Last month we finished the segment with a brief discussion of: “Is Masonry a Secret Organization?”

No, it is not, but like all fraternities and sororities, there are meetings and discussions that are for members only such as signs, grips and ceremonies which are not openly shared.

As Brother Benjamin Franklin reportedly said, “The greatest secret of Freemasons is that they have no secrets at all.”

Each member finds that there are several rewards in being a Mason. Most members say that the following are the most benefit to them:

• Personal growth
• Friendships & Brotherly Love
• Community Service
• Philanthropic Programs
• Belong to a Group making a difference

One of the major traditions of Masonry is that we do not openly solicit members. Men must ask for an application on their own initiative.

Membership is open to men age 18 or older who believe in a Supreme Being. We welcome men of all ethnic and religious backgrounds who meet the qualifications and standards.

Here is how the process is designed to work.

First a member of a Lodge is asked for an application. Today there are many men who contact Masonry via our Grand Lodge and local Lodges websites and Facebook pages.

This typically followed by a visit to the Lodge to meet the members and they meet the potential candidate.

After these preliminary steps and application is filled out and submitted to the Lodge for consideration.

The application must have two Masons who recommend the potential new candidate.

The completed application is then submitted with the Fee (which is set by the Lodge). It is read in the Stated Lodge meeting and the brothers consider the application for degrees to be conferred.

If accepted then an investigation committee is appointed by the Master of the Lodge. The committee then will schedule a visit with the potential candidate at their home to discuss the application and to answer any questions.

Then passed upon the committee’s report to the Master the application will be read again and voted on at the next Lodge meeting and then result of the vote are recorded in the Lodge minutes. The candidate is immediately notified of acceptance. The process typically takes six to eight weeks.

This ends “On the Level”.

Last month we wrote that there are three degrees and they are the Entered Apprentice, Fellow craft and Master Mason.

In the early days of the guilds, an Apprentice learned the tools and skills of the trade. As a “Fellow of the craft” he showed his abilities to work hard and well and when he gained exceptional skills he became a “Master of the craft”. When a Mason receives the third degree he becomes a Master Mason and full member of the fraternity.

A man first becomes a Mason at his local Lodge. After he has advanced through the degrees, he may join any of the other Masonic organizations, each of which focuses on different aspects of Freemasonry.

The best known in the United States are the Scottish Rite, York Rite and Shrine.

A Mason may choose to obtain additional degrees through either Scottish Rite or York Rite.

In addition, California has four Research Lodges dedicated to promoting scholarly Masonic study and discussion.

There are Masonic organizations that admit both men and women, which offers couples the opportunity to share in the Masonic experience. The best known, Eastern Star, is the largest coed fraternal society in the world.

Our three youth groups share a common goal of character building and community service. Established nearly a century ago, the groups are DeMolay International for young men, and Rainbow for Girls and Job’s Daughters for young women.

There are many questions asked about Masonry. Here we will address some of the more common questions.

Is Masonry a secret organization?

It isn’t really, although at times it has had that reputation. Masons don’t make a secret of the fact they are members of the fraternity. We hold community events, Masonic buildings are clearly marked and are usually listed in the phone book and on Google. Lodge activities are not secret. Our events are often listed in the newspapers especially in small towns.

As with any fraternity or sorority, there are secrets and private meetings. First are the ways in which a can identify himself as a Mason, which are grips and passwords. This is the same for any fraternity or sorority. Second are Masonic ceremonies, which are private and for members only, but not secret.

On the Level

In 1717 the freemasons formally organized as a fraternal group in London and established the first governing body, called a Grand Lodge.  Within the next 20 years, Freemasonry spread throughout Europe and made its way to the American Colonies.

In 1733 the first American Grand Lodge was established in Boston. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, and many other founding fathers were among the first masons in America.

During the Gold Rush of 1849, Masons who came to California in search of fortune brought our rich traditions with them.  They soon founded some of California’s first Masonic lodges in the mining towns of the Gold Country.

In 1850, the same year that California became a state, Grand Lodge of California was established in Sacramento.  Now headquartered in San Francisco, with authority over 70,000 members and 350 Lodges, it is one of the largest Grand Lodges in the world.

A lodge is a unit of Masons as well as the building or room in which Masons meet.

A Grand Lodge serves as the governing  body for a specific geographic area. It sets policies and procedures, ensures that rules and regulations are followed, charters new lodges, provides information and assistance to its constituent lodges, and serves many other purposes, somewhat like a headquarters.  In the United States, there is a Grand Lodge for each state and the District of Columbia.

Every Lodge has two kinds of formal meetings.  The first is a monthly lodge meeting devoted to the Regular business of operating an organization. The second kind of meeting is ceremonial, used for admitting new Masons and advancing them through the degrees.  These two are just the basic meetings.  There are other activities and programs, many of which include our families.
A degree is a stage, or level, of membership.  The degrees explain Masonry and teach the fraternity’s core values.  As a man attains each level of membership, the lodge holds a ceremony to confer the degree.

The three degrees are Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason, names which are taken from the craft guilds.  In the middle ages, when a person wanted to join a craft such as carpentry or stonemasonry, he was first apprenticed.  As an apprentice, he learned the tools and skills of the trade.

On The Level

The Masons of California also operate two Shrine Hospitals. The Hospitals provide free specialized medical and rehabilitation services to children with problems of the spinal cord, bones, joints, and muscles. They also treat children with serve burns and have pioneered many burn treatments now in use worldwide.

Our Scottish Rite operates Language Disorder Centers located throughout California . They provide free services for children who suffer from aphasia, dyslexia, stuttering, and related learning or speech disorders.
The Masonic homes of California was founded over 100 years ago to provide fraternal relief to those in need. The two campuses, one in Union City and the other in Covina, provide independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing care for Masons and their wives and widows. The Union City campus also offers care for those with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

In addition, the Masonic Homes provides free assistance to those who wish to remain in their own home or in another care facility as they cope with the challenges of aging.
At the local level our lodge has several programs that benefit our local community.

We have a Public Schools program where we provide a local public school a donation each year to allow the receiving schools to use these funds to provide services and learning opportunities that they see fit to fund with these monies.

That’s who we are and a little about what we do as Mason’s. Now lets talk about our very beginning and touch on a few high points of our rich history.

In the Middle Ages, the term “freemason” referred to highly skilled stonemasons who were hired as free agents to build castles and cathedrals in England and Scotland. Because of the inherent danger of their work, many stonemasons formed local organizations, called guilds or lodges, to take care of sick and injured members as well as the widows and orphans of those who were killed on the job. They also
used lodges as places to meet, receive their pay, plan their work, train new apprentices and socialize.

Since there were no ID cards at the time, secret passwords and handshakes were originally used to prove a man was a member of the lodge and to help protect the trade secrets of the stonemason’s craft.

Gradually the stonemasons accepted other selected gentlemen to the brotherhood and it evolve into a fraternity.

(Continued next month: October)