2011 Grand Council Assembly Report Report of the Long Range Planning Chairman

Transcription

1 of Allied Masonic Degrees Of Canada M.Ven. Bro. Larry Haliday SGC - Sovereign Master, 487 Aberdeen Boulevard, Midland, ON L4R 5L9 (705) M.Ven. Bro. Arthur D. Payne SGC - Secretary, 382 Devine Street, Sarnia, ON N7T 1V4 (519) Assembly Report Report of the Long Range Planning Chairman Report to the Most Venerable Sovereign Master, officers and members of the Allied Masonic Degrees of Canada. Most Venerable Brother Larry Halliday: The duties of the Long Range Planning Committee as outlined in the Constitution are twofold: (1) examine and review the reports subm itted to (there are no exceptions as to what reports are to be handed over and reviewed) and (2) m ake recommendations to G rand on all m atters that are thought to have long range implications for Allied Masonry. This report for the Annual Communication of 2011 is thus issued in two parts. A series of recommendations are contained herein and they are summarized on the final page of this report. PART 1 Article 99 of the Constitution 2009 defines 14 Standing Committees which does not include the address of the Sovereign Master, nor the reports of the Executive Committee or the six DDGMs. W ith specific regard to the Standing Committees, it is now July 28, 2011 and we are two weeks away from the Annual Assembly of, and no reports have been published on the AMD Canada website nor sent to m e by the Secretary. Here is the position which weakens the responsibility of this Committee to make meaningful recommendations: the Sovereign Master normally presents his report for the year in the form of his Address at and I would not expect that this should be released earlier than the opening of ; the Executive Committee report will be, as usual, in the form of the Proceedings of ; the DDGMs are to provide reports within fourteen days of each official visit to the Secretary (Schedule 2 item 13) and a one page summary on the condition of AMD m asonry in the district (listed in Art. 73 (d) but with no deliverable date to the Secretary listed in Schedule 2). Does this m ean no reports have been received? Are DDGMs then confirmed as Right Venerable Brethren? with regard to the lack of reports of Standing Committees, this is in clear violation of Art. 97 of the Constitution It begs three questions: (1) do we need the Committee(s)? and if so, do we have the right Chairmen, (2) there is no clear date when reports are due and perhaps this should be added in Schedule 2, and/or (3) is there a blockage in the Secretary s office between the time when reports are received and not distributed or posted on the website. I reported last year that In 2010 about half the committees didn t report. Recommendation 1: The Secretary and the Sovereign Master must maintain a close contact with all DDGMs and Committee Chairmen to ensure that their reports are provided to the Secretary and the Chair of Long Range Planning in sufficient time to permit this Committee to review them as part of its constitutional responsibility.

2 of Allied Masonic Degrees Of Canada 2011 Assembly Report Report of the Long Range Planning Chairman page 2 2 PART 2 - With regard to the second duty... all matters thought to have long range implications for Allied Masonry must be raised in the context of what this Order exists to achieve. In the preamble of our Constitution it is clearly stated that the Mission of the Allied Masonic Degrees of Canada is the advancement of Masonic education through research and presentation of papers in individual s. Bearing this Mission in mind, we have several areas which we should consider and address. These include: (A) Increasing the membership base. Most masonic bodies today decry a decline in membership which, in many Lodges, dates back to the mid 1960's. As Lodges are the base of the masonic membership triangle statistics indicate that the same holds true elsewhere. AMD Canada is a very small masonic body and in 2010 the Secretary noted that our numbers totalled 494 (a net increase of 1 over 2009). W e have two areas which we control and can manipulate to encourage other Royal Arch Masons to join: our research and education activities and the quality of our work whether it is in a closely tyled Lodge of St. Lawrence, or through open houses or presentations to RA Chapters and Craft Lodges. In last year s report I raised the question of our link with RA Chapters and suggested that we consider drawing our members directly from Craft lodges. The suggestion was discussed and was not approved. The issue is not being raised again (another Committee Chairman may wish to do that) but it is a reminder that we might consider this as a survival alternative in the longer term. Recommendation 2: s must be encouraged to increase their membership base. (B) Research and Education Encouraging our members to present items of Masonic education in their s, in their Royal Arch Chapters and in their Lodges. Unfortunately our Constitution is quiet on the matter of encouraging s to present papers at m eetings. The only clear injunction to provide papers and encourage masonic education of any kind is contained in Article 182 (d) which requires that a member cannot even be elected to the office of Sovereign Master unless he has given at least one paper in his Constituent. Perhaps we should instruct DDGMs to rigorously enforce compliance with a notation in their annual reports on the number of papers presented and the theme of each. However, each s Annual Return is to include Papers Given (to be attached for publishing in The Architect) (Art 204). But the Editor of The Architect has regularly reported that he does not receive copies of papers in a timely manner and that preparation of The Architect is often difficult (refer to his June 2010 report). If some s are not delivering papers or if they are delivered and not copied to the Secretary and Editor, are the s in default of their responsibilities? If so, is there a penalty? Recommendation 3: Encourage AMD members to present item s of research and education in their s and also in their Chapters and Lodges. Theses items can be brief reviews of recent books and articles of masonic interest or for a more formalized - Chapter-Lodge presentation. Each opportunity to speak offers the time to mention who and what the AMD is all about. In Canada we have ten Lodges and ten Chapters which provide the joining members for AMD Canada. For a small cost is it not tim e to provide annual copies of The Architect to all of them, plus The Heritage Lodge, No. 730 GRC, Cambridge? This publication could then become available as a research tool in the libraries of those Masonic bodies and, at minimal cost, provide a PR benefit.

