Christopher L. Hodapp's Blog, page 14

Intruder Fatally Shot After Breaking Into a St. Louis Masonic Hall

by Christopher Hodapp
An intruder was shot and killed in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday morning after breaking into a St. Louis-area Masonic lodge building. Police pronounced the suspect dead at the scene. The lodge's resident called police as soon as the suspect was shot, and is cooperating with investigators. As of Friday evening, the dead man, believed to be in his mid-40s, still has not been publicly identified.
According to local NBC affiliate KSDK-5, the suspect broke into the hall of  Tusc...

2024 Conference of Grand Master Masons of North America Opens in Seattle

by Christopher Hodapp
The Conference of Grand Master Masons of North America (more affectionately known as COGMMNA) officially kicks off its annual meeting in Seattle, Washington today. It's an opportunity for regular, recognized grand masters in our end of the Masonic world to meet each other and learn from each others' successes, failures, programs, catastrophes, and more.
The Conference is being held at the Seattle Westin Hotel and will continue through Wednesday.
Membership in the Conference cu...

Past Sovereign Grand Commander Glattly Responds To His Expulsion From NMJ

by Christopher Hodapp
This afternoon, David Glattly, Past Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite NMJ, posted a message on his Facebook page, reacting to the news yesterday that he'd been expelled from the Scottish Rite NMJ.

It reads:

Hi All!
Last night I was informed of my expulsion as a member of the Scottish Rite NMJ. I was informed second hand from a few friends that received the email. I did not receive anything directly from Supreme Council. Imagine, 60 thousand members received my expu...

Past Sovereign Grand Commander David Glattly 33° Expelled from the Scottish Rite NMJ

by Christopher L. Hodapp
The Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite NMJ has announced on its website this evening that it has voted to expel Past Sovereign Grand Commander David A. Glattly, 33° from its rolls. (Click the image below to enlarge.) 

No reasons for his expulsion were stated in the post or the letter, but it comes about a month after Glattly’s long and detailed letter was published on this site at his request, explaining his side of events that led to his abrupt resignat...

Masonic Week 2024: John Bizzack Named 112th Blue Friar

by Christopher Hodapp

WB John W. Bizzack, Past Master of Kentucky's historic Lexington Lodge No. 1 and one of the driving forces behind the Rubicon Masonic Society , was named as the 112th member of the Society of Blue Friars at Masonic Week in Arlington, Virginia last Friday.

The Blue Friars were founded in 1932 for the express purpose of recognizing outstanding Masonic authors throughout the world. It is arguably the smallest of Masonic organizations, and possibly the oddest, since it has no ritu...

2024 Intl. Conference on Freemasonry: March 30th at UC/Berkeley

by Christopher Hodapp

The 2024 International Conference on Freemasonry will be held March 30th on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. This will be the 12th annual academic conference sponsored by the Grand Lodge F&AM of California , and the theme this year will be "Rites In America."

From the event's website:

“Rites in America” examines the almost countless forms and iterations of Masonry that have sprung up on this side of the Pacific, often in the particular context of immigran...

Have you ever wanted to be a lodge Organist?

by Christopher Hodapp

Does your lodge have a pipe organ sitting in the corner or up on the balcony that's collecting dust because no one knows how to play it? We've got six original pipe organs in all of the ceremonial rooms at Indiana Freemasons Hall/Indianapolis Masonic Temple, installed in 1909 when the Temple was originally built. They all work – we have a Brother who visits every couple of years from Florida who loves maintaining and restoring these complex instruments. But in my 25 years of...

Ohio's Goose & Gridiron Lodge 1717 Meeting April 27th

by Christopher Hodapp
Ohio's unique Goose and Gridiron Lodge 1717 will host their next meeting on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at the breathtaking Dayton Masonic Center. Lodge will open at noon and the brethren will retire afterwards downstairs to hold their excellent Festive Board. 


What makes "The Goose" unique, you ask? Unless someone pipes up and corrects my oftimes-fallacious memory, I believe they are the only regular Masonic lodge currently at work in the United States that is permitted by the ...

Grand Master of Peru and CMI President Suspended For Five Years

by Christopher Hodapp

Eulogio Mario Carreras Vásquez, Grand Master of the Gran Logia AA:. LL:. & MM:. del Peru (Grand Lodge of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons of Peru), has just been suspended from the fraternity by his own grand lodge for a five year sentence after conviction of charges brought against him. The nature of those charges has not, as yet, been revealed outside of their Justice Committee.

The booting of an occasional grand master here and there is not an entirely shockin...

Grand Orient of Italy Wins Court Battle Against Italian Senate Over Mussolini's Confiscation of Their HQ

Photo: Wikipedia Commons
by Christopher Hodapp

The Grande Oriente d'Italia (Grand Orient of Italy) has prevailed in an Italian Supreme Court ruling against the government that restores ownership of their former headquarters. The historic Palazzo Giustiniani was illegally seized in 1925 by dictator Benito Mussolini's Fascist government ,and was never returned to the Masons after the end of World War II. Since that time, the magnificent 16th century palazzo with its beautiful interior frescos has ho...