GRAND LODGE OF MASONS IN MASSACHUSETTS G FALL 2013 Masonic Sebastians PAGE 10 Joseph Warren Medalists PAGE 20 Vol. 31, No. 3: Fall 2013 From the East of Grand Lodge Magazine of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts RICHARD JAMES STEWART Dear Brethren: Past Grand Masters – M.W. William Sewall Gardner Where has the summer gone? It seems like only yesterday that we were attending our June 8 Rt. Wor. Walter Hunt Quarterly Communication, and I was wishing all to have a safe and restful summer, and look- ing forward to seeing you at our September Quarterly. As I write my message for the fall Trowel issue, the September Quarterly is just around the corner. Sebastian Miniatures – An American and Masonic Tradition Wor. Joseph Goldstein The Craft is once again called from refreshment to labor. Lodges will be installing new lines 10 of officers, preparing to execute the plans the masters have drawn on their trestle-boards. 8 Your Grand Lodge team of officers and committees did not go to refreshment but stayed at Masonry in Massachusetts – A Visitor’s View labor, working on and fine tuning various programs. The Budget Committee has been very 15 Dr. David Harrison hard at work looking into ways to reduce the budget and, again for the third straight year, they are proud to present the Board of Directors with a reduced budget for their final approval. As many of you know, educating the lodge officers about running their lodges has been an The Excitable Heart issue high on my list since being installed your Grand Master. The Lodge of Instruction, a 19 Part II of a Five-part Series subcommittee of the Training and Education Committee, has been thinking outside the box and has come up with a new and exciting format for officer instruction that will be introduced 10 starting this September. They are also working on a new concept for candidate training which The Quiet Medal we hope to introduce no later than the next Masonic year. Your Grand Lodge is making sub- 20 Recent Joseph Warren Medalists stantial financial investment in both of these programs and failure of LOI will not be consid- ered an option. I have a short four months before my term as your 87th Grand Master comes to an end. There Askafreemason.org Bro. John Ruggiero, Jr. are still many designs on my trestle-board; some that I hope to complete, and many others that 28 20 time will not allow me to even start. The 88th Grand Master has been identified, and he will carry our Grand Lodge through its 283rd year. During my remaining time I want to assure you that I will not be slowing down. However I do plan on allowing time to work with our next Acting Masonic Poetry by Rt. Wor. David Newcomb Grand Master in a transition process that will enable him to be better prepared to take on the 31 responsibility and challenges of serving as the Grand Master of the third-oldest Grand Lodge in the world. New Masonic Challenge Coin May God bless each of you, and the men and women who are protecting our great country so 32 Bro. Leo Kenen that we may continue to enjoy the freedom to practice the Masonry that we all love so dearly. 32 Cordially and fraternally, REGULAR FEATURES Lodge & District News 3 Ask the Grand Lecturers 7 Richard James Stewart Chaplain’s Column 4 Living Freemasonry 14 Grand Master Grand Lodge Quarterly Communication 5 News from Overlook 16 The Prodigal Mason 21 TWO MODELS Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts FRATERNITY NEWS & EVENTS MW Richard J. Stewart Back in May, I attended the second continued on page 22 TROWEL Staff leadership summit hosted by Grand Lodge. I was fascinated with two Executive Editor John S. Doherty speakers. Grand Master Rededicates the Old State House The first, an Englishman on his Design and Production first visit to America, had spent two David A. Libby weeks with Masons from various Lodge and District states. I was interested in his compar- News Editor ison: English Freemasonry has not changed in 200 years. Lee H. Fenn American Freemasonry seems egalitarian, modern, democ- Consulting Editor ratic. He said English Freemasonry is too steeped in tradi- Robert W. Williams III tion and the class system; young men, especially from Editorial Staff working-class areas, are put off by the fraternity’s close- Stephen C. Cohn ness to Royalty and the Establishment; they don’t trust the David P. Newcomb Richard Thompson aristocracy. His solutions for England included topics Photography Staff familiar to us: attracting new members, retention, mentor- ing, and—surprise—the American way. Philip A. Nowlan The Old State House, located at the head of State Street, is the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of He liked our fraternity’s ways; he stood at a bar and had Office Staff