DeMolay Conclave 2015

Posted on July 21, 2015 by The Mason's Lady

I was lucky enough to attend DeMolay Conclave this past weekend. This is an event that is not like any other in the Masonic community. In the state of Nebraska, Conclave includes a state ritual competition, the election and installation of the state officers, and of course, finishes with a banquet and dance.

Conclave was held this year in Grand Island, Nebraska, about two hours away from Omaha. The event started early Friday morning with the ritual competition. Basically, the boys choose a part (or parts) that they want to learn, and then preform them in front of a panel of judges, usually older DeMolays. The parts range from the preceptors, which are a paragraph long, to the flower talk, which encompasses many pages. T is the state ritual director, and so he gets to be in charge of picking all of the judges, and all of the paperwork. The participants are scored on a number of items, including ease, number of prompts needed, words skipped, and dress.

Fun at the waterpark

After a quick lunch, the guys got ready for the long form initiatory and DeMolay degrees. Now, this is something that is done a bit different than the rest of the Masonic organizations. A long form degree requires at least 16 members on the degree team, something that is difficult to accomplish with teens, especially in the busy summer months. So instead, often when a new member wants to join, they will conduct a short form degree, which takes about half of the amount of people. The long form degrees are then conducted at the two major state events, Conclave and Roundup, to any new members that have joined since the last state event. While these degrees are not “public” per se, any advisor or parent is more than welcome to watch them. If you ever get the opportunity to watch a long form degree for DeMolay, I highly recommend it, especially since (at least in our jurisdiction) it is done in full costume.

As a reward for their hard work, they guys were treated to a casino night by the state Sweetheart (a member of Job’s or Rainbow that has been chosen to represent the girls groups in DeMolay). Far after many of the younger members went to bed, the older guys were on their way to a local Lodge building. In our state, we are lucky enough to have a recent re-established chapter of the Chivalric Knights of the Holy Order of the Fellow Solders of Jacques DeMolay, or Priory, for short. This is a group within DeMolay that is made up of boys over the age of 16. They have their own fun nights, as well as state events, both within and separate from DeMolay events. For Nebraska’s Priory, it is not an advancing line, so every year, their leaders are elected and installed at Conclave. They also initiated new members during this time.

The Sir Knights chosen for Priory leadership for 2015

Bright and early the next morning, the Chapter room was opened for elections for state officers. One of T’s brothers ran, and won! The girls running for state Sweetheart also gave their speeches and answered questions shortly there after. After all of the speeches and voting was finished, a very special honor was given to a select number of DeMolays, the Degree of Chevalier. This is the highest honor that can be given to an active DeMolay for distinguished service to the group. Interestingly, this degree is not given by active DeMolays, but instead by past DeMolays who have also received the honor. T and a number of his friends were able to bestow this honor to three boys, one of whom was one of T’s brothers. Unlike regular degree work, the Degree of Chevalier is a public ceremony, open for anyone to watch.

The boys spent the afternoon at the waterpark, having the opportunity to relax before the banquet. Now, when I was told that there was a banquet Saturday evening, I assumed that meant it was DeMolays, advisors, and parents only. What I didn’t expect was the amount of support brought out by the rest of Nebraska’s Masonic Community. The Grand Master was there, as was the Grand Line for OES, and almost all of the potentates from around the state. There was not a Masonic group that went unrepresented that night. It swells my heart with joy to know that all of these people, many of them well beyond my years, have full support of DeMolay, and all of its members.

The only downside to having that much support, is that every representative is encouraged to bring greetings from their group, which can often end in lengthy speeches. I myself am used to this from other Masonic events….a bunch of teenage boys however, had a much harder time keeping still and quiet. After everyone had their say, the awards for the ritual competition were given out. Unfortunately, Omaha chapter didn’t do so hot. Hopefully next year will be better. After this, the new state officers were installed by former DeMolays who were also state officers in their time. The Priory put on a wonderful arch of steel for this installation. They did a better job than I’ve seen some Templars do.

