Questionnaire for Proficiency Examination

Questionnaire for Proficiency Examination

Examination Questionnaire for Masters-Elect on the Laws Appertaining

to the Government of a Masonic Lodge

Instructions to Examinees and Examiners:

As provided for in Article X, Section 3 of the Ordinances of our Masonic Law Book, no Master-elect may be installed until he is able to present a Certificate that he is proficient:

(a)In the work and lectures of the three degrees; and

(b) in those portions of the Constitution and Ordinances and the General Regulations of the Grand Lodge which relate to the government of a Lodge.

This examination questionnaire is intended to fulfill the requirements of letter (b) above when answered satisfactorily by the examinee. Answers to this questionnaire must be written in the examinee’s own handwriting in a separate sheet(s) of paper, indicating the appropriate Article and Section of the 1994 Masonic Law Book upon which the answer is based. The answer sheet(s) shall be attached to the questionnaire, both of which shall constitute satisfactory evidence of the examinee’s proficiency in those portions of the Constitution and General Regulations of the Grand Lodge relating to the government of a Lodge. Examinees are urged to have on hand a copy of the Masonic Law Book when taking this examination.

This questionnaire and the corrected/graded answers thereto shall be attached to the examinee’s Certificate of Proficiency to be signed by either the Senior Grand Lecturer, or a Junior Grand Lecturerer, or the District Deputy Grand Master, or District Grand Lecturer for Lodges in their respective districts, or the Grand Lodge Inspector of the Lodge.

The Examiner must satisfy himself before he signs the Certificate of Proficiency that at least 90% of the answers to the questionnaire are correct, i.e., 45 out of 50 questions. The examiner must personally examine the Master-elect and be satisfied as to the proficiency of the Master-elect on the ritualistic work and lectures of the three degrees, which shall be implied by the examiner attaching his signature to the Certificate of Proficiency as an indispensable requisite to the Master-elect’s installation.

It shall be considered a serious breach of Grand Lodge Rules and Regulations for any authorized Grand Lodge Officer to sign a Certificate of Proficiency for any officer-elect unless he has personally conducted the required proficiency examination of Masters or Wardens and is satisfied with their proficiency in the work and lectures for the degree(s) that each of them is required by law to be proficient in, as well as for any Installing Officer to proceed with the installation of a Master or Warden-elect without the proper and signed Certificate of Proficiency being presented to him, and shall subject such Grand Lodge officer or Installing Officer to charges of unmasonic conduct and/or serious violation of the Constitution, Rules, Regulations and Ordinances of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Philippines.

The Questions

1.How many members of your Lodge are necessary to form a quorum for the transaction of business?

2.a)May a meeting of your Lodge be held when the Master and Wardens are absent?

b)In the absence of the three Lights, who may open the Lodge?

3. May a meeting of your Lodge be held in any place other than the place named in your charter?

4. May a Lodge be opened or closed in short form?

5. When your Lodge receives a petition, what action thereon is necessary?

6. a) Should the names and reports of the members of the Investigating Committee be made

known to the Lodge?

b) What announcement, if any, should the Master make on the report of the Investigating

Committee?

c)What should the Master do with that report after it has served its purpose?

7. a) May a discussion about the qualifications of a candidate be allowed after the balloting has

been taken?

b) May a member of your Lodge divulge how he has voted on a candidate?

8. What should accompany the petition for degrees?

9. May a member of your Lodge who is present abstain from voting upon a petition for degrees or for affiliation?

10. What is the legal effect on the petition of a petitioner who deliberately falsifies his address in his petition for degrees?

11. May a candidate be conferred more than one degree at any one meeting?

12. Is it permissible to confer degrees upon more than five candidates at any one meeting?

13. May a Lodge confer any of the degrees upon more than one candidate at any one meeting?

14. When a candidate elected for membership decides not to take the degrees, what shall the Lodge do?

15. What is the legal effect on the petition of a petitioner, if after election and before initiation, a member of your Lodge objects to said petitioner?

16. If an objection is made to the advancement of an E.A. or a F.C., what action is to be taken?

17. May an E.A. or a F.C. of another Lodge be advanced by your Lodge?

18. What is required of an E.A. or a F.C. before he can be passed or raised?

19. What penalty shall be imposed upon the Master or Warden if he fails to observe the reglementary time interval before passing or raising a candidate?

20. Has an E.A. or a F.C. a right to visit?

21. What may the Lodge do if any officer, either elected or appointed, fails without satisfactory explanation to attend four consecutive stated meetings?

22. Should the Lodge be opened and closed in the Third Degree when the work is to be done only in a lower degree?

23. What percentage of the Lodge revenue may be used for refreshments?

24. a) When are membership dues payable?

b) When is a member considered delinquent?

c) What is the procedure for suspension for NPD?

25. a) May a member who is delinquent vote at the Annual Election of the Lodge?

b) Is a delinquent member eligible for any office?

26. a) In case of dual membership, may the dual member hold office in both Lodges

at the same time?

b) What is the result on a brother holding dual membership, of his suspension or expulsion

from either Lodge?

c) What action should the Secretary of the Lodge take on the suspension or expulsion of

such a member?

27. When should the Lodge annual report be submitted to the Grand Lodge?

28. What might result if the Lodge fails to submit its annual report with its dues and fees to the Grand Lodge?

29. What monthly reports are required to be transmitted by the Secretary of the Lodge to the Grand Lodge?

30. What should the Treasurer of the Lodge do with regard to the financial report of his Lodge?

31. What action should the Master take if the Secretary and the Treasurer fail to render their reports?

32. Who shall keep all funds collected by the Almoner?

33. When an itinerant person claiming to be a Mason seeks to visit your Lodge, what precautions should be taken?

34. If an applicant elected to receive the degrees in your Lodge fails to come for initiation wthin three months thereafter, what should the Lodge do?

35. When charges of unmasonic conduct are preferred against a member, what is the Master’s first duty?

36. May a Master of a Lodge be tried for unmasonic conduct?

37. May the Master or Warden, or Past Master or a brother confer degrees that do not conform to our adopted Ritual?

38. May the stated meetings of your Lodge be held on a legal holiday?

39. Has the Master of a Lodge authority to remove any officer for neglect of duty or for malfeasance in office?

40. May a member of a Lodge appeal from the Master’s decision?

41. Is it obligatory on the part of the Lodge to grant life membership to a brother upon his completion of 25 years membership?

42. What other kind of life membership may a Lodge grant to its members that may exempt them from paying their dues?

43. May a candidate’s proficiency be passed upon in any other manner than holding his examination in open Lodge?

44. If there is an objection to the request of a visitor for admission, what should the Master do?

45. If a petitioner for degrees in your Lodge has been previously rejected by a Lodge of another Grand Jurisdiction, what shall be the action of your Lodge on his petition?

46. When should Section 2, Article II of the Uniform Code of By-Laws be read in Lodge?

47. When should the elected and appointed officers of a Lodge be installed?

48. What is the legal effect if the Lodge fails to hold stated meetings for three successive months?

49. a) What is the result to a demitted or non-affiliated Mason if he fails to affiliate with a duly

constituted Masonic Lodge after residing in this jurisdiction for six (6) months?

b) If, after such failure he applies for affiliation, how much dues should he pay?

c) If he is rejected, what disposition does the Lodge make of the dues so paid?

50. What is the proper attire of a Mason in Lodge meetings and other Masonic public functions?