Commentary from Roma Lodge #1573

“Beating A Dead Horse”

“Preaching to the Choir” has the same meaning as “Beating A Dead Horse” without the religious connotation. In essence one is advocating something to people who already share one’s convictions. The opposite is “Preaching to the pews” which is what Roma Lodge delegates feel like they have been doing at recent Grand Lodge conventions.

Since 2019 Roma Lodge has submitted bylaw changes at the Grand Lodge convention to reduce the number of delegates to one or two per lodge, hold conventions every other year and to do away with fines for lodges who have no or partial representation at the event. Our changes have pretty much fallen on deaf ears. Why is that?

Approximately, 78% of lodges in California have 1-4 delegates based on their membership. Over 51% of all the lodges in the state have only 1 or 2 delegates. Only Roma Lodge is required to have 6 delegates. At the 1979 convention there were 300 delegates representing 100 lodges. At the 2022 convention there were about 68 delegates representing only 32 lodges. So, what has happened in the last 40 plus years? Over 50 lodges have been closed, reducing the number of potential delegates to 95 and of those only 69 were in attendance at most sessions. Eight lodges had no representation and 9 had partial representation.

The number of delegates and institution of fines was probably brought about by a couple of issues. Back when we had over 100 lodges in the state it became necessary to limit the number of delegates because venues could not handle the large numbers. Therefore, bylaws were instituted to limit the number of delegates based on membership. Fines were instituted because delegates were attending conventions and not going to business sessions.

Financially all lodges have suffered during the pandemic. They have been forced to either eliminate or reduce the number of fundraisers they have. Roma Lodge decided to limit our delegates to only 3 at the 2022 convention. We notified the Grand Lodge in May so they could make adjustments to their convention attendance for meals, rooms and other activities. This saved the lodge about $1,000 in convention packets and about $3,000 in delegate attendance. We still spent over $3,000 to send 3 delegates.

Now, the Grand Council has decided to fine us $1,800. Our membership will decide at our February meeting if we plan to pay the fine. We agree bylaws are necessary to run an organization effectively. However, when you are preaching to the pews, it is difficult to make changes to the bylaws. The convention is the “tail wagging the dog” and the Grand Council needs to issue changes to the convention now, before we are once again locked in by some hotel or casino and told nothing can be done. In a letter to our lodge, we were told “we can be suspended and lose our right to delegate representation at the convention” which would be a shame to have the largest lodge in the state suspended. We shall see!