Monday, October 19, 2009

Residency Requirements to Join a Lodge

Just what is the residency requirement for a petitioner?

There is a 90 day residency requirement for a man to be a resident of Minnesota when he petitions for the degrees. This can be found in the Minnesota Masonic Code in Section C9.10:
No Lodge shall initiate any person except upon his personal and voluntary petition, nor shall such petition be received unless the petitioner has therein fully answered all questions required to be contained in such petition by the laws of the Grand Lodge; nor unless such petitioner shall have been an actual resident in the jurisdiction of the Lodge for ninety (90) days immediately preceding the date of his petition. Petitions are part of the records and must not be destroyed after they have been acted upon.
All constituent lodges under the Grand Lodge of Minnesota share concurrent jurisdiction.
There is no residency requirement for a petition for dual membership, affiliation or restoration. In other words, a Mason who would like to affiliate with a lodge under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota doe not need to be a resident of Minnesota.
Doug