Pt. 2: Masonry's Invisibility, and the Unfilled Hunger for Light. (Series: Building Freemasonry in the 21st Century)

(For the previous post to this series thus far, see link at the end of this post.)

As I promised I would at the end of Part 1, today I will consider the root causes of the membership problems in the Blue Lodge. I see these as being three-fold:

1. The general public simply does not know about Freemasonry anymore. This contributes to the low entry rates noted in Part 1.


2. In many local lodges, the membership is left without understanding either the meaning or application of Masonic symbolism. This leaves some members of these lodges disappointed; some of these members may simply fall away from Masonry. This contributes to the high exit rates noted in Part 1.


3. Anti-Masonry misdirects sincere seekers away from Freemasonry. Ultimately, this may contribute to both low entry rates and high exit rates.

I consider the first two of these issues below.

The Invisibility of Freemasonry

Freemasonry has made an appearance twice during the 20 seasons of The Simpsons (as I describe in another post), and has been mentioned, almost in passing, in Dan Brown's hugely popular novel, The Da Vinci Code. Of course, Freemasonry was mentioned extensively in the motion picture National Treasure (and briefly in its sequel). However, aside from these noteworthy exceptions, Freemasonry is all but invisible in popular culture and general society. As the Masonic Information Center (MIC) put it, the public's perception of Freemasonry can be summarized by three terms: confused (as in, 'is Freemasonry a religion?'), mistaken ('is it a devil-worshipping religion? Is it just for older gentlemen?'), and oblivious. Concerning this last point, as the MIC stated, "people are not even aware Masonry still exists" (It's About Time!, p. 9).

The Unfilled Hunger for the Meaning of Masonic Symbolism

Many lodges do a very creditable job of instructing their brethren in the details of performing our initiatory rituals. However, all too many lodges need help to guide their brethren in investigating the meaning of Masonic symbolism, and in the application of that symbolism to their daily lives. (Consider, for example, the commemorative plate shown above, which displays several Masonic symbols. Has your lodge discussed the meaning and application of any of these, lately--outside of the degree work?) There is a great hunger, perhaps especially among newer brethren, for this kind of Masonic education; without it, brethren are more likely to slip away into inactivity, or even leave the Fraternity. Consider the following:

• We Initiate, Pass, and Raise brothers in ceremonies of high drama and mystery. Then, when these brethren finally are able to attend Stated Communications as Master Masons, in many local lodges they find that these are typically business meetings, with no discussion of the meaning of the complicated symbolism with which these brothers have been entrusted, and about which they thought they would learn more.


• At present, in many local lodges, the focus in Masonic Education is almost solely on the memorization and performance of the ritual, not on the investigation of the meaning or application of its symbolism. This must be unsatisfying to our new brethren. Certainly this much was suggested at the 2007 Grand Oration in Florida: "We must strive to stimulate the new Mason and instill in him a thirst for continued knowledge and quest for enlightenment. Without that stimulation many new members can easily become disenchanted and lose interest, resulting in demits and NPDs" (Hudson, 2007, p. 273).
  

The current mini-spike in Masonic membership, which many have noted anecdotally around the country, apparently is driven by new initiates seeking just the type of esoteric wisdom that Freemasonry has. As Brother G. Cliff Porter, a relatively new Mason in his mid-thirties, stated in the March-April 2007 issue of The Scottish Rite Journal:

The young man approaching the Craft today does so to supplement and add to what his church and family have already given him. A certain tugging at his soul speaks to him to seek a deeper meaning in life, in family, and in God. He researches and desires an initiation into the esoteric and ancient quest for Truth. He requests a petition with these hopes in mind. Why shouldn't he? The eloquent writings of Masonic scholars ... have hinted at the existence of such knowledge, and Masonic writings abound with hints of this very thing. ... We as Master Masons should return Masonry from a primarily social institution to one that studies ancient symbolism and the truths so revealed. (Emphasis added.)

In sum, there is a hunger among the brethren--now, largely going unfed--for a thoughtful consideration of the more esoteric aspects of Masonic symbolism. The more this hunger is left unfed, the more it inclines brethren interested in this material to drift away from Freemasonry.

In Part 3: The challenge of Anti-Masonry; and, an overall approach to meeting the membership challenge.

Reference

Hudson, Phillip A. (2007). Grand oration. In Proceedings of the One Hundred and Seventy-Eighth Annual Communication of the M:. W:. Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Florida, Held at Orlando, Florida, May 28, 29, and 30, 2007 (pp. 272-275). n.p.: The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida.

