FALL 2015 From the Grand East MW WILLIAM J. THOMAS Grand Master [email protected] 407-927-8400 Cornerstone Rededication Knights Templar Building May 23, 2015 What is so important about the corner stone of an edifice that in building a personal edifice of magnificence. The Plumb we lay it with significant ceremony, pomp and circumstance? teaches us rectitude of Conduct; the Level teaches us Equality It’s just another piece of concrete to help put the building among humans; the square teaches us Virtue. together, right? But in all ages, the corner stone has a special We dedicate and consecrate the cornerstone with corn, wine place in symbolism—not only in our Masonic work. and oil—and the new Mason receives his wages in that form: In ancient Chinese culture the cornerstone is frequently the Corn of Nourishment, the Wine of Refreshment, and the referred to as the appropriate symbol of a chief or prince who is Oil of Joy. He seeks these wages to survive as he travels on the the defense and bulwark of his people. In Scripture it denotes level of time to that undiscovered country from whose bourne the promised Messiah, who was to be the prop and support of no traveler returns. all who should put their trust in His divine mission. We also deposit treasures in our cornerstone, and they may But again, why is the corner stone so revered? We find it at never again be seen by human eyes. So also do we deposit the northeast corner of the building, traditionally. It contains treasures with our new Mason. Those treasures are Brotherly treasures and memorials to its setting. It is unique as to its Love, Relief and Truth. The greatest of these is Truth and it composition and appearance. It receives special attention when is the secret of Masonry. Every Brother has within himself it is dedicated. The cornerstone is the starting place for the Truth—and it is up to him to search for that Truth throughout construction of a building. Everything emanates therefrom. his life. He will ultimately discover his own Truth when In Masonry the new Entered Apprentice stands in the he reaches that House not made with hands, eternal in the northeast corner and receives his charge as a new Mason. He Heaven. starts the construction of his own Temple from that spot in So the cornerstone is important to Masons because it the Lodge. represents each of us. It is the start of the construction of that Just as we try the ceremonial cornerstone with the Working spiritual edifice, which all Masons—and indeed all people— Tools of our Craft—the Plumb, the Level and the Square— seek in their lives. the new Mason is given the tools to accomplish his work 2 THE EMPIRE STATE MASON MAGAZINE T–E–A–M: Together Everybody Achieves More FALL 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume 64 / Number 3 / FALL 2015 IN THIS ISSUE Officers and cOmmittees: featured HigHligHts: Grand East . 2 Grand Master’s Address . .4-10 Grand Post Masonic War Veterans. .10 Grand Master’s Family Day at West Point . 13 Deputy Grand Master . .11 Photos from St. John’s Day . 22-23 Junior Grand Warden . 12 Sojourner Form . 26 Grand Treasurer. 12 Grand Chaplain’s Corner . .13 Masonic Brotherhood Fund . 14-15 Masonic Care Community. 16-21 Grand Secretary . .24 Webmaster . .28 Acacia Village . .29 Youth Page . 30-32 Camp Turk . 33 Law Enforcement . 34 Masonic Medical Research Laboratory . 36 Grand Lodge Educational Assistance Program (EAP). 38 Awards Committee . 40 Years of Service. .42 Grand Historian. 43 Statement of Ownership . .44 Dates to Remember and Submission Guidelines. 45 Grand Lecturer . 46 Photos from Rededication of the Masonic Rings . .47 Knights Templar Building Toys for Tots . 48 Photo credit for the Fall Cover: RW Jason P. Sheridan and SK Tom Loughlin, Jr. TRUSTEES OF THE MASONIC HALL AND ASYLUM FUND Publisher THE EMPIRE State MASON is an Official Publication of the Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund. Edited by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York for the members of the Masonic Fraternity and their families. CONSULTANTS POSTMASTER: WILLIAM J. THOMAS JEFFREY M. WILLIAMSON CHARLES CATAPANO Please send address changes to: Grand Master – Editor in Chief Deputy Grand Master Grand Treasurer The Empire State Mason Circulation Department JOAN C. BOWER CHARLES P. UHLE PAUL M. ROSEN 71 West 23rd Street Assistant Editor Senior Grand Warden Grand Secretary NY, NY 10010-4149 Periodicals Class Publication No. 56874 RICHARD S. MORLEY LORAINE DIBLEY 1-(800) 362-7664 Junior Grand Warden Graphic Designer Website at www.nymasons.org Subscription $6.00 Domestic, $15.00 Foreign per year. Subscription free to all members of constituent Lodges of the Grand Lodge F. & A.M. State of New York. Copyright ©2015 by the Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund. All rights reserved. Reproduction by recognized Masonic organizations is permitted with credit. All others must obtain written permission. Published quarterly in Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter months by the Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund, 71 West 23rd Street, NY, NY 10010-4149. THE EMPIRE STATE MASON (ISSN 0013-6794 Published at 71 West 23rd Street, NY, NY 10010-4149). Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. Address of The MosT Worshipful WilliaM J. ThoMas Grand MasTer of Masons in the State of New York Saint John’s Day June 27, 2015 Paul M. Rosen Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York ADDRESS OF THE MOST the Masonic Hall and Home here which the present buildings now stand. WORSHIPFUL WILLIAM J. on the campus of the Masonic Care Subsequent land purchases made a total THOMAS, Grand Master of Masons Community. Our Masonic Home of about 300 acres. in the State of New York, to the started out as a dream in the mid- Over the past year, our Trustees have District Deputy Grand Masters and 1800’s. Discussions on building both completed a major repurposing of Grand Lodge Staff Officers for the a Masonic Hall and a Home in the several Lodge rooms in Masonic Hall. years 2014 through 2016 in the Daniel early 19th century did not result in any Major renovations are complete for the D. Tompkins Memorial Chapel on action being taken – there was only talk. Memorial Building here on campus. the Campus of the Masonic Care It took the act of one man to focus And our Trustees are ready to replace Community, in Utica, New York, on the intentions of the New York Masons the steeple here in the Chapel. Please Saturday afternoon, June 27, 2015. on the task of raising a fund to build join me in congratulating our Trustees [*Portions of the printed address were both a Masonic Hall in New York as they begin their 151st year. not included in the oral address.] City, and a home for the fraternity’s We are also grateful for the Seek the LORD and his strength; orphans and indigent children, and its contributions to humanity that are seek his presence continually. aging and needy brethren. According being pioneered by our Masonic Right Worshipful Deputy Grand to Past Grand Secretary James Herring, Medical Research Laboratory here on Master, Most Worshipful Past Grand in 1842, a number of brethren were the campus. They are looking to even Masters, my colleagues of Grand Lodge, assembled around his desk discussing greater scientific discoveries, and they all my distinguished Brothers, Ladies, and the project with which they were all so do so in the name of the Grand Lodge friends of Freemasonry: heartily in sympathy, when Worshipful of New York. Discussions are underway IntroductIon Greenfield Pote, Grand Tiler, placed a regarding a major strategic alliance For the second time in as many years, silver dollar on the Grand Secretary’s with the State University of New York I welcome you to the investiture of our desk and called it the first contribution Polytechnic Institute. The University appointed Grand Lodge Officers, here toward the establishment of a Masonic has a focus on the emerging disciplines of in the Daniel D. Tompkins Memorial Home. Brother Pote reportedly said, nano-science and nano-engineering, as Chapel. “Brother Herring, the Hall and Asylum well as a new focus on nano-bioscience. And for the second time, I remark Fund, on behalf of the aged and infirm, Think about it: nano-technology and upon the batons we have received from the Widows and Orphans of our Order, biologic sciences are two disciplines our predecessors. Those who have gone is a sacred necessity. Let mine be the which would not ever be considered as before us have remarked upon the honor to head the list of contributors one. But the science fiction concepts passion and energy with which we are with my last and only dollar.” we first saw on Star Trek are upon us. blessed, as we continue to travel East And thereby, today we have a Hall We are earnestly studying the proposal together, on those paths illuminated and Home, under the care and watchful of a partnership with SUNY Poly, and by Golden Rays of Truth. The race eye of our Trustees. It was only a dollar, are enthused about the potential for is but half run, my Brothers, and our but it was a beginning. And small as medicine, for science — and for the successors are already lining up to take was the sum, it crystallized thought into sponsorship by New York Masons the baton of leadership from our hands.