Installation of 2015 State Officers

After the room was nice and full of antsy teenagers and tired adults, it was time for the dance. I’m not sure how it started exactly, but at every major DeMolay (and I assume every major Job’s and Rainbow) event, there is a dance. Luckily, even though most of them are highschoolers, it tends to be an atypical highschool dance. I think that the fact that there are some songs that have ritualistic dances to go with them helps. Many of the adult leaders and advisors were once in a Masonic youth group, so they often know the dances as well, which helps encourage the teens to be a little less awkward, even if the girls do outnumber the boys three to one.

You many wonder why I often give a report of DeMolay events I attend. This is not to just take up space, or tell you about this fun weekend I had. Kiddos in the Masonic youth groups are the future of Masonry. If we want the groups that we enjoy to continue for years to come, we need to do our best to make sure that we can retain these members as adults. At one point during the banquet, the Grand Master had everyone who was once a DeMolay and is now a Master Mason to stand up. Well over half of the adult men in the room stood. One thing that I haven’t told you about this weekend, we had maybe only 30 active DeMolays attend it. So often do we get caught up in other things that don’t matter, that we push aside the things that do. DeMolay, Job’s Daughters, and Rainbow for Girls teaches extremely valuable life lessons that help guide a youth to lead a good life. Isn’t that all we want for our children? Please, do what you can to support Masonic youth groups, the best thing to donate is your time. Without Masonic youth, Masonry may become a thing of the past in years to come.

Round Up

Posted on April 14, 2015 by The Mason's Lady

This past weekend. T and I helped coordinate and run a statewide DeMolay event called Round Up. I am not certain if other states do this, or anything similar, but this has been an event at least since T was a DeMolay. The entire weekend is a series of sports competitions between chapters. It started as many weekend Masonic events do in Nebraska, with the three hour drive to Kearny with a van full of teenage boys.

After a quick lunch, we headed off to The Big Apple, a family entertainment complex with bowling, go karts, mini golf, and more.

The first competition was an individual one, billiards. One of T’s brothers actually ended up winning first place!

The second competition was team volleyball. They ended up doing both Chapter teams, as well as composite teams made up of players from the various Chapters around the state.

While not a competition, The Big Apple also had go-karts, which the boys were able to race in.

The final competition was mini golf. The course there was probably one of the coolest I’ve ever played.

I mean, it was really, really cool.

‘

Like I would drive out there again just to play there.

Luckily we are in Kearney fairly often for Masonic events, so we will be back.

All of these competitions ended up taking about 6 hours. So I ended up spending a lot of time in the arcade.

They had bowling as well, which was supposed to be a competition, but we barely had enough time to do what we did.

We then went back to the hotel, and had a quick bite to eat.

Afterwards, the boys went to the hotel’s volleyball pit, to play a few rounds of Quidditch.

If you ever get a chance to play, or even watch a match of Quidditch, do it. It is highly entertaining.

The guys then headed over to the local YMCA, for, you guessed it, more sports.

The games of the evening were soccer and basketball, done the same way that they did the volleyball.

The Y also had a small arcade as well, which some of the nerdier guys preferred.

They also had a bounce house, which the adult advisers had to test first, to make sure that it was, you know, safe.

It was about 10pm by this point. I headed back to the hotel for some much deserved sleep.

Some of the guys, on the other hand, headed to a local Lodge for a Priory investiture.

The Priory is a sub-group of DeMolay for boys 16 and older. Investiture is just a fancier word for initiation. I wish that I had been able to stay awake for it, hopefully next time.

Sunday morning was spent doing a DeMolay long form initiation. See, normally, most DeMolay chapters only do a short form initiation when they welcome new members. There is actually an entire play for the DeMolay degree, similar to the ones done during the Scottish Rite degrees. However, this takes a large degree team that many chapters do not have access to. So, once a year at Round Up, Nebraska Chapters have all of their new members go through the long form initiation so that they are able to experience the entire thing. While any adult adviser (including myself), or parent of a DeMolay can watch the ritual, it is still considered secret work, and so cannot be shared here.

After the ritual, awards were passed out for the sporting competitions. Lets just say that Omaha Chapter is not known for its sporting prowess. We then said our goodbyes, and headed home. All in all, a pretty great, if not a bit exhausting, weekend. The sweethearts had a jail fundraiser for Relay for Life where you could pay to put people in “jail” (no phones, no fun), and ended up raising over $500 over the weekend.

