Greetings All,
My name is Brother Oscar Alleyne, and I am newly elected as the President of The Masonic Society. Since 2015, I have served as one of your Board of Directors of The Masonic Society with vigor, excitement, and joy. For that, I thank each of you for your kind words of support and encouragement along the way. I also salute our Immediate Past President Brother Jay Hochberg for keeping us on a steady course ahead especially during COVID with implications that none of us ever imagined or anticipated.
We are in a moment in our time where we have gathered momentum to pursue continued growth with our flagship Journal. We rally around a desire to improve the collective canvas of Masonic education and research through you, our membership. The Masonic Society is a research society whose goal is not just to look backward at the history of Freemasonry, but to foster the intellectual, spiritual and social growth of the modern Masonic fraternity
That is the advantage of seeing the possible. This possible is reflected in one of my favorite quotes: “It is far better to dare mighty deeds, win glorious triumphs though they may be checkered with failure than to rank among those that neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in that twilight that neither knows victory nor defeat.”
Our Compasses teach us to limit our desires and that rising to eminence by merit we may live respected and die regretted. My vision as your new President is defined by the aims and goals of The Masonic Society. We will continue to be a trusted partner on Masonic education and research and deliver a quality Journal to the world. We will collaborate with other colleagues engaging in international, national, State and local Masonic education and research.
We are excited to announce the Quarry Project 3 is slated for September 2023. This event is a joint venture with the Masonic Museum and Library Association and will be held at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial and Museum in Alexandria, Virginia. Stay tuned for more details as our topics will cover research, writing, museum and library resources, and a focus on the digital strategies used to modernize the Masonic experience.
Looking forward, we are making the decision to think and act strategically. Our leadership is committed to planning for TMS’s future while learning from our past. We will benefit by developing our talents towards preparing TMS with a framework for success not by entitlement or coercion but by real service, established knowledge of the Craft and proven abilities of successful and respected leadership inside and outside of Freemasonry.
It is a great pleasure to be able to work with the entire leadership, but I am excited to be partnered with Brothers Greg Knott and Mark Robbins as the 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents of TMS. In addition, we have welcomed two new members to our Board of Directors: Brother Kevin Wardally from the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York and Brother Mason Russell from the Grand Lodge of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Before you are Brothers who are fully capable of helping our Board and The Masonic Society in managing the business of our Society as well as embracing the soul of our business: Fraternal Education.
As we consider the future of TMS, it is without question that we have inherited a powerful opportunity given our humble beginnings when the founders aspired to make a difference. This next generation of leadership humbly thank the Past Presidents, founders and Past Boards, members, and friends of TMS as we confidently step up to the plate to execute what we have been trained our entire lives to do.
See you all in the Quarries!
Brother Oscar Alleyne, FMS
President, The Masonic Society
