Bytown Bulletin – Vol. 44, No. 1
Lodge News
Website Update
Our Bytown Lodge website is slated for an update that will make it more attractive and functional. Among changes will be a members’ section, which we will be able to access with a password. This will enable us to post and share photos from our events. We’ll keep you posted.
Dues Increase
Our annual membership dues are increasing $25 at the end of the 2024 calendar year, to help offset costs associated with a growing tax burden and the departure of two of our sister lodges from the building. Our dues for 2025 will be $275. Affiliation and degree fees are also going to increase. If you’d like to pay your dues or tickets for any of our lodge events, you can eTransfer the funds to bytown721@gmail.com. It is quick and convenient.
Message From the East
Hello Brethren!
We are approximately at the halfway point of the Masonic Year, and if the second half is anything like the first half we are in for a real treat!
First off, I would like to thank all of the officers and members of Bytown lodge for all of their help so far this year. They say many hands make light work, and I must say that has never been more evident in Bytown Lodge than the last couple of years.
Not only have the Past Masters group been instrumental in ensuring we are well fed if the Junior Warden is out of the country, but they are also spending many hours of their time assisting with preparing food for our social events, like our Robbie Burns Supper. A big thanks to V.W. Bro. Macdonald and V.W. Bro. Ingraham and all those who have assisted them with these endeavors! Our thanks also goes out to Bro. Sandy Mackie who has worked so hard to make our Robbie Burns Supper the signature event it has become. His tireless efforts have added a touch of authenticity to the evening that would not be possible without him.
I would also like to recognize Bro. Kyle Walden and Bro. Spencer Jay-Leafloor. Although they are relatively new members, they have made an immediate impact on the lodge. They have been meeting with the Entered Apprentice Masons to mentor and assist them in preparing to be passed to the second degree. Bro. Walden has also been putting together a document that will assist new Masons with the myriad of questions they have after being initiated.
Thank you to W. Bro. Brodie Fraser and Bro. Schwartz for all they do on the communications committee. Time and again new members mention our website, and that it was a draw for them. Thank you, gentleman for the time you put into Bytown outside of the meetings.
To be honest, all members of the lodge have been so helpful and eager to assist. Whether it be filling in for an absent brother at a meeting or assisting in cleanup after the meeting, every single member of this lodge has been eager to assist when called upon. As Master of this lodge, it makes my job easy, but more especially it makes me incredibly proud to call myself a member of Bytown Lodge!
We were also able to secure the Travelling Trowel when we had the most visitors (9, technically 10) at the official visit of the DDGM to The Builders Lodge. What made the feat so impressive was that there were nearly 100 Masons in attendance.
It certainly feels like we are headed in the right direction, and I am so happy to be a part of it.
Sincerely and Fraternally,
VW Bro Jeff Hawkins
Worshipful Master, Bytown Lodge No. 721
Travelling Trowel
The Travelling Trowel was returned to Bytown Lodge #721 January 15, 2024 at a DDGM evening at Builder’s Lodge. The competition wasn’t even close. Five of our brethren brought our good wishes to the event, once again making us the proud holders of the trowel.
Though not recognized as a standard working tool in our rituals, the trowel is described in some Masonic jurisdictions as “…an instrument made use of by operative masons to spread the cement which unites a building into one common mass; but we as Free and Accepted Masons are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of spreading the cement of brotherly love and affection; that cement which unites us into one sacred band, or society of friends and brothers, among whom no contention should ever exist, save that noble contention, or emulation, of who best can work and best agree.”
In Memoriam
Bro. John Lyndon
1942-2023
It is with profound sadness that we announce the peaceful but sudden passing of John Lyndon on August 28, 2023, at the age of 81.
John, the only son to the late George Lyndon and the late Annie Ferguson Reid, was a passionate world traveller and fiercely proud Scot. Known as the “Paisley Buddy”, John was a member of Bytown Masonic Lodge 721 and the Ottawa Falcons Soccer Club.
Brother Lyndon was Initiated October 2, 2007, Passed December 16, 2009, and Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason November 17, 2010.
John was a favourite for conferring the Blessing of the Haggis at the annual Robbie Burns Night dinner. (Below right)
When not off travelling the world or teaching in China, he shared life’s simple pleasures with his family and friends, cooking fabulous meals and providing endless laughs with his signature humour and unique “Jack Nicholson” personality.
Masonic Education
Italy’s P2 Lodge: A Most Unmasonic Lodge
What happens when a lodge loses its path and becomes a cabal of influential people conspiring and committing an impressive roster of crimes involving billions of dollars?
There was such a lodge in Italy called P2 – Propaganda Due. It received its charter in 1877 and was initially a just, regular, lawfully constituted and recognized Masonic lodge under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy.
In the mid-20th century, P2 changed dramatically. It became rife with corruption, criminal enterprises, and was embroiled in scandals, political intrigue, misuse of finances, and potentially, murder. P2 had become a clandestine and unauthorized Masonic organization, operating in secret and without the approval of Masonic authorities.
The activities at this corrupt lodge had far-reaching consequences.
In 1981, somebody discovered a list of a P2 members, including powerful players, high-ranking politicians, military officers, and business leaders, hence, these brothers in a sense did control a nation and its institutions. It has been argued that members of this lodge used freemasonry for its planning and execution.
It was the sort of scenario conspiracy theorists might use as an example of Freemasons controlling the world.
Which brings us to a former brother by the name of Licio Gelli, a financier, politician and member of P2.
Gelli was involved with Banco Ambrosiano, which was replete with cash and shady players, including the considerable investments of the Vatican. Ambrosiano and its principals were referred to in the media as “God’s Bankers,” because of their extensive involvement with the Holy See.
As a high-ranking banker, he had the means to help the P2 spread its cancer into the Italian financial and political systems, and the goings on at that lodge included embezzlement, misuse of funds, theft, money laundering and crimes involving the Vatican’s deposits. (Continued on next page)
This brings us back to then-brother Gelli, the number two man at Banco Ambrosiano, a brother-banker which is not unheard of.
However, Gelli’s superior, the number 1 man at Banco Ambrosiano and associate of the Freemason Licio Gelli, Roberto Calvi, was found hanging from the Black Friar’s bridge in London with cash stuffed into his pockets.
There was much speculation as to who was responsible. At this point P2 was a mess and tied to organized crime on several levels.
The only thing authorities agreed on was that the cause of Calvi’s death was murder and manner of death was strangulation.
Little distinction was made in the news media between a lawful lodge and an irregular or clandestine lodge like P2. It is widely believed Calvi’s murder was likely a settling of accounts because of him cheating the wrong people. The money stuffed in his pockets served as a warning to others with similar intentions.
Once the story broke, it led to public outrage and investigations. Justice took over and the lodge was completely disbanded in 1982.
Thankfully, hopefully, it was a rare aberration.
Bro. Howard Schwartz