On a completely different note, I have created a Tumblr for the Mason’s Lady. Much of what is here will be reflected there as well, as well as some other extras. You can find it here.

I’m Masonic Youth, and You Can Too!

Posted on November 12, 2014 by The Mason's Lady

Life is hectic. Between work, Lodge, Masonic dinners, and other activities, T and I are forced to schedule time together- and we don’t even have kids yet! A major component of our activities revolves around supporting the Masonic youth organization DeMolay; as I have said before, T and I are both adult advisors. We had our first advisory panel meeting since I joined recently, and even though I was exhausted from work, I came to realize just how much goes into running these groups, and more than that, how often they can be overlooked by the rest of the Masonic family.

What is Masonic Youth?

I go into greater detail on each organization here, but this is the quick recap. There are three Masonic youth organizations, DeMolay for boys, Job’s Daughters for girls with Masonic relations, and Rainbow for Girls, who accepts members with and without a Masonic relationship. The ages for each group varies, but they all age out at 21; old enough to be a member of a Lodge or Chapter for 3 years, which allows them to theoretically transition from one group to the next.

The groups do a lot of different things together, but most activities fall into one of a few categories: regular business meetings, initiation/ritual practice, fun nights, service activities, and fundraising. Each group is set up so that the youth are the ones in charge; they run the meetings, vote on activities, give the obligation to new members, etc. In addition to this, each group has one or two state wide conferences each year, which usually includes ritual competition as well as group activities between Chapters. Some states may have mixed conferences every so often, such as MYLC.

In short, Masonic Youth groups provide excellent opportunities for kids that might not receive them otherwise. The minimal cost (I pay $20 a year for my dues), intermingling of groups (i.e. DeMolay sweetheart, dances), lack of religious affiliation, and Masonic connection and values makes them more appealing for many families over other youth groups, such as the Boy Scouts of America.

What are some issues these groups are facing?

Like all of the Masonic organizations, the biggest issue the youth groups are facing is membership numbers. Following in the footsteps of Blue Lodge, none of the organizations openly advertise, and instead rely solely on word of mouth. As many members of Masonic organizations know, membership numbers have been dwindling in the last decade. It can be very hard to interest people, especially teenagers, to come out and do extra “work” (you would be amazed at the difference of guys that come to fun nights vs nights we volunteer to wash dishes), in addition to school, and for some, jobs. The membership issue, in turn, leads to a lack of public interest and knowledge, and the cycle is fueled again.

While I cannot speak for all chapters of these organizations, I can tell you a bit about what is going on in my own. One cannot say that there is a lack of leadership within our Chapter, in fact, we have a few guys that make excellent and natural leaders, that help the Chapter flow the way that it should. These guys volunteer first, are always there on service days, and encourage others to do the same. The issue is it tends to be the same handful of guys that are in this position. Ideally, everyone should be taking turns filling the leadership roles. This I feel, however, is more due to the nature of the beast that is teenagers. Often, youth feel insecure in themselves, are wary about what their peers think of them, and therefore would rather follow than lead.

Another issue that most, if not all, of the Masonic youth organizations face, is that of money. Each Chapter, Bethel or Assembly must be sponsored by an adult Masonic body. Our DeMolay Chapter is sponsored by our local Shrine, for instance. Usually this simply means that the Lodge, Shrine, or Chapter allows the youth to use their facilities for their meetings. We are lucky enough at our Chapter that our sponsor also allows us to be active in supporting events that they put on, mostly through service. Sponsorship does not, however, usually entail much funding, if any. The majority of the funds required by a Masonic youth organization, come from the public, either fund-raising done by the youth, or from the adult advisors.

What are they doing to remedy these issues?

