Blue Lodge Involvement
In case you haven’t noticed, most Blue Lodges have an attendance problem. I have been Worshipful Master of Lodges in two different Grand Jurisdictions and I have visited all eleven Lodges in my District, and I have noted the same thing I have seen mentioned in the Scottish Rite Journal and other Masonic publications—Brothers are not attending Lodge. Go to almost any Lodge meeting and you will see this—about 3/4 of the officers, five or six old-timers and one or two guests. These figures are independent of the total number of Lodge members. In Tennessee we had 450 members in here in Wewahitchka w have about 60 members. Both Lodges average 10-12 Brothers at every meeting.
It is too easy to blame low attendance numbers on the fact that most adults today have too much going on—Little League, television, internet, etc, and that they have more important things to do besides sit in a room for an hour and hear the minutes being read and approved. I think that we have failed our members in couple of ways. First, by not adequately educating them as they go through the Three Degrees, causing them to not feel as much a part of the Fraternity as they should. Worse yet, sometimes we have fallen into unfortunate situation of progressing new Masons through Degrees short of time and not requiring proficiency prior to advancement, thereby sacrificing quality to obtain quantity. Four of five years ago, my Lodge ran what I described as a McMason assembly line. Man, we were really cranking them out. Of the herd of Master Masons we raised that year, two or three have already been suspended for Non Payment of Dues (NPD) and only one or two ever attend a meeting. They don’t have the same appreciation for Freemasonry that someone does who spent hours with an instructor and stood before the Lodge on trembling legs demonstrating their proficiency. Secondly, many times we don’t get the newly-raised Master Mason involved in the activities of the Lodge. Next time you get a chance, check out the names on your Lodge’s list of committees—does it include any names of newer Masons? When you have a fish-fry or cookout do you ask some of the “new guys” to help or do the same group of “old-timers” do all the work? We need to find out what areas the new Masons are interested in and get them involved in them.
Low participation numbers are a problem for many organizations, not just out Lodges. Most VFW Posts have low attendance as well (at the business meetings, not in the canteen). I am interested in discussing any possible remedies that may be floating around out there.
Woody, what you’re talking about isn’t new. I’ve gone back through Lodge attendance records from 80 years ago. The same percentage of new Master Masons remained active then as today.
Investigation committees should always note the interests of the petition during the visitation stage. It can come in handy to direct the new member to areas that interest him. As well, it’s a resource whereby you can ask him to speak at a meeting about one of his interests. If he’s stopped attending, he may be more inclined to accept an invitation to come and speak about something that he’s interested than face the prospect of going to meetings which he no longer finds interesting or worth his time.
http://justamason.blogspot.com
Comment by Justa — 10 April 2008 @ 5:20 am
My latest idea has been to provide cheeseburgers and beer instead of donuts and coffee after the meetings.
But Justa beat me to it - some of the really old PMs have told me that attendance in our lodge was typically between 10 and 20 members. Some meetings have the officers and a couple of sideliners, and some have a dozen or two on the sides. No rhyme or reason, except that not all the members want to be at all the meetings all the time.
Which brings up the question: Should they?
Comment by Tom Accuosti — 10 April 2008 @ 9:21 am