Editor's Note: We are honored to welcome a new contributor; Camelia López is an Argentine sister who already has a solid experience of Freemasonry. He has very kindly agreed to give us his point of view on the experience of Freemasonry in South America. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
They say that if you seek, you will find. But it was not my case. I was not on a search when I found Freemasonry. However, today I cannot get out what Freemasonry has been building inside me and the response of my environment to that enormous change that operated in me.
Freemasonry has brought me together with a group of people I wouldn't have met if I hadn't been initiated. I will always appreciate the opportunity they gave me to share my thoughts and knowledge. But more than that, I appreciate what you shared with me. I have had the joy of being able to travel through Argentina, my country, and learn about the idiosyncrasies of other regions and the way in which they practice Freemasonry.
In a country like Argentina, long distances are the least of the problems. Different climates make people live in different ways. There are areas with a greater predominance of religion or conservatism. Even the monetary income, for the same work, varies significantly from one zone to another. Furthermore, Argentina is a country of immigrants par excellence.
But to the north there are more Latin American immigrants and to the south there are more European immigrants. All of them leave their mark on the Argentines. These abysmal differences among Argentines generate a lack of consensus when it comes to managing a national organization.
On the other hand, the density of the population has a special influence on Freemasonry, generating the agglomeration of lodges in a few points of the country to the detriment of provinces with fewer inhabitants.
People who have had the opportunity to be more active in Grand Lodges and Grand Orients always notice an inconsistency between what is said and what is done. There is widespread confusion, accompanied by misinformation or the total absence of a coherent response with the purposes of Freemasonry as an Institution and as a way of life.
As a consequence, the Institution wanders between personalities that generate disunity and conflicts without reaching all corners of my country.
This space gives me the opportunity to offer my opinions and read other people in order to find that new direction that Freemasonry has to take in our times.
That is the reason that drives me to write these lines waiting for a response from those who want to share what they know with me in pursuit of a fairer and more fraternal Freemasonry.
Carmela Lopez
To learn more about Freemasonry in Argentina
Noelia Antonelli and Sergio Goycochea tour the "Casa de la Ciudadanía" in Buenos Aires, a place that brings together more than 400 lodges from all over the country. Freemasonry is a powerhouse of ideas in which people participate that have totally different points of view. These" organizations function as a "place of agreement" where various issues are discussed in which favorable resolutions for the citizens are reached.