As I said above, Masonic youth organizations are not really advertised the way that other youth groups are. Often, the only way someone even knows they exist is if their child is a member. At one time, DeMolay used to be a household name (I suppose the same could be said for Masonry), but all you will get is funny looks if you ask around. To my knowledge, no real changes have been made on this front (at least for DeMolay). Unlike Freemasonry, Masonic Youth organizations do have an International Council. Statewide, the youth are encouraged to bring in new members, but that is more or less where that ends. Although all of the groups have moved onto social media, this tends to serve more for communication between members more than anything else. Personally, I am not so sure what I would do to bring in more members, but I do know that something needs to be done if these organizations want to continue in the States. Oddly enough, Brazil and Australia have a booming Masonic youth population. Let’s hope that the US takes a page from our Masonic families overseas.

How a group handles the issue of youth leadership really depends on the needs of the specific Chapter, Bethel, or Assembly. Masonic youth groups encourage youth leadership because they are all lead by the youth, instead of by an adult leader, like Boy/Girl Scouts of America. Just like Blue Lodge and other branches of Masonry, these offices exist on a state level, and unlike Masonry, exist on an international level as well. As far as encouraging the youth to take up these positions is concerned, our Chapter is trying a few different methods. We’ve gotten a bit lax over the years with dress, and we want to encourage our members to dress in business casual, instead of shorts and a t-shirt. Many of them will be joining Blue Lodge soon, and this helps ease that transition, and also helps create feeling of specialness when the Chapter is open.

As far as the issue of money is concerned, there always seems to be only one answer: fund-raising. Our Chapter sells baked goods, and I am sure that Job’s and Rainbow does something similar. Of course, all of the members do pay dues, however the dues cost is low enough that it does not put a lot into our coffers. We rely a good deal on donations from the public, both Masons and not. Many of our activities are paid by the guys themselves, for instance if we go out for ice cream, our comes out of the advisors pockets, like gas money when we go to state events.

What can I do to help?

As always, the number one answer is get involved. I cannot tell you what an awesome time I have had in just the few months that I have been an advisor. If you have the time, and meet the requirements I highly recommend it. You can find your local group through Google, or click the name of the organization, which will take you to the main page. By the way, here are the requirements to become a Masonic youth advisor:

DeMolay
*Any adult 21 and older
*No Masonic affiliation is required

Job’s Daughters
*At least 20 years of age and:
Master Mason
Majority Job’s Daughter
Person of Masonic heritage
Parent, grandparent, stepparent, or guardian of an active or majority member of the bethel

Rainbow for Girls
*At least 24 years old and :
Master Mason
Majority Rainbow Girl
Member of Eastern Star, White Shrine, or Amaranth
Parent, grandparent, or guardian of an active or majority Rainbow Girl

If circumstances do not allow you to become an advisor, there are many other ways to get involved. Encourage your children to become members. If you do not have kids of your own, recommend the organization to friends who are looking for activities for theirs. Suggest to your WM that your Lodge support a Masonic youth group that may be looking for a new home. Contact the head of the group in your area, and see if you can sit in on a meeting, to see what it is all about. Attend public events put on by the groups, and encourage others to do the same. Welcome and greet a Masonic youth just as you would any other Mason or affiliated member, encourage them to also attend your events. This will also help your Lodge or Chapter’s membership when the time comes. If nothing else, donate. Time, money, your backyard pool; it may not seem like much to you, but it can make a world of difference to them.

#MYLC2K14

Posted on October 7, 2014 by The Mason's Lady

Alright! That was a little bit of a rough week! I hope everyone is feeling well, I know that I am. This last weekend, I was lucky enough to attend the Nebraska Masonic Youth Leadership Conference, otherwise known as MYLC, as a DeMolay advisor. I had a ton of fun. September was really the month for Leadership, as I also was able to present at the Nebraska Grand Lodge Leadership Conference. I am sure you were expecting a big post about the importance of leadership, and believe me, that is in the works. However, this week I wanted to share everything that we did at MYLC. I had a few kids that this was not only their first big Masonic trip, but also their first overnight stay (far) away from home, and they were a little freaked out. I know that it can be just as scary to send your kiddo off for the weekend without really knowing what it is they will be up to.

