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Sons
of
Our History
In The Beginning by William Cortez
P.M.
Copy of speech made by Bro. William Cortez P.M.
February
18, 2004
Prologue
At times we feel
that the daily pressures around us tend to destroy us, we contemplate the chaos
that each day seems to grow around the structure of our society, we see how
anarchy reigns in all Institutions and that the apparent goal of civilized man is the
acquisition of power, with no regards as to how they obtain it.
It is then when
we should look towards our inner self, examine attentively our own behavior
towards others, and to wield with decision the chisel and mallet to root out
bad influences that adhere to our spirit in the course our existence, that
oblige us, many times, to stray from the course that the GADU has chosen for
each one of us.
We will begin
with a remembrance of Latin American Masonry in the Valleys of
In the year
l967, a group of Cuban Masons arrived at this , the
land of Liberty, and tried to approach Regular Masonic Organizations, (Grand
Lodge of the State of New Jersey) to regulate our Masonic condition and with
the purpose of creating lodges along with all of those masons who had just
arrived from the Island that didn’t want to renounce their Masonic obligations
but were not familiar with the language
that could allow them to be integrated into the Masonic community.
After numerous
of fruitless efforts, perhaps due to
ethnic or language reasons, without a positive response, we decided to take
another road and direct ourselves to a Grand Lodge in the Bronx that, through
(then not a member) Luis Palacios, who had a friend in that Grand Lodge, we
managed to have contact with its Grand Master, one Mark Smith, who, after
listening to our proposals, promised to
give us a dispensation to begin ours labors in North Bergen, N.J., a promise he
realized . That’s how we founded our first Lodge “Sons of the Union
#22” with his first Worshipful Master Armando Penton,
a brother that gave many years of service dedicated, with fraternal love, in
benefit of his brothers, often translating from English to Spanish ours first
Rituals.
After the
foundation of this Lodge we gave ourselves the task to create new Lodges with
the aid of this group of valuable brothers that deserve mention: Armando Penton, Lucas Valdes, Remigio
Rodriguez, W. Alonso, Luis Abreu, Luis Palacios, and myself. These
brothers, among many others that iat this moments
escape to my memory, already inclined to forget due to my old age.
The Brother Luis
Palacios was a product of a One Day Class, an event that contradicts the opinion
of some, who feel it unusual of the way they take the degrees and that
according to them abandon the degrees and their responsibilities. I can conclude that this subject is open for
debate , as we can attest with Bros Senior Warden Humberto
Rovira, Bro Jr Warden Julio
Moreno Jr. and our own R.W. Julio Moreno Sr. that are examples among others
that would make this list endless. Brother Palacios, also would receive the
three degrees in a in a One Day Class and soon after, with his ability to
master both the Spanish and English language managed to make contacts with
Bros. that we had a language barrier with, and eventually become Worshipful
Master and Grand Master of that Grand Lodge.
We return to the
History of these brothers directing and founding Lodges: These were, Sons of
the Americas # 23, Colon #21, Jose Chaman Mile, (this
Lodge needed a special dispensation to work in the Scottish Rite, because all
the other Lodges of the District worked in the York Rite). The Grand Master Mark Smith permitted us to
use a Lodge that was located in South Jersey and with that we completed what
was required to constitute a Grand Lodge so we created the
We also formed a
legislative body, with all its philosophical degrees and the Mystic Shriners. All this
work was futile, because we were never recognized in spite of being all regular
Masons who had no alternative but to bring about those decisions.
Before
continuing with the history, I have to indicate, as I previously said that, to
complete the picture of the creation of Sons of
In June 3 of l973, in
Now, as very
special note I’d like to indicate that the treasury of our Lodge in that era
was of $769.55 collected with a great deal of effort (having recently arrived
in this country)
Now we arrive at
our most important step, the moment in which, the WM Julio Moreno Sr., has the
brilliant idea to return to knock on the doors of the Grand Lodge of NJ, that
would give end to our long nights of waiting for a brother to extend us their
hand and recognize ours.
