Grand Masters

PGM Frank Haas Alleged To Have Been Expelled From The Grand Lodge Of Ohio Who Previously Granted Him Asylum

February 13, 2013 by Fred Milliken

It has been stated that the Grand Lodge of West Virginia has reestablished relations with the Grand Lodge of Ohio. It has also been said that PGM Frank Haas who was granted admittance into the Grand Lodge of Ohio has now been expelled. A Brother from the Masons of Texas Forum says that he talked to an Ohio Grand Lodge member who confirmed these developments.

If this is true, and I would like to see some more verification, then it is a travesty of justice. Some things that a Grand Lodge does cannot be revoked or reinstated as the case may be when Grand Masters change in a Grand Lodge. You cannot play with people’s lives in this manner.

Once the Grand Lodge of Ohio granted PGM Frank Haas asylum it should be permanent and not able to be reversed. What happens to the credibility of the Grand Lodge of Ohio should the next Grand Master re-reverse the decision and reinstate Frank Haas?

The question that needs to be answered is did Frank Haas receive a Masonic Trial from his Lodge in Ohio or was he just summarily expelled? On what basis was he expelled? What was the reason?

Let’s say that in the civil world the District Attorney of Ohio should grant immunity from prosecution to an individual in return for testimony he needs to convict someone else. The individual takes the deal but when a new Attorney General is elected he reverses the deal and throws the individual in jail.

Or let’s say that in the Masonic world that a Grand Master of a certain Grand Lodge decides to heal and admit all the members of a clandestine Grand Lodge. The next year a new Grand Master reverses the decision and throws all the former clandestine members out, expels them without a Masonic trial.

You just cannot do business this way. Your word is no good if you can’t keep it and maintain some constant policies.

If this story is true, then it demonstrates once again that some American Grand Masters have too much power and are using that power arbitrarily with no regard for their Constitutions or Masonic law. Such is the sad state of American Mainstream Freemasonry that is slowly dying an agonizing death. One only needs to look at the Grand Lodge of Arkansas where a despotic, tyrannical regime riddled with KKK has reduced that Grand Lodge by attrition to 4000 members. Meanwhile the Grand Lodge of Florida is expelling all who are not members of an Abrahamic faith (mostly non-Christians).

How long are the good Grand Lodges in this nation going to allow Freemasonry to be practiced in this manner?

A History Making Grand Session

June 27, 2011 by Fred Milliken

A Grand Session in Prince Hall is a very special, interesting and motivating experience especially when the female Orders meet at the same time. Texas is no exception where Eastern Star and the Heroines of Jericho meet simultaneously separately but attend the luncheons, social events, banquets and prayerful times with the Master Masons. It is rightfully billed a Prince Hall family event.

I don’t know how the women run their sessions but on the men’s side, often tedious and boring business is mixed well with awards and celebrations. We have annual awards for the Master Mason of the year, the District of the year, the District Deputy of the year and a special meritorious service of the year award. We have an awards luncheon with the whole Prince Hall family and a family night dinner open to the spouses and friends of members. The highlight of the awards luncheon was the presentation of scholarship awards from each House. And family night, as always, carried with it a prominent guest speaker who always delivers us an inspiring message.

This year’s guest speaker was Dr. Bro. Osiefield Anderson, a PHD in mathematics and a college professor. His theme was it is time to get up off our butts and do something about society that is crumbling and decaying all around us. A master of inspiring poetry he motivated us all to action. His motto is, “It is not how long a man lives that matters, but how well he lives.”

Out of Session any member of the Prince Hall family could participate in a gospel festival, a church service, a dance-social party and a Lodge of Sorrow for those who have traveled to the Celestial Lodge above.

And if that was all there was we would all go home happy, well fed and fired up. But when you throw in an extra special event in the middle of all this you fashion a Grand Session that will go down in history. Such was the June 2011 four day Grand Session of Prince Hall, Texas.

That history making event was the opening of the Wilbert M. Curtis Texas Prince Hall Library Museum. After more than a year in the making, the Library Museum was opened with a special ribbon cutting ceremony that included representatives from six jurisdictions, mostly Grand Masters, civic leaders and the head of the Fort Worth Black Historical & Genealogical Society. The Deputy Grand Master and Wardens consecrated the occasion with corn, wine and oil. Speeches were made and prayers raised up, the ribbon cut and finally it was time to go inside and see what treasures were in store for us.

And we were not disappointed. There were pictures, plaques, paintings and actual early uniforms, dress and jewels. There were also rare books and the records and minutes of Texas Prince Hall Grand Lodge dating back to the 1870’s. Copies of early Grand Lodge publications were in abundance. At one end of the Library Museum you opened a door into a well furnished Lodge Room. Before your eyes was a beautiful hand crafted wooden altar and stations made by a Brother who received one of this year’s Grand Lodge awards.

The Heroines of Jericho and Eastern Star are well represented in the Library Museum with early dress, pictures and presentations. One thing that distinguishes Prince Hall Masonry is how closely the men’s and women’s Orders work together. It is truly one big family.

