Chapter 101

Restoration after Suspension or Expulsion

REG. 101-1 APPLICATION FOR RESTORATION.

After the expiration of one year from the date of a decision or sentence of expulsion, a repentant brother may apply for restoration to Masonic rights and privileges, but restoration after expulsion is a voluntary act on the part of the Grand Lodge and shall not be claimed as a matter of right. [74-5.5; 74-5.6].

REG. 101-2 RESTORATION AFTER SUSPENSION.

Expiration of a term of suspension for a definite period shall operate as a restoration to membership at the termination of the period without any action by the Grand Lodge or the lodge except to note that fact in its minutes. [49-4.7; 74-5.4; 98-11].

REG. 101-3 RESTORATION - UNFINISHED MATERIAL.

In the case of an Entered Apprentice or a Fellow Craft the restoration shall be to the rank and lodge relationship he held before expulsion or suspension.

1. Regulations 73-4.5.A, 74-5.9, and 101-3, define the status of an Entered Apprentice or a Fellow Craft after restoration.

2. The Grand Secretary shall promptly notify the lodge of the action taken by the Grand Lodge on the application for restoration by an Entered Apprentice or a Fellow Craft.

3. No Grand Lodge certificate, Official Form No. 52, shall be issued unless the lodge has ceased to exist.

A. If the lodge has ceased to exist the certificate shall be issued if the applicant is restored.

B. The certificate shall be valid in all respects as if issued under Regulation 49-4.6.

4. The provisions of Regulation 73-6, do not begin to operate until the date of restoration. [42-13; 49-10.1; 76-2.1].

REG. 101-4 UNAFFILIATED MASON.

In the case of one unaffiliated or nonaffiliated he shall be restored to the status he had at the time of his conviction and to no other. [74-6; 76-10; 78-1; 74-7].

REG. 101-5 APPLICATION FOR RESTORATION.

An application for restoration shall be in writing to the Grand Lodge which shall be filed with the Grand Secretary at least ninety days before the annual communication. The application shall contain a statement of the complaint or charge upon which the applicant was tried and a statement of the grounds upon which he seeks restoration. [Trial Form 25].

1. The original application and six duplicate originals of the application, made by carbon process or photocopy, shall be filed with the Grand Secretary who shall promptly lay all papers in the case, including five copies of the application, before the Chairman of the Committee on Appeals.

2. A true and complete copy of said application shall be served by the applicant on the lodge of which he was last a member if it is in existence not less than ninety days before the annual communication of the Grand Lodge, and the lodge may follow the procedure in Regulation 101-6.

A. The service on the lodge may be made by Registered or Certified United States Mail addressed to the Secretary with return receipt requested, or it may be made by personal delivery to the Secretary of the lodge and his receipt obtained.

B. The proof of such service shall be attached to the application when filed with the Grand Secretary as provided in the preceding Regulation 101-5.1.

C. A lodge by a majority vote at a stated communication and on written request of the applicant may waive all or any of its rights under the ninety day period for filing a copy of the application.

3. If the lodge of which the applicant was last a member no longer exists, then a true and complete copy of the application shall be filed with the Judge Advocate not less than ninety days before the annual communication of the Grand Lodge. The Judge Advocate, if he deems it for the good of Masonry, may follow the procedure that the lodge could have followed if it were in existence.

4. One expelled, or one suspended while under the judgment of suspension, is not qualified to apply for restoration:

A. If he has been convicted, or has plead guilty, or entered a plea of nolo contendere, and has been sentenced by any state or federal court civil or military, for the same offense for which he was tried and punished under this CODE, or for a felony under the law where the offense was committed and said sentence or judgment has not been satisfied and discharged,

B. If he is then under sentence or judgment of any such court for the violation of any law of the land involving moral turpitude or heinous conduct, or [66-1.11].

C. If his citizenship has not been restored in the event it was lost by such conviction and sentence.

D. He shall attach to his application for restoration evidence of or a statement showing full satisfaction of and compliance with all of Subdivisions A and B, also a certified copy of the judgment restoring his citizenship, if Subdivision C applies to his case. [Trial Form 25].

5. An applicant may requests that privilege to appear before the Committee on Appeals in his application. By permission of the Committee on Appeals through its chairman, under such rules as he may make, an applicant may appear before that committee in person or by attorney to pursue his application for restoration.

6. No action can or shall be taken on an application for restoration after expulsion unless the procedure required by this Regulation has been fully complied with, and the applicant is not disqualified under Regulation 101-5.4.

REG. 101-6 OBJECTION BY LODGE.

When the copy of the application for restoration as required in Regulation 101-5.2, is received by a lodge, it may present a petition to the Grand Lodge in opposition to granting restoration to the applicant.

1. The petition shall be in writing, adopted at a stated communication, signed by the Master and the Secretary of the lodge under its seal, with the date of adoption.

2. It shall set forth any reason that the lodge may see fit to offer.

3. The original of the petition and six duplicate originals, made by carbon process or photocopy, shall be filed with the Grand Secretary not less than thirty days before the annual communication of the Grand Lodge.

4. The Grand Secretary shall at once lay five copies before the Committee on Appeals and one copy shall be forwarded to the applicant for restoration.

5. By permission of that committee through its chairman, under such rules as he may make, the lodge may appear before the committee by its Master or other duly-appointed representative to be heard on its petition, provided,application therefor is made in said petition. [45-3.4.C; 67-2; 68-1; 101-5.3].

REG. 101-7 RESTORATION AFTER EXPULSION.

An application for restoration after expulsion shall be referred to the Committee on Appeals of the Grand Lodge, and the adoption by the Grand Lodge by a majority vote of a favorable report of that committee, or its own motion, restores the applicant to all the rights and privileges of a nonaffiliated Mason without further action, but it does not restore him to membership in any lodge.

1. A Grand Lodge demit shall be issued to him without cost. [34-7.2; 73-4.5.A; 74-5.5; 74-5.6].

2. The Grand Lodge of its own motion, or upon the said application, may restore one who has been expelled, provided, he is not disqualified for restoration under Regulation 101-5. [36-10.23.C; 98-1].

REG. 101-8 TERMINATION OF SUSPENSION.

The penalty of suspension inflicted by a Trial Commission, or by the Judge Advocate under Regulation 91-12, or by the Grand Master under Regulation 91-13, or by the lodge under Chapter , may be terminated at any time before the expiration of the term by the Grand Lodge.

1. Termination shall immediately restore the brother to his former status or to all his former relations with his lodge and the Craft.

2. The Grand Lodge of its own motion, or upon an application as provided for in Regulation 101-5, may restore one who has been suspended before the expiration of the term of suspension, provided, he is not disqualified under Regulation101-5. [74-5.5; 74-5.6; 98-1; 101-4; Trial Form 25].

REG. 101-9 NOTICE OF ACTION.

The Grand Secretary shall promptly advise all interested parties of the action taken under the provisions of Regulations 101-7and 101-8. The Secretary of the lodge shall notify each lodge having concurrent jurisdiction with his lodge of the day action was taken on an application for restoration within ten days thereof. [59-12.19.H].

REG. 101-10 EXPELLED - OTHER JURISDICTIONS.

The penalty for any unmasonic conduct inflicted on a member of a lodge in this state by the proper authority in another recognized grand jurisdiction shall be the same and shall have the same effect, in all respects, as if the penalty had been applied after due trial in this state. A member of a lodge in this state who has been suspended or expelled by the proper authority in another recognized grand jurisdiction shall be restored first according to the law of that grand jurisdiction before he is qualified to seek restoration in our jurisdiction. [90-6].