Masonic Lodge of Research to Honor Brother Chris Hodapp

Masonic Lodge of Research will confer upon Bro. Chris Hodapp of Indiana the James Royal Case Fellowship in public ceremonies in New Haven on March 31. All Masons and those interested in Masonry are invited to attend.

Bro. Hodapp is the author of the amazingly successful Freemasons for Dummies, one of the biggest sellers in the 1,000+ title series. Now the author of several other Masonicrelated books, some in collaboration with his wife, Alice Von Kannon, Bro. Chris also writes a popular Masonic blog and edits The Journal of the Masonic Society, the quarterly publication of The Masonic Society.

Chris will make his first visit to Connecticut since his visit to a District 5 Blue Lodge Council meeting in 2008. Then Unity Lodge No. 148 Worshipful Master Harry E. Needham, III arranged for him to speak, and details of his appearance were reported in Connecticut Freemasons, November 2008 issue. On that evening, Bro. Chris brought a van filled with his books, which he happily autographed while talking with the brothers before and after the Council dinner and meeting.

During Chris Hodapp’s visit to Connecticut in 2008, he was greeted by Brothers Tom Accuosti, left, and Charles Tirrell, fellow Masonic bloggers.

The James Royal Case Fellowship was instituted by Masonic Lodge of Research in 1981 to honor the work of Bro. Case, the Grand Historiographer of numerous Connecticut Masonic grand bodies. Bro. Case was the first recipient, and since that time, the list of recipients has read like a list of Masonic scholars across the decades. Among the Connecticut recipients are MWPGM Samuel B. Walker, the late Raymond H. Dragat, and Connecticut Freemasons correspondent Michael L. Castroll.

Events on March 31 will begin with a dinner at 6:00 p.m., and presentation ceremonies will commence at 7:30 p.m. After he is presented with his tangible recognitions, Bro. Hodapp will deliver an original work, the topic of which has not yet been disclosed. Readers of his blog will expect a thought-provoking exercise, as Chris is not shy about taking issue with some of Masonry’s ‘sacred cows.’

Details concerning dinner reservations will be distributed to lodges by mid-February and published in the March issue of Connecticut Freemasons.