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Montana Freemason August 2015
ere are 92 Lodges as of this writing. Most
likely shortly a er this writing, it will be 91 or
even 90, by our Annual Communication in
June. If we were honest, we would be at about 70
lodges in a year, why. (All Lodges and their towns
mentioned below have their names changed in
order to prevent possible hard feelings).
“Beehive Lodge” #7 has 22 members as of
December 31, 2014. 11 live in their town, most
of the rest out of state or not really all that close.
13 out of the 22 members are “50 Year” members,
making them at least 71 years old (minimum
age back then was 21 to join). One member was
born in 1991, another in 1970, one in 1965. No
members were born in the ‘50’s, and at least one
was born during World War I. ey met 4 times
last year: the minimum allowed by Code (each
lodge is required to meet at least quarterly). ey
had 5 members present at those 4 meetings (the
minimum allowed per Code, inclusive of the
Tyler). ey do have a little bit of money: $18k,
and a building in a town that doesn’t need it if they
fold. e town they live in has 970 residents. In
2014 they lost 1 member, gained 0; in 2013 gained
1, lost 3; in 2012 lost 2, gained 0; in 2011, lost 2,
gained 0. ey’ve initiated 5 men in that time, and
only 1 became a Master Mason. is story could
be repeated throughout the state.
What happens when the small towns dry up (the
reasons for this are not part of this article), and are a speech on the latest idea that will “save” Masonry.
unable to thrive like they once did, either because
of a railroad, or a factory, or an industry that le ?
Some lodges accept that they’ll never get the same
large amount of guys they once did, and strive to
meet the needs of the members that they do have.
As a result, they’re optimistic that they will keep
meeting. Other lodges in similar situations don’t
always operate so much. In fact, they o en don’t
meet at all.
While the “Beehive Lodge” town has just under
1000 residents, “Tuscan Lodge” #11 meets in a
town with about the same number of residents,
and it has almost double the membership roster,
at 39. Neither town is showing signs of an extreme
turn around in their near future, but one is likely
to be here 10 years from now, and the other is not.
One lodge is doing something that is positive, the
other is struggling.
The Lodge With No Money
One lodge, call it “George Washington Lodge”
#14, has $3,700 in their checking, and $1,900 in
their savings account. ey pay out rent to the
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tune of $2,100 a year to the Masonic Temple
Association that runs their facility. is doesn’t
leave them past 2 years. ey also have a $10,000
CD which won’t be mature until 2017, so they
will take a penalty for early withdrawal if they
do so. And they have $35,000 in their investment
account. Do they touch the money saved for a
rainy day? It looks like a typhoon outside.
If this lodge wants to stay a oat using the
resources that it has, it will have to tap into the CD
or investment account - which will only buy them
some time; they still lack enough positive cash
ow once this reserve is exhausted to continue for
much longer. Further, some of their monies are
speci cally earmarked for use in the granting of
scholarships - so they are not used for paying their
rent, for example. e Temple Association running
the lodge (which includes other para-Masonic
bodies) has its own concerns. is group has also
faced deferred maintenance issues in its building,
and if a major issue arises - say with a roof or
boiler - that emergency will likely do the lodge in.
Assessing Money And Members
Do we know what we are up against when we
come up with our latest scheme to get money and
members? How many times have you attend Grand
Lodge, here or elsewhere, and hear dignitaries give
We know from years of this that they don’t work,
why do we allow our annual session as a place
to tout the latest get-rich-quick in members and
money scheme? Assessing the nances of an
existing lodge, and the potential membership
of a community, could go a long way toward
predicting which lodges need assistance in
an area, which do not, and how to not drag
an entire Grand Lodge into yet another one-
and-done program meant to cure what ails.
Perhaps a better measurement is - we evaluate
how many people are reasonably expected to join
a lodge in an area out of the potential population
to start with; we also evaluate lodge assets vs their
liabilities. We should be able to forecast where
problem areas are. Following this article is a chart
showing cities and towns in Montana as taken
from the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S.
Census Bureau and Wikipedia.com, and show
some assets from lodges meeting there as well.