The Shrinking Fraternity: Possible Solutions

							The Shrinking Fraternity:
   Possible Solutions
           A presentation designed by:
       J. Eddy Roberts for presentation to:
        Argenta Lodge #3 F&AM of Utah
   Based on “Laudable Pursuit: A 21st Century
           Response to Dwight Smith.”
                             The Problem…
   Freemasonry is shrinking…
        We will never again see the
         membership numbers of the 1940’s,
         1950s and 1960s. Historically, these
         were an aberration, that we shouldn’t
         expect.
   We’ve lost about two generations.
        The Baby-boomer rejected
         Freemasonry and most other things
         that their fathers felt important.
        We’re at a crossroads and have three
         real options
              Become a service club, like Lions or
               Kiwanis
              Join the “Animal Fraternities” and turn
               our lodges into Bars and Billiard halls
              Return to our roots, and go back to the
               Fraternity that George Washington,
               Benjamin Franklin and Mozart knew.
PGM Dwight Smith’s Questions and
            Pitfalls
   In the 1960s PGM Dwight Smith of Indiana asked 10
    important questions to the Craft about why we are on
    the current path.
   Additionally, he remarked on 10 major problems or
    pitfalls that he saw, that in his opinion hinder our
    progress and undermine our goals.
   These questions are presented in his booklet “Whither
    Are We Traveling” and the pitfalls in “Why This
    Confusion In The Temple?” Both of these works are as
    relevant today as when they were written.
                    Question #1
“Can we expect Freemasonry to retain its past
    glory and prestige unless the level of leadership
    is raised above its present position?”
•   PGM Smith is concerned with the quality of the men
    we are placing in the Master’s Chair. Are these men
    with Vision? Are they devoted to the Craft? Or are
    they just going through the progressive Chairs because
    we need a warm body to fill them?
                   Question #2
“How well are we guarding the west gate?”
•   How well are we investigating candidates? Are we
    getting the best men possible, or have we lowered our
    standards out of concern for falling numbers?
•   How long do men labor with us as Entered
    Apprentices or Fellowcrafts? How well is the man
    known when he is Raised?
                    Question #3
“Has Freemasonry become too easy to obtain?”
•   In 1897, It was estimated that the average lodge
    member spent $50 on Dues and Insurance, and $200
    on Initiation Fees, paraphernalia, banquets, and travel.
    The Income for a factory worker was around $400-500
    per year.
•   In 2002, these numbers adjusted for inflation would be
    $1037 for dues and $4151 for Initiation, etc. on an
    adjusted salary of $8301 per year.
•   Have we made it too cheep to join? Too easy to obtain?
        Question #3 Continued…
•   To fix the “shrinking problem,” we have tried a lot of
    things, one-day classes, reduced proficiency, etc. These
    aren’t helping, much…
•   We have tried to appeal to younger men by changing
    things that don’t matter to them, but we’re neglecting
    the things that they are seeking, the tie to the past – To
    Washington, Franklin, and the other masons of history.
•   Masonry today lacks the “Specialness” that it once had,
    in part, because its too easy and doesn’t require the
    commitment that it once did.
                    Question #4
“Are we worshipping at the altar of bigness?”
•   We have too few lodges, and too many buildings.
    Historically, and currently (outside the United States),
    lodges were no bigger than 50 men, each designed to
    appeal to an interest group, profession, or hobby.
    Many US Lodges are 100-500 men.
•   Many of our buildings sit dark and empty for 25-29
    nights of the month. They look old and abandoned
    because we aren’t using them. More smaller lodges
    would make these buildings look fuller and more used.
                    Question #5
“What can we expect when we have permitted
 Freemasonry to be subdivided into a score of
 organizations?”
•   For far too long, the blue lodges have allowed
    themselves to be the front door for the appendant
    organizations, like the Rites, the Shrine, the Grotto, and
    Order of the Eastern Star. Many lodges have become
    stepping-stones to these organizations, and we have lost
    brothers to them. This needs to stop. Although these
    organizations all have benefits, they should not be a
    substitute to the Blue Lodge.
                     Question #6
“Has the American passion for bigness and
  efficiency dulled the spirit of Masonic Charity?”
•   What are lodges doing for the community? The figure
    tossed around is that Masons give $2 million a day.
