Questions about Masonry
What is a Mason
A Freemason is a member of a fraternal group of men who join because:
- They want to improve themselves
- They want to improve their communities
- They are on an endless quest for knowledge
What is Freemasonry
Masonry (or Freemasonry) is the oldest fraternity in the world. No one knows just how old it is because the actual origins have been lost in time. It arose from the guilds of stonemasons who built the castles and cathedrals of the Middle Ages. Possibly, they were influenced by the Knights Templar, a group of Christian warrior monks formed in 1118 to help protect pilgrims making trips to the Holy Land.
Masonry Helps the World
Masonry teaches that each person has a responsibility to make things better in the world. Most individuals won't be the ones to find a cure for cancer, or eliminate poverty, or help create world peace, but every man and woman and child can do something to help others and to make things a little better. Masonry is deeply involved with helping people -- it spends more than $3 million dollars every day in the United States, just to make life a little easier. The great majority of that help goes to people who are not Masons. Some of these charities are vast projects, like the Children's Hospitals and Burns Institutes built by the Shriners. Also, Scottish Rite Masons maintain a nationwide network of over 100 Childhood Language Disorders Clinics, Centers, and Programs. Each helps children afflicted by such conditions as aphasia, dyslexia, stuttering, and related learning or speech disorders. Some services are less noticeable, like helping a widow pay her electric bill or buying coats and shoes for disadvantaged children. There's just about anything you can think of in-between. Projects both large or small, the Masons of a lodge try to help make the world a better place. The lodge gives them a way to combine with others to do even more good.
Grand Lodge of Texas
The Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas
715 Columbus Avenue
Waco, Texas 76701
