FVNews Daily. 
No 51. Tuesday, June 23, 2020
From the Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action TeamFVNews Daily is also available at www.FVNews.com.au
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‘GI’ to proceed, says Grand Master
• Grand Master Keith Murray emails: “Well done on today’s FVNews. You certainly cover a lot of interesting topics! Work is being done to ensure Saturday’s Grand Installation proceeds, we expect definitive advice from DHHS that our plans meet their requirements. If we need to adjust then we will, but it will be going ahead, one way or another!”• “It is a bit of a minefield and we do not readily fit in to any category of event/organisation. Hence why we need specific advice to avoid any risk to health but also breaking the law.”

Panellist event tonight (Tues.)
• Matt Cameron writes: “Richmond Lodge Online at 7pm tonight (Tues., June. 23) is hosting a panelist event where everyone will have the opportunity to share first impressions and thoughts about how recent changes for connecting online will shape our future. The panel has  been finalised and includes: Bruce Cowie, Erwin Genuino, Joel Solomon, Ian Burgess, Jay Rottem, Colin Peterson, Justin Stark, Wayne Millard, Liam Cole, Deven Sumputh, Steve Latimer, Damian Byrne and Paul Raye.To encourage participation and to get a broad range of thoughts shared we will be using a format where each panelist will have 90-seconds to present. After each has presented we will have online interactive activity where everyone watching online can share their thoughts, share what’s important and for a little bit of Q&A.” LINK

Membership VAT gets to work
• Paul Brennand, Chair of the Membership VAT, hosted the kick-off meeting for the new MVAT Teams. All four Team Leaders (Ian Brown, Engagement; Wayne Millard, Come Back; Neville Wiggins, Rural and Regional; and Peter White, Mentoring) and most of their Team Members met on a Zoom call to introduce themselves and meet each other. Now the launch has happened, it is off to work, to start the process of working with Lodges and Districts towards the improvement of the Member experience and, hopefully strengthening our Membership base. Shortly the new Team Leaders will introduce themselves to the Members via a short video.”

Feasts of St John in Freemasonry (1)
• Tomorrow (Wed., June 24) is one of the two annual observances of St John. Brendan Kyne tells us: “The annual Feasts of St John, the feast of John the Baptist on June 24 and the feast of John the Evangelist on December 27, were once very much a part of the lives of operative stonemasons.  For example, the two famous Scottish Schaw Statutes promulgated on  December 28, 1598 and  December 28, 1599 respectively, were issued after the annual St John’s Day meeting and feast of Scottish stonemasons on December 27. Reflecting that very old tradition, many Scottish lodges still try and hold their annual installation ceremony as close as possible to the feast of St John the Evangelist. The two feast days were originally associated with the change of seasons, the shortest and longest day, the cycle of life; death and renewal.  In the early days of the Christian Church the St Johns were added to these two celebrations to give them a more acceptable Christian connotation.”    

Feasts of St John in Freemasonry (2)
• “Keeping with this operative mason tradition, the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster  was supposedly founded on the feast of St John on June 24, 1717.  Some records suggest that in those early time Masters were elected on a six-month basis and installations here carried out on both these St John dates by most Masonic Lodges.• “However, after the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813, efforts were made to make English Freemasonry truly non-denominational and attempts were made to remove all specifically Christian references.  Thus, for example, part of our current workings state “… In all regular, well formed, and duly constituted Lodges there is a point within a circle round which the Brethren cannot err. This circle is bounded between North and South by two grand parallel lines, the one representing Moses, the other King Solomon …”

Feasts of St John in Freemasonry (3)
• “Whereas, other jurisdictions such as Europe and the USA did not de-Christianise their Freemasonry and their workings still say, “… there is, or ought to be, represented in every regular and well-governed Lodge a certain point within a circle … This circle is embodied by two perpendicular parallel lines, representing St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist …”   • “So, when you read or hear mention of St John Freemasonry, St John’s Masonic Feasts or Lodges of St John, it is from these older traditions that these references are alluding.”

What’s On: online meetings
Go to www.masonsconnect.com

Please advise us of online meetings, so we can publicise in FVNews.

Masonic Mailbag
• A Brother yesterday posed the rhetorical question if Masonic Centres were classified by the State Government as ‘places of worship’. John Glover replies: “The anonymous Brother who suggests that Freemasons Lodges be deemed ‘places of worship’ in order to skirt around Victorian Government regulations dealing with the COVID-19 crisis is doing Freemasonry a huge disservice and displays lack of awareness around our Lodge structures and practice.The religious faith that enabled me to become a Freemason is based on selflessness, service and sacrifice. Itdemands of its members personal integrity.

•  “The suggestion made by our anonymous Brother is contrary to all of those principles.

• It is selfish for seeking to redefine our principles to gain personal advantage as an organisation in the face of a crisis.

• It does not offer service to either our members or our community at a time when we should all work together.

• It demonstrates an unwillingness to sacrifice social convenience to protect the community for limited personal gain.

• It demonstrates a willingness to sacrifice integrity for expedience whilst risking mutual recognition with other Grand Lodges. Would this decision be reversed when the crisis is over?

• “On a practical note, what religion would he propose be conducted in a Masonic place of worship? This proposal is an illustration of the risk we face if short-sighted decisions are made without consideration of the longer-term ramifications. I sincerely trust others are not motivated by such risky proposals.”

Masonic Knowledge
• “Compared to the three degrees in standard Freemasonry, the Scottish Rite, an offshoot of Freemasonry, has 33 degrees.Thirty of these degrees are “appendant degrees”, in that they are not higher in ranking but lateral. This means that a member with a 21st degree in the Scottish Rite has the same ranking as someone with the 3rd degree of masonry.
• “You could think of these additional degrees as honorary, given to those Masons who have maintained consistent, significant participation with the order. These degrees are given based on merit and ability, although Master Masons cannot progress through these degrees without time and examination. To attain the 32nd degree, for example, a Freemason must have been a Master Mason for at least 14 years, have been elected Master of the Lodge, and have satisfactorily served the Supreme Council. • “There are more than an estimated 160,000 members of the Scottish Rite in the world, with just some 4,000 holding the 33rd degree.Aside from the Scottish Rite, there are several other orders with more than 3 degrees, including the New York Rite (with nine degrees) and the Swedish Rite(with ten degrees).”
– www.ghlilley.com.au

Masonic Wisdom
• “Don’t find fault, find a remedy.” – Bro. Henry Ford

INFORMATION TO KNOW
FVNews is published by Bro. Ash Long, Chair of the Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team of Freemasons Victoria. 

Phone: 0450 399 932.
Web: www.FVNews.com.au Email: editor@FVNews.com.au
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