Charity
Freemasonry is not primarily a charitable organisation. Our charitable activities are the result of individual members applying the principles of masonry in their everyday lives. Over the years members of Portcullis Lodge have a proud record of supporting both masonic and non-masonic good causes. In a recent campaign to support The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution in its work of elderly care, the Lodge raised over £25,000. This money came from Freemasons. We do not make street collections nor do we solicit funds from non-masonic sources. Freemasonry is not limited to wealthy individuals however. We each give according to our means, in complete confidence. There is no pressure or compulsion to donate. We are more concerned with a man's character than his material assets.
The Lodge continues to support The Berkshire Masonic Charity and the Masonic Samaritan Fund; The Berkshire Masonic Charity supports worthy local causes and the Lodge recently donated over £5000 to help with its valuable work in our community.
The Freemasons' Grand Charity has made grants of over £1,000,000 since 2007 to support air ambulances throughout the country. Just one example of masonry acting for the benefit of all in our community.
The Lodge continues to support The Berkshire Masonic Charity and the Masonic Samaritan Fund; The Berkshire Masonic Charity supports worthy local causes and the Lodge recently donated over £5000 to help with its valuable work in our community.
The Freemasons' Grand Charity has made grants of over £1,000,000 since 2007 to support air ambulances throughout the country. Just one example of masonry acting for the benefit of all in our community.
BERKSHIRE 2023 FESTIVAL APPEAL
A new Festival in support of the Masonic Charitable Foundation has begun. Brothers have received a descriptive information packet. Note that the last Festival raised over £2 Million to support Freemasons, their families, and many local charities. Please let the Charity Steward know if you have any questions.
As of 31 January, Portcullis Lodge has donated over £12,000 to the Festival.
A NEWS ARTICLE FROM THE GRAND LODGE
The United Grand Lodge of England, the oldest Masonic national organization in the world, turns 300 this year. Note that Freemasonry is older than that, but it was only 300 years ago (1717) that four London lodges got together at the "Goose & Gridiron" pub and formed the first "Grand Lodge," an organization to supervise lodges. That was the birth of the modern worldwide Grand Lodge system. There are about 200 regular (i.e. recognized by the English) Grand Lodges in countries, states, and provinces worldwide.
Over the last three centuries, Freemasons have been accused of being a sinister secret society that controls the world, for nefarious purposes. One reason for this is that some very successful people have been Freemasons, both before and after becoming successful. Another is because Masons tend to keep very quiet about what they do.
So are they up to something? You can judge for yourself: our investigative reporting uncovered a few of the nefarious things that English Freemasonry has been up to for their 300th Birthday!
1. THEY HAVE A SECRET HELICOPTER PROGRAM!!
Conspiracy theorists noted that at the recent and tragic Islamist terrorist attacks at London's Parliament, a mysterious helicopter was spotted with the masonic square and compass logo on it!!
Why was it there? What are they up to?? What's their connection to the terrorist attack???
Here's the truth: over the last few years, the Freemasons have been quietly involved in a secret program of spending literally millions of dollars (at least 4 million pounds, from what I could gather) on buying helicopters. They've bought two helicopters in the London area, and contributed to similar programs throughout England and Wales.
The purpose of these vehicles? They're air ambulances. That's right. Freemasonry has been using its massive wealth to buy emergency airambulance vehicles, to contribute to human overpopulation by saving lives. The fiends! They've also bought a bunch of regular ambulances. Is there no end to their sinister goings-on?!
2. THEY HAVE A BIOLOGICAL WARFARE DIVISION!
Freemasons have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on research. For what dark purpose? War!
This year, they've been engaging in a war on Macular Degeneration, donating huge sums for research to fight this disease that leaves millions of people blind each year. They've done similar sinister research to try to destroy Parkinson's and heart disease. They even funded a special project that invented a blood test for early detection of Alzheimer's.
Their helicopter fleet and bio-warfare division are just one part of a larger front-organization known by the creepy acronym MCF, which they claim stands for Masonic Charitable Foundation. But who knows, right? The Masons are so dedicated to making us believe them; they went and donated 3 million pounds to a whole panorama of UK charities this year alone!
3. THEY'RE TAKING OVER THE MEDIA!!
Yes, the Masons have a dark plot to influence us all via television. For their 300th, they collaborated with the Sky 1 Network to produce a documentary, coming out April 17th, called "Inside the Freemasons". This super-secret society will spend five one-hour episodes showing the public exactly what it does and where, answering all kinds of questions.
OK, so you might say none of those things really sound all that nefarious. And that's pretty true. The real fact about Freemasonry is that, mostly, Masons are goody-goodies.
But what about the all that "ruling the world" stuff?! I mean, maybe Masons do give away millions and millions to charity every single year, and rescue people with helicopters, and fund medical research, and offer scholarships, and support all sorts of other good causes.... but that could all still be a front for secretly ruling over us all, right?!
If you still think that, consider this: For their 300th Anniversary, the masons made themselves a special commemorative jewel for sale to members as a souvenir. It's quite fancy.
It's also currently out of stock. The Freemasons, the organization allegedly so powerful and so well-organized as to secretly rule the entire planet, can't get organized enough to make sure they don't run out of their own commemorative medal on their 300th Anniversary!
Unfortunately, some very silly prejudices continue to persist about Freemasonry. So much so that in the UK today, there are demands placed on Masons that you don't see for anyone else.
A would-be UK policeman or a judge isn't asked to make a statement saying they're not supporters of, say, the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda; but policemen ARE asked to disclose if they are Freemasons. And until 2009 judges were required by law to disclose Masonic affiliation. Even though the Islamists were the ones murdering people this month in Westminster, while the Freemasons were the ones saving lives.
The alleged reason for this discrimination is the fear that Masons would give each other undue favouritism, even though such favouritism is expressly forbidden in Masonry, and even though studies by the UK government found that there was NO evidence of any such favouritism ever having taken place in the police or judiciary.
As for "ruling the world," from my research, there hasn't even been a Masonic US President since 1976, or Canadian Prime Minister since 1963, or British Prime Minister since 1955!
People want to imagine some shadowy group (Freemasons or otherwise) ruling the world because it would mean there's someone to blame for everything bad that ever happens. And because even that's somehow less scary than the real truth: no one is running the world. There's no one at the wheel. Certainly not the guys who can't keep their own commemorative jewel in stock.
But the REAL work Masons do, and the real lesson to learn from them, is in fraternal care and charity. Evil isn't found in satanic conspiracies; evil is just what happens when people fail to stand up for values, and stand up for others.
A new Festival in support of the Masonic Charitable Foundation has begun. Brothers have received a descriptive information packet. Note that the last Festival raised over £2 Million to support Freemasons, their families, and many local charities. Please let the Charity Steward know if you have any questions.
As of 31 January, Portcullis Lodge has donated over £12,000 to the Festival.
A NEWS ARTICLE FROM THE GRAND LODGE
The United Grand Lodge of England, the oldest Masonic national organization in the world, turns 300 this year. Note that Freemasonry is older than that, but it was only 300 years ago (1717) that four London lodges got together at the "Goose & Gridiron" pub and formed the first "Grand Lodge," an organization to supervise lodges. That was the birth of the modern worldwide Grand Lodge system. There are about 200 regular (i.e. recognized by the English) Grand Lodges in countries, states, and provinces worldwide.
Over the last three centuries, Freemasons have been accused of being a sinister secret society that controls the world, for nefarious purposes. One reason for this is that some very successful people have been Freemasons, both before and after becoming successful. Another is because Masons tend to keep very quiet about what they do.
So are they up to something? You can judge for yourself: our investigative reporting uncovered a few of the nefarious things that English Freemasonry has been up to for their 300th Birthday!
1. THEY HAVE A SECRET HELICOPTER PROGRAM!!
Conspiracy theorists noted that at the recent and tragic Islamist terrorist attacks at London's Parliament, a mysterious helicopter was spotted with the masonic square and compass logo on it!!
Why was it there? What are they up to?? What's their connection to the terrorist attack???
Here's the truth: over the last few years, the Freemasons have been quietly involved in a secret program of spending literally millions of dollars (at least 4 million pounds, from what I could gather) on buying helicopters. They've bought two helicopters in the London area, and contributed to similar programs throughout England and Wales.
The purpose of these vehicles? They're air ambulances. That's right. Freemasonry has been using its massive wealth to buy emergency airambulance vehicles, to contribute to human overpopulation by saving lives. The fiends! They've also bought a bunch of regular ambulances. Is there no end to their sinister goings-on?!
2. THEY HAVE A BIOLOGICAL WARFARE DIVISION!
Freemasons have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on research. For what dark purpose? War!
This year, they've been engaging in a war on Macular Degeneration, donating huge sums for research to fight this disease that leaves millions of people blind each year. They've done similar sinister research to try to destroy Parkinson's and heart disease. They even funded a special project that invented a blood test for early detection of Alzheimer's.
Their helicopter fleet and bio-warfare division are just one part of a larger front-organization known by the creepy acronym MCF, which they claim stands for Masonic Charitable Foundation. But who knows, right? The Masons are so dedicated to making us believe them; they went and donated 3 million pounds to a whole panorama of UK charities this year alone!
3. THEY'RE TAKING OVER THE MEDIA!!
Yes, the Masons have a dark plot to influence us all via television. For their 300th, they collaborated with the Sky 1 Network to produce a documentary, coming out April 17th, called "Inside the Freemasons". This super-secret society will spend five one-hour episodes showing the public exactly what it does and where, answering all kinds of questions.
OK, so you might say none of those things really sound all that nefarious. And that's pretty true. The real fact about Freemasonry is that, mostly, Masons are goody-goodies.
But what about the all that "ruling the world" stuff?! I mean, maybe Masons do give away millions and millions to charity every single year, and rescue people with helicopters, and fund medical research, and offer scholarships, and support all sorts of other good causes.... but that could all still be a front for secretly ruling over us all, right?!
If you still think that, consider this: For their 300th Anniversary, the masons made themselves a special commemorative jewel for sale to members as a souvenir. It's quite fancy.
It's also currently out of stock. The Freemasons, the organization allegedly so powerful and so well-organized as to secretly rule the entire planet, can't get organized enough to make sure they don't run out of their own commemorative medal on their 300th Anniversary!
Unfortunately, some very silly prejudices continue to persist about Freemasonry. So much so that in the UK today, there are demands placed on Masons that you don't see for anyone else.
A would-be UK policeman or a judge isn't asked to make a statement saying they're not supporters of, say, the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda; but policemen ARE asked to disclose if they are Freemasons. And until 2009 judges were required by law to disclose Masonic affiliation. Even though the Islamists were the ones murdering people this month in Westminster, while the Freemasons were the ones saving lives.
The alleged reason for this discrimination is the fear that Masons would give each other undue favouritism, even though such favouritism is expressly forbidden in Masonry, and even though studies by the UK government found that there was NO evidence of any such favouritism ever having taken place in the police or judiciary.
As for "ruling the world," from my research, there hasn't even been a Masonic US President since 1976, or Canadian Prime Minister since 1963, or British Prime Minister since 1955!
People want to imagine some shadowy group (Freemasons or otherwise) ruling the world because it would mean there's someone to blame for everything bad that ever happens. And because even that's somehow less scary than the real truth: no one is running the world. There's no one at the wheel. Certainly not the guys who can't keep their own commemorative jewel in stock.
But the REAL work Masons do, and the real lesson to learn from them, is in fraternal care and charity. Evil isn't found in satanic conspiracies; evil is just what happens when people fail to stand up for values, and stand up for others.