Our 2018 Dues Billing

Dear Brethren and friends:

Good afternoon everyone,

I just ordered the printing of our 2018 dues bills. Now I know a few of you are wondering why would I order 2018 bills in June of 2017?

Our fiscal year begins on 1 August in the Scottish Rite, so essentially 1 August is new year's day in the Valley of Philadelphia.

Once Supreme Council runs our dues bills they will mail your bill to you. When you receive your bill and remit your payment, please be sure to include your bill with your check for payment. If you do electronic banking, you cannot send your bill along and that is understandable and is fine. Please wait until you actually receive your bill before paying your dues!

We currently do not accept credit cards in the Valley, however, you may pay your dues by credit card through the Supreme Council's web site (scottishritenmj.org). But, please be advised, when you pay your dues in that manner, they deduct the banking charge from your payment. They will credit your record that you paid your dues in full, but we will receive less than that amount. Please consider that.

Supreme Council recently relaxed a rule in the Constitution that required Valley's to hold a non paid member for two years prior to suspending them for non payment of dues. This new 'policy' says that if the Valley has in its by-laws that it will suspend after one year, they may. Well, as you might recall this past Friday, we adopted a new full code of by-laws and one of the amendments to those by-laws is that those members who haven't paid their dues for the year will be suspended at the end of the year. To clarify, if your 2018 dues are not paid by our May 2018 meeting, you will be suspended.

On behalf of the Commander-in-Chief and the other Officers of the Valley, I want to thank you in advance for your payment of dues and for your continued interest and participation in our Valley.

If anyone is having trouble paying their dues and wishes to remain a member of the Valley, please do not hesitate to call me in the Valley Office at 215-563-1814 and we will discuss options to help you remain a member of the Valley.

Dear Brethren and Friends:

BRETHREN TAKE NOTICE:

For Friday's Annual Meeting, all Elected and Appointed Officers, this includes those Brethren standing for appointment as Guards (14°) Satraps (16°) and Acolytes (18°) should be in tuxedo (short coat). The Officers for Election and Appointment in the Consistory (32°) line should be in tails with white vest and tie.

After dinner you should report to the Ill. Carl D. Homan, 33° Complex on the fourth floor to get the appropriate collar or sash (18°) and apron for your line. Candidates for Guards, Satraps and Acolytes are welcome and encouraged to wear the appropriate regalia for your line; however, we ask that you wait until the current Elected and Appointed Officers are in their regalia before putting any on, just be sure we have enough for the line. Even if you do not have the regalia on you will still be installed to office and will muster with your line when your name is called during the installation ceremony.

Gold Officer caps should be worn as well and they are also available in the Complex. 33°'s and MSA's will wear their appropriate cap,

The Honor Guard will be required for this meeting as our Active, Ill Robert J. Bateman, 33°, RWPGM will be in attendance and will be received. Honor Guard members should be in tuxedo with a gold officers cap or white 33° or red MSA if applicable.

After dinner Honor Guard members should report to Ill. Philip J. Janusz, 33° MSA in Gothic Hall for rehearsal of duties.

Any questions or comments or concerns? Please ask.

Dear Brethren and Friends:

Tomorrow, Thursday, 8 June is the Reservation Deadline for dinners at the Annual Meeting.

If you plan to attend and wish to have dinner, make your reservations NOW! Also, please be sure to let me know what your entree choice is: Chicken, Salmon or Vegetarian.

Call 215-563-1814 to make your reservation or email to valleyofphiladelphia@valleyofphiladelphia.com. Be sure to include your entree choice!

Remember, by direction of the Executive Committee I am no longer permitted to order extra meals, which means that I will take NO reservations beginning Friday. Also, if you order a dinner and fail to show for the meeting you will be billed.

Govern yourself accordingly.

Good Morning Brethren and Friends!

This coming Thursday, June 8th, is our dinner reservation cut off for the Valley's Annual Meeting on Friday, June 16th. Have you made your reservations yet for the Annual Meeting?

If you are planning on attending and wish to have dinner, please do so no later than this coming Thursday. We will not accept any reservations after the cut off. Nope. Sorry. Just not going to happen. No exceptions.

When making your reservations, as this will be a sit down dinner, please be sure to let me know what your entree choice will be: Chicken Tuscany, Broiled Filet of Salmon or the Vegetarian option.

Reservations are easy to make too. All you need to do is call, 215-563-1814 or by email to valleyofphiladelphia@valleyofphiladelphia.com. Please be sure to include your entree choice

By direction of the Executive Committee I am no longer permitted to order a few extra dinners for 'walk ups.' Which means if you do not have a reservation, you cannot join us for dinner; but you are still welcome to attend the Annual Meeting.

Dear Brethren and Friends:

Plan now to join us for the Valley’s Most Important Meeting of the year: The Annual Meeting, on Friday, June 16, 2017

It is at the Annual Meeting where we will elect and install the Officers of Benjamin Franklin Consistory, 32°, Kilwinning Chapter of Rose Croix, 18°, DeJoinville Council, Princes of Jerusalem, 16°, Philadelphia Lodge of Perfection, 14° and the Coordinate Bodies.

