Toronto Society for Masonic Research (TSMR): Home Page

At the 153rd Annual Communication in Toronto, on Wednesday July 16 and Thursday July 17, the GL of Canada in the Province of Ontario in Session adopted an amendment to the "Jurisdiction" Section in the Constitution to assert that it ...

recognizes the M.W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge F. and A.M., Province of Ontario (and Jurisdiction) and will consider recognizing more than one Grand Lodge in another jurisdiction if the mainstream Grand Lodge in that jurisdiction "chooses to waive its right to maintain exclusive jurisdiction and to permit concurrent jurisdiction."

When, on Wednesday, July 16th, the Grand Master announced that the GL now fully recognizes the Prince Hall GL in Ontario, the same as all other recognized GLs, the members present rose in a spontaneous unanimous standing ovation.

At the 153rd Annual Communication in Toronto, on Saturday, August 9, of the M.W. Prince Hall GL, Province of Ontario and Jurisdiction, the Deputy Grand Master of the GL of Canada in the Province of Ontario declared: "As Brothers we have always been equal in the universal Brotherhood of Man. There is only one race and that is the human race."

"Early in 1899 the Masonic world was startled by the action of the Grand Lodge of Washington in recognizing another Grand Lodge of coloured men in the same state. Opposition to such recognition arose, of course, not from the fact that it was a body of coloured men, but because the creation of a second Grand Lodge in the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Washington, constituted a most flagrant case of invasion of territory ." -- A History of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario 1855-1955, by Herrington and Foley, p.188.

Grand Lodge of California "RACIAL AND ETHNIC RECONCILIATION" Proposal

[ Featured Papers for Discussion by Kris Stevens, Robert G. Davis, Fred Milliken, Tim Bryce, Jeff Peace. ]
[ Recently Added Papers on Prince Hall Masonry: Harris (1957) 10p Jenkyns (2000) 24p Jenkyns (2006) 72p ]
[ Recent News & Views: Black Freemasons. ]

"The danger in an organization such as ours is that, while it begins with ideals and principles, the organization may become the greatest enemy to those ideals and principles. Some person has imagined a conversation between the devil and some angels. The angels proudly told the devil that a way had been found to defeat him. When he asked how it would be done, they told him that God was going to give men lofty ideals and challenging principles to be proclaimed to the world. The devil just laughed, and told them that he could not be defeated that way, for all he would have to do would be to institutionalize the ideals and the principles, and it would only be a matter of time until men would forget the ideals and principles as they tried to keep the institution alive. As I once heard a friend of mine explain, "first the idea creates the organization, then the organization chokes the idea." We can become so concerned about keeping an organization alive that we forget the ideas and ideals that give it birth. We begin by having a great ideal force our thinking and acting into new channels, and we end by serving an organization. Freemasonry must be a force to be used, and not a form to be served."
-- M.W. Bro. Rev. Dr. Thomas Sherrard Roy, PGM (1951-3) GLMA: Dare We Be Masons? 1966

"True meanings illuminate their contexts and these contexts support each other effortlessly. False meanings jar, stop, and lead no further. It is by attention to such arrests, by not forcing, but by being open to and seeking other possibilities, that one may eventually understand - recreate, as it were, - the world of the ancients." -- Thorkild Jacobsen: The Treasures of Darkness p.19

"The ability to keep observation and evaluation separate is the highest form of human intelligence." -- Jiddhu Krishnamurti

"I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them." -- Baruch Spinoza

1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. ... -- Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted world-wide, without dissent, 1948.

The TSMR is an Autonomous Association of Individuals, committed to the Freedoms of Conscience, Association, Communication, and Enquiry, who wish to nurture Learning, Knowledge, and Understanding of Freemasonry through Research.

Masonic Research in the past has often been antiquarian, anecdotal, and decorative, for the edification of Freemasons. The TSMR today seeks a critical, unbiased understanding of the past and present, to inform the future, for the benefit of all humanity.