the oldest surviving public building in Boston. The historic Massachusetts. Commanding Cpt. Paul M. Colella officiat- a drink with an American Grand Master. Imagine! The George S. Fontana building’s 300th anniversary is celebrated this year. It is ed. In front of the site of the Boston Massacre, the Grand Helena M. Fontana speaker had met only one English Grand Lodge officer in owned by the City of Boston, and cared for by the Bostonian Master and Grand officers conducted the re-dedication ser- 15 years; the officer had grunted and moved away quickly. Editorial Board: Society. vice with corn, wine, and oil. The Royal Grand Master, also known as the Duke of Kent, Richard J. Stewart, Stephen H. Burrall, Jr., On Saturday, May 4, 2013, a suite of Grand Lodge offi- The solemn ritual was completed and speakers recited the Richard H. Curtis, Jeffrey L. Gardiner, Donald G. Hicks Jr., has been in office for 47 years. “Never in my lifetime, not cers led by Grand Master Richard J. Stewart, paraded in full legacy of the building and the history it represents. Remarks David A. Libby, David C. Turner in a thousand years,” said the speaker, “could I ever be regalia from Quincy Market Place to the Old State House. of the Grand Master completed the event. Grand Master.” He marveled to think that any one of us The procession was headed by the officers and members of — Wor. Ronald T. Doucette E-mail to Executive Editor: could be elected Grand Master. Our leadership seems so [email protected] connected to young members. We seem so interested in Masonic Leadership Summit 2013 Joseph Warren Statue at Telephone: 508-847-9081 educating all members. E-mail to Lodge News Editor: The second speaker, also English but living now in Leading the Fraternity Back to the Future Bunker Hill is Rededicated [email protected] Virginia, sounded a different chord: “It is obvious that Grand Lodge’s Masonic Education and Training (ME&T) Committee con- Grand Master Richard Stewart accompa- something is not right in Freemasonry here.” We are ducted its second annual Masonic education forum at Grand Lodge in May. nied by Masons from the Grand Lodge and Address Changes for Massachusetts lodge members, obsessed with numbers. “We are letting the profane into This year’s offering, again co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Lodge of King Solomon’s Lodge, Somerville, partic- and notifications of deaths should be sent to the indi- our lodges.” We accept anyone. We are diverting our atten- Research, differed slightly from the 2012 Summit. Three well-known ipated in the rededica- vidual’s lodge secretary, and not to TROWEL Magazine. Masonic speakers were featured and the day concluded with an elegant noon- tion on self-improvement with things like charity, one-day tion of the famous All other inquiries should be sent to the Grand Sec- time dinner with the Grand Master. statue of Maj. General classes, family events, and—heavens forbid—television retary’s Office, Masonic Building, 186 Tremont Street, The Leadership Summits are focused on energizing line officers and lodge and Grand Master advertising. Boston MA 02111 members with ideas for initiating change and improvements in their lodges Joseph Warren located E-mail: [email protected] This speaker’s solution (perhaps reminiscing) was to and at the district level of the fraternity. They are ideal for members ascend- in the recently refur- return to the heart and soul of the fraternity: learning. A Grand Lodge telephone: 617-426-6040 ing their lodge lines as well as for new or seasoned members wishing to make bished visitors pavil- man must ask to be initiated and have the time and inclina- a difference in their home lodges. Unlike most of the programs offered by Grand Lodge web page: www.MassFreemasonry.org lion at the Bunker Hill tion to seriously study the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences. ME&T, these summits are fee-based. They are also well-attended. Monument in Charles- Masonry was meant to be exceptional; scarcity gives value. This year’s speak- town. The building is known as the Bunker Trowel prefers electronic submissions and will accept ers were impressive: Hill Monument Lodge. unsolicited articles, with the right to edit and use when You might think that these two views discomforted the Wor. David Harrison, space permits. Articles and pictures, unless specified, audience. No. Both speeches were warmly applauded, pho- This year’s commemorative exercises for become the property of the magazine. Submitters are tos were taken, and then everyone adjourned for a nice lun- author of The Genesis the Battle of Bunker Hill began with an requested to provide name, address, phone number, e-mail, cheon, elbow-to-elbow with our elected Grand Master.