Scottish Rite Masons and their Families VALLEY VOICE December 2013 The Presiding Officers of the Valley of Detroit Wish You and Your Families a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah and a Very Safe Holiday Season Filled with Peace and Joy!
Valley of Detroit VALLEYVOICE December, 2013 Valley Voice is the official publication of Detroit Scottish Rite. The Bodies of the Scottish Rite, sitting in the Valley of Detroit, State of Michigan, acknowledge and yield allegiance to the Supreme Council, 33 o, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States of America whose Grand East is in Lexington, Massachusetts. Ill. John Wm. McNaughton, 33 o Sovereign Grand Commander Ill. David R. Bedwell, 33 o Deputy for Michigan Ill. William J. Dover, 33 o, MSA Active Member for Michigan Ill. Walter F. Wheeler, 33 o Active Member for Michigan Ill. Robert H. Sale, 33 o, MSA Active Member Emeritus Ill. Erwin W. O Dell, 33 o, MSA Active Member Emeritus Ill. Gerald F. Thorp, 33 o, MSA Active Member Emeritus 32ndDegreeMasons.org All correspondence concerning this Publication should be directed to the Executive Secretary of the Valley of Detroit, Timothey S. Marshbanks, 33 o Mailing Address 907 Monroe St. Dearborn, MI 48124-2309 313.724.1907 Fax 313.724.1996 Toll Free 877.320.6432 Email valleyofdetroit@32nddegreemasons.org Editor Ill. David R. Bedwell, 33 o dbedwell@ameritech.net On the Cover: Stock photo VALLEY HOLIDAY PARTY Tuesday, December 10 ~ 7:30 p.m. The Brethren and Ladies of the Valley of Detroit are cordially invited to attend our Holiday Party Tuesday, December 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center. Refreshments will be served at no cost; however, seating is limited. Please contact the Valley Office to make your reservations today at 877-320-6432 or via email at valleyofdetroit@32nddegreemasons.org. (Adults only please) Scottish Rite Entered Apprentice Degree The Red Lodge Degree Saturday, February 15, 2014 ~ 3:00 p.m. The Valley of Detroit is proud to present the exemplification of the Scottish Rite Entered Apprentice Degree on Saturday, February 15 at 3:00 p.m. This degree is part of a unique system of degrees conferred by several Lodges in New Orleans. You will notice several differences in terminology, signs, and the layout of the Lodge. This degree is rarely done outside of New Orleans, you will not want to miss this special event. This degree is for educational purposes only and not an actual conferral. Following the degree, a brief presentation on the history of the Scottish Rite Craft Degrees will take place, and refreshments will be available. This event is open to all Masons in good standing. To make reservations please go to the Valley website or call 877-320-6432. Permission to reprint original articles in the Valley Voice is granted to all recognized Masonic publications with credit to the author and this publication. Copyright 2013 Board of Trustees of the Scottish Rite Bodies of the Valley of Detroit We will strive to be a fraternity that fulfills our Masonic obligation to care for our members
A Special Showing of the 6 o ~ MASTER OF THE BRAZEN SERPENT Tuesday, January 14 ~ 7:30 p.m. The sixth degree is a drama of the human spirit, caught between its own discouragement and fear, and the will and purpose of Almighty God. Man today struggles with the same doubts and fears as did the children of Israel in their desert journey thousands of years ago when they were led by Moses. Reverence for God, one of the core values of the Scottish Rite, NMJ, is dramatically exemplified in this degree. This special viewing is for Scottish Rite Masons only. Refreshments following. For reservations please call the Valley office at 877-320-6432 or email valleyofdetroit@32nddegreemasons.org. Valentines Party & Wine Tasting Tuesday, February 11, 2014 ~ 7:30 p.m. Please join us on Tuesday, February 11, for the Valley of Detroit Valentines Party and Wine Tasting at 7:30 p.m. A variety of wines to sample will be available, and all attendees will receive a door prize. So whether you are looking to expand your knowledge of wine or to enjoy some great fellowship, this event is for you. This event is open to all members and their guests, adults only please. No cost; however, reservations are required. Register through the Valley website or call 877-320-6432. THE VALLEY OF DETROIT ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE PROUDLY PRESENTS OUR ANNUAL EASTER EVE SERVICE SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014, AT 3:00 P.M. Scottish Rite Masonic Center ~ 907 Monroe Street ~ Dearborn Refreshments to follow. Reservations are a must. 877.320.6432 or via email at valleyofdetroit@32nddegreemasons.org
