Lodge Southern Cross #44 AF & AM
Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon

Installations 1

by M.W.Bro. J. J. Miller

The annual installation of the Worshipful Master and the investiture of his officers is an important event with every lodge, and it is right that it should be so. It is the close of a year and the beginning of another. It is a time for reflection and a time for resolution. The new Master can imitate what he has seen praiseworthy in his predecessor, and what in him he may have observed as defective he can strive to amend.

The ceremony of installation is a Masonic practice which may be considered a recognised landmark. A Worshipful Master must be regularly balloted for and elected by the Master, Wardens and brethren in open lodge assembled, and he must then be regularly installed in the Chair of King Solomon before he can assume the duties of his office. When once installed he cannot resign. Some grand jurisdictions may enact laws providing for resignations and interim elections and installations, but they depart, in so doing, from Masonic customs and traditions. What if the Master dies? Then the Senior Warden is, ex officio, ruler of the lodge until the annual election comes round.

The installation of Master is not only an important ceremonial which should be carried out with befitting dignity and impressiveness, but it is also a great social event, an event that lends itself to the healthy development and expansion of fraternal relationships. Visitors attend in numbers, bringing the greeting of their various lodges. How often the benefits derivable from this intercourse are absolutely lost by the needless prolongation of the installation ceremony, the whole evening being spoilt, both for the lodge and the visitors, by incompetent handling. Good management helps to steer the evening through, but overloading and dilatoriness militate against the success of the event. I have attended installations where the general lodge business was first dealt with – correspondence, reports, petitions, balloting, etc. - and at the time when the installation ceremony should have been completed, it was only just commencing. The important after-meeting suffers. Visitors cannot be blamed for going home without partaking of the hospitality of the lodge when mismanagement has carried the ceremonies on to an unnecessarily late hour.

I am not advocating a departure from Masonic practices and Masonic tradition, but I do advocate that due consideration be given to the successful consummation of an event of such importance to every lodge. I do think that no more should be undertaken in one evening than can be fittingly accomplished, and that the superfluous and unnecessary overloading should be eliminated, so that the ceremonial of inauguration may be carried out expeditiously and with becoming dignity, leaving ample time for the celebration of the event without encroaching upon the small hours of the morning.

It is the prerogative of the retiring Master to install his successor. This has been observed more in the breach than in the practice, it being considered by many lodges best to have an experienced and expert installing officer. It is refreshing to notice that the prerogative is now being more and more availed of by retiring Masters. It is good for them and it is good for the Craft. If' the incoming Master were also to exercise his prerogative, that of investing his officers, it too would be a good thing. Relying on numerous Past Masters to divide up this work has not always proved satisfactory, though variety and change is often interesting and entertaining.

In some of the grand jurisdictions of the United States of America, it is quite usual for the Master to be installed without the degree of an Installed Master being conferred. I have read reports of classes of Worshipful Masters receiving the degree after they had assumed the chair! It is a practice in some jurisdictions to have public installations where women may attend!

May our Guardian Angel protect us from assimilating practices such as these!

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1 "The Square", R.J. Templeton, editor. p. 15-17

© 2006-2008, Lodge Southern Cross No. 44, BC&Y
Last Updated: 28 Dec, 2007/TMC