What Freemason Lodge should I join?

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(A typical knife and fork Freemason)

As I have mentioned in the past, I get a lot of traffic to this website from people who are interested in joining Freemasonry.  This leads to quite a few emails from people who are interested in joining and asking me for information about how to do so.

This happened once again today and I thought I would share both the email, and my reply to the candidate.  The email from the candidate is very nice and typical of the thoughtful contacts I receive.

The email read:

John,

Thank you for writing the Freemason bIog.  I read it and found that it was very informative.  I have been very interested in becoming a Freemason for quite sometime now.  When I was in the military, a lot of my instructors were Masons.  They would all talk about the unity and camaraderie that came with being a Freemason.  I consider myself to be a good man; with that being said, I am always looking to better myself and grow.  

I do not know any Masons in my area, thus making it hard to become a member, and even harder to get a recommendation from one.  How would you suggest I go about becoming one without having the necessary connections?  Any information would be much appreciated.  Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, 

'John Doe'

And here is another one I received recently:

Hello Mr. Ratcliff 

I read your blog about Freemasons and I found it inspiring. I am 41 years old and have been living overseas in (far away place) for ten years. I was raised by a heart surgeon of impeccable character. He was also a WW 2 and Korean War veteran as well as an engineer. I was always taught to be honest and most of my life I was often "too honest" or so people told me. 

My path in life was a different road than my father's- I spent most of my life searching for spiritual truths. That led me to be not too interested in materialism. Thankfully I have inherited enough money recently to continue on my path to "enlightenment".  On this past Easter Sunday I fell off my Mt. Bike right in front of my daughter and broke my neck and smashed most of the bones in my face. I died on that operating table. I am very fortunate to be alive and would like to dedicate the rest of my life to a higher cause as well as be a good influence on my children. My parents are both deceased but I would still like to make them proud of me. 

I am very interested in becoming a Freemason- I would like an opportunity to contribute a positive influence to this world. I feel I feel that I have much to offer and I am looking for an avenue to be that positive influence that I always dreamed of being.

Thank you very much and I wish to be your friend,

Sincerely,

'John Smith'

Out of respect for their privacy I have not used the real names or location of either of these candidates.  I think you can see why I find these sincere and heartfelt contacts to be very inspiring and gratifying.

I tried my best to give guidance to both of these gentleman and, as always, asked them to keep me informed of their progress on their Masonic journey.

I would like to take this opportunity to share the answers I gave to the email I received today.

Obviously the best way to get involved in Masonry is to ask someone you already know. For those who send me these emails, I think the only person they feel like they really 'know' and can ask is me.

If you don't already know a Freemason in your area to ask then the next step is rather simple; and I do it myself each time I receive an email request.

Let's say you live in the state of Texas. Then, simply type, 'Grand Lodge of Texas' into Google and invariably the first link will be to their website. Same thing goes for nearly every other state, 'Grand Lodge of Missouri', 'Grand Lodge of Indiana', etc.

Usually a Grand Lodge website will have a section that lists all of the lodges in your state along with links to their contact information.  You can also usually contact the Grand Lodge directly via the website or simply by giving them a phone call.  Don't let the big fancy name intimdate you.  The 'Grand Lodge' is usually a relatively small staff of people who will be more than happy to take your phone call and point you in the right direction.  Sometimes this may be the best place to start, because the Grand Secretary really knows about every single lodge in their state and can put you in touch with the right person.

If you go to the website for an individual lodge, you may, or may not, have good luck.  Often times these websites are out of date, or the phone number goes to the lodge and an answering machine that no one ever bothers to check.  But, others may have the personal phone number of the secretary and that is always a great place to start if you have it.

Today when I received the email I checked the Grand Lodge website for the state the candidate lived in.  I found out that there were six lodges in the area where he lives.

Now, often times the lodge you might contact would simply be the one lodge in the town that is closest to you.  However, if you have multiple lodges to choose from, it occured to me that you might want to do a little bit more research.  And, even if there is only one lodge in the area, these are still good questions to ask.

Questions to ask when trying to find the right lodge for you to join:

(1) Find out when the lodge has their meeting times and make sure it is convenient for you.  

(2) Ask if the lodge serves a meal, and if it is before or after the meeting.  Ask if there is a cost for the meal.

(3) Ask how much are the annual dues for the lodge.

(4) Ask how many men the lodge has initiated in the past couple of years.  If the answer is zero, or very few, you might want to be cautious.   Given a choice, you want to join an active and growing lodge with new members to get the best experience.

(5) Ask how 'active' is the lodge.  What I mean by this is try to find out, on average, how many members show up to a typical meeting.  You want the answer to be at least 15 or more.  Also find out how many members there are, but really what matters is how many are 'active' in the lodge and show up to meetings.  I know of one lodge that has hundreds of members but is closing its doors because no one shows up to the meetings any more.

(6) Ask if there is an opportunity to advance in the line.  What this means is that, if you join, you would like the opportunity to become an officer and have the full Masonic Blue Lodge experience.  

(7) Ask what kind of activities does the lodge do, in the community, charity service, social functions, etc.

If anyone can think of more or better suggestions about questions to ask when inqiuring of a potential lodge, please feel free to add them to the comments section of this post.