Charity: The Seventh Masonic District of Manhattan

Brethren,

As Brethren of the Seventh Masonic District of Manhattan, we support many different philanthropic organizations that care for indigent as well as physically and mentally disadvantaged youngsters. A few examples of charities that we extend a helping hand to are Child Life at Beth Israel, Rhinelander Children’s Center, Ballets Tech Foundation and Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center. For a complete list of charities we currently assist, please visit the Seventh District Foundation. We currently offer $350,000 annually to charities in the State of New York. We continue look to the Brethren of the Seventh District to help support our efforts. 

You Make the Difference.

The Seventh District Association would not be able to support the needy children of our community without the generous support of people like you. The recipients of our charity are often poor, uninsured and unable to afford adequate medical care. They may have special needs that go unmet without our help. They have nowhere else to turn except to the organizations whose support we fund with your donations. For your generous support, we thank you for them.

I'm Ready to Donate Now.

There are several ways for you to make a donation. Perhaps the easiest is to use our PayPal service, where you can use a credit card or your own PayPal account to securely transfer funds to our account. Just click on the DONATE button and follow the safe and easy instructions.

Click here for Pay Pal Link

Euclidean Geometry as a Base.

Euclid's Elements also include the following five "common notions":
1- Things that are equal to the same thing are also equal to one another.
2- If equals are added to equals, then the wholes are equal.
3- If equals are subtracted from equals, then the remainders are equal.
4- Things that coincide with one another equal one another.
5- The whole is greater than the part.

Conclusion: Equality seems to be the basic geometrical principle which allows for all things to co-exist on the level.

The Seven Liberal Arts, Part III

The Seven Liberal Arts, Part II: The Quadrivium and Harmony

The Seven Liberal Arts and the Modern English Class, Part I

What's in an Apron?

When I first was received into the Ancient and Accepted Order of Freemasonry, I was told that there would be nothing as symbolic of purity as my Masonic apron.

Since that short time ago, I have seen many varied and beautiful Masonic aprons, all worn with pride by the men who displayed them.

During that same time, I have also heard many men express discontent at the embellishment of apron, citing that such superfluities detracted, and even perhaps even disgraced, the symbol of the Masonic apron. In either case, I understand both presentations.

It seems that a man, full of pride about his travels in Freemasonry, is apt to display that pride, it it seems most convenient to do so on the surface of an apron. There are those that would say that the apron should remain unblemished, as this is what we as Masons strive for, purity of self as symbolized by the wearing of an unadorned apron. Yet others would say, that as we move in the profane world, we are apt to collect the superfluities of life, and they are perhaps symbolized by the magnificently adorned aprons that many wear.

In Colorado, this dispute reached a climax when the Grandmaster of Colorado, Most Worshipful Brother Karl J. Hinkle issued a proclamation stating that all Masonic aprons worn by the Brethren of that jurisdiction, must conform to the approval of that state's Grand Lodge.

I've included a picture of our Most Worshipful Brother because I believe it exemplifies both a choice and steadfast commitment and to a belief that the State of Colorado seems to be sincere in upholding- even the Grand Lodge aprons of that State are "plain white aprons with the Seal of the Grand Lodge attached to the center of the flap portion of the apron."

To read more about the decision of the Grandmaster of Masons of the State of Colorado, click the link and enjoy the read. When you're done, form an opinion.


Just make it an informed opinion.

Bro. Earnest

A Searcher's Club Report:

IN SEARCH OF MORE LIGHT IN MASONRY ...

 “The Masonic Legacy of Bro. Joseph Diele:

An Examination of a Life in the Quarries.”

On Monday February 20, 2012, The Searchers Club the held a round table discussion and "An Examination of the Masonic Legacy of Bro. Joseph Diele: An Examination of a Life in the Quarries.”  The meeting was held in the Livingston Masonic Library in Masonic Hall, NYC, with RW Tomas Savini, Executive Director of the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library as host and resident expert for the discussion. The focus of the evening centered on two boxes of memorabilia sent by a friend, the daughter of the late Brother Joseph A. Diele, to Brother Darryl Perry of Joseph Warren-Gothic Lodge. Brother Perry was one of the early organizers of the Searchers Club together with Brother Earnest Hudson.  Brother Perry received the bequeathed items for assessment and evaluation.

Over nearly 40 years Brother Joe A. Diele led a full and very varied Masonic career at home and abroad, leaving behind a small treasure trove of Masonic related items such as most Brother Masons tend to collect over a lifetime. These included key chains, pins, ceremonial jewels, certificates of commendation and rank, hats and jewels pertaining to the Scottish Rite and fezzes from two Shriner'sTemples among other items found in the boxes.

From what was "discovered"  amid the many artifacts, it was discerned that Brother Joseph had conferred upon him the Exalted 33rd Degree of the Scottish Rite. He was a District Deputy in Japanand Korea for several successive terms. He served as District Deputy Grand Master, China District Grand Lodge of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1980 and again in 2000. He was Worshipful Master of his mother Lodge, Sinim Lodge, Japan, under the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1986. He also organized and helped build the new Tokyo Masonic Center.

With some twenty Masons present at the Searchers Club meeting, there  were several Brothers with many years of vast Masonic experiences. These included RW Bill Thomas, RW Kurt Ott,  RW and retired Army Col. Brother John Chang, and RW Ron Steiner, Chairman of the Grand Lodge Public Relations Committee. RW Steiner gave a background  history of Freemasonry in Asia. There was also a discussion of current, modern Freemasonry in the Orient. RW.: Tom Savini, contributed many important points to our understanding.

The evening proved to be somber, engaging, and informative as Masons meditated out loud to the group, and in sidebar commentary, the amount of time and dedication required to amass these treasured items over Brother Diele's lifetime in the quarries of our craft.  It also showed that no material object can possibly convey the richness of the experience that we, as Masons, share together.

Bro. Darrell B. Perry

Joseph Warren-Gothic Lodge #934