We had a great Masters and Wardens meeting this week where we introduced some important new programs and answered a lot of important procedural questions. I also received several requests for assistance based on the very topics we discussed from Lodges who were not represented at the meeting. Please, listen carefully. Ask your officers what's happening at these meetings. If they can't answer, then they are not representing your Lodge's needs and interests. It's that simple. Your Lodge is still responsible for the requests and programs made at these meetings and I don't have time to contact every Lodge every week with a recap of what they missed. Please, make sure your Lodge is being reprsented.
Tickets are still available for several upcoming events including the JTL Renegades baseball game, Wallkill chicken barbecue, and the Hudson River pig roast. We also have a multi-Lodge Master Mason Degree scheduled for August 11th at JTL. Details appear elsewhere in this issue.
Another short and sweet intro, stay safe and wear sunblock. See you next week!
DISTRICT NEWS
Renegades Baseball Night
Jerusalem Temple Lodge will sponsor another outing to see the
Hudson Valley Renegades play on Saturday July 28th. This year's outing will be special because it is being sponsored in conjunction with several veteran's organizations, and we will be arranging to have a group of disabled veterans from the Castle Point VA Hospital join us. The evening is $25 and includes admission to the game and all the hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hotdogs and chicken sandwiches you can eat along with soft drinks and the usual fixings. For more information, click here. We hope you can join us!
Masters and Wardens Meeting
The Masters and Wardens will meet at Jerusalem Temple Lodge on Monday
August 13th at 7:30 p.m. Please note the change in starting time. The
School of Instruction will henceforth be held on other evenings and
locations around the District. It is important that all of our newly-elected
Masters, Wardens, Deacons, and other officers in your line attend this meeting
because we will be reviewing and discussing the results of the 2/5/10 year forecasting
initiative and offering additional assistance. Please remember that these meetings and
this newsletter are the primary coordination and communication venues
in this District and each Lodge is responsible for the information
disseminated therein . If your Lodge is not represented, the officers
are still responsible for obtaining the information from other Lodges
in attendance. Thus attendance is expected of Masters and Wardens
but everyone is welcome to attend and we hope to see other elected
and appointed officers there!
2007-2008 Individual Development Course (iDC) Registration for next year’s Individual Development Course will be available soon. This course provides skills useful in every aspect of our lives and helps to develop us in our roles at work, our homes, our communities, and our Craft. The course focuses on personal skills such as time management, goal setting, and self-discipline; interpersonal skills such as public speaking, e-mail and written materials, dealing with difficult people, running effective meetings, and the group process; and other important skills such as problem and data analysis, brainstorming, surveys, and project management. These are skills that apply to all areas of our lives and next year’s course, scheduled to begin in September and run one Saturday a month for six months, will be open to spouses as well as Masons. We hope to see many of you take advantage of this important and very valuable opportunity. For more information, please contact the DDGM.
Orange-Rockland Central Chapter, Order of DeMolay DeMolay is a Masonic youth program for boys ages 12-21, which teaches leadership within a fun, moral framework in line with our own principles and tenets. The local Chapter, which meets at Wallkill Lodge in Walden, is in desperate need of advisors, Brothers willing to give up a few hours a month to mentor and work with these inspiring young men. There’s no commitment required to obtain information, give us a call and see what it’s all about. For more information, please contact R:.W:. Hank Stoveland.
UPCOMING CHILD ID PROGRAMS
Child ID System
The District Child ID System is available to Lodges who have two Brothers
trained in its use. These Brothers may sign out the system by contacting
Wor. Robert Morlang, Jr.. Please allow
a month in advance to reserve the system and allow the District Committee
to order the necessary supplies for your program. Please remember
that all unused materials must be returned with the system, there
is to be no stockpiling of supplies for future programs.
ORDMA NEWS
Next ORDMA Meeting
The next meeting of the Orange-Rockland District Masonic Association
(ORDMA) will be held on Tuesday July 30th at West Point Lodge. Please note that this is
a fifth Monday. A light supper will be served at 6:30 p.m. followed by the meeting and program
at 7:30 p.m. All Brothers of the District are invited and encouraged
to attend!
