Points of Procedure: Page 4

Points of Procedure: Page 4

Business conducted with non-Masons present

The practice of admitting ladies and other non-Masons to a Lodge room after the Lodge has been closed or called off in order to receive a talk or presentation on Freemasonry is becoming increasingly common. The Grand Secretary and the Board receive enquiries from time to time as to whether it is permissible to conduct part of a Lodge's work in front of non-Masons. The Board has sought advice from the Grand Director of Ceremonies as to what constitutes Masonic business that may only be transacted while a Lodge is open and what business may be carried out in the presence of non-Masons, and after consideration hopes that the Grand Lodge will endorse the following statement:

In a Private Lodge no non-Mason may be present while the Lodge is open. (See the last of the Antient Charges in the Summary submitted to by every Master before his Installation - "You promise that no Visitor shall be received into your Lodge without due examination, and producing proper Vouchers of his having been initiated in a regular Lodge.")

So far as Grand Lodge, or a Provincial or District Grand Lodge, is concerned, precedents exist for the meeting being called on so that Masonic business (of a purely administrative nature) could be carried out - while non-Masons are present, the most notable instance being at Earls Court in 1992. The Board recommends that such precedents should not be followed in future by Provincial or District Grand Lodges.

No part of the ceremonies of Initiation, Passing, Raising and Installation may be conducted with non-Masons present; those ceremonies, to be valid, must take place in open Lodge. This extends to those elements such as the Charge after Initiation, which some might argue are not strictly part of the ceremony. The Board notes that the text of that Charge is already in the public domain, and in particular is sometimes recited at 'open days', but draws a distinction between such events and a 'live' ceremony to which it is inappropriate to admit non-Masons.

The administrative business of a Lodge, besides being of a private nature, to be validly transacted must be conducted in open Lodge (i.e. without non-Masons present).

Apart from those items of Masonic ritual and administrative business referred to above, there is no compelling need to adopt a mysterious or secretive attitude towards other Masonic activities which can take place while a Lodge is called off or after it has been closed. For example the laying of Foundation Stones with Masonic ceremonial was once commonplace. Banner dedications afford another example where an impressive show of Masonic ceremonial (as opposed to ritual) can be given without in any way compromising Masonic principles. In such instances, an important test is whether the Lodge feels comfortable with such a display and, provided that the local Masonic authority has no objection either generally or in relation to a particular activity, the Board considers that Lodges should not be discouraged from (or, conversely, pressed into) admitting their ladies and friends on such occasions. No Masonic signs whatever may be given on such occasions, as the Lodge is not open.

The Board does not wish to discourage the admission of non-Masons to investitures, which do not of themselves involve anything that an outsider may not see and are, in any event, conducted by or on behalf of a recognised Masonic authority. It does, however, note that some Brethren may be reluctant to attend on such occasions to be invested because they do not feel comfortable at the presence of non-Masons.

Whilst there is nothing especially esoteric in the Masonic ceremonial which accompanies a Private Lodge's Centenary or Bi-Centenary celebrations and the associated presentation of a Warrant, the Board recommends that as an official ceremony, the essential elements of which have been laid down by central Masonic authority, it must be conducted while the Lodge is open and without non-Masons present.