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Grand
Orient of the United States of America
R.W. Bro. Dale Brown, Grand Secretary of the GOUSA, had the following to say about the event:
I've been involved with the Grand Orient USA since it was first officially formed, under the name United Grand Lodge of America on Dec. 27, 2005. In just 5 short years there is been a tremendous amount of movement, some good and some bad, all culminating into what transpired at this years Council of Order meeting.
My first impression of the temple was shock. I've seen the pictures but pictures in this case cannot convey the enormity of the building, or the beauty it holds. By beauty I don't just mean the aesthetics but what it represents to Freemasonry. First thing I noticed was the very insightful dedication on the exterior of the building done by some very wise Brothers when building it. I had to take a moment and really think about the meaning behind it and how it translates to what we have been trying to accomplish over the past 5 years with the GOUSA. It reads, "This building is dedicated and consecrated to the spirit of Freemasonry". I think for me that said it all, not Antient Freemasonry, not Modern Freemasonry, not men or women only Freemasonry but the "spirit of Freemasonry". I could talk for hours about the temple and how impressive it is and the GREAT amount of work the Brothers at Halcyon have put into restoring it but I'll leave that for another time. Our day of work came a little early the next morning, with everyone showing up around 8:30 A.M.. Additional Brothers, who had not made it in the night before were showing up, including some Brothers from the Grand Orient de France and Antient lodges. After the greetings and tours we all moved to the main lodge room to open the Grand Lodge session for the day. It did take a few minutes to make sure all the proper protocols were followed for entry with such a diverse group but we managed to not offend anyone, like that could have happened with this group anyway. I took my seat and watched in amazement at the proceeding and how different they were from what I had ever experienced before sitting in a lodge. The smell of "real" burning tapers and the low light gave an atmosphere to the meeting I had never experienced before. There were over 20 items on the agenda that had to be discussed and voted on by the Council. Normally this could take hours upon hours to complete in my old lodge but here there were not a lot of disagreements. Everyone, including Brothers who were not even members of the Grand Orient were allowed to, and did comment, on items they felt compelled to. I will admit one in particular, from Brother Coste, even brought tears to my eyes (which I tried to conceal at the time). It wasn't so much what he said, which was powerful but the visual as I watched him speak. From his seat in the Grand Senior Wardens' station, Brother Coste was dimly lit by the recessed ceiling spot light directed at the lone 3 tampers in the center of the room, the alter is placed up close to the Grand Master. Everyone was focused on him and his speech, not whispering to each other or getting up and moving around as I'm used to seeing done so often. Looking around the room I saw Brothers from all walks of life, color, creed and national origin sitting intently paying attention. It was a very humbling experience for myself and made all the troubles of the past 5 years worth it. We made great time on the agenda and then broke for refreshment. After lunch we began to change cloths in preparation for the afternoons EA degrees. Since there were many Brothers who had not performed this particular ritual before, we had a practice run, while the candidates were being entertained elsewhere in the temple. Also, a lot of equipment including a huge PA system, complete with mixing board, laptop and the largest sub-woofer I've ever seen had to be setup. Not to mention the other various equipment required for the degree. I don't want to give too much away but needless to say it was impressive. The degrees for the two candidates began very late, it was around 6 P.M. before they entered the the lodge room, and was not complete until around 10 P.M.. Not only was it the longest degree I've ever taken part in but visually exciting too. I think the head mounted LED lights under the hood of the Master, so he could read, gave a particular feel in the darkness, that while not intended, raised the "cool" factor a notch or two. All in all it was a tremendous weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it from many perspectives. Next year it was discussed to make it a longer weekend to allow more time for fellowship.
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