International Masonic Order Delphi has new U.S. website

http://www.delphiorder.us/

I am happy to announce that the order I belong to, International Masonic Order Delphi, has a new website for our U.S. lodges: http://www.delphiorder.us/

New Work by Willy Gutman

I would like to announce that my dear friend Willy Gutman has authored a new book which will be available for worldwide release in September 2012. I am certain that Bro. Willy's new work will be as stimulating and enlightening as his previous works. An article regarding his book can be found here: http://www.ccbpublishing.com/9781927360965.html

Erato, the muse of lyric poetry

I know it has been quite awhile again since I last posted, January to be exact. I hope to be posting on a masonic topic in the next few weeks, and I appreciate the patience of my blog's followers. Having completed my M.A. in History and an M.A. in English, I am currently one-third of the way through a Master of Humanities program. School has kept me quite busy (especially my poetry class, since I have no experience with poetry), but I will have more postings coming very soon. Thank you.

Knowing the Acacia

It has been a long journey, but this past Saturday I was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason in Salt Lake City. My Masonic path has taken many twists and turns, largely due to political factors involving the obediences I was affiliated with in the past, but I have grown and learned during that time.

I was initiated as an Entered Apprentice on September 30, 2008 in Lodge Intrepid of the GOUSA, then passed to the degree of Fellow Craft on July 19, 2010 in Worshipful Lodge New Isis of the George Washington Union. Now I can proudly say that I have been raised to the degree of Master Mason in Worshipful Lodge Athena of the International Masonic Order Delphi on the 14th of January 2012.

I would like to take this time to thank the wonderful Brothers and Sisters that assisted with my raising and also offer my congratulations to the two Brothers that were raised with me. What is worth having is worth working, and waiting for.

Earning the Title of Freemason

I was thinking today about the Sisters at Lodge Aletheia in Los Angeles, a lodge that I have had the pleasure of visiting more than once, and the dedication that they show to Freemasonry.

Lodge Aletheia belongs to the Women’s Grand Lodge of Belgium and has sister lodges in Washington D.C. and New York. The founders had to travel to Belgium to be initiated, passed, and raised, which in itself is an indicator of their dedication to bringing women’s Masonry to the United States.

The sisters are required to attend education meetings at 10 am, followed by a break for lunch, and the lodge opens at 2 pm and normally lasts until 5pm, followed by a common meal (in the European tradition this is known as an Agape).

How many of us would be willing to commit ourselves to what is essentially an entire Saturday for Masonic work, and this is every month?

As with those mainstream lodges that belong to the Masonic Restoration Foundation or that follow a European Lodge pattern, these are the lodges that are the future of Freemasonry in this country.

Those lodges that require commitment and hard work are the lodges that prosper and attract the highest quality candidates. Lodge Aletheia turns away more candidates than it accepts, as I can testify to personally. At one blindfold interview session I was witness to, only one of three women applying to the lodge was accepted for initiation.

If we don’t ask much of our members, we should not expect much. Being a Freemason is a privilege and an honor. It is not an entitlement. When the West Gate is opened to whoever knocks, there is no telling who we are letting in the door; Freemasonry must maintain high standards to be a beneficial and quality organization.

International Masonic Order Delphi

I know that it is quite awhile since I have posted here, the summer has been quite busy. I recently affiliated with the International Masonic Order Delphi.

I have had the pleasure of getting to know some wonderful brothers and sisters in the Delphi Order, which is headquartered in Greece, and is growing in the United States. Originally part of Le Droit Humain in Greece, the Order serves as an umbrella of sorts for the Mixed Grand Lodge of Greece, the Mixed Grand Lodge of Romania, and the Mixed Grand Lodge of Bulgaria. The lodges in the U.S. are under the Greek Grand Lodge. The Delphi Order is a member of Clipsas as well, as is the GWU, the Women's Grand Lodge of Belgium, and many other progressive Masonic Orders.

What was once just Lodge Athena in Salt Lake City has now grown to Prometheus Lodge in Phoenix, Helios Triangle in Las Vegas, and soon to be Apollo Triangle in Austin.

