What is Freemasonry?

Freemasonry is the world’s first and largest fraternal organization. It is centered on the belief that each man has a responsibility to help make the world a better place. Freemasonry enhances and strengthens the character of the individual man by providing opportunities for fellowship, charity, and personal growth towards truth. Through our culture of philanthropy, we make a profound difference for our brothers, our families, our communities, and our future.

In the Middle Ages, the term “freemason” was awarded to highly skilled masons of freestone. These stonemasons were hired as free agents to build castles and cathedrals in Europe. Because of the inherent danger of their work as well as the need of upholding proficiency in the work, stonemasons formed local organizations, called lodges, to uphold quality of instruction and trade secrets through the art of memory, and to take care of sick and injured members as well as the widows and orphans of those who perished on duty.

Eventually, men who were not skilled workers in stone joined these lodges to share in the rights and benefits, while upholding the traditions imparted. These men were known as “accepted masons.” The institution thereby transitioned from a craft guild to a fraternity upholding the greatest virtues of brotherly love, relief and truth.

Masons find satisfaction in being part of a centuries-old fraternity whose traditions and core values are relevant today, and will endure for centuries to come. Our mission remains guided by the enduring and relevant principles of our fraternity:

• Brotherly love. We value respect, freedom, kindness, tolerance, and our differences – religious, ethnic, cultural, social, generational, and educational – and strive for harmony in our individual lives, in our lodges, and in the world.

• Relief. We take responsibility for the well-being of our brothers, our families, and the community as a whole. We provide relief through philanthropy and civic duty.

• Truth. We stay true to our personal code of conduct and ethics – honor, integrity, personal responsibility, and the continuous pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.

Admission to Freemasonry is open to all men of good character with faith in a Supreme Being, regardless of race, ethnicity, color, religious beliefs, political views, sexual orientation, physical ability, citizenship or national origin.

Through this universal brotherhood, Masons learn to be better husbands, better fathers, better brothers, and better citizens. By appreciating our differences, we learn to focus on what unites mankind. Thus, the discussion of religion, politics, and business is not permitted in our lodges. In this way we live up to the centuries-old aim of our fraternity – to unite men of every country, sect, and opinion and cause true friendship among those who otherwise would have remained at a distance.

Brother Albert Pike said the following regarding the veritable and timeless value of Freemasonry:

“Masonry is useful to all men: to the learned, because it affords them the opportunity of exercising their talents upon subjects eminently worthy of their attention; to the illiterate, because it offers them important instruction; to the young, because it presents them with salutary precepts and good examples, and accustoms them to reflect on the proper mode of living; to the man of the world, whom it furnishes with noble and useful recreation; to the traveler, whom it enables to find friends and brothers in countries where else he would be isolated and solitary; to the worthy man in misfortune, to whom it gives assistance; to the afflicted, on whom it lavishes consolation; to the charitable man, whom it enables to do more good, by uniting with those who are charitable like himself; and to all who have souls capable of appreciating its importance, and of enjoying the charms of a friendship founded on the same principles of religion, morality, and philanthropy.” (Morals and Dogma 10:6)