QC Lodge held its Installation Meeting on 8 November.
Dr Ric Berman was installed as Master and the following members of the lodge installed as Officers for 2018/19:
Senior Warden Dr Andreas Onnerfors (Sweden)
Junior Warden Dr Mike Kearsley
Treasurer David Peck
Secretary Dr James Campbell
Chaplain David Peabody
Director of Ceremonies Dr John Wade
Almoner Prof. Aubrey Newman
Charity Steward Dr Brent Morris (USA)
Senior Deacon Hugh O’Neill
Junior Deacon John Acaster
Asst Dir of Ceremonies Dr Paul Calderwood
Asst Secretary Mike Karn
Inner Guard Dr John Reuther
Quatuor Coronati held a three-day conference – ‘Freemasons in the Transatlantic World’ – at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, VA from 14 – 16 September. The event attracted a large audience of some 180 delegates from across the United States and Latin America, and included attendees from the UK, Europe, Australia and Singapore. Delegates had the opportunity to hear presentations from a slate of world-class academic and masonic speakers including Paul Monod, Mark Wallace, Jackie Ranston and Susan Mitchell Sommers, academics with a significant research interest in freemasonry. Attending members of QC Lodge were John Acaster, Ric Berman, James Campbell, Bob Cooper, Adam Kendall, Brent Morris, Andreas Önnefors and Mark Tabbert.
Friday’s conference programme covered four topics – Freemasonry in the Caribbean, Scottish-American Freemasonry, French Lodges, and Freemasonry in North America, and concluded with a demonstration Universal Lodge in the Memorial’s iconic North Lodge Room attended by the Grand Master of DC and his team.
Delegates had full access to the Memorial building over the weekend, with informal tours conducted by Mark Tabbert, Director of the Museum and Library.
Saturday’s papers covered topics including Religion and Freemasonry, Colonial Freemasonry, and The Freemasons of Jamaica, a beautifully illustrated paper from Jackie Ranston. The afternoon ended with delegates gathering for dinner at Joe Theismann’s, a restaurant on the edge of Alexandria’s Old Town and a favourite among local masons.
Sunday’s events, introduced by Brent Morris, included a plenary paper delivered by Oscar Alleyne – recently elected as JGW of the Grand Lodge of New York – that explored the role of men of colour in early freemasonry. The morning concluded with Ric Berman and Susan Mitchell Sommers revisiting the question ‘1717 or 1721’, which was followed by an animated discussion / Q&A. The Conference wrapped up in the afternoon with guided tours of DC. The feedback has been uniformly positive with numerous requests for a follow-up conference in the US in 2020. Watch this space!
We are delighted to welcome Anthony Q. Vaughan as our newest Local Secretary in New York State. Tony lives in Ovid NY and has been a freemason since 2011. He is currently Master of Trumansurg Lodge # 157, Trumansburg, NY; PS of Fidelity # 77, Trumansburg, NY, Royal Arch; a council member of Cayuga Council # 90, Trumansburg , NY; and a member of Finger Lakes Council # 40, Allied Masonic Degrees. Tony can be contacted at aqvaughan56@hotmail.com and on (607) 351-6872.
Welcome to Francis Fritz, our new Local Secretary for Arizona. Francis is an active mason, a member of Glendale Lodge #23 and a member of Scottish Rite, SJ, Valley of Phoenix, Orient of Arizona. He is also a member of the Scottish Rite Research Society, the Philalethes Society, the Masonic Society and Arizona Research Lodge #1, where he is currently JW.
A Director of the Roskruge & Casey Masonic Library & Museum, he can be reached on (1) 623-332-2938 and at fritzrun1915@yahoo.com.
A Thanksgiving and Celebration of the life of Anthony Wilson, 1 July 1950 – 14 May 2018, until recently President of the Board of General Purposes, will be held at the Grand Temple, Freemasons’ Hall, Great Queen Street, London, on 25 September at 11.00 am. This will not be a Memorial Service nor a Masonic event but rather a family occasion and partners are welcome to attend. Please email Louise Watts at lwatts@ugle.org.uk.
Bro. Dana Scofield is a Past Master of Franklin Lodge No. 4 in St Albans, one of Vermont’s oldest eighteenth century lodges, currently Senior Warden of Fibonacci Lodge No. 112 in South Royalton, and a RW Past District Deputy Grand Master of the Seventh Masonic District under the auspices of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Vermont.
In addition to his membership of QCCC, Dana is a member and contributing writer for Philalethes: The Journal of Masonic Research & Letters, a board member of the Masonic Restoration Foundation, and the Vermont Ambassador to the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. His Masonic scholarship focuses on eighteenth century Masonic culture and philosophy.
Dana lives in Northern Vermont with his wife and two daughters and can be contacted at localsec.vt.qcccc@gmail.com.
We are delighted to welcome Michael Boyajian of Fishkill NY as our newest Local Secretary. Michael’s mother lodge is Cornerstone 178 in Manhattan. He is a retired attorney and a former human rights judge with a BA in History from Stony Brook University and a JD from Brooklyn Law School. Michael is also an author, with an impressive list of publications. He can be contacted on (1) 845 897 2487 and at Judgeboyajian@gmail.com.
The Scottish Rite Journal for May/June featured a quarter page comment on QC’s upcoming Conference in Alexandria VA at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. A copy of the article (and the Journal) can be downloaded here.
Freemasonry Today, the official journal of the United Grand Lodge of England, will soon be featuring book, theatre, exhibition, cinema, music and other cultural reviews – and they are looking to build a pool of reviewers. The reviews will cover anything with a masonic connection, or anything else that may be of interest to readers. The aim is to provide a wide variety of reviews that will engage and entertain.
If you would like to put yourself forward to be a reviewer, please email editor@freemasonrytoday.com. Please indicate in your email what you’re happy to review. FMT is keen to know if you want to review books, exhibitions, films, concerts, music, theatre, or anything else. They also want to know if you have a particular interest. For example, you may want to write about history, fiction, militaria, gardening, contemporary cinema, art, or any other field. You do not need previous experience, just a willingness to write an honest and lively review that FMT’s readers will enjoy. Most reviews will be half a page, at around 300 words.
It all started when? Four historians ask whether the first Grand Lodge was formed in 1717 or 1721…
Read the article in Freemasonry Today
