Freemasonry Franchise

When representatives of Halcyon Lodge met with officials from the Grand Lodge of Ohio, just prior to the lodge leaving the system, they were told some very interesting things. Before the meeting they were notified to bring the lodge's Charter along with them. At the meeting they were asked to read the Charter. It was then explained to them that Freemasonry is a "franchise" just like Burger King or McDonalds, and that the Charter was our franchisee agreement.

We had never thought about Freemasonry as a franchise because to us it was a fraternity dedicated to brotherly love, relief and truth, but maybe they were right? If so, we were becoming more convinced by the day that our lodge would be much better off as a franchisee of another company.

As it turned out we left the franchise Freemasonry of the Grand Lodge of Ohio and became a real Masonic lodge under the Grand Orient USA. More importantly, we're glad we did because our lodge has been more successful since leaving the Grand Lodge franchise than it had been since the 1960's.