StCroix

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LODGE IN ST. CROIX, 1919

Location: Fredericksted, St. Croix, VI

Dispensation presented to: Leon M. Abbott, 12/26/1918

Current Status: dispensation declined, 06/10/1919


VIRGIN ISLANDS LODGE

There is very little information about this petition. We have a copy of a letter sent to Bro. E. D. Boardman on 01/24/1919 by Grand Secretary Frederick Hamilton, noting the receipt of a letter on 12/10/1918, and that "within a few days of the receipt of your communication, a similar one was received from Tela, Honduras." The distance from Massachusetts and the need for "dependence" of lodges in "somewhat scattered over-seas locations" was causing Grand Master Abbott to hesitate in granting a dispensation, at least until consulting with the Grand Lodge.

At the Quarterly Communication in March, 1919, the Grand Master noted the receipt of the petition and stated the following, found on Pages 64-66 of the 1919 Proceedings:

During the latter part of December I received a petition signed by ten Master Masons asking for a Dispensation for a new Lodge to be located at Fredericksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands.

Early in January I received a petition signed by fourteen Master Masons, all but one raised in this country, asking for a new Lodge at Tela, Honduras.

Some investigation has been made as to the Masonic standing of the petitioners, and from the information already received I entertain no doubt that they are members of the Fraternity in good standing.

I have not been willing to take the responsibility of granting these petitions although clearly clothed with the authority to do so. It seems to me that the Grand Lodge should express its judgment on a matter involving such an important question of policy as these petitions present.

If I had been compelled to act, I should have declined to grant the dispensations in both cases. In my judgment it is not wise to create new Lodges in places so far away and so difficult of access. The proper supervision and guidance of lodges so located would be very difficult and expensive, and I do not believe that we ought, at the present time, to take on such a responsibility. One of these petitions has already been presented to the Grand Lodge of New York, and also to the Grand Lodge of Louisiana, and denied by both jurisdictions. This denial, however, was not on the ground of unworthiness of the petitioners.

It is highly desirable, to say the least, that every few years some Grand Lodge officer or representative should visit our Lodges located in foreign lands that we may keep so closely in touch with them that they may fully appreciate the bonds that bind them to us and us to them, and that we may all work together not only in harmony of law and ritual, but in harmony of ends and aims and ideals. A visit to these isolated Lodges would involve much sacrifice of time, convenience, and money.

I have, however, no pride of opinion in this matter and shall cheerfully defer to the wishes and deliberate judgment of the Grand Lodge.

On June 10, 1919, Grand Master Abbott declined the petition, stating as his reasons "the remoteness and inaccessibility of your city from the Grand East of this Grand Lodge" and assured the Brother that his decision "was not influenced in any way by any lack of confidence in the signers of the petition."


LINKS

Grand Master Abbott

Massachusetts Lodges