The State of the Craft

Merry Christmas to all. The current weather situation I like to call "installation weather", yes it's that time of the year again. The occurrence of the annual auspicious solemnity......the Masonic lodge installation of officers.

One can not attend an installation and not reflect on days gone by. My...my....I'm officially old with that line.

While attending a few installations thus far, I've been pleasantly surprised by the number of attendees. This is certainly refreshing. I do recall in very recent memory that there were very small numbers of attendees, it seems that this year is better.

Open installations seem to be making a comeback. Four of the five lodges in my district have had or are having open installations. Recent memory also is full of closed installations and this is a nice departure from recent trends.

As I mentioned early on it's hard not to reflect on days gone by. There is one disturbingly notable difference in the installations of today versus those of yesteryear.....the absence of family and friends.

It makes one wonder if the absence of family at these notable events is reflective of the current state of the craft.

Going back to my DeMolay days and my early days in lodge......the annual installation was a really big deal. It seems that the majority of the officers had their wife or significant other in attendance along with other family members, children, siblings, and friends from work or neighbors.

Admitting that this is in fact a current situation; what is the cause....how do we get to the root of the problem?

The absence of family in our fraternity is a challenge and one that our new brothers are craving; they want activities that involve the family. Another determining factor is that our brothers are not excited about things and this affects their family wanting to witness or be a part of certain activities.

Again, back in the day....the officers were proud to be installed and wanted their family and friends there. My mother lodge had a "family" night once a quarter. The lodge provided the meat, potatoes, and sides. The members depending on the first letter of their last name brought either a salad or a desert. This was a great avenue that allowed the brothers and their family and or friends to get together at least every 3 months, and it was always well attended. Today, I'm not sure if they still practice this tradition.

In DeMolay and when I first became an officer of the lodge in 1984, being installed as an officer was a big deal. It was a festive event. Family and friends in attendance. Boutonnieres for the officers, corsages for the wives of the officers. The majority of the officers being installed were accompanied by their wives, and children, from small kids to adult children. Also, often times they had friends, neighbors, and co-workers and such.

This year I've actually heard some officers offer up explanation of why their wife and kids aren't in attendance. Such as my daughter had dance and my wife took her to the dance lesson. This is an illustration of another challenge facing the lodge, and that is kids are crazy busy in this day and age. The number of extracurricular activities are astounding. Again, the installation is planned weeks and usually months in advance....is missing one night's activity that much of a tragedy to support dear old dad?

I suppose why support dear old dad....when the lodge does nothing to support dad's family and giving them some nice experiences throughout the year. Some lodges are always doing things for the families of the brothers but also doing good in the community. Recently I've heard many fine ideas....for example Easter Breakfast with the Easter Bunny, Breakfast with Santa, donating to a local charity that provides Christmas presents for the disadvantaged, donating food to a local pantry, presenting poinsettias to the widows of the lodge or fruit baskets to the widows, of course many lodges participate in books-for-bikes....the list can be endless with very little creativity.

Last night I attended an installation that was very reminiscent of days of yesteryear. There were many in attendance with wives, kids, siblings, etc. The Jobs were there, the DeMolay pulled chairs and this lodge is extremely active in the community. After the installation, desert and coffee was served. While many were enjoying the refreshments, there were a few brothers along with their wives working on the next project, because today is breakfast with Santa.

It was very refreshing that this lodge supports the family, the youth, the community and each other. In addition to keeping our members engaged, we need to engage with the community....the old adage of do unto others as you would wish that they would do unto you. Several lessons can be drawn from this event and many lodges could profit from modeling this lodge with their own flair. This annual event of this lodge is truly an auspicious solemnity to be enjoyed for generations to come.