Tela

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TELA LODGE

Location: Tela, Honduras

Dispensation presented to: Leon M. Abbott, 01/16/1919

Current Status: dispensation declined, 06/10/1919


EXPATRIATES IN HONDURAS

In November 1918, Rt. Wor. Bro. H. W. Hollingshorst, on behalf of "about twenty F. & A. Master Masons," wrote to Grand Secretary Frederick A. Hamilton to propose the establishment of a lodge in Tela, Honduras, in what he called the "American Zone". This "Zone" was the town of Tela Nueva, built by the United Fruit Company to house its expatriate employees. Tela was also the railhead for the Tela Railroad, a subsidiary of United Fruit.

Bro. Hollingshorst explicitly requested a dispensation for a lodge under Massachusetts jurisdiction. He detailed the state of Masonry in Honduras, noting the presence of three lodges in Honduras under a Scottish Rite Valley located in Guatemala, and he judged it not advisable for Americans to affiliate with them. "The Lodge we are now soliciting will be exclusively American," he wrote, "and working in the English language." He then detailed his Masonic bona fides, including Blue Lodge, Scottish Rite and Shrine affiliations in the state of Louisiana.

On December 17, Brother Hamilton noted Grand Master Abbott's interest in the proposal, and indicated that he would write to Rt. Wor. Bro. John A. Davilla, Grand Secretary of Louisiana; also, that Bro. Hollingshorst would be required to fill out the proper paperwork for a dispensation, including a list of petitioners and their Masonic status.

Brother Davilla's reply on December 21 confirmed Hollingshorst's credentials but noted that "this application has been before the Grand Lodge of Louisiana on two or three occasions and that each Grand Master has been averse to considering it for the reason that the Grand Lodge of Louisiana is opposed to instituting Lodges outside of its territorial jurisdiction."

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.

There were a few further exchanges between the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and Brother Hollingshorst, particularly with respect to transportation; the latter noted that there was but poor transportation between Honduras and Panama; thus the lodge (according to Hamilton) would be "entirely dependent upon Massachusetts" for direction and administration. Ultimately, that determined the fate of the petition. On June 10, 1919, Grand Master Abbott wrote to Brother Hollingshorst and "regretfully" declined the petition, noting that "the remoteness and inaccessibility of your city from the Grand East of this Grand Lodge, or even from our District Grand Lodge of the Canal Zone, are such that the difficulty and expense of maintaining and properly supervising the matters of that place seem insuperable."


LINKS

Grand Master Abbott

Massachusetts Lodges