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Special points of interest:

Message from PR

Sean McDuffee,,32° KCCH

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Message from VM Dan Jobrack

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Message From

Montana SGIG

David L. Nielsen 33°

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General Information

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Officers for 2019

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For The Valley of Billings, Orient of Montana - serving Eastern Montana Scottish Rite Members

The February 2020

To The Celestial Lodge:

None

Greetings It was certainly nice to have the month of January off, especially after a busy holiday season, but now it is time to resume our labors. One of my goals for 2020 is to in-crease the participation of our black hats within our val-ley. Many discussions have recently taken place about getting them involved with parts in the degrees or with Reunion logistics. You can never have too many backups or alternates during a reunion. Moving forward it is im-perative to provide them with opportunities and hear their

ideas. Other possibilities, for those who are interested, could be assisting with the maintenance and yard work of our Temple. Also, our Knights of Saint Andrew study group is specifically for our black hat Brethren. Brother Ron Swensen and Brother John Hugdahl have recently changed the format of this study group and have enhanced it with PowerPoint presentations from the Supreme Council. The KSA meets on the 3rd Friday of the month at 5:00pm. I used to frequent this study group often and fondly look back on it as one of the finest aspects of Freemason-ry. I look forward to seeing the new presentation format soon. Every two years the Supreme Council holds a leadership conference. The Valley of Billings is sending a delegation of five Brethren to attend. Brother Dan Jobrack, Brother Mark Olsen, Brother Bob Donaldson, Brother Ron Swensen, and Brother John Hugdahl (all black hats) will be going to San Diego in late April to represent us. I have forgotten to remind everyone that we still have many of our centennial coins on sale. They are $10 apiece and can be purchased from the Secretary. I look forward to seeing you at our February meeting Fraternally Sean McDuffee

Meet our Brother Michael Wren

Brother Michael Wren was born on October 4, 1989 in Powell Wyoming. He spent most of

his time growing up in Glendive then moved to Laurel where he graduated high school in

2008. He attended MSU Billings and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history with a

political science minor in 2015. He is currently working as a social worker for youth dynam-

ics. Michael is a member of the 2019 Winter Reunion class. Most recently he has been seen

assisting Hon Brother Tom in the library. Make sure to introduce yourself the next time you

see Bro. Michael.

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Messa ge fr o m The Ven er ab l e Mast er

Salve Frater et Amici! I hope that the New Year so freshly ushered in was grand for all of you and this message finds you well on your way to a blessed 2020! The Scottish Rite Valley of Billings Montana, although not uniting for a meeting on Jan-uary 1st has not been idle. The business of our Craft continues with much happenings. I shall attempt to cover all of these in my message this month and with a little luck will not leave anything out. To begin with our Personal Representative, Brother Sean McDuffee, 32° KCCH has been hard at work on a tip from our Wise Master, Brother Tom Hanel 32° KCCH which may at some point yield some volunteer drivers for our Transportation Van. We hope that it bears fruit, as we still need drivers (6 would be ideal!). One does NOT need to be a Mason to serve as a volunteer for this noble stewardship. In fact, Men, ladies, Mason or

not, can volunteer. Beside Brother Sean’s efforts as stated, if you find that you have a few hours (4) on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday morning or in the afternoon on Monday-Thursday also for a few hours, please reach out to the Secretary. Service is calling! Thank you. By the time you receive this Billboard we will have just completed the first meeting of our new Reunion Committee. This Committee is comprised of various elements of the Valley’s Reunion team (such as the Director of the Works, Wardrobe, Stage Crew etc.) who will be meeting before and after each Reunion to put the final touches on upcoming Reunion plans and to de-brief afterwards respectively to review what worked best and what can be tweaked for a better experience for our candidates and the Valley degree teams for future Reunions. It is hoped that this Committee will help to enable our Valley to always put on a wonderful and fulfilling Reunion experience. On the subject of Reunions, I would like to introduce our newest Masters of the Royal Secret. 32° Brothers Kyron Jeno (Class President), Ryker Ingram-Hegebart, Robert Cauckwell, Brach Janney, Cody Thormahlen, Michael Wren, Adam Price and Marc Sewell. If you have not yet rubbed palms with these fine gentlemen, I would encourage you to seek them out at the February Stated Dinner upcoming and welcome them to the Billings Valley. These are our Val-ley’s future. We had a productive year in 2019 with Reunion classes increasing our rollcall of Masters of the Royal Secret by a dozen fine new men. Let us work diligently to see that number increase in 2020, beginning with our next Reunion in the next few months. The February meeting will be an important meeting that I would encourage all who are able to attend. We will of course have the annual Building Association presentation by Brother Jason Smith 32° KCCH, as well as the annual