These are truly exciting times for co-masonry in the United States and I know that the Delphi Order will play an important role in liberal Freemasonry's future here.

More information of the International Masonic Order Delphi can be found here:
http://www.delphiorder.org/eng/index.htm

The Growth of Liberal Freemasonry

I am very pleased to observe the continued growth of Liberal, adogmatic Freemasonry in North America. While such Masonry is still quite small in comparison to the mainstream Anglo-American variety, the development of European style Masonry is cause for celebration.

In Phoenix, Arizona, Lodge Prometheus of the International Masonic Order Delphi, with headquarters in Athens, Greece, recently began offering Masonic Light in the Southwest.

Praxis Lodge, located in Boise, Idaho, formerly a lodge of the troubled GOUSA, has affiliated with the George Washington Union and recently initiated three Sisters.

And it was announced yesterday that the International Masonic Order Delphi has started a Triangle (Lodge in formation) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

These are wonderful developments, and offer an authentic Freemasonic option for people throughout the Western United States.

Congratulations to the Brothers and Sisters of Praxis Lodge, Prometheus Lodge, and Lodge Helios!

Masonic Intolerance

Thank you to my dear friend and Brother Willy Gutman for the following essay:


Masonic Intolerance: The Enemy Within

W. E. Gutman


Freemasonry is the world's oldest and largest fraternal society. It encourages men to improve themselves by embracing ethical principles and working for the welfare of humanity. In its lodges, men of diverse backgrounds labor in harmony. Guided by universal principles, Freemasonry promotes democracy. It fosters civic responsibility. It teaches tolerance and respect for the dignity of man. Its optic is holistic. The eye through which it peers is all-encompassing.



Yet, from its earliest origins, Freemasonry has faced political and religious hostility. Often unrelenting and violent, antagonism toward the Craft has focused on its advocacy of progressive concepts -- Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, with Tolerance being the overarching Masonic virtue. Its fiercest enemies also contrived to thwart the spread of key objectives: free thought, erudition, rational discourse, the pursuit of truth and the separation of church and state.


Persecution of Freemasons has always been fiercest in times of social and religious turmoil and during those great upheavals that have led men to war, epochs marked by an absence of “Light,” by a marked decline in the civilizing effect of reason and by fits of collective madness.


The Inquisition, the Vatican, Hitler and Stalin, to name a few, were rabid foes of Freemasonry. Nazis and fascists regarded Freemasonry as a tool of socialism. Communists viewed it as an elitist agent of bourgeois values. The Craft had already been dealt a mortal blow during the 1917 Bolshevik uprising. Fearful that clandestine lodges might have survived in Russia, Stalin, a dangerous sociopath, banned affiliation under penalty of death. Freemasonry disappeared or lay dormant in post-war satellite nations until the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is still discouraged or banned under totalitarian and theocratic regimes.


An anti-Masonic crusade now blazes on in America on two fronts, both inspired by intolerance. Fire-and-brimstone preachers can be heard haranguing against Freemasonry on AM and short-wave radio stations and in houses of worship across the land. Some of the enormities they level against the Craft are so deranged as to inhibit coherent dialogue.


More insidious, is a subtle profanation of Tolerance that took decades to bear fruit when American Freemasonry veered away from its European roots, when it ceased to be an instrument of enlightenment and social reform, when it turned inwardly and changed from a coalition of open-minded, socially progressive men (think the Founding Fathers) into a bastion of religious and political conservatism out of tune with the Craft’s original values and objectives.



Worse, as religious fundamentalists continue to malign and defame Freemasonry from without, a “fifth column” of Freemasons -- all “states’ rights” absolutists who view even benign governance as malignant, now labor from within the Craft to turn Freemasonry into an agent of ultra-right-wing ideology.



Dogmatism and intolerance are inimical to the Masonic ideal. Both should be regarded as depravities apt to further disfigure The Craft.



