Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Masons / Shriners

Not a cult. More of a brotherhood of men wanting to better themselves and help their community.

Someone must think you are a pretty good person to want to sponsor you. I say do it.

"Secret hand shakes, codes, no wimmens, WTF?" A lot of stuff steeped in tradition and history. No magic underwear though

Masons, like other fraternal organizations, are experiencing a decline in membership, at least in MT and throughout the U.S. I suspect this is greatly a result of the use of social media as a substitute for interaction with others; a generation or so back they provided for like-minded people to get together and socialize, now days much of that appears to be low priority for most younger people.

They actually do not solicit people for membership, but you will need to approach someone that is a mason in the neighborhood, a family member or a lodge itself. You will be interviewed, and it goes from there. My dad belonged and directed me to the local lodge (Now closed)

I didn't approach, I didn't ask;

I had two old guys that were real estate brokers invite me to a meeting. Reminded me of a church business meeting. Got there and realized about 20 of the 50 old guys there, I already knew. lol
Kind of an ahhh-hahh moment.

Same gents were in Civitan too(most of them), they tried to recruit me for that too.

Guess If I was 30 yrs older then iI wouldve taken the time and showed more interest. I had a complicated life at the time. Passed on further invites.

Whatever happened to "you gotta have a relative/ancestor who was a member"? Supposedly, at least at one time, the Masons claimed to have a connection to the builders of Solomon's Temple.
Jerry

Whatever happened to "you gotta have a relative/ancestor who was a member"? Supposedly, at least at one time, the Masons claimed to have a connection to the builders of Solomon's Temple.
Jerry

Gus, I believe you got it, except for the growth of cities, as traditionally Masons were very much involved with promoting growth of their communities. Our local lodge was established before WWI, and it wasn't long before many, perhaps the majority, of men in the area were members. Many were far enough from town that attending required a drive of several hours, especially in winter, and an overnight stay in town; yet they attended regularly. Now, in a county of just over 4000, we normally have only 10 - 12 at each meeting. The lodge membership is greater, but many joined with the primary goal of becoming Shriners. With such a small active membership, it becomes difficult to do much in the way of community activities and promoting civic virtues, and without those, men who might otherwise be interested don't see sufficient cause to join. It becomes a downward spiral.

Masons, like other fraternal organizations, are experiencing a decline in membership, at least in MT and throughout the U.S. I suspect this is greatly a result of the use of social media as a substitute for interaction with others; a generation or so back they provided for like-minded people to get together and socialize, now days much of that appears to be low priority for most younger people.

I asked to join as was given the opportunity to so so.


My father in law is a Mason......figured what the hell.


They sent out a traveling Mason to interview me and my family. Nice guy....had worked for us over the years off and on.


Of course neither he or my father in law would tell me anything about the Masons.....except for how great they were.


At the end of the interview the traveling Mason was very excited. He said he was very excited to finally get a Catholic to join.

He said that Catholics never join the Masons, they were against the organization.


I am not now nor was I then a very good Catholic......but I did ask him why the Catholics were against the Masons.........he wouldn't tell me.




I ended up declining. Became an Eagles member instead. No secrecy involved with those guys.



The Masons are no doubt a great outfit, at least judging by the men who are Masons that I know. Many of them I greatly respect.



Kinda like Obamacare....gotta join the Masons to find out what they are all about.



Just wasn't for me.

I am an Eagles member Gus.