Hunter’s Paradise #85 Trestle Board
Volume II, Issue #2 - February 2014
HUNTER’S PARADISE #85 FEBRUARY 2014 From the East: On the Character of HP # 85 WM Bob Beffel
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From the Secretary’s
A View from the East… Brethren, At the last officers meeting, we discussed the “Character of Hunter’s Paradise” with the intent of putting it in writing who we are as a Lodge and why do we exist with the end goal of creating a “Mission Statement” for all to see. Some of the ideas that came up while brainstorming what we are: Friendly group of men
who perform excellent ritual and have a good time while doing it Shrine Oriented so that
nobles who have not been in Lodge for a while, want to come back Get back to the roots of
making Good Men Better A place to make a Rusty
Nail useable again
Support
the Masonic journey thru affiliated and concordant bodies
We also talked about what we are not: Research Lodge or Tradi-
tional Observance (TO) Lodge
Desk: A clean one this month Secretary, WB George Mather
Masonic Education An Inconvenient Truth About Freemasonry By R.W.Bro. Nelson
From the West: The Gunner and The Colonel by Senior Warden, Bill Enloe
From the South:
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The “Rustnail” mason Junior Warden, Mark Brown
A Shrine Mill that raises
Masons for the sole purpose of becoming Shriners
Hunter’s Paradise Lodge #85 2014 Officers
A secret society, but ra-
ther a society with lessons to be learned thru symbols and stories A Religion, but rather
men who believe in a Supreme Being that holds its believers accountable The Shrine Ritual Team –
that is a separate group (Continued on page 6)
Upcoming Activities March 24, 2014 (Stated) March 28-30, 2014
Grand Lodge 2014 Retreat Casa Grande (Holiday Inn) April 28, 2014 (Stated) May 26, 2014 (Stated) June 5-7, 2014
132nd Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Arizona Scottsdale (Chaparral Suites )
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Hunter’s Paradise #85 Trestle Board
Volume II, Issue #2 - February 2014
From the Secretary’s Desk… The Secretary’s desk is pretty clean for this month. We have a petition for membership that should be voted on and we also have a new petition for dual membership. All of our dues are paid. There are a few Brothers that still have not signed the By-Laws for the Lodge. They can come out and sign them at the Stated meeting on the 24th There are several pieces of ByLaw changes to be voted on at the February 24, 2014 Stated meeting.
We have name tags that are ready for the members to pick up. Many petitions have been handed out to our Brothers for possible new membership and affiliation or dual membership. If you have any ready please get to my desk by 6:00 PM on the 24th Fraternally,
“Above all things let us never forget that mankind constitutes one great brotherhood; all born to encounter suffering and sorrow, and therefore bound to sympathize with each other. ”
George Mather Z Secretary
~Bro. Albert Pike
Masonic Education... An Inconvenient Truth About Freemasonry By R.W.Bro. Nelson King Before I tell you the Inconvenient Truth About Freemasonry, let me first tell you that I confess that I am a Born Again, Fundamentalist, Freemason. Now before you have a cardiac arrest, or a stroke, let me explain what a Born Again, Fundamentalist, Freemason is. I used to be a very [for want of a better word] liberal Mason. I am now a very Conservative or Traditionalist, Freemason. Therefore, I am
Born Again. By Fundamentalist, I mean that: I believe that no one has a
right to be a Freemason. I believe those who want
to be Freemasons must be good and true men, free born and of a mature and discreet age and sound judgment, no bondsmen, no women, no immoral or scandalous men, only men of good report. I believe that a man who
wants to be a Freemason 2
must believe in the existence of God, and take his Obligation on Volume of The Sacred Law of his choice and that he owes a (Masonic Education on page 4)
Hunter’s Paradise #85 Trestle Board
Volume II, Issue #2 - February 2014
From the West… Often I think to myself, “What does it take to be a leader?” Some may say that a leader is the one who takes on an elected position, but I feel a leader is far more than that. A leader, to me, is one who has the respect of the people around him (or her) regardless of the position he (or she) holds. The leader will gain the respect of others without asking for his or her respect. It is not done by showing how we are better at something than others, but by mentoring our brothers to becoming leaders too. When I was in the military, I temporarily worked in the operations section of an infantry reg-
iment. The Colonel was the one who was in charge of the regiment, but he often would go to the GUNNER for tactical and expert advice. The GUNNER was a warrant officer, and was rumored to have been one of the original recruits at Tun Tavern. So, even though the GUNNER held a lower rank than the Colonel one could say that he was a leader by stature. He never would offer advice that would make the Colonel feel inferior and often he would offer opinions in a way that would be the original thoughts of the Colonel. (SW Enloe on page 6)
2014 Elected Officers
Worshipful Master Robert “Bob” Beffel 602-403-6771 Bob.beffel@cox.net
Senior Warden William “Bill” Enloe 480-861-2440 bill.enloe@cox.net
Junior Warden Mark Brown 480-220-0209 mbbrownaz@q.com
Secretary WB George Mather 480-254-5328 zklown1999@aol.com or huntersparadise85@yahoo.com
From the South… I am honored that you have allowed me to serve as your Junior Warden for the year 2014. Becoming a pedestal officer and Master was a goal when I was raised as a Master Mason in my Kansas Lodge, Zeredatha #80, while still attending Kansas State. Through a combination of starting my engineering career and family, and the physical separation from my home Lodge, that goal was temporarily put on hold for 33 years. I am fortunate my Brothers at Hunter’s Paradise saw their trust and have given me the opportunity to achieve one step of that goal.
