The current overall elements of the celebration event would be the following:

• Rededication of the Scottish Rite, Valley of Columbus’ Temple – by the Grand Lodge Officers

• Lunch for all attendees of the Rededication

• Black Tie Gala – to include Dinner, Presentations and Dancing

• The forging of a Centennial Coin, development of a Centennial Program and other keepsakes

We are being led in our planning of this very special event by Brother Bayardo Reyes, 32°. He is looking for others to join the planning committee. Brethren and Ladies are welcome to be a part of the planning of this once in one-hundred years event. If interested, please do not hesitate to contact either our General Secretary: Honorable Brother Roger Buterbaugh, 32° KCCH at colsec@gascottishrite.org, or Brother Bayardo Reyes, 32° at bayardo.reyes.32@gmail.com.

Care must be taken to protect the order from the “go-getters” spirit of that time that with student ballyhoo would play up the Craft like a circus or a political campaign. There is no need to “sell” masonry, either to our members or to the world at large. Freemasonry is not a breakfast food or a quack medicine that is need sensational slogans or screaming type to impress its virtues or its teachings upon its votaries.

Freemasonry is a temple to be entered reverently, a worship to be rendered sincerely, a philosophy to be taught with simplicity and dignity.

We may go further and startle good brethren by declaring that Masonic education is not merely a study of history. Joseph E. Morcombe, the well-known Masonic editor tells us:

The essential facts of Masonic history – a narrow and comparatively barren field – with the symbolism and jurisprudence of the Craft, require no great effort to cover or understand. The requisite knowledge, except for the special student, can be gathered into small compass, and is to be easily retained in memory.”

The purpose of masonic education is the make Masonry such a vivid, vital force in the life of the individual Mason that it becomes an integral part of his very being.

To learn how this may be accomplished it is necessary to ask and answer two questions –

What is Freemasonry and what is education?

The best definition of Freemasonry I know is that formulated by Dr. Joseph Fort Newton. He said: “Masonry is a philosophy of life the depth, breadth, sanity and nobility of which is not matched elsewhere; and not only a philosophy but a way of living, a method of building character, found nowhere else.”

The method by which character is developed is powerfully expressed by Albert Pike:

“Freemasonry is the subjugation of the human that is in man by the divine; the conquest of the appetites and passions; a continual effort, struggle and warfare of the spiritual against the material and sensual. That victory, when it has been achieved and secured, and the conqueror may rest upon his shield and wear the well-earned laurels, is the true Holy Empire.” [Morals and Dogma, p 854]

And the climax of the definition is reached in the avowal of Dr. Newton: “Here lies the great secret of Masonry – that it makes the man aware of the divinity within him.” [The Builder, p 293]

This, then, is the sublime purpose of Masonic education – the revelation of the divinity in each man, the flooding of the soul with light, the release of those spiritual powers that enable a man to triumph over temptation, sin and folly; the evolution of character, and the development of those qualities of the soul that flower naturally into generosity, righteousness and moral force.

The noble objective of Masonic education lies close to the purpose of education as defined by the greatest educators. Says Herbart: “The main business of education is the ethical revelation of the universe.”

Ruskin catches the same thought: “Education is leading human souls to the best by making the best out of them.”

This conception of Masonic education greatly complicates the whole subject. It is no longer possible formally to outline courses of study covering certain topics, the formulation of precise questions to which there may be submitted precise answers. The discussions that are raised many not be settled by appeals to alleged authorities. The results of Masonic study cannot be tested by sets of examination questions such as might be submitted in geography or chemistry.

There is nothing formal or mechanical about it. The distinction is clearly set forth by Dr. E. C. Moore, the noted educator when he says: “Mechanical education is easy, but it accomplished only that which should not be accomplished. Real education is hard, for it is a spiritual ministration. The temptation of substitute mere physical manipulation of living interest, spiritual insight, and comprehension ripening into action is the sin which besets us.”

We commend to the interested Mason the ritual, the symbolism, the history and the philosophy of the Order. He studies the ritual that he may discover the clew, the Ariadne thread that leads unerringly through the labyrinth of human ignorance, delusion and passion.

He scrutinizes the symbols, knowing, as Albert Pike said, that, “symbolism is the soul of Masonry”; the glowing figures, tropes and allegories that hide yet ever reveal the subtle truths by which men live.

The secret of Freemasonry is disclosed to the ardent and persevering student, the seeker after truth, and he who possesses that secret, attains immortality.

He explores the misty origins of our Masonic ceremonial, not for vain purpose of proving the venerable antiquity of the Craft, but that he may feel the heart-throb of aspiring humanity, from the slopes of the Himalayas and the valley of the Nile to the teeming thoroughfares of a modern city. Humanity is one! Human brotherhood is not a rosewater sentiment, it is a palpitating fact compounded of sympathy, understanding, a sense of a common weakness and strength and an all-embracing love.

So we might go on and read a true significance into every subject generally classified under Masonic education.

Could there be a better summing up of the purpose, the objectives, the spirit of Masonic education?

All to the end that a man cast off the rags of triviality, flippancy and self-indulgence, and clothed in the royal raiment of virtue, manliness and self-respect, know himself as a son of the Most High, living a life of conquest and service in a world that is the dwelling place of Deity.

Brother Gene deduced they may not be seasoned game bird hunters and walked over to offer some advice on how to blend in to the tree line and thanked them for supporting RiteCare. Shortly, the father came across the field to ask for help clearing a shell from a new shotgun he had just bought for his son. Before he walked back across the field, he asked what is RiteCare?

That day many others would be exposed to the friendly faces of Freemasonry from the smiles of all the volunteers to the signs displaying the emblems of RiteCare, the Shrine Club, Blue Lodges names and the Square and Compasses flag flying with the great flag of our Country as we played the National Anthem and offered up our prayers to Almighty God.

This year 33 Sponsors donated a total of $5,222 in cash and $13,800 of in-kind contributions that included two hundred fifty, thirty second radio spots on “Kissin 99.3”, “Boomer 102.5”, “Classic Rock 105.5” and “106.9 Really Rocks”, which are four of the premier stations in the Valley area. The use of the land, the liability insurance policy that is required to hold this event, newspaper publications and many signs that were all donated just to mention just a few of the many impression that were made upon the community.

The “Table of Cheer” raffle added another $1,024, in cash totaling $6,246 plus $5,850 in hunter registrations netting $12,096 in cash for RiteCare and the Autism Learning Center. We sold a total of $8,590 in tickets for the Benelli Shotgun raffle netting $7, 326 plus the $422 in food sales for a total of $7,748 raised for the benefit of Valley of Columbus.

I can’t begin to thank all of you enough for what you have done to help make this fundraising event a success again this year.

Fraternally yours,

Phil Harris, 33°, Chairman

Executive Committee