We’re now nearly three three years into the pandemic. Thankfully, many aspects of our lives have returned to something like normal. But in other ways—both seen and unseen—the toll taken by the pandemic continues to be felt.

That’s certainly been the case for our fraternity. We now know that as a result of our lodges being shuttered for much of 2020 and parts of 2021, rendering us unable to confer degrees, we lost close to 10 percent of our membership.

It’s been a long road to get to where we are today, with lodges just now beginning to get back into the routine of bringing in prospects and making new Masons. These past three years have posed a unique challenge, but we’re now starting to turn the corner. Entered Apprentice degrees were up sharply in 2022, and as a result of several efforts, both at the Grand Lodge and local lodge levels, we expect 2023 to be even stronger.

Membership wasn’t the only challenge we faced as a fraternity—and it isn’t the only way we’re changing. At the Masonic Homes of California, we’re nearly finished with what has been a five-year renovation effort to drastically increase resident capacity and modernize our retirement home campuses and their offerings. Thanks to that work, where in the recent past there had been a multiyear wait to move into the Masonic Homes, today the wait time is zero.

Throughout this period of uncertainty, our members have continued to fulfill their obligation of Masonic relief. Thanks to our membership, gifts to the California Masonic Foundation’s Annual Fund topped $2 million for the third consecutive year—the only three years in its history to hit that mark.

Numbers like that remind us that our members remain as committed as ever to Freemasonry in California. As our lodges fully emerge from a difficult three years, we’re well poised to make a bright future for our fraternity.

May the Great Architect of the Universe bless and protect you and keep you in good health.

Sincerely and fraternally,

Randall L. Brill
Grand Master of Masons in California