Royal Arch Representatives

Greater lifestyle choices and increased career commitment have lead to busier and more varied lives and Freemasonry is required to compete with an ever broadening spectrum of alternative leisure pursuits.

The order of the Royal Arch stands as the climax of pure Antient Masonry and yet the Order remains undersubscribed and unexperienced by the majority of our brethren.

The fortunes of Royal Arch Masonry have always been interdependent with those of the Craft and any variation in recruitment in the Craft will necessarily affect the potential number of candidates available for exaltation. Nevertheless, with approximately two out of three Masons, in this Province, failing to take the final step in pure Antient Masonry, we cannot yet claim to have exhausted our recruitment opportunities.

Over a number of years figures have shown a slight down turn in recruitment figures (although there was an increase in 2009 and 2010), as well as a general diminishment in the retained membership of the Order. Recruitment, although the starting point for the future, must be paralleled by a steady attendance thereafter if growth in Royal Arch Masonry is to be achieved and it is the responsibility of every Chapter to consider what initiatives it might undertake to encourage a happy retained membership.

A canvass of views from around the Provinces by Supreme Grand Chapter has enabled them to access a considerable breadth of experience and has revealed a wealth of initiatives and ideas. Some of those ideas are detailed in this handbook which is designed to give the Lodge Royal Arch Representatives some suggestions to aid their very important role. I do hope that you will read these carefully and seek to implement these ideas within your own Lodges. It is clear that understanding an individual’s circumstances as well as being flexible to his needs are the keys to building a happy and successful future for Royal Arch Masonry.

Companions, I can do no better than to echo the words of the Pro First Grand Principal and urge you to continue to enjoy yourselves in this very special Order, as nothing will attract candidates more successfully than a happy and enthusiastic membership.

Yours sincerely and fraternally, E.Comp. Philip L Hall, Grand Superintendent.

A Master Mason who has not yet been Exalted can be compared to a person who has invested in a computer (Freemasonry). The Software of the 1 st, 2nd and 3rd Degrees comes with the computer. He is getting along well with his computer, making daily advancements in employing the full potential of the installed software. Now he hears about another software programme called “The Royal Arch”. Unless he is one of those types who likes to be able to say he has every software programme available regardless of whether or not he uses it, he will want to know more about the additional programme before he invests in it.

In particular, he will want to know, from somebody whom he considers to be reliable and competent:

• Am I likely to need it?
• What can it do in addition to the software I already have?
• If it is necessary to have it, why didn’t it come already installed when I bought the computer?
• Is it really part of the original system which I invested in, or is it just “a nice to have” extension?

I hope that you will excuse the simile used above to explain the position of the Royal Arch in relation to Craft Masonry. The intention is to give a simple image which Brethren can understand and assist in encouraging them to consider membership. These guidelines are intended to help you as the Royal Arch Representative in your Lodge to:

• Promote membership of the Royal Arch in an honest, ethical and acceptable manner.
• Answer the questions about the Royal Arch which you are likely to be asked.

Do please let us have your feedback and comments on how we can improve this publication – they will be most welcome.

• To promote and maintain an awareness of the existence of the Royal Arch amongst those Brethren who are not yet Companions.
• To be able to give the correct information in response to questions/enquiries about the Royal Arch.
• To assist a Master Mason to arrive at his own decision to invest in the Royal Arch. Selling membership of the Royal Arch to a candidate is not an objective. Remember that all masonry requires a free and voluntary inclination.
• To be able to direct a Master Mason who is considering applying for Exaltation to a suitable Chapter (e.g. a Chapter which is most suited to his personal situation and can offer him suitable companionship).
• To be the prime communication channel between the Lodge and the Provincial Royal Arch team.
• To promote and encourage Master Masons who express an interest to explore the Provincial Royal Arch website at www.royal-arch.org.uk where much information is available.
• To ensure that any literature promoting Membership of the Royal Arch is freely available at his Lodge premises and prominently displayed.

Many of these have been adopted by other Lodges and are passed on as ideas which can be introduced within other Lodges.