Hunter’s Paradise Lodge #85
If you are a rusty nail sideliner like I was, as the saying goes, Treasurer ‘It’s never too late to learn’. Yes, Phil Houghton as the years have drifted past 602-622-0835 and the dark hairs have turned phoughton@q.com lighter, becoming proficient is a little more work than it was 33 years ago, but definitely rewardAppointed Officers ing. I encourage everyone, Senior Deacon—JJ Jennings whether you are a rusty nail or a newly raised Brother to get pro- Junior Deacon - Jim Hoover PM ficient. Whether it is a degree in your own Lodge or part of a de- Senior Steward – James Leppert gree team, there are plenty of opJunior Steward - Pete Speas portunities to get involved, to Marshal - Walt Lockie make good men better. Chaplain - Merle Anderson
Mark Brown Junior Warden
Tyler – Mel Linberg
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Hunter’s Paradise #85 Trestle Board (Masonic Education from page 2)
duty to that God and to his fellow man no matter what their creed, color, or religion. I believe that a Freema-
son is obliged to obey the moral and civil law. I believe that a man's re-
ligion or mode of worship should not exclude him from the Order of Freemasonry, provided he also believes in the existence of a Supreme Being, and that Supreme Being will punish vice and reward virtue. I believe that a Freema-
son is bound never to act against the dictates of his conscience. I believe that Freemason-
ry is the center of union between honest men and the happy means of conciliating friendship amongst those who must otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.
I believe a Freemason’s Lodge is the temple of peace, harmony, and brotherly love; nothing is allowed to enter this
Volume II, Issue #2 - February 2014 Lodge which has the remotest tendency to disturb the quietude of its pursuits. I believe all preferment
among Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal merit only, therefore no Brother should be passed chair to chair, whether it is in a Lodge or a Grand Lodge, just because he knows the right people or has held the previous office for one year, no Grand Master, Master or Warden is chosen by seniority, but only for his merit. I believe that there is
nothing wrong with Freemasonry, as laid down for our instruction in our Ancient Charges. I am a Born Again Fun-
damentalist, Freemason. Now having got that out of the way let us proceed to the Inconvenient Truth About Freemasonry, in the English Speaking world, which is your father’s Freemasonry is in its death throes, it is lying on the floor in front of us writhing in pain, grasping its
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last breath, waiting for someone to put it out of its misery. While I could spend hours telling you about the decline in North American Freemasonry, or what has caused this decline I would be just wasting your time. You all know about the loss of membership, the lack of new members, the lack of Masonic Knowledge or Education of our members, and even the lack of leadership in our beloved Craft. Also, from a perusal of Grand Lodge Proceedings of various jurisdictions, there is a disturbing thread that appears to weave its way through many of them. There is a higher incidence of Masonic trials than that which may be considered normal for an institution professing to be so selective in accepting petitions. In many cases, the type of activity, which give rise to the trial, is such that the integrity of the Masonic structure may be at stake. Murder, rape, child molestation, armed robbery, wife beating, fraud and forgery are no longer uncommon charges giving rise to Masonic trials. There are too many members and not enough Masons. We have let (Masonic Education on page 5)
Hunter’s Paradise #85 Trestle Board (Masonic Education from page 4)
every Tom, Dick and Harry into our gentle craft; we have not guarded the west gate. And somewhere along the way we let the Ritualists take over our Lodges. The performance of the Ritual became more important then what the Ritual teaches. However, the other Inconvenient Truth About Freemasonry, which is our Forefathers Freemasonry, is alive and well and growing. In most cases they are growing at a rate of at a rate of 10 percent a year. And candidates are lining up to get in. I am talking about Traditional Freemasonry. First we must agree that Freemasonry is not for everyone. I become disturbed from time to time when I see the eroding of quality in leadership at the level of a Grand Lodge. Yet, I am well aware that a Grand Lodge can only reflect the quality of its constituent Lodges. If there is poor quality in the Lodge, poor quality at Grand Lodge level cannot be avoided. It is inescapable-quality in Lodges cannot be improved without proper scrutiny of the rude material
Volume II, Issue #2 - February 2014
