called Courtesy Degrees, where a Mason receives one or more degrees from a different jurisdiction than they reside in.  These are done for many different reasons, most often because a person was transferred for employment but they want to remain a member where they began their Masonic journey.  Different jurisdictions allow different degrees to be conferred, i.e. some you must have received at least the EA degree in your home jurisdiction.  But there are no universal rules.  The only solid information you will get will be to contact both the Grand Secretary from your home jurisdiction and the Grand Secretary from the jurisdiction you want to confer the degrees.  They will be the ones to have the info you need.  Here in the United States Courtesy Degrees, while not common, are not unheard of on occasion.


This is  good advice, but I think it would be unusual to be able to be "Initiated" via a "Courtesy Degree", these normally being for the Second and Third Degrees, not the First. We certainly could not initiated you on behalf of another Grand Lodge, indeed Grand Lodges generally don't initiate men, Lodges working under a Grand Lodge do... 


Silvio3Magno said:


> Can an Italian petitioner be initiated in Italy but on behalf of a foreign Grand Lodge?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using My Freemasonry mobile app



I would say it is highly unlikely in the Regular Masonic World...


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## dfreybur (Dec 31, 2018)

Bloke said:


> This is  good advice, but I think it would be unusual to be able to be "Initiated" via a "Courtesy Degree", these normally being for the Second and Third Degrees, not the First.



It does happen. This year a man moved to our area and presented paperwork that he had been elected in Oklahoma to receive the degrees of Masonry but that his work took him here to Austin Texas for an extended period of time. With the usual checking back and forth between two jurisdictions we performed his first degree by courtesy. Around the time he was ready to present his proficiency his job ended and he moved back to Oklahoma.

It was the first time I'd ever heard of a first degree happening by courtesy and I walked him into the lodge to hand him to the Senior Deacon in his degree.  Before that I'd known in theory that it could happen but figured it never did actually happen.


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## Bloke (Dec 31, 2018)

dfreybur said:


> It does happen. This year a man moved to our area and presented paperwork that he had been elected in Oklahoma to receive the degrees of Masonry but that his work took him here to Austin Texas for an extended period of time. With the usual checking back and forth between two jurisdictions we performed his first degree by courtesy. Around the time he was ready to present his proficiency his job ended and he moved back to Oklahoma.
> 
> It was the first time I'd ever heard of a first degree happening by courtesy and I walked him into the lodge to hand him to the Senior Deacon in his degree.  Before that I'd known in theory that it could happen but figured it never did actually happen.


Thanks Doug !


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## Mike Martin (Jan 3, 2019)

I would suggest that this could happen between differing States within the same Country but not so likely between different countries in Europe.


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