More open houses in Mass. as Grand Lodge celebrates its 275th birthday

Earlier this week I wrote about a Masonic open house being held in Littleton, Massachusetts, and poked fun at their "template" press release.

The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts is celebrating its 275th anniversary this year. As part of this celebration, it seems that Masonic open houses are happening all over the state.

The news article about open houses in Amesbury, Andover, Georgetown, Haverhill, Methuen, Newburyport and North Andover doesn't fit the template used by the lodge in Littleton I riffed on.

In this article, the public is offered "a chance to peek behind the veil. When people walk through the door, they'll either get a history lesson or a serious desire to become a Mason."

They also go one step further in the story, dismissing all the cool Masonic theories we know and love.

"There are so many myths associated with Freemasons and there's a certain intrigue for men to learn about us," said Bro. Dave Cullen.

"Part of the intrigue is not knowing, because if you know it all, it takes the fun out of it," said Bro. John Aliperta.

The newspaper writes:

Over the years, Freemasons have been accused of being a cult, of trying to control all governments, and even the protectors of the Holy Grail.

Aliperta debunks those myths.

There goes the intrigue.

The story goes on to say that Freemasons have developed new "tactics" to remedy the "membership dwindle." These tactics include:

• Lowering the age requirement from 21 to 18
• One-day classes so men can become Masons in one day instead of the usual three months

The brothers who talked to the reporter did a better job of stirring up a little interest (in me, anyway) than did the ones who promoted the Littleton article earlier this week.

These brothers even got the reporter for the Eagle-Tribune to print the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts' website address, one of the nicest grand lodge websites I've seen.

Only it is spelled wrong.

In all seriousness, I wish the brothers of Massachusetts well in their open houses this weekend. Happy 275th birthday! I hope your weather is better than ours is predicted to be. We're expecting rain all day today and an accumulation of snow tomorrow here in north Georgia. They've already invoked the Georgia Snow Law that says you must go to the grocery store and buy all the milk, bread and toilet paper you can afford whenever snow is in the forecast.

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