Re:  COMPLIANCE WITH THE BY-LAWS—Candidate Petitions

Worshipful Master and Brethren of all Missouri Lodges:

            While I know that this is a redundant letter, that I sent it to you last October and that my term has almost come to an end, I am again sending it to you to emphasize the importance of the investigation of candidates.

Your attention is directed to Section 13.020 of the Grand Lodge By-Laws, which states:

Except as provided in Section 21.100 (Waiver of Jurisdiction From Another State), a petitioner for the degrees must have had a permanent settled domicile or fixed abode in Missouri continuously for the six months immediately preceding  and presentation of his petition.  Residence is neither lost nor gained by the mere fact of location while employed in the service, either civil or military, of Missouri or of the United States.

All brothers recommending a candidate and signing a petition already should be aware, but if not should be immediately made aware, of this By-Law.  The Investigation Committee, the Lodge Secretary, and the Master each share the duty to insure that this and all other By-Laws are carefully and punctually observed.

When investigating a prospective candidate due diligence must be used to confirm the petitioner’s address prior to presenting his petition for a final vote.  Our By-Laws require that a candidate must be a Missouri resident for six months.  A Post Office Box does not qualify as a permanent Missouri address.  Falsely stating a residence or its duration on a petition is a Masonic Offense.  Petitions from non-residents of Missouri may be received only after the required jurisdictional consents have been obtained.  Should you have any questions, contact your District Deputy Grand Master.

I have included a brochure from the Grand Lodge entitled Manual for the Committee of Investigation to assist the members of your investigation committees in carrying out their duties.  Additional copies are available upon request from the Grand Secretary.

Fraternally,

David W. Haywood, Grand Master

September 15, 2015

Brother Secretary,

We’re pleased to announce that we have successfully converted the Grand Lodge Database to the new system.  We are in the process of verifying the information and customizing the operation of the system to suit our processes and by-laws.    We’re excited about the new capabilities it will bring our craft.

We will begin a phased rollout this week.  The system will be launched with essential features enabled and new features will be released in the coming weeks.  As the system is implemented we will be communicating through email and posting correspondence through the system itself.

As with any major changes in the processes and procedures of an organization there will be issues along the way.  We ask that you be patient with the implementation.

Training & Communications       

The implementation of such a system is a complicated series of events and training. In order to facilitate both, the Grand Lodge will be communicating with lodge secretaries on a regular basis.  We will also be posting information on the Grand Lodge Website www.momason.org

Once you follow the directions in this email to set up your account you will find training videos showing you how to use different features of the system.  Keep in mind that you will initially have view-only access to the system so some of the features in the videos may not be available.

Web based training sessions will be held at least once a week.  Please check the Grand Lodge Website for the schedule of web-based training sessions.  Sessions will be scheduled both during the day and in the evening to suit varying personal schedules.  These sessions will last approximately one hour and will allow you to see the screens and functionality while also providing an opportunity for questions and answers.

Getting help and reporting problems.

Should you have issues or need assistance after watching the training videos and attending a WebEx training session, please email smann@momason.org with a description of your issue and how we can contact you.  Please include pertinent information such as what you were trying to do, what lodge or member you were working on, and whether or not you received an error message.  If possible, please send screenshots as well.  This information will greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to troubleshoot an issue.

Creating an Account and Gaining Administrative rights

o   Please visit https://my.momason.org/membership_registration

o   Enter your home lodge number, member number, and last name exactly as it appears on your dues card.  (Case sensitive)

o   Set your username and password (Case sensitive).

o   Update your contact information.

o   Upon setting up your account you will have access to your own record.  The Grand Lodge will be notified of the creation of your account and will grant permissions for your lodge.  All you need to do is log back in to see the lodge dashboard.
What to do when you access your lodge dashboard for the first time.

o   Look around and get comfortable with the layout of the application.

o   If you find inaccuracies please make a note and send that to smann@momason.org .  We expect there to be some minor data irregularities so please be patient.  We will investigate the issue and report back the resolution.

What’s Next?

Over the next couple weeks we will be testing various features of the system.  You may receive emails from the Grand Lodge from time to time testing communication features.  Please be patient!   This is a large and complicated undertaking and we will be working to address issues and rollout the system as quickly as possible.

We appreciate your assistance and look forward to the capabilities this upgrade will bring to the Grand Lodge of Missouri, Constituent Lodges and the Membership!

Fraternally,

Jeffrey S. Pennington, Grand Secretary