What an amazing honor it was to have so many Brothers around our Festive Board. After speaking with the Junior Warden, the count was well over 50 Brothers! This was the largest Festive Board Harmonie has ever hosted and easily the best attended offical visit of our DDGM in the last 15 years. I want to thank the DDGM for his visit and sharing with us the bonds of fellowship both before and after the meeting. R:.W:. Thomas Pecoraro has been a friend of Harmonie and myself for years. It is wonderful to see a man of vision and drive in the DDGM role in 1st Erie. The Grand Master could not have found a better man for the role.
The Program started with the awarding of the Distinguished Service Award to W:. Robert L. Coe. W:. Coe has been a solid man and Mason since he entered Harmonie Lodge. For us youngsters in the Craft , he has been a pillar of strength and reliability. He has supported the Lodge during our periods of change and has never failed to help an outgoing Master with installation of his replacement. I honestly cannot imagine him not acting as the Marshall during Installation. He is one of our honored Past Masters and it was pleasure to be able to assist in awarding him this honor.
The program continued with the District Team lecturing on the different roles and projects of Grand Lodge in the coming year. It was a distinct pleasure to receive the newly Right Worshipful Paul Berma (Harmonie Lodge was the first Lodge to receive him as the Grand Representative to Tasmania) and his talk on the Masonic ID program was inspiring. We were lucky to have all 12 members of the team (of which I am a member) at Harmonie. I can say with all honesty, this was the best DDGM Team program I have seen in my years in Masonry. The 1st Erie District is very fortunate to have such talented and driven men in our ranks.
The night concluded with the our district staff officers' presentations. The V:.W:. Gerard Colemen spoke on the need for Lodges to raise the bar ever higher when it comes to the execution of our work. Harmonie has become known as a place to witness the spectacular nature and presentation of our ritual but we need to get even better and stronger. That is what our Grand Master has called us to do. As Master of the Lodge, I agree with him in concern with the Craft as a whole and Harmonie. A Brother only gets one set of Degrees. There should be no rumbling, bumbling or fumbling. The Degree is no place to practice but to exemplify the beauty of our work. The R:.W:. Daniel Peters took the stage after, speaking on the Masonic Care Community and the upcoming education events being hoisted by both Erie Districts. The last speaker was our DDGM, the R:. W:. Thomas Pecoraro. In accordance with the Grand Master, his message was given on the level. I am very thankful for such an act of humility. Embracing our equality as men an Masons is a core ideal of Freemasonry. To see it exemplified from our highest ranks is both refreshing and needed in this changing times.
After the meeting, the Brothers went outside to enjoy Harmonie first (I hope of many) cigar nights. It was a clear and wonderful night, perfect for fellowship and Brotherly conversation. I personally, could not have hoped for a better night at Lodge.
Remember at our first meeting after Installation. I challenged each Brother to visit other Lodges. The DDGM official visits are a wonderful time to do so. Check out the DDGM's visitation dates on the Harmonie google calendar found here - http://harmonie699.org/calendar/
I will see you all around the quarry,
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