Rite Care Report from Ill. Jered Scherer, 33°. There will be some firsts, such as the 6:00 p.m. pre-dinner meeting of

the Executive Committee, who will meet for the first time since the new line was installed in December. Also, in what I hope will be the first of many like occasions in the years to come, I have elected to dedicate the February Dinner to our Sweethearts, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day. To mark this celebration I encourage you to have your Sweetheart join you for dinner (don’t forget to make your reservations with RW Murphy or our Secretary!) who, along with our Sweetheart Widow’s will be recognized with a single rose. Masons could not fully perform our duties and fulfil our obligations if we did not have the support of our amazing Sweethearts. Finally, preparations are well underway to send a delegation of six Brothers to San Diego in April for the Annual Scottish Rite Workshop program (known before as the VMAP Workshops). The team that has been selected to repre-sent our Valley this year is comprised of current as well as up and coming leaders. I expect they will return with much to share with us regarding their experiences and newly found knowledge. In closing, I leave you with this from Brother Albert Pike: “That which causes us trials shall yield us triumph: and that which make our hearts ache shall fill us with gladness. The only true happiness is to learn, to advance, and to improve: which could not happen unless we had commenced with error, ignorance, and imperfection. We must pass through the darkness, to reach the light.” See you all in February! Fondly and fraternally yours,

Dan Jobrack 32°, Venerable Master

Billings Valley of the Scottish Rite

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T H E R I T E C O R N E R

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“Bridging Chasms”

David L. Nielsen, S.G.I.G.

Every so often, I will be studying Masonic ritual and there is an extraneous event that coincidentally relates to

the Masonic philosophy I am learning. Sometimes that event might be an especially memorable sermon in

church, it might be news reports, or a lecture I’ve attended.

In Masonry we believe in equality between people, that we are all children of God and are free to worship in

accordance with our individual religious beliefs, that we are free to think and are encouraged to study and learn

to develop intelligent free thought, and that we are patient, tolerant and accepting of people who have beliefs and

thoughts differing from our own. The tradition of Masonry, however, does not allow discussions in lodge that

concern politics or religion. This was because it is believed these topics intrude upon a member’s personally

held beliefs and can create discord rather than harmony among our members. We seek to find common basis for our fraternity, such as

brotherly love, relief and truth, to build unity, rather than issues that will irreparably divide us. This is a Masonic culture that has sus-

tained us for centuries.

However, while we are respectful as an institution of the right for individual beliefs, we are seeing in our society an ever-

expanding chasm between people aligned with differing political groups. What is creating the destructive rift is not that there are oppos-

ing groups; it is that too many members of groups have no respect for members of other groups. Some are unwilling to meet to under-

stand each other’s prospective or to resolve the difference. It appears to be a standoff between groups that each believe you are either a

member of their group and you are an enemy of the group. It is an all-or-nothing proposition. This is the dilemma of modern Masons:

How to live and promote a non-judgmental relationship between all peoples, regardless of their beliefs, and retain peace and harmony

among our brethren?

What complicates any reconciliation of societal rifts between different groups is the abuse of social media, such as Facebook and

Twitter. This is especially exacerbated. if, as reported from U. S. intelligence agencies, there are foreign nations intent on disrupting our

political systems who create posts that will incite one group to despise and even hate other groups. What is so insidious is that these for-

eign inciters will create opposing posts to cause distrust and hate from each side against the other. They create posts that mock and belit-

tle one group while at the same time creating posts to mock and belittle the opposing groups. They play both sides of an issue. Their

hope being that those sympathetic with one post will forward it or repost, achieving a wider distribution of hate and discord, while those

with the opposite view will do the same. The result is opposing groups never meet, they just fire evil posts designed to sow dissention and

even hate. The only winner is the nation wanting to watch our society internally crumble.

Even in the absence of foreign nation involvement, to promote and post derogatory comments about others is no better than the

spread of malicious rumors. There is nothing positive gained from alienating others by using distorted and nasty accusations. As Albert

Pike reminds us: “Speak thou always the simple Truth, no more and no less; or else speak not at all.” He then continued by saying “Be

thou no talebearer, nor retailer of scandal; for he who is so, is certain often to go beyond the truth.” With the tremendous distribution

capacity of social media, the distortion of the truth can be exponential.

I hope this lays out the problem we are facing with the deepening rift between people who can’t talk to each other because they

belong to opposing groups that may demand unwavering loyalty and obedience. At times I can identify a problem, but I don’t necessarily

have solutions. I know that for myself, I am going to be more cognizant of posts on social media that are divisive and create hostility

between people that widens the chasm of mistrust. My New Year’s Resolution is to not tolerate or participate in conversations or social

media posting that is mean or disrespectful of a person or group. I will not repeat the post and even try to dissuade others from posting

derogatory messages. I don’t pretend that this will be a global cure but at least in my small world I will feel good about it. It is a small

step but unless we take some stand against destructive, mean speech directed at others, it will only accelerate and not subside.