    This figure is nearly fifteen years out of date, and relies
    on the Shrine for most of that donation. Lets stop
    promoting ourselves on the coat-tails of the Shrine’s
    philanthropy.
•   What has the lodge done for its community? For its
    widows and orphans? For its older members? Charity
    has been one of our hallmarks, Lets go practice some.
                    Question #7
“Are we paying enough attention to the Festive
  Board?”
•   Far too much time in the fraternity is spent in boring
    business meetings debating on paying the bills and
    reading correspondence from the appendant bodies
    wanting us to come support this or that… Are we
    paying enough attention to Fellowship? Are we having
    fun with our brethern? Lets bring back the festive
    board and make it a fundamental, vital part of our lodge
    activities.
                   Question #8
“What has become of that ‘course of moral
 instruction, veiled in allegory and illustrated by
 symbols,’ that Freemasonry is supposed to be?”
•   We need to work on Masonic education. Quit lowering
    standards of proficiency. We need to be raising our
    standards, not lowering them.
•   Additionally, we need to quit racing men to the
    Master’s seat. In many lodges when a dedicated
    brother is found, he is stuck into a stewards chair and
    rushed on up to master. This needs to stop.
                   Question #9
“Hasn’t the so called ‘Century of the Common-
  Man’ contributed too making our fraternity a
  little too common?”
•   We’ve done ourselves a disservice by expunging the
    word temple from our buildings. They should be
    temples of learning and ideas. We need to return to
    Masonry as a philosophy.
•   Dress codes? Every lodge should have one. How
    serious can we take ourselves when the master shows
    up in shorts and a t-shirt?
                   Question #10
“Are there not too many well-meaning brethern
  who are working overtime to make Freemasonry
  something other than Freemasonry?”
•   We need to try to return to the roots of freemasonry.
    That is what the young men who are looking at the
    fraternity are looking for – the masonry of Washington
    and Franklin, Mozart and Voltaire.
•   Additionally, we need to make ourselves more visible.
    We need to take advantage of the free publicity that
    movies like “National Treasure” give us.
         What are the Pitfalls???
   PGM Smith recognized several trends in the
    fraternity that he saw as pitfalls and wanted
    stopped. Many of them are still happening, lets
    put an end to them once and for all.
                 The Pitfalls 1-4
1.   “Abandon the ‘free will and accord’ rule which has
     placed our Craft far above the mine run of societies
     and permit outright solicitation.”
2.   “Ape the service clubs. Get busy on ‘projects’ galore
     in the best Babbitt fashion”
3.   “Go into the organized do-good business in a big
     way. Find an area of the human body that has not
     been exploited. Exploit it. Set a quota, have a kick off
     dinner, ring the doorbells.”
4.   “Subsidize other organizations right and left, and in
     the doing, ignore, neglect and starve the parent
     body.”
                The Pitfalls 5-7
5.   “Feminize the Fraternity. Carry “togetherness” to
     even more ridiculous extremes than we have already.”
6.   “Hire press agents to tell the world, like Little Jack
     Horner, what great boys we are. (‘Masonry is not
     getting its proper share of publicity’ complains one
     Grand Master.) Never mind actions, concentrate on
     words.
7.   “Imitate Hollywood. Stage an extravaganza. Bring in
     all the groups that ever fancied themselves remotely
     related to Freemasonry. Form the parade, blow the
     bugle, beat the drums, and cheapen the Fraternity.”
                 The Pitfalls 8-10
8.    “Let Freemasonry ‘take a position’ on the public
      issues of the day. Stand up and be counted
      (assuming, of course, that the position our craft takes
      is in like with our own pet prejudices.)”
9.    “Go all out for materialism. Raise money; spend it.
      Build temples, institutions. Subsidize; endow.
      Whatever can be had by writing a check, get it.”
10.   “Centralize, centralize, centralize. Pattern
      freemasonry after Washington bureaucracy. Let
      nothing be done modestly by an individual or a
      Lodge; do everything on state or national level the
      super-duper way. Make a great to-do about local self
      government, but accept no local self-responsibility.”
                  Sources
“Laudable Pursuit: A 21st Century response to
  Dwight Smith” by Nights of the North, 2005.
  Internet Produced.
Grand Lodge of Utah Website