Regrettably, tolerance, the guiding principle of Freemasonry, is endowed with a troubling flaw. Like democracy, which tolerates the existence of undemocratic ideas and institutions, tolerance too can be self-defeating if it extends to dogmas and attitudes that are inherently anti-egalitarian. Victor Hugo, humanist, agnostic, social activist and "Mason without an apron" understood both reality and idealism. But his concept of idealism was neither mystical nor abstract. His reading of the stirrings that carry men to lofty heights was tangible and goal-oriented. It called for -- as his monumental works, Notre Dame de Paris, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and, more notably, Les Misérables attest -- an unshakable commitment to tolerance and social justice, compassion for the poor, the voiceless, the disenfranchised, the persecuted, and he urged people to agitate against predatory economic policies, political hypocrisy, censorship and exploitation. What Hugo said is that Tolerance should not be a clearing house for intolerance – least of all in a lodge of Masons.


-------------------------------------------------------
Entered, passed and raised at King Hiram #12 in Shelton, CT, W. E. Gutman is a widely published veteran journalist and author. From 1994 to 2006 he was on assignment in Central America where he covered politics, the military, human rights and other socio-economic issues. He lives in southern California’s High Desert. He is a former member of Lancaster Lodge 437 and Tehachapi Lodge 313.

Masonic Light

The term "Masonic Light" is used frequently to describe the illumination that Freemasonry imparts to its members. What is this light, how do we define it?

A Mainstream brother from Canada, John W. Alexander, in his paper entitled "Fiat Lux: Some Thoughts on Masonic Light," writes that it is a "...veritable searchlight aimed at Truth." According to Bro. Alexander, "The extent of our enlightenment is determined by our ability to recognize ignorance or error."

Recognizing error requires the ability to see things as they really are. We must perceive the truth and the reality that exists behind objects. Masonic light is intimately related to the concept of truth.

How do we attain to this light? Is it simply acquiring knowledge of Masonic history, symbols, passwords, and grips? Is it the ability of an individual to discourse on Masonic Subjects?

Obviously not, as many are quite knowledgeable about such things, yet in no way can these individuals be considered Masons. Such knowledge can be obtained through books readily available in any library, or online. No amount of knowing facts, names, dates, passwords, or other such data makes an individual a Freemason.

Masonic light illuminates the truth. Truth is not a relative word. Differences in religious, political, and philosophical beliefs are matters of personal opinion, but truth, as it is employed in our day-to-day dealings with others, requires an absolute quality.

Individuals that attempt to deceive, who lack the virtues of honesty, transparency, humility, and tolerance, are not, and never will be, Freemasons.

It is unfortunate that in the world today there are many that claim the title "Freemason" yet through their actions betray their lack of Masonic virtues. Operating under a false flag (activities designed to deceive the public in such a way that they appear as though they are being carried out by other entities), lying about their achievements, claiming lodges that do not exist, and spreading disinformation is hardly the behavior of a Freemason. Honesty and “circumscribing the passions” are concepts foreign to such people.

These “Masons” have no light to impart to anyone.

If we attempt to acquire Masonic light without a solid foundation in the Masonic Virtues of Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice, than we may as well not waste our time or energies on what would be a fool’s errand. Any attempt at building on a foundation based on the opposites of these virtues, namely, excess, weakness, recklessness, and illegality, would be an exercise in futility.

Any individual, man, or woman, that lacks integrity, should not waste time approaching the West Gate. There are many that would prefer to remain citizens of the profane world and that is as it should be; It is regrettable though that there are so many cowans about making mischief these days.

Thomas Paine: Deist

There seems to be confusion in some circles as to the beliefs of the celebrated author and patriot, Thomas Paine. Curiously, he is being championed by many in the atheist community as one of their own, when in fact, Paine was never an atheist.

Thomas Paine is recognized as one of the preeminent advocates of Deism, a philosophy that, according to Wikipedia believes:

"that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that a supreme being created the universe. Further the term often implies that this supreme being does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the natural laws of the universe. Deists typically reject supernatural events such as prophecy and miracles, tending to assert that God (or "The Supreme Architect") has a plan for the universe that is not to be altered by intervention in the affairs of human life. Deists believe in the existence of God without any reliance on revealed religion, religious authority or holy books."

