GRAND CONVOCATION 2014

Grand Master"The Grand Lodge of New Zealand and the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of New Zealand are continuing their close collaboration and co-operation; we mutually recognise that our interests are inextricably linked in the object of promoting freemasonry and that working together will benefit both."

MW Bro John Litton, GM in his Inaugural Address to the Royal Arch Forum, 7 March, 2014.

MW Bro Litton, GM is a Royal Arch mason and has been a member of Brooklyn Royal Arch Chapter No 24 since 1978.

Whilst his duties have kept him from attending Chapter meetings, he is well informed about the current state of Royal Arch masonry in NZ.

His two key messages to an appreciative audience when, in making history as the first Grand Master ever to do so, he addressed the Royal Arch Forum at the Convocation were firstly that as freemasons we should focus on the many positive aspects of freemasonry rather than the negatives, and secondly, in order to be understood by all, we should dispense with "Masonic speak" when talking to non-masons. "Tell them what we actually do," and let them know "We care about people," were the resounding messages in his address.

Click here to watch and listen to the Grand Master's address (YouTube).

ADDRESS BY THE FIRST GRAND PRINCIPAL

Les BorrellCompanions - Brethren – Ladies – and all of you who are here as visitors this afternoon - may I offer my own personal greetings to you all – and as I did last year, may I express the sincere hope that you are ENJOYING your time here with us, and not just ENDURING it.

I spoke last year at some length about the fact that almost half of the text of the Obligation I took then was my promise to strive to ensure that cordial and positive relationships were – to the best of my ability – to be fostered and encouraged among ALL branches of our fraternity. I felt then, and still feel a very deep sense of obligation and desire to do this, as such opportunities are renowned for their enjoyment levels – both ceremonially and socially.

The perception of Freemasonry in the outside world is inevitably that it is, in essence, a single entity – but one has only to glance at the representatives of their respective Masonic identities gathered here with us today – and all hopefully having fun – surely attesting to it being a living, breathing, and evolving organism – with plenty of arteries and blood vessels – nervous systems – and skeletons.

Indeed their presence gives proof to the fact that all of these separate facets of this great fraternity which we all love so much, are linked in some measure, and ALL are complementary to each other – and definitely not to be viewed as competitors.

I also spoke last year of the widely perceived relationship that our Grand Chapter seemed to have with our Grand Lodge as being – and I had the temerity to use a musical analogy to suggest that it might be such, that those two famous Freemasons of old - namely Brothers Gilbert and Sullivan – might have characterised it in the form of a cynical Savoy Opera.

Well – to continue the musical analogy - I can now tell you that Messrs Gilbert and Sullivan are no longer composers “in residence” as they have given way to the genius, and the heavenly ambience, of the music of an even more famous Freemason in the person of Bro Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – no less – who of course composed some of his most sublime music specifically for Masonic ceremonial both generally and in his own Lodge in particular.

Companions and Brethren I can assure you with a great deal of joy, that during the last twelve months your Management Council - Most Worshipful Brothers Cooper and Litton – the President and Board of General Purposes – and the Chief Executive Officer of Freemasons New Zealand – have forged a very cordial, and positive relationship. I am sure that you have already seen evidence of this happy accord, and am confident that it will become increasingly visible and enjoyable.

As most of you are already aware during the last twelve months, we have been warmly and graciously welcomed to the Opening and Dedication of the new Shirley Freemasons Centre, at the recent Communication of Grand Lodge and the Installation of our Grand Master Most Worshipful Brother John Litton, and were invited to attend and make a presentation to the Seminar for incoming District Grand Masters in September.

We also greatly appreciated the invitation to mount a display stand and to be a significantly visible presence at the Communication in Wellington.

To cap off all this activity what a thrill – and an honour and a privilege – to have our new Grand Master Most Worshipful Brother John Litton – accept our invitation to attend and address our Royal Arch Forum Meeting yesterday afternoon. What a pleasure that was – and I would again thank him for his enthusiastic contribution to this weekend’s festivities.

