In with the New

Get to know Grand Master G. Sean Metroka

Since being elected as Grand Master of California last fall, I’ve had the privilege of participating in the openings (institutions or constitutions) of nine new lodges.

This achievement is thanks to the concerted effort of our Grand Lodge to support the development of new lodges, which we see as a crucial component to expanding the fraternity’s footprint in California, providing a wider range of options to our new and existing members, and ultimately fortifying our membership for the future. Since 2017, when this effort began in earnest, we’ve launched an amazing 25 new lodges in California, including groups catering to Hispanic, French, Armenian, and Filipino traditions.

These new lodges are helping us reach into more communities than ever and strengthening the state of the craft in California. More than that, each one of them acts as a laboratory of new ideas that all of us can draw from. That’s the takeaway from this issue of California Freemason. Whether it’s the international bonds forged by a group like La France № 885, the balancing of history and change at Oakland № 61, or the way that material culture and creativity have helped forge a culture at Logos № 861, there are inspiring lessons playing out in real time all around us.

In the middle of that flurry of activity I stepped into last fall, I was also able to attend the 175th anniversary of California № 1, one of the oldest chartered lodges in our jurisdiction. It was a great reminder that what makes our fraternity so special is the mix of old and new. Tradition and evolution. Stability and change. More than anything, it crystalized for me the notion that we should always be open to new ideas and ways of doing things—and that some ideas do indeed stand the test of time.