The following quotes from Paine demonstrate that he believed in God:


"I content myself with believing, even to positive conviction, that the power that gave me existence is able to continue it, in any form and manner He pleases, either with or without this body; and it appears more probable to me that I shall continue to exist hereafter than that I should have had existence, as I now have, before that existence began."
—The Age of Reason

"It has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my thoughts upon religion. . . . The circumstance that has now taken place in France of the total abolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of everything appertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and compulsive articles of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but rendered a work of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest in the general wreck of superstition, of false systems of government and false theology, we lose sight of morality, of humanity and of the theology that is true."
-The Age of Reason

"I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.
I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy."
-The Age of Reason

"Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that instructs him to be bad."

"Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us."

Paine denied the claims of divine revelation that the religions of his day claimed, but also stated:

"No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a communication, if he pleases."

"When we examine an extraordinary piece of machinery, an astonishing pile of architecture, a well executed statue or a highly finished painting where life and action are imitated...our ideas are naturally led to think of the extensive genius and talents of the artist. When we study the elements of geometry, we think of Euclid. When we speak of gravitation, we think of Newton. How then is it, that when we study the works of God in the creation, we stop short, and do not think of God? It is from the error of the schools in having taught those subjects as accomplishments only, and thereby separated the study of them from the Being who is the author of them. . . ."
-The Study of God, Delivered in Paris on January 16, 1797

"The evil that has resulted from the error of the schools in teaching natural philosophy as an accomplishment only has been that of generating in the pupils a species of atheism. Instead of looking through the works of the creation to the Creator himself, they stop short, and employ the knowledge they acquire to create doubts of His existence."
-The Study of God, Delivered in Paris on January 16, 1797

Thomas Paine was highly critical of organized religion as he saw it practiced in society. He especially criticized Christianity and Judaism, and rejected the Bible as being the revealed word of God. It was his criticism of organized religion that has been so attractive to atheists to the present, however, to present Paine as an advocate of atheism is disingenuous at best.

As can be seen from the above quotes, Paine was never an atheist,and made it abundantly clear that he believed in a Creator God that sustained the Universe.

Paine, through his works, contributed to the development of Enlightenment philosophy and had a profound influence on the development of democracy and religious freedom and separation of church and state in the nascent United States. He was never though, an advocate of atheism, or agnosticism.

Is Freemasonry Secular Humanism?

T.T.G.O.T.G.A.O.T.U.

What is the position of Liberal European Freemasonry regarding religion? When the Grand Orient of France decided in 1877 to remove the requirement that a candidate profess a belief in God this is how they defined their position:

"Whereas Freemasonry is not a religion and has therefore no
doctrine or dogma to affirm in its constitution, this Assembly has
decided and decreed that the second paragraph of Article 1, of the
Constitution (requiring a belief in Deity) shall be erased, and that for the words
of the said article the following shall be substituted:

"Being an Institution essentially philanthropic, philosophic, and
progressive, Freemasonry has for its object, search after truth,
study of universal morality, science and arts, and the practice of
benevolence. It has for its principles absolute liberty of
conscience and human solidarity. It excludes no person on account
of his belief, and its motto is 'Liberty, Equality and
Fraternity."

The following statement is attributed to a member of the Grand Orient of France in the article, "The Grand Orient of France and the Three Great Lights" published in the Builder, January, 1918:

"The Grand Orient of France, while it respects all philosophical
beliefs, insists upon absolute liberty of belief. This does not
mean that we banish from our lodges the belief in God. The United
Grand Lodge of England on the contrary desires to make a belief in
God in some manner compulsory. The Grand Orient of France is much
more liberal, since in proclaiming the absolute liberty of belief
it permits to each one of its members the liberty to believe or not
to believe in God, and by so doing desires to respect its members
in their convictions, their doctrines and their beliefs."

From these statements do we draw the conclusion that the Grand Orient of France is an atheistic, or secular humanist institution? I think not.

There has been a trend of late in some quarters of Liberal Freemasonry here in the United States to equate Freemasonry with secular humanism, and to celebrate the participation of well-known atheists with the order. It is my personal belief that this is a mistaken policy, one which will eventually come back to haunt those that are encouraging it.