Our journey (eventually, after a turnaround for a misplaced cell phone), began with me driving a car full of teenagers at 6am. Luckily, most of them slept through the 3 hour journey across state, and didn’t wake until around the halfway point. Once we arrived, we were given matching t-shirts, and randomly assigned groups. Everyone then convened in the main ballroom, where we were introduced to the state officers for DeMolay, Rainbow, and Job’s, as well as our emcee for the weekend, Amanda Hammett (more on her later). We all then got to know each other quite well via a group photo.

Nebraska only holds their youth leadership conference every three years, and this year we easily more than doubled the attendance!

After a quick ice breaker and a run down of what our day would look like, our keynote speaker, Josh Shipp did his thing. If you ever get a chance to hear Josh speak, do it. I don’t care if you’re a teenager, a grownup, Masonic, or not, that man has a lot of really awesome things to day, and has an excellent way of saying them. I actually had one of our members turn to me and say, “This is so much better than a keynote speaker!” Josh talked about two major points as far as leadership is concerned; don’t be average, and be human. I will be writing more about what Josh had to say next week, so be on the look out for that.

After Josh was done speaking, we had a quick lunch, and then broke up into our respective groups. My group first met back up with Amanda, who talked with us about leadership and failure. She reminded us of something that I think is excellent for youth to be reminded of; everyone fails, and failure is okay, and not the end of the world. Amanda alluded to the fact that she had failed big time, but wouldn’t tell us exactly how until the next day.

Pondering had about our own failures, we headed off to the just for fun part of the day, a Frisbee show put on by Flying Houndz. I’m pretty sure this video will give you a better idea than I can:

Needless to say, it was pretty cool. Our next stop was our service project. We stopped by the local food pantry and sorted canned goods for a bit, before heading to the store to buy some more.Within our groups we broke off into smaller teams of about 5 or so. Each team had about $65 dollars to spend (remember, when you donate to Masonic youth, this is the kind of things you are funding!), and 10 items that we had to buy, the rest we could buy any non-perishable items we pleased. Of course, its more fun with a little competition, so our goal was not only to spend the most money without going over, but also to buy the most amount of items. While my team did not win (we ended up with 129 items, mostly canned goods), I will say that I am very proud of my kiddos, as they decided to vow to not spend any of it on ramen. They felt that buying ramen would be the easy way out as far as winning was concerned, and that no one really wants to eat ramen in the first place, and that the food pantry probably already had pallets of it anyway. They literally decided to sacrifice the win in order to obtain higher value foods (mostly canned veggies and muffin mixes). Can’t say no to that, and I applaud them wholeheartedly for that decision.

I had been up for about 14 hours at this point, and it was barely 6pm. I was starting to drag, but a nice dinner and my 3^rd cup of coffee for the day did the trick. After dinner, we had a beautiful short presentation called the “Nebraska Family Masonic Portrait”. T tells me that they have done it in years past, but I do not think that changes the impact at all. Basically, the head officer for each Masonic organization in Nebraska, or at least someone in the Grand Line, took time out of their weekend, to come and represent their organization for the youth. Although it was short, the results were really quite stunning.

We were then given a show by a great magician (of which I ended up with no pictures of, somehow), and then it was time for the tradition for any Masonic Youth conference (leadership, or not), the dance. It was more or less just like any junior high or highschool dance you’ve ever been to, the girls acting a little boy crazy, and the boys awkwardly standing on the sidelines, not really sure they want to dance with any girls. I suppose this is where I should mention that in my state, girls out number the boys as far as Masonic youth at least 3:1, maybe even 4:1. I talked my guys into staying for 45 minutes, then they could do as they pleased, and was surprised when they agreed. Their time was up shortly after the tradition of Masonic youth dances in Nebraska (at least, I don’t think it happens anywhere else), the Dashboard Light skit. I wish I had video of this, but for some reason I decided pictures would suffice (they don’t). Somehow, at some point in time, a tradition was started where the DJ plays the song Dashboard Light, by Meatloaf. Not the most wholesome song, but I recognize a lot of the kids probably don’t “get” it. During the song, the youth act out this fairly elaborate skit that goes along with the song. I was first introduced to it at the Master’s Ball, where I got drug into doing it with T and his old DeMolay friends. Not sure how it started (I asked, apparently it started sometime in the 80’s). Anyway, the rest of the dance was filled with sweet moves, as seen below:

After some much-needed sleep, our next morning gave us Curt Tomacevicz, an Olympian on the 2 and 4 man USA bobsled team. He spoke to us about fear, and how we can keep it from running our lives and keep us from being leaders. It also resulted in this awesome selfie (excuse the shaggy hair)

After getting to hold an Olympic gold medal (!), Amanda came to speak with us again, more about failure and success. She lost everything due to a simple error, but was able to find so much more than she had in the first place through talking with youth. She was truly wonderful and very easy to approach.

