Page 15 - SeptOct2020MFM.indd

The State of Our Lodges - Membership
Reid Gardiner, RW Grand Secretary, Emeritus

Over the next ten pages we will look at membership Here in Montana our membership in 2017 was 4,768;
by District and Lodge. We will review where our in 2019 our membership was 4,280 and today in 2020
membership has been, where it is and leave each of our membership is at 3,990 and we can expect it to
you to answer where do we go from here and what do be lower by the end of the year. It's not like no one
we need to do. saw this coming, it has been talked about and a few
attempts to address it. Now it’s time for everyone to
You are encouraged to go back and review the work to correct it.
analysis from the article "Whither Are We Drifting:
A Historical Look at Membership" from the January The MSA said that nationally, starting in 1960,
2019 issue of the Montana Freemason Magazine. Masonry has been in a constant state of decline.
The next few paragraphs are taken from that article Montana is no exception and as it continues a downhill
because they so closely match the topic of the next trend. This continued rapid decline shows also that
few pages. no matter how well intended, nothing that has been
tried and re-tried here in Montana has made much of a
It is no secret that Masonic membership has been diff erence from 1961 to the present. We can reasonably
in a state of decline for some time now, some well- ascertain that Montana Masonry cannot continue as
written articles have been produced and speculate on we have in the past.
the cause, sadly for most Grand Lodges, they have As we lose membership, we are losing our fi nancial
not resulted in any solutions and often result in some base. As our loss of members continues our Lodges
well-meaning but ultimately ineff ective program or and our Grand Lodge will be at risk. Who will pay
plan leaving us with nothing more than a plan that the overhead costs to keep the big old buildings
appeared to be valuable and powerful but was, in operational?
fact, weak and insignifi cant, a paper tiger. We have
borrowed ideas and programs from other jurisdictions The following quote is from an unknow author.
wanting to believe that they found the "magic silver "Even if the blue lodge started giving away
bullet" - but these never bore fruit for our jurisdiction memberships, it's doubtful that we could fi nd enough
and, in most cases, did little for the jurisdiction people who even remembered who the Freemasons
where the concept came from either. Membership is a are, and even fewer who would want to become
problem, and it is not unique to Masonry; membership one. The damage is already done, and we are now
has declined in all organizations form churches, in a free fall that threatens to erase the remains
scouting, unions, professional associations, civic of North American Freemasonry. This means the
groups, the VFW and American Legion, they all have closure and rollback of individual state Grand
seen a loss of membership. According to the Masonic Lodges. This will mean the selling of more Masonic
Information Center (MIC) of the Masonic Service properties and assets, and the selling or divesting
Association (MSA), "Freemasonry has lost over 3 publicly of our privately funded institutions."
million members or about (75%) since 1956, which
has been identifi ed as the peak membership period. Brother Maurie Petterson was thinking of these things
Freemasonry in the USA reached a high point in 1959 when he said:
and has been declining ever since." "The local Lodges are a fractious, independent bunch”
So a huge part of the solution is to provide relevant,
In Montana, the fi rst spike up in membership was meaningful information and assistance so the Lodges
from 1925 through 1959 when our highest membership will look forward to and welcome it. To reiterate, the
was reached in 1957 with 26,207 members, which was common goal of everyone should be growing the craft
91 years after the formation of our Grand Lodge. with quality masons."
-Maurie Petterson, Stillwater #62
As we look at our membership history, we see
a trend that should be obvious to even the most With that Brothers, review the next few pages and
casual observer. It has been frequently stated that decide what can you do, what do you want to do? If
Freemasonry in the USA has been in unremitting you can contribute ideas and suggestions to help your
lodge, our lodges and Grand Lodge, talk with your
membership decline beginning in 1955. In Montana, District Offi cer and Grand Lodge Offi cers.
our rapid decline of membership started in 1960.

Montana Freemason Page 15 Sept/Oct 2020 Volume 96 No. 5