Their headquarters building in New Haven is a prominent landmark there.
Or church or tavern or shopping mall*. Or local movie theaters or bus stations or dry cleaners. The bowling alley or dogtrack biz is a tough sell nowadays. New ways to work and recreate.
*I came across this fun gallery & thread yesterday. I initially guessed 1990 but comments narrow it to 1987-8. Tape World, lol.
Masonic Halls were often very large and grand buildings. Some are still used for lodge meetings, but a lot of them have been repurposed over the years. The one in my city, for example, is now used as an arts center. It’s one of the nicest looking buildings in town, a six-story Gothic revival building, very impressive.
It doesn’t have anything to do with confession. The reasons are because the church believes Masonic principles and rituals are such that Freemasonry constitutes a religion of its own or at the very least those principles/rituals are incompatible with Catholicism. and the church perceives Masons as having an agenda of secularizing society , eliminating Catholic schools and hospitals and opposing the election of Catholic politicians. ( Not saying it’s true, just that these are the reasons)
Yes, They were great for things like that.
Now you ask on your local FB page and get recs for other residents- which generally is not as good.
The reason I thought it was funny was because George Washington was a prominent Freemason. So it was funny to name a chapter of the KofC after him. Because the KofC was opposed to Freemasonry.
I remember some of the guys in high school being asked to join the Demolays, whatever that is.
Sort of the junior woodchuck version of the Masons.
When I was in university, we’d go to drink at the War Amps of Canada lounge around the corner. It was a members’ club and the beer was much cheper than regular bars. Fortunately, they let visitors in, because it was said to be an expensive club to join - it cost an arm and a leg.
Ba-dum tss! Courtesy of Rick Allen from Def Leppard.
American Legion is a veterans organization. My father-in-law is member and is commander of the honor guard that performs funeral ceremonies for vets in our area.
Cheap drinks at the bar for sure.
Did you think I wasn’t aware of that (that it’s a veterans’ organization)?
Not at all, but others may not have known.
The Loyal Order of Foresters and the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes were similar organisations in England (the Buffaloes spread to other British Dominions).
All have declined in recent decades as the welfare state took over many of their functions.
The British Legion too has declined, reflecting the shrinking size of the Armed Forces in recent decades, and it is no longer necessary to have been in the military to belong to it (would have been financially unviable to keep it like that).
The Canadian Legion has been pushing ads in recent years that the legion is not just for veterans.
Looks like the Foresters are still a viable concern. Of course, they have grown a lot, and now are more a financial organization than a fraternal organization:
And good point, @md-2000 . The Royal Canadian Legion has expanded their membership beyond veterans, and is now looking for members who have never served. I recall being the guest of a member (he served in the Canadian Forces back in the 1970s and 1980s) at a Legion, and found his local Legion a nice place. Maybe I should look into it.
I looked into the British Legion because of this thread. It’s £20/year for non-veterans. There’s a post about 10 minutes walk from where I live. They have a couple big rooms they rent out for events. Very cheap beer compared to local pubs.
I had a recent client who got in a fight with another lady at “The Moose” (their lodge). They were both members, and as far as I could tell the reason to go was to play darts and drink. I think they also had a trivia night.
Every time she talked about “The Moose” with such sincerity (“I haven’t been able to visit The Moose! I’ve been going to The Moose for years!”) it was always a struggle to stifle my laughter.
I also recently worked with a guy in his 60s who was an Eagle. Best as I could tell, his membership offered an opportunity to talk about the old times and drink. They are dying out precisely because they don’t attract new members.
There’s a group called BNI (Business Network International) that purports to fulfill this role. It’s not a fraternal group, but they have chapters all over the world, and you have to join and pay dues.
The focus is entirely devoted to business networking; the chapter will only allow one member per profession (with the caveat that you can subdivide some types of work; so a group could have different types of lawyers or doctors, for example).
The groups share referrals; as a member, you are supposed to refer customers to other members of the group, and also do business yourself within the group. When run well, they can be a great source of business (imagine a realtor, mortgage broker, title company, roofer, landscaper, insurance agent, and general contractor all sharing business referrals). When run poorly, it can feel like a high pressure pyramid scheme (you are forced to do business with the people in the group, can’t miss meetings, are expected to bring in guests and grow the chapter with new members…)
Yeah fuck that. If I ask my plumber if they’ve worked with an electrician that they would recommend, it better be because they’re honest and do good work. Not because they’re in the same club.
Which is why the groups can be hit or miss. In theory, the group holds bad members accountable (after all, it’s your reputation on the line when you give a referral)
(I did BNI back when I was a real estate attorney, but I never liked it.)