Grand 1st Principal

May 13/2023
Most Excellent Companions, Grand Chapter Officers, Distinguished Guests,
Companions All,

I feel very humbled honoured and proud to stand before you as your Grand 1 st
Principal of Royal Arch Masons of Alberta. I am very grateful to all of you for
putting your trust in me and I will carry out the duties of a Grand 1 st Principal to
the best of my abilities and ever remembering the solemn obligation I took earlier
today.
I would like to start off by giving special thanks to M Ex Comp. Don Gillies for
installing me today and for assembling the installing team of Past Grand 1 st
Principals who performed the installation and investiture of the Grand Chapter
officers, thank you all for making this day special, your dedication to this Grand
Chapter is very much appreciated.
To our immediate Past Grand 1 st Principal M Ex Comp. Jeff Knight, it has been an
absolute pleasure to have accompanied you on your official visits and events in
Alberta and other Jurisdictions. You have led this Grand chapter this past year
with great leadership skills and a focus on getting the job done, thank you for
your work on the Royal arch introductory lectures and the chapter walkabout
ceremony, these are great tools for the chapters to have at hand.
On behalf of the Grand Chapter of RAM of Alberta, thank you for your hard work
and dedication, I wish you well in all your future endeavors.
I would like to thank our Grand H, R Ex Comp. Jaime Wong for the great work he
did on the memorial service, it has been great working with you and travelling
with you this past year and I am looking forward to a great year ahead, thank you
for you dedication to this Grand chapter.
Congratulations to our Grand J R Ex Comp. Kurtis Fredricks, congratulations to our
new Grand scribe E, R Ex Comp. Bob Cantwell, and Congratulations to our new
Grand Scribe N, R Ex Comp.——— I am looking forward to working with all of you
in the year ahead, thank you for stepping up and running for these positions.
To our retiring Grand Scribe E M Ex Comp. Jerry Kopp, on behalf of the Grand
Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Alberta, we thank you for your years of service

and we wish you well in your new position as Grand Master of Cryptic Rite
Masons of Western Canada, your unfaltering dedication to this Grand Chapter is
very much appreciated, thank you.
To all the incoming Grand chapter officers elected and appointed, to all the
committee members and Grand Executive members, I am looking forward to
working with you in the year ahead, on behalf of the Grand Chapter of RAM of
Alberta, thank you all for stepping up and accepting these positions.
Companions, this year I would like to see all the chapters focus on recruitment
and retention through education in the chapters, coaching and mentoring new
candidates, getting them involved and participating in the chapter work.
We need to get out and visit the lodges in your area, and with the permission of
the WM of the lodge put on some Royal Arch education which will give any
potential candidates the information they need to make a decision to join your
chapter.
Chapters should have education at each meeting when they are not doing degree
work, the education should be interesting.
I would like to see the chapters that don’t have an education committee form
one, plan the education as far ahead as possible, put the education topic in the
chapter notice, and the Grand chapter web site, this will give the companions a
chance to have a look at the education topic, this will create discussion and make
the education more interesting.
We have two Grand Lecturers, one in the North, R Ex Comp. Bob Lemmens and
one in the South M Ex Comp. Jerry Kopp, these two companions are a wealth of
knowledge and are ready and willing to come in person to your chapter and put
on the education for you, please make good use of them.
In chapters we must do the work well, do the degrees well and do the festive
boards well, this will not only help with retention it will bring in new members
and attract visitors.
One of the greatest threats to Capitular Masonry is the shrinking number of
companions, most of the loses are due to demits and suspensions, we cannot

stand by and do nothing about it, with some hard work in the chapters we can
turn this around and in time we will see the benefits of our labours.
Companions, during my term I plan to visit all the chapters in this jurisdiction at
least once, I am looking forward to visiting each chapter and I thank you in
advance.

Thank you all for being Royal Arch Masons.

M Ex Comp. James Carswell.