Volume 64, No. 01
January - February 2017
King Solomon’s Temple
- pg 7
2 Seattle Scottish Rite
Scottish Rite Communicator
Scottish Rite Facts
Valley of Seattle
www.seattle-scottishrite.org
SCOTTISH RITE OFFICERS Ill. Ronald A. Seale, 33° Sovereign Grand Commander Ill. Alvin W. Jorgensen, 33° S:.G:.I:.G:., Orient of Washington Ill. Sat Tashiro, 33° Personal Rep. of S:.G:.I:.G:. pr@seattle-scottishrite.org Dan Southerland, 32° General Secretary secretary@seattle-scottishrite.org Ill. Brian Thomas, 33° Treasurer Tom Lamb, 32° KCCH Almoner
Ill. Greg Goodrich, 33° Communicator Editor
Did you know? Valley of Seattle Membership Statistics (Updated as of November 2016)
Age range
Number of members
75 + 420 50-74 231 18-49 48 Total membership:
699
PRESIDING OFFICERS Jud Chapin, 32° KCCH Master of Kadosh, Consistory Richard Brzustowicz, 32° KCCH Commander, Council of Kadosh Jack Stewart, 32° KCCH Wise Master, Chapter of Rose Croix Bob Guild, 32° Venerable Master, Lodge of Perfection Seattle Scottish Rite Center 1207 N 152nd St Seattle, WA 98133-6213 206 324-3330 voice 206 324-3332 fax The Communicator (USPS 485-660) is published by the Valley of Seattle, A&A Scottish Rite, 1207 N 152nd St., Seattle, WA 98133-6213, for the benefit of its members, bimonthly and is mailed as a non-profit publication to all members of the Valley of Seattle and to specified other interested parties. $2.00 per member is assessed for the publication of The Communicator. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle, Washington and at additional mailing offices. The material contained within this publication is intended for the education and enjoyment of the members of the Masonic Fraternity and all material published becomes the property of Seattle Valley of Scottish Rite. Postmaster: Send address changes to — The Communicator at 1207 N 152nd St., Seattle, WA 98133-6213.
Further breakdown... 90 + 95 80-89 215 70-79 197 50-69 144 40-49 26 30-39 19 18-29 3
Seattle Scottish Rite 3
News from the Personal Representative
T
his Communicator marks the beginning of a new year for the Seattle Valley and its members. The office staff would like to extend our best wishes to all members and their families of the Seattle Valley for a prosperous and healthy new year. This year will see changes in our office. Lorna officially retired in December after many years as our administrative assistant. She will be missed, but hope she will be able to help us as needed in coming months. As of this Communicator, we will be losing Illustrious Greg Goodrich, 33째, as General Secretary, as he assumes a position with increased responsibilities at a technology company. His accomplishments these past years is well known in improving the appearance of our building and the processes he has put in place regarding the financial, fraternal and our physical plant. His enthusiasm and professionalism will be missed. Our best wishes go out to these two individuals who served us long and well. Two 50 year members of our Valley passed away since our last Communicator, we performed the Rose Croix Service in early December for our Brother Al Lehner, 33째, at a service at the Nile, where he was also a longtime member. He passed away in late November. He was a stalwart member of the Seattle Valley for many, many years, and was a faithful cast member of the 30th degree as the departed spirit. We will never forget his inimitable interpretation of that role. We also had a Rose Croix service for Brother Don Smith in November. He was a 50 year member and a dear friend of many in the Masonic fraternity. The November meeting was our annual Red, White and Blue dinner, with four 50 year members recognized, followed by the approval of the 2017 budget and the election of officers for the coming year. Our attendance numbered over 40 including many guests. The officers of the four bodies in the Valley of Seattle, included Brother Don Southerland, Venerable Master elect of the Lodge of Perfection; Wise Master elect Jack Stewart of the Rose Croix; Commander-elect of the Kadosh, Judson Chapin; and the Consistory, Master-elect of the Kadosh Richard Brzustowicz. In early November the 32째 degree, Master of the Royal Secret, also was presented to the class of 2016. The degrees were performed in an exceptional manner. We were honored to cap 8 members of the 2016 class. We also celebrated Scottish Rite day on the same day as our degree, and had a capping ceremony for the class during the lunch hour. The installation of these body leaders, and the other appointed officers and directors will be at our January stated meeting. My appreciation go out to the members of the Financial Committee for the Seattle Valley, who have provided a needed insight into our investments, and which will provide the basis for decisions assuring our continued growth. Their financial acumen will assure our financial stability into the future. OUTLYING CLUBS. The meetings of our two new clubs, one in the South-end of King County meeting at Verity Lodge, and the other in the Eastside meeting at Issaquah Masonic Center are continuing and gaining momentum. We urge all Scottish Rite members, who wish to maintain contact on happenings within the Seattle Valley and are difficult-travel-miles from our Shoreline building, to attend one of the clubs in your area. Aside from our stated meetings we are trying to avoid weekday meetings, and keep our Saturday meetings to a minimum and as short as possible to minimize time away from family. Your attendance at the club meetings is equivalent to attending our stated meetings. Join these clubs. Information on the meeting dates and times should be obtained by contacting the office or the club contacts. Please contact Joseph Marll of the South-end Scottish Rite Club at 206-529-7687, or Brian Thomas of the Eastside Scottish Rite Club at 425-213-3464.
