DGM Inaugural Address

Brethren All,

Before beginning my address I would like to thank you all most sincerely for your attendance at this historical occasion for Freemasonry in the Western Division of South Africa.

We have now witnessed the retirement of R.W.Bro. Peter Ransom Duckworth who has served this district as our District Grand Master with the utmost fidelity and distinction for 7 years, and also the retirement of W.Bro. Michael Stark who has completed three years as one of his Assistant District Grand Masters. I am sure you will all join me in wishing them a happy and healthy retirement and wish them well in the future.

This District had its first Provincial District Grand Master of the English Constitution in 1801 in the person of Richard Blake and its first District Grand Master for South Africa Western Division in 1877 in the person of Sir Richard Southey. To follow in the footsteps of such distinguished brethren as the twelfth in the line over a period of 207 years personally gives me goose bumps, and a deep feeling of humility, mixed with immense pride for who we are and what we stand for as Freemasons.

In addressing you today I put it to you that we are a privileged group of men who at some period in our lives either knew, or were introduced to, a Brother who proposed you into Freemasonry, for myself, my Father who at 88 years young and still attending Lodge was my proposer some 36 years ago.

Why are we privileged? There is not a Brother here today who would deny that the pace of change in our lives today has never in the history of man or freemasonry been so fast and so complex. And neither would they deny that if we do not change with the times we are most certainly going to be lost in history.   Add to this the apparent breakdown of moral standards in society at large and this presents a very daunting prospect to the average man in society.

However, to those few men in society who are privileged to be Freemasons these morals and basic standards that are craved by the man in the street are entrenched in a Freemasons life and enhanced every time we meet another Brother. All of us here today are better men both in our family lives and society at large due to the teachings and brotherly love found in the Craft. I therefore put it to you that it is not just our heritage that we should admire and protect, but that it is our solemn duty to bring these precepts to other good men, so they can also become better men.

The million dollar question being, how? I would not be so presumptuous to think that I have the answer, but would ask you the following question that has from time immemorial been put to us all in the V.S.L.

Should we do it the right way, or the easy way? To do it the right way in the eyes of the G.A.O.T.U. we need to lead a moral and virtuous life while enjoying the bounty put before is. Or, we may choose to do it the easy way, by just doing whatever we see fit for our own personal needs with no due consideration for others. The G.A.O.T.U. gives us a choice and that choice is ours and ours alone!

I am of the opinion that the future of this District and Freemasonry at large, will depend on us doing it “the right way” both with our ritual and decorum, so as to maintain the proud heritage of our Order in Truth, Honour and Virtue. However, to enable us to continue doing this, we need to be cognisant of the hectic lives of our members and the good men out there who would truly gain from all the Craft has to offer. We therefore need to change the mindsets of the past, and strive to find ways to make it easier for our members, and aspirant members from society, to enjoy their Freemasonry.

Therefore, with the assistance of the team I have gathered around me, we shall endeavour to uphold the standards of our ritual and their teachings along with the decorum of the Order, while endeavouring, with the aid of a mentoring program, to enable Brethren to enjoy their Freemasonry so as to retain and regain errant members, thereby enabling them to attract good men who will appreciate all that “we the privileged few” and Freemasonry has to offer.

And last but not least, my team and I shall strive to re-enforce the relations between the Sister Constitutions and ourselves, as this relationship is an intrinsic part of our proud heritage of Freemasonry enjoyed by all in the Western Cape.

In conclusion, I would ask you all to join my team and I in choosing to do it the “right way”, while enjoying your Freemasonry.

I thank you.

RW District Grand Master H. J. Duggan