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MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
The person who wants to join Freemasonry must be a man, at least eighteen years old, morally and mentally sound. He must be a person of good reputation in his community, and express a belief and a faith in a Supreme Being. How each man expresses that belief is only for him to decide.
He should believe in helping others, and that there is more to life than pleasure and money. He should be willing to respect the opinion of others, and recognize the right of others to political and religious freedom. Most importantly, he should want to grow and improve as a man, recognizing that we all have room to make ourselves better as husbands, fathers, friends, and members of the community.
Some men think that since no Mason has ever asked him to join the fraternity that they have been judged as “unworthy” of membership. That is not the case. For centuries, Masons have been prohibited from asking other men to join. We can talk to others about Masonry and our involvement. We can tell them about the purposes of Masonry and what we have gotten out of it. However, we cannot ask, much less pressure, anyone to join.
It is not that we are trying to be exclusive; in fact, Masonry promoted equality within the fraternity when the idea of equality was threatening to the established powers. It is that deciding to become a Mason is a very serious undertaking, a commitment to live life in certain ways. This is not a decision that a man should be “talked into.”
If you decide to be a Mason, you need simply to ask a Mason for a petition (application.) The completed petition will be taken to the Lodge, where the Master of the Lodge will appoint a committee meet with you to find out about you and to answer your questions about Masonry. This committee makes a report to the Lodge, who then vote on the petition. If the vote is positive (most are,) an officer of the Lodge will contact you to set the dates for initiation; first as an Entered Apprentice, then as a Fellowcraft, and finally as a Master Mason, a full member of the fraternity. You can trust that, despite any rumors you may have heard, nothing in any of the initiation ceremonies will be in any way degrading, embarrassing or harmful. In fact, you will probably find them to be a memorable moment in your life.
If you do not personally know a Mason from whom you can request a petition, you can simply download a petition here, complete it and mail it in. You will be contacted shortly thereafter.
When is a Man a Mason?
When he can look out over the rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a profound sense of his own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope, and courage which is the root of every virtue.
When he knows that down in his heart every man is as noble, as vile, as divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive, and to love his fellow man.
When he knows how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yea, even in their sins knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds.
When he has learned how to make friends and to keep them, and above all how to keep friends with himself.
When he loves flowers, can hunt birds without a gun, and feels the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he hears the laugh of a little child.
When he can be happy and high-minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life.
When star-crowned trees and the glint of sunlight on flowing waters, subdue him like the thought of one much loved and long dead.
When no voice of distress reaches his ears in vain, and no hand seeks his aid without response.
When he finds good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of divine things and sees majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of that faith may be.
When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and into the face of the most forlorn fellow mortal and see something beyond sin.
When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope.
When he has kept faith with himself with his fellow man, and with his God; in his hand a sword for evil, in his heart a bit of a song — glad to live, but not afraid to die!
Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which it is trying to give to all the world.
Reverend Joseph Fort Newton
Grand Chaplain, Grand Lodge of Iowa
1911-1913 |
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