In 2010 during my term as Grand Tyler, I had the opportunity to make a presentation at the 8th Masonic District Annual Education Day.  A portion of that presentation follows.

Every day our Fraternity Changes…  As much as we hang on, resist “innovation” and adhere to our cherished forms and traditions yet “change” happens.  The world we live in changes and thus affect us and the Craft.  The clearest example is how generational  change in society – whether we like it or not – abruptly changed  the vast pool of candidates from being largely civic-minded and fraternity-friendly (WWII and Korean generation), to being made up of men who were  more often than not individualistic non-joiners (the majority of us Baby-Boomers) and fraternity indifferent.  This has affected us for 40 years.

Try as we might to stay exactly the same, lodges still evolve in small ways, reacting, as society evolves in larger ways.  An example is the almost overnight emergence of Internet web sites for many Lodges and Grand Lodges.  Amazing!  Such a rapid evolution in an organization that has operated word of mouth for hundreds of years…

The thing about change is, we can either master it, or let it master us.  We can hide from it believing we are safe from all change in our Lodge halls, whether for good or bad, or, we can understand it, plan for it, and seek to harness its energy in ways that benefit the Fraternity.

So, remembering I had those thoughts 10 years ago at the beginning of the internet explosion.

Today in 2020, as we deal with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic  our Masonic Leaders in Ohio, at the Grand Lodge and Valley of Dayton, AASR  as well as our National Masonic leaders have chosen to avoid stagnation and irrelevancy, rather to understand it, plan for it, and seek to harness its energy of change in ways that benefit the Fraternity and its membership.

The fraternity has adopted the internet and associated technology  to maintain and improve the relevancy of the fraternity for our members through the secured presentation of ASSR Degrees, Lodge Virtual Stated Meetings, Constant Contact messages, and birthday greetings.

Clifford P. Koss, 33°