Midnight in the Lodge of Good and Evil

One evening an old Past Master was instructing a candidate about how Freemasonry “makes good men better.” He told the new Brother a metaphor about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My Brother, the battle is between two forces inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sor-row, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The new Brother thought about it for a minute and then asked the Past Master: "Which force wins?"

The old Past Master simply replied, "The one you let win.”

Which force are you letting win in your Lodge? Are you jealous of another Broth-er’s ability to learn ritual? Do you envy the other Lodges in the District for their finan-cial stability? Do your officers carry a sense of arrogance, fueled by self im-portant egos? These are just a few of the Evils that lead to a place that no Lodge wants to be. However, there is always time to correct the path.

Those traits of humility, benevolence, kindness, empathy, and generosity are easily found when a Lodge begins to work with a Masonic Youth Group. No matter what station a man holds in his Lodge, he is simply a mentor when he works with our Masonic Youth. The kindness and generosity shown by Lodges that support Masonic Youth provide them with something to be proud of and a sense of accom-plishment, knowing that they refuse to let the darker forces win. By supporting the Masonic Youth, they are infusing their values in others who will carry it on for the next generation.

Which side will you let win?

MAY-JUNE 2014

Visit the Pennsylvania Masonic Youth Foundation at www.pmyf.org

PA Rainbow Holds “Spring into Service” Sessions

By Mrs. Helen Snedden, Supreme Deputy

PA Rainbow is beginning to prepare for its annual meeting—Grand Assembly. This year the “Spring Into Service” session will be held in Altoona at the Jaffa Shrine Center, July 9 – 12, 2014. Local Assem-blies are already planning on ways to participate. Craft competitions include: making an Assembly Banner, making a Progress Chart to honor new members, and the Installation Program Books. There are also bowling, choir and drill team competitions on Saturday, July 11. The Grand Officers are polishing their ritual for our beautiful Stated Meetings. Grand Officers and Grand Representatives will also perform beautiful drills. Our Sister of Grand Charity has been working hard to get ALL the current Grand Officers dunked in a dunk tank during our fun activity on July 10. For every $100 collected for our State Charity, “My Stuff Bags,” another Grand Officer is added to the list. If you see M&M tubes being filled by Rainbow Girls, please add some quarters for the cause. Local assemblies, as well as working on Grand Assembly activities, are working for funds to get to Al-toona. Donations are always welcome to help girls to attend, gas and toll expenses to travel to Altoona or sponsor meals to keep their individual expenses lower.

Job’s Daughters Crowns New Leaders

By Mrs. Amy Nace, Grand Guardian

Spring has sprung and so this means that the Miss Job’s Daughter Scholarship Pag-eant has been held. Testing and competition began on Friday, April 4, 2014 with 10 Miss Job’s Daughter contestants and 10 Miss Jr. Jobie contestants. Saturday morn-ing began with a hot breakfast followed by Speech, Written Etiquette Test, Personal Interview and an Etiquette Luncheon. Dieke Auditorium was the beautiful venue for this year’s pageant with Bro. Robert J. Bateman, Right Worshipful Grand Master, as the Master of Ceremonies. Six finalists were announced and escorted to a sound proof area. Mr. Bateman chose a final question from 2 sealed envelopes and read the question to each finalist when they one by one joined him on stage and gave their answer. The final selection was Miss Victoria Madonna, Bethel 7, to serve as Miss Job’s Daughter of PA, with Miss Congeniality going to Miss Romaynse Smith, Bethel 19, and the first ever Miss Junior Jobie of Pennsylvania going to Miss Carrie Dingel, Bethel 21. Congratulations to all!

Visit the PA Rainbow website at www.parainbowgirls.org

How to Use This Publication

The Masonic Youth Minutes is published by the PA Masonic Youth Foundation to share ideas and to inspire Masonic leaders to creatively support the Masonic Youth Groups. It is mailed to all Worshipful Masters, Lodge Secretaries, Lodge Youth Chairmen, and Masonic Youth Group Leaders. All Lodge Youth Chairmen are asked to make a 1-minute report at each Lodge meeting, sharing at least one arti-cle of interest with the members. Permission is granted to make copies of this publication and to freely distribute them to all who have an interest in the youth of Pennsylvania. The Masonic Youth Minutes is also available online at ww.pmyf.org.

PMYF Tops One Million Mark!

