Saturday, September 15, 2012

Grand Encampment Legislation Update

Here is a belated update to my post on the 65th Triennial Conclave Information Packet and the proposed legislation.

Talking with the Right Eminent Grand Commander of Idaho, he said that the first eight Resolutions were housekeeping issues for a variety of issues.  They all passed.

The Ninth Resolution was, in my opinion, a fairly controversial one. I feel it has good motives, but should have been written a little differently. It provides an appeal process for Sir Knights that were possibly improperly suspended. It passed.  Here is the wording as proposed by Sir Knight Duane Vaught, Deputy Grand Master:
Notwithstanding the previous paragraph of this section, if a Knight Templar believes he has been involuntarily suspended or expelled from Chapter, or Council where required, either illegally or because of personal, arbitrary, capricious or other improper motive by the Chapter or Council he may appeal to the Grand Master and suspension from Templary shall be held in abeyance for a period of not more than 30 days to allow investigation. If within that period the Grand Master and any two other elected officers of the Grand Encampment agree, the requirement of continuous Chapter, or Council if otherwise required, membership may be waived for that member.

The requirement of Chapter, or Council if required, for a petition for affiliation or to receive the orders is not affected by this exception.
The Tenth Resolution also passed and clarified that Commanderies may appear in public for funerals or religious services without dispensation, but other functions required Sir Knights to go through the dispensation process of the Grand Encampment.

The rest of the Resolutions (11 thru 14) failed as they were seen as unsuitable:
Resolution 11 purported to change our mission statement, but it was felt that the change may identify us as a religious establishment and jeopardize our standing with the IRS.

Resolution 12 attempted to create voluntary Outposts of a Commandery with a Charter to a four year period to bring that Commandery up to minimum standards of performance. If unsuccessful this would result in loss of their Charter without prodigious to its members. Jurisprudence pointed out that all Commanderies are to be of equal status and are not to be thus penalized and that there are sufficient provisions accommodating probation.

Resolution 13 attempted to limit multiple office holding in other Commanderies and require at least two years of service prior to being elected as Eminent Commander through Junior Warden, inclusive.

Resolution 14 tried to permit the wearing of a Knights of the York Cross of Honor (KYCH) bar upon our uniforms, but was declared out of order.
There were two unpublished Resolutions presented on the floor.  They were:

Jurisprudence Resolution 1: Deals with the Rectified Scottish Rite (CBCS/KBCH), particularly with sanctions that may fall upon a Sir Knight should he join an unrecognized Masonic Templar Order.  This resolution passed.

Jurisprudence Resolution 2: Deals with the authority of the Grand Encampment to confer the Fourth through the Sixth degrees of the Rectified Scottish Rite. The resolution passed. From what I've heard they're a number of Grand Lodges that have declared the Grand Priory as a clandestine organization.

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