3 of Allied Masonic Degrees Of Canada 2011 Assembly Report Report of the Long Range Planning Chairman page 3 3 Recommendation 4: Provide one copy of The Architect free of charge to each Lodge and Chapter library as well as The Heritage Lodge, No. 720 GRC, Cambridge. If we are not taking action to fulfill the purpose of the Order, for what purpose, then, does our Order exist? (C) Membership - by invitation or application As a Royal Arch Companion do you ask an AMD Brother for an application form or do you wait patiently for him to invite you to belong? W e are still confused about the question of joining the AMD Canada. Many members still believe it is by invitation of a. Many years ago, at a meeting, a member would propose a Royal Arch Companion for membership and a vote by show of hands would be made. If a majority was in favour the Secretary would invite the potential candidate to a meeting for initiation. This has not been the manner of joining for some years. At the present time our Constitution (Art 136) says Admission into a Constituent will be by application made by Royal Arch Masons and shall be.... made in writing by the applicant on the official Nomination Form. Provided appropriate details appear in the next summons for a regular meeting, the application will be balloted (Art 137). If we provide copies of The Architect to Canadian Lodges and Chapters we should ensure that our AMD Canada website is current, at least for names and address of Secretaries. Thus potential RA Companions may seek to join. But this assumption that outsiders will seek to join needs to be constantly reinforced by our own efforts through research and education, open houses and other opportunities that s must initiate. Recommendation 5: Recommendation 6: Place applications forms in The Architect and on the AMD Canada website. Ensure that the AMD Canada website remains current. (D) Pride in the AMD Canada and Quality in our work One way of m easuring an individual s pride in an organization to which he belongs, m ust be by calculating his participation rate. On an anecdotal basis we know that participation (as measured by attendance at m eetings) in Craft lodges varies between 10 and 17% of the membership. A similar situation exists for RA Chapters. Another way of looking at pride in our membership is to look at the quality of work as measured by memorization of ritual. Recommendation 7: Assist s to improve their organization of meetings in ways which encourage members to increase their participation rates (see also R2 and R3 above). (E) Office Another ripple in the fabric of the AMD Canada occurs because of low participation rates in. The number of qualified members putting their names forward for election or appointment to Offices is consequently very low. Bodies such as Sovereign G rand Priory of Canada and the Cryptic Rite of Ontario have openly discussed the dilemma and concluded that perhaps an officer appointed to fill an elected office because of a lack of nominations, should be permitted to hold the rank (usually a Right ) for his term of office and that, regardless of the quality of his work, he would revert to his substantive rank held before being so appointed. Fortunately these actions have been rejected.

