Masonic Lodge Ceremony Open

By John Larson

SOCORRO – The Masonic Lodge No. 9, based in Socorro, will perform a public installation ritual in Macey Center’s auditorium Saturday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.
Lodge Secretary Gary Stendahl said opening the ceremony to the public is a rare event.
“It’s the Masonic ritual revealed - the actual ritual performed as done in the Masonic Lodge,” Stendahl said. “The ceremony is normally limited to family members and guests. This is the first time for the Socorro lodge to have a public installation.”
He said the Masons is not a religious organization, but that one requirement for membership is to believe in a supreme being.
“One must be ethical and have high moral standards,” Stendahl said. “We make good men better.”
Socorro’s Masonic Lodge #9 was chartered in 1882, and was originally housed in the building now occupied by the Chamber of Commerce.
“Our meetings were held on the second floor,” Stendahl said. “Originally that whole building was the Masonic Lodge, and our emblem can still be seen on the building.”
He said the Mason’s have evolved into a benevolent association, and annually gives scholarships to high school graduates, and provides bicycles for the top readers in the Public Library’s summer reading program.
The Socorro Lodge boasts about 90 members.

Masonic Lodge Ceremony Open