2007-2008 Calendars ORDMA is collecting dates for next year's District Pocket Calendar, which will be available in early Fall 2007. These handy pocket calendars contain all of our District's Lodge and Concordant Bodies meetings, important events, Lodge and District officers, and directions to our Lodges. The calendars cost $5 each and the proceeds go to support our District's community service and charitable efforts, including our new District child ID system. To submit events for inclusion in the calendar, please contact any of ORDMA's officers.
* Denotes a dinner will precede or
follow the meeting or event. Please check with the contact for
details.
2007-2008 DDGM Visits
Athelstane Lodge No. 839
Tuesday October 16th, 2007
Cornerstone Lodge No. 711
Wednesday December 12th, 2007
Goshen Lodge No. 365
Monday September 17th
Hoffman Lodge No. 412
Tuesday November 20th, 2007
Hudson River Lodge No. 309
Wednesday November 14th, 2007
Jerusalem Temple Lodge No. 721
Saturday January 12th, 2009
Naurashank Lodge No. 589
Friday October 12th, 2007
Port Jervis Lodge No. 328
Friday September 14th
Stony Point-Wawayanda Lodge No. 313
Wednesday September 19th, 2007
Wallkill Lodge No. 627
Wednesday December 19th, 2007
Warwick Lodge No. 544
Tuesday October 23rd, 2007
West Point Lodge No. 877
Thursday October 4th, 2007
SCHOOL OF INSTRUCTION
The Orange-Rockland District School of Instruction is on a hiatus for the summer. We will re-open in August to review the Opening and Closing, and should you wish to hold other rehearsals for your new officers over the summer, your AGLs will be glad to attend provided you give them sufficient notice. The School will recommence in September, rotating on a different evening each month throughout the District at the invitation of individual Lodges. More details will be provided as the time draws closer, Have a great summer! If you have any questions, please contact the DDGM.
FUN STUFF
Who Said This? Match the quote to its author. Answers next week!
1. "The secret of Masonry, like the secret
of life, can be known only by those who seek it, serve it, live
it. It cannot be uttered; it can only be felt and acted. It
is, in fact, an open secret, and each man knows it according
to his quest and capacity. Like all things worth knowing, no
one can know it for another and no man can know it alone."
2. "Give the brethren a chance to do
something, anything, no matter how small or unimportant. A brother
convinced that he is helpful is enthusiastic."
3. "There is a certain grave beauty in
the practice of Masonic etiquette. The Masonic life as it is
lived out in our assemblies is a conscious work of art, with
each and every part coordinated to every other, and instinct
with the feeling of the whole; if a man enters into that system
without preparation or forethought, and trusting only his instincts,
his manner will strike an awkward note, like a discord jangling
across a strain of music; but if he has trained himself in his
part and caught the spirit of the whole, the genius of Freemasonry
will shine through his actions, will express itself through
ritual, symbol, law, philosophy, fellowship and daily deed.
To have one's self thus become a part of a great and living
whole is a kind of satisfying pleasure nothing else can give,
a participation in the very life of beauty, appreciated as much
by the beholders as by the actor. This ability to confer pleasure
upon one's fellows when gathered in communication or in ceremony
is not the least of etiquette's rewards."
4. ""What we have done for ourselves
alone dies with us; what we have done for others, and the world,
remains and is immortal."
5. "Freemasonry has no dogma or theology.
It offers no sacraments. It teaches that it is important for
every man to have a religion of his own choice and to be faithful
to it in thought and action. As a result, men of different religions
meet in fellowship and brotherhood under the fatherhood of God.
I think that a good Mason is made even more faithful to the
tenets of his faith by his membership in the Lodge. "
A. Henry G. Meacham
B. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
C. Carl H. Claudy
D. Dr. Joseph Fort Newton
E. Albert Pike
Last week's puzzle: But Charity extends beyond the grave.
HELP WANTED
Master Mason Degree Assistance Needed Jerusalem Temple Lodge requires assistance with a Master Mason Degree on Saturday August 11th. Speaking and non-speaking roles are available. The degree will begin at 9:00 a.m. with breakfast preceding it at 8:00 a.m. If you can assist, please contact R:.W:. Joe Leo.
Copyright 2006-2007 Orange-Rockland District,
GLNY F&AM. All rights reserved.
Next ORDMA Meeting