Masons Must Preserve and Promote Our Past to Find Our Future

One of the reasons I am proud to be a Freemason is our fraternity’s great history. At St. Patrick’s Lodge 4, chartered in 1766 in Johnstown, New York, we meet inside a wonderful and storied building where we are preparing to celebrate the centenary of its cornerstone ceremony. St. Pat’s, like many lodges across the state, is blessed with an expansive significant building, and our home exudes grandeur! On approaching the façade, one beholds an impressive colonnade flanking the main entrance. Upon entering, we are transported back to the golden age of Freemasonry, when Masons were builders contriving in wisdom, strength, and beauty for the benefit of all who would come in the same way and manner in the future.

Our distinguished building was left to us by our Masonic predecessors, and one daunting question we face, as the building shows its age, is do we preserve our heritage, or do we downsize to a more modern home? Numerous lodges across our great state have had to sell to survive, and others have gone dark due to declining membership and finances. A quick search on YouTube yields multiple videos of abandoned lodge buildings left to crumble, being exploited by paranormal investigators and urban explorers.

We would be wise to undertake our own explorations to learn more about ourselves. One day before lodge, a couple brothers and I decided to look through our attic, but made it no further than the second floor. We found stacks and stacks of photographs scattered over tables everywhere; old ritual regalia and wardrobes; forgotten paperwork; neglected Bibles; yellowed certificates; and more, all just collecting dust. We ventured upstairs to the balcony, then finally to the attic, where the memories of how Freemasonry first inspired me as a child scouting in my grandparents’ Victorian attic came rushing back. I looked with wonder at all these old props and costumes, from both lodge and chapter, forgotten in the passage of time.

We must embrace our past if we are to have a future. These old lodge buildings contain our lodges’ memories, and they can be a big attraction in the eyes of those who would knock on our doors.

This is why Right Worshipful Brother Michael Millias and others are endeavoring to preserve our lodge’s history. We are documenting the inventory and figuring how best to preserve and display the treasures of our traditions. A few of these items are the original charter from the Grand Lodge of England, our original officers’ jewels, and an antique key said to have come from the lock of William Morgan’s jail cell.

Photo: “Grand Lodge of Czech Exhibition Poster”

Last year, I traveled to Prague to visit family. My father-in-law belongs to a lodge there, and he told me about an exhibition the Grand Lodge of Czech Republic was presenting to mark its own centenary. My understanding was this exhibit was meant to raise funds and increase public knowledge of Freemasonry, possibly to attract new members. It was titled “Freemasons, Freemasonry Through the Eyes of Freemasons.” I remember thinking what a great idea this is, and that it may be an activity New York lodges could emulate.