Announcement

The Many Benefits of Visiting other Lodges

On a visit to another lodge in our district, I discovered that a brother whom I’d known for quite some time played guitar. In another case, a brother shared with me his SCUBA diving experiences. A traveling companion and I discovered that we had both lived in the same neighbourhood. Another taught me something about ritual that, after 16 years in Freemasonry, I didn’t know. On another occasion, I discovered that another brother I chatted with had helped launch the Hubble Space Telescope.

In the space of several months, I learned that quite a few brethren whose faces I’d seen for years had many things in common with me.

The common denominator was that all of this was a result of visiting other lodges.

I developed a new appreciation for our Order through visitation. I knew their faces—I’d seen them when they broke bread at our festive boards—and when I visited their lodges and connected with them, it added a new layer of familiarity to our relationships.

Freemasonry has paid me dividends I never expected, and through visitation, it has given me even more.

As we prepare for our fall meetings, Bytown Lodge brethren are working on an innovative mentoring program for candidates, which will teach them things that aren’t written in the ritual book. We subsequently learned that a brother from another lodge in our district had prepared an impressive trove of tools for mentoring, and he has shared them with us.

When we go through our degrees, there is so much information presented to us that there is no possible way to assimilate it all during the degree itself. So, we encourage newer Masons to visit other lodges to see their degrees being conferred on their counterparts.

Officers learn new skills and methods by visiting, and our brethren around the district and beyond always have interesting programs and concepts that we can put into action.

I became a Mason in 2010 because I’d read about the Craft. I was attracted to the idea of being with people who shared my values, pursuing personal development, and making new friends, at a time in life and in a country where I had none. It is a wonderful journey, and thanks to visitation, my Masonic journey has been more rewarding than ever.

Join us for a visit. You’ve got nothing to lose and plenty to gain.

I’ve gotta go. I’m meeting a brother from another lodge for dinner.

W. Bro. Howard Schwartz
Worshipful Master
Bytown Lodge No. 721