Religion, or the lack thereof, has absolutely no place in Freemasonry. Whether a candidate is a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, or a Wiccan, is irrelevant to that persons becoming a Mason, joining the Navy, or being a member of the PTA. Most Liberal Masons would agree with this position. Why then do some insist that Freemasonry and Secular Humanism are natural allies?

According to the American Humanist Association, one of their principles is to be:

"Without theism and free of supernaturalism"

According to the Council for Secular Humanism, it is committed:

"to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions."

For those Brothers and Sisters that are theists, faith, and even forms of mysticism (depending on the particular faith) are valid means of seeking solutions to "important human questions".

As a Freemason in the tradition of the Grand Orient of France, I support any brother that wholeheartedly subscribes to the positions of the AHA and the CSH. He has the right to his belief.

By the same token, I fully support the right of a sister to pray the rosary each day because she believes that is an action pleasing to God. It is her right to believe that.

When any jurisdiction takes an official stance in support of Atheism or Secular Humanism, that obedience is walking on thin ice; it is departing from the traditional position of Liberal, European Freemasonry in my opinion. This is unwise, deters people of faith from approaching the order, and gives further ammunition to the mainstream Grand Lodges who have always contended that Grand Orient Freemasonry is hostile to religion. Freemasonry "excludes no person on account of his belief". I wonder how comfortable a devoutly religious brother would feel seeing another brother publicly ridicule (or blaspheme) his beliefs?

Very poor judgment I think.

Freemasonry for Women

I hope that everyone is enjoying the preparations for the coming holidays. Loge Art et Lumiere recently held their annual Family Banquet and other seasonal activities are soon to be held by other lodges in Los Angeles.

As a result of repeated attempts by bogus groups to infiltrate respectable masonic forums on facebook, I have created, what I hope will be an informative site, dedicated to informing prospective candidates of the options that are available to women in legitimate Freemasonry.

The site is "Freemasonry for Women" and is located at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Freemasonry-for-Women/178436995516642?v=app_2309869772&ref=ts#!/pages/Freemasonry-for-Women/178436995516642?v=info

I trust that this will be a useful resource for potential sisters that are seeking the Light that Freemasonry offers.

Happy holidays to all/Joyeuses Fêtes/Felices Fiestas!

Le Grand Orient de France devient mixte (The Grand Orient of France becomes Mixed)

I recently received the following news regarding our sister Obedience, the Grand Orient of France:

"The Largest masonic obedience in France changed this Thursday evening its operating rules to authorize the members of its lodges to initiate women. The Grand Orient of France also elected a new Grand Master in the person of Guy Arcizet."

At last year's annual Convent, the Grand Orient of France narrowly voted against allowing it's lodges to accept women as members. Of course, as with other liberal Masonic obediences, women Masons have always been welcome as visitors.

Under the new rules, each lodge will be able to decide whether or not to actually accept women as members of the lodge. Women members of the Grand Orient of France will be eligible to hold elected office in the Obedience.

This is historic news. The Grand Orient of France, the oldest Masonic body in that country, founded in 1733, will now have women as members after 267 years of existence.

Congratulations to our Brothers (and soon, Sisters) in the Grand Orient of France!

Can a Woman Be a Freemason?

There are many in the mainstream Masonic community, as well as most members in the wider society, that believe a woman cannot be made a Mason. Many supporters of Women's Freemasonry point out examples in the past of women that have been made Masons, and, of course, there are many Masonic jurisdictions today that consist either exclusively of women, or accept women as equal members, my own jurisdiction included.

In reviewing the obligation taken by mainstream Masons, the following is particularly relevant:

"I will not aid, or be present at, the initiation,passing,or raising of a woman..."

If a woman could not be a Freemason, then this statement is irrelevant. A Minister cannot unite two two cats in Holy Matrimony, (regardless of the owners desire) since a marriage between two pets is an impossibility and illogical.

If it is an impossibility for a woman to become a Freemason, then this part of the obligation is nonsensical and serves no purpose whatsoever.

In their own obligation, mainstream Masons state that it is possible for a woman to be made a Mason; their members are sworn not to assist, or be involved in such an action.

Increasingly I am aware of the value and necessity of women belonging to Freemasonry. As a member of a mixed lodge, I could not imagine practicing Masonry without the insight that my Sisters bring to the work, nor the balance that they offer to the lodge.

