2000. Southampton Press reporter Alex Still interviewed Editor/Publisher Andrew Boracci in announcing the world's first all-electronic Masonic magazine now on world wide web for all to enjoy - Masons and non Masons alike, September 14. (Source American Mason Magazine.)
2001. April 17, Columbia University announced that two winners of this year's prestigious Pulitzer Prizes won for history steeped in Masonic purpose.
Author David Levering Lewis was awarded his second Pulitzer in biography for "W.E.B. DuBois: the Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963," the second volume on Brother W.E.B. DuBois in a series published by Henry Holt Company. Lewis had earlier won a Pulitzer for biography in 1994 for his first volume, which covered Brother DuBois' distinguished life from 1868 to 1919. Brother DuBois, among other notable achievements, was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP). He was born at Great Barrington, MA, and died on August 27, 1963 in self-exile at Accra, in Ghana, Africa. His Masonry was Prince Hall Affiliated.
The award for a work of history went to "Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis which examines a series of episodes revealing the Masonic relationships between our country's founding fathers such as Brother George Washington, Brother Benjamin Franklin, Brother Paul Revere and many others. Author Ellis follows these Masons as they grapple with a half-dozen crisis that at determined t he shape of the new republic and changed the world ever after. (Souce: The New York Times)
June 22, at Temple Lodge in Cheshire, CT, Brother S. Kenneth Baril, the author of "The Medal of Honor (The Letter G in Valor)," and developer of The Four Chaplains Medal, was awarded the Pierpont Edwards Medal in Bronze from Connecticut Grand Master of Masons Gus Bodin. Brother Baril formerly lived in Connecticut and was Past Master of Temple Lodge 16 in Cheshire, Conneticut. The PE medal is for distinguished Masonic service; it comes only from the Grand Lodge. Bro. Ken now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.
September 13, New York State Grand Lodge of Masons has set aside 1 million dollars to aid families of police, firefighters, EMS and Port Authority victims lost in the World Trade Center terrorist attack of September 11.
The Anglican parish of St. Paul's, Lithgow,
(Australia) has split after an edict from the parish council that
Freemasons abandon their beliefs, or "cut yourself off from
fellowship with St. Paul's," according to the Sydney Morning
Herald. On October 28, the parish council issued a leaflet saying:
"There has been a clear recognition of the spiritual dangers
of Freemasonry, and that it is incompatible with being Christian."
It said Freemasonry undermined the Bible, contained rituals offensive
to Christianity, and denied the one true God.
On December 9, the Anglican parish of St. Paul's, Lithgow, (Australia)
parish council gave parishioners, who were
Masons and local chapter members of the Order of the Eastern Star,
seven days to make up their minds, said the Herald. Harold Coates,
a former New South Wales grand master of the Masonic lodge and
former mayor of Lithgow, said, "My dad was a Freemason from
1912 till he died. I have been more than 66 years a Freemason."
When there was no response to its letters, the council issued
another letter, signed by the rector, the Reverend Bill Winthrop.
It said: "In view of your rejection of our pleas to withdraw
from Freemasonry it is the view of Parish Council that you are
out of Christian Fellowship with our congregation ... We accordingly
request that you no longer attended church services at St Paul's
or any of the churches in the Lithgow Anglican Parish, nor attend
any of its meetings or functions."
Mr Coates said Mr Winthrop, along with an assistant minister,
had approached him and said he did not like the word "excommunication"
but "the doors of the church are shut to you all."
Mr Coates said he was attending a Presbyterian church but was
not prepared to abandon either Freemasonry or
Anglicanism.
The St Paul's parish office did not return the Herald's calls.
But the office of the Diocese of Sydney issued a statement on
behalf of the Archbishop, the Most Rev. Peter Jensen.
It said Dr Jensen had been fully informed of the issue but wanted
it regarded as a parish issue, to be resolved with
"fairness to all concerned, "with" proper application
of biblical teachings and observance of diocesan procedures."
The Anglican Church's spokeswoman, Margaret Rodgers, referred
the Herald to an entry on the Anglican church's Web site, comprising
a 1988 report whose fundamental criticism of Freemasonry was its
denial of the pivotal role of Christ in salvation.
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