Fraternally, Sat Tashiro, 33째 Personal Representative of the S:.G:.I:.G:.
4 Seattle Scottish Rite
NEW GENERAL SECRETARY
T
he Valley of Seattle is pleased to announce that Brother Dan Southerland, 32° has been appointed by Ill. Al Jorgensen, 33° SGIG as the new General Secretary.
Dan has a wide background with experience in financing, having held a series 6 & 16 license (financial broker) and also in property management. He will make an excellent addition to the Valley team and we look forward to having him as the new General Secretary. Keep an eye on this column in the next issue for an update from Dan.
MORE NEWS
T
he valley administrative assistant Lorna Schack-Tashiro is retiring at the end of the year. Lorna has faithfully worked in the office for the past 16 years and has been an invaluable asset to our organization. She has been here through thick and thin and has seen officers come and go. We owe a great deal for all that she has done for the Valley of Seattle. As many of you know she is married to our PR, Sat Tashiro so you will know doubt see her around the Valley in the future. THANK YOU LORNA!!
Seattle Scottish Rite 5
Past-Secretary Announcement
B
rethren, as many of you have heard by now, I have accepted a position with a new company and have resigned as the General Secretary for the Valley of Seattle. It has truly been an honor to have served our Valley and the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite for the past five years. I feel I have been able to accomplish a great many items that I set out to do when I was appointed the General Secretary in October 2011. Over the past few years my main priority has been to get our Valley back on track from the loss of our old building and dwindling attendance. With a new building in our possession and our membership recovering from the several years of wandering from lodge to lodge, I can safely say we have made it through our trials. At my first meeting as General Secretary we only had a hand full of Brethren in attendance. Since that time I have worked hard to ensure that we have continually provided our membership with a reason to come to our meetings. If you have been to a meeting lately, you will agree that our meetings are not only well attended, but full of education and fellowship. I truly believe that what we have to offer is more than just a stated meeting and a few degrees. We have to ensure that all our members receive value in their membership and look forward to coming every month. As you know we have tried various options and programs over the past few years, some have been an outstanding success, and others have not. But as many of you know, if we don’t try new things, we are standing still and thereby falling behind and letting our brethren down. I truly hope you find the Valley of Seattle a welcoming place now and in the future.
I
also wish to thank all of the countless Brethren who have assisted me during the past few years, but most especially Ill. Sat Tashiro, 33°. Sat truly is a visionary leader who pushes the boundaries and has a passion for the Craft. In addition, I would like to thank Ill. Al Jorgensen, 33° who was elected as our SGIG only one year after my appointment and whom I have had the pleasure of working with. Both Ill. Brothers Tashiro and Jorgensen have always been supportive in the decisions I have made for the Valley, even when to many it was considered controversial or unorthodox. Without both of these Brethren we would not be in the place we are today and as a Valley, we owe them a great deal of gratitude. Our SGIG, Ill. Al Jorgensen, 33° has appointed Brother Dan Southerland, 32° as the new General Secretary for the Valley. I would like to congratulate Dan and give him my best wishes as he moves forward in his new position. I know he will do a great job. I will also hand over the Communicator to Dan as the new editor and look forward to seeing his contributions in the coming issues.
I
leave with a quote from my favorite Roman Emperor, Marcvs Avrelivs - Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life.
Thank you brethren for all your support, I look forward to seeing you at our meetings in the future.
Fraternally, Greg Goodrich, 33°
6 Seattle Scottish Rite
Congratulations 50 Year Members
Brethren that received their 50 year hats and certificates from our Personal Representative of the SGIG, Ill. Sat Tashiro, 33°.
