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Multiple candidates?

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BroScubaSteve View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BroScubaSteve Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Multiple candidates?
    Posted: March/25/2014 at 6:47am
A lodge may do up to 5 at a time without dispensation. (in new jersey)

I went through with with two others.

I will tell you honestly that you will not really know what is going on nor will multiple candidates get in the way.

The plus side of going through with multiple candidates:

--The friendly competition to get the memory work done and the bonding you'll do with your class mates.

--You may even advance through the chairs together. You'll just have to sort out who gets to go first!

--Lastly, it shows that your lodge has new blood coming in. We initiated 4 last month and initiated 4 more last night. We have 8 new EA's and are scrambling to get dates set for their FC degree. We may be working with other lodges to get these guys progressed as smoothly as possible as to not hold anyone back.


Edited by BroScubaSteve - March/25/2014 at 6:49am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tarditi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/25/2014 at 7:26am
You will find that the degree is quite "your own" and there are parts that may be shared with other candidates at the same time without detracting the singular ownership of the message to the recipient.

Bro ScubaSteve is correct that participating n the degree with others will strengthen your bond with them. I was passed and raised with one of my lodge brothers and we have a very tight kinship. We went through the line together as well, he serving as my SW during my year in the East, and I as Jr Past Master during his year presiding. Nothing diminished whatsoever.

Having others to coach the catechism with also makes it easier to stay sharp.

Be Well.
Dustin Tarditi, PM
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote droche Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/25/2014 at 1:50pm
I went through the degrees alone and frankly, am glad I did. Since I don't know what it is like to go through with multiple candidates, although I have worked multiple candidates, I'll defer to those on here who did. In a perfect world I think going through alone is better, but when there are a lot of candidates, working each one individually can put a strain on the lodge officers, not to mention making individual candidates wait and has the potential of turning degrees into a production line which is not good either.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote NewToLight84 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/25/2014 at 11:09pm
I can see the good in it as well. I am recently seperate from the military and after 10yrs. In the Army and 4yrs. Of them being spent in Iraq I formed a bond with several brothers in arms but, unfortunately we moved back to be close to my wife's family so...the calls and e-mails between us are very few and far between. I am hoping that I will find the same kind of brotherhood in my lodge and I'm sure I will. Thank you sincerely for your reply! This forum is great! Really happy I found it!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote log cabin Bill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/26/2014 at 1:12pm
In PA, we are permitted to confer the same degree on up to 5 candidates at the same time. At my lodge we try to avoid doing multiple conferrals as we feel that the degrees are more meaningful if conferred individually. There was once when I conferred the MM degree on 2 candidates at once.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rdrake1975 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/26/2014 at 7:26pm
I went through the degrees with 2 other men and I enjoyed it. There was a certain bonding that happened because we went through the same experience together, starting w/ the total unknown of the EA, then partial understanding in FC, and lastly going through the amazing experience of being raised to MM.  There were certain parts of the rituals where we experienced them individually and then others where it was a shared experience.  For the MM degree, the 2 other men were siblings and had a past master cousin of theirs raise them via the short form.  I ended up being raised by the WM via the long form and I really enjoyed the experience!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GAmastermason Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/26/2014 at 7:54pm
In Georgia, we are allowed to do up to 7 candidates at once without Grand Lodge approval. I went through my EA degree with my identical twin brother. Then, we picked up another set of candidates and did our FC and MM all 5 of us together. In the EA and MM degree the 2nd section of each degree is done only one candidate at a time. So, it does make for a long night.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote NewToLight84 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/27/2014 at 12:53pm
I know of someone close to me that was entered and raised by his Father in his Lodge. Then he decided to go into the York Rite and his father decided to go as well. That always gave me a smile, can't imagine how cool it would be to go through something like that with your Father!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bellboy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/27/2014 at 3:07pm
My Father and I joined together, we did our degrees on the same nights but we did them one at a time for the first sections. We alternated who went first so we could be able to watch each other go through. Then the second sections we did together. Dad was raised the week before I was, then I had the pleasure of being Raised into the five-points by him. I was quite surprised to look up and see him as Master on the Lodge!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote NewToLight84 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/27/2014 at 4:37pm
That's awesome!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ldarnell Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April/01/2014 at 12:55pm
We will do up to 2 candidates at one time when doing either an EA or FC degree.  However, the first section for each candidate is done individually.  The lecture/charge is then done once for both candidates at the same time. Two candidates is the most we can do and that still puts us out very late. 

We raise each person individually for the MM degree - it is their night and we try to keep it special. 


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SquareLevelPlumb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April/01/2014 at 1:24pm
Originally posted by Tarditi Tarditi wrote:

You will find that the degree is quite "your own" and there are parts that may be shared with other candidates at the same time without detracting the singular ownership of the message to the recipient.

Bro ScubaSteve is correct that participating n the degree with others will strengthen your bond with them. I was passed and raised with one of my lodge brothers and we have a very tight kinship. We went through the line together as well, he serving as my SW during my year in the East, and I as Jr Past Master during his year presiding. Nothing diminished whatsoever.

Having others to coach the catechism with also makes it easier to stay sharp.

Be Well.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pscyclepath Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/11/2014 at 6:51pm
Arkansas is one of those "old fashioned" jurisdictions where no more than one person at a time can be initiated and obligated at a time in the EA, FC, and FC degrees, and no more than one person at a time can be raised in the second section of the Master's degree.  You can have a class or multiple persons in the  second and third sections of the EA and in the second section of the FC.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jdeal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/11/2014 at 7:26pm
Do you feel that multiple candidates takes away from the degree? Or does it add to the brotherhood of the experience?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote NobleShabba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/12/2014 at 6:20am
IMO, this should be moved to the proper forum (Masonic Discussion Board) and merged with the ongoing thread on "Class Size"



Edited by NobleShabba - May/12/2014 at 6:23am
----------------------

DISCLAIMER: These are my comments, and mine alone - they do not necessarily apply to any group to which I belong!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote log cabin Bill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/12/2014 at 8:22am
NobleShabba has made a good point and I agree with him.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Caution1010 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September/10/2014 at 4:38pm
oops, tried to merge..didn't work...the first post moved to the thread of the same name in the masonic forums


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