Most Worshipful Grand Secretary,
Since our Grand Master does not list his email address on the Grand Lodge website, I can only presume that he does not wish to be communicated with by the members of the Craft he governs. So perhaps you could pass along my concerns to him.
As a Master Mason we are taught to whisper good counsel in each other’s ears, AND IN THE MOST TENDER MANNER remind each other of our faults, and aid in their reformation. So why do certain types of personalities believe that the only way to govern a voluntary group like Freemasons is with the headsman’s axe?
A Grand Master who litters the lodge floor with the bodies of martyrs is nothing but a destroyer of the very men who have often worked long and ceaseless hours to build the fraternity. Because of personal piques and grudges, such GMs seek to silence critics, and do nothing but act as destroyers of the Craft.
Are the men he suspended so dangerous that they had to be silenced? Was there no way to meet with them privately and discuss the issues like Masons? If they deserved the hand of discipline, surely that could have been done privately, while still keeping the door of communication open.
Instead, the situation was handled with brute force, and the smell of dirty politics now lingers in the air over the fraternity. Worse, West Virginia Masons are now under scrutiny from the outside world, and the rest of the Masonic universe is appalled by what they are seeing. Not just the way this situation has been handled, but also the outdated and backward regulations that our Grand Lodge voted to change in 2006, and the way their voice was brushed aside.
PGM Coleman subverted what was clearly the will of the Grand Lodge by simply dispensing with their vote by edict. If he felt the vote was improper, an honorable man would have brought the legislation to the floor in 2007 as individual votes and let Grand Lodge re-vote. But because he personally disagreed with the agenda of his predecessor, once again, petty piques and grudges motivated him to behave dishonorably.
Now by expelling PGM Haas and anyone else who questions these activities, you expect to silence all those who remember the 2006 vote with crystal clarity. That will not happen. West Virginia is now the center of scrutiny by the rest of the Masonic world, because of the actions of PGMs Hass and Coleman and the Grand Master. What young man would want to join this collection of obdurate, power-grabbing antiques who dress in their finery and pretend they are engaging in brotherly love, relief and truth?
What young man in the 21st century would voluntarily join a group that prides itself on “brotherhood,” and yet engages in institutional racism?
Why would anyone join a lodge in West Virginia when it is the only Grand Lodge in the country that enforces territorial exclusivity, thereby ensuring that bad lodges have no reason to improve, because they will always have a stream of guaranteed candidates?
We are the only Grand Lodge that doesn’t participate in the George Washington Masonic Natl Memorial; the only Grand Lodge that completely turns it back on the appendant bodies; the only Grand Lodge that treats our youth groups as if they don’t exist; and one of the last holdouts in the nation that refuses to recognize our Prince Hall counterparts.
Just what do we think we excel at? Just what do we think we are protecting? More important, just what century do we think this is? Our numbers are plummeting, but there is no plan for the future from our immediate PGM and our current GM. According to statistics, of the current generation of men 18-35 who we desperately need to attract and retain, one out of every three is a minority. This generation doesn’t see racism in their jobs, their schools, their housing, or frankly anywhere else in their daily lives. Why should they be finding it in a fraternity that claims universal brotherhood?! My God, Brothers, THIS IS MADNESS!
Consider all of these things, Grand Master. Grit your teeth, kick the dog, go in the back yard and yell for ten minutes. Then come back in and do the right thing. Step up and start to heal the fraternity you purport to love. Start now, not next September. Step up and start leading your brethren into the future, instead of looking backwards. Stop isolating yourself in an echo chamber of like-minded advisors and impotent committees. Look outside of the same 15 men who have led us to this stagnant place we find ourselves. Get out and seek alternative voices and views — even if you totally disagree with them. Because they might luck into being correct.
It says something that you have created such a sense of fear in the Craft that for the first time in my life I am sending messages anonymously. If the legacy you want to leave behind is that you scared everyone into submitting to your will, then do nothing.
But there is another way to govern Masons besides chopping off heads. You can do what our ritual and our philosophy says to do. Stop governing with a rule book in your hand, and do what is best for the future of the fraternity. You can extend your hand in friendship, even if it galls you to do it. You can whisper good counsel (and listen to it, too). You can be a true Freemason and a Builder. That’s the difference a good leader can make.
But whatever you do, don’t let the proudest accomplishment of your year in the Grand East be that you just kept the status quo. West Virginia deserves better than that.
Posted by: A Concerned Mason
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