Seattle Scottish Rite 7
KING SOLOMON’S TEMPLE Symbol of Freemasonry
R
eferences to the construction of King Solomon’s temple at Jerusalem have been included in the rituals of the operative freemasons since ancient times. In operative lodges the layout of the lodge room in each of the several degrees symbolises either a stoneyard or the temple building at one of the various stages of construction. As he participates in each of the several degrees, the candidate progressively represents the various types of stone used in the building, until ultimately he represents the plan of the temple. The ceremonial for each degree is based on the preparation and usage of the relevant stone during construction and ultimately on the application of the plan to achieve completion of the temple. The way in which a stone is prepared by a stonemason in the stoneyard and utilised by fitters and erectors on the building site, in conjunction with the application of the plans and gauges, is used to illustrate how an individual should prepare himself for the life hereafter. The moral lessons imparted are also illustrated by the application of the various working tools used at the various stages of the work, not only in the shaping, testing, fitting and marking of the stones, but also during erection on the site. Many aspects of the operative ceremonials and catechisms have been included in the rituals of speculative freemasonry, though in a very abbreviated form.
O
ne of the most learned and distinguished of the early English Freemasons was the Rev Dr George Oliver DD, who studied and wrote extensively on ecclesiastical antiquities and all aspects of speculative Freemasonry. He was descended from an ancient Scottish family of that name, some of who moved to England in the time of King James I. In 1801 he was initiated in St Peter’s Lodge in the city of Peterborough, by his father the Rev Samuel Oliver. In his renowned work, the Revelations of the Square, Dr Oliver says: “The Society adopted the Temple of Solomon for its symbol, because it was the most stable and the most magnificent structure that ever existed, whether we consider its foundation or superstructure; so that of all the societies men have invented, no one was ever more firmly united, or better planned, than the Masons . . . The edifices which Freemasons build are nothing more than virtues or vices to be erected or destroyed; and in this case heaven only occupies their minds, which soar above the corrupted world. The Temple of Solomon denotes reason and intelligence.” This must be one of the most succinct yet comprehensive explanations ever given in respect of the foundation, purpose and symbolism of Freemasonry. It also typifies all aspects of the operative craft from which speculative Freemasonry is derived.
8 Seattle Scottish Rite
T H E
M A S O N I C P H I L O S O P H Y
“Hast any philosophy in thee, Shepherd?” This was the question of Touchstone in the Shakespeare play; and that is the question we must always ask ourselves. Long ago Kant said that it is the mission of philosophy, not to discover truth, but to set it in order, to seek out the rhythm of things and their reason for being. Beginning in wonder, it sees the familiar as if it were strange, and its mind is full of the air that plays round every subject. Spacious, humane, eloquent, it is “a blend of science, poetry, religion and logic” 1—a softening, enlarging, ennobling influence, giving us a wider and clearer outlook, more air, more room, more light, and more background. When we look at Masonry in this large and mellow light, it is like a stately old cathedral, gray with age, rich in associations, its steps worn by innumerable feet of the living and the dead—not piteous, but strong and enduring. Entering its doors, we wonder at its lofty spaces, its windows with the dimness and glory of the Infinite behind them, the spring of its pillars, the leap of its arches, and its roof inlaid with stars. Inevitably we ask, whence came this temple of faith and friendship, and what does it mean—rising lightly as a lyric, uplifted by the hunger for truth and the love for beauty, and exempt from the shock of years and the ravages of decay? What faith builded this home of the soul, what philosophy underlies and upholds it? Truly did Longfellow sing of The Builders: In the elder years of art, Builders wrought with greatest care Each minute and hidden part, For the gods see everywhere. If we examine the foundations of Masonry, we find that it rests upon the most fundamental of all truths, the first truth and the last, the sovereign and supreme Reality. Upon the threshold of its Lodges every man, whether prince or peasant, is asked to confess his faith in God the Father Almighty, the Architect and Master-Builder of the Universe. 1 That is not a mere form of words, but the deepest and most solemn affirmation that human lips can make. To be indifferent to God is to be indifferent to the greatest of all realities, that upon which the aspiration of humanity rests for its uprising passion of desire. No institution that is dumb concerning the meaning of life and the character of the universe, can last. It is a house built upon the sand, doomed to fall when the winds blow and floods beat upon it, lacking a sure foundation. No human fraternity that has not its inspiration in the Fatherhood of God, confessed or unconfessed, can long endure; it is a rope of sand, weak as water, and its fine sentiment quickly evaporates. Life leads, if we follow its meanings and think in the drift of its deeper conclusions, to one God as the ground of the world, and upon that ground Masonry lays her