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BACK NEXT Spring 2006 Issue 36 Letter from the Deputy Editor News Briefing News and Views On The Level News Beyond the Craft International News Julian Rees Our Future's Debt to the Past Masonic Renaissance in Italy A New Mason's Impressions Inspiring the Whole Man The Operatives The Humble Builders "Web Wise" Bath and the 'Lost' Furniture Brother Lightfoote's Journal Letters to the Editor Review: The Temple that never Sleeps Review: Corona Gladiorum Review: The Miracles of Exodus Canon Richard Tydeman Copyright 1997-2008 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Spring 2006 - Issue 36 - Index Letter from the Deputy Editor - Julian Rees In Freemasonry Today issue 34 of autumn 2005, we talked about how different people can live together in harmony. In the pages of this magazine, we have often focused on the part harmony plays, at different levels. We have published speculative articles from numerous writers emphasising the part played by harmony in our proper conduct of masonic life and principles. Perhaps more importantly, we have brought to the attention of our readers concrete examples of how harmony works at the top level, so to speak, namely in society and in everyday life. We published an interview with David Webb, whose life has been virtually defined by his work ... News Briefing: Pro Grand Master Installs New Leader for Essex — Assistant Grand Master at Cambridge Installation — Provincial Grand Master for Norfolk Installed — New Leader for Nottinghamshire News and Views: The Minster Meetings — Hereford Honour Past Provincial Grand Master — A Masonic Festival of Flowers — Bishop of Rochester Opposes Freemasons — Computer Systems for Children's Hospices — Federation of Police Lodges in Shrewsbury — Summerset Forges Links with Sussex — Winchester Masons Restore Graves On the Level: Northumberland Freemasons come in from the Cold — Bournemouth Masonic Group supporting Charity — Dorset Celebrates Christmas — Ladies Festival Supports Great Ormond Street — Canonbury Masonic Research Centre — Centre for Research into Freemasonry — The Cornerstone Society — Quatuor Coronati News Beyond the Craft: Order of the Secret Monitor — New Leader for Mark Masons in Channel Islands — Orders Beyond the Craft in Madrid International News: Arizona Masons Learning Center a Reality — Iberian Centre for Masonic Studies — Mozart Celebration in Paris — Cyprus Freemasons provide Intensive Care Unit — Masonic Art in Washington — Wellington Scholarship Recipients Feted Julian Rees What originally did I join Freemasonry for? Comradeship. In that, I think I have a lot in common with many an aspirant. At the time of my initiation, I had only a hazy idea about the spirituality, the esoteric side. I had not done much research. True, I had been fascinated by Walton Hannah’s attack on Freemasonry Darkness Visible. Incidentally, I often wonder if Fr. Hannah knew that his book might encourage people to become Freemasons. What I had been told was that the lodge I was to join was a lodge of ritualists, and the idea of taking part in an arcane ceremonial sent a small frisson of excitement through me. But no, it was the prospect of closer comradeship with ... Our Future's Debt to the Past When you enter the office of the Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England, you feel the palpable weight of the history of Freemasonry over nearly three hundred years, and the way in which Grand Secretaries have influenced affairs in that time. Yet Robert Morrow, in the first few words we exchanged, proved himself to be the most approachable of Grand Secretaries. ‘Where does that easy contact with people stem from?’ ... Masonic Renaissance in Italy Italian Freemasonry had an involvement in politics from the very first, from the time when Garibaldi, a Freemason, achieved Italian unification in 1861, and the Grand Orient of Italy has maintained that principle. But in recent years an unfortunate reputation for secrecy and manipulation has erupted, in particular as a result of the P2 scandal. The principles of the Grand Orient were not viewed favourably by all Freemasons, with the result that ... A New Mason's Impressions There are some points I was aware of before making enquiries into Freemasonry about five years ago. It was a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. It was ‘a most happy association of friends which provides interest, a discipline of life, many social activities and has a long history of charitable support’. It was not a secret society, nor a religion, although its members are required to have a belief in God and its principles are common to many of the world’s great religions. It was fun and provided a wonderfully happy social life ... Inspiring the Whole Man The Royal College of Surgeons is housed in a magnificent classical building in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a short walk from Freemasons’ Hall. The high, wide portico is supported by six Ionic columns, the Order of Architecture denoting wisdom, and the porch opens out into an impressive marble entrance hall. You would expect any President of a College in such august surroundings to be dwarfed by this magnificence, but in the case of Bernard Ribeiro ... The Operatives It is not generally appreciated, that prior to the formation of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717, there were operative lodges which had been functioning well before that date, and were subsequently warranted by the new grand body. In 1912 the Transactions of the Leicester Lodge of Research No.2429 featured a paper by Dr. Thomas Carr explaining that a legitimate Guild of Operative Masons still existed, which also had members who were speculative masons. A short time after in May 1913 at Bedford House (just off the Strand), Dr. Carr who held ... The Humble Builders Three Poems by Martin Stead: The Plumb Rule This Man Began to Build, and Was Not Able to Finish The Hope of Reward "Web Wise" If you were told that a non-mason probably knew more about the history of Freemasonry than most Freemasons, what do you think? Well Professor Andrew Prescott probably does! Professor Andrew Prescott is Director of research into Freemasonry and yet he’s not a mason. The Centre for Research into Freemasonry is the first such centre to be established in a British university. His initial remit was to focus his researches onto the history of Freemasonry during the period 1789-1832, but having heard him talk recently, I feel that the borders will be expanded as this huge task inevitably dictates. Andrew has written some fascinating papers already, Freemasonry and its Inheritance ... Bath and the 'Lost' Furniture It was at a chance encounter late last year with the Assistant Grand Master, David Williamson, that the extraordinary Masonic Hall – the converted Theatre Royal - in Old Orchard Street, Bath, was pointed out to me. Bath is a University City and David Williamson’s interest is in the contacts between University students throughout the country and local masonic authorities. The Masonic Hall at Bath will certainly make an exceptional venue ... Brother Lightfoote's Journal Saint Luke wrote the third gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, and was, it is said, an accomplished painter being credited with an icon of the Virgin. His writings are filled with compassion and his paraphrases of the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son still have the power to move. Thus far, he appears to be a Saint among Saints, but no man is perfect and Luke was a doctor. The medical profession, like the teaching profession and the legal profession, is largely, if not wholly, fraudulent. Surgeons, schoolmasters and solicitors rely on their patients ... Letters to the Editor Unknown Apron — Masonic Enlightenment — Charity — Spiritual Meaning — Prayers — Masonic Challenge — Quality and Commitment — Dresden — Discrimination Review: The Temple that never Sleeps Review: Corona Gladiorum Review: The Miracles of Exodus Canon Richard Tydeman In Freemasonry we find both Labour and Refreshment; we are called from one to the other, and back again ‘that profit and pleasure may be the result.’ Now, at first sight, this might seem to be a rather materialistic and selfish purpose - like investing money in a company merely in order to share in its cash profits and find the pleasure in so doing. Is that really what we mean? Certainly not. A prospective candidate for Freemasonry is always interviewed by a Lodge committee to make sure that his motives are truly ‘masonic’ in every sense; and any applicant who says he wants to join because he thinks that membership of a Lodge would be ‘good for his business’ would very soon ...   Issue 36, Spring 2006 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2008