From the Worshipful Master

What is a Mason?

Brethren:

We hear men are sometimes referred to as “good Masons.” Sometimes we hear “he’s a Mason, but he doesn’t know it yet.” What? How can that be? How can someone not know they’re a Mason?

What is a Mason? Well, what is the purpose of Masonry? To make good men better. Masonry doesn’t make bad or average men good. It makes good men better. So you have to be a good man to be a Mason.

A Mason is someone who is supportive of his community, someone who values his family, and someone who wants a bigger family.

A Mason doesn’t do things for the credit, a Mason does things because it’s the right thing to do, and he does it even when others aren’t looking.

A Mason is charitable. He goes out of his way to help his Brother when he can, and although they are supposed to go only as far as their cable-tow stretches, my suspicion is that some of us have pretty extended cable-tows.

We join other organizations for fun, but more because we know we are making a difference. We help the youth groups because we know we are making a difference in the young men’s and women’s lives that are in them. We join the other appendant bodies because not only do we enjoy each other’s companies, we help other causes, like the Cryptic Masons Medical Research Foundation (CMMRF) or Knights Templar Eye Foundation in York Rite, or of course Shriners Hospitals at the Shrine.

While most in the community don’t know that we’re out there, we Masons are helping our communities by volunteering at hospitals, by running blood drives, by doing things like CHIP to help protect our community’s children. We do these things mostly behind the scenes. We don’t do it because we get credit for it, we do it because it’s the right thing to do, and we have fun doing the right thing.

Fraternally,
Stephen A. Liguori, PM
Worshipful Master

From the Senior Warden

What Is A Mason?

Brethren:

From the perspective of an outside observer, it can seem to some that a Mason is nothing more than a man who belongs to a social club. We know, however, that being a Mason is much, much more.

To be fair, at base level, the social aspect of Freemasonry should not be overlooked; it’s important to remember we are indeed a fraternity, and one of the core aims of the craft is to bring together men who would not otherwise have met.

But a Mason is not just a member of a social club.

A Mason is a man who has knocked at the door of higher mysteries, who seeks knowledge in the many lessons and rich history that Freemasonry offers.

He does so to improve upon himself, to encourage virtuous habits and thinking, and divest himself of less positive dispositions; learning from past successes and mistakes alike.

He seeks to learn, that he might be a better servant and support to his brothers, family, and society at large.

A Mason is a good man, who seeks to be a better man through the study of wiser paths; encouraging the same of his brothers through careful thought, wise counsel, and calm conversation.

Fraternally,
Cameron Smith
Senior Warden

From the Junior Warden

What Is A Mason?

Brethren:

A fraternity is a group of men (just as a sorority is a group of women) who join together because:

• There are things they want to do in the world.
• There are things they want to do “inside their own minds.”
• They enjoy being together with men they like and respect.

Freemasonry is a fraternity. Its membership is restricted to men, but there is no hazing as is found in some college fraternities.

Masons are a serious group. It exists to take good men and help them to become better men. Thus, it is not a reform society. It does not exist to reform criminals, nor would such persons benefit from its teachings.

Masonry itself is an allegory of the building of Solomon’s Temple. It’s designed to teach a man moral principles. In Masonry, there are three degrees. The degrees are called Entered Apprentice, Fellow craft, and Master Mason. They are very similar to the concepts in a union or trade group of the apprentice, journeyman, and master, because Masonry adopted a lot of its structure from the old stonemason guilds of medieval times.
The degrees each have initiation rites.

Anybody who’s been a member of a college fraternity has gone through this sort of thing. In the initiation ceremony, there’s no violence; there’s no weird stuff. All of the officers who perform the initiation ceremony are doing it from memory. Each degree is designed to give a candidate an impression of what goes on in Freemasonry and a certain amount of moral teaching.

The basic purpose is to make “better men out of good men”. Better fathers, better husbands, better brothers and better sons. We try to place emphasis on the individual man by strengthening his character, improving his moral and spiritual outlook and broadening his mental horizons. We try to build a better world by building better men to work in our communities.

If you’re surrounding yourself with good people who have the greater community in mind, it builds on itself. If you’re surrounded by people who are always talking about how to improve things, it rubs off on you. As a result, everyone improves.

In essence, Freemasonry is an improvement on an already good man. Through his morals, his spirituality with God and involvement with the community, he can better himself and leave this world with a legacy that will always remember him of where he was and what he has become.

Fraternally,
Christopher Britt
Junior Warden