# Urgent Matter In Petition



## Lauren Kandyss Coy (Jul 10, 2012)

I got the 3 signatures I needed all from the lodge I am petitioning but 
I now need two more names without signatures. 

I am not sure if anyone here can help or not if so pm me your contact info 
or something. 

If there are any masons in arlington,tx that would be great as well.


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## Eric Edwards (Jul 10, 2012)

oops I accidentally signed it with my girlfriends facebook lol

So...

its me who asked not Lauren lol


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## Blake Bowden (Jul 11, 2012)

My advice, show up for dinner before your petition is turned in, tell the Brethren of that Lodge about your situation and you'll get your sigs. You may have to be Mr. Sociable, but you'll get them.


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## Eric Edwards (Jul 11, 2012)

Blake Bowden said:


> My advice, show up for dinner before your petition is turned in, tell the Brethren of that Lodge about your situation and you'll get your sigs. You may have to be Mr. Sociable, but you'll get them.


 
That's how I got two of the three so far...dinner was yesterday. Thanks for the reply. The ones I have left can be from anywhere.


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## Pscyclepath (Jul 11, 2012)

I'm not sure how the Texas petitions work, but in AR,  the two "top-line signers" are members of the lodge you are petitioning.   Then there's a place for five other references, who are supposed to be people who know you well.  They don't have to be Masons.  The investigating committee, once appointed, will get in touch with these folks during your background check to see what kind of a person you are and your potential for being a good Freemason, and report back to the lodge when your petition comes up for balloting.

If the TX form does require all the signers to be Masons, then Brother Blake's suggestion of working the crowd at the next meeting or family night is sage advice.


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## Eric Edwards (Jul 11, 2012)

they ALL have to be brethren...


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## PSG (Jul 13, 2012)

One of my friends had a similar issue, in that he was petitioning a lodge at which he didn't know many people, and it's the only one that he could attend due to his work schedule. He wound up with four signatures, and got the fifth after showing up and getting to know some of the men there. Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing at all for some of the lodge members to get to know a prospective candidate before staking their name to them in any form.


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## Pscyclepath (Jul 13, 2012)

Eric Edwards said:


> they ALL have to be brethren...



Yep...  Looking through the Texas GL digest last night, I saw that the Texas petition is completely different from the 1-page form we use here.  My apologies!

Tom


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## chrmc (Jul 13, 2012)

PSG said:


> Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing at all for some of the lodge members to get to know a prospective candidate before staking their name to them in any form.


 
I would go as far as saying that it is essential that you know someone before you recommend them. Personally I refuse to sign a petition from a brother that I've just met for 10 minutes. What grounds do I have to know if he is a good man? I think having candidates come buy for a couple of months to they can get a feel for the lodge and us a feel for them is only a smart idea. What is the rush?

Having said that though I also think lodges need to be better at telling this to candidates. Far to often we hand a guy a petition and tell him to get five signatures, rather than sitting him down and talking to him about why he wants to join Masonry.


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 13, 2012)

Pscyclepath said:


> I'm not sure how the Texas petitions work, but in AR,  the two "top-line signers" are members of the lodge you are petitioning.   Then there's a place for five other references, who are supposed to be people who know you well.  They don't have to be Masons.  The investigating committee, once appointed, will get in touch with these folks during your background check to see what kind of a person you are and your potential for being a good Freemason, and report back to the lodge when your petition comes up for balloting.
> 
> If the TX form does require all the signers to be Masons, then Brother Blake's suggestion of working the crowd at the next meeting or family night is sage advice.


 
That's how Oklahoma's is. The two have to be Brothers from the petitioned Lodge and the others it doesn't matter. We would prefer them all to be Mason's but they don't have to be.


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## relapse98 (Jul 13, 2012)

PSG said:


> Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing at all for some of the lodge members to get to know a prospective candidate before staking their name to them in any form.


 
Heh, yeah. You won't get my autograph unless I've seen you a few times and talked to you for a bit.


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## relapse98 (Jul 13, 2012)

chrmc said:


> I think having candidates come buy for a couple of months to they can get a feel for the lodge and us a feel for them is only a smart idea. What is the rush?



We're here every Tuesday, come sit, drink some coffee and tell us about you.



> Having said that though I also think lodges need to be better at telling this to candidates. Far to often we hand a guy a petition and tell him to get five signatures, rather than sitting him down and talking to him about why he wants to join Masonry.


 
We've gotten much better in our lodge about that. We'll readily hand out a petition, but we want to know about you, why you're there and make sure you're going to make some effort to come visit before we sign.

We also need to make a better effort at telling prospective brothers that there is some work involved in learning the memory work, especially in Texas. Its not a 1 night deal, you're going to invest 80+ hours to learn the work.


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## Michael Hatley (Jul 13, 2012)

Any man who I actually want to make it through I advise to get to know every man in the room. Personally.  I find myself less inclined to expound upon why a little less, because I reckon a man has to bring a little snap of his own to the table.


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## rmcgehee (Aug 19, 2012)

This Brother from California sure likes how you Brothers in Texas think.
It has been one of my "issues" for a long time about just signing a petition and thinking the committee  will fix it.
that is not how it was set up to be.
We all have to do our job the right way to get the job done right.Easy does it does not cut it.


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