Report
on the 2001
"Rocky Mountain Masonic Conference"
Brethren, Grand Master Wessell asked me to make a report to you on the happenings at the Rocky Mountain Masonic Conference held in Minden, Nevada, as I did for Grand Master Williams last year.
The Conference was held in the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, Nevada on July 19/20/21, 2001. All member grand jurisdictions were well represented; Nevada had 52 brothers present along with their ladies, Colorado had 26, Idaho 12, Montana 7, Wyoming 10, and Utah 7. There were also two special guests present with their ladies; MW Charles Searcy, Grand Master of Prince Hall Masons in Nevada and his lady Olamae, and MW Warren "Duke" Lichty, PGM of Nebraska and 1st Vice President of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association, and his lady Margaret.
After a social hour Thursday evening in the hotel, 35 members of the Nevada delegation traveled to the Country Club in Gardnerville for an excellent Basque-style dinner, while other jurisdictions gathered at various other places for their evening meal.
Most Worshipful Gordon F. Wessell, Grand Master of Masons in Nevada and Conference President, opened the session on Friday morning with our Grand Secretary Art Cronin, PGM as the elected conference Secretary and VR Dalton LaRue as Chaplain and RW "Kit" Carson, DGM of Wyoming as Vice President. W Stanley Williams, Grand Marshal gave a great tribute to the American Flag.
Nevada was very well represented with Grand Lodge Officers and Master Masons. A reminder - all Master Masons are always welcome at the Rocky Mountain Conference, and your attendance is encouraged. As always, the conference is casual at all times and very informal.
The first paper was presented by Montana and entitled, "Public Perception of Masonic Terminology" (for example, "Temple", "blood oaths", "GAOTU" - should we use a less offensive terminology?). It was well written and delivered, and the overwhelming attitude of the conference attendees was "who are we offending and why do we care if they are offended by something they know nothing about?" A good explanation of the terms used and why we use them was given and even this hard head had to change his mind on some of his views. The consensus was that the overwhelming opinion of the conference that our terminology is "ours" and should not be changed.
Brothers, that's what this conference is all about - meeting your counterparts, meeting new friends and seeing the old ones, and to learn. When six jurisdictions can come together and pass on information, tell which programs or projects have worked and which have failed, you cannot help but learn.
The second paper was given by Colorado on the topic "Should Freemasons have a common charity - one endorsed by all Grand Lodges? - Thereby gaining national recognition such as the Shrine Children's Hospital or the Scottish Rite Childhood Language Clinics?" Once again the paper was very well prepared and presented. And once again the feeling of the conference was that "local charities" and local projects are best for Freemasonry. The local Lodges would loose out if they had to support a national charity as well as their own local charities, and be spread too thin - the conference was not in favor of a National Charity. MW Lichty, representing the George Washington Memorial, stated we already had a national charity and that is the Memorial. Almost all Grand Lodges support the memorial with a portion of the fees for the degrees or with per-capita fees. At the present, Nevada gives $5.00 per Master Mason raised. (Last year the amount was $940.00.) The proposal floated by MW Brother Duke was for $.50 per-capita. (There were 5381 members on the Nevada rolls last year, and our fees under that proposal would have been $2,695.)
Utah gave the last paper of the morning, " Should the Rocky Mountain Masonic Conference collectively stand against Imperial Shrine's law of allowing a non-Mason to become a Shriner? Should we send a message?" This topic was also well presented and stirred a lot of feelings, both positive and negative, toward the Shrine. The feeling I brought home was that no line should be drawn in the sand, no stand taken at this time, but I also got the distinct impression that the members of the conference believe that the Shrine could do more to support Masonry instead of expecting the Blue Lodges to make Masons to support them. One brother made the statement that if Shrine (and other bodies, i.e. Scottish Rite and York Rite) would display the Square and Compasses with their logo and show their connection with Freemasonry it would help with public awareness of our fraternity. I have felt that way for years and have been pretty vocal about it. Another brother pointed out that the Square and Compasses or the word Freemason is almost never used in Shrine publications. He is correct! The feeling that we came away with after this paper is that we are all Masons and should remain united. We need to close ranks and work together. It was my opinion the conference believes that only Masons should be made or allowed to remain Shriners.
