Brethren,

It is my sad duty to inform my USENET friends that the Grand Lodge of
Arizona has re-recognized the Shrine in Arizona as of today. The
general membership does not have the details yet, but the Grand
Master's Edict has been issued. Let us pray for the Grand Lodge and
the Divan to find the wisdom to work through the subject at hand.
Though I'm not a Shrine member, I hope all the Shriners keep a cool
head and wait for the details of what's happened before passing
judgment.

Edict No 2
WHEREAS The Grand Master is the Supreme Masonic Authority in Arizona;
and

WHEREAS No organization within the State of Arizona whose requirement
for membership includes that its members be Master Masons may fail to
obey a direct order from the Grand Master of Masons in Arizona; and

WHEREAS The Potentate of El Zaribah Shrine has chosen to disobey a
direct order given to him by the Grand Master of Masons in Arizona:

On May 5, 11:18 am, shanecrabt...@cox.net wrote:

What is a Grand Lodge doing recognising concordant bodies to begin with?

In Canada, GLs only recognise other Grand Lodges. Concordant bodies are
seperate things, organised and chartered by their own bodies. How can a
Grand Lodge have any authority over them?

Jim Bennie
BC & Yukon

[...snipped...]

Nope ... he is a *subordinate* authority to his own Grand Lodge and its
Constitution, and his authority extends over only his Grand Lodge and its
members, and is limited to such powers as are granted to him by the
Constitution and other edicts of his Grand Lodge.

No Grand Master (or Grand Lodge / Constitution) may exercise authority over
another, or indeed over members of another GL. Each is sovereign. (A GL
may chose not to recognise another GL in the same territory, but that's
another matter)

Jim Bennie wrote:

The use of the term "recognize" was an unfortunate choice of words. It
was not used in the normal "masonic usage" context regarding "recognition". ...