Christopher L. Hodapp's Blog, page 46

COVID: Masonic Lodges Help Local Blood Bank Programs

by Christopher Hodapp

Local news sites all over the country are reporting on Masonic lodges taking action in their communities during the COVID-19 Wuhan Virus shutdown. The most common stories are about lodges hosting local blood drives. Stories are popping up everywhere of blood donation drives held in Masonic lodges: Wisconsin, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, California... the list is endless.
There are blood shortages all over the U.S. right...

The British Press Strikes Again: Hit Piece Disguised As Puffy Story

by Christopher Hodapp

American Masons don't know how good we have it. 
An article in the Britain section of April 25th edition of The Economist magazine told a human interest story about the Masons in Lincolnshire, speaking with Brother Matt Felgate of the Provincial Grand Lodge, and UGLE's CEO David Staples. The story is about what local lodges and Masons are doing under the COVID-19 Wuhan Virus shutdown to help the community, and the brethren there are truly finding some excellent and...

Video: 'George Washington's Rules for Freemasons in Life and Lodge'

by Christopher Hodapp

Macoy Publishing has just posted a short video about a little book that Mark Tabbert put together with illustrator Ryan Flynn a few years ago. I called attention to it when it came out in 2017, and I am reprinting that post from October 21, 2017 below.

[Back in 2016], my friend Mark Tabbert sent me a manuscript to look over, and graciously asked me to write a foreword to it if I saw merit to it. I absolutely did. It was an unusual little book, and actually a by-product of...

Spring 2020 Missouri LOR Truman Lecture: Moises Gomez

by Christopher Hodapp

The COVID-19 Wuhan Virus shutdown continues to demand innovative solutions to physical gatherings. The Missouri Lodge of Research has just announced their Spring 2020 Truman Lecture will be an online presentation by Right Worshipful Brother Moises I. Gomez, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey. Brother Gomez will discuss Freemasonry and the Underground Railroad at noon on Saturday, May 16.

This presentation will be offered online via the Zoom platform. There is...

Heart's Blood: New Novel by Alice Von Kannon Released Today

by Christopher Hodapp

As Robert Burns famously penned, 'the best-laid plans o' mice and men often go astray... An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain.' 

He must have had a book scheduled to be published during a global pandemic, too.

Alice's historical novel Heart's Blood has officially been released today from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and most every major and minor booksellers. It seemed like a terrific date last November when we picked it, but now most of us are trapped in our own...

Interview: 'Meet, Act and Part' Podcast

by Christopher Hodapp

Alice's first podcast interview in connection with Heart's Blood just went live tonight.

Alice Von Kannon and I have a previous following from our non-fiction books in the For Dummies series, and we've appeared together over the years in , too. So it caused a surprising amount of interest in that audience when we announced that she has a new historical romance novel coming out, even though it is far removed from the world of secret societies, the Masons...

2020 Prestonian Lecture Now in Print

by Christopher Hodapp



The selection of the annual Prestonian Lecturer by the United Grand Lodge of England has been a tradition now for almost a hundred years. The yearbook of the UGLE describes the establishment by Preston himself:

During his lifetime William Preston developed an elaborate system of Masonic instruction which was practiced in association with the Lodge of Antiquity of which he was at one time Master. At his death in 1818, Preston bequeathed to Grand Lodge the sum of £300 for...

Digital Order of the Knights Quarantine

by Christopher Hodapp


In much the same way that nature abhors a vacuum, some Masons get the twitches when forced to stay away from degree ceremonies for too long a stretch. And there's a certain breed o' Masonic cat that lives the life of the degree tourist, forever questing in search of the NEXT degree, appendant body, ritual, sooper-secret level, or remotely related pseudo-Masonic group. Otherwise known as the 'dues-card-and-a-pin-I'm-in' crowd. 
Three quarters of the most...

Tennessee Masonic Hall Struck By Easter Sunday Tornado

by Christopher Hodapp

At least nine people are dead and 150 injured after an EF-3 tornado ripped through southeastern Tennessee and northern Georgia late Easter Sunday night and early Monday morning. Among the the scores of buildings damaged or destroyed by the storm around Chattanooga, TN was the Masonic hall of Brainerd Lodge 736.


There is no word yet whether anyone from the lodge was injured by the storms. Early photos of the damage were posted Monday on the Grand Lodge of...

Live: Clifton Daniel, Harry Truman's Grandson Interview Monday 4/13

by Christopher Hodapp




Tomorrow Monday, April 13th the Grand Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees (AMD) will be presenting an online discussion with Brother Clifton Truman Daniel about his grandfather, President Harry S Truman. I've been graciously asked to facilitate this presentation. Clifton and I will be discussing some of the quite public Masonic events during Truman's career as a senator, vice-president, and finally as president.


Clifton Truman Daniel is a member of Chicago's...