beyond leadership
“Beyond Leadership” Lodge Officer Training Retreat: September 10 & 11, 2011
Joseph S. Crociata Deputy Grand Master
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s we celebrate our bicentennial, we laud the accomplishments of the Craft in DC over the first two centuries of our Grand Lodge. But even in the midst of our celebrations, we look to the start of our third century and daunting challenges loom upon the horizon. They force us to look beyond those things we have done well over the past two hundred years, and to contemplate the things we wish we had done better. We face issues of bricks and mortar, as the current growth of Masonry in the Nation’s Capital threatens to overtake the shrinking availability of suitable meeting places: issues that our brothers of 100 years ago thought they were to conquer by the splendid Grand Lodge building they contemplated in the open fields of New York Avenue. We continue to see our expansion among new members from the collar counties of Virginia and Maryland diminish our
presence in the communities and neighborhoods of the District whose name we bear, the product of social forces that began 50 years ago. The Nation’s current economic woes strain the budgets of the Grand Lodge and constituent lodges alike, forcing us all to contemplate how to respond to the current Masonic Renaissance with diminished resources. These challenges and others demand that the Craft put forward its best and brightest leaders: workmen who have the vision, the ability and the drive to lay a suitable foundation for our Temple of the coming century. Over the past few years, successive Deputy Grand Masters have looked to the future, and our Officer Training Retreat has changed in its appearance and emphasis. In order to make the benefits of the Retreat available to a greater number of our continued on next page
The National Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia will be the site of this year’s Fall Leadership Conference.
The Voice of Freemasonry
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