Perfect Union #10 Annual Banquet

My lodge will be holding it's Annual Banquet on the 19th of January, with guest speaker Michael Wiggins, Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Texas.
Please see below for cost and reservations. Hope to see you all there!

Annual Banquet. 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM, Holiday Inn San Antonio Airport, 77 NE Loop 410.

Speaker: Right Worshipful Michael Wiggins, Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Texas.

Menu: Choice of Chicken Cordon Bleu with Lemon Crème Sauce or Blackened Pacific Salmon with Lemon Dill Sauce. Tea, Coffee, Rolls and Desert. Cash Bar, Door Prizes for the Ladies. Cost: $25.00 per guest, and $25.00 refundable deposit for members.

RSVP:ereich@wireweb.net.

Send checks to Perfect Union Lodge #10, 7145 Park Road 37, Lakehills, TX 78063.

Back to the Alamo

On December 14th 2012, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas M: W: Walter M. Rodgers was received in Alamo Lodge #44 which was held in the Alamo.  This is an annual event that was started in 1982 by Alamo Lodge #44 to receive the newly elected Grand Master and his officers within the the confines of the sacred monument of Texas, the Alamo.  For those real long time readers of this blog, know that in 2007 was the first time I attended this event, and was disappointed in the speech given by then Grand Master M: W: Tommy Griffin, who upset over what he considered to be a slighting over the questions and answers during the examination of the candidate.  He used a phrase that today is still upsetting to me "We aren't the men we use to be".  His attempt to hearken back to circa 1955 left a bad taste in my mouth, and my general view on Grand Lodge Officers.  I will say that this past year I had the honor of meeting and having multiple talks with R: W: Griffin and have found him to be a wonderful man, and mason.

Master Masons and their guests met at the Scottish Rite Cathedral a couple of blocks away from the Alamo in their aprons.  When M: W: Rodgers arrived he was sure to introduce himself to every man in the room.  To me this was refreshing as in the past and at other Masonic events the Grand Master has a tendency to cordon himself off from the general public and surrounds himself with his advisers or other Grand Officers.  I have met M: W: Rodgers twice before tonight, but every time he is friendly and out going.

The event this time was also wonderfully coordinated this time, the procession was started by Master Masons, and their guests to the Alamo being lead by a bag piper.  This effort gave notification to the general public that we were marching towards the Alamo.  This was much better than in years past when we would gaggle from the Scottish Rite Cathedral to the Alamo.  We then formed two lines  and properly greeted our District Deputy Grand Masters and our Grand Line Officers.  From here we entered the Alamo and began the meeting.  During it M: W: Rodgers addressed the crowd and emphasized the hollowed ground and the roles that Masons played during the siege of the Alamo.

It felt good to sit in the Alamo again, it felt good after all this time, and after all that has changed.  If any Mason has a chance to participate in this event I would seriously consider it, I am not from Texas and what locals colorfully refer to as a "transplant".  Still as a man, a combat veteran and a Mason it was inspiring being in a place surrounded by my brethren.

S&F,
-Bro Vick

Confederation of French Grand Lodges Formed

Recieved this from Michael Segall on Tuesday, this is somehwat of an update from the Basle Declaration:

A historical development occurred yesterday (18 December 2012) among the regularly operating, even if not yet widely recognized, French Grand Lodges. The following statement has been published (the text between brackets is mine): “Today, the Grand Lodge of France (GLDF), the Traditional and symbolic Grand Lodge “Opera” (GLTSO), the French National Lodge (LNF, not to be confused with the GLNF), the Grand Lodge of the French Masonic Alliance (GL-AMF) and the Independent Grand Lodge of France (GLIF; constituted like the GL-AMF by the many thousands of Brethren who left the GLNF, totally out of the picture by now), have met together.”

“Sharing the same criteria of regularity and the same Universal Masonic Tradition, they agreed among themselves to start the construction a Confederation, thus demonstrating their will to reorganize the French Masonic landscape in conformity with the Basle Declaration.”

S&F,
 -Bro Vick

Great Priory of England Vote to Withdraw Recognition of the Grand Encampment of the U.S.A.

I was sent an e-mail with the below image showing of a letter from the Great Priory to Provincial Priors that on the 26th of November the Grand Master's Council voted to recommend at the 15 May 2013 Great Priory meeting that recognition be withdrawn from the Grand Encampment of the Knights Templar of the United States of America.

While reason is not stated in the letter, this most likely stems from the Grand Encampment of USA recognizing the Grand Priory of the Scottish Reformed and Rectified Rite of the U.S.A earlier this year.

As I wrote earlier, the Grand Priory of the Scottish Reformed and Rectified Rite is not permitted for Texas Masons, while the international developments continue...

S&F,
-Bro Vick