Christopher L. Hodapp's Blog, page 32

JUST RELEASED: Newly Revised 'Freemasons For Dummies' 3rd Edition

by Christopher Hodapp

It's been a busy – and occasionally frantic – couple of months around Hodapphäus that has resulted in few stories being covered here. Alice and I have had a convergence of four major publishing projects since June, along with several related road trips. Along with the summer release of RVs & Campers For Dummies , we've been prepping two of Alice's historical romance novels for release at the end of the year. But the big news here on the Masonic home front is that Wiley has ju...

Transform Your Plain Masonic Hall Entrance

by Christopher Hodapp

We had a saying around our film production studio for many, many years: "Where do great ideas come from? Somebody else!"
It's a fact of life that not every Masonic temple can be blessed with being architecturally distinctive. In fact, it's the rare Masonic hall built after World War II that isn't either plain, ugly, boring, or downright ghastly.

The featureless glass-wall front entrance to Porter Lodge 137 in Valparaiso, Indiana is typical for late 1950s and 60s generic storef...

California Lodge Restarts Its Youth Groups

by Christopher Hodapp

Turlock Masonic Lodge 236 in Turlock, California got some decent coverage in the local paper this morning. The lodge is bringing back their youth groups, which have been dormant for several years now – Job's Daughters for girls, and DeMolay for boys.
From Job’s Daughters and Demolays give young people a space to foster their growth by Pawan Naidu in the Turlock Journal:

Within the lodge they have separate divisions that help young people grow and develop as individuals. Job’s ...

UPDATED: Knights Templar GM Removes DGM from Officers' Line

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATED Friday 9/11/2021- Instead of posting new articles every time a new letter is issued or become available, I am adding updates to this original message. This most recent update adds a letter written by David Kussman in response to Templar Grand Master Johnson's demand for his resignation on September 4th. I also includes a rebuttal penned by Past Grand Master Nelson this past week.
As Katherine Hepburn famously quipped in The Lion In Winter, "What family doesn't have its...

Knights Templar GM Removes DGM from Officers' Line

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATED 9/8/2021
As Katherine Hepburn famously quipped in The Lion In Winter, "What family doesn't have its little ups and downs..."
I was hoping for at least one good news story to post between last week's Grand Encampment vs. Great Priory of America CBCS related drama, but, alas, no. Masonic social media was atwitter over the Labor Day weekend with more drama out of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar in the United States (GEKT). On Friday, Templar Grand Master Michael B...

Petition Calls for Special Conclave Over Grand Encampment/GPA Saga

by Christopher Hodapp

That took almost no time at all.
In the wake of the official decisions regarding the Great Priory of America CBCS issued last week by Grand Master Michael Johnson of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the US, a website has already popped up with a petition to call for a Special Conclave in an attempt to finally put this issue to rest.

It Goes On: Knights Templar GM Johnson Issues Decisions Against Great Priory CBCS

by Christopher Hodapp

It seems that the troublesome Grand Encampment/CBCS/Great Priory of America issue continues to rise up like the ghostly mists and miasmas that drift over once-bloody ancient battlefields, awakening the souls of the long-dead from their brief slumber 'neath the silent clods of the valley to forever walk the Earth in search of peace.
Or something like that.

At the Triennial of the Knights Templar Grand Encampment of the US last week, the assembled members of the Grand Encampment...

So. California Research Lodge Poll: 'Top 10 Books of the New Millennium'

by Christopher Hodapp

Most Masons who read the literature of the fraternity are well acquainted with the classic, must-have works that were primarily published in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries by Preston, Mackey, Pike, Claudy, Newton, Wilmshurst, Hayward, Carr, Cerza and many, many others. But the brain boxes of Masonic knowledge aren't confined to the dusty past. Masonic scholarship didn't just come to a screeching halt the night that the Millennium Bug failed to destroy civilization when th...

Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol' Streaming TV Series Premieres Sept. 16

by Christopher Hodapp

The second official trailer for the upcoming TV series, Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol has been released. Episode 1 premieres on Thursday, September 16th on the Peacock streaming platform, and requires a subscription. New episodes will appear every Thursday.
The series is based on Brown's Masonic-themed 2009 thriller The Lost Symbol and stars Ashley Zukerman as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.

Illus. Peter J. Samiec Elected As New Commander of Scottish Rite NMJ: Glattly Retires

by Christopher Hodapp

IIllus. Peter J. Samiec 33° (photo above) has been elected and installed today as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. 
The Supreme Council is meeting this week in Cleveland, Ohio for its Annual Session, and the announcement of now-Past Commander David A. Glattly's retirement came as a surprise to the Rite's rank and file members. 
Glattly was elected to the position five years ago, in August 2016. 
Illus. David A....