Dear members of the Grand Lodge of Europe, Beneath follows an update of the latest news:
June 7th-9th the 14th Annual meeting of the Grand Lodge of Europe took place in Berlin with about 240 participants and among them 76 Applicants for the Degree of Wisdom. All practical details had been prepared by the German planning group under Grand Sire Klaus Dieter Hielscher. They had performed a tremendous work and everything went smoothly.
On Friday the 7th the meeting was open for all OF members with the following agenda:
- A short report from each Jurisdiction including membership statistics, struggles and ideas for the future.
Hereafter followed five seminars with the topics:
- The ritualistic development in the Odd Fellow Order from 1730 up til today
SDGS Kjell-Henrik Hendrichs (Special Deputy Grand Sire - Recruitment-strenghtening and expansion
SDGS Britt-Eva Haaland - Communication and use of internet SoMe
Grand Sire Urs Zeller - Information about the Youth Tour
European Grand Sire Morten Buan - The situation in Ukraine
Past Grand Sire Eugeniusz Myszka Grand Secretary Andrzej Sekula - AI- artificial intelligence – a part of modern society. What will it mean for the Order - challenges and opportunities.
SDGS Britt-Eva Haaland
These six topics will be part of the Annual meeting minutes as enclosures.
On Saturday there was the Ritualistic opening with memorial for deceased members and the conferal of the Degree of Wisdom to 76 Applicants and among them the Sovereign Grand Master John F. Cupp and Past Sovereign Grand Master Michelle Heckart.
Hereafter the administrative part of the meeting followed with approval of the accounts for 2022 and 2023 and the budget for 2025-2026.
A revision of the Constitution was approved where the main change is that 2/3 of the votes instead of 5/6 are required for a decision.
The following Executive Committee Officers were elected for 2 years and installed:
GLE Grand Sire Morten Buan, Norway
GLE Deputy Grand Sire Christina J. Rydman, Sweden
GLE Grand Secretary Anne Hannus, Finland
GLE Grand Treasurer David Einarsson, Iceland
Upcoming meetings
| 2024 | SGL meeting in Pittsburg/ Pennsylvania August |
| Grand Lodge meeting in Denmark October | |
| Rebekah Assembly meeting in Finland November | |
| 2025 | Grand Lodge meeting in Finland February |
| Grand Lodge meeting in Netherlands/ Belgium april | |
| 2026 | GLE Annual meeting in Stockholm May ( 2028 Helsinki; 2030 Trondheim) |
With fraternal and sisterly greetings in
Friendship Love Truth
Morten Buan Christina J. Rydman
European Grand Sire European Grand Secretary