• Ask the Lodge to include the name of its Royal Arch Representative as a standard feature of the notices on its Summonses.
• Include the initials “RA” after the names of Lodge members who are also Companions on the Lodge summons. Better still, stimulate curiosity by including their RA ranks.
• Give an annual report to an associated Lodge on the health of the Chapter at the Installation meeting.
• Ensure that the Report by the Royal Arch Representative at Lodge meetings is meaningful and reminds Brethren of the special place that Royal Arch occupies in Craft Masonry. Look at the RA website for news which may be of interest or relevance to Brethren (avoid giving news which will only be of interest to Companions). “Local” news, i.e. relating to members of your Lodge, will be of most interest.
• Ensure that at every occasion when a Grand Lodge Certificate is presented the letter from the PGM and MEGs together with the “Why join the Royal Arch” Peterbrough Booklets is also presented. These are sent to the Lodge Secretary by the Provincial Office.
• Maintain a record of which Brethren are also Royal Arch Companions, and keep it up to date. Talk to the ones who are not, and keep a record of their reasons for not joining – their circumstances may change.
• Perhaps you can suggest that a WM who is also a Royal Arch mason may wish to take wine with all Royal Arch Companions at the Lodge festive Board. DO NOT make any disparaging remarks about those still seated. If you “just happen” to be sat next to a Brother who has not yet joined, this would give you an ideal opportunity to start a conversation with him about the Royal Arch.
• Do not see yourself as a recruiter solely for your own Chapter(s). Obviously, your own Chapter(s) will have priority, but consider also which Chapter(s) may best suit the Candidate (dates, places of meeting, etc.). Consider also Chapters which have a special need for Candidates. Warn any Chapter in which the Candidate expresses an interest so they can deal promptly with any application.
• Keep a stock of Application for Exaltation forms. Help candidates fill them in and if necessary help to find a Proposer and Seconder. Have a Provincial Year Book handy to provide dates, place of meetings if necessary, and the Scribe E’s address to send the completed form to.
• Bear in mind that you will be doing many of the things which a Proposer for an Initiate should normally do. You may even end up being his Proposer!
• Promoting the Royal Arch generally in the Lodge is something which you alone can best decide how to do. A regular report at each Lodge Meeting which is repetitive or gives little information is not really desirable. Decide what you want to say, don’t say too much at one time ideally selecting a suitable piece of interesting information. Ensure that a Report from the Royal Arch Representative is included on each Agenda in the summons.
• If there are PZs in the Lodge who are not members of a First Principals’ Chapter, consider including a mention in one of your reports to the Lodge, particularly highlighting the special meetings and encouraging Companions to attend.

Introducing potential members to the Holy Royal Arch through informal Brethren’s Evenings is seen as highly effective. The Most Excellent Grand Superintendent will be hosting two such evenings on 22nd and 26th February 2018 at Yenton and Rugby.

To be successful it needs Companions to support by bringing along potential members and it is hoped that many will do so.

There are a variety of reasons which may be given for not wishing to be exalted in the Royal Arch. Do listen sympathetically to a” such reasons to show that you are not just brushing the reason aside, and then attempt, in a considerate way, to deal with the objection.

The most common objections you are likely to encounter are:

• What is the difference between the Royal Arch and the other Degrees and Orders which I am now eligible to join?

With the unions of the two rival Grand Lodges (the Ancients and the Moderns), it was necessary to take into account the sincere, but different, views held regarding the origin of the Royal Arch and its place in Pure Antient Masonry.

By a solemn Act of Union between the two Grand Lodges of England in December 1813, it was declared and pronounced that Pure Antient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more, viz those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch.

Some 196 years later, in the light of increased experience and understanding, the status and place of the Royal Arch was clarified by the second paragraph of the Declaration which states the status of the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch to be “an extension to, but neither a superior nor a subordinate part of, the Degrees which precede it”.

This declaration clarifies how the Royal Arch should be described. It is NOT the completion of the Third Degree. It is a continuation of a” that has been taught in the three Degrees preceding it.

Masonry is free and requires a perfect freedom of inclination in every candidate for its mysteries. This is why there is no Regulation that every Brother will go on to take the final step in Craft Freemasonry, the Royal Arch. Obviously, if a Brother does not go on to complete his Second and Third Degrees, he is not qualified to participate when the Lodge is working in those degrees and, without the Third Degree, he is not qualified to be the Master of a Craft Lodge and to progress further in Craft Masonry. However, a Master Mason who does not choose to be exalted in the Royal Arch has not yet attained all that Pure Antient Masonry has to offer. He may well go forth to practice and progress in his Craft Masonry, but he will do so without the benefit of the further knowledge and understanding of the whole system of Pure Antient Masonry which the Royal Arch can give him, and his understanding and appreciation of Craft Masonry is unlikely to be as great as it would have been if he had been Exalted.