corner-stone. Therefore, it endures and grows, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it! While Masonry is theocratic in its faith and philosophy, 1 it does not limit its conception of the Divine, much less insist upon any one name for “the Nameless One of a hundred names.” Indeed, no feature of Masonry is more fascinating that its age-long quest of the Lost Word, the Ineffable Name; a quest that never tires, never tarries, knowing the while that every name is inadequate, and all words are but symbols of a Truth too great for words—every letter of the alphabet, in fact, having been evolved from some primeval sign or signal of the faith and hope of humanity. Thus Masonry, so far from limiting the thought of God, is evermore in search of a more satisfying and revealing vision of the meaning of the universe, now luminous and lovely, now dark and terrible; and it invites all men to unite in the quest—
Seattle Scottish Rite 9
One in the freedom of the Truth, One in the joy of paths untrod, One in the soul’s perennial Youth, One in the larger thought of God. Truly the human consciousness of fellowship with the Eternal, under whatever name, may well hush all words, still more hush argument and anathema. Possession, not recognition, is the only thing important; and if it is not recognized, the fault must surely be, in large part, our own. Given the one great experience, and before long kindred spirits will join in the Universal Prayer of Alexander Pope, himself a Mason: Father of all! in every age, In every clime adored, By Saint, by Savage, and by Sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord! With eloquent unanimity our Masonic thinkers proclaim the unity and love of God—whence their vision of the ultimate unity and love of mankind—to be the great truth of the Masonic philosophy; the unity of God and the immortality of the soul. Amidst polytheisms, dualisms, and endless confusions, they hold it to have been the great mission of Masonry to preserve these precious truths, beside which, in the long result of thought and faith, all else fades and grows dim. Of this there is no doubt; and science has come at last to vindicate this wise insight, by unveiling the unity of the universe with overwhelming emphasis. Unquestionably the universe is an inexhaustible wonder. Still, it is a wonder, not a contradiction, and we can never find its rhythm save in the truth of the unity of all things in God. Other clue there is none. Down to this deep foundation Masonry digs for a basis of its temple, and builds securely. If this be false or unstable, then is The pillar’d firmament rottenness, And earth’s base built on stubble. Upon the altar of Masonry lies the open Bible which, despite the changes and advances of the ages, remains the greatest Modern Book—the moral manual of civilization. All through its pages, through the smoke of Sinai, through “the forest of the Psalms,” through proverbs and parables, along the dreamy ways of prophecy, in gospels and epistles is heard the everlasting truth of one God who is love, and who requires of men that they love one another, do justly, be merciful, keep themselves unspotted by evil, and walk humbly before Him in whose great hand they stand. There we read of the Man of Galilee who taught that, in the far distances of the divine Fatherhood, all men were conceived in love, and so are akin—united in origin, duty, and destiny. Therefore we are to relieve the distressed, put the wanderer into his way, and divide our bread with the hungry, which is but the way of doing good to ourselves; for we are all members of one great family, and the hurt of one means the injury of all. This profound and reverent faith from which, as from a never-failing spring, flow heroic devotedness, moral selfrespect, authentic sentiments of fraternity, inflexible fidelity in life and effectual consolation in death, Masonry has at all times religiously taught. Perseveringly it has propagated it through the centuries, and never more zealously than in our age. Scarcely a Masonic discourse is pronounced, or a Masonic lesson read, by the highest officer or the humblest lecturer, that does not earnestly teach this one true religion which is the very soul of Masonry, its basis and apex, its light and power. Upon that faith it rests; in that faith it lives and labors; and by that faith it will conquer at last, when the noises and confusions of today have followed the tangled feet that made them.
10 S e a t t l e S c o t t i s h R i t e
Messages Happy Birthday!
Congratulations from all your Scottish Rite brethren to our members over 90 who have reached a very important birthday!
January
February
Roy Brown
1/14/1921
Willard Smith
2/28/1922
Edward Hauff
1/23/1924
Sprague Vigus
2/27/1924
Rudy Coffing
1/29/1924
Brian Kirkpatrick 2/28/1925
William Ellzey
1/8/1925
Gordon Mc Carrell 1/19/1926 William Aiken
1/11/1927
Candidates for the 2017 class wanted! See Secretary or office staff for a membership packet.
S e a t t l e S c o t t i s h R i t e 11
C a l e n d a r
MONTH
www.seattle-scottishrite.org
TIME
EVENT
Saturday Jan. 7th
09:00 am
ExCo Meetings (Library)
Tuesday Jan. 17th
6:30 pm
Stated Meeting (Installation of officers)
Saturday Feb. 4th
09:00 am
ExCo Meetings (Library)
Tuesday Feb. 21st
6:30 pm
Stated Meeting
January
February
WANTED We are looking for one or two new members for our finance committee. Please see the General Secretary column on page 4 for more information.
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Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 1207 N 152nd St. Shoreline, WA 98133-6247
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