brought to our Lodge doors. We need make no apology to anyone who would offer himself for membership. The accepted candidate will prize his membership more highly if he is aware that all his Lodge brothers have passed the quality test as he has done. An accepted candidate will have a low regard for his membership if he has not been investigated to reveal serious flaws he knows he possesses. He will assume all his Lodge brothers have equally serious character flaws. Let us do proper investigations, complete with police checks and credit checks. Let us look at my Grand Lodge the Gran Logia de Costa Rica: When you apply, you provide a color picture of yourself, curriculum vitae, a written Police Report, and a written credit report. The GL then make up a notice containing your picture etc., which is then placed in every Lodge Building in the Country for ONE YEAR. If this form is taken down and given to the Master of a Lodge with an explanation, the process stops. If the form is not 5
removed an investigation committee is formed. This committee will take up to a year. Therefore the time from when you apply to when you get your EA is 2 years. There is at least a year between degrees. Here it is what the ritual teaches, not the performance of the ritual that counts. Secondly, lodges should be kept small, [no larger than 65 members] the dues structure should such that the Lodge is self-sustaining. For example, the cost of join should be $1000.00 and yearly dues of $300.00 - $400.00 a dollar a day. Now before you say that this means that a good man who has not the financial resources cannot be made a Mason, or that those elderly Brethren on fixed incomes would have to drop out. Let me make it perfectly clear, that any good man who should be a Mason, but cannot afford it, or any Brother that cannot pay the dues, their dues are then paid by their Brethren. After all is this not one of our Tenets [Relief] and in these Lodges it is practiced.
(Masonic Education on page 6)
Hunter’s Paradise #85 Trestle Board (WM Beffel from page 1)
with many of the same members If others would like to submit comments before we finalize (SW Enloe from page 3)
How does this story pertain to the Lodge? For me, it is that some of the strongest leaders we have in our Lodge may not have nor will ever hold an (Masonic Education from page 5)
Thirdly, Brethren should be expected to attend Lodge. If you are going to be absent, you should have written the Secretary or at least phoned him and told him why you are missing the meeting. Most Traditional Style Lodges average 85 - 90% attendance at every meeting. This far cry from a Lodge that has 500 members and some nights there are not enough bodies to even open the Lodge. The Festive Board is an integral part of this Freemasonry; here fellowship that was started in the Lodge Room has a chance to grow and to prosper. The sense of community is once again fostered. And yes in most Traditional Grand Lodges liquor is allowed, but never to excess. Once again
Volume II, Issue #2 - February 2014
our Mission Statement, please submit them to the Secretary or Worshipful Master before the end of March as we would like to have our Mission State-
ment completed for the April Stated Meeting.
elected position and I feel they are here to teach me to be a better leader. They may not know they are doing or want the job if they were asked, but they are true leaders of the Lodge and have a far more im-
portant role in the Lodge. So, I thank and appreciate you for being there as the True Leaders of our Lodge.
the Ancient Charges which state. "You may enjoy yourself with innocent mirth, treating one another according to ability, but avoid excess, or forcing any brother to eat or drink beyond his inclination," give us direction on how Masons should act and can be found in the Section entitled "Behaviors After The Lodge Is Over and The Brethren Not Gone."
I would like all of you to stand--now I would like you to turn to the Brother beside you and grasp his hand with the Grip of a Mason.
My Brethren we have forgotten just how basic our fraternity is. Maybe it is time we once again read those Ancient Charges. Maybe it is time we stopped trying to improve Freemasonry, stop trying to find quick fixes and got back to our roots. Brethren I have closed every talk I have given in the last 15 years this way and tonight will not be any different. 6
Fraternally, Bob Beffel Worshipful Master
Bill Enloe Senior Warden
Now I want you to ask yourself how many Masons would you trust with your life savings, your home, your family's wellbeing, and even your life, on that Grip. If you are honest, the answers will be "not many" or "very few" or even "I can count on one hand the number that I would trust." Why even some of you, will say to yourself "not one." Well my Brethren, it never used to be like this. What a shame that Freemasonry has sunk so low. It is up to each and every one of you to bring our Gentle Craft back to its former glory.