Masonic Lodge celebrates sesquicentennial

Well, this is an odd way to run a secret society.

Members of Lawrence Masonic Lodge No. 6 will have an open house at noon today at their center, 1601 W. 23rd St., to celebrate the organization’s 150th year of service in the community.

“This is a pretty big deal,” said Greg DiVilbiss, a Lawrence resident and lodge member. “I can’t think of an organization that has been operating in this community for as long as we have with an unbroken chain of service.”

The open house will offer a free presentation of the play “Bleeding Kansas” at 1 p.m. and a brief history lesson of the Lawrence lodge. Members will serve a luncheon buffet for a $5 donation.

Lodge members also hope to serve up a dose of reality about Freemasonry, which has become a hot topic in popular culture with novels and movies offering up conspiracy theories ranging from how the organization secretly guards a mammoth treasure to how masons actually are part of a supersecret shadow government.

All the talk is met with a mix of laughter and frustration by Masons.

“We have no idea where the treasure is,” lodge member John Dougan said with a smile before turning more serious. “But I would like for people to know that we are not the bad guys that some people have portrayed us to be. We are just a group of men who have worked to better the community and better each other.”

Suspicious minds

And the group insists that it’s not a secret organization. But members also concede that there’s just enough of a cloak-and-dagger routine to keep some minds suspicious.

“We’re not a secret organization, but we are an organization with some secrets,” said member Howard Duncan.

For example, members of the Lawrence lodge confirmed that Masons do have secret handshakes, grips and other signs that were developed so two Masons who had never met could be assured they were dealing with a real Mason rather than an impostor. Having that level of certainty is important because Masons really do view their relationship as a brotherhood.

About the Masons

Most Masons believe that Freemasonry traces it ancestry to actual stonemasons from many centuries ago. The stonemasons often formed guilds, which met regularly.
But in the 17th and 18th centuries as the stonemason craft begin to decline – as the building boom for elaborate stone cathedrals tapered off – the stonemasons began inviting noncraftsmen to join their meetings. In 1717, four such groups in London joined to create what is generally considered the first Grand Lodge of Freemasons.
Lawrence Lodge No. 6 A.F. & A.M. (which stands for Ancient Free and Accepted Masons) was formed July 14, 1856, though a previous Freemason group began operating in Lawrence in 1855 under a Missouri charter.

“I know I can always have full and complete trust in a Mason,” Duncan said. “I know I will never be defrauded by a Mason.”

The organization also is heavy into rituals, many of which remain secret but are not nefarious, members said. For example, it is true that to gain membership in the Lawrence lodge, a prospect must receive unanimous approval from the group’s membership. Members vote by secret ballot, using a white ball to indicate acceptance or a black cube to reject.

New members do wear a pajamalike outfit as part of their initiation ceremony, but that is basically a symbolic way to strip a member of worldly possessions, members said. And rumors of animal sacrifices and such are silly, members said.

“Look, no blood on the carpet,” Duncan said as he showed a visitor the lodge’s altar area.

The organization also doesn’t require members to belong to any particular religious faith. The only religious requirement, longtime member John Golden said, is that a member must believe in a supreme being.

“We basically just believe in good morals,” Golden said. “We believe in treating our fellow man as we would like to be treated.”

Numbers are growing

Golden said the organization’s membership had begun to stabilize after decades of decline.

The group’s Lawrence membership stands at 183, down from a high of about 750 in the mid-1950s. The state’s overall membership is around 28,000, down from a 1950s high of about 107,000.

Some members said they thought all the attention that the organization had received in the media has spurred interest. Men can apply to join the organization once they turn 18, and DiVilbiss said the Lawrence lodge had a “slew of guys who are in their 20s.” Any man of age can petition to join the group by asking for an application form at the lodge’s office. Most members, though, enter the group after being recommended by an existing member.

Once new members join, members said they hoped they realized there was a lot more to the organization than just a bit of mystique. The Lawrence lodge participates in several charity events, including serving about 350 Thanksgiving meals to members of the Boys and Girls Club, donating to Habitat for Humanity and, on a statewide level, funding cancer research.

Most Masons, though, said the fellowship they received from the group was the greatest benefit.

“Even though we’re not as large as we used to be, I’m confident that I could go to any Kansas town with 2,500 people or more and find a brother who would help me with anything that I need,” Dougan said.