Masters Message December 2021

Greetings Brothers,

The Wardens and Officers of Saint Johns Lodge #1 Providence join me in wishing you and your families a very happy, peaceful, and safe Holiday Season!

December will be a very busy month for the Lodge! On Saturday, December 11th, Lady Ita and I will be hosting the SJ1P Annual Holiday Party at Alpine Country Club, starting at 6 pm. We are so grateful to once again be able to ring in the Holidays with good food, good music, and good company! At the door, we will be selling raffle tickets and collecting donations to
benefit the Dorcas International Institute of RI. Dorcas is currently working to resettle more than a thousand evacuees from Afghanistan in Rhode Island, so I hope you will be generous with your support.

December’s Communication is likewise a big one for us: SJ1P will be welcoming our Most Worshipful Grand Master, Robert B. Ellston, for his Official Visitation to the Metro District. The District Suite accompanying R∴W∴ DDGM Rick Baccus will enter the Lodge at 7:15, with the Grand Master’s Suite making its alarm promptly at 7:30.

Our program for the Grand Master’s Visitation is a presentation by Dr. Teresa Neff, Senior Lecturer in Music at MIT, and the Handel and Haydn Society’s Historically Informed Performance Fellow. Dr. Neff will be giving a talk entitled "The Musical World of Thomas Smith Webb." You probably know Webb as a Past Grand Master of Rhode Island or for his major role in shaping American Freemasonry, but you likely don’t know that he was also an accomplished musician and patron of the arts. In her talk, Dr. Neff will discuss Webb's love of music, his role in establishing the Handel and Hayden Society in 1815, and how his vision of spreading public appreciation of music has continued for the two hundred years that the Society has been in operation. It's going to be a fantastic presentation!

Once again, this program is semi-public and I encourage you to bring your spouses and partners, who are also invited to join us for dinner at 6:00 and collation following the meeting. As always, please be sure to include your guest when you RSVP for dinner.

Lastly, the Lodge will be gathering to assemble the Holiday Baskets on the morning of Saturday, December 18. This is an important lodge tradition and our biggest charity event of the year. In a break from years past, we will be starting this year at 8 am. Remember: many hands make light work! I am very grateful to the brothers of Daylight Lodge who will be preparing and serving breakfast to all of the volunteers that morning. (We will be staging the boxes for assembly on the evening of Friday, Dec. 17 at 6 pm. If you can assist in the set-up, please contact Bro. Hugo Adames II at (401) 663-3339. Set-up should take no more than an hour.)

I look forward to celebrating the Holidays with my Masonic family. Say safe, stay well, and stay warm!

W∴ Joshua A. Irizarry
Worshipful Master