Action will be had on the proposed budget for the 2017-18 Scottish Rite year and on a full code of by-laws.

Following the close of the joint sessions we will welcome the Ladies and other guests into Gothic Hall for the installation of officers. We will also recognize our 50+ year members, present checks to our Abbott Scottish Rite Scholarship recipients and present the Past Most Wise Master’s, Past Sovereign Prince’s and Past Thrice Potent Master’s jewels to Ill. William Klosz, 33°, Ill. Harry Rutter, 33° and Bro. Joel Wolfert, 32°, respectively. We will also present the Valley of Philadelphia’s Scottish Rite Lifetime Achievement Award to a very deserving Brother.

The evening begins at 6PM in the Grand Banquet Room with a sit down dinner. We have two entrée choices, Broiled Filet of Salmon served with fire roasted red pepper sauce or Chicken Tuscany; boneless rustic breast of chicken topped with fire roasted red peppers, onions, Portobello mushrooms & sweet Italian sausage with chef’s homemade marinara sauce. The balance of the dinner menu includes: Classic Caesar Salad, Chef’s choice vegetables and Apple Pie ala mode to finish. The cost for the dinner is $20 per person.IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING:

By action of the Executive Committee, any member who reserves a dinner and doesn’t show for the meeting will be billed. If you are attending the meeting only you do not need to click ‘Going’ for so doing will order you a dinner and you will be billed for that meal. If you are attending the dinner please be sure to leave a comment regarding what your entrée choices are.Also, in the past I’ve ordered a few extra dinners for those that might call or email past the deadline. We will no longer offer that. If you do not reserve by the deadline you will not be able to eat with the Valley. NO EXCEPTIONS. This is by order of the Executive Committee. Please make a note of it. 

Reservations MUST be made by or before, Thursday, June 8, 2017. Absolutely NO reservations will be accepted past that date. NO EXCEPTIONS! Govern yourself accordingly. And again, TICKETS WILL BE COLLECTED IN THE BANQUET ROOM!

Reservations can be made by calling 215-53-184 or by email to valleyofphiladelphia@valleyofphiladelphia.com or by mail to: Scottish Rite Office, Masonic Temple, One North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107-2520. Please make checks payable to Scottish Rite Bodies.

Parking for the evening is in the Convention Center Parking Facility, 1324 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. This is only garage we have chasers/validations for! Park elsewhere and you are on your own.

Dress Code: All Valley elected and appointed officers should be in tuxedo. All other members should be in business suit or sport coat and tie. Those Brethren that will be newly appointed to the lines should also be in tuxedo

Hope to see YOU there!

Good Morning everyone! Happy Earth Day!

Great meeting last night! The Degrees were fantastic.
The 15° Cast led by our Sovereign Prince, Ill. Harry Rutter, 33° was perfect. The scene with Bros. Yasser AlKhatib,32° MSA and Lawrence Hicks, was really great. You wouldn't know it to see but Bro, Yasser wasn't able to attend any of the rehearsals (because of his work commitments) but he and Lawrence did their scene seamlessly in my opinion. Great work Brethren! It was good to see Ill. Robert Burns, 33° back and involved as well. As many of you know Bro. Bob is currently serving as the Most Excellent Grand King of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania, so his time is obviously limited. But he was there for his Valley last night. And, how can I sing the praises of the 15° Cast without mentioning Bro. Louis Krass? Bro. Lou was a member of our Fall Class and he's done a speaking part in the 4° and now the 15°! He's on his way, stay tuned! I can't forget Bros. Joe Robert and Glen Tyson too!

Again this Degree was directed by our Valley Organist, Bro. Jeffrey Lees, 32° MSA, Past Sovereign Prince. This was his directorial debut. The Cast's performance is an example of Jeff's leadership. He has already expressed an interest in coming back to direct again. That's great news for our Valley. We've been searching for new Degree Masters. We've added two new ones this Spring with Bro. Jeff and Bro. Russell Combs, 32° MSA, who directed the 9° in March. Great work Brethren!

The 18° conferral as explained by Ill. Bud Garvey, 33° was quite a hurdle with Bros. Norman Greene III, 32° MSA and Bro. Brian Skoff, 32° being out with health concerns. But their teammates picked up for them. Plus, how nice was it to see Ill. G. Kent Hackney, 33°, back out there for the Story of the Cross? You can't beat having that story told by someone that was ACTUALLY THERE! I'm kidding of course, he tells me he was born two days later. Ill. Philip Janusz, 33° MSA, Past Most Wise Master, didn't miss a step since he left the line. Our Most Wise Master, Ill. Bill Klosz, 33° as always did perfect work! Bro. Leonard Altieri, Esquire, stepped up to cover for parts for which we had missing Cast members and he did a great job. Speaking of great jobs, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the EXEMPLARY work presented by Bros. Jon Solheim, Rick Santella, Dean Jones, Tim Curran and Thomas J. Brotherton III. We could have had another missing Knight last evening, as Bro. Tim was experiencing the pain of sciatica but, hey, he's a Marine, they're tough dudes and Tim was no exception out on the floor doing his part and not showing he was hurting. Way to go Bro! Hope you're feeling better today.