The Civil War and Freemasonry: An Evening with Brother Michael Halleran Saturday, January 25, 2014 ~ 7:30 p.m. The Valley of Detroit is proud to present Right Worshipful Brother Michael Halleran, Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kansas, A.F. & A.M., who will present a lecture entitled The Civil War and Freemasonry. RWB Halleran is an American scholar, who writes on Freemasonry. A practicing attorney in Kansas, he received a Master s Degree in American History from the University of Kansas and his juris doctorate from Washburn University, in Topeka, Kansas. He is a member of the Correspondence Circle of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 (United Grand Lodge of England). RWB Halleran is an adjunct lecturer at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. He has lectured on 19th century military Masons in both the United States and Great Britain. In 2006 he was awarded the Scottish Rite Research Society s Albert G. Mackey Award for Excellence in Masonic Scholarship for his article on Masonic Courtesy in the American Civil War, and in 2008 he received the Nova Award from Internet Lodge No. 9659. He is the author of both articles and a book on Masons in the Civil War, as well as a regular column in the Scottish Rite Journal recounting the adventures of Bro. Hiram Brother, a 19th Century Mason. The stories are framed as extracts from Bro. Brother s previously undiscovered journals. This lecture will provide a brief overview on Freemasonry before the Civil War and in the Union and Confederate armies, will detail the response of the Fraternity to the crisis of secession and war, and provide examples of how Masonic brotherhood worked in action on the battlefield and in prisoner of war camps. This lecture is open to all Masons and guests, and copies of RWB Halleran s books will be available for purchase before and after the lecture. Social hour begins at 6:00 p.m., Dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the lecture at 7:30 p.m., and refreshments and food are available after the lecture. Cost to attend this event will be $25. The first 60 paid reservations will receive a copy of the book (one per couple or single). For reservations please call the Valley office at 877-320-6432 or via the website 32ndDegreeMasons.org. Makes a Great Holiday Gift! Join the Valley of Detroit for some Hockey! Detroit Red Wings vs New Jersey Devils Friday, March 7, 2014 ~ 7:30 p.m. $95.00 per person ~ Suite (a $225.00 value) Tickets are limited. Contact the Valley Office for more information. 877.320.6432
The Children s Dyslexia Center opened a new chapter this fall. In August Joy Graves retired as Center Director. Joy loved the Center and all her kids and had mixed feelings when she retired. Joy opened the Center 15 years ago at the Detroit Masonic Temple, and moved the Center two times, once to a temporary home up the street on Garrison and then to our current office space at 907 Monroe. The time Joy spent enriched the lives of many, many children. She opened the door to reading for many children, who are now successful adults, doing things they never imagined possible when they first started at our Center. We hope that Joy, her husband Rick, and cat Daffy are enjoying new adventures exploring the East Coast and will enjoy many adventures in the future. I am Ann Randall, the new Center Director. I started here five years ago as a trainee and quickly learned what Joy knew - that tutoring is indeed a labor of love. I truly enjoy helping my students and their families, and the best reward is watching them succeed, both while they are at the Center and in their endeavors outside the Center Raising awareness and understanding dyslexia and the ongoing success of our Center is of great personal importance to me. My daughter is a graduate of our program, so I personally understand the gift our students receive. I watched the transformation in my own daughter and even though dyslexia is as much a part of her as her dark brown eyes, it does not stand in the way of her dreams. One of the September highlights was our annual Walk for Children with Dyslexia on September 22. We had a gorgeous fall day to explore the Rouge River Basin, followed by great chili dogs and snacks for all, compliments of Bob Goodrich. A very special thanks goes to Joy and Richard Graves, Valley of Detroit, Mr. and Mrs. Szczepaniak, Mr. and Mrs. Pisha and the McCorkle family for their ongoing commitment to our Center. It s always great to see our Mason friends, students and former students and their families and all the funds raised support our mission to provide free tutoring services to children with Dyslexia. The free tutoring provided by our Center is a long lasting gift. Before the Walk, I heard from a number of former students and want to share their success stories. My son has had straight A s since he left the Center. This young man just started his Sophomore year in High School. Another young man, who had to work the day of the walk, just started his freshman year at Henry Ford Community College and plans to major in education. Another young man happily fund raised for the Walk and proudly announced that he achieved the grades and test scores he needed to get accepted to Renaissance High School. These success stories highlight that the success of our mission continues long after our students graduate from the program. I am honored that I get to carry on the mission of reaching as many dyslexic children as possible and providing them with the tutoring they need to become efficient readers. I feel very lucky to be Center Director and appreciate your ongoing support.
