Intention to form EMEA Shrine Temple

[JulesTheBit]

A group of Shriners led by the newly installed London Shrine Club President, Noble Patrick McCann, will collect signatures with the intention of petitioning Imperial to form a new Shrine Centre. Centres were previously known as Temples. The new Centre will be named Tadukli, whose jurisdiction will be Europe, the Middle-East and Africa.

We need 300 signatures from current Shriners or Master Masons who wish to become Shriners and must be resident within the jurisdiction. Petitioners must be able to produce dues cards/clearance certificates for 2009. These must be from a UGLE Lodge, or Lodges of other Masonic jurisdictions recognised by UGLE.

Those signing will be assumed to be founders of the new Tadukli Shrine Centre, which is likely to have its headquarters in Paris. Tadukli Centre will form Shrine Clubs in locations convenient for its members.

Once formed Tadukli Shrine Centre intends to support a major new project which is already being initiated by specialists at a famous London teaching hospital. More details of that intention will become available in due course.

Fees for Founders of the proposed new Centre are not fixed yet. Annual Shrine Centre fees are currently in the region of 100 USD. Tadukli annual fees are intended to be similar, but the initial Founders fees will be higher to cover set-up costs.

More information will be published here as it emerges. Questions welcome. Signature forms are being prepared.

Julian Smith, Asst Rabban Designate, Tadukli Shrine Centre
El Kalah Shrine Centre

[cemab4y]

I am delighted to hear this news. I wish you every possible success. I reside in America, so I cannot join, but I can certainly pray for your success! I will possibly return to Iraq, later this year. If I have temporary residence in Iraq, I may possibly join.

May you meet with success!

[JulesTheBit]

I am delighted to hear this news. I wish you every possible success. I reside in America, so I cannot join, but I can certainly pray for your success! I will possibly return to Iraq, later this year. If I have temporary residence in Iraq, I may possibly join.

May you meet with success!

Thanks Charles. We're making steady progress and it would be great to have you on board.

YITF, Jules

[cemab4y]

I am leaving for Afghanistan this week. I will be there for possibly one year, possibly two, depending on contracts. I will be delighted to keep in touch, and possibly participate. Please keep me informed.

[rjgs]

Once again, please count me in!

I shall support you in all your laudable undertakings.

Fraternally,

Roger.

[richfen]

I am leaving for Afghanistan this week. I will be there for possibly one year, possibly two, depending on contracts. I will be delighted to keep in touch, and possibly participate. Please keep me informed.

Keep safe, Bro.

[JulesTheBit]

At the Shrine's Imperial session last week, proposals for new Shrine centres in the Philippines, Puerto Rico and part of Europe (excluding UK, Norway and some other areas) were presented. The proposals for Philipines and Puerto Rico passed, the petition for part of Europe failed.

The plan for an EMEA Temple which I mentioned previously was not submitted this time, we are still working on it.

YITF, Julian

[Lloyd Wiebe]

Julian,

Will you be making the presentation in Toronto next year?

YITF
Lloyd

[JulesTheBit]

Julian,

Will you be making the presentation in Toronto next year?

YITF
Lloyd

Hi Lloyd

Yes, that's the plan. Puerto Rico and Philippines spent a long time considering what they were going to do, and planning. Philipines in particular were talking about their intentions several years ago. Emirat (the failed European venture) put its proposition together quickly and would appear to have failed as a result.

We want to do things right; "ready, fire, aim" isn't a good way to do things 8-)

YITF, Jules

[rjgs]

Is there any update on this yet please, Jules?

[JulesTheBit]

Is there any update on this yet please, Jules?

Pat McCann is driving the European Shrine development and he's working closely with Imperial. His work in the States makes him ideally placed to do this. I'm helping out but more in the background.