Previous Post in This Series:

"Part 1: The Membership Challenge"

Building Freemasonry in the 21st Century, Part 1: The Membership Challenge

Over the last three centuries, Freemasonry has played a major role in improving millions of individual lives; it has even contributed to the development of global democracy. We should not just preserve Freemasonry, but nurture and develop it, as a force for good in the world. However, in the United States today, Freemasonry faces a membership challenge, for several reasons. If Freemasonry is to continue as a force for good, in individual lives and in society, Freemasons must come to grips with this challenge. This will involve activities on the part of Grand Lodges, local lodges ("Particular Lodges"), and individual Masons. In this series, I respectfully offer some suggestions to help Freemasonry to thrive. In the series as a whole, I consider these topics:

• the membership challenge in Freemasonry today
  
• an overall approach to meeting this challenge
  
• membership development
  
• membership retention
  

The Membership Challenge in Freemasonry Today

In 2003, there were about 1.7 million Masons nationwide, a membership figure even lower than during the Great Depression year of 1941. As the Masonic Information Center put it, "Freemasonry is at its lowest membership level in at least 80 years" (It's About Time!, p. 3; see image above). We may think about the Blue Lodge's membership problems in terms of two factors: low rates of entry into the Craft, and high exit rates. Each of these is described below.

Low Entry Rates

It is well known that fewer people enter Freemasonry today than entered in earlier years. The situation in any given Grand Lodge can be established by considering the statistics reported in its Grand Communications. One example--neither better nor worse than the typical Grand Lodge, I would guess--is the Grand Lodge of Florida. In Florida, the number of men initiated was flat over each of two recent years (2004 and 2005), at approximately 1,480 per year, even as the population of Florida itself increased each year. (There was a 7.5% increase in the number of initiations during 2006, to 1,591; of course, 2006 was the year of the release of the motion picture, The Da Vinci Code, which mentioned Freemasons and, more especially, the Knights Templar. It is yet to be seen whether this increase will be permanent or not.)

High Exit Rates

Men exit Freemasonry in several ways: through death; through official voluntary exit, or "dimit"; through suspension, and, through expulsion. Suspension can be for a number of reasons, the most common being suspension for non-payment of dues (NPD); thus, we may think of a suspension for NPD as a sort of 'silent dimit.' Thus, official dimits and suspensions for NPD together can be labeled "voluntary attrition." Again, using the Grand Lodge of Florida only as a typical example, for the period 2004 through 2006 (see References below for sources), we note the following:

• The number of deaths averaged 1,449 annually during this period, while the number raised as Master Masons averaged 1,217 annually. Thus, deaths alone outnumbered the number raised as new Master Masons by over 19%.
  
  
• Voluntary attrition during these years averaged over 1,640 annually. Thus, just by itself, voluntary attrition exceeded the number of those raised as new Master Masons by almost 35%.


• The number of those who officially dimitted increased from 2004 to 2006 by a startling 31%.

These statistics are no doubt what led the distinguished Brother giving the Welcome at the opening session of the 2007 Florida Grand Communication to state, "We are one generation away from extinction." This Brother might as well have been saying this to just about any Grand Lodge in the United States.

It is a little-known but crucial finding that the amount of time that many Brothers remain in Freemasonry before attrition has sharply declined in recent generations. In one study, the average number of years between initiation and either dimit or suspension NPD has shown a stunning decline, from 17.8 years (for those initiated in the late 1940s) to 6.5 (for those initiated in the early 1980s). Thus, those who join and then ultimately leave have remained for a much shorter period of time, "about 20-30% of the time they [remained in Masonry] half a century ago," as John Belton put it. As noted Masonic author Chris Hodapp has observed:

In jurisdictions across the U.S. and Canada, the losses of members from deaths have been statistically tapering off, while the losses due to Freemasons walking away from the fraternity have been rising. ... [M]en whom we have initiated, passed, and raised are deciding in increasing numbers to say "No thanks" to what their local lodges offer.

What could be the cause for this painful situation?

In Part 2: The root causes for membership problems in the Blue Lodge.

References

Statistics of annual returns. (2006). In Proceedings of the One Hundred and Seventy-Seventh Annual Communication of the M:.W:. Grand Lodge of F. & A.M. of Florida, Held at Orlando, Florida, May 29, 30 and 31, 2006 (p. 111). n.p.: The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida.

Statistics of annual returns. (2007). In Proceedings of the One Hundred and Seventy-Eighth Annual Communication of the M:.W:. Grand Lodge of F. & A.M. of Florida, Held at Orlando, Florida, May 28, 29, and 30, 2007 (pp. 115-116). n.p.: The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida.

Statistics of annual returns. (1008, May). In Report of M:.W:. Robert P. Harry, Jr., Grand Master, M:.W:. Richard E. Lynn, Grand Secretary, to the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida (p. 65). n.p.: The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida.