5th District and Hoosier Heart 27

Saturday, November 14, 2009  6:00 Bloomington, Annual Dinner

February 6, Washington 1080  at 1:00

May 1, Scottsburg 2324 at 1:00

August 8, Greenwood 2079 at 12 Noon

November 13, Martinsville 1127 at 6:00 This will be the annual dinner.

All dues are to be paid by October 31 of each year.  (Membership runs from October 31 to October 31 of each year)  Dues are only $5!  Anyone that belongs to the Moose Legion may join.  All the WOTM College of Regents, Star Recorder, and the Academy of Friendship may join the Council of Higher Degree.

  W.O.T.M. must have one of above Degrees to    

join.

Objects and purpose of the Council of Higher Degrees:

1. To become actively involved in Lodge and Chapter retention programs.
2. To honor any newly elevated members of the Moose Legion, Fellowship, Pilgrim, Academy of Friendship, Star Recorder, or College of Regents.
3. To pay proper respect to departed members.
4. To promote a better understanding of Moose International, Inc., the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Women of the Moose.
5.  To render service to Mooseheart and Moosehaven by creating and maintaining a fund for the purpose of carrying on these charitable and philanthropic endeavors.
6.  To promote fraternal and social unity, benevolence, and charity among members of the Order’s Higher Degrees.

New Higher Degree Logo to reflect

The Legion as being a Degree of the Order

Has 6 six rings as compared to 5 previously

                                                               
MOOSE MEMBERS MUST EARN TOP DEGREES OF ORDER

One of the basic precepts of the Loyal Order of Moose is that "no institution that labors for self and self alone can remain great and mighty, and serve posterity." Therefore, the two highest degrees conferred on members of theMoose Fraternity are bestowed as a reward for devotion and service to the philanthropic programs of the Order. These are the Fellowship Degree and the Pilgrim Degree of Merit.

When a man is enrolled into the Loyal Order of Moose, he automatically becomes a member of the first degree, and becomes eligible for advancement to the Second Degree , the Moose Legion, after he has served 1 year and has sponsored at least 1 new member, or has served at least 6 months and has sponsored at least 3 new members. 

Once enrolled as a Moose Legionnaire, he is eligible to wear the maroon Moose Legion blazer, striped tie and lapel pin, and to participate in the celebrations and other activities of his Moose Legion Unit. If a member has demonstrated his leadership ability by giving of his time and effort to serve on various Lodge and/or Moose Legion committees and by being a loyal, enthusiastic and active member of his Lodge and Moose Legion, he may be granted the honors of the third degree--the Fellowship Degree of Honor.

He is then able to wear the Fellowship regalia and the Fellowship lapel pin. Conferral of the Fellowship Degree takes place at the International Moose Convention and at state and provincial association conventions and authorized special meetings. The first full week in December is set aside each year as "Fellowship Degree Honor Week," and all Lodges
throughout the Moose domain are requested to conduct appropriate activities to pay tribute to their members of the third degree.

The highest and most coveted degree of the Order, the Pilgrim Degree of Merit, is conferred on roughly between 150 and 200 Moose members each year, and only in a solemn and impressive ceremony held in late May or early June in the House of God on the Mooseheart campus.

Only those who have compiled an outstanding record of meritorious service to the Order over a period of many years receive this distinction. Pilgrims are entitled to wear the gold Pilgrim jacket and tie, and the Pilgrim lapel pin.

One of the most colorful rituals in the Moose is the Pilgrim regalia presentation ceremony. When a new Pilgrim is named, his home Lodge sponsors a ceremony in which Pilgrims in the area convene in their regalia to invest him with his Pilgrim apparel. Some larger Moose Associations have received permission to "present" all of their year's Pilgrims at one time, in a statewide ceremony.

The regalia of the Moose Legion, Fellowship Degree of Honor, and Pilgrim Degree of Merit can be worn at any authorized Moose function--but must be worn in their entirety; it is improper to wear a degree jacket without its correlating necktie, or vice versa.

Members of the Fellowship Degree and Pilgrim Degree are recognized throughout the Moose organization as fraternal leaders because they have earned the respect of their brother Moose by their service to the Order.