Paris Georgian Group Celebrates

The Grande Loge Nationale Française, the only Grand Lodge in France which is recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England, was created in 1913, and over the next 20 years, a large majority of the lodges consecrated by the new Grand Lodge were founded by Englishmen and worked Emulation ritual in English. Due to lack of support and other adversities, some of these lodges have closed, amalgamated, are now working in the French language or are practising rituals other than emulation.
    Today, there are ten English-speaking lodges under the GNLF working Emulation, six of which are in the Paris region and one each near to Rouen, Nice, Lille and Geneva.
    To continue the initiatives of their English founders, it has been their custom that, once a year, one of the Paris region’s lodges host a joint meeting in which the other ‘English’ lodges are invited to attend and to take part in the evening’s ceremony; Officers of Grand Lodge, Provincial Grand Lodge and brethren from the English Constitution are invited. The 2004 joint meeting to celebrate the 90th anniversary of our senior English lodge was attended by some 50 Brethren of the English Constitution including a Provincial Grand Master. The 2005 meeting was held in January this year to congratulate one of our Brethren, Brother Efthymiou, on reaching his 50th masonic anniversary. On this occasion, we were honoured by the presence of three Assistant Grand Masters, the Provincial Grand Master, the Senior Grand Warden and several other officers of Grand Lodge.

Royal Arch Developments in Estonia

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, there have been many instances of the re-kindling of masonic light in newly-independent or former communist countries. The three small Baltic nations, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which had thrown off the communist yoke, were not slow to seek help from Western European Grand Lodges in reviving Freemasonry in their territories.
    Now that the ground work has been established in those countries, in common with other Grand Lodges in Eastern Europe they are moving ahead to establish Royal Arch Masonry as well. In the case of Estonia, a novel formula has been decided on. The Hackney Brook Dependable Chapter, No. 7397 in London, despite having already merged with another Chapter in the recent past, is at the moment failing, and would, in the normal course of events, have to close. It has been decided instead that brethren from Estonia should be exalted in that Chapter, which would become progressively Estonian in membership. In a few years, the Chapter will then be ‘exported’ to Tallinn to become a constituent Chapter of a new Supreme Grand Chapter of Estonia.
    So it was that, at a recent regular meeting of the Chapter, the Grand Master of Estonia, Arne Kaasik, and two other Companions, were made joining members of the Hackney Brook Dependable Chapter, and an Estonian Brother, Toomas Sildmae, was exalted.
    At the next meeting, the three Principals installed will all be Estonian. But the Chapter is not expected to move to Estonia in the immediate future.

Masonic Art in California

Rigoberti Santos emigrated at the age of 10 from the Philippines to the Bay Area, California, with his parents. He graduated from High School and worked in a variety of jobs before serving in the Marines for four years. After leaving the service he moved to Santa Rosa, where he took a job driving trucks for a supply company. It was there that he met Wesley Hay. The two men started talking and instantly bonded.
    ‘Wesley really became my second father,’ Santos says. ‘When I first met him, I noticed that he was wearing a ring with a symbol on it. That’s when I found out that he was a Freemason.’ In 1986, Hay served as master of Luther Burbank, Lodge No. 57. In 1997, Rigo Santos told Hay that he wanted to become a Mason. Since joining Luther Burbank Lodge, Santos has served as Master of the lodge and is currently the officers’ coach.
    Rigo Santos has blended his love of masonry with his passion for art. In 2003 he crafted an ornate wooden vase out of 368 pieces of wood – one for each lodge in the Grand Lodge of California. The piece was presented to Past Grand Master William Holsinger during his visitation to Luther Burbank Lodge. He started his first masonic piece by building the base and working up from the bottom by placing wooden tiles in rings. ‘I used a checkered platform and then used red, purple, and black woods to complete the vase. The rings represent the beginning, middle, and end, and the colors symbolize the degrees of masonry.’ Santos’ most recent piece also includes one square for each lodge in the state and includes ebony, purple heart, and bloodwood to symbolize the colours of the York Rite. There are also other design elements that represent the ancient Near East and the days of operative masonry.
    With acknowledgment to Richard Berman and California Freemason