I heard a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. that speaks to the Mason, who is filled with reverence and dedication to God, that is

appropriate: “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” Responding to the darkness of hate by use of dark-

ness of hate, only leaves us both in the dark.

This New Year is a chance to work for change for the good of all.

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“Koffee Klatch”

Every Thursday

7:30 AM to 9 AM

Just $1.00

Money goes to

Library

Knights of St. Andrew

Study Group— Third Friday of Each Month at

5:00 PM The next meeting of the Knights of St

Andrews Study Group is scheduled for January 17, 2020

2020 Reunion Update The Reunion Committee met for the first time in January to review areas of opportunity as well as suc-cesses that were observed by the various support components such as our Director of the Works, Ward-robe, Quartet, Stage Crew, etc. It was a very informative meeting with much information shared, sugges-tions offered and potential Reunion futures discussed. The committee will be meeting before and after Reunions going forward to continue to focus on producing an ever improving Reunion experience for the Valley as well as new incoming Scottish Rite Brothers. The Spring Reunion for 2020 is currently planned for May 15th & 16th. Degree leaders should begin now to unite their degree teams for practice as your schedules permit and to let the Director of the Works know if there are openings that need to be filled for players with sufficient time to do so and allow for new players to become familiar and comfortable with the roles they may be asked to fill. Also, ALL Scottish Rite Brothers of the Billings Valley should begin to share the information regarding this upcoming Reunion with their respective Blue Lodges. Times and costs will be announced in the next Billboard so that potential new Masters of the Royal Secret can make appropriate arrangements well in advance. Blue Lodge Brothers from distant Valleys (that are more than a 3 hour drive from Billings) that desire to become Scottish Rite members should reach out to either the Venerable Master or our Personal Representative to see if Lodging can be assisted with for them, either being hosted for the night with a local Brother or other accommodations. Most importantly however is to remember that the Reunion program was created for more than just creat-ing new Scottish Rite Brothers. Although this has become an important element of these events, the pri-mary purpose of our Reunions is for ALL our Scottish Rite Brothers, schedules and travel permitted to reunite twice a year, renew our Scottish Rite values and lessons by experiencing the degree work again and to share in each other’s fraternal friendship and bond. Even if you can only drop into the Reunion for a couple hours to take in one or two degrees, it will not only be worth it for you to sit on the sidelines do-ing so, but also for other brothers who get to see you, share in the bonding of brothers and be a better ex-perience for both degree teams and candidates alike. Being a sideliner does NOT mean you need to be on the degree floor. Just being there to watch and support the Valley in this way is equally important! More to come! Dan Jobrack, 32° Venerable Master Committee Co-Chair

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SECRETARY STILL HAS

2020 DUES CARDS

For UNPAID Members

ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE?

Gen eral In fo

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Beartooth District Calendar

As a continuing reminder, this calendar was created as a

planning tool to avoid scheduling conflicts when setting event dates. This works best if you let us know of any events you would like to include. Corrections are also welcome.

Please go to: http://www.montanafreemasons.org/

Click on Beartooth district

Scroll down to middle of page and click on "Scheduled Events Calendar"

Please check for entries that may be of specific interest to you! Thank you for your participation! Fraternally yours, David Schantz - davidschantz@grandlodgemontana.org, Pete Boothroyd - petervincentboothroyd@gmail.com

BILLINGS VALLEY SCOTTISH RITE 2020 OFFICERS

Elected VM ̀ Dan Jobrack 32°, SW Mark Olson 32° JW Bob Donaldson, 32° Orator Ron Swenson, 32° Almoner David Bergeson, 33° Treasurer David Armstrong, 33° Appointed Prelate John Hugdahl 32° Master of Ceremonies Arnie Frovarp, 32° Expert Gerald Giebink, 32° Assistant Expert TBD Captain of the Host David Jobrack,32° Tyler Bob Hanson, 33° Organist John Baber, 32°, KC Appointed (SC) TC Chatman, 32°, KCCH COUNCIL ROSE CROIX Wise Master Tom Hanel, 32°, KCCH Senior Warden Jeff Dresch, 33° Junior Warden Frank Dengel, 32° Orator Ron Swenson, 32° COUNCIL OF KADOSH Commander Michael Welton,32°KCCH 1st Lt. Commander Wally Hall, 32° 2nd Lt. Commander Steve Hanser,32°,KCCH Orator Ron Swenson,32° CONSISTORY Master of Kadosh Arnie Frovarp, 32° Prior Nate Frickle, 32° Preceptor Jacob Clos, 32° Minister of State Ron Swenson, 32°

