Judge John R. Martin 32°
2222 Westerland Drive #129, Houston, Texas 77063–2213

Lately much has been written about the true purpose of Freemasonry as either a charity or a fellowship and the difficulty in renewing our Fraternity and refilling our ranks. The argument between charity and fellowship misses the point and shows why we are having so much trouble with renewal of Masonry. Until we start concentrating on the true purpose of Freemasonry, we are never going to fix what needs to be fixed. That is because we are trying to fix the engine of our Masonic ship by changing the propeller or refashioning the bow. The real engine that keeps Masonry going is its true purpose.

The true purpose of our Craft is not fellowship nor is it philanthropy, although these are the propellers that can drive it through the water. Nor is it one-day classes or affinity Lodges, although these can be a well-fashioned bow to help us plow through the water. No, the true purpose, the engine of the ship, is currently lost to view. This purpose is Freemasonry's existence as a rite of passage to acceptance as a man in Western Society. Somewhere along the line in our history as an organization, we started to miss the point.

What are the New Age "Iron John" Drum Beaters and the Promise Keepers and the lost male souls in our new "feminist" society looking for? The same thing that all other males in all other societies on the planet are looking for: inclusion into male society. This is a very simple idea. And what about all the male bonding that popular psychologists tell us about? It comes from a shared ritualistic or actual life-or-death experience. Clearly, this sounds like our Fraternity.

At this point, it may be well to define a rite of passage. A rite of passage in the anthropological sense is an initiation into a fraternity or men's club like Freemasonry that is composed of adult males. The fraternity conducts the rite of passage initiation ceremony and provides a continuing membership for the initiates after the ritual is completed. Becoming recognized as a member of this group gives the men full adult status in the society. In some societies, it can be even a requirement for marriage and status as the head of a family.

Freemasonry is the rite of passage into manhood that developed as Western Civilization developed. As we became a pan-European culture and then a global culture, Freemasonry was the rite of passage that spread and established itself as a part of that culture. How does this knowledge give us the tools to regain our position in Western Civilization and avoid extinction?

If we recognize that we are first and foremost a rite of passage, we will make changes needed to improve ourselves as providers of such a rite of passage. We will position ourselves as what we truly are, and this will work because it will tell everyone in society why they need us. Men will see they need us to become whole male members of the society at large, fulfilling that psychological and sociological male need. Women will see that they have nothing to fear and much to gain from their men becoming Masons. And society at large will see that we are a healthy, natural part of a pluralistic and tolerant civilization. This is the real thing. Trying to present ourselves as an ethics-based fellowship just makes us look like a competitive religion. Trying to present ourselves as a philanthropic group makes us look like a competitive philanthropy.

Trying to boost numbers with one-day classes or affinity Lodges misses the point if we do not stress that Masonic initiation means something: that it is the rite of passage for our civilization. Rites of passage must be a little tough, even if they are only ritual and do not involve physical challenge. We do not have to accept everyone. True rites of passage have restrictions, and ours does, too. The man must be "free born, of lawful age and under the tongue of good report." Not everyone in a given society qualifies for complete manhood nor do they all pass the tests of the rite of passage in any society.

The more we pretend to be something other than, in essence, a rite of passage, the more we lose sight of what we can do. This also makes us look to the outside world like we are hiding something dangerous. Rites of passage are traditionally done in secret, and no one in a society expects anything else. With the greatest love and concern, we must take a new look at ourselves. Lodges can gain more that a thousand members from one-day classes, yet they often lose more than 200 per year from disinterest. Some say that we have nothing for young members to do but study ritual, so we need something else like affinity Lodges focused on a special interest. The purpose of Freemasonry is to make Freemasons just as reproduction is the only means of continuing life. In our case, that means initiations.

Most men take our initiation ceremonies and continue on with their lives with fond memories and an occasional beneficial act. But some few continue learning and performing the rituals, and this continues the reason that we exist. I am NOT saying this is the only thing we should do! I am saying that if we concentrate on our ritual and our performance and our primary purpose, our Lodges will survive, the Craft will survive, and there will be plenty of Masons and Lodges for all the other affinities groups and charities. If young men are disappointed with our business meetings because we seem to discuss only paying bills and to have meetings mostly for learning ritual and teaching proficiency, they are missing the point.

And so are most of us. We concentrate on these things because this is what we are. We are a rite of passage—not exclusively, we do other things, but primarily, as in first and foremost. This may sound like it is just too simple a solution. However, this is like the old driving rule: always look in the direction of travel when you drive a car. You have a lot of other things going on with the car and with the traffic, but first, you have to see where you are going.

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