There was one more point of business to attend to, shown here by our state officers:

With our send off song finished, we hugged our new friends goodbye, and loaded back up into the Expedition to head home. I had a wonderful time, and learned a good deal; not only about leadership, but also about our youth members. I know that many of them felt the same. Too bad it’s another three years until the next one!

Hopefully that helps put some of your minds at ease as far as sending your kiddos off on Masonic youth trips. As I said before, next week I will be covering more in-depth on the content of the two conferences; and a goat.

Masonic Youth

Posted on March 10, 2014 by The Mason's Lady

Masonry is truly designed to be a family affair. The men, obviously, have their countless organizations, the women have a few, and, not to leave anyone out, there are those for the youth as well.

There are three youth organizations, with some offshoots of each for the younger kids, all with their own individual structure and opportunities. All three focus on leadership and community service.

Rainbow for Girls

Started in 1922 as a counterpart to DeMolay, Rainbow for Girls, or Rainbow, is open to all girls, aged 11 to 20/21. One of the major differences here is that members do not need to be related to a Master Mason to be able to join. This is very nice, because once a girl ages out of Rainbow, she is eligible for membership in Eastern Star, among other organizations. The age out rule is a little bit different- a girl is a member until she turns 20, unless she marries before the age of 20, and is often given the opportunity to continue membership until the age of 21.

Rainbow groups are reffered to as “assemblies”. There are many officers, as you might expect, the Worthy Advisor (a girl, not an adult), is considered the president of the organization, and plans meetings and activities for the group. There are of course, also state officers, referred to as “Grandofficer title“, usually the Grand Worthy Advisor attends all state conferences, including Grand Lodge. There is also a Supreme, international council. All state/international council officers are chosen by election. The ties to DeMolay can be seen very easily, as the seven core virtues are very similar to DeMolay’s, the difference being that in Rainbow they are taught as colors, and referred to as “bow stations”. The stations are as follows:

Love (red) In all its forms
Religion (orange) The Importance of religion in all its forms (based on love and forgiveness)
Nature (yellow) Its Importance in your daily life
Immortality (green) The understanding of death is a part of life
Fidelity (blue) Emphasis on being honest and reliable
Patriotism (indigo) Encouraging citizenship to your country
Service (violet) Service to others which bind all the colors together

As with all Masonic youth organizations, there are adult advisors, a “Mother Advisor”, as well as an advisor board helps guide the girls. For the most part, however, the youth run the organization, the Worthy Advisor doing as she sees fit, with the Mother Advisor helping along the way (as is the case with all Masonic youth organizations). Due to the way that it is set up, there is also opportunity for adults that are interested to be involved.

Rainbow Pledge

Not associated with every chapter of Rainbow, there is often a small group of “Rainbow Pledges”, that are too young to join the organization. Pledges are usually 8-10, and can be involved in every fun activity, outing, and charity work, but usually are not involved in business meetings, or ritual work.

Job’s Daughters

Started in the Big O in 1920, Job’s Daughters is a youth organization for girls 10 to 20. The big difference between Rainbow and Job’s is that in order to become a member of Job’s Daughters (referred to often as Jobies), you must be able to prove a relationship to a Master Mason. Quite often, however, girls that can fulfill this requirement will become members of both organizations. Obviously, due to the relationship requirement, all members are eligible for membership in OES and the like. Job’s has a similar age out rule as Rainbow, the difference being that some jurisdictions may allow girls to continue to be involved up until the age of 25.