Work at the moment is going into developing the London Shrine/hospital liaision that you were instrumental in starting. Knowing the Shrine as well as they do, the London doctors are very keen to use the Shrine name and to increase cross-training and information exchange on child burns between London and the USA. Doctors from London have been to the States to talk about this. Plan is for a major unit at the new London hospital to carry the Shrine name. This was the hospitals suggestion, not ours 8-)

It's difficult to see anything tangible because, as you know, the build isn't finished and for reasons you will understand while the hospital development is ongoing very little is put in the public domain. That's nothing to do with Shriners, it's commercial and political confidentiality during negotiations which take years.

Setting up a Shrine temple in Europe is still very much on the agenda, but it's not as important as helping the London hospital development imo.

YITF, Jules

[cemab4y]

Please keep us informed of your progress. I think that a Shrine Center operating in the UK, is marvelous! I wish you every possible success.

I am interested in how British Freemasons, FEEL about the Shrine. Do ordinary Masons, support the idea of the Shrine becoming more active and public in the UK. Do some Masons oppose it? I read a posting (some years ago), from a British Mason who was totally against the Shrine, feeling that it was an insult to Islam, and would be offensive to many British Muslims.

What is the truth? Are British Freemasons, supportive? And, will you get a working Shrine center in the British Isles? What is your progress?

[JulesTheBit]

hi Charles

Very few British freemasons know anything about the Shrine at all. Most people I discuss it with are initially ambivalent, though they do become more positive as they find out about the good work the Shrine does,

YITF, Julian

[rhunker]

I'm a Shriner in Zelzah Shrine in Las Vegas. I haven't visited this website for many months and am pleasantly surprised to learn about your initiatives. Will there be anything presented in Denver at the Imperial Session in July? I try to visit the UK or Europe every year and would love to visit a Shrine Center there. How can I keep up with what you're doing? I wish you the very best.

[gord_vokes]

hi Charles

Very few British freemasons know anything about the Shrine at all. Most people I discuss it with are initially ambivalent, though they do become more positive as they find out about the good work the Shrine does,

YITF, Julian

Hi Jules,

I'm not a Shriner myself but know quite a few and have only good to say for their work.

The thing that baffles me is that the Shrine is now Shrine International and that would mean that if a unit was set up outside the USA that it would be controlled from there, not Europe or the British Isles. How can ULGE or any other GL (in Europe for example) permit it's members to join on the basis of being masons of their jurisdiction but answering to an international association that claims masonic membership?

[Lloyd Wiebe]

Gord,

All Temples report to Tampa. UGLE, or any other Grand Lodge have no say in the Shrine, but the Shrine always tries to have a good working relationship with the various Grand Lodges.
It should be noted that as of the revised protocol (Nov. 2010) the term "Temple" is once again permitted.

[sc]

Petitioners must be able to produce dues cards/clearance certificates for 2009. These must be from a UGLE Lodge, or Lodges of other Masonic jurisdictions recognised by UGLE.

I'm curious as to how this would work.

UGLE doesn't use dues cards (that I know of), and clearence certificates are something I associate with members who have resigned from a particular lodge in good standing. I presume a current UGLE mason would therefore need to request a "to whom it may concern - he was fully paid up in 2009" type letter from his Lodge Secretary -- which in effect would be a clearence certificate?

[JulesTheBit]

Petitioners must be able to produce dues cards/clearance certificates for 2009. These must be from a UGLE Lodge, or Lodges of other Masonic jurisdictions recognised by UGLE.

I'm curious as to how this would work.

UGLE doesn't use dues cards (that I know of), and clearence certificates are something I associate with members who have resigned from a particular lodge in good standing. I presume a current UGLE mason would therefore need to request a "to whom it may concern - he was fully paid up in 2009" type letter from his Lodge Secretary -- which in effect would be a clearence certificate?

Hi SC

Yes, the "To Whom it May Concern" letter you're describing is a typical clearance certificate. It's not just used for members who have resigned, it's commonly required by anyone wanting to join another Order, at least in UGLE.

S&F, Jules

[Carl]

Sorry, to ask this. But are you really serious about this!?

[Carl]

From what I know Shriners is banned in Serious Masonry here in Europe. In the By-laws we have in my Lodge, Shirines are not to be admitted in to the Lodge, and a Brother joining them is to be Expulsed. So this I can't understand.