Paying Your Dues, by Paterson Burns

The following is reprinted with permission from the original author.

When a Master Mason begins his journey in the fraternity, he obligates himself to and accepts that he will contribute to the well being and success of all the organizations of which he becomes a member.

"Paying your dues" is a phrase one hears in our fraternity, and every other part of our society, and most people have a good sense of what it means and some don't, but we're all learning as we go. What it can mean in Masonry is that when you pay your dues, you support the causes and costs of your Lodge, Valley, Chapter, Council, Commandery, Shrine, Masonic Youth, charities, fundraisers, operating costs, depreciation, steadily increasing property taxes, maintenance, repairs, upgrades, administration, over-reliance on declining dues revenue, limited returns on capital investments due to poorly guided investment strategies, increasing insurance costs, issues meeting building code standards for public venues forcing major renovations or closure, renting space for events and having to compete with public pricing, all of these factors are associated with the day-to-day operation costs of Masonry today, and compose the majority of what it means to "Pay Your Dues" as a Master Mason.

As with many, many others here, I belong to a number of organizations within this great fraternity of ours and as such there is more than just Lodge dues to consider, you also have to factor in wardrobe costs since various organizations require different uniforms and regalia, travel costs if you choose to participate in Masonic activities outside your area, or internationally, scheduling vacation time, leisure and entertainment costs, and all of that activity becomes a responsibility if you become an officer in an organization, then your attendance becomes expected and in some cases mandatory, so...how much does all that cost? Supporting the Masonic activities and organizations that I participate in, with my time, my energy and my resources, is a responsibility I'm happy to accept, because I can't put a price on the value of what I have learned in Masonry, I feel indebted to the fraternity for all that I have learned and I feel compelled to give back.

My Masonic journey and corresponding education thus far, is priceless to me. I am quite looking forward to a lifetime of the same level of enjoyment and personal satisfaction deriving from the practice of what Masonry has to give to all of us, being a better man for it. So to be frank David...I really don't know what the cost of Life Membership is in my Lodge because I haven't paid it yet, but I do know that our Grand Lodge offers an endowed membership, with cost determined by a graduating scale based on age.