In fact, several of the other Degrees and Orders are only open to those who come with the further knowledge of Royal Arch.

• What is this greater understanding of Freemasonry which is to be found in the Royal Arch?

If you think about the Third Degree, the Lodge is opened with the stated intention of seeking the genuine secrets of a Master Mason. Having worked the Degree, the Lodge is closed with an acknowledgement that only substituted secrets have been found, until time or circumstances shall restore the genuine.

Exaltation in the Royal Arch is the circumstance whereby the Master Mason, now a Companion, is assisted to continue his research into the mystery brought to his attention in the Third Degree.

• Note

One should not get drawn into what could become an involved philosophical discussion. What is important is to make it clear that the genuine secrets do not solely consist of some more signs and words of recognition.

• Why is the Royal Arch ceremony not worked in a Craft Lodge?

The answer is simple – expediency. The beautiful Royal Arch Ceremony requires an entirely different setting to that which a Craft Lodge can conveniently provide with its Officers and furniture. It is carried out in a Chapter with its own Officers and furniture, and regalia. This setting is required to illustrate by allegory and symbolism the ceremony of Exaltation and its teachings. The progress of a Brother to Exaltation in the Royal Arch is marked in a Craft Lodge by the wearing in Lodge of the Royal Arch breast jewel. The full Royal Arch regalia is only worn at a Royal Arch meeting.

• Why are the organisation, management and administration of the Royal Arch separate to the Craft?

The Royal Arch, as a part of Pure Antient Masonry, is ruled by the United Grand Lodge of England. This is why the MW The Grand Master and certain other Rulers of the Craft, provided they are Royal Arch Masons, are also appointed the Rulers of the Royal Arch.

The Royal Arch offers its own opportunities for members of merit and ability to progress in Office. To cater for this and its special needs, it has its own system of administration and management at Provincial level. The symbiosis of the Royal Arch and Craft Masonry is illustrated by the fact that, at the highest levels of Freemasonry, there may be the same Ruler in both the Royal Arch and Craft Masonry.

• At what point in my Masonic career should I seek Exaltation?

The Royal Arch Regulations state that no candidate shall be exalted until he has been a Master Mason for four weeks at least.

There are differing opinions as to the optimum point in time at which a Master Mason should be exalted.

One view is that it is best for a Master Mason to be exalted as early as possible. The reasons for supporting this view are that it gives the new Companion time to sit back and absorb the working of the Royal Arch before achieving the Master’s Chair in his Craft Lodge. The teachings of the Royal Arch will also be of benefit to him in his appreciation and understanding of his Craft Masonry.

The other view is that it is preferable to allow a Master Mason to concentrate solely on progressing through the Offices in his Craft Lodge before he is exalted. It is for each Brother to choose the best route for him as long as over time, he joins Royal Arch!

The most sensible answer is that it all depends on the personal time which the individual has to allocate to his masonry, and his personal inclination to further his Masonic knowledge.

• The Royal Arch is “Spiritual”. Does this mean that it is religious or solemn?

The relationship of the Royal Arch to religion is no different to that of the Craft. The Royal Arch is open to all Master Masons regardless of their personal religion. The teachings of the Royal Arch are distinct from material or physical values, and explore what the Master Mason has been exhorted to contemplate. Far from being solemn or gloomy, the Royal Arch unites its Companions in an enhanced and personal enjoyment and sense of fulfilment in their Freemasonry, which in turn may enable them to better develop their potential ability.

• ,strong>If I have not been Exalted in the Royal Arch, will it affect my promotion in the Craft?

There is nothing in the Constitution which requires a Brother to be a member of the Royal Arch as a qualification for promotion in the Craft. Selection for appointment to/promotion in Provincial or Grand Rank is based on the ability and suitability of the individual to fulfil the duties and responsibilities of a particular rank.

• I am not interested in the Royal Arch

This is probably the most difficult objection to deal with.

Ask if the individual would mind telling you why he has no interest. If his lack of interest is due to the fact that he has the wrong idea of what the Royal Arch is about, try to gently explain the basic facts.

If the individual still says that he is not interested or that at present he does not have the time or money to invest, tell him that you understand and that he is entitled to make his own decision.

Tell him that if he ever does feel inclined to reconsider the matter in the future you will always be pleased to discuss it further with him.