Masons experiencing revival in Port Isabel

PORT ISABEL — A Masonic lodge in Port Isabel may be among the newest in Texas, but its number 33 dates to 1847.

The original application for a charter was filed when the town was still unincorporated and called Point Isabel. However, that application was never acted upon until recently.

In November 2006, a group of Masons from various lodges began to meet in the Laguna Madre area on a regular basis for coffee and fellowship, member Mike Gower said. Gower, a past Grand Master, recently moved to South Padre Island from McAllen.

In order to heighten local awareness of Freemasonry, local Masons asked the Port Isabel Historical Museum for permission to establish a Masonic exhibit. Several lodges contributed artifacts to depict Masonry from colonial times through the Republic of Texas era to the present.

The detailed display included George Washington, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, Davy Crockett and Sam Houston, and presidents, governors and legislators of the Republic of Texas and the State of Texas.

According to Houston’s own preserved letters, he fought until his death the rumor that he spared Santa Anna’s life because Santa Anna flashed a secret Masonic sign. Houston spared the Mexican general’s life, he said, because he wanted to demonstrate the mercy and humanity Santa Anna had been incapable of. To execute Santa Anna, argued Houston, would reduce Texans to the level of the evil man they condemned.

Gower believes the original charter for a Point Isabel Masonic Lodge was applied for by Gen. Zachary Taylor and some of his officers. Then in 1851, Rio Grande Lodge No. 81 was chartered in Brownsville, where Taylor and his forces were subsequently deployed. No further action was taken by the Grand Lodge of Texas on the Point Isabel application.

Gower and his friends, including Shane Wilson and Bill Thacker, revived that old application. They needed 20 Masonic signatures on a petition, a requirement they met fairly easily.

Within the past few weeks, Point Isabel Masonic Lodge No. 33 was granted a charter for a membership of 105 men.

The new lodge holds membership meetings on the fourth Thursday of every month. Every Wednesday morning, however, all those interested in Masonry, members or not, are invited to stop in for coffee and fellowship.

“You are never invited to join a Masonic lodge,” Gower said. “Members are not allowed to invite you to join. They are encouraged, however, to answer any questions you may have about Freemasonry, and to provide you with an application for membership if you show an interest of your own accord.”

Although Freemasonry is not a religion, he added, a requirement for membership is a belief in God. “You cannot be an atheist and be a Mason,” he said.

Many organized church leaders, however, argue that Masonry is not only a religion, but that it is a cult that equates other gods with the Biblical God. They cite various scriptures they claim are in conflict with Masonic practices.

“You can’t change the minds of such people,” Gower said. “Their minds are made up and they don’t want to be confused with facts. But the overriding fact is that Masonry is a fraternity, not a religion.”

Freemasonry is probably one of the oldest fraternities in existence, dating all the way back to before the Middle Ages. It was originally a guild of stonemasons. When work on a project was halted for the winter, the masons would gather until spring under a shelter next to the building under construction and learn from one another.

Today an application for membership in a lodge, if approved, establishes the applicant as a first-degree Mason, or apprentice. As he progresses in his knowledge, his next step is to become a second-degree Mason, or fellow craftsman. After serving in that capacity and learning the necessary lessons for the next step, he becomes a third-degree Mason, eligible to hold office in lodges.

“We have an undeserved reputation for secrecy,” Gower said. “I suppose that’s partly because of the secret handshake that identifies us to one another. But there’s really nothing secret about us. We display our symbols on our clothing and on our buildings, and we welcome anyone with an interest in what we do.”

And what Masons do is charitable work, he explained.

“We operate Scottish Rite hospitals, we help children get medical help their families can’t afford—that’s what we’re all about,” he said. “It’s all open and aboveboard.”