Chapter 55
Installation of Officers of a Lodge
REG. 55-1 INSTALLATION NECESSARY.
No brother shall be entitled to exercise any of the rights, privileges, or powers, or to enjoy any prerogative of any office in a subordinate lodge until he shall have been duly elected, or appointed, and installed. This regulation shall not apply to acting officers, a Chaplain, or a Marshal. Officers of a subordinate lodge must be installed as often as reelected or re-appointed. [4-1; 59-6; 56-1; 53-1.1; 57-4; 55-2; 34-19.2].
REG. 55-2 OFFICER MUST PASS PROFICIENCY.
No member of a lodge shall be installed as an officer who has not made suitable proficiency in the catechism of the Third Degree and passed a satisfactory examination thereon in open lodge, and such fact entered upon the minutes of the lodge, except the Treasurer, the Secretary, the Chaplain, and the Tyler. [53-2.2; 53-2.4; 55-3; 55-4; 59-12.31]. (This regulation amended, effective 1/1/2017)
REG. 55-3 DATE AND PLACE OF INSTALLATION.
The officers may be installed at the same communication at which they are elected or appointed or as soon thereafter as practicable.
1. No dispensation is required for installation. [56-1.1; 55-2].
2. Installation may be made at any stated or emergent communication of any regular chartered and constituted lodge within the state, but not outside of the state. [57-1.7].
No elective officer shall be installed by proxy, but any appointive officer may be. [55-2].
REG. 55-5 PENDING ACCUSATIONS.
An officer, elected or appointed, against whom an accusation is made or charges are pending, shall not be installed until these are disposed of, but he is entitled to a speedy trial. If an accusation be made or charges are about to be preferred, notice should be given at once, and charges shall be preferred within fifteen days. [74-5.2; 74-5.3].
The failure or refusal of an officer-elect to give bond as required by his lodge is a refusal to qualify for installation and should be so treated. [59-11.7; 59-12.22].
It becomes the right of a Master of a lodge after he has been legally installed to install the other officers elected and appointed, at the same communication or as soon thereafter as practicable and to install his successor in office. [59-2.46].
REG. 55-8 QUALIFICATIONS TO INSTALL.
Only a Master or a Past Master in good standing of a legally constituted lodge, either of this State or under the jurisdiction of a grand lodge recognized by this Grand Lodge is qualified to install the officers of a Lodge.
REG. 55-9 OFFICIAL DECLARATION.
Each officer of a subordinate lodge, elective and appointive, required to be installed, shall make the following declaration at the time he is installed: [59-6; 59-2.22].
I promise upon the honor of a Master Mason that I will, to the best of my ability, conform to and abide by the Ancient Landmarks, Regulations, and usages of Masonry, the Constitution and laws of The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina and the laws of this lodge, and that I will faithfully perform the duties of the office to which I have been selected.
In the event a lodge desires to have open Installation of Officers the lodge shall be opened on the Degree of Master Mason, the minutes shall be read and approved and the lodge closed, after which the profane may be admitted and the ceremony of installation completed. The Secretary shall add at the end of the minutes a certificate to the effect that the officers of the lodge were duly installed, unless otherwise noted, including the names of the installing officers, and that the charter, constitution and by-laws were delivered to the master during the installation.