II. Plural membership.
At present, our laws prohibit plural membership in lodges.
Freemasons develop a deep affection for their lodges and are hesitant
to demit from their “mother lodge” even when they relocate. Our
society is now much more mobile than before, with job changes and
residence changes at increasing frequency. The financial condition of
many lodges is not favorable, and the ranks of officers willing to serve
are thin in some lodges. Allowing our members to join more than one
lodge, in any grand jurisdiction with which we are in fraternal
communication, and allowing our lodges to accept as members
brothers, who will retain their membership in another regular lodge, in
any grand jurisdiction with which we are in fraternal communication,
will add strength to the lodges by brothers who thereby voluntarily
increase their Masonic dues and commitment.
A motion will be made regarding Regulation 46, Section 17 (last
paragraph) and Code of Trials II.1.12, to be amended as follows:
Reg. 46, Sec. 17–Membership and Affiliation (last paragraph): *** Every
Mason should belong to some regular Lodge, but no mason can belongA member may petition to
to more than one Lodge at the same time.
join, in addition, another Lodge in this Grand Jurisdiction or any other
lodge in another grand jurisdiction with which we are in fraternal
communication. A Mason who is a member of any other lodge in
another grand jurisdiction with which we are in fraternal communication
may petition to join, in addition, another Lodge in this Grand Jurisdiction.
A Mason petitioning membership in another Lodge in West Virginia shall
be admitted to such membership upon majority voice vote after showing
that he is a member in good standing in all other lodges in which he may
be a member. Discipline of any kind, including suspension or expulsion
for unmasonic conduct in any lodge in this or any other Grand
Jurisdiction shall have the same effect in all other West Virginia lodges of
which he is a member.” Laws of Masonry in West Virginia 100 (15 th ed.
2005)CT.II.1.12. A member of a West Virginia Lodge who, without applying for
a demit, petitions for membership in a foreign jurisdiction which permits
dual membership, has committed a Masonic offense. -1938 Proceedings
60. Laws of Masonry in West Virginia 134 (15 th ed. 2005)
Because this is an amendment to our laws, upon an affirmative vote of
one-third of the members present, the amendment shall lie over one
year, be printed in the journal and if adopted by a two-thirds vote at
the next regular communication, shall become a part of the law at the
meeting in 2007.
Brethren, take a moment to contemplate the positive and negative effects this change would have on West Virginia Freemasonry:
It would encourage our West Virginia masons to contribute to Blue Lodge Masonry where so ever dispersed about the globe and still keep membership in and support their "Mother Lodge ". West Virginians constantly leave this state for work and to find greater opprotunities in life. We should not punish them for this by forcing them to sever their masonic roots in order to become active in Freemasonry in their community.
Although, at first you might think it harder to "police the brethern" and their membership. This I feel is a false fear. No mason may join another lodge without a valid dues card and some contact between secretaries of both lodges. The idea of brethren sneaking around trying to join other lodges while they are in bad standing in another I feel is ridiculous. Freemasonry is based on trust.
A Past Master will then have the ability to help other lodges in an official way. This would also allow brethren to join a lodge that they work or commute near and could participate in more regularly than the lodge in which they were raised.
I, once again, see no negative impact on the craft. I know of several brethren living both in and outside our state that would be affected positively by this change. The latest two brethren to hold our high office, with their arrogant attempts to keep us in the past, have laid waste and destroyed the peace and harmony of Freemasonry in West Virginia far more than the idea of plural membership.....
What say you Brethren?
How does your state work?
03/02/2008, 11:07
I reside in California by choice. I was stationed in Huntington for only three years. I have never transfered ! All my Lodges need my dues. The Lodge I attend here is in need of officers who want to work through the chairs. I cannot. I would pay fees to both, no problem here !
Another OLD LAW that should be thrown out period. I would lose the chance to lead a Lodge or
WVa would lose me for good.
What a choice to consider!
So mote it be !!!
03/02/2008, 12:01
Of course it is ALWAYS about control... or at least the perception of control. Little men need to know that they somehow have control over others. Freemasonry began as a way for men to become enlightened and free! We have lost that in West Virginia. Our Grand Master wants to control who you talk to, what you read and literally what you think. He has gone so far as to suggest that those that disagree are not good Masons. If Plural membership was allowed, they fear a loss of control. It really is that simple.
03/02/2008, 22:02
Worse, this system does nothing but perpetuate poorly run lodges. There is no divine predestination that every lodge must last forever. Lodges that have poor programming, that do not serve the needs of their members, would, under laws of natural selection, close. But to force a man into a lodge based on his zip code, with no way to move his membership or to dual into another lodge he prefers, only preserves mediocrity. And to deny a West Virginia Mason who moves to another state the ability to join a lodge in his new home, without first giving up membership in his mother lodge is just plain daft.
And what of a man who wishes to join a lodge that his friends belong to, or that his father was raised in, but does not live within its boundaries?
If you look at it from a bottom line point of view, just to be crassly commercial for a second, it is also fiscally stupid. A dual member would provide more income for lodges, and more per capita payment to Grand Lodge.
The only other jurisdictions I have encountered such an antiquated rule is in Prince Hall grand lodges. It has not served them well for growth. The rest of the masonic world did away with such nonsense decades ago. But then, why should we be surprised that it lingers on here?
20/03/2008, 03:38
I work in Iraq. I live in Virginia. My masonic membership is in Kentucky and New York. I think that a Mason should be able to join as many lodges in state or out of state, as he chooses to. If he can pay the dues to 20 lodges, let him be a member of 20 lodges!
Our mobile society is not the same as the society of 50 years ago. I have worked from Maine to California, and spent 11 years in foreign countries. I once held dual memberships in Saudi Arabia, and Virginia.
No one should be penalized, for having to move away from his home lodge, for work reasons.
I say, change the rules immediately, and permit WV masons to hold plural and dual memberships, both in-state and out of state.
So Mote it Be.