Grand Master Issues Two New Decisions The R.W. Grand Master, Bro. Will iam A. Carpenter, issued two add itions to t h e Digest of D ecisions on September4 t hat wer e made necessary, in part as a con sequence of increased petition activi ty in the jurisdiction as a res u l t of Proj ect SOLOMON II, the Rebuilding of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania. Under Article XC I I, Worl\ on page 135 of the digest the Grand Master has added the fol lowing as section 12: " Lodges have the option of obligating their cand idates for the d egrees in multiples of up to five p e rson s. Lodges m ay also co llectively confer t l1e degrees on thei r candidates, again up to the maximum of five persons, on e ca ndidate serv i ng as the exemplar for the oth ers." A co mpan ion d ecision, under Article XI, Ba ll oting o n Petit ion, on page 14 of the Digest of Decisions, adds t he following as section 17: " Lodges have th e option of ba l loting
o n th eir peti t ioners for m embership in mul t iples of up to five p er sons, prov iding they use t he auth ori zed proced ure as es tablished and i mplemented th rougl1 the Schools of Instruction." Grand Master Carpen ter l1as empha s i zed that t he decision to exercise the option of eith er mul tiple degrees or mult ipl e balloti ng rests w ith the Worshipful Masters of t h e lodges. " The Worship ful Maste r is respon sible for the worl\ of hi s lodge," the Grand Master said, adding. " He is the officer who decides and no other has t h e rig h t to interfere." Spe cific instructions for th e proce dures necessary to implement t h e new decis ion s have b ee n worl\ed out with th e Ins tructor of Ritualistic Worl\ and til e s ix Regional Instructors and are now being ta ught to th e lodges througl1 the various Schoo ls o f Inst ructions.
Rally II Continu ed from preceding page l. Th e R.W. Grand Maste r, Bro. William A. Carpenter, assisted by the Deputy Grand Master, Bro. Carl W. Stenberg. J r.. and the Senior Grand Warden, Bro. Arth u r J. Ku r tz. and th e Junio r Grand Wa rd e n, Bro. W. Scott Stoner, p r esented ea ch of th e Ma st e r Bu ilde rs wi t h a thre e- t ie r medallion th at is wo rn on a go ld c h ain a bout th e throat. Th e Grand Maste r also recognized th e accompli shme nts of another Mason from the a rea who, through service to hi s commun i ty, l1 as brought c redit to the fraternity. Bro. Carpenter p resen ted the bronze m e da ll ion t h at was s trucl\ in lim i ted numbers as a mark of his administration to Bro. David M. Howel ls. Sr., a member of J ordan Lodge No. 673 in th e 10t11 Masonic Di strict and th e Cl1ie f of Police of Allentown. Bro. Howe lls recen tly r eceived ti1 e J. Ed gar Hoover Award as ti1e top police officer i n th e nation as presented by the Vete ran s of Fore ign War s. " I f Freema son ry is not m er e ly to sur-
vive, but is to grow and prosper as the promise of Project SOLOMON II is fu lfill ed, it will b e beca use these m e n, and many m o re just l il\e th e m , wi ll have r ecognized t he ir d u ty and not jus t carried out thei r assig n ments, who wi ll h ave done th eir s hare and mor e," th e Grand Master said. The pageantry and co lor. t h e enterta in m entand fellowship, was h ighlig h ted by th e Gra nd Master's address which is printed in fu ll in hi s column, Di rectly From the Grand Master, o n p ages 8 -10. As i nd i ca te d in t h e a ddress, the Grand Master h as issued a directive that c h a n ges t he obligations o f the t hree d egr ees by removing t h e phys ica l penal ties ofth e obi igations an d r eplacing the m with penalties t hat a r e b oth m ea n ingful and enforcea bl e. Th e lodges have been advi sed to checl\ wi th t he Sch ools of Instruction for d i rection s as to how to implemen t th e changes. For col or photograph s of Ra lly II, see p ages 4-7.
