Page 5 - Sojourner Newsletter Winter 2021-5_Neat

VOL. 98 ISS. 1 5

Fraternal Relations

Last year started off normally and seemingly out the blue with their Brethren, be engaged in our projects and pro-
came the Covid pandemic. In many areas of the country, grams, and remain active in our organization.
things started to shut down. After a while, the situation This approach will not only assist our older members, but
seemed to be improving, but then came the so-called sec- also be attractive to some of our younger members as well.
ond wave with increasing infection rates. There was a Some of these members with aggressive work schedules
growing concern that following the Thanksgiving and and family obligations cannot afford the travel time to and
Christmas holidays the trend line would continue to go in from our meeting location, but they may be able to sign on
the wrong direction, and many believe that things are not and attend virtually, eating at home while we are having
going to get back to normal until the vaccines get widely our dinners, and able to listen to the programs and interact
distributed, which may be several months from now. with the Chapter.
With many of our members in the “at-risk demographic,” We also need to use technology to keep in touch with our
in-person meetings were limited and often stopped entirely. Brethren on a regular basis. Too often, the only calls Ma-
Technology came to the rescue and, in many Masonic juris- sons get are to remind them to pay their dues. We need to
dictions, meetings were held using audio and video confer- do better than that and should be reaching out to our mem-
encing platforms such as Zoom. The Scottish Rite, Royal bers on a regular basis, inquiring about their health and
Arch and Commandery, for example, started holding virtu- maintaining a relationship with them.
al meetings as did many of our Sojourner Chapters. In light of the Covid pandemic and the discussion above,
As useful as this technology has been in allowing us to it should come as no surprise that the 2021 Conference of
meet in spite of the Covid pandemic, this should not imply Grand Masters of North America (COGMNA) to be held in
that our preference should shift away from having our usual Seattle, Washington, will not be a regular in-person affair.
meetings and dinners. The need for human companionship Accordingly, we will not have our usual Fraternal Relations
and face-to-face engagement is very real, and this interac- Breakfast. We are hopeful that, with a vaccine distributed
tion is often more meaningful in our Masonic context than to a significant portion of our population by late 2021, the
in the work environment. Freemasonry provides a setting 2022 COGMNA can be held in its usual fashion, and our
where we can interact without the pressure and competition Breakfast can again provide Grand Masters and Deputy
of the office. Your Brethren have your back, and you can Grand Masters increased visibility to the many contribu-
discuss your doubts, concerns, and problems without fear tions that the National Sojourners make to Freemasonry in
that your confidences will be used against you. Thus, it is general and our Masonic veterans in particular.
important that we get back to having in-person meetings as Your Committee suggests, however, that if conditions
soon as it is safe to do so. should require a virtual conference in the future, a time slot
Nevertheless, I believe that in order to grow and strength- be provided to the National Sojourners for a Zoom presen-
en our organization we need to embrace this new technolo- tation in lieu of a breakfast. We also might consider
gy. In addition to being able to meet during the pandemic, whether our usual Fraternal Breakfast briefing slide deck
these conferencing platforms have provided the additional could be revised and made available on the COGMNA
benefit of allowing Brethren who cannot come to our meet- website so Grand Masters and other attendees might be
ings because of distance, family obligations, medical condi- able to access this material during or after the Conference
tions, or other travel restrictions, to be a part of these meet- to learn about our organization.
ings. I have seen Brethren at these meetings that I have not In sum, we need to be alert to ways to use technology not
seen in a very long time. A number of these Brethren have only at the Chapter level, but also in our interactions with
remarked that they had not been able to attend our meetings our Grand Lodges and the Conference of Grand Masters.
for years and were so glad that via Zoom they could see In addition, we should consider making more use of social
and interact with their Brethren. They only hoped that once media as a way of communicating with younger veterans
the Covid situation was resolved, and we were holding in- and interesting them in Freemasonry and in the National
person meetings, that we would continue to have a Zoom Sojourners.
component to these meetings so they could continue to play
a more active role in our organization and attend Chapter Edmund Cohen, Chair, Fraternal Relations Committee
from home.
I think this is certainly the way to go. As important as it
is to gain new members, it is equally important to retain the
members we have and to allow them the opportunity to be-
come more involved in our Chapters. Thus, we should
continue to encourage all who can attend our meetings to
do so, but also welcome those who can’t attend in person to
sign on via Zoom. This will allow them to see and interact