The Leader
May 2021: Back to Lodge

For weeks leading up to the Grand Master’s directive, the members of Conejo Valley No. 807 had been meeting via Zoom to discuss whether they’d be able and willing to satisfy the various steps required in order to reopen in person. “The overwhelming response was yes, we’d be willing to go to most lengths to get back together,” Lynch says.

Simultaneously, staff at the Grand Lodge of California began forming guidance for what a safe return to in-person lodge meetings would look like once the state lifted regulations for counties in the lower risk tiers. Once those orders came down, Weiss and others at Grand Lodge were able to finalize a directive governing what steps would need to be taken to hold lodge meetings, degree conferrals, and other Masonic events, and issue further guidance on how to meet those demands.  

The steps are straightforward—but important. And in places where local city or county guidance supersedes state regulations, lodges must defer to those rules. (Look up your county here.) Typically, a lodge planning a return to in-person meetings must satisfy the following conditions:

1. The lodge master determines that the county they meet in permits in-person private meetings and events, and if so, whether there are any additional requirements mandated beyond the state’s guidelines.
2. The master concludes that in-person meetings and events can be held safely and in compliance with Grand Master Weiss’s directive.
3. The hall association (in consultation with the lodge) prepares and implements a written COVID-19 prevention plan. (Template provided)
4. The lodge prepares a defined guest list for each meeting or event. Only those on the guest list may attend an in-person meeting. (It is recommended that lodges prepare a method to add to last-minute guests to the list prior to an in-person meeting.)
5. The lodge creates a seating chart based on the guest list to provide as much physical distancing between attendees as possible.
6. The master appoints two officers to check the required COVID-19 documentation of each attendee before admission. The documentation required is either proof of full vaccination (plus the two-week waiting period) or a negative test result during the last 72 hours.
7. The master ensures that all requirements and guidelines of the state (including the state mask mandate), county, Masonic directive, and the prevention plan are adhered to.

For Conejo Valley No. 807, Lynch and other lodge officers determined that there was sufficient interest from the members who've been attending Zoom meetings for the past several months in returning to in-person meetings, and that the lodge would be able to comply with the directive.

That decision wasn’t necessarily unanimous—and Lynch says some members may not be comfortable with the new requirements or able to satisfy all of them. That’s OK, though: When they’re ready to return, the lodge will welcome them back with open arms. Or, rather, an elbow bump.

The next phase of planning included meeting with the lodge’s hall association to put together a COVID-19 Site-Specific Prevention Plan. That plan is still being worked out, but it’s safe to say that lodge will look a little different when members of Conejo Valley return in June. There will be two rows of sideliner seats to ensure maximum distance between people, and all officers will be wearing white cloth gloves, with hand sanitizer throughout the lodge room. “But the important thing will be that we are back together,” Lynch says, “and doing it in a safe manner.”

Throughout this process, Lynch says that keeping lodge members in the loop has been paramount. Lodge leaders have used their typical Zoom meetings to discuss the return to lodge, as well as email and the lodge trestleboard to communicate with those who haven’t attended virtually. “Communication is key,” Lynch says. “Although the master is in charge of the lodge and in charge of the reopening plan, the membership should have a say in the process.”