# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S1330
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

862 MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS

Report of the Bureau of Information on Secret Orders
(Unprinted Memorial 16)

This bureau, one of the standing committees of Synod since
the special Lodge Committee made its report in 1929, has the
function of obtaining reliable information regarding the present
status of fraternal orders and other secular organizations which
make their appeal to the laymen of our Church. This information
is deposited in voluminous files, from which salient data have been
published in a Concordia Publishing House product, the Handbook
of Organizations: Their Relation to the Church, now in its second
edition.

The strong home mission effort which has been under way in
recent years has brought as a result many contacts which would
cause inquiries as to the precise nature of certain organizations.
Not all of these now insist upon initiation under a ritual, others
are in a transition stage, while some of the most prominent are
still lodges in the evil sense of the term. In view of the scope of
the committee’s assignment we ask the permission of Synod to
designate this bureau hereafter as “Commission on Fraternal
Organizations.”

During the past triennium the bureau has been composed of
the undersigned members, Pastor J. W. Acker receiving his ap-
pointment from the Praesidium to fill the vacancy caused by the
death of our lamented brother and co-worker, the Rev. O. F.
Engelbrecht. The members meet several times a year in order to
discuss policies and specific problems. Among the latter the bureau
has taken notice especially of the fraternal orders which have been
making a special effort to gain new members and, among these,
particularly the youth organizations sponsored by Freemasonry.
We have taken occasion to warn publicly against the soliciting of
our young people by these organizations. We are also convinced
that the Acacia Fraternity and other organizations more or less
loosely affiliated with Masonry must be recognized as a growing
menace to Lutheran students on university campuses.

The amount of correspondence crossing the desks of the
members of’ the Bureau reflects an awareness of the menace of
lodgery on the part of our pastors and a policy of alertness over
against lodge members in our congregations.

While it is to be admitted that the testimony of our Church
against lodges is not without effect, so much so that we may
truthfully speak of an antilodge policy of our Synod, the problem
is still with us in all its forms, and a warning must be sounded
against undue toleration of lodge members as well as against
a stringent legalism in dealing with them. We cannot admit that