Photos from the 2018 Grand Lodge Annual Communication Grand Lodge EMail Web NM Freemason EMail [email protected] http://www.nmmasons.org [email protected] The New Mexico Freemason Grand Master’s Message Behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity! Welcome to Team 2018! Serving as Grand Master of Masons in New Mexico is an indescribable honor, and I thank you all for the opportunity to work together and make New Mexico Masonry the best it can be. I am pleased to report that Team 2018 hit the ground running (and I am doing my best to keep up). At the Annual Communication, the Grand Lodge of New Mexico Wikipedia page was unveiled. Grand Historian WB Tyler Anderson and Education Committee Chair WB Jay Williams worked tirelessly on this project, and it shows. Over the years the Brethren have indicated that they would like greater presence in the world of social media and this project was the first step in Adam Hathaway advancing that goal for this year. Please check it out. Grand Master of Masons Ten days after the Annual Communication, Public Relations Chair and Webmaster WB in New Mexico 2018-19 K.T. Manis debuted the new Grand Lodge Web page. It has increased functionality and will continue to roll out more features over time. Please check out nmmasons.org. A note of thanks to all those who worked over the last few years to make progressive improvements to the web page and general technology, RWB Gary Baker, RWB David Cordova, RWB Stephen Balke and WB Tom Goodgame, to name a few. For the current year, Technology Committee Chair Alex Cosby and his team worked many behind the scenes hours to improve our technological infrastructure in order to allow the other advancement to be made. Also note that last year, RWB Steve Almager and WB K.T. Manis created a New Mexico Freemasons Facebook page, which provides a forum for all New Mexico Masons to share information and philosophy. This is in addition to the traditional Grand Lodge of New Mexico AF&AM page, which is one way for the Grand Lodge administration to send out updates on activities and initiatives. The Public Relations Committee has also created an Instagram account, in response to requests for additional social media platforms. MASONICon, the Masonic leadership and education convention, was held on June 8 and 9 at the Ballut Abyad Shrine in Albuquerque. RWB Steve Alamager, Chair, and WB K.T. Manis, Vice Chair, scheduled more than 50 sessions presented by talented and enlightened Brothers from all across New Mexico. It is not a coincidence that the Public Relations leadership team is also the MASONICon leadership team. This year’s MASONICon was one of the biggest and best to date. On April 7, the Lodge of Research of New Mexico and Chapman Lodge No. 2 hosted a memorial dedication for RWB Joab Houghton, Mason, and First Territorial Supreme Court Justice of New Mexico. We were joined by RWB Joab’s descendent and the State of New Mexico Historian. Grand Historian Emeritus David Milles was the creator, developer, and driving force for this event. Not only did the fraternity honor a distinguished Brother with a tombstone dedication ceremony, but we were also joined by members of the community in addition to Brothers who travelled hours to attend. This event was an amazing success because of all who collaborated to make it so. If anyone knows of other opportunities to do the same, please let us know. Thanks also go to WB Noah Shapiro, Publications Chair, and RWB Bob Sherman for their work in bringing back the New Mexico Freemason. It was discontinued last year because the Grand Lodge did not have the infrastruc- ture to distribute this great work to enough members of the Craft to justify all of the work put into it. The Great Database Project, mentioned later in the article will address this issue. With this very busy first quarter almost behind us, I would like to remind the Brethren to always keep in mind the most important aspect of Freemasonry: Our Ritual. It teaches us how to treat other and every person in the world. It is a constant reminder of the Great Architect of the Universe and our work in His grand design. Our Ritual and subsequent Obligations make us unique, both as individuals and as a Brotherhood. To this end, two programs are revitalized. The first initiative is the MWB Ronald A. Brinkman Lodge Ritual Award, created by MWB Bobby Arther, during his year as Grand Master, to recognize lodges for excellence in performing sections. Each lodge Grand Master - Continued on Page 4 - 2 - The New Mexico Freemason The New Mexico Freemason is published quarterly by the Masonic Publications Committee under the In This Issue Grand Master’s Message .....................2 authority of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and From the Editor .................................3 Accepted Masons of New Mexico, 1638 University Deputy Grand Master .........................5 Blvd NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102-1711. Senior Grand Warden .........................5 Masonic Publications Committee 2018-2019 Senior Grand Deacon .........................6 Editor: Noah Shapiro Junior Grand Deacon ..........................7 Layout/Production: Robert Sherman Chaplain’s Corner ..............................7 The New Mexico Freemason is an official publication Grand Lecturer ..................................9 of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Sction Requirements ........................10 Masons of New Mexico. The views expressed in The Grand Secretary ..............................11 New Mexico Freemason do not necessarily reflect those Broken Column - 2015-2018 ............. 