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August, Arizona and Ascending the Cliffs Together

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Monty Glover
Deputy General Grand Master

\"DGGMArizona\"

Pictured above is Joseph Zito, Most Illustrious Grand Master of Cryptic Masons in Arizona 2018-19 (head table), Monty Glover, DGGM, Rod Wagoner, Grand Captain of the Guard 2018-19, and Donald Moyer, MIPGM

Aloha and Fraternal Greetings Companions,

I recently had the Honor and pleasure of representing the General Grand Master at the Arizona Grand Council Session in Mesa AZ. While it was my first visitation to the Jurisdiction I have known many of the Companions there for many years. It was wonderful renewing old friendships and making new ones. This is one of the greatest benefits we receive from this beloved Craft we belong to.

I would like to congratulate Most Illustrious Donald Moyer of not only a successful year and Grand Illustrious Master but also on conducting a well-organized and productive session. During the session I gave my report and took questions from the Companions in attendance.  Many of the usual areas of opportunity were mentioned; chiefly among them were communication and ritual. As luck would have it, I got to share in a special event – Illustrious Companion Rod Wagoner was presented with his third and final bar for the Ritual Award! After having coordinated Arizona\’s Spring Super Excellent Master, he completed the qualifications for the bar to add to his already present Royal Master and Select Master bars. CONGRATULATIONS Companion Rod!

I know the Ritual Committee is hard at work putting together the final touches on the latest edition of the Ritual. Once the final draft in provided to the leadership team we will review it quickly and approve it for publication. It is my understanding that we will have a published, approved, ritual by the end of the year but we are hopeful for something well before then.

Communication is and has been an area pointed out by many Jurisdictions and Companions.  One of the first questions I ask, when faced with the frustration of poor communication, is “how many of you have read or subscribed to the weekly decryption” and the majority of the time it’s only one or two companions in the crowd. I truly do understand the frustration you feel because we in the General Grand Council share it.  We work hard at getting these weekly issues together, not just the elected officers but numerous members of the technology committee and those committee members, ambassadors, and anyone else who contributes articles for publication. Yes after all that effort only a handful have read it. The weekly decryption is our primary means of communicating to the membership what is going on in the General Grand Council, it’s member Jurisdictions around the world and where we are headed. I was pleased to find that after the Grand Council session ended there had been about a dozen new Companions sign up for the Weekly Decryption. Please let all the companions know about this resource for information and also encourage all York Rite Masons, and even non-York Rite Masons to subscribe.

One aspect of communication that was brought up was specific communication between the General Grand Council and the Grand Councils, particularly between the Recorders of the respective organizations. The General Grand Master is addressing this and I believe you will see a much larger flow of communication coming from the General Grand in the near future. I also, however, pointed out that the Grand Councils should hold us accountable. But to do this they, the Grand Councils, will need to communicate with us. Being specific with exactly what is not working, what recommendations do you have to make it better, and is it in fact something the General Grand can actually change or make better. If it is something that falls within the scope of influence of the General Grand Council and it is something that we can arrive at a solution that works for all parties and is affordable then I would fully expect you to hold us accountable to coming up with a resolution to the situation or problem. I also told all the Companions attending that if you ask something and do get a reply from the usual channels then call be directly or email me and I will do my very best to open up any stuck lines of communications if not get you the answer directly myself. I believe all of the Sr. Officers feel the same. We are here to server the Cryptic Rite and the General Grand Master shares that feeling.

As always please provide us with feedback. Let us know what you think of the Decryption and feel free to include any suggestions for future articles. If you would like to submit something appropriate for inclusion in an upcoming issue please let me, or any of the staff know and we would be happy to review it and include it.

In Hawaii there is a saying, “‘A’OHE PU’U KI’EKI’E KE HO’A’O ‘IA E PI’I “ or roughly “No cliff is so tall it cannot be climbed” Let us all please work together to climb the cliffs we have before us.

‘A Hui Hou
Until we meet again,

Aloha

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