CLAUDIU IONESCU
Founder & Director, MASONIC FORUM Magazine
A quarter of a century of Freemasonry means very little on universal scale, but both on a personal level and in relation to my home country, Romania, it is a lot. It represents 86% of the period since the Rekindling of the Lights in Romania, 1993. And almost half of my life, dedicated to Freemasonry. Written with capital letters, because I had the chance to learn what Freemasonry means and that’s why I dissociated myself from mediocrity and ephemeral constructions, forms without substance.
In this anniversary year I have started again to edit constantly the MASONIC FORUM Magazine, motivated by discussions with two friends of mine, DME and MEE.
I am honoured this year to have become a member of Hope of Kurrachee Research Lodge No. 337 within the Grand Lodge of Scotland. A paper is delivered each lodge meeting, a true Masonic royalty. Brethren concerned with study, willing to enlighten the rest of us. We also have some brethren in the lodge whose biographies are so extraordinary that could be subject of film. Fascinating!
I attended a first degree meeting in Rotterdam, at Lodge Concord No.134. Two profanes were initiated, a Turkish and a Brazilian. A touching ceremony, an extraordinary atmosphere, proof of the universality of Freemasonry. The Lodge is very cosmopolitan, bringing together Masons of different nationalities, from the areas of the Roman Empire plus the colonies. As a result, I decided to become a Country Member of the Grand East of Netherlands. In this issue of the magazine we present a brief history of Concord Lodge as a tribute to those who made me feel at home. Through our eyes, you will see also the splendid Museum of Freemasonry, in The Hague.
I attended an exceptional initiation at Royal Clarence Lodge No. 68 in Bristol. The Bristol Provincial Grand Lodge’s 1st degree ritual is unique, unlike anything I have seen before. I thank the brethren of Royal Clarence for the warmth with which they welcomed me to the Lodge. I also visited the Museum of the Provincial Grand Lodge and a short photo report is published in this issue. My guide was the Grand Librarian and Archivist himself, who knew the story of each exhibit. Impressive. Equally impressive is the normality of the leadership of the Provincial Grand Lodge. I thank them!
We present in this issue, along with very interesting articles, three exceptional interviews with personalities of world Freemasonry, Grand Masters in Chair, published also on the Masonic Forum Magazine YouTube channel: youtube.com/c/masonicforum.
We have an interview with Luis Baez Delgado, my Grand Master of the American Canadian Grand Lodge (part of the Vereinigten Großlogen von Deutschland) and two more interviews realised by the Editor in Chief of the magazine, the first one with Bruno Dumazel, Grand Master of Mauritius, and the second one, unique to most of our readers, with Christine Chapman, Grand Master of Freemasonry for Women in the United Kingdom. People from completely different backgrounds, brought together under the Masonic dome.
Through our interviews, along with presenting you Masonic leaders from around the world and their visions, we also want to help those who are concerned with the comparative study of the internal problems of the Craft, over time, but also related to the states in which operate the Grand Lodges whose leaders are interviewed by us. We believe that if we do not write our own history, others will write it for us. The Masonic Forum Magazine thus contributes to the recording of the history of world Freemasonry.
