Brethren:
It is my honour and a privilege to represent the Grand Master as District Deputy Grand Master for Hamilton District A for 2023-2024. I look forward to working with the members and lodges of our District. Under the guidance of our Grand Lodge and our Past District Deputy Grand Master, the District Secretary and my advisors we have continued to work together ensuring that Masonry in our District is strong and growing.
I would like to introduce W. Bro. Paul Ross as our District Secretary.
My thanks to the brethren of Burlington Reunion Lodge No. 165 for the confidence they have placed in me, to the brethren of District A for electing me as the Grand Masters representative as D.D.G.M for 2023-2024 year, and to the Past District Deputies my thanks for the wealth of knowledge that you each afforded me in preparation for me assuming this position.
The District Secretary and I will serve the District to the best of our abilities. We look forward to visiting the Lodges within the District as well as those in adjacent Districts. This approach is to foster a sense of unity and shared purpose among the various lodges.
I and your District Secretary would like to meet, either virtually or in person as circumstances dictate, with the three principal officers and the secretary of each Lodge in the District to determine the needs of your respective Lodges and what Grand Lodge might do to be of assistance to your respective Lodges. Open communication and collaboration are key to addressing challenges and seizing opportunities within the Masonic community.
I am pleased to announce the District projects for this year are Carpenter Hospice and Food for Life.
The Masonic Foundation of Ontario Project Number for Carpenter House is 2453
The Masonic Foundation of Ontario Project Number for Food for Life is 2436
The food drive challenge that brings some competitiveness to our District Lodges while extending a helping hand to families who may be our neighbors reflects who we are. The proceeds from the food drive will be provided to Food for Life and is easy for all of us to do. At this time there is a great need or us to aid the Food for Life operation.
District Plans for 2023-2024
My theme as your District Deputy Grand Master is “Enlightenment”
How do we all become “the Enlighteners” of our lodges?
So, what is “Enlightenment” – if you were to do a quick Google search you would find the definition as a– ‘European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries in which ideas concerning God, reason, nature and humanity’ known as the “Age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason”. I believe that many of our current masonic concepts and morals are based on many of these Enlightenment tenants.
“If there is something you know, communicate it.”
“If there is something you don’t know, search for it”
I personally have found many of the philosophers of those periods, such as Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, Robert Locke, Voltaire and Immanuel Kant influential upon my own journey of Enlightenment. Hobbes’ gave us a famous quote on the lot of man outside of an organised society, which would be “… solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short…”
Freemasonry is the beneficiary of many eloquent expressions of its ideas and ideals by our Grand Masters, international scholars, and renowned authors. We have all been inspired by a well-crafted and powerfully delivered address explicating the core values of Freemasonic philosophy.
Let us continue to live and to express the Masonic Virtues of our FAITH in God and each other, our HOPE for the future of the Craft and Mankind and our CHARITY to all, especially those in need.
Best regards and fraternally,
R. W. Bro. Nicholas L Laine
District Deputy Grand Master
Hamilton District A