Dear Brethren,
Due to the increasing concern for the health and safety of our Members and attendees the decision has been made to cancel the conferral of the 4th & 14th Degrees that was scheduled a few weeks from today on November 21st in Portland.
I am very sorry to be the bearer of this news, I know that many of our prospective candidates are anxiously awaiting the next opportunity to join the Scottish Rite and I along with all our ritualists are looking forward to a time we will be able to perform our beautiful degrees in one of our Fraternity’s oldest stately edifices designed for an entertaining and educational initiatory experience.
This was a difficult decision but the safety of our Members and candidates is our chief priority and not something we can take lightly.
I am hopeful that later this month we will be able to return to meeting in downtown. At this time it is still planned to hold our Elections and Installation of Officers on November 24th but that meeting may shift to an online Zoom meeting if safety concerns are still present. Please keep an eye out for updates on upcoming meetings.
Until then I hope we can remember the lessons of the 14th degree that “Perfect Elus are both bound and free: bound by their obligation and free from prejudice, intolerance and envy“, and the lesson of the Stoic Marcus Aurelius, “waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.“
Sincerely & Fraternally,
Bro. Nathan Neff, 32°, KCCH,
Personal Representative
Portland Valley, Orient of Oregon