Scottish Rite The First Two Hundred Years By Jim S. Deyo (Continued) When we ended the discussion last month we learned that Ill. Brother John James Joseph Gourgas was known as the Conservator of the Rite. It becomes important to know how he acquired that title as we study the First Two Hundred Years. If you remember in 1826 the Morgan Affair forced Freemasonry to almost become nonexistent. Had it not been for Gourgas the Supreme Council and Scottish Rite as we know it today would have disappeared from America. It is often said that, If the country were mountainous, rather than flat and aquatic, the echoes would repeat the name of Gourgas. With the establishment of the Northern Supreme Council in 1813, a new epoch was entered upon by Gourgas and his associates. The paucity of records has often been seized upon as evidence that there were no activities on Gourgas part until well into the forties. The letters cited, and others which are extremely numerous between 1822 and 1832, prove Gourgas Masonic zeal, while at the same time supporting his position that the degrees were not to be cheapened by being peddled promiscuously. The mushroom growth of the Cerneau bodies, and their ultimate collapse under the Hicks and St. Laurent regimes, confirm the wisdom of Gourgas attitude. No other bodies were established but in 1820-21 Albany Lodge of Perfection, originally founded in 1787, were revived under the old Rite of Perfection regulations, and it together with some other bodies related to it, came under the Supreme Council of New York in 1828. This followed after Gourgas had learned, to his amazement, that the Charleston Supreme Council had elevated brethren of bodies within the jurisdiction of the Northern Supreme Council. However, it should be said in extenuation of the circumstances, the acts were committed by Grand Commander Moses Holbrook, M.D., after his elevation to office in Charleston. He had no personal knowledge of the events of 1813-14 by De La Motta, nor were there any records to consult, as extensive conflagrations in Charleston, especially one in 1819, had destroyed the early archives of his Supreme Council. When the facts were called to his attention, the irregularities were promptly and most amicably adjusted. A lively correspondence was commenced between Gourgas and Holbrook, which ran from 1826 to 1832, and it is from their letters as well as from Giles Fonda Yates 33rd degree that we are able to reconstruct in great detail the history of the Scottish Rite in the United States during this period. The correspondence between these two leaders of Scottish Rite Freemasonry refutes the belief that the Southern and the Northern Supreme Councils were entirely inactive prior to 1843. Not only is this the case, but the correspondence also reveals how heavily the Southern Jurisdiction leaned upon its sturdy offspring. The anti-masonic excitement of 1826-1840 wreaked havoc with Freemasonry in the United States, the cholera epidemic of 1832 contributed its part toward halting social and economic affairs; and the financial crash of 1837 put an effective stop to anything that savored of a revival of old customs. It was not until the forties that the crushed Masonic life of the two previous decades could be resumed, and new and sturdier foundations laid to every endeavor of human activity. These things must be borne in mind as we follow Gourgas and his associates during their trying years. Difficulties with Cerneau elements in Charleston in 1823, brought active members of the Charleston Supreme Council into the picture, Dr. Holbrook as Lieutenant Grand Commander opened correspondence with Gourgas early in 1826 (he became Grand Commander October 27, 1826.) The loss of rituals and documents at Charleston induced Holbrook to seek aid from Gourgas. He wrote the following: We had our papers nearly consumed by fire three times within the last forty years. Many of these were burnt in 1810 mostly records, letters, returns, curtains ect. ect.. Could we in any way purchase a big Tuilleur I should be pleased to possess a list of the names of the Supreme Council for France and of their officers. Other letters of similar import could be quoted, showing how Holbrook relied upon Gourgas for essential information and advice. Gourgas not only furnished Holbrook with the texts of all the rituals that were known at the time, but he drew upon his
