Celebrating 150 years.
Ontario Masons District Chaplain Gordon Roberts provides an inspiring address during the September 2001 dedication of the Renfrew lodge’s new mosaic pavement.
Renfrew Weekender
Freemasonry is one of the oldest and largest
fraternities in the world, but members of the Renfrew Lodge 122 get to enjoy
their own distinctly historical landmark this weekend.
Many of the 64 members, plus visitors and guests, will
celebrate their 150th anniversary and such guiding activities as the
spirit of helpfulness, brotherly love and strict moral principles that
encourage goodwill toward all mankind.
For decades, Freemasonry has been dubbed a secret
society, but local members find that ridiculous, if not irritating. The fact
it’s closed to women is simply because it’s a fraternity, says executive member
Graham Jamieson of the fraternity thought to be about 3,000 years old.
“I’ve met some great people, they’ve made me a better
man – just the beliefs, the morals,” says Jamieson.
“At one time, when I first joined the lodge (in 1990
as a 29-year-old) I wouldn’t get up and speak. Now I’m still not comfortable,
but I’ve gained that confidence to do it a little bit more.”
An electrician by trade, Jamieson is part of the wide-ranging
backgrounds of Masonic lodge members. A case in point is the position of
Worshipful (as in praiseworthy) Master,
the head of each year’s executive.
The very first local master 150 years ago was Abel
Dowswell, a justice of the peace in Arnprior and Burnstown. Subsequent
worshipful masters included Renfrew hotel keeper John Munro Sr. in 1861,
clergyman Robert Campbell in 1877, telegraph operator William Usher in 1911,
Northcote farmer John Campbell Simpson in 1927 and accountant Harry Hinchley.
Elected worshipful master in 1941, he was later widely regarded as the town
historian, thus the nickname of Harry ‘The Historian’ Hinchley.
Current Worshipful Master John Baird first joined
Freemasonry as a member of the Sioux Lookout in 1999, after being aware of the
brotherhood for years.
“What drew me was my grandfather, who was involved
with the Masonic lodges in Scotland,”
recalls Baird. “We had a portrait photograph of him in his regalia in our house
when we were growing up in Newfoundland.”
While in Sioux Lookout, he talked to local masons
before joining.
“What attracted me to it was it was totally different
from what I was doing day to day,” says Baird, who works in municipal
government administration.
“It was a way to get to know people in the area and
interact with people I wouldn’t normally interact with on a normal business
basis. And just to become a better person and to learn a bit about history and
why (Freemasonry) was a major organization around the world.”
Interestingly, it’s against Masonic Lodge rules to
actually solicit members, just as it’s not permitted to actively fundraise
(from community members) for projects they support locally or abroad.
All projects are funded from the very pockets of lodge
members, stresses long-time Renfrew Masonic Lodge member Gord Cross.
Projects include, or have included, the Masonic Child
Identification Program, physician recruitment and equipment donations for Renfrew Victoria Hospital,
blood donor clinics, and scientific research and development for prostate
cancer, hearing loss and autism.
Through membership with Masonic lodge branches in Alberta and Ontario,
and through his wide-ranging travels, Renfrew member Jack Ledger says his life
has been tremendously enriched.
“I joined masonry 41 years ago and it’s a fraternal
organization I’ve absolutely loved all those years,” says Ledger.
“They’re like-minded men with a high standard of
morals and they’re lots of fun,” says Ledger, the local District Deputy Grand
Master.
When he decided to move back from Alberta to his hometown Renfrew about eight
years ago, despite knowing many friends had moved. But he says the lodge became
a place of comfort where he found a “new myriad of friends … Visiting lodges
and making new friends, and the camaraderie of the organization is absolutely
great.”
However, he says not just Renfrew Lodge 122 plays an
important role in community support and development. Other service
organizations fill the same role, says Ledger, noting they all could use more
young and middle-aged members.
A few decades ago, the Renfrew lodge featured about
200 members. Members, now ranging in age from 30s to 90s, number 64.
Declining numbers in the Masons and other service
clubs is due, says Ledger, to society’s increasingly “cocooning” ways, and the
changing dynamics of parenthood, as fathers take a more active role with their
children.
Still, Ledger says Freemasonry membership isn’t overly
demanding, with one lodge meeting and one committee meeting per month.
BELIEF IN SUPREME BEING
Members of the lodge all, before becoming members,
must express their belief in the existence of a supreme being, whether it’s God
or another supreme entity.
“Because we’re a Christian society, the bible is open
on our altar,” says Ledger. “But if I was a Muslim, I could ask for the Quran
to be open on the altar when I take my obligations to maintain the secrets of
the various degrees.”
The secrets have led to the Freemasonry being labeled
as a secret society, but the secrets, say members, are restricted to such items
as secret modes of recognition, namely signs, handshakes or words for use in
the lodge room during meetings.
As Jamieson puts it: “We’d like to get rid of the idea
we’re a secret society. Ford doesn’t tell General Motors what they’re doing in
their meetings. And you can walk into the Legion (as you can the Masonic
lodge), but you can’t walk into their meetings unless you’re a member.”
The secret passwords and life lessons (to benefit
mankind) are among the material members must memorize. Other memory work is of
Freemasonry history.
“If you like history, there is a lot of history here,”
says Jamieson.
Morality is at the foundation of Freemasonry.
“The only thing about good men is we like to make them
better,” says Cross, who says masons don’t take a chance with men with criminal
records.
“If you have a criminal record don’t apply,” he
explains. “It’s not written, but (it’s written) in moral stone.”
Asked why, he surmises: “I have a feeling Masonry
doesn’t want to take a chance to have anyone bring disrepute to the name of
Freemasonry.
“Freemasonry is not an exclusive club. It will include
any man, any good man who wants to improve himself. But the important thing is
you have to want to improve yourself.”
The 150th-anniversary celebrations of
Renfrew Lodge 122 take place Saturday evening in the old opera house building,
next to O’Brien Theatre.
There are about 50,000 Freemasons
among Ontario’s
44 districts, and six million members worldwide.