The following resources are not under the control of the Commission, and we provide them as a courtesy only for those performing research. As always, the final arbiter in recognition matters are the sovereign grand lodges.
Amity – Masonic Recognition App
The 2004 – 2023 Commission reports are now available in the Amity app. They are organized by Grand Lodge, and ordered by year.
To access the reports, tap the “Menu” icon at the top-left corner of the Amity app, and then tap “Recognition”. The world’s 310 Grand Lodges (minus your own) will be listed, along with your Grand Lodge recognition of each, where available. Where reports from the Commission exist, they will be shown with a flag and the number of reports on the right side of the screen. Tap the flag to see the detailed report text.
Over the next few weeks, Amity will be adding more reports back to 1973.
Commission on Bogus Masonry
https://thephylaxis.org/bogus/
Conference Links
COGMNA – Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America
Conference of Grand Masters Prince Hall Masons (PHA)
CMI – Inter-American Masonic Confederation
CGLREU – Confederation of Regular Grand Lodges of the United States of Mexico
CMSB – Conference of Symbolic Freemasonry of Brazil
COMAB – Masonic Confederation of Brazil (Independent Grand Orients)
French Freemasonry and the Basel Declaration
Grand Lodges recognized by the Confederation of Mexican Grand Lodges
Into the Maelstrom: The Issue of Masonic Regularity, Past and Present
John L. Cooper III, Ph.D.
United Grand Lodge of England
BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR GRAND LODGE RECOGNITION
Accepted by the Grand Lodge, September 4, 1929
The M.W. The Grand Master having expressed a desire that the Board would draw up a statement of the Basic Principles on which this Grand Lodge could be invited to recognize any Grand Lodge applying for recognition by the English Jurisdiction, the Board of General Purposes has gladly complied. The result, as follows, has been approved by the Grand Master and it will form the basis of a questionnaire to be forwarded in future to each Jurisdiction requesting English recognition. The Board desires that not only such bodies but the Brethren generally throughout the Grand Master’s Jurisdiction shall be fully informed as to those Basic Principles of Freemasonry for which the Grand Lodge of England has stood throughout its history
1. Regularity of origin; i.e. each Grand Lodge shall have been established lawfully by a duly recognized Grand Lodge or by three or more regularly constituted Lodges.
2. That a belief in the G.A.O.T.U. and His revealed will shall be an essential qualification for membership.
3. That all Initiates shall take their Obligation on or in full view of the open Volume of the Sacred Law, by which is meant the revelation from above which is binding on the conscience of the particular individual who is being initiated.
4. That the membership of the Grand Lodge and individual Lodges shall be composed exclusively of those who were made Masons as men; and that each Grand Lodge shall have no Masonic association of any kind with bodies which make women Masons.*
5. That the Grand Lodge shall have sovereign jurisdiction over the Lodges under its control; i.e. that it shall be a responsible, independent,
self-governing organization, with sole and undisputed authority over the Craft or Symbolic Degrees (Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason) within its Jurisdiction; and shall not in any way be subject to, or divide such authority with, a Supreme Council or other Power claiming any control or supervision over those degrees.
6. That the three Great Lights of Freemasonry (namely, the Volume of the Sacred Law, the Square, and the Compasses) shall always be exhibited when the Grand Lodge or its subordinate Lodges are at work, the chief of these being the Volume of the Sacred Law.
7. That the discussion of religion and politics within the Lodge shall be strictly prohibited.
8. That the principles of the Antient Landmarks, customs, and usages of the Craft shall be strictly observed.
* Amended wording of paragraph 4 adopted 12 September 2018.
Source: https://www.ugle.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/file/Book%20of%20Constitutions%20-%20Craft%20Rules.pdf pp. xiv-xv
Commission on Information for Recognition 