THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 25, 1995 TAG: 9501240090
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Long : 187 lines
THE LONG TREK of history, from another continent a thousand years ago, comes down to this: A man in Western Tidewater decides he wants to follow in his father's footsteps, to keep the cadence of tradition moving forward.
He wants to be a Mason.
And he wants to join Smithfield Union Lodge No. 18.
And why not? Chartered in the late 1700s, it has two centuries of history. It has tradition. It has, apparently, what Steve Bowman wants.
Brotherhood. Friendship. A sense of accomplishment.
And Lodge No. 18, unlike many Masonic lodges in the United States, is growing. It is ready to enter the next millennium. And Steve Bowman is prepared to go with it.
If there were any big secrets about Freemasonry, it seems Bowman would let us in on it.
``But Masonry is not a secret organization,'' says Bowman, deputy chief of law enforcement for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission in Hampton.
At 34, the Smithfield resident is one of the youngest members in one of the country's oldest Masonic lodges.
``It is an organization with some secrets,'' he said in a recent interview. ``The difference is . . . a secret organization is deemed as something reserved for certain individuals.''
But what it takes to be considered for membership in the world's oldest fraternal order is no secret, said Bowman. All you have to do is ask.
``We are a voluntary organization . . . and don't ask individuals to become a Mason because someone may later question your sincerity at getting them to join the organization,'' Bowman said. No pressure. If you want to join, and they want to accept you, they want most of the desire to be on your part.
``Anyone interested in Masonry has to come up and ask a Masonic lodge member,'' Bowman says.
It was not always this way. There are Masonic lodges organized by African-Americans because they were not allowed into white lodges. Neither were Jews or Catholics generally accepted.
Union Lodge president Ed Douglas and others say this is no longer so, although they concede they have no members of these groups in No. 18.
``Good change takes a long time,'' Douglas says. ``Good is slow in evolving over bad.''
And Freemasonry has earned, rightly or wrongly, the perception by some people that it is a secretive organization built upon suspect religious interpretation, concedes Douglas, who is referred to as Worshipful Master.
In fact, titles like Douglas' are doubtless partly responsible for this perception. As recently as 1992, the fraternal organization was the subject of a year-long study by the Southern Baptist Convention's Home Mission Board.
``We were asked to look at Freemasonry because of questions about how Masonic teachings relate to Christianity and Southern Baptist teachings,'' said David Winfrey, a spokesman for the association.
The study noted that while many Masonic teachings tie in with the church's beliefs, some are not compatible with Southern Baptist or Christian doctrines. At the same time, the 70-page study commended Freemasonry's operation of Shriners' orthopedic and burn-treatment hospitals and noted that several Baptist and Christian leaders have belonged to the fraternal order.
After a year spent interviewing Masons, Baptist church members and examining Masonic documents, the Southern Baptist Convention recommended in a 1993 report that Masonic membership be a ``matter of personal conscience'' for Baptists.
``We are not a sect or religious group,'' Douglas said. ``But religious beliefs are the foundation of this organization.
``Masonry supports churches 100 percent. We use our churches' teachings to help us become better people. We believe in those fundamental teachings . . . and think a man who follows the moral teachings of the Scriptures is going to be a pretty good person.''
Many of the teachings and rituals the Southern Baptists identified as offensive - such as using titles like Worshipful Master for lodge leaders or identifying lodge buildings as mosques, shrines or temples - date to the earliest days of Freemasonry, according to the Baptist study.
Although Freemasonry's written records go back to 1390, many of the organization's traditions and rituals have been traced much further back in history, according to information from the Grand Lodge of Virginia.
Douglas said the fraternal order's roots go all the way back to 926, when Athelstane, described as England's first Christian king, chartered Freemasonry for the stonemasons and artisans building cathedrals across the kingdom.
These 10th century craftsmen built more than churches. They also laid a foundation for Freemasonry that is still being built upon today.
Union Lodge 18 is the 18th oldest in Virginia - hence the number that follows its name - and among the 40 oldest lodges in the country, Douglas said.
The Smithfield order was chartered in 1787, just nine years after the Grand Lodge of Virginia became the first independent Masonic group organized in the United States. Members meet in a lodge built in 1959 on the same site as their original lodge, constructed in the late 1700s.
