Learned MEN
Masonic Education Network The Masonic Education Network (MEN) is an inter-jurisdictional group that has existed since January 2018. Our organising committee has members from NSW and Victoria and our participants come from all states of Australia, with regular attendees from Asia, Scotland, America and Sweden. Our reputation reaches into networks in the USA and the UK.
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espite that, it is generally known that the impetus for this work has come from a team of brothers that are essentially from NSW. We interviewed W Bro Dr Philip Quadrio to find out more. Ed. Where did the speakers come from: local/interstate/overseas? How much of an issue were time zone differences? PQ. We have had a good mix of speakers from Australian and international jurisdictions and a large number of local presenters. Our speakers have come from: the Philippines; from the US; two from Scotland; two from England; two from Portugal, and one from Sweden. We are currently working with brethren from other international jurisdictions to round this out. Our two presenters from England were particularly prominent; the General Manager of Lewis Masonic (Martin Faulks) and well known masonic author Dr David Harrison (PhD). Additionally, we have had a number of presentations from Victorians. Time-zones did not present an issue for speakers from England, Europe or Asia and the one
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March 2021
Cryptic Masonic knowledge
US speaker was happy to accommodate us (by starting at 5am!). Ed. What sort of spread was there regarding audience suitability? Degrees, Orders etc. PQ. Most participants have been MMs, with a few less-experienced brethren participating when appropriate. Many would have affiliations with other Orders but we do not enquire about that. Ed. Was there a discernible level of difficulty? Some really basic stuff and some incredibly difficult?
PQ. Not really, we keep our meetings relatively informal and friendly. While we were at first a little nervous about vetting attendees, the waiting room has essentially solved that problem and this was implemented almost immediately after we commenced. The important thing is that our committee has three members who work in the tertiary sector (two in teaching/research capacities and one in a quality control). This is backed up by committee members with technical expertise and experience in Masonry. Ed. What sort of percentage of speakers did not have English as their first language? Did this create difficulties? PQ. While all presenters have been quite fluent some of our speakers from the Philippines and one of our speakers from Portugal did not have English as their first language. On the horizon we hope to have other European presenters. Ed. Can you give our readers some examples of some really meaty controversial topics? PQ. We have had David Harrison discussing Continental Masonic Orders, a great many of which are unusual by anglophone standards. Figures such as Martinez de Pasqually and Louis Claude de Saint Martin, who, along with JeanBaptiste Willermoz are significant to the Rectified Scottish Rite (RER) are often seen as unusual figures in anglophone Masonry. Also, we have regularly discussed Jacobite Masonry and the Scottish pre-history of Masonry. While many masons have not looked into the topic, it has been so well established by academic historians it is difficult to deny that the birth of speculative Masonry had a very important Scottish Jacobite component. Indeed the first speculative lodges in France were formed by Scottish and Irish soldiers accompanying James II into exile and led to the first French lodges at Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, dating from around 1683. Ed. Can you nominate topics that were stunning successes and dismal failures? PQ. One of the most successful nights was the Martin Faulks talk on the Art of Memory. Martin – off the cuff and with no notes – stepped us through what is a 60+ page pamphlet he has written on the Art (first mentioned in the Second Schaw
Integrity – Loyalty – Respect Freemason
