Grand Commander's Message - August 2003
Taken from the Texas Insert for the Knight Templar Magazine
Volume IL, Number 8, August 2003
June was a very good month for your Grand Commander. Along with practicing with the Ascension Commandery drill team, I was invited to address the Marshall York Rite Bodies, assisted in presenting the flags at teh O.E.S. Installation in Gladewater, conferred the Order of the Temple at the Houston Festival, assisted with the conferral of the A.M.D. degrees, and insatalled the officers of Gladewater Lodge No. 852, my home lodge. Your Grand Commandery officers will have their mid-year meeting in Jefferson the weekend of July 12th and will confer the Order of the Temple in Gonzales on August 2 to assist in the renewal of the bodies of that area. We welcome each of you to Gonzales for the conferral. District Membership Chairmen: The state Chairman, Sir Knight Louis Hopkins, will be contacting you about setting up a liaison, or more than on, in each Blue Lodge in your district. I would like a report sent to Sir Knight Hopkins monthly as to how this program is working. By asking a Brother and talking about York Rite Masonry with him, we may create a greater interest, thereby creating members for York Rite Masonry. Sir Knights, when you are asked by your District Membership Chairman to act as a liaison to your lodge, please accept and perform with enthusiasm. We must overcome the losses we are suffering, or we will slowly die. At this point, we are losing 50 to 60 members each month, either by death or demit. I ask each of you to carry petitions in your pociet for the York Rite degrees. Ask someone to become a York Rite Mason. It might surprise you as to what happens when you explain to him that his is already a York Rite Mason. He just needs to complete his work. Next month, I hope to be able to report, if not a gain, at least a marked decrease in our membership loss. I also hope to report several wins in the drill competition at Grand Encampment in St. Louis, as well as reporting on the installaiton of our own Sir Knight Kenneth B. Fischer, P.G.C., as Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of the United States. Until then, yours in the faith, |
Texas Chapter No. 362 will host a Chapter School of Instruction on Saturday, August 9, in the Chapter and Council Room on the third floor of the Fort Worth Masonic Center, 1100 Henderson Street. The instructor will be Companion Eldon Brooks. Breakfast will be at 7:00 A.M. with the school starting at 8:00 A.M. Texas Council No. 321 will host a Council School of Instruction on Saturday, August 16, in the Chapter and Council Room on the third floor of the Fort Worth Masonic Center, 1100 Henderson Street. The instructor will be Companion Eldon Brooks. Breakfast will be at 7:00 A.M. with the school starting at 8:00 A.M. For further information contact: Jim Fester, P.H.P., P.T.I.M, 9840 Parkmere Drive, Ft. Worth, TX 76108-3838. |