Ever wonder what the deal is with the Freemasons? Since the group’s founding over 600 years ago, Freemasons have gained the reputation of a society shrouded in secrecy and subject to speculation. Do they really pick U.S. presidents? Are they in charge of the world’s governments and banks as some sort of New World Order? What really goes on in their ritualistic, super-secret meetings? If you ask the local Masons at Concord’s Blazing Star Eureka Lodge, they’ll tell you it’s not as esoteric as it seems.
“I think the biggest secret is that there are no secrets,” said Freemason Kenneth Davis Jr. “Just poke around online if you really want to know about the Freemasons. It’s all out there.”
Davis spoke at Concord’s Masonic Lodge, which recently held an open house was as part of a statewide freemasonry movement to drum up new members by sharing what they do with a public that might otherwise let their imagination get the best of them.
“It allows people to come in and see what it’s all about,” said Davis, “and see that there’s no torture chamber.”
“Put it this way,” said senior deacon Troy Patoine, “if we really are the New World Order and all that, they haven’t told me yet.”
Alvin Davis, Blazing Star Eureka’s chaplain for the past 27 years, gave his take on the tenets of Freemasonry.
“It is a system of morality, veiled in allegories, and expressed by symbols,” Davis said.
Senior Deacon Patoine explained some of the symbols, many of which draw upon the tools used by the real life stonemasons that founded Freemasonry all those years ago.
“We still use the tools of masonry,” said Patoine, “to build ourselves as better people.”
So, your local Freemasons aren’t taking over the world and torturing people “Da Vinci Code” style, but they must be doing something.
“Well,” said Senior Steward Jeremy Owen, “our barbecues are kick-a–!”
Owen called Freemasons an adult fraternal organization. “Not to the point where we’re drinking beer and swilling goldfish,” said Owen. “It’s just something to do with the guys.”
Take that last sentence literally. Although some sects of Freemasonry allow both men and women to become members, Concord’s lodge does not.
“We’re not co-ed – yet,” Owen said, adding that women who want to become Freemasons are allowed to join their sister society, the Order of the Eastern Star.
Besides being a dude, there are other requirements for becoming a freemason. For instance, belief in a monotheistic religion. (Atheists and polytheists need not apply!) Applicants must be at least 18 years old, although there is an order called DeMolay for aspiring Masonic
youngsters. Another interesting requirement is that Freemasons cannot ask anyone to join their organization. Prospective new members need to approach an existing Mason and ask them about it themselves, a sort of do-ask do-tell policy.
The club’s “worshipful master” (a fancy term for president) Mike Hayes was nearly moved to tears while explaining the benefits of becoming a Freemason
“It makes them a better person, lets them feel good about who they are, and makes them feel important in the community,” Hayes said.
For more information about Concord’s Masonic chapter, visit blazingstareureka.org.