Indian Freemasons Feed the Poor

The Regional Grand Lodge of Western India in Mumbai was chosen as the venue for the Grand Festival.
    The first full day of celebrations began with the tradition of the feeding of the poor at the Babulnath Temple, at the Mahalaxmi Temple, and then at the Haji Ali Dargah. The Grand Master of India, Arun Chintopanth, took a prominent role in this. Together with the offering of prayers at these celestial centres, and with the feeding of a few hundred of the poor, the Festival itself began auspiciously. This was followed by the All India Inter Region Ritual Competition at Freemasons’ Hall, in which the Southern Region were the winners, with the Western Region the runners-up.
    The following day All India Workshops were held at Freemasons’ Hall, organised by lodge Masters, Wardens and Secretaries.
    In his address to the Festival, the Grand Master said: ‘Freemasonry in its essence, as a whole, is a way, a life, of values and morals integrated together and becoming part of us. It is not morals and values thought of or practised in isolation or in fragments, but by being integrated into our lives. And such an integrated life goes by the popular terminology of a dharmic way of life. This widely-used expression ‘dharma’ or ‘dharmic’ does not merely mean ‘morality’ or ‘righteous conduct’. It is really an integrated way of living.’

Educating Children in Nebraska

Education is an important part of a child’s life. It is the base to build upon to form their vocation or avocation. Without this basic building block, life is much more of an uphill struggle.
    As a general rule when children come to reside at the Masonic-Eastern Star Home in Fremont, Nebraska, they are performing below their educational level and they have difficulty assimilating into the Public Schools. The local school system is quite helpful in trying to meet the child’s needs and a tutor from the Home is assigned to work with the child.
    The tutors, Midland Lutheran College students, help the children with any problems encountered in homework or work on educational fundamentals. All the tutors are sophomores or above with majors in education. They are not only helping the children, but are gaining valuable educational experience for themselves.
    If children stay with the Home for a minimum of two full school terms it is easy for the tutors to track their grade performance from lower to higher. It is not uncommon for a child to go from the ‘D’ and ‘F’ level into the ‘C’ range of grades merely because they are getting help and are taking the time to study the subject matter.
    The tutoring is done in each cottage at the dining room table. While tutoring is taking place, life in the cottage continues. As can be imagined, the activity in a house with eight to ten children can be intense. While some are working with their tutor, others are involved with day-to-day activities. The other children and staff are respectful of the tutoring program, but the very nature of the current situation, even the best of days, can cause disruption to the students and their tutor.
    Each year the children look forward to going to Grand Chapter to entertain members present, but one of the highlights of the day for them is finding out who receives the scholarship awards sponsored by the Past Grands Association. That annual award took place this year in May in Lincoln during Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star.
    With acknowledgement to The Nebraska Freemason.

American Grand Masters’ Conference

Ronald Belanger, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, was the Chairman of the 2005 Conference of Grand Masters, held in Calgary, Alberta. The Conference was preceded by a non-denominational religious service.
    Each State of the United States and each Province of Canada is ruled, masonically, by its own Grand Lodge. The Conference, held each year under the auspices of the Masonic Service Association of America, is composed of the Grand Lodges of Canada, United States and Mexico, making 64 jurisdictions in all. Grand Masters and representatives of 17 foreign jurisdictions were also present. There were over 650 Freemasons and their wives present for the two-day conference.
    In addition to the regular business sessions, there were 24 sessions on topics such as Masonic Leadership, Technology Today and the Lodge, Alternate Proficiencies, Public Relations, and Youth Programs.
    During the business session, reports from the Conference Committees were received: these were the Masonic Service Association, National Masonic Foundation for Children, Masonic Renewal Committee, Child Identification Program (CHIP), George Washington Masonic National Memorial. In addition, the report of the Commission on Information for Recognition of foreign juristictions was received.
    The next Conference will be held in February 2006, in Nashville Tennessee, with the Grand Lodge of Tennessee as the Host Jurisdiction. Frederick Sorsabel, Grand Master of California, will be the Conference Chairman.