Structure

Masonic lodges come in all sizes, ranging in membership from twenty or so Masons to more than a thousand. Each lodge is presided over by a master, assisted by a senior and a junior warden, just as in ancient times. The master of a Masonic lodge is vested with much greater authority than that given the presiding officer of almost any other democratic organization. There are several lodge officers below the ranks of master and wardens and in most instances a Mason progresses through this line of officers until eventually becoming master. In some lodges all officers are elected; in others only the high officers are elected, the master appointing the lesser officers. The membership, by its votes, determines who will fill offices, and it transacts the general affairs of the lodge.

All over the world individual lodges have come together to form grand lodges, this to ensure harmony, unity, and conformity. There is a grand lodge in each of the United States. There is also a grand lodge in the District of Columbia, making a total of fifty-one Grand Lodges in the Continental United States and Alaska and Hawaii.

The organizational structure of a grand lodge is basically the same as that of a lodge, its officers usually being called grand master, grand warden, etc. The business of a grand lodge is transacted during annual meetings, delegates from the member lodges usually constituting a majority of those entitled to vote therein. The grand lodge exercises complete authority over each and every one of its member lodges but, as can be noted from the foregoing, the lodges, through their delegates, have the say about who will govern them, and how.

There is no central or supreme Masonic authority in the United States, each grand lodge exercises complete control of its own destiny and total Masonic authority within its jurisdiction, recognizing and respecting the right of each other grand lodge to do likewise. Top officers of the fifty-one grand lodges meet together periodically, nationally and regionally, to maintain fraternal harmony and to share information and ideas.

The grand lodges maintain ongoing fraternal relations and correspondence with each other and with most grand lodges in other countries. If a grand lodge should adopt policies or engage in activities contrary to those held to be properly Masonic by another grand lodge, it is probable the fraternal relations between the two will be severed. Several grand lodges in Europe, for example, have over a period of time dropped the requirement that each member believe in a Supreme Being, or the requirement that the Holy Bible be always present and open upon the altar while a lodge is meeting, and this has resulted in the grand lodges here and most of those abroad withdrawing fraternal recognition of the offenders. When fraternal recognition is withdrawn it means the withdrawing grand lodge no longer recognizes the other grand lodge or its members as being Masonic.