The conference went on break for the afternoon and we all got a little rest in preparation for the evening festivities. We were transported to Lake Tahoe on two very nice busses for our trip on the "MS Dixie" sternwheeler. We left the pier about 7:30 PM and headed across the lake, and were treated to a smooth ride and beautiful scenery along the shoreline of Tahoe. We enjoyed friendly conversation and refreshments on the way out and came back while enjoying a great dinner on the lower deck. We returned to the hotel just at midnight. All on the trip had a great time, an excellent dinner, and many of us danced to the music of a very nice band.
Saturday morning, the conference was kicked off by Idaho's paper entitled "Is allowing 18-year-old men to become Master Masons an asset to the Lodge, or does it create problems that are difficult to handle?" Keep in mind Idaho, Colorado, Utah allow 18 year olds to join, and Montana allows 19 year old men to join. Wyoming did not respond for the List of Lodges for 2000, but Paul Bessels' web site (www.bessel.org/age.htm ) shows that Wyoming allows 18-year-olds also. Nevada is the only member of the conference requiring that a candidate be 21 years old to petition. Idaho had a good paper prepared and the discussion was lively. Only one Brother spoke against 18-year-olds joining the lodges. The main point was that 18-year-olds are in their learning years and that is the time to bring them into Masonry, if they are interested enough to come to the Lodge and seek admission. If they do drift off and go on to raise a family and earn a living, many will come back at a later time. Many points were presented as good reason to let them join and very few negative points were raised.
The fifth paper, given by Wyoming, addressed the topic "Should constituent lodges be forced to consolidate or turn in their charter when membership falls below a set number of members?" Again a very good paper and discussion was given. The discussion leader asked for responses by name, with several called from each jurisdiction. The general feeling is that no one would pull a charter of a small lodge if there were any chance it could survive. It was stated by several that once a lodge is consolidated with another lodge, the membership of the lodge that is lost never mixes in with the new lodge, their identity is gone, their home or mother lodge is no more, and they loose interest in Masonry. A point was made that a lodge that never meets, never removes the weeds around a building that is in bad need of repair and that never files reports should be closed, not consolidated. Most all said try to help them out, don't close them.
MW Charles W. Searcy, Grand Master of Prince Hall Masons in Nevada, gave us a very informative talk and responded to the topics. He expressed his gratitude for being asked to attend and to respond, as well as for the fellowship he and his wife Olamae enjoyed during the weekend.
The last paper of the conference was given by Nevada on the topic "Dual or plural membership in your jurisdiction? Should your jurisdiction allow members to belong to more than one Lodge within the state and/or allow membership in Lodges in other jurisdictions in addition to memberships in your jurisdiction?" This paper pointed out the differences in the requirements between the conference's Grand Lodges. None are the same. Most allow dual or plural membership with some restrictions. The topic was directed along the lines of what does it hurt for a brother to belong to several lodges instead of the two allowed by many Grand Lodges. Who knows better how much time and money a man can afford, his Grand Lodge or he himself? There are several lodges in Nevada that could be helped by a brother being able to keep membership his mother lodge and belong to more than one more lodge. On the other side of the coin, spreading your self too thin could hurt all the lodges involved if a man can't handle it. Several of the conference members have the same problem we have, with small lodges, small towns and not enough members to keep the lodges going without outside help.
The election of officers was held after GM Wessell gave his departing remarks and "Kit" Carson of Wyoming was elected Conference President, Joe Alexander of Idaho was elected as the new Vice-President and the Grand Secretary of Wyoming is the new Conference Secretary. The installation took only seconds and the new President stated his plans to hold the conference in Casper, Wyoming on July 19th and 20th, 2002.
Again, this conference is open to all Master Masons and you are encouraged to attend and learn a little and have a lot of good companionship and fun.
Fraternally,
W. Wayne Perkins, DGM