By Paul Rodriguez-Obrien—Master
Brethren and Families,
I'd like to start by saying that it was fantastic to see many of your faces in our “Lodge Zoom Night” on August 20th. It was well attended by 24 of our brothers, and thanks to the virtual nature of this meeting, several members from out of state and many others who might not have been able to attend due to physical limitations was able to attend this virtual meeting.
The format of the event was similar in structure to a regular lodge meeting, using our time together as a way to catch everyone up on how the lodge has been running, being maintained, new and old business, and discussions regarding next year. We also heard a very interesting paper by Bill Ferrell on our lodge history, mergers, and inherited customs from the many lodges that we owe our roots and pride, and which was instrumental to us becoming the great lodge we are today. Our final speaker was that of our own Inspector, Allen Cuenca, who masterly side-stepped a barrage of questions on Grand Lodge rumors, decisions, speculations, suppositions, and precognition. Well done Worshipful Inspector!
Some take-away’s from the event are that this could be an excellent way to reconnect with our Brothers who are not able to make it into the lodge due to physical conditions, transportation, or distance. Although being a non-tiled Masonic gathering, there are obvious limitations as to what we can accomplish. With that in mind, I'm looking for ways that this medium can be used to reach even more of our shut-in Brethren. I would greatly welcome any discussion on how we can accomplish this. Please reach out to me!
I am now planning our next “Lodge Zoom Night” for September 10th, and another on October 1st. We will again utilize the same format as this last one, but we can easily adjust depending on how the flow of the event progresses. We plan on some Lodge news, maybe some research papers, as well as possibly having open floor topics to discuss important matters that you feel need addressing.
The Zoom meeting ID for the Sept 10th meeting will be: 618-797-9982
Until then, stay safe, stay healthy, and know you are a valuable part of our Masonry family. We are here to help and support you anyway we can. Just reach out and call us. Our phone numbers and email address are easily found within this Trestleboard.
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