The venture of
our Bro. Julio
A Freemason, in
my humble understanding, represents the gentleman of the world, strong,
generous, just, self-sacrificing determined to help the helpless, virtuous and
faithful defender of the liberties and never to be confused when is spoken of
liberty with politics. In some
opportunities, when slightly those themes are touched, it very quickly
insinuates that it is a political matter. I would like to know the opinions and
wonder what Benito Juarez, George Washington, and Jose Marti would have
answered.
William “
WORSHIPFUL MASTER……...…………………. EDGAR G. PEñA
PM
SENIOR WARDEN…….……………………………….RAUL PINTO, PM
JUNIOR WARDEN…………………...……ALEX GRAVE DE PERALTA
TREASURER…………………………… … OSWALDO SERMEñO,
pm
SECRETARY…………………………………….……..YAEL
CHAPLAIN……OTILIO E
GRAVE DE PERALTA,PM
SR.
DEACON…………..JULIO
JR. DEACON……..HANSEL
ASMAR
SR. MC. RAMON H. NUñEZ
JR. MC. EVANGELIO ROSADO
SR. STEWARD RICARDO CARDENAS
JR. STEWARD WILMAR SALDARRIAGA
MARSHAL FERNANDO AGUIRRE
HISTORIAN WILLIAM CORTES, PM
PROXY TO GRAND
LODGE JULIO
WORSHIPFUL MASTER……...…………………. NELSON P. LUGO PM
SENIOR WARDEN…….……………………………….HANSEL ASMAR
JUNIOR WARDEN…………………...…… HUMBERTO ROVIRA
TREASURER……………………………… EMILIO BERMUDEZ
SECRETARY…………………………………….……. RAUL PINTO PM
CHAPLAIN …… FREDDIE
NUñEZ
SR.
DEACON…………..JULIO
JR. DEACON……..YAEL
MARTINEZ
SR.
MC. ----
JR. MC.
WILMAR SALDARRIAGA
SR. STEWARD JOSE CABRALES
JR. STEWARD ----- JERRY
SPENCER
MARSHAL FERNANDO AGUIRRE
HISTORIAN WILLIAM CORTES, PM
PROXY
TO GRAND LODGE JULIO
Officers
for the Year 2004
Worshipful Master………..Hansel Asmar
Senior Warden…..Humberto Rovira
Junior Warden…..Julio
Moreno Jr.
Treasurer…..Jorge
Cabrales
Secretary…..Raul
Pinto P.M.
Senior Deacon…..Yael Martinez
Junior Deacon…..Guillermo
Borsani
Senior Master of
Ceremonies…..Raul Pinto Jr
Junior Master of
Ceremonies…..Rafael Anaya
Senior Steward…..Antonio
Caballero
Junior Steward…..Eric Williams
Chaplain…..Oscar
Alfaro P.M.
Historian…..William
Cortez P.M.
Tyler…..Raul Fernandez
P.M.
Proxy
to Grand Lodge…..R.W. Julio Moreno
Sr.
WORSHIPFUL MASTER……...…………………. HUMBERTO ROVIRA
SENIOR WARDEN…….……………………………….JULIO
JUNIOR WARDEN…………………...…… EMILIO BERMUDEZ
TREASURER……………………………… OSWALDO SERMEñO
P.M.
SECRETARY…………………………………….……. ROGER QUINTANA P.M.
CHAPLAIN …… RAUL PINTO PM
SR. DEACON………….. RAUL
PINTO JR
JR. DEACON……..RAFAEL
ANAYA
SR. MC. ---- ROBERT ULATOVSKY
JR. MC. ………. RAUL
FERNANDEZ P.M.
SR. STEWARD ………. MIGUEL
NUñEZ
JR. STEWARD ……… JESUS
ABREU
MARSHAL FERNANDO AGUIRRE
HISTORIAN WILLIAM CORTES, PM
PROXY TO GRAND
LODGE ANGEL ROSARIO
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