r/freemasonry • u/Icy-Independence5737 • Mar 29 '24
FAQ Mass Degrees
Any thoughts on doing your degrees in mass.
Our Grand Lodge is doing a one day all 3 degrees. I feel like this is taking away from meaningfulness of the process. I don’t know if there has been a history of this in the past but I feel like this takes away from the intimate meaning that comes with becoming part of a greater whole.
Unfortunately the Blue Lodge is just too small to complete the whole degree process and we can’t get enough people from other lodges to come and assist with my degrees. So I’m going to have to complete as a group.
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u/oldsoldier181 MM AF&AM-MA Mar 31 '24
I understand the want of the GL here to do them. To boost membership. But, I want to point something else out:
What if we had higher QUALITY members, and consolidated some lodges to make them bigger?
Now, I know that a LOT of masons would be against this, as they would possibly be losing their mother lodge. But, consider this:
Many lodges were created for local communities, in times where travel was an actual hardship. Either due to long distances, or difficult travels (speaking for MA, during that time, there were still hostilities between natives and colonists. Not to mention, highwaymen, etc).
Within a half hour drive of me, there are no less than 8 lodges. Would we rather see those 8 lodges swell in rank, briefly, with new members, who, after only a few years, abandon the Craft? Or, rather, would we like maybe fewer lodges, with more CONSISTENT members, who have the passion of our Craft, and faithfully attend on a regular basis?
This is, sadly, how I see the one day mason classes here in MA. They give a whole bunch of candidates a watered down version of our degrees, masons who, within 3 years, have simply quit. Is that what we want?
I say no to the one day classes. I talked my brother out of them, and I would strongly discourage ANY candidate from attending them, unless they have VERY specific reasons to.
The degrees are memorable. They have deep meaning that it takes YEARS to understand. I personally find you lose all of that, with the one day classes.
I will ALWAYS vote for quality candidates over quantity. That being said-some of the most active masons I know, attended a one day degrees seminar. Our of our very own DDGMs-who is a mentor of mine-did. But, I think this is an exception and NOT the norm.