11 of the Grand Lodge or its officers. The Northeast Corner - 2018............. 12 Articles in regard to Masonic, patriotic, and constitutional Fellowcraft - 2018............................12 principles, freedom, education, and general interest are Master Mason - 2018 .......................12 Publication Guidelines ......................12 invited. Whenever possible, photographs or digital 25-Year Service Awards ....................13 pictures (identifying subjects) should accompany 50-Year Service Awards ....................13 each article. Items from your local newspaper must be Grand Historian ...............................14 accompanied by written permission of that newspaper At the Houghton Memorial Site .......... 15 for reprinting and, for best results, submit original photo Youth Committee .............................16 images. Public Relations Committee ...............19 All original articles are subject to editing and, when Montezuma Lodge No. 1 Cleanup published, become the property of the Grand Lodge. No Party at Fairview Cemetery .......... 21 compensation or expenses are allowed for any articles, Pajarito Lodge No. 66 hosts Chess photographs, or other materials submitted or published. Tournament ...............................22 Permission of the subjects in a photograph is implied by York Rite Festival .............................23 its submission. Submission of articles or photographs does not guarantee publication, which is based on From the Editor subject, appropriateness, space and other considerations. Send submissions to: Editor This is the first of four planned The New Mexico Freemason issues of The New Mexico Grand Lodge of New Mexico AF&AM Freemason for 2018-2019. We PO Box 25004 hope that you enjoy reading our Albuquerque, NM 87125-0004 publication and that you will find [email protected] the articles to be informative and Send address corrections to: interesting. Dan Sutcliffe, Grand Secretary If your lodge hosts a special event, send us an article. Grand Lodge of New Mexico AF&AM If you would like to let everyone know the history of PO Box 25004 your lodge, send it to us. If you want to write about a Albuquerque, NM 87125-0004 particular Brother or about our Fraternity in general, [email protected] send us an article. If you have photographs to go with Office: (505) 243-4931 your article, send them also but, please, make sure you Fax: (505) 242-8723 let us know who and what we are seeing. Grand Lodge Directory 2018-2019 Articles from our appendant bodies are also very Log in and download at welcome. www.nmmasons.org Editor - Continued on Page 8 - 3 - The New Mexico Freemason Grand Master - Continued from Page 2 has the opportunity to earn different levels for which they will be awarded a ribbon at the next Annual Communi- cation, to be displayed on their banner. Each section is to be demonstrated to a Grand Lodge Officer, DDGM, or DDGL. The second initiative is the Individual Ritual Achievement Pin to recognize Brothers who put sections on the book. I am asking that every Brother who is able to put sections on the book to do so. Sections can be taken by the Grand Lecturer, Worshipful Masters, Lodge Ritual Officers and DDGLs. Detailed information is provided by MWB Jeff Johnson, Grand Lecturer, and the DDGLs. I traditionally put 8 sections on the book each year and this year, I promise to do more. Please join me in strengthening ritual proficiency in our grand jurisdiction. Another vital issue is communication from the Grand Lodge Administration to the Lodges and to the Brethren. I have been told very strongly during my visitations that this must be improved. The good news is that the new MOR database has excellent functionality and will serve us well in many capacities. The bad news is over the years, previous databases were not well populated and the Grand Lodge Administration has incomplete records, lacking in different cases functional mailing addresses, email addresses and phone numbers, at the very least. The Mem- bership Committee is created for two purposes. Its primary purpose, the Great Database Project, is to see that all of the records become complete and afterwards maintained. I am instructing the Worshipful Masters, Secretaries, DDGMs and DDGLs to work together to ensure that all records of all lodges are populated in the MORI database. There are sessions at MASONICon to provide training and guidance.