But wait - there’s more !!

Companions - during February the Chairman of our Council, our Grand Scribe Ezra and I met with our Grand Master, the President of the Board of General Purposes, and the Chief Executive Officer of Freemasons New Zealand in Wellington for the first of what will be regular such meetings which are intended to be held two or three time in each year.

Arising from this first meeting was the agreed on and prepared statement advising all of our New Zealand Brethren and Companions of our shared aims and objectives, and those of you who attended yesterday afternoon’s forum would I am sure have welcomed its announcement by our Grand Master during the course of his address. For those of you who missed that occasion I am happy to quote it to you now:-

“The Grand Lodge of New Zealand and the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of New Zealand are continuing their close collaboration and cooperation. We mutually recognize that our interests are inextricably linked in the object of promoting Freemasonry and that working together will benefit both”

With your indulgence I would now like to return to the other topic I referred to last year which related to the essential element to ensure our survival and that is to make Freemasonry in all of its facets and faces – something to be enjoyed and specifically not - something to be endured.

To succeed in this targeted goal is probably perceived largely as a statistical measurement only - and if so it can only be viewed as being in the long term category – and probably called “membership retention”. It will never be in the quick fix box.

I cannot this afternoon point you to a record statistical record that screams out ‘success’ – neither can I tell you how many Chapters, or indeed Lodges, have embarked on a series of “standard raising” activities. What I can tell you for an absolute certainty is that however favourably or unfavourably Freemasonry is perceived – it is in fact assuredly supposed to be a “standard raising” entity.

If we don’t approach everything we do motivated to raise the quality of all of our activities – administratively – ceremonially – and socially, we may be building ourselves up as a large moribund audience left only to be peacefully embraced by Brother Mozart’s absolutely beautiful Masonic Funeral Music!

Companions – to conclude this address I must toss you a problem which you all have a critical role to play in solving. To a very large extent we – despite all of the wonders of our information technology age – have a desperately serious communications problem.

Everyone prattles on in our Chapters and Lodges about the need to save postage by using e-mail and the internet. Grand Chapter has a fine living web site – regularly updated - and all the bells and whistles – including a group of talented communications editorial assistants, to capitalise on the communications technology to serve you.

The trouble is our membership is ignoring it and not taking advantage of all of that effort to create and offer so many opportunities to keep in touch.

Communication is about what the message is and how to deliver it. It is about delivering the message in a way that the recipient can relate to, by a method he is most familiar with.

Our communications with Companions via email since December 2013 - when a new technology was introduced, shows we have delivered messages (Newsletters and a Discussion Paper) to about 64% of our membership.

The remaining 485 Companions have not yet indicated that they have email and thus don’t receive any information. Interestingly, only about 40% of you who received the messages bothered to open them. What is the Communication Team doing wrongly?

Interestingly as well, nearly 30% of all emails opened are read on mobile devices – that is clearly a pointer to the way of communication in the future.

If the Communications Team don’t learn of membership needs and wants, their job becomes impossible. But Companions – communication- if it is to be a reality – has to be a two way street. This is not the time to go through life bellyaching about the fact nobody tells us anything. What should we expect if we don’t join the conversations.

I strongly urge you to study your Agenda for this morning’s business meeting – especially Agenda Item 5 – and the report of our Communications Chair Right Excellent Companion John Evans and the contribution of your National Publicity Officer Right Excellent Companion Gary Kerkin.

What a fantastic effort has been made – and is continuing to be made – to provide us all with a widely varied source of information and education – largely languishing from neglect on the part of the intended recipients.

Companions – please do not just ignore these superb efforts and facilities – we all owe the Communications Team better support and encouragement than they have been receiving to date. Please do identify the role that you can play – and take some further rewarding trips on your Masonic Journey.

To those of you who have been Invested in to new Offices today I offer my warm and sincere welcome to the 2014 – 17 Team – and I trust that you will all enjoy stunningly successful terms of office.

M E Comp L V Borrell

First Grand Principal

8 March 2014