Many mainstream Masons claim that the involvement of women would result in Masonry no longer being Masonry. In the United States and England, Freemasonry, for the most part, has already ceased to be Masonry, instead evolving into a charitable social club. As a men's club to hang out and discuss sports and socialize, I can see where they are coming from. The Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes and the International Order of Friendly Sons of the Raccoons of Television fame served a similar purpose.

Lodge Circumspect

Dear Readers,

Several days ago it came to my attention that what was formerly Lodge Circumspect of the "1613 Nation," had left that group, and is now an independent lodge of Women Freemasons.

It is sad, but inevitable, that when people see the truth behind an organization, those that respect honesty and transparency will feel the need to disassociate themselves from its practices.

According to WM June Lennon, after traveling to Belgium in an attempt to meet with members of 1613's supposed Loge Liberte Cherie, she was able to establish that what had been reported on many Masonic forums was true, namely that Liberte Cherie was fraudulent.

For those that read French, more about the bogus lodge can be found here:

http://www.hiram.be/Une-fausse-Loge-Liberte-cherie-et-d-autres-pseudo-Loges_a3675.html

While there is an attempt by the "1613 Nation" to claim that Lodge Circumspect is being reorganized within their group, the WM and her Sisters are in the process of continuing with the real work of Freemasonry in Lodge Circumspect, now minus the stigma of involvement with the 1613 crowd.

I wish them well in their efforts to get back on track as they practice the work of Freemasonry purged of the negative influence of the "Post-modern masonry" espoused by their previous associates.

At present, Lodge Circumspect's original website and blog are in the hands of the Grand Master of the 1613. The original Lodge Circumspect can be reached for the moment through their facebook page located here:

http://www.facebook.com/june.lennon?v=wall&ref=sgm#!/group.php?gid=111260272241449

Again, I wish these Sisters well as they rebuild and recover from their trying, and disillusioning experience with the "1613 Nation".

Lodge Athena

Mixed Masonry has been a part of the American scene for many decades now. Many of my readers are familiar with my own jurisdiction, the George Washington Union, as well as of the American Federation of Le Droit Humain.

One jurisdiction that others may not be as familiar with, is the International Masonic Order Delphi, which was originally a part of Le Droit Humain and became an independent jurisdiction in 1996.

While the Delphi Order is headquartered in Greece, the Obedience does have lodges in Romania, Bulgaria, and the United States. The Right Worshipful Lodge Athena, No.2009 works in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has been a beacon of Masonic light in that region for a number of years now.

Lodge Athena, like the other lodges in the Delphi Order, is a member of the international association known as CLIPSAS which consists of the Grand Orient of Belgium,Le Droit Humain, the Grand Lodge of Italy, the George Washington Union, The Women's Grand Lodge of Belgium, and many other adogmatic, progressive Grand Lodges and Grand Orients around the world.

I applaud the dedication, work, and example of Lodge Athena, and send my heartfelt greetings to the Brothers and Sisters of Lodge Athena in Salt Lake City. Lodge Athena of the Delphi Order, the lodges of the George Washington Union, and the lodges of the American Federation of Le Droit Humain in the United States work the European forms of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

For those men and women in the Salt Lake area that would like to learn more about legitimate Freemasonry, Lodge Athena can be contacted through their website at:

http://lodgeathena.us/US/

The Mother Obedience of Lodge Athena, The International Masonic Order Delphi can be reached at:

http://www.delphiorder.org/eng/index.htm

Emeth Lodge & Rose of Venus

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Brothers at Emeth Lodge in Phoenix, Arizona. Several years ago Emeth Lodge was formed as a constituent lodge of the Grand Orient of the United States of America. Today Emeth Lodge is a member of an association of independent lodges and has recently sponsored the formation of a Co-Masonic lodge, Rose of Venus, also in Phoenix.

I am familiar with the WM of Emeth, as is my own WM at Lodge New Isis of the George Washington Union in Los Angeles, and we both greatly respect him as a fine Freemason and a man of integrity.

I wish both lodges well and I am happy to see a new Co-Masonic lodge so close to San Diego. Congratulations to the Sisters at Rose of Venus!

