Malta Lodge #17

Malta's Minutes

Malta Lodge #17
Thermopolis, WY

Happenings Update
March-

4th-The county library will host their annual book sale.

17th-Chili dinner fundraiser for High School choir trip to New York City.

30th- (6:00) Family Night, free pizza, and live entertainment. Bring a friend (open house). Open to all members of the Masonic family!

April-

15th-Riverton Lodge festival for first three degrees.

June-

9th and 10th-

VFW convention (Volunteers are needed)

Valentine's Party There was a Valentine's Day carry-in on Feb. 10th. A big thanks goes to the Valentine's wives for clean up and for putting up with us.


New Petitions and Degrees
W.M. Dan Rowe and Bro. Ray Hilligoss attended a one-day York Rite festival in Riverton. Nate Messenger was brought to light on Jan. 29th, with help from his father Mike, and grandfather, Wayne, who was Past Grand Master, who passed away a week later. Our condolences to the Messenger family.

Master's Work
To the Brothers of the Lodge: We are working on some basic lodge practices, signs-words, etc. If any Past Master has a comment, please contact me. We had a nice comment from Past Grand Master Wayne Messenger on our degree work that we did on Jan. 29th. He said that it was a pleasure to see this work being done without any ritual open in Lodge. It just so happens that the candidate was his grandson. Wayne passed away on Feb 12th. He will be missed by all Brothers. Our deepest sympathy to all of his family.

Dan Rowe, WM


Malta Lodge #17 in Cyberspace
The Malta Lodge #17 Internet website has gotten off to a great start. Over 300 hits have been registered, and over a dozen guest-book entries have been logged, from Brothers all over the world, including England, and several lodges around the United States. Appendant body information is almost complete and Blue Lodge officers' pictures and a lodge history are pending. If anyone would like to contribute information, pictures or general suggestions, please contact Bro. Eric Kay at home or via e-mail at erick@trib.com All of the Web-rings are currently working and the LINKS page continues to grow with valuable sites on many different topics, including education, search engines, Masonry around Wyoming and around the world. We are one of the first three or four lodges in Wyoming to place a site on the Internet. Come see what all of the fuss is about at www.angelfire.com/wy/malta17/index.html


Ritual and Education
Ritual and education are the two most important functions of a lodge. It is our duty to make sure that each and every candidate for any degree receives our best of both. Teaching one without the other will have a disastrous effect on out fraternity. I have seen the degrees conferred in the most excellent manner, where the brothers congratulate each other on the good work, even though the explanatory lectures are omitted. This, my Brothers, is cheating. We have cheated our newly admitted Brother out of the education that he paid his fees to receive. I believe that it is a thousand times better to read the lectures than to not give them at all. Surely, in every lodge there is someone who can read very well with a strong voice and with expression, so the candidate can understand what the degree is teaching. How many times have coaches taught the ritual and had his candidate recite it word-perfectly, the entire lodge thinking that is great? Well my brothers, you can teach a parrot to recite the same words, and he, like our candidate, will not understand what is being said. How many coaches take the time to teach their candidate the history of Masonry, the meaning of the degree he is coaching, or talk about the philosophies of Masonry? Do you think we should have a program to teach the coaches how to teach ritual and how to educate? Would coaches be willing to be examined before becoming a coach? I do not believe in short proficiencies or multiple degrees in one day. Let us give out candidates what they paid for.

Ralph Hastings,

Grand Orator, AF&AM of Wyoming