GRAND SECRETARY’S MESSAGE
Grand Secretary’s Message Mansour Hatefi, PGM Grand Secretary My Brethren: I have long been intrigued by the tendency of people to perpetuate their traditions, customs and habits, doing things that they do largely because “they have always been done that way.” Among those who well exemplify this propensity are many of our leaders in the Masonic fraternity, men who in their zeal to conform to norm,earnestly endeavor to preserve that which may be in need of examination, and possibly, modification. A case in point is the Grand Visitation, whose evolution is traced elsewhere in this issue of the “Voice.” Consistently, over the past 40 years at least, Grand Masters, Grand Lodge Officers, and the brethren in our constituent lodges, generally, have been disturbed about the concentration of these visits into a busy two-month period in October and November. This issue has been addressed occasionally, mostly by introducing slight modifications of schedule and format, but the structure and character of these code-required visitations have remained unchanged, at least until last year. Grand Master Leonard Proden elected to make his visits to the constituent lodges once, twice, and even three times throughout the year, alone or in the company of selected Grand Lodge Officers, following which he hosted a single autumn awards ceremony, for all lodges collectively. In this way MWB Proden adhered to the purpose of the code, while also bringing together all of the workers in the constituent lodges, along with their friends and families, for an evening set aside for the presentation of awards, entertainment, and a bountiful festive board. By doing so he made it possible for our officers, Grand and Subordinate, to give full attention to normal year-end activities. Whether or not the pattern of visitation recently established by Grand Master Proden will prove lasting, it
The Voice of Freemasonry
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might be a good time, nevertheless, to examine the usual concentration of Masonic activity in December, a very busy month in everybody’s calendar. The Grand Lodge Annual Communication, designed to take up all business matters, was regularly held, until 1900, in November, with the Third Communication, for receiving the Grand Master’s Report and the installation of the Grand Lodge Officers, taking place on St. John’s Day in December. The move of the annual communication from November to December was ostensibly made to accommodate a heavy October-November Grand Visitation schedule. With the possible elimination of these time-consuming visitations in the future, it may be time for the study of the communications schedule of the Grand Lodge, including the possibility of a return of the annual communication to its previous position in the Masonic calendar. It seems that movement of the annual communication from December to November, given the necessary code changes, might alleviate the concentration of activity and curtail the increasing costs of December festivities in which there would be only one event — that of the Installation, on the Third Communication, when the members, their families and friends, and our invited outof-town guests, might come together for the transfer of authority and responsibility from one administration to another. Is it possible that the communications schedule of the Grand Lodge, no less than that of the traditional Grand Visitation, is now in need of examination? It may well be so. Hence I am willing to look appropriately at this and all other “what if” propositions, hopeful that in the contemplation of their impact, the best paths to the future may be discovered. Mansour Hatefi Grand Secretary