Personally, I want to thank the guys on 'my team' for their help last night. We were missing Bro. Norm on one of our Stewards tables, but thanks to Bros. Thomas J. Brotherton III, Frank J Lorine, Rick Santella and new Valley Brother, Samuel Justice Morrison, 32°, everything ran smoothly. Morrison? Hmm why does that name sound familiar? Yes, everything ran smoothly, but that doesn't mean we don't need you back Bro. Norm! Get well soon Brother!

Also a huge, THANK YOU goes out to everyone who attended last night! Without your support, what do we have? You, are what makes us, 'Pennsylvania Freemasonry's Best Kept Secret.' God Bless you Clay.

My most sincere apologies go out to Illustrious Rick Freedman, 33°. It appears one of my fingers wasn't paying attention when I gave it a downward depression and it hit the 2 instead of the three and as a result our Illustrious Brother is shown in the 4° Cast listing as a 32° instead of his much deserved, 33°. Again, my apologies my Illustrious Brother. I own my mistakes!

To all those hard working dedicated Brethren that will attend our Annual Worker's Night this evening (a reward for their efforts) I'll see you there! Thanks to our Thrice Potent Master, Bro. Joel Wolfert, 32° and Lady Barbara for all their work in putting this evening's festivities together. Want to go to Worker's Night next year? Get involved!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Dear Brethren and Friends:

Happy New Year!

Before I begin, just a note of assistance to you: Get used to writing a seventeen (17) at the end of the year. We all always seem to have trouble with that.

Okay, so what's going on?

Tonight is our 4° Cast Kick Off meeting. This is the meeting we have to introduce our new Brethren who are interested and have volunteered to to take part in the 4° conferral all they'll need to know about being a Cast member. We'll also assign parts. We had two classes to have volunteers from this time, both the Spring and Fall Classes of 2016. Unfortunately out of 128 potential Brothers the response wasn't all that overwhelming, but we did get a few of them and to those Brethren we say, 'Thank You!' You are about to begin an exciting and fun journey of involvement in your Valley and I guarantee it will be time well spent!

Thanks to all our 'veteran' or 'seasoned' Brothers who volunteered to take part in the Cast again as well. We just couldn't do it without the stalwarts in this Valley and we're glad to have you.

For those attending the meeting, parking is in the Convention Center Parking Facility, 1324 Arch Street. If you park there, your parking is FREE. If you park anywhere else you are on your own.

The dress code for the Masonic Temple is always business suit or sport coat and tie. No tux's are necessary for our rehearsals or cast meetings. Besides, unless you're an elected or appointed Valley Officer, you never have to wear tuxedo to a Valley function!

The meeting will begin promptly at 7PM in the Ill. Carl D. Homan, 33° room on the fourth floor of the Masonic Temple, One North Broad Street.

The 4° Degree will be presented on the opening night of our Spring Reunion, which is Friday, 17 March. The 14° will also be a part of that night as well. There should be one other Degree presented that evening too and as soon as our Director of Work lets me know which Degree it is, I'll let you know.

Don't forget our next Valley Family Life event, 'Valley of Philadelphia Night at the Harlem Globetrotters, on Sunday, 5 March at the Wells Fargo Center. Tickets are available for $15 per person. You can download an order form right here from our Valley group page by clicking on the EVENTS tab ^ above or by visiting the Announcements page on our Valley's web site (philascottishrite,org)

Our name, 'Valley of Philadelphia Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite' will appear on the Jumbo-tron and there will be an on the court meet and greet for all of our folks with the Globetrotters, plus a group picture with the team!

This should be a great family night. Order your tickets soon!

Our Spring Class has been named in honor of Ill. Arthur D. Becker, 33° MSA, Past Commander-in-Chief. What a great honor for Bro. Art! Very happy for him!

Now is the time to get a Candidate for the Class. To our new Brothers, if you are the first line signer on 3 initiated petitions in the same year, your Scottish Rite dues the following year are FREE! If you are the first line signer on 25 petitions over the course of your lifetime, you become a Life Member and will then pay NO dues ever after! Talk to those Brothers in your Lodge now!

Petitions are always available by visiting the Valley's website or give me a call in the Valley Office at 215-563-1814.

Second Notices for Dues are in the mail. If you've received one of these notices, please remit your dues.

As part of our new full code of by-laws, we will no longer hold a Brother for two years prior to suspension. Doing this we're still billable to the Supreme Council for the $27 per member assessment and when do not receive a dues payment from a Brother or a number of Brethren, that expense can add up.

Our new by-law article will now allow us to suspend a Brother from the Scottish Rite for failing to pay one year's dues. These suspensions will occur following our Valley's Annual Meeting which this year will be held on Friday, 16 June.

If you are having an issue paying your dues and would like to remain a member of the Valley, please contact me in the Scottish Rite Office and we can work out an affordable payment plan to help you retain your Valley membership. Please understand it is no longer affordable for the Valley to simply remit dues.