The North Carolina Mason

An Outsider's View By C.R. Dunning, Jr. What does North Carolina Masonry look like from the outside? At the suggestion of Most Worshipful Brother Larry Thompson, that is the question that Brother Mike Register, Chairman of the editorial board for the North Carolina Mason, asked me to reflect upon. Such a question is important for any organization that is concerned with its presence in a larger community. I am honored to be asked to respond to it, and I believe the details of my perspective as a Texas and Oklahoma Mason could prove useful. It is a perspective informed not only by having participated in numerous Masonic events in your beautiful state, but also having traveled in person and virtually to many different jurisdictions inside and outside of the USA. While my line of the Dunning family has ancestral roots in colonial North Carolina, my first visit did not occur until January 2017 when I was invited by Brother Ben Wallace to speak at Sophia Lodge in Salisbury. Ben and I had met about a year earlier at the Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where he was part of a contingent of NC Scottish Rite Masons visiting one of our reunions. At that time, I was Guthrie's Director of Education. Ben told me there were exciting things developing in NC Masonry and inquired if I might be willing to serve as a guest speaker and learn more about what was happening. As noted, that first contact led to a visit with Sophia Lodge. During the same trip, I was interviewed for a video podcast by 357 Productions in which we talked about the importance of the contemplative dimension of the Craft. From there things snowballed and it seems that each year since then has not passed without at least a couple of trips to participate in NC Masonry, enjoy many dear friendships, and make more fond acquaintances. Among my Masonic friends in North Carolina, I count several current and past Grand Lodge officers and committee members, numerous current and past officers from several different lodges, the leaders of various education and service programs, and many other brethren who embody a warm fraternal presence and charitable spirit. My relationship with Masonry in North Carolina has included the privilege to directly contribute to the development and presentation of several educational events and leadership workshops, including with groups like the Middle Chamber Program, Wilkerson College, and the NC Masonic Research Society. All this information is merely to establish that while I may rightly be regarded as an outsider to NC Masonry, I nevertheless have a very intimate knowledge of it. It is no surprise to me that in my Masonic travels I often hear brothers of other jurisdictions referring to NC Masonry as exemplary in various ways. Your state's programs and leaders are widely known and admired. In fact, I know that the leadership in many other states are looking to you for inspiration and guidance. For example, the Middle Chamber program has grabbed the attention of several jurisdictions, some of them currently exploring how they can provide similar offerings for their own members. But it is not only your programming that is widely noted. Indeed, the spirit of NC Masonry may be even more noteworthy. From my perspective, it should be the thing that gets the most attention because the development and success of your outstanding programs emerges from that spirit. It is a spirit characterized in part by a pervasive commitment to brotherly love undivided by political and religious differences. Of course, NC Masonry has its challenges in those areas, but most often I find your brethren speaking openly about the importance of meeting each other on the level, working together in harmony, and enjoying the common ground of men committed to values and virtues that transcend partisan and sectarian differences. Similarly, there is an INNER GHT 20 | T H E M A S O N M AGA Z I N E

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