Welcome to about the Shrine Center
What is the Shrine
The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for Noth America is an international fraternity of approximately 600,000 members (called "Nobles") who belong to 191 Shrine Centers.
The basic organizational unit of the Shrine is your local Shrine Center which is governed by an elected board called the Divan. The Divan is headed by the Potentate, who is the presiding officer of the local Temple.
The best known symbol of Shrinedom is the distinctive red fez that all Shriners wear at official functions. The fez derives its name from the holy city of Fez, Morocco.
Thirteen Masonic brothers founded the Shrine in 1872. The first Shrine Center-Mecca Center-was organized in New York City. Shrine membership increased, there was a growing desire for an official Shrine philanthropy. Individual Centers had always supported various charitable causes, but now the Shrine was ready for its own philanthropic cause. Thus was born, in 1922, the first Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, dedicated to providing excellent medical care to children with orthopaedic diseases and injuries, at o cost to the patients, their parents or any third party.
The concept was so successful, and the potential for helping children so great, that additional Shriners Hospitals followed the first, and the Shrine's hospital network grew rapidly. During the 1950's, Shriners began looking for other ways they could help children, and they became aware of the lack of medical experience in burn care. Each year, thousands of chldren are crippled, disfigured or killed by this tragic hazard of childhood.
Thus, forty years after opening its first Shiners Hospital, the Shrine opened its three Shriners Burns Institutes, each with a three-fold purpose of helping children, conducting burn research and training medical personnel in the treatment of burns.
Today there are 19 orthopaedic Shriners Hospitals and three Shriners Burns institues located throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. All 22 Shriners Hospitals adhere to the basic principle that all care would be free to any child under 18 in need of orthopaedic or burn care, with the only condition being that treatment at another facility would place a financial burden on the family.
Today, the Shrine and its hospitals, through the Shrine's founding and support of Shriners Hospitals, and Shriners Hospitals for Children have become known as the "heart and sould of the Shrine."
What is the Scottish Rite?
The Scottish Rite is one of the two appendant bodies of Freemasonry in which a Master Mason may proceed after he has completed the three degrees of Blue Lodge Masonry.
Neither Scottish in origin nor a rite has as its ultimate goal mankind's moral and spiritual development.
The local Scottish Rite organization, called a "Valley", confers the 4th through 32nd degrees. The Scottish Rite is sometimes called the "College of Freemasonry", because it uses extensive allegory and drama to emphasize the message of its degrees.
The Scottish Rite is said to have been brought to the New World in 1761. In 1801, the first Scottish Rite Supreme Council was established in South Carolina, becoming known as the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for he Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America, the Supreme Council 33rd degree, Mother Council of he World.
All Supreme Councils and their subordinate bodies acknowledge the supremacy of Symbolic Grand Lodges Termination of Symbolic Lodge membership automatically terminates Scottish Rite membership.
What is the York Rite?
The York Rite is one of the two appendant bodies of Freemasonr in which a Master Mason can proceed in Masonry after he has completed the three degrees of Blue Lodge Masonry.
Ancient York Rite Masonry, which took its name from the Old English city of York, is considered by many Masonic historians to have been the "original" Masonry. It is said that a British king who was converted to Christianity in York granted the original charter to the Masonic guilds there nearly 1,000 years ago.
The term York Rite has come to be applied a series of degrees conferred in three primary bodies:
- The Royal Arch Chapter
- The Council of Royal and Select Masters
- The Coomandery of Knights Center
Though not a religion in itself, York Rite Masonry develops themes based on Christianity.
Local Chapters of each of the three main bodies of the Rite are organized into state, provincial or regional organizations. Chapters of Royal Arch Masons are organized into Grand Chapters, which themselves form a unified association called the General Grand Chapter. Chapters of the Royal and Select Masters form Grand Councils, which together form the General Grand Council. Commanderies of the Knights Center are organized into Grand Commanderies by states, and those bodies form the Grand Encampment, Knights Center of the U.S.A.
What is the Freemasonry?
Freemasonry is the oldest, largest and most widely known raternity in the world. But throughout its history, its structure and teachings have remained a mystery to many, and myths and misconceptions about the fraternity have arisen.
Exactly when Freemasonry began is not known for certain , but many historians trace the eginnings of Masonry to the Middle Ages, when stonemasons and other craftsmen traveled throughout Europe. These free masons would gather in shelter houses, or lodges, and eventually organized themselves into masonic guilds, using the secrets of their craft to identify themselves as masons. The square and compass-tools of the mason's trade-became the symbol of their brotherhood.
When the need for such builders declined, "Speculative" or "Symbolic" Masonry evolved, using the customes and tools of the craft to convey moral truths. The growing organization attracted men of integrity and good will, and the masonic guilds began to accept members who were not masons, calling them "accepted masons." The fraternity finally became known in some jurisdictions as "Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, " and in other jurisdictions as "Free and Accepted Masons."
The basic organizational unit of Masonry is the Blue Lodge. When a man has been accepted for membership, he proceeds through three degrees. It is through these degrees that the teachings of Masonry are first presented.
Lodges organize to form a Grand Lodge, which governs Lodges in a specific territy. In most of North America, each state or province is governed by its own Grand Lodge.
The only requirements for Masonic membership are that a man must be of good moral character, and profess belief in a Supreme Being. One of the customs of the fraternity is that a man must join of his own free will. A man desiring to become a Mason may request a petition form a freind who is a Mason, and he must be recommended to the Lodge by two Masons and pass a ballot of Lodge members. Masonr has no objection to an approach being made to a man who is considered a suitable candidate for Freemasonry. The potential candidate should than be left to make his own decision and come of his own free will and accord.
The fraternity utilizes certain rituals, symbols and signs of recognition and symbolic instruction. It does not hide its existence, and many Masons proudly wear Masonic rings, tie clips or lapel pins. Nor is masonry a religion, though it is religious in character, requiring a belief in the existence of a Supreme Being. Masonry acceptes men regardless of their religion and encorages them to participate in their respective religious services and to worship according to their faith.