own collection, gathered from many sources. He also furnished the Southern Supreme Council with the transcripts of the Grand Constitutions and the Secret Constitutions. These were not only neatly copied by Gourgas personally. but were attractively bound in a red leather volume, and presented to Holbrook. This book has disappeared during the flight of years, a loss attributable to the indifference and neglect of later officials who were as apathetic as some predecessors. Albert Pike years later recognized the essence of the situation when he said; The chief obstacles to her [Masonry s] success are the apathy and faithlessness of her own children. Albert Pike fully appreciated the fine work of Gourgas and this is shown by his reproducing, in full all of the correspondence that passed between Holbrook and Gourgas, one side of which he obtained by borrowing the Holbrook correspondence from the Northern Jurisdiction. The correspondence of Gourgas with Holbrook reveals the man. In it we perceive the Continental background, and also that he had absorbed the spirit of America. His basic traits of character are expressed not only in his utterance, but the very act of recording them on paper. The even and meticulous strokes of his pen are enlivened by the fires surging in his heart yet nothing is done in a shoddy or hasty manner, everything reflects the workings of a well trained and ordered mind. It was indeed fortunate for Scottish Rite Freemasonry that a man with his careful habits was in the Grand Secretariat from 1813 to 1832. He it was who gathered and preserved documents which became invaluable when those in Charleston disappeared. In no way minimizing the contributions made by the Founders of Charleston, and by those who succeeded them as years went on. nevertheless it cannot be gainsaid that Gourgas was as important to the Northern Jurisdiction as Albert Pike was to the Southern. The truth is that both the Southern and the Northern are eternally indebted to Gourgas for his zeal, his fidelity and his arduous labors during the early decades of the Scottish Rite in America.. It must not be believed for a moment however, that Gourgas stepped out of the picture when he resigned his office as Sovereign Grand Commander on August 24, 1851. Though he had attained the venerable age of 74, he continued an interest in the Scottish Rite until his death fourteen years later. Gourgas was the St. John the Baptist who proclaimed and preserved the Scottish Rite in the wilderness during the years of stress and Masonic darkness. Thus we close the book on Gourgas and look at the development of Scottish Rite in Columbus as Adoniram Lodge of Perfection in 1851 in our next writing. (To be continued) Editors Note: Ill. Jim S. Deyo, 33 o, is an Active Emeritus Member from Ohio. Jim most recently served as Lt. Grand Commander for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. He has written a series of articles for the Valley of Columbus s publication on the history of Scottish Rite in the NMJ, and he has graciously allowed me to share them with you over the next few months. Congratulations to the new 32 o Scottish Rite Masons that joined the Valley of Detroit on Saturday, October 26, 2013. The Class was named in honor of Illustrious Joel E. Clement, 33 o. Joel was a fine man and Mason, who was called by the Grand Architect way too soon. Pictured above, the Presiding Officers of the Valley of Detroit presenting Joel s widow Valarie Clement with a plaque honoring Joel s memory. The Fall Reunion was a great day of outstanding fellowship and brotherhood. Thank you to everyone who made the day so special!
The Board of Trustees of the Scottish Rite Bodies of the Valley of Detroit 32 o Masons and Their Families 907 Monroe Street Dearborn, MI 48124-2309 Dated Material - Please Do Not Delay Support Your Club Blue Water Club Bernie Kirchoff 810-364-9702 Port Huron Masonic Temple Rear Door - Lower Level 927 6th Street Port Huron, MI 48060 3rd Monday, 6:30 P.M. Macomb Club Al McKay, MSA 586.773.3093 Roseville Masonic Center 27151 Gratiot Ave. Roseville Last Saturday, 9:00 A.M. Oakland Club Dennis McWilliams 248.435.4107 Jimi s Restaurant 714 S. Washington Royal Oak 2nd Monday, 6:15 P.M. Club of the Lakes Les Ferguson 517.546.1880 Pinckney Masonic Center 210 Mann St. in Pinckney 3rd Sunday, 11:00 A.M. Downriver/Monroe Club Michael J. Stetz, 33 o 313.271.8018 Leon s Family Dining 23830 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn 2nd Saturday, 9:00 A.M. Jackson Club Ken Strobel 517.787.2680 The Country Café 1701 Mitchell Street - Jackson 2nd Sunday, 8:30 A.M. Calendar December 2013 10 Adults Only Holiday Party January 2014 14 Valley Meeting 6 o Master of the Brazen Serpent 16 Board of Trustees 25 Mike Halleran Lecture February 2014 11 Valentines Party / Wine Tasting 15 Scottish Rite Craft EA Degree (Reception) 23 to 3-2 Caribbean Cruise for AASR March 2014 11 Valley Meeting 20 Board of Trustees 6:00 p.m. April 2014 8 An evening with WB Tim Hogan 19 Easter Eve Service 26 SPRING REUNION