The Inventor

My good friend and fellow Freemason Willy Gutman recently has published another book, "The Inventor". I hope to write a review in the near future but until then I would like to post this review of Willy's work from one of the Central American papers to which Willy is a frequent contributor:

Review by Marco Cáceres

I remember the first time I picked up a Harry Potter novel. I read about thirty or forty pages, and then I put it down. There were so many characters, and the plot did not emerge fast enough to hold my attention. Ultimately, I rented the first Harry Potter movie and immediately became so enamored with the characters and the story that I ended up reading each of the seven books in the series twice. My initial experience with W. E. Gutman's The Inventor was similar... although I'm not sure a movie is in the offing.

The Inventor is elegantly written. Through his protagonist and a colorful melding of artists and other notable personalities plucked from the past, Mr. Gutman weaves an intriguing journey within the dark history of the Catholic Church, which has as much a surreal and fantastic texture to it as Harry Potter. This is a book with which you must dine. It does not allow you to consume it in a hurry. It is as if Mr. Gutman dares you to read on and simply accept that the aim of his work is not primarily to entertain you, but rather to provoke you to think and struggle and savor.

There is a cynical undertone to The Inventor, but it is reasonable and even courageous, given the target of that cynicism -- the Papacy and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. And now with the Church wallowing in the early stages of yet another crisis involving the sexual abuse of children by priests and the cover up of these crimes by their superiors, it almost makes Mr. Gutman appear visionary. The book is timely and certainly relevant to the conversation about the increasingly uncomfortable relationship between the Church and secular society.

At a minimum, The Inventor serves to remind us that the Church has traditionally been the predator, not the victim, as its apologists disingenuously claim. It is a kind of blunt testament which challenges those who are ignorant of the Church's history or prefer to downplay the more unsavory aspects of it.

Be it the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and the persecution of Galileo or the silence of Pope Pius XII during the Jewish Holocaust, Pope John Paul II's efforts to squash Liberation Theology in Latin America, and Honduran Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez's attempts to tie accusations of priestly pedophilia to a "worldwide Jewish conspiracy", there is ample justification for the kind of eclectic mix of history, fiction, and social commentary that is so well crafted by Mr. Gutman.

Note: The author of The Inventor is a regular contributor to Honduras Weekly. His book is published by CCB Publishing of British Columbia, Canada. The book is available through Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Busy Weekend

I have not posted recently but I do have posts on the way that I am working on. I returned from a meeting of Lodge New Isis in Los Angeles less than an hour ago and enjoyed participating in the initiation of a new brother.

Quite a lot of work was accomplished and I had the honor of reading an architecture that I wrote recently. Several guests were on hand from the Women's Grand Lodge of Belgium, OITOR (L'Ordre Initiatique et Traditionnel de L'Art Royal), and Le Droit Humain.

A truly wonderful afternoon of masonic fellowship. I will have new posts up in the next few days.

Roger Williams

In the M.A. program in History I am currently taking, we are studying early America, specifically the Puritans. As part of my research I have discovered not just how intolerant the Puritans were (they hanged three men and and a woman for being Quakers), but also about a man that I feel represents much that we as masons can identify with.

Roger Williams was a Puritan who arrived in Boston, Massachusetts Colony,in 1631. His sermons, particularly those that advocated fair treatment of the Native Americans, won him the animosity of the ruling establishment. Williams was also opposed to the government punishing people on religious grounds, advocating instead freedom of conscience.

Williams was exiled from the colony in 1635 and founded what eventually became Rhode Island. In 1652 Rhode Island became the first colony to outlaw slavery, more than 200 years before it was outlawed in the U.S. Jews, Baptists, Quakers, all were welcome to practice their faiths according to their own consciences.

Roger Williams was a pioneer in advocating the separation of Church and State, something that did not exist in Europe at the time, or in the other colonies. Roger Williams, not the Puritans, was a forerunner of what our founding fathers established in the United States. While not a mason, we can admire the man for his tolerance of others, and his respect for individual liberty. In Rhode Island today there is even a lodge named Roger Williams Lodge, No.32, in his memory.