Frequently asked questions

Our stated meeting schedule is Second Thursday of each month. Any special meetings and public events are posted on the calendar.

We are located at 1234 Masonry Way.

The best first contact is the Secretary. Email sec@masonview.com or call .

Bring your current dues card. If possible, message the Secretary in advance with your lodge name and number so we can plan to greet you 🤝.

Start with the Join page and send a short request for information. We will follow up privately, answer questions, and help you plan a visit.

Freemasonry is a brotherhood of men who share one goal: helping each other become better men. It is one of the oldest and most well known fraternities in the world.

Men from many backgrounds come together as equals and try to live three simple virtues in everyday life: brotherly love (treat people well), charity (help others), and truth (be honest and do the right thing) ✅.

In Pennsylvania, to qualify for membership, a petitioner must be male, at least 18 years of age, and believe in the existence of a Supreme Being.

He should be of good moral character and motivated to join for the right reasons. Freemasonry is not for personal gain or profit. It is for growth, learning, and being part of long standing traditions 🤝.

No. Freemasonry requires belief in a Supreme Being and encourages men to practice their own personal faith, but the fraternity is not a religion and it is not a place to worship.

A helpful way to think about it: religion is where you worship and follow a specific doctrine. Freemasonry is where men of different monotheistic faiths can meet peacefully and focus on shared values like respect and integrity.

A primary requirement of a Freemason is belief in a Supreme Being, whether He be called God, Allah, Jehovah, or another name used by one’s faith.

Therefore, a candidate should be obligated on a book he considers a Volume of the Sacred Law of his beliefs, such as the Holy Bible, Torah, or Quran.

Becoming a member is divided into three ceremonial stages called degrees: Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason.

Think of them like levels in a learning program 📘. Each stage teaches moral and ethical lessons, and you advance after showing proficiency, similar to how medieval craftsmen advanced from apprentice to master.

The term “lodge” originally referred to shelter structures built beside cathedrals where stonemasons lived and worked. Today, “lodge” means both the group of Masons and the room or building where they meet.

No two lodges are the same. Most include a room for official business and ceremonies, plus areas for meals, fellowship, social events, and charitable activities.

The overarching governing body of Masonic lodges in a given area, usually a state or country. In plain terms: local lodges are the community level, and the Grand Lodge provides oversight and rules for that jurisdiction.

The name dates back to the days when Freemasonry referred to working in the trades. Several explanations are commonly offered:

• Masons worked in “free stone” (stone that could be carved), leading to “free-stone masons,” later shortened.
• They were free men, not serfs.
• They were free to move from place to place for work.
• They were granted certain freedoms in towns where they worked.
• They were free of some guild rules and restrictions.

George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Gerald R. Ford.

Some authorities also include Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, but documentary evidence is lacking. Lyndon B. Johnson received the Entered Apprentice Degree but did not advance. Andrew Jackson (Tennessee) and Harry S. Truman (Missouri) were Grand Masters.

George Washington was a Mason. Benjamin Franklin served as the head of the fraternity in Pennsylvania, as did Paul Revere and Joseph Warren in Massachusetts.

Other well-known Masons involved with the founding of America include John Hancock, John Sullivan, Marquis de Lafayette, Baron Fredrick von Steuben, Nathanael Greene, Joseph Warren and John Paul Jones. Another Mason, Chief Justice John Marshall, shaped the Supreme Court into its present form.

It is not known for certain when Freemasonry began, but there are records referencing Masons as early as the 14th century. A widely accepted theory traces its beginnings to the Middle Ages, when stonemasons’ guilds and cathedral builders traveled throughout Europe.

As they moved from site to site, they gathered in shelter houses and formed bonds to recognize skill, perfect their art, and protect trade secrets. The square and compasses became symbols of this brotherhood 🔷.

Over time, as the need for such builders declined, men outside the trade began joining. The symbols and customs remained, but they were used to teach moral truths instead of job skills. In the 1600s, records show gentlemen being made Freemasons, and later many were called “Accepted” Masons.

In 1717, four lodges in London formed the Grand Lodge of England, the first Grand Lodge in the world. By 1723 it published its first rulebook, “The Constitutions of the Free-Masons.” Subsequent Grand Lodges were established: Ireland (1725); Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (1731); Massachusetts (1733); and Scotland (1736).

Freemasonry became popular in colonial America and helped spread Enlightenment ideals such as the dignity of man, liberty of the individual, the right to worship as one chooses, democratic government, and public education. In the 1800s and early 1900s, Masonic homes and orphanages helped many families at a time when there was no social safety net.

Today, Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternity emphasizing personal study, self-improvement, and charity. In North America, Masons support many causes, including children’s hospitals, medical research, community service, and care for seniors.

It was started on March 6, 1775, in Boston, when the degrees of Masonry were conferred upon Prince Hall and 14 other African American men in a Military Lodge (No. 441 on the Irish Register) in the English Army attached to the 38th Regiment.

Prince Hall was born in Barbados and came to Boston. He became a leader of the free African Americans of that city and was an ordained minister.