MEN AT WORK
Men at Work The 2005 Grand Master’s Class: A Bridge to Tradition Joseph S. Crociata, JGS
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ver the past dozen years, American freemasons have seen the proliferation and growth of “Masonic Festivals,” “One-day Classes” and the like. Such events have generated great controversy because of the compromises that they impose, both upon the fidelity of the candidate’s experience of the ritual, and the quality of the newly-minted brother’s Masonic education. Before an entire nation, our Grand Lodge has a special responsibility to reevaluate and refine the “Class” concept, for the simple reason that it originated here.
Grand Master’s Class. Chairman Joseph S. Crociata addresses new Masons.
The Ritual Those who were present had the opportunity to see a rare event, as a team of dozens of dedicated Masons “turned up the heat” to 126 degrees, being the total number of degrees conferred in the 24 hour period starting 6:15 p.m. Friday. On Friday evening, the Grand Master addressed the assembled candidates, and sent them forth to encounter the officers of Benjamin B. French Lodge No. 15. who conferred an excellent Entered Apprentice degree upon 31 new Masons. All of the ritual elements of the degree were performed, with each class member participating in circumambulation, preparation and obligation – no small task for the three dozen conductors and members of the Master’s Class Committee, whose efforts to coordinate the movements of class members with the requirements of the ritual were exemplary. Portable altars were moved in and out as the ceremony progressed, in order to permit the ritual to proceed slowly but unimpeded. Because the conferral took place in the second-floor Lodge room at the Scottish Rite Center, each candidate was brought to light in an appropriate Masonic setting, before a tightly-packed crowd of approving brothers. Worshipful Ted Berry gave a virtuoso performance of the lecture, and his officers showed patience and true skill in making the ceremony a solemn and memorable occasion.
On October 21 and 22, the 2005 Grand Master’s Class took a bold step toward answering ritual and educational concerns, by an unswerving dedication to two propositions: Each and every member of the Grand Master’s Class would receive his degrees, rather than just observe them, and the process of Masonic education would begin before he left the Temple as a newly-made Mason. The results are a cause for pride for our Grand Jurisdiction, and for the brothers of the Grand Master’s own Anacostia Lodge No. 21, which hosted the Class. The Voice of Freemasonry
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Grand Master’s Class. WB Sheldon Rappeport, Deputy Grand Lecturer, delivered the Middle Chamber Lecture
