How old is your mother?

I recently found myself in a toilet cubicle at a friends wedding. I was just making room for dessert when two men started a conversation after the first man asked 'How old is your mother?'.

I was shocked to hear that his mother was 162 and also ashamed at the same time for eavesdropping whilst in a toilet.

The ages of their mothers happened to be their masonic lodge numbers and their conversation was based around not being able to recruit 'young blood' and getting back to 'grass roots'. It was revealed that both lodges were based in Lanarkshire and Dumfries, Scotland.

So for any Freemasons out there, Is there a problem with the Masonic Lodges not having enough new recruits?
Is Freemasonry in danger of becoming forgotten when its membership starts dying off?

Also, for anybody wishing to divulge, how old is your mother?

reply to post by conjunktionman


Freemasonry, like many organizations, has suffered from declining membership for a number of years. Sadly, a lot of younger people are not interested, or simply do not make the time to participate in such organizations. This is true for fraternal societies, civic clubs, etc.

There has been a spark of new interest in recent years though and many Lodges are beginning to offer the new member more than just a business meeting and stale doughnuts. I don't think we're dying as an organization, but we do need young people who are interested in our history, customs and traditions.

As for the question you overheard, I've never heard it as "mother" but in my area it's common for a Mason to ask another "How old is your Grandmother?" I'm not sure why, though...."mother" makes more sense because the Lodge that a person becomes a Mason in is called his "Mother Lodge." We say "grandmother" nonetheless.

Incidentally my Grandmother is #105.

I've often seriously thought about joining but can never get enough information about it.
jokes aside my 'grandmothers' 82 and she moans about being old all the time. (when she's not falling over)..

Oh and for your information my work used to have regular masonic meetings here on the premises ( its a well known Bank in the city of London) but the previous Gov told them to stop seeing as he wasn't allowed to join ... Fair play Eddie.... (thats what I heard anyway)

May i assume (as someone who is not a mason) that the term "mother" and "grandmother" is not really referring to ones mom or grandma but rather a hidden way of asking what lodge they...reside to? Each lodge having their own identification number?

I personally would love to join the Free masons but first would like to learn more about it, i know a mason in my area (only one though) but never get around to seeing or hearing from him often enough to ask. My other reason for not showing an enhanced interest is because i plan on serving a 2 year LDS mission in the next couple months. It being 2 years long probably wouldn't settle to well in ways. I do however plan on investigating much further and arduously (okay, maybe not that hard but you get my point) the masons.

lol thats something ive always found weird about the mason conspiracy....the numbers joining are dwindling fast...for such a secret power in the world they sure cant attract alot of members ...i can see it fading into nothing in my lifetime atleast...not much need or use for it anymore...and most people just are not interested in what it has to offer in the slightest...

Originally posted by screamo
May i assume (as someone who is not a mason) that the term "mother" and "grandmother" is not really referring to ones mom or grandma but rather a hidden way of asking what lodge they...reside to? Each lodge having their own identification number?

Yes. In this case "mother" means "Mother Lodge", i.e., the lodge one holds membership in. Every Lodge has a name and number. The Lodge chooses its own name; its number is assigned by the Grand Lodge. For example, Lodge No. 265 in Texas would be the 265th Lodge chartered in that state, while Lodge No. 1 is the oldest.

where do I sign up? Is there any masonic Vicars in London?

Been interested in seeing what the masons are about. If any Mason is in the Denver area and would like to sponser me.....send a U2U.

Unfortunately masonic numbers are dwindling.

From a high of nearly 4 million in the US in the 1950s, the number is down to around 1.6 million, although there is some renewed interest since 'American Treasure' and 'Da Vinci Code'.

The problem is that the baby boomers were busy with families and work, and didn't really have time or interest in masonry. Then came the 'ME' generations of the 60s, 70s, and 80s that were concerned with wealth and self-gratification.

That time period was hard for a lot of charities and community service groups.

With the government going farther and farther in debt, and the likelihood that my generation will never collect social security or medicare, a lot of people have turned back toward service groups to help provide the 'safety net' for the underprivileged.