100 Year anniversary coin

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How is the year 2020 treating everyone? Have you been living up to your New Year’s Resolutions? We started the new year off with a “After New Year” Party with the Job’s Daughters and had a wonderful time of games and burgers at the Scottish Rite. Although not all could make it, each group had a prospective mem-ber there, so it was a win. The members had a great time. Special thanks to our Master Councilor Brother Leown K., who brought the ping pong and foosball ta-ble, it really gave us a lot to do. We are going roller skating for our fun activity this month and will play a role in the Job’s Daughters Installation of Officers on February 10. After that will be the event everyone looks forward to, our annual Sweet Retreat at Fairmont Hot Springs. I was talking with my daughters last week about changes. Two of them will move to new schools next year. One to high school and one to middle school. We were talking about their fear of change and the uncertainty that comes with it. They are excited and terrified at the same time. They want to know every detail that is go-ing to happen and are asking lots of what if questions. I commend them on that, but I also reminded them that it may not be possible to know all that is going to happen and that part of growing up is getting comfortable with uncertainty. They say “that without uncertainty, tomorrow can at best, only be a stale copy of today. Uncertainty and the unexpected are catalysts for creativity and growth in life!” When we’re thinking about new plans, ventures, or activities, which we all do, the doubt and fear that can arise from uncertainty is your enemy. It can paralyze fur-ther action. Each of us, must trust in the process and in our own abilities to learn and adjust along the way. Stay focused on the “what” and the “why” and know in your heart that the “how” will take care of itself.

Please be on the lookout for good men to get involved in this organization, we are looking for sons, grandsons, nephews, and friends ages 12-21 for member-ship. No Masonic relationship is required. Additionally, we need more adult lead-ers, both men and women to assist in mentoring and supporting these young men. If you have the time and the ability, please contact me at dan.massey@mtdemolay.org or 402-681-7763.

Thanks, Dan Massey

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365 Club Don & Diana Herndon

Language Clinic Operating Corinthian Lodge #72

Royal & Norma Johnson Charitable Foundation Don & Diana Herndon Memory of Bill Keiffer

Blake Mackin Levi Bollinger

Charles E. Laws John Hugdahl

John S. Stewart Donald C. Olson

Transportation Van Rebekah Donaldson

Betty Aman and Candace Kautz Tom Hornung

Language Clinic Endowment Benton L. Barnhart Cathy Cardneaux and Marc Sewell

Blake Mackin Levi Bollinger

Michael A. Schmidt John Hugdahl

John S. Stewart Donald C. Olson Almoner’s Fund

Blake Mackin Levi Bollinger

Michael A. Schmidt John Hugdahl

John S. Stewart Donald C. Olson

CONTRIBUTIONS

Tossed Salad/Italian Dressing

Corn Bread Muffins

Relish Tray Choice Beef Sirloin

Swiss Steak

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Green Beans/Almonds

Strawberry Shortcake Coffee or Hot Tea

Alternate Entrée Shrimp Scampi

MEAL MENU

BY RED FEZ CATERING

FEBRUARY

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Recruitment Breakfast

2nd Saturday 7:30 AM

Feb 8th, 2020 Western Emporium 3141 King Ave W, Billings, MT 59102

Please join us!

Dinner Reservations

Required

259-6683

By 10 AM MONDAY before Wednesday

Dinner

THANK YOU

Coat and tie Attire

Shoe fitting

March 21st April 4th

8:30-11:30

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Lodge of Perfection

Venerable Master

Dan Jobrack, 32º

Chapter of Rose Croix

Wise Master

Ton Hanel, 32° KCCH

Council of Kadosh

Commander

Michael Welton, 32° KCCH

Consistory

Master of Kadosh

Arnie Frovarp, 32°

________________________

Need to Know Information

Secretary: TC Chatman, 32º KCCH

Personal Rep: Sean McDuffee, 32° KCCH

Editor: TC Chatman, 32° KCCH

514 14th Street West

Billings, MT 59102-5216

In Office: Tue - Thu 8.00-12:00 PM

Tel: (406) 259-6683

Return Service Requested

Billings Scottish Rite Bodies U.S. Postage Paid Non Profit Org Billings, MT

Permit No. 724

FEBRUARY EVENTS At the Rite

4 Clinic Board, 12:00 noon

Dos Machos

5 Exec Committee 6:00 PM

Dinner 6:30 PM

Stated (Ann) Meeting 7:30 PM

8 Breakfast 7:30 AM

Western Emporium

3141 King Ave W, Billings, MT

21 Knights of St Andrew 5:00 PM Scottish Rite Temple

We’re on the Web at

wwwbillingsscottishrite.com Send an email to the secretary to be added to our Email listing

March events 4 Cap and ring

April Events

1 Remembrance and

Renewal