There is much more to come. Contributions to the Library Museum are still coming in and in the years that follow much will be added. The Library Museum welcomes gifts of books, papers, manuscripts, photographs, artwork, records, audio tapes, video tapes, maps, pamphlets, scrapbooks, oral history, memorabilia and other archival records of historical value which will enhance the teaching, learning, research and service of the members affiliated with the MWPHGLTX and or is interested in the advancement of knowledge related to Free Masonry.

Now the Prince Hall family of Texas has a place to deposit its archives and to tell its own story, a story it will continuously share with others.

Nebraska: A Predictable Masonic Mess

March 20, 2011 by Fred Milliken

Looking at the Masonic mess in Nebraska certain questions come to mind, such as, “How did we get to this point in Freemasonry where something like this can so easily happen? “ A hundred years ago in the Craft would any of the participants acted in this manner? What is the difference between now and then? The answer to the last question may offer a clue as to why so many stories like this are so prevalent today. It seems like every few months another Masonic mess hits the scene.

Parsons’, the outgoing Grand Master, logic is that the rules and regulations in the Constitution and by-laws of Nebraska will not allow a quick enough response for justice to take place. Watts, the incoming Grand Master, who should be tried and convicted immediately and thus become ineligible to become Grand Master will not happen by following the rules, he thinks. So Parsons with some Past Grand Masters and other members of the Grand Lodge have decided that if the rules are deficient they no longer apply and they must take the law into their own hands. Watts will use his powers as Grand Master to delay his trial until after his term of office is up, they say. He could through controlling parliamentary procedure sidetrack or squash motions to challenge his authority or question his authenticity if he is allowed to assume the Grand East immediately.

It seems to me that here is an instance where the Grand Lodge has been hoisted on its own petard. Grand Lodges have deliberately allowed the power of the Grand Master over the Craft to reach hither unheard of heights. It was OK when the Grand Master was lording his authority over subordinates but now that it is the Grand Master versus his own Grand Lodge and Grand Master versus Grand Master and Past Grand Masters the tables have been turned and many look aghast at such horror.

It is precisely this trend in the Grand Master’s absolute power with no constrictions – not voting members of the Grand Lodge or the Constitution of the Grand Lodge – that has moved Masonic trials from the local Lodge into the chambers of the Grand Lodge chaired by the Grand Master and then ultimately to expulsions with no trial whatsoever. And right along with that goes the power of the Grand Master to revoke subordinate Lodge charters immediately on the spot and at will. So it only follows that a Grand Master can refuse to seat a duly elected successor or in the case of Frank Haas for a Grand Master to expel a Past Grand Master without a trial.

That amount of power has enabled Grand Masters in voting Grand Lodges to control the agenda and refuse to allow certain motions or votes to take place declaring then unconstitutional or not correctly drawn up or ultimately “not in the best interests of the Craft.”

It is not the rulings of the 21^st century all powerful Grand Master that are always detrimental. Many Grand Masters are quite benevolent and operate always with the best interests of the Craft in mind. It is the breakdown of the rule of law, the violations of its own Constitution that doom Freemasonry to chaos and anarchy. In civil society it is precisely the rule of law that separates third world machine gun political nations from those who obey the law even when the rulings are not in their favor.

Freemasonry seems to be going down this same lawless path. It is the Old Wild West relived where Sheriffs and Judges rule with extraordinary powers and justice is a quick hanging without taking time for the formalities of the law.

The sooner Freemasonry recognizes why it is having all these problems and restores the rule of Masonic law is the sooner Masonic messes disappear from today’s news.

PHA Conference Of Grandmasters Website

August 27, 2010 by Fred Milliken

One of the interesting items that Grand Master Wilbert M. Curtis introduced us to at our summer Grand Session of PHA Texas was the new Conference of Grand Masters PHA website. It is really quite well done.

There are two interactive maps where you can slide your cursor over a state and it will show you the Grand Master of that state or territory with his picture, website and E-Mail address. Another map will do the same thing for Grand Matrons and Grand Patrons . Both maps are also broken down into Regions and each Region is also part of the information included in a visit to each state.

When the Grand Masters meet, the Grand Matrons and Grand Patrons also meet at the same time and place. Including the women with the men in joint but separate gatherings is a constant theme in Prince Hall Masonry. Not so on the Mainstream side.

The website has a center picture which changes, a touch of Masonic art and symbolism and good color. It also has a fair amount of information. You can learn about the origin of Prince Hall Masonry and the origin of the Adoptive Rite among Black women. Another click will show you all the Grand Lodge websites list alphabetically. Other tabs will bring you to PHA charities and to other Masonic links.

But what I enjoy seeing on the site most of all is the spelling out of the Purpose of the Grand Masters conference along with pictures of the officers and a breakdown of regional heads. Along with the Purpose are listed also the Objectives for the Grand Masters and Grand Matrons and Grand Patrons.

To view the website go here: http://www.conferenceofgrandmasterspha.org/home.asp

The Prince Hall Site gives you the feeling of some tight bonding among the different jurisdictions. It also sets a definite agenda while at the same time allowing some time for position papers.

Taking a look at the Mainstream Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America, Inc. I see a site that doesn’t seem to want to show off Masonry, doesn’t emphasize togetherness, is less informational and not quite so elegant.

To view that website go here: http://www.cgmna.org/index.htm

Contrast the two for yourself and see if you come to the same conclusions.