Unfortunately, masonry does not and will not recruit because our fundamental belief is that a man needs to come of his own choice. It hurts us in a way because we are not as visible in the communities any more and it's hard when you need volunteers but have to wait on them to show up.

I think it's getting better though. Society is becoming more in tune with helping others and hopefully more service organizations will gain members.

I think all of us masons would be happy if folks joined 'any' service organization to help others. It doesn't have to be masonry, but we would love to have anyone that is interested.

The important thing is that our world is hurting and we can't count on 'somebody else' to take care of us anymore. We need to love each other, comfort those who need it and make sure that the underprivileged know somebody cares about them and wants to help.

Originally posted by Masonic Light

Originally posted by screamo
May i assume (as someone who is not a mason) that the term "mother" and "grandmother" is not really referring to ones mom or grandma but rather a hidden way of asking what lodge they...reside to? Each lodge having their own identification number?

Yes. In this case "mother" means "Mother Lodge", i.e., the lodge one holds membership in. Every Lodge has a name and number. The Lodge chooses its own name; its number is assigned by the Grand Lodge. For example, Lodge No. 265 in Texas would be the 265th Lodge chartered in that state, while Lodge No. 1 is the oldest.

Actually Masonic Light, "my mother never told me her age"

Massachusetts is the only Jurisdiction that the Blue Lodges do not have any numbers.

From what I understand over a couple years here there was a big arguement over who was Lodge 1 for a couple years or so. They finally had a Solomon like decision and decided that Massachusetts would not number their Lodges.

William Lessard
Master Mason
Tyler
Ezekiel Bates Lodge AF&AM
Attleboro Massachusetts

[edit on 10-8-2008 by wlessard]

I recently attended the Wardens retreat here in So. Ca. and we were informed that our numbers of new members has been steadily increasing for the last 5-7 yrs. . The down side to this is the very real fact that we are loosing a large part of our membership because the "Greatest Generation" is definelty dying out.

As for the "Boomers" they have been slow to join, being caught quite often in the "Counter-Revolution" of the 1960's. Never the less, we have been seeing increasing numbers of "Gen-X er's" and what are referred to as "Millenials", those born after 1980, who are joining increasing numbers.

The fact is that we in Ca. and probably around the US have pretty much seen the bottom of the curve for now, but like many other fratenal organizations we are competeing for a limited number of prospective members who time demands are also increasing with the pace of modern life. There are also economic factors which contribute to the fluxation of members numbers. When times are good economically the membership numbers go up. There is accurate statistical information to back this claim.

Something else to consider is that here in Ca. we are seeing fairly large numbers of "Millenials" joing. They also are statistcally almost as numerous as the "Greatest Generation" in actual numbers. There are more of them than "Boomers" and Gen-Xer's". They also are very thirsty for the esoteric and spiritual teachings associated with Masonry and not so interested in the more traditional formats that many Masons are familiar with.

Because of this bent toward the esoteric teachings there has been a resurgence in "Traditional" Lodges who use more antiquated ritual, there are several lodges in Ca. who use this type of europen ritual rather than the standard form that many of us are familiar with.

I got a lot of information from this retreat and I can dig up some numbers later and post some figures about membership if you guys like.

I personally am witnessing a very large influx of 20-35 yr. old men who are joining. In my lodge alone we intiate around 6-9 men a month and raise 12-15 a year. I don't think we are going to disappear but we are surely losing many of our best due to age.



[edit on 10-8-2008 by sharkman]

[edit on 10-8-2008 by sharkman]

reply to post by sharkman


Likewise, the last 5 years or so have seen a dramatic uptick in numbers of petitions. Many of these petitions are men in their 20's. Naturally, we are also seeing an increase in the percentage of men that do not reach the MM degree. Many of these new young Brothers who make it through to the MM degree are then passing off their MM catechism (which is required in my GL to sit in the Line) and are becoming active members. It is an exciting time in the Lodges with the new blood.

Having said the above, we are unfortunately seeing more men who do not complete the three degrees. Once a man asks the question, I believe that it is then the DUTY of the Brother asked to sit the prospective petitioner down and outline HIS responsibilities going forward, to wit, the time required for the degrees and coaching. It isn't fair to have a man be blindsided by the catechism and fail to progress.