Masonic Recognition Issues

UGLE Recognitions

The purpose of this webpage is to attempt to list all Masonic Grand Lodges that are recognized by the UGLE.  Everyone should be aware that every Grand Lodge in the world recognizes its own set of Grand Lodges, and no one is required to follow what the UGLE does.  There is not a single U.S. Grand Lodge that recognizes the same set of Grand Lodges as the UGLE.  Some have specifically rejected requests by the UGLE to recognize or not recognize certain Grand Lodges.

If any of the information on this chart is not correct or if you know of additional information that should be included, please send me (Paul M. Bessel) email by clicking on my email address: paul@bessel.org  

The information on this webpage is from the Masonic Year Book 1998-99, published by the United Grand Lodge of England, and email messages telling me about changes since the publication of that book.  The order of listings, and categories, are those used in that book.

I do not claim that all the information on this webpage is completely accurate and up to date, since I do not have direct access to information from the UGLE.  

When only a country name appears, it is usually styled the "Grand Lodge of" that country.

The AIMS and RELATIONSHIPS of the CRAFT
Agreed and Issued by the GRAND LODGES of ENGLAND, IRELAND and SCOTLAND
in August 1938

This Statement was subsequently endorsed and confirmed, particularly in regard to paragraph (7), by UNITED GRAND LODGE of ENGLAND on 7th September 1949

The only differences in the Statements issued by the Grand Lodges were the name and details of the individual Grand Lodge appearing within the text of the Statement. In this case, the version issued by the United Grand Lodge of England is quoted.

1. From time to time the United Grand Lodge of England has deemed it desirable to set forth in precise form the aims of Freemasonry as consistently practised under its Jurisdiction since it come into being as an organized body in 1717, and also to define the principles governing its relations with those other Grand Lodges with which it is in fraternal accord.

2. In view of representations which have been received, and of statements recently issued which have distorted or obscured the true objects of Freemasonry, it is once again considered necessary to emphasize certain fundamental principles of the Order.

3. The first condition of admission into, and membership of, the Order is a belief in a Supreme Being. This is essential and admits of no compromise.

4. The Bible, referred to by Freemasons as the Volume of the Sacred Law, is always open in the Lodges. Every Candidate is required to take his obligation on that book or on the Volume which is held by his particular creed to impart sanctity to an oath or promise taken upon it.

5. Everyone who enters Freemasonry is, at the outset, strictly forbidden to countenance any act which may have a tendency to subvert the peace and good order of society; he must pay due obedience to the law of any state in which he resides or which may afford him protection, and he must never be remiss in the allegiance due to the Sovereign of his native land.

6. While English Freemasonry thus inculcates in each of its members the duties of loyalty and citizenship, it reserves to the individual the right to hold his own opinion with regard to public affairs. But neither in any Lodge, nor at any time in his capacity as a Freemason, is he permitted to discuss or to advance his views on theological or political questions.

7. The Grand Lodge has always consistently refused to express any opinion  on questions of foreign or domestic policy either at home or abroad, and it will not allow its name to be associated with any action, however humanitarian it may appear to be, which infringes its unalterable policy of standing aloof from every question affecting the relations between one government and another, or between political parties, or questions as to rival theories of government.

8. The Grand Lodge is aware that there do exist Bodies, styling themselves Freemasons, which do not adhere to these principles, and while that attitude exists the Grand Lodge of England refuses absolutely to have any relations with such Bodies, or to regard them as Freemasons.

9. The Grand Lodge of England is a Sovereign and independent Body practising Freemasonry only within the three Degrees and only within the limits defined in its Constitution as 'pure Antient Masonry'. It does not recognize or admit the existence of any superior Masonic authority, however styled.

10. On more than one occasion the Grand Lodge has refused, and will continue to refuse, to participate in Conferences with so-called International Associations claiming to represent Freemasonry, which admit to membership Bodies failing to conform strictly to the principles upon which the Grand Lodge of England is founded. The Grand Lodge does not admit any such claim, nor can its views be represented by any such Association.

11. There is no secret with regard to any of the basic principles of Freemasonry, some of which have been stated above. The Grand Lodge will always consider the recognition of those Grand Lodges which profess and practise, and can show that they have consistently professed and practised, those established and unaltered principles, but in no circumstances will it enter into discussion with a view to any new or varied interpretation of them. They must be accepted and practised wholeheartedly and in their entirety by those who desire to be recognised as Freemasons by the United Grand Lodge of England.

Copyright © 1998-2008 by Paul M. Bessel - all rights reserved

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