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BACK NEXT Issue 53 Letter from the Editor Grand Secretary's Column Grand Lodge News Grand Lodge Speeches Grand Chapter Speeches Grand Chapter Convocation Grand Chapter News News and Views On The Level Masonic Education International News Freemasonry's Dream The Beautiful Game Honourable to the Builder Singapore and Freemasonry An Argonaut - A Journeyman Hermes 'The Philosopher' Celebrating Wives and Friends A Frog in a Beer Mug Review: Researching British Freemasonry Review: The Portfolio of Villard De Honnecourt Review: Nightfighter Navigator Review: Belief and Brotherhood Letters to the Editor Library & Museum of Freemasonry Grand Lodge: Board of General Purposes Grand Charity Masonic Samaritan Fund RMBI RMTGB Revealing Our Craft Copyright 1997-2010 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint

FREEMASONRY TODAY Holy Royal Arch Rebuilding the Temple I believe that it is time that we, as English Freemasons, re-examined our roots and the things we do. In our dealings with individuals and organisations we need confidence in explaining and commending ourselves. There is either the danger of being too simplistic, thus carrying no real conviction in a world where so much else competes for a young man’s attention; or, we can come over as too defensive, confirming the myth that we have something to hide, or that we are ashamed of what we do in our temples and act out in our ceremonies. What is beyond ... Supreme Grand Chapter A fresh definition of the status of the Royal Arch is to be considered by Grand Lodge following the publication of the report of the working group set up last year under the chairmanship of the Second Grand Principal, George Francis. The announcement was made by Lord Northampton, Pro First Grand Principal, to the November meeting of Supreme Grand Chapter following publication of the report into the recruitment and retention of Royal Arch Masons. The report was going to Grand Superintendents, who would make it more widely available in Provinces. The report covers neither the Metropolitan Grand Chapter, as they are to bring out their own report, nor Districts overseas ... Fourth Degree of the Antients Organised freemasonry began with the establishment in London of the Premier Grand Lodge of England on 24 June 1717. The first evidence of the Royal Arch as a degree is to be found in an Irish publication dated 1744. It is a reference in a pamphlet entitled A Serious and Impartial Enquiry into the Cause of the present Decay in Free Masonry in the Kingdom of Ireland by Dr Fifield Dassigny (1707-1744). It refers to a Royal Arch Mason from York ... The President's Conundrum One of the problems in uniting the Premier Grand Lodge, sometimes referred to as the Moderns, and the Antients Grand Lodge, was how each Grand Lodge regarded the Royal Arch. The Premier Grand Lodge did not recognise it, while the Antients Grand Lodge embraced it wholeheartedly and worked it as a Fourth Degree in their Craft lodges. A compromise was found that placated both Grand Lodges. The Royal Arch was accepted as being part of pure Ancient Masonry but had to be worked in separate Chapters and no longer within Craft lodges ...   Holy Royal Arch © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2010