NOVEMBER 15 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 25 26 28
Lodge No. 541, Nanticol~e Valley of Scranton Lodge Nos. 449. 2, 125 and 72, Philadelphia Lodge No. 776, Fairless Hills Lodge No. 584, Dunmore Lodge No. 367. West Reading Valley of Bloomsburg Valley of Reading Lodge Nos. 383 and 564, Coatesville Lodge Nos. 603 and 800, Grove City Wi th Guests at The Masonic Homes. El izabethtown
DECEMBER 3-4 December Quarterly Communication. Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Marriott City Li ne Avenue 5 Grand Holy Royal Arch Chapter of Pennsylvania, Masonic Temple, Pl1i ladelphia 6 Committee on Masonic Homes, Elizabethtown 7 Statewid e DeMolay Class, William A. Carpenter Class, Masonic Conference Center. Patton Campus, Elizabethtown 10 Grand Lodge No. 214, Philadelph ia 14 Special Grand Lodge Commun ication, Lodge Room Dedication. William A. Ca rpenter Chapel, Mason ic Confer ence Center, Patto n Campus. Elizabethtown 14 Extra Grand Lodge Commun ication, Mason at Sight William A. Carpenter Chapel, Maso nic Conference Ce nter, Patton Campus, Elizabethtown 26-27 An nual Grand Comm u nication, Maso nic Templ e, Oakland, Pittsburgh
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NOVEMBER THROUGH DECEMBER
The Pennsylvania Freemason
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Grand Master's Itinerary
i\1'1 OFFICIAL PUBLICi\TION OF THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL GRi\ND LODGE OF FREE i\ND ACCEPTED Mi\SONS OF PENNSYLVi\NIA
VOLUME XXXII
l
NOVEMBER
•
1985
NUMBER4
4,000 Attend RALLY II for SOLOMON II in Bethlehem The processional l ine stretched across the lawns on th e Lehigh Unive rs i ty Campus i n Be th lehem for more tha n twice the l ength of a footbal l field as 900 Ma sons prepared to enter Stabler Arena to p erform t h e open in g ceremonies of RA LLY II for SOLOMON I I on Wednesday evening. October 16. Th e line of m arch was filled by m embe rs of every o n e of t h e 276 lodges in th e eastern part of the s tate as we ll as represen tatives of every part of the Mason ic fami ly, i ncl uding t he th ree youth g r oups. The fi e ld of red, whi te and blue that was the massed flags carried by the Knigh ts Templarwas foll owed by the white gowns of Job's Daughte r s and Ra inbow for Girls. Flashes of color, yellow and crim son, co uld b e seen a m ong t he folds in t he robes worn by th e DeMolays, on ly to b e see n aga in as the ranl\s ofYorl\ Ri te Masons, Scottis h Rite Masons, and Shri ne, Tal l Cedar a n d Grotto Masons passed in review. Th en ca m e th e sea of blu e as th e officers of the lodges marched down the cen ter o f the arena, to be fol lo wed by the purple and gold as th e officers of t he Grand Lodge closed t he lin e o f march . The last person to ente r was the most revered Maso n in the j uris d iction, th e Right Wors hipful Grand Master. In al l, more t han 4.000 persons were par t of the c elebration of Project SOLOMON II, th e Rebuildi n g of Free m asonry i n Penn sylvan ia, that was the poi nt of focus of RA LLY I I. Three men, true Ma ste r Build er s of this te mpl e of m e n th a t is r epresented by SOLOMON II, we r e h onored fo r th e ir outstanding accompl is hmen ts. They are t he firs t three m embe rs o f the c raft to bring 12 or more n ew members in to t he fr aternity as a resu lt of Project SO LOMON II. Bro. Melvin S. B i n l~ l ey, a membe r of Ephrata Lodge No. 665 in the 1st Mason ic Dis t ri ct was the first Mason i n the ju r isd iction to quality for th e s p ecial r ecogniti o n award. His accomp l ishm ent was quicl\ly matched by Bro. Herber t C. Miller, Jr., a member of Stich ter Lodge No. 254 i n the 4 0 th Masonic Di strict and Bro. Raymond E. Greene, a member of Lehigh Lodge No. 32 6 in the lOth Mason ic Di strict. Continued to page 28.
Grand Master's Portrait Grand Master William A. Carpenter's portrait in oil, painted by Bro. Henry Cooper (w h o was made a Mason at sight in June of this y ea r), will be displayed in the Grand Foyer of the Masonic Temp le in Philadelphia until December 27 when it w ill be moved to th e Benjam in Franklin Room to be hung w ith the portraits of the other liv ing Past Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. The Grand Mas ter's farewell message, which is normally prese nted in this space, w ill, b ecause of i ts length and complexity, be sent by direct mail to each Pennsylvan ia Mason at y ear end.