Decades of Decline
Membership in Freemasonry has been in a steep decline for decades.
In 1959, the Grand Lodge of Ohio had 282,793 members. At the close of 2004, membership stood at 124,364. In 45 years, the leadership of the Grand Lodge of Ohio presided over a loss of more than half of its membership! Each year the Grand Lodge of Ohio typically suffers the additional net loss of 5,000 members. As the membership ages, this alarming trend will only accelerate. In less than a generation, the Grand Lodge of Ohio will be a mere shadow of its former greatness.
What is the cause for this decline?
Fact: the average age of a Freemason in
At one time, the fraternity's great strength was the breadth in the age and experience of its members. Men from all stages and walks of life met together in harmony. But for the last several decades, the fraternity has failed to attract the next generation of young men, leaving many, if not most lodges with a membership disproportionately skewed toward retired old men. Given this fact, is it really so hard to understand why young men in their 20s and 30s do not see the value in joining the typical Ohio lodge full of old men in their 70s and 80s? The bridge generation of men in their 40s and 50s has collapsed, leaving an ever widening chasm between our existing members and the young men that the fraternity must attract in order to grow and prosper.
posted by Richard Graeter at
5:38 PM
10 Comments:
Granted that it is a powerful benefit to have men from many generations learn from one another in harmony - and that COULD be Freemasonry's enduring point of difference and strength. The difficulty comes in, however, when the older generation grasps power and control of the organization so firmly that they keep it until it is pried from their cold dead fingers. They refuse to let new, younger members make the organiaztion their own, and adapt it to new times. "That is not how we did it" is their mantra. Young members, hearing this ad nauseum, usually just stop participating. It is difficult for generations to learn from one another when the older one constantly drives/bores the younger one away!
Perhaps new lodges with predominatly younger members, that then meet and interact with older members from older lodges that share facilities could preserve the intergenerational aspect of Freemasonry while allowing younger members to follow a course more interesting to them (and their prospective members who may not shy away from joining a group of young men as they do from the existing lodges).
The fact remains that the average age in Ohio lodges is 65. This is not reflective of our society. What we have are men 55 interating with men 75. Young men will not join a group with our demographic. Why would they? What do we have to offer them. They have made clear the answer by their decision to not join us!
By
Richard Graeter, at June 18, 2005 2:21 PM
"Drink wine! for when to dust your body turns,
Your clay becomes thereafter cups and urns,
Of Hell or Heaven reck not, for pray why should
A wise men be deceived in such concerns?"
From "Rubaiyat"
-Omar Khayyám 1048 - 1131,
By
Unknown, at March 18, 2006 5:59 PM
Your membership will continue to decline as long as you decide that women, agnostics, athiests etc. etc. are not welcomed. The size of these demographic groups is undeniable and growing.
If you can turn men into better men then certainly you can turn a human into a better human. I am interested in joining. But, I find great irony in the fact that as a non-religious organization (self stated by freemasonry) that is devoted to doing good works of community service and aims toward building strong moral character, Freemasonry is exactly what I am looking to join--and I am an agnoistic so I cannot.
By
Anonymous, at December 22, 2006 1:52 AM
I was unaware women were a growing demographic group. good news for me, I suppose.
By
jason fossella, at February 10, 2007 12:25 AM
To the Agnostic. I wanted to play Pro Football because I love football. But, I'm not a good fit for that and I'm fine with it.
An agnostic can not understand the Masonic ways. Your reasons for wanting to join are not the right reasons. There are organizations that will benefit you just as well I'm sure. But I joined for tradition.
I suppose if there was a really great church where everybody who was a member was happy and doing well based on their experience you may wish to join it. Would you write them a letter telling them they are causing people to not want to join since they don't know if they believe in Jesus or God?
Point is, it is a tradition and as political correctness takes over the baby is being thrown out with the bath water.
Let's let women play in the PGA. Let's let white ladies run for Miss Black America.
What's wrong with rules and traditions?
By
Anonymous, at October 18, 2007 12:09 AM
Whats wrong with rules and tradition is that they clearly aren't working as you might have judge from the theme of this post.
You can either adapt and evolve, or you can refuse to bend and let the world pass you by, just as the quakers and shakers and all the other defunct religious organizations of the world.
The fact is Freemasonry is not a very transparent or well known organization. What people do know of it is how it is portrayed in popular media.
When you do so little to promote yourselves can you really blame someone for coming in with a wrong idea and then dropping out because it wasn't what they expected.
The fact is most people under 50 would think of joining a jedi order before becoming a freemason
By
Anonymous, at November 25, 2008 10:47 PM
Masonry is declining because, for years, it has taught that the ritual of the organization would make a man a better man. Men are made better men only through a relationship with their Divine Creator in the Person of Jesus Christ. For too many years, Masons have denied the One who made them and have concluded their prayer "In the Name of God". Jesus who is God is missing. I read a Masonic Christmas issue some years ago and they place Jesus between Buddha and Mohammed. Such blasphemy. No wonder you're losing members!
By
Anonymous, at August 28, 2009 3:15 PM
I am what you would call a satanist and visited because a number of satanists seem to link their interest to Freemasonry.
It is interesting to read of your decline as I guessed as much since Freemasonry appears to fail to connect with the real world.
People under the age of 40 think Freemasonry is so bizarre and there is no street cred to joining you.
By
Merlin, at June 11, 2010 3:42 PM
It is simple... Young men aren't joining because there isn't any reason for them too. Yes, they want to be part of something. But, for that,they can join the local YMCA. Yes, there is the historic thing and the traditions. But, for that they can read about it all online and be happy. Want the numbers to go up? Add more to the lodge. Put in weight benches, put the game on, make the lodge more available to members, HYPE UP the secrecy! All these public websites... part of the 'secrecy' can be having to put in a password to the pages. It might sound stupid to the older people but us younger 'National Treasure' type people, we want that! Facebook and other things make our lives public, a little secrecy is a strong pull in! Just some thoughts. i will add more later if I remember
By
Anonymous, at June 30, 2011 5:29 AM
There needs to be more input from the Grand Lodge of Ohio in support of the local lodges. We pay our dues and a portion of that money goes to the Grand Lodge. What are they doing to help, support and maintain local lodges?
In the 1950's & 60's local newspapers advertised lodge meeting times and places. Not only Masonic lodges, but Eagles, Moose, etc.. There used to be local articles and pictures of the activities of the local lodges. Today it is all about the money, not the community. What is the Grand Lodge doing to help advertise itself and the local lodges.
The television and movie community have sensationalized Masonry with all the movies about finding lost codes in search of "National Tresure". The history channel shows Masons as brutal men who kill members who don't follow "the code". What has the Grand Lodge done to answer these charges?
No wonder we can't get members to join, to attend meetings, or stay active in their local lodges.
By
Anonymous, at February 07, 2012 11:51 AM
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