4 of Allied Masonic Degrees Of Canada 2011 Assembly Report Report of the Long Range Planning Chairman page 4 4 BUT we, in the AMD Canada, also face this challenge and there is no easy solution. We have already increased the terms of the Sovereign Master, Deputy Master and DDGM to two years partly as a result of small membership and low participation rates, coupled with the cost of attendance at, and participation in,. Recommendation 8: Recommendation 9: Establish an ad hoc committee to consider ways and means of increasing participation rates at, specifically in standing for elected offices. Until the report of the ad hoc comm ittee in Recomm endation 8 is received, acclamations and appointments to fill the most senior levels (SGM, DGM, GSW, GJW, and DDGM) should not be permitted and the current vacancy should be filled by the appointment of a P/SGM. (F) Annual or Biannual Assemblies The circle of the issue returns us back to face the reality of our membership distribution across Canada or at least five of our ten provinces. Three of six Districts and 13 of our 20 s are located within Ontario: three districts and seven s are located in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. [My apologies aux members de conseil Mozart as I include the beautiful city of Gatineau within the term Ontario in this illustration.] To ensure that participates across the country we m ove the location of our annual assemblies. To reduce costs we meet back-to-back with the Order of the Secret Monitor (whose membership is almost as large as ours but they draw members directly from Lodges not RA Chapters). But even this leads to significantly reduced participation rates from Ontario (for example) as happened in 2010 when we met at Abbotsford, BC. Last year this Committee asked whether we should reconsider the annual assemblies and examine bi-annual meetings and interim (or in-between) regional meetings. This would correspond to the fact that SGM, DGM and DDGM offices are filled for two-year terms and the RBE (which for many years was only given at ) can now be worked in districts. Might we seriously consider holding the Annual Assembly every two years at a standard location when we are electing the senior officers? In the off years we could consider two venues for meetings one to cover Ontario and a second in the western part of Canada. Such an approach may encourage our newer, younger, members to participate at less cost. From a perspective this would be revenue neutral: there would be no cost saving as the annual costs of GM, DGM and Secretary which would normally be charged would continue to be so. Those seeking the highest offices would likely be required to attend all meetings and become known. But for those at lower levels, it would reduce the demand to travel. Recommendation 10: Establish an ad hoc committee to assess the benefits and costs of holding a bi- Annual Assembly in a constant location with ambulatory regional Assemblies in the off years. (G) Location of Assemblies The Secretary has noted that the number of locations offered as venues for the present Annual Assemblies are few and far between. At the 2010 Assembly one proposal was made to hold the 2011 Assembly at Richmond Hill and the 2012 Assembly at Saskatoon. It is not clear what proposals will be made in August 2011 for 2013 and This may become a worrying issue given the cost in time and members to plan, organize and manage an

5 of Allied Masonic Degrees Of Canada 2011 Assembly Report Report of the Long Range Planning Chairman page 5 5 Annual Assembly. Recommendation 11: Request the Time and Place Committee to be more active in encouraging s/districts to host the Annual or Bi-Annual or Regional Assemblies. All of which is respectfully submitted. Michael Jenkyns R. Ven. Bro. Michael Jenkyns, Chairman, Long Range Planning Committee July 30, 2011

6 of Allied Masonic Degrees Of Canada 2011 Assembly Report Report of the Long Range Planning Chairman page 6 6 RECOMMENDATIONS CONTAINED IN THIS REPORT R-1 The Secretary and the Sovereign G rand M aster m ust m aintain a close contact with all DDGMs and Committee Chairmen to ensure that their reports are provided to the Secretary and the Chair of Long Range Planning.(p 1). R-2 s must be encouraged to increase their membership base (p 2). R-3 Encourage AMD members to present items of research and education in their s and also in their Chapters and Lodges. Theses items can be brief reviews of recent books and articles of masonic interest or for a m ore formalized -Chapter-Lodge presentation. Each opportunity to speak offers the time to mention who and what the AMD is all about (p 2). R-4 Provide one copy of The Architect free of charge to each Lodge and Chapter library as well as The Heritage Lodge, No. 720 GRC, Cambridge (p 2). R-5 Place applications forms in The Architect and on the AMD Canada website (p 3). R-6 Ensure that the AMD Canada website remains current (p 3). R-7 Assist s to improve their organization of meetings in ways which encourage members to increase their participation rates (see also R2 and R3 above) (p 3). R-8 Establish an ad hoc committee to consider ways and m eans of increasing participation rates at, specifically in standing for elected and appointed offices (p 4). R-9 Until the report of the ad hoc com m ittee in Recommendation is received, acclamations and appointments to fill the most senior levels (SGM, DGM, GSW, GJW, and DDGM) should not be permitted and the current vacancy should be filled by the appointment of a P/SGM (p 4). R-10 Establish an ad hoc committee to assess the benefits and costs of holding a bi-annual Assembly in a constant location with regional Assemblies in the off years (p 4). R-11 Request the Time and Place Committee to be more active in encouraging s/districts to host the Annual or Bi-Annual or Regional Assemblies (p 6).