The Masonic Fraternity in Pennsylvania is recognized as one of the most generous in the world when it comes to giving to our Masonic Youth Groups. For the past several years, the Grand Lodge has earmarked fifty cents per member, per year, to be administered by the PA Masonic Youth Founda-tion in direct support of Rainbow, Job’s Daughters, and De-Molay. That money has gone to fantastic use.

All of the Youth Groups in Pennsylvania no longer have to worry about their biggest bill each year—insurance. That cost is now covered entirely thanks to this program. It’s also because of these donations that the Masonic Youth Groups have access to the Call ‘em All system used by the Masonic fraternity within the Commonwealth. To date, the Masonic Youth Groups have placed hundreds of calls and text messages, reaching nearly a thousand members, advisors, and friends, ensuring communication occurs between all. Another program that has benefitted the Youth Groups greatly is the Masonic Youth Group Grant program. Administered directly by the Board of Di-rectors of PMYF, this program offers monetary grants to assist with membership recruitment, communi-ty service, and other large projects the groups may not be able to fund on their own. These programs have had a positive effect on membership recruitment and public relations for our youth groups, which also enhances awareness of Freemasonry in the local community.

Visit the PA Job’s Daughters website at www.paiojd.org

Youth Groups Benefit from Grant Program

With the 2014 scholarship awards granted, the PMYF has exceeded one million dollars in scholarships granted since 1990. This year the Foundation received 168 applications. Each application is read in full, and carefully weighed for it’s merits by the Educational En-dowment Fund Committee. This year saw applications from all walks of life, cover-ing students in fields from nursing to engineering, from many counties throughout the Commonwealth. Stu-dents were required to write an essay about their most meaningful achievement and how it relates to their field of study. The committee was able to award over $179,000 to 59 students who will use the money to aid them in earning a degree. Some of these are multi-year awards, contingent upon the recipient maintaining a 3.0 GPA. All applicants will receive written notification of the committee’s selections in the coming weeks. Congratulations to all of our recipients and thank you to our donors who make this program possible!

This article should be read by the Lodge Youth Representative at the June stated meeting.

This article should be read by the Lodge Youth Representative at a suitable Lodge event over the summer.

Visit the PA DeMolay website at www.pademolay.org

Masonic Blood Club Provides Help to You and Youth

Is your Lodge looking to make a quick buck? While it has been said that there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is a way to get some “easy money” and give back to your community thanks to the Masonic Blood Club! All you need to do is contact the Masonic Blood Club by go-ing to www.pagrandlodge.org or www.pmyf.org and they can help you arrange a blood drive in your community. For each pint of blood donated your Lodge will be able to designate $10 to an approved Masonic chari-ty, such as the Masonic Youth Groups! It’s that easy! The best part is that many members of the Ma-sonic Youth Groups can participate in these blood drives, and it makes for a great joint project! The Grand Master has asked Masons in Pennsylvania to do one community service project per month, and this provides an awesome way to accomplish that goal, make available an essential medical resource to those in need, and provide some charity dollars where needed—to our Masonic Youth.

DeMolay Plans Annual Convention in Reading, PA

PA DeMolay is finalizing arrangements for Convention 2014, to be held in Reading, PA. The event will occur on July 18—20, 2014, with special plans to end PA DeMolay’s 90th Anniversary year with a bang. The headquarters hotel is the Inn at Reading. Beginning on Friday afternoon, participants will be able to tour the Reading Museum and Planetarium, followed by a quick dinner, before heading over to the Works at Wyomissing for a fun night of video games and go-karts. On Saturday, the DeMolays will get down to business with the Annual Session, Election of Officers, Honors Luncheon, Workshops, and a conferral of the DeMolay Le-gion of Honor. The event will be topped off on Saturday night with a 90th Anniversary Ball, having live music provided by the popular Diablo Sandwich Band. Finally, on Sunday morning, the officers for the coming year will be Installed and PA DeMolay will embark on its next adventure. Come out and join the fun that is sure to be at Con-vention 2014!

The Mission of the Pennsylvania Masonic Youth Foundation is to lead the Masonic Fraternity in providing services on behalf of young people, and training for adults who work for the better-ment of youth. To accomplish this Mission, the Foundation will enhance the programs of the Masonic Youth Groups, support initiatives to keep children safe from violence, abuse and exploitation, and provide specialized education for adults who offer leadership to youth in the Commonwealth.

Contact Information:

1244 Bainbridge Road, Elizabethtown, PA 17022; 717-367-1536; or 800-266-8424; or pmyf@pagrandlodge.org

About PMYF and this Publication