Job’s Daughters groups are referred to as “bethels”. Again, there are many officer positions available through elections within the bethel, with the “Bethel Queen” acting as president. State officers work a little bit differently in Job’s (so correct me if I got this terribly wrong). There are two state officers that are youth, the Grand Bethel Honoured Queen, and Miss Jurisdiction Job’s Daughter (i.e. Miss Nebraska Job’s Daughter). The Grand Bethel Honoured Queen is chosen via a drawing, after fulfilling certain requirements, and Miss Jurisdiction (often referred to as Miss Congeniality), is chosen via a pageant. Both of these officers are considered equal co-leaders, and will attend state conferences together. Again, there are also international officers, the Supreme Bethel Honoured Queen, and Miss International Job’s Daughter, respectively.

Virtues taught to Jobies include a greater reverence for God and the Holy Scriptures (JD is a more Christian based organization than rainbow, but does not require members to be such), , loyalty to one’s country and that country’s flag; and respect for parents, guardians, and elders.

Again, there is a council of adults advising the girls, referred to as the Bethel Guardian Council.

Job’s Daughter to Be/JD2B

Similar to Rainbow Pledges, Jobies to Be get to do all the fun stuff while not attending the business meetings and ritual work. This program is open to 8 and 9 year olds.

Order of the Triangles/Constellation of Junior Stars

There’s not much to be found about either of these groups. I do know that they are for girls ages 10 to 21, and both are only in New York state.

DeMolay

Yes, I am guilty of saving my favorite for last. Started in 1919 in Kansas City, The International Order of DeMolay is open to all boys aged 12 to 21, who profess a belief in a higher power, and strive to be a good person. It is the world’s largest youth fraternity, and the premier youth organization. It serves as a feeder program for masonry, as many of its members go on to become masons. A relationship to a Master Mason is not required.

Local DeMolay groups are called “chapters”. Again, numerous officer positions are available, the “Master Councilor” is elected, and acts as president for all meetings. Often (this also is true for Rainbow, not sure about Job’s), members will start at the bottom and work their way up, similar to the officer line in Blue lodge or an OES chapter. State officers vary from state to state, but will usually at least include a State (or Jurisdictional) Master Councilor, a State Senior Councilor (Vice President), and a State Junior Councilor (Vice, Vice President). There may be many more state officers in your state or jurisdiction, this is at the discretion of the executive officer (head of state advisory board).

In addition to this, each chapter may have a “Sweetheart”, who serves as a female ambassador to DeMolay, and is usually there to remind the boys how to act in front of girls politely. She is not an officer of the chapter, but will often go on outings with them. She is usually a member of a local Bethel or Assembly, but this is not a requirement. The only requirement is that she is between the ages of 14 and 21.

DeMolay has seven cardinal virtues, you can see the similarities between theirs and Rainbow’s:

Filial love (love between a parent and child)
Reverence for sacred things
Courtesy
Comradeship
Fidelity
Cleanness
Patriotism

Each chapter of DeMolay must be sponsored by a local masonic body (our Shrine sponsors the Big O chapter). Again, there is an adult board of advisors to lead the youth (just turned in my application), members of the advisory board are usually referred to as Dad Last Name.

Squires of the Round Table/Order of Knighthood

DeMolay is a little bit different, in that for those that are too young to join DeMolay, there is actually a full on organization for. The Squiresof the Round Table is for DeMolay pledges, ages 10 to 12, their groups are called “Manors”, and they have elected officers, the “Master Squire” acting as president.

Once a DeMolay is 17, he is also eligible for a separate organization within DeMolay, called the Order of Knighthood, for boys 17 to 21. They too, have separate rituals and officers, but act to serve DeMolay. Their groups are called “priories”, and their president is referred to as “Illustrious Knight Commander”. The full name of the order is the Chivalric Knights of the Holy Order of the Fellow Soldiers of Jacques DeMolay.

I highly encourage you to support your local masonic youth in any way that you can, whether it be donating money, time, or being an advisor. If you enjoy masonry and have children, I would encourage them to join any and all of the organizations available to them. All of these programs feed into masonry and its appendant bodies, and we would never hope to have the membership today that we do without their existence.

The Mason's Lady

Exploring the Social Dynamics of Freemasonry

Category Archives: Masonic Youth