Dream, Vision and Thoughts Brethren, I recently had the opportunity to make a short presentation, for inclusion in a digital time capsule, on the topic of my views, as an individual mason on how Freemasonry would look in a hundred years time. I found the exercise very beneficial and you can read my thoughts below. I would invite you as a member to respond to this posting and record your individual thoughts on how you see freemasonry evolving in the next hundred years. Take your time, and when you are ready, post your thoughts, and see what novel and new ideas may surface. Dreams, Visions and Thoughts about the Future of Freemasonry around the World. Evening friends, my name is Robert Bashford, and I am the current Secretary of The Irish Lodge of Masonic Research, No 200 I.C. the only Research Lodge Warranted by The Grand Lodge of Ireland, under the Irish Constitution. As a Masonic Historian, my primary duty is to research, prepare and present aspects of Irish Masonic history to our Masonic Brethren of today, to better prepare them, with the proper information to assist them, in the years ahead, to take the correct decisions, based on our collective fund of experience and knowledge gained from our Masonic history and to assist them to continue the expansion and growth of the Irish Constitution for the next one hundred years of our Masonic existence.
There is no doubt, after our last difficult eighteen month period, with no physical Masonic meetings here in Ireland, a situation that will continue until the end of October 2021, at the earliest, and similar problems current in other jurisdictions around the globe, it is clear that we are right on the pulse, in respect of a changing Masonic infastructure in the years ahead. Groups Lodge Hope of Kurrachi No 337 S.C. have led the way in demonstrating the benefits of technology, in this instance Zoom to bring Masonic Research and presentations, safely and securely to interested parties around the globe. We should not forget our good friend Albert McClelland and The Grand Lodge of Indiana, who first hosted a series of video presentations in the year 2011, which first brought international Masonic Researches together in a series of 48 weekly presentations, which I understand, still survive to this day, somewhere in the ether.
It is my belief that at an individual level, we, as Freemasons will continue our journey of personal discovery and development, but using a greater percentage of digital material in the years ahead. Our overall membership may well reduce for a while, but as history shows, the Masonic Order has enjoyed many peaks and troughs in Ireland over the past three hundred years. Covid, bad and all as it may be, will ultimately fall into that pattern of medical emergencies such as Cholera, The Irish Famine and The Spanish Flue, which all, My researches, into our Craft history, indicate in their time affected membership. And I’m that the workings of our Order in Ireland quite sure further unknown viruses will be over the past three hundred years, clearly re- released upon us in the years ahead. flect the existing social structures and constraints imposed on society at large. Proba- Freemasonry, has become a universal organibly, the easiest way to set out these thoughts sation, comprising many separate Constituis with the very simple phrase, that we as tions, working in countries around the globe. Freemasons of Ireland are a part of Society, This being the case, we all, in our individual not apart from Society. Unlike many other Constitutions still have to remain vigilant Constitutions, we in Ireland have a member- that, our well respected corporate identity ship from all tiers of society, and the breadth will not be damaged by a bad apple in the of our membership gives us great strength box. This has been done very successfully and resilience, to meet many of the challenges over the past 200 years thanks to the strong that life will invariably present. guidance given by The Three Home Constitutions, and I hope that this develops and conCross Keys October 2021
