Brother meet a friend

Last night was out annual Brother Bring a friend night. As I arrived at the lodge there in a car next to me were two gentlemen I’d never seen before. This isn’t unusual since I have only been a Mason for a year. I said hello and gave both a handshake. I proceeded to collect my things for the meeting and crossed the parking lot to enter the building and spotted the Master speaking with a gentleman I also did not recognize. I thought this might be an exciting night since I was supposed to bring one or two interested men as well, but alas neither could make that evening. As usual I went right down into the collation hall for some refreshments and Charlie’s oh so customary Hors d'ourves. I am particularly partial to the pickled eggs, although my wife pleads with me not to have more than one an evening.

When almost all the brethren had arrived Charlie and Tom served up the pasta and sausage. As usual I had a manly sized portion, you’d think that my wife doesn’t feed me enough by the size of it. That may not be far from the truth, my wife is on a diet and I am too according to her. I just can't ever accept a salad as as meal, no matter what's in it. After all had eaten their fill and there was still a great deal left over. But we had to get started there were candidates waiting.

In speaking with one candidate, he relayed a story about how a friend of his was a member of another lodge (not ours) and when he asked about joining he had given him a petition and he filled it out and gave it back to his friend with his initiation fee. Well this gentleman then waited for 6 -8 months with not so much a call from a member of the lodge to let him know what the status was. After this wait the gentleman was a bit annoyed to say the least. At this point the candidate feels like he is not wanted and asks the lodge for the initiation fee to be returned since he is no longer interested in joining that lodge. Reasonable request since the lodge in question sat on this man’s petition for 6-8 months. I would have thought that would have soured him from ever joining the craft. Instead he located our lodge and reasoned rightly that “this cannot be the norm in Freemasonry as a whole”. Well as we spoke about things he relayed that he would be shipping out to Iraq in January. Since I was also in the gulf back in ’91 this piqued my interest as well.

It still bothering me today, what I had heard from the candidate last night. I can’t help but think that something has gone really wrong in that other lodge. I know all lodges must have some petty issues that go on between the members and alike but to neglect a candidate, seems un-masonic. After all had gone home the Master and the Sr. Warden and I stayed and discussed this a bit further. We really like the gentleman we’d spoken with and would really like him to become a member of our lodge. Well that will be voted on at the next meeting and I hope we can help bring this candidate to Masonic Light.


The other two gentlemen I had spoke of meeting in the parking lot turned out to be brothers from the now defunct South Side Lodge out of Patchogue. This is the lodge where a member was tragically shot during a Masonic club initiation. From what I was told that all members of that lodge were suspended from Masonry after that incident and the Lodge’s charter revoked. Well apparently most of those members were re-instated and have joined other lodges in the area. These two brothers decided to join our lodge and having met spoke with them I believe they will feel welcome at our lodge and I would be pleased to see more of both of them.