Hello Brothers,

We will be having a vote on creating a duplicate of our library of papers that would be stored on the Grand lodge website in a password protected section accessible to Master Masons only. This is part of a greater push by the Grand Lodge for more Masonic education in the lodge. A similar request has also been made to our sister lodge PLR. I know there are strong feelings on both sides and both sides were discussed at our last meeting. If any other brother has any thoughts or questions on the issue they can contact me directly before the meeting as I would like any further discussion to be as brief as possible. The only amendment to the issue that I foresee would be to allow an individual author, upon request to the Master, to state that he would only allow his papers to be stored with MLR’s secretary/librarian’s archive and any request for copies would be made through the secretary/librarian of MLR (though the titles of the papers in question would be listed on the GL website).

Since MLR’s bye-laws do not state that the papers presented become our property, individual authors may choose how they are made available. We will vote on this motion at the March meeting.

On a different note, I am currently reading TobiasChurton’s “Freemasonry, The Reality”. He provides a fascinating and in depth study of Freemasonry and its history and philosophy. It is to be recommended along with his books “The Golden Builders” and “The Magus of Freemasonry” (hisbiography of Elias Ashmole).

We are also looking for nominations for this year’s James Royal Case Award and would like to make a decision by our May meeting. If you would like to recommend a Masonic author please let me know with the reasons for the recommendation.

I look forward to seeing to you all in lodge,

Fraternally,

W.·. Martin Ede WM MLR