Letter of the month: January 2008

Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:54 AM EST
From: Paul Goebel <goebel@unt.edu>
To: A Page About Freemasonry <masonry-ask@mit.edu>
Subject: Masonry Question

I have a family friend visiting west Houston in June. He is a Mason from South Africa and would like to visit with fellow Masons at a local lodge. How would I go about to contact Masons in the west Houston area to see if they would be willing to allow him to visit a lodge while he is visiting this country?

Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:08:08 -0500
From: A Page About Freemasonry <masonry-ask@mit.edu>
To: Paul Goebel <goebel@unt.edu>
Subject: Re: Masonry Question

I'm going to guess that you mean Houston, Texas. All you have to do is contact the Grand Lodge of Texas and ask for the office of the Grand Secretary. The friendly folks there will be able to help. Explain the situation to them. They will probably ask your South African friend to write or email them with his name and the name and city of his lodge.

After the Grand Lodge of TX makes an inquiry with the GL of SA, they will either give your friend a list of Houston area lodges and when they meet, or they will contact some of those lodges and ask them to get in touch with your friend.

It sounds a little complicated, but grand lodges do this all the time, and they're very good at it. While you're chatting with the people at the GL of TX, you can find out if I got the details mostly right.

Enjoy your friend's visit and please give him my fraternal regards.

-- Gary L. Dryfoos
   A Page About Freemasonry
   now at http://MasonryPage.org/