So today I was going through all my mail and suddenly I noticed a letter from the Grand Lodge of Texas. Typically I throw their letters away because 9 out of 10 times it's soliciting money, yet for some odd reason I opened it. Low and behold, please send money. Many of you know my views on the Grand Lodge facility, but for those of you who don't, I suggest we sell it.
Back to the letter, it was a guilt trip letter how honorable Masons built it, the first meeting was in the 1940's and that we need to carry on the burden, I mean tradition, of keeping it up. The funds available for maintenance are currently in the range of $3,000.000.00 but they need $15,000,000.00 to modernize the facility. My jaw dropped. First of all, if we don't have the money to maintain the facility NOW, how are we after blowing $15 mill to modernize it? It would take every member of the GLoTX AF & AM to donate $166.66 to reach that goal, and that's being generous on membership statistics.
In the 1940s, there were twice as many Freemasons as there are now and we've continued to loose thousands per year, mostly due to age. We're not in the golden age of freemasonry anymore where we can afford such a lavish facility. Why not build an administrative building and museum? For $15 million, you could easily do that. Annual Grand Lodge Communications could be held at different facilities each year.
Hey Grand Lodge, want to spend some cash? Spend it on education and lets get back to what made Masonry so successful. Having that money pit in Waco is only going to burden Brethren, at least for the foreseeable future.
/end rant
Back to the letter, it was a guilt trip letter how honorable Masons built it, the first meeting was in the 1940's and that we need to carry on the burden, I mean tradition, of keeping it up. The funds available for maintenance are currently in the range of $3,000.000.00 but they need $15,000,000.00 to modernize the facility. My jaw dropped. First of all, if we don't have the money to maintain the facility NOW, how are we after blowing $15 mill to modernize it? It would take every member of the GLoTX AF & AM to donate $166.66 to reach that goal, and that's being generous on membership statistics.
In the 1940s, there were twice as many Freemasons as there are now and we've continued to loose thousands per year, mostly due to age. We're not in the golden age of freemasonry anymore where we can afford such a lavish facility. Why not build an administrative building and museum? For $15 million, you could easily do that. Annual Grand Lodge Communications could be held at different facilities each year.
Hey Grand Lodge, want to spend some cash? Spend it on education and lets get back to what made Masonry so successful. Having that money pit in Waco is only going to burden Brethren, at least for the foreseeable future.
/end rant
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