CLAUDIU IONESCU
Founder & Director, MASONIC FORUM Magazine
21 years after my initiation, I resigned from the National Grand Lodge of Romania. You can see my resignation here. Obviously, I continue my international Masonic activity, being a member of the United Grand Lodge of England and of the American Canadian Grand Lodge within the United Grand Lodges of Germany.
MASONIC FORUM Magazine, founded my myself in 2000, for (among other reasons) promoting an intellectual image of the NGLR, will continue to promote international Masonic values.
During this period – in Romania and all over the world – I met in Freemasonry the whole range of characters / personalities. From small people who think themselves great if they wear badges and Regalia, to world-class personalities. Freemasonry is a school of life. Here you have the chance to meet – as a brother – people you would never have ever met. It’s up to us to learn from the value people we intersect with.
One of Craft’s major problems in the 21st century is that it has become a reflection of the societies in which it operates. Self-knowledge and valid universal values tend to be, unfortunately, secondary.
This is one of the reasons why I edited and released in Romania Thomas Jackson’s book, „Masonic Perspectives. The Thoughts of a Grand Secretary”, precisely to promote these perennial values in an era of mediocrity and ephemeral construction, of forms without substance. We launched the book at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest, as we thought it was the most appropriate place, because Tom is spending more than half of each year traveling between the continents. It is an honor for me to be the publisher of his book.
Another challenge the Craft has to face – world-wide – is the growth of nationalist sentiment. Many politicians, in the absence of ideas and programs aimed at progress, appeal – more and more often – to nationalist ideas, manipulating crowds for cheap votes. Under these conditions, Freemasonry may become the „guilty party”.
The quality of the leaders is another serious problem of Freemasonry. The lack of solid general culture, the narrow, sectarian visions of many Masonic leaders (both in Romania and abroad) can only lead to the destruction from inside of the most important and progressive organization on the Globe, which operates over 300 for years. Corporate-style arivism comes together with the substitution of value in itself, with the substitution of individual study, with cheap and illusory consumerism, and thus leads to a dilution of the Masonic spirit itself.
I kindly asked one of the members of the board of honorary directors of the magazine, Most Worshipful Brother Alberto Menasche, Grandmaster of the Swiss Alpina Grand Lodge from Switzerland, to tell us – in short – his life, because in 2018 he celebrates 55 years since he was initiated. Most of us do not have these years of life, so the more impressive is the experience that Alberto Menasche has accumulated in these years. Alberto is one of the men – fewer and fewer – who know and deeply respect the real and traditional values of Craft.
Freemasonry played a major role in shaping Europe’s new borders a century ago. What are capable to do the masonic leaders nowadays?
*******
The image on the cover of this issue of the magazine is an engraving by Marcel Chirnoagă, named “The Power”.