The oldest lodge in the Old Dominion, in the nation for that matter, is Norfolk No. 1, chartered in 1741. According to the state organization, Virginia's Masonic roster includes such notables as George Washington and John Marshall.
Although the Smithfield lodge has suffered occasional dry membership spells during its history, the organization looks stronger these days. Unlike most Masonic organizations nationwide that are struggling to attract members, Smithfield's lodge is growing, said Paul R. Pruitt, who in December stepped down as the lodge's worshipful master.
``Masonry has been on the decline nationwide for the last four or five years,'' Pruitt said. ``But I believe the Smithfield lodge is growing because of the influx of new people moving into the northern end of the county.''
About 20 of Smithfield's 140 members have joined in the past two years, Douglas said. More and more of the lodge's members are young and are expected to join Bowman in carrying Union Lodge 18 into the 21st century. They generally gather monthly in the lodge's upstairs meeting room to conduct lodge business, then adjourn to the downstairs fellowship hall for refreshments and informal conversation.
For more than 200 years, the lodge helped to shape this town's way of life. Although it does not seek publicity for itself, the lodge has organized local American Red Cross blood drives and sponsored a league softball team for years. The lodge also gives an annual community service award to a non-Mason who has helped make life better in Isle of Wight County.
Most of the organization's members are also active in community activities that exemplify Masonic teachings, Douglas said, including volunteering in hospitals, nursing homes and with service organizations like Isle of Wight Christian Outreach.
And the Masons take care of their own. They visit their ill brethren and help them out with moral and financial support in times of trouble.
Masonry will consider any man over 19 - age 18 if his father is a Mason - for membership. After expressing interest, applicants are screened by a panel of Masons. If they recommended him, a unanimous vote by the entire lodge membership is required to accept the nominee into the brotherhood.
Freemasonry challenges its new members almost as soon as they are accepted into the organization, Douglas said.
Masons can advance through 33 degrees of Masonry by joining other organizations, including the Scottish Rite and the York Rite. The highest degree is the Shriners, best known for their work with hospitals for children.
While in Smithfield Union Lodge No. 18, members can advance through three degrees of Masonry: the Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master levels. To advance through the three Masonic degrees, members must learn and recite ancient catechisms that teach the meaning of Masonry.
The catechisms are made up of more than 30,000 Old English words based on biblical meanings, Douglas says. Although other Masonic rites are in written form, he says the catechisms have never been recorded in writing and are known only by members of the Masonic family.
New members are assigned a mentor, a current Mason, who coaches them on learning the catechisms. Bowman and his coach, Douglas, met several times a week for four months to practice.
And word by word, Bowman learned what Freemasonry is all about.
At some point, the words stopped being just words and started to have meaning. The words were a reminder that people are human and make mistakes,'' Bowman said. ``They became lessons in Masonry.''
Learning the catechisms is just one way Masonry helps a person grow, Douglas said.
``Doing this conditions your mind . . . and prepares you to think and listen,'' he said. ``You remember so much more once you learn to open your mind to what is being said.
``Freemasonry applies the same rules the stonemasons once used to construct cathedrals . . . to build a man's character and mind. We have to build ourselves up to be better people before we can help build a better world.''
Bowman, whose father was a Mason, grew up wanting to join the fraternal order. He was accepted for membership in Claremont Lodge No. 177 in 1982, but the young Surry County policeman had trouble learning the catechisms.
Today, he is active in both the Smithfield and Claremont lodges.
``My father and a lot of other wonderful people I have known throughout my life have been Masons,'' Bowman said. Not mastering the catechisms, he said, ``has always dwelled in the back of my mind as a failure.
``I really feel like it would have been a loss not to complete the work. Becoming a Mason has given me a feeling of accomplishment that will carry me through life.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
CARRYING ON A TRADITION
[Color Photo]
Steve Bowman, one of the youngest members in one of the country's
oldest Masonic lodges, receives instruction from Ed Douglas, the
lodge's leader and Bowman's mentor.
Among the trappings and mementos of the Freemasons is this sword,
given to the lodge by John R. Gwaltney in 1875. Religious beliefs
are the foundation of the organization.
Union Lodge president Ed Douglas is referred to as Worshipful
Master.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Steve Bowman, deputy chief of law enforcement for the Virginia
Marine Resources Commission in Hampton, is seeking to become a
Mason.
KEYWORDS: MASONS by CNB