WELCOME TO INDIANA,
WILLIAM MCKINLEY LODGE #1
PHILIPPINES!!

Submitted by Domain of Indiana Grand Secretary Dennis Adams

Ceremonies to welcome our new knights were held in the Philipines from October 10 to 15.

The “Monday” class of Candidates The “Thursday” Class of Candidates at the lodge

The “Friday” Class of Candidates at the lodge A very serious and awesome flag and banner retirement at the Institution Ceremony

The official dubbing ceremony was intentionally held until the evening of the Grand Celebration. Each new Knight was then introduced, brought forward to the kneeling stool, where he was then officially dubbed a Knight of Pythias. He then went to Knight Michael Duque, who in turn, presented him with his Rank of Knight Red Sash, a part of his Philippine uniform to be worn over his Barone. The blue sash, worn by the Chancellor Commander, is his officer jewel. Their uniform will eventually include a hat and a sword for dress purposes.

Some of our new Brothers proudly posing in their new Knight sashes. The brother to my right is holding the specially made “dubbing sword”, which was nearly a two handed sword in size and weight!

Thirty-six of the forty-four Brothers making up William McKinley Lodge #1 of the Philippines were able to come back and attend the Institution Ceremony and Grand Celebration on Saturday evening at the Royce Hotel and Casino. The farthest a Brother traveled was 938 miles by plane and land. Many traveled 12-15 hours by land. The average travel time to become a Knight of Pythias was 2-4 hours by at least 1/3 of our new Brothers! It was an amazing evening of celebration of a week of Pythian activities! Several of your new Brothers plan on attending the Grand Convention of Indiana in July to pick up the charter, which will be available by that time. Congratulations to all concerned for a great start to the Knights Pythias re-birth in the Republic of the Philippines! (The Brothers with blue sashes are the Lodge officers)

Brother Michael Duque, founder of the lodge and Dennis Adams, GS of Indiana conclude the Grand Celebration by firstly saluting each other, and then investing each other with their Knight sashes. Michael then surprised Dennis with a special personal award. Among some other special people, he also awarded one to PSC Joel Fierstien as being the Supreme Chancellor who gave the “green light” to this lodge to be formed. It was brought back and shipped to Joel. GS Adams makes the following quick report:

I want to thank the members of the Grand Domain of Indiana for allowing me to be your representative and to make this trip on your behalf. From the time I stepped off my plane in Manila, there was a crew waiting to whisk me through the airport check points. They took me to my awesome hotel in the City of Angeles. I soon found out that Filipinos love to eat! I promised them I would try anything they sat in front of me! To my amazement, it was all very delicious, with my two favorites being the BBQ chicken a—and the pig cheek! The BBQ chicken feet and the squid was also quite tasty! The deep fried pig knuckles were unique and tasty. The quail egg dumplings were very tasty on my last Filipino meal. Thanks to all of my hosts, chauffeurs and all of my new Brothers for a memorable trip! I want to say Brother Sam Tan is awesome for allowing us to meet in the Odd Fellows building, which he owns. That will be the lodge’s home until it gets its own building, which they have already drawn plans for and started a building fund for!! Due to travel restrictions and work schedules and just long distances to travel to get to the scene of the Rank Work, it had to be split over three different days, thus being repeated three times. As each Brother completed his Rank of Knight, he was presented with his Barone. With the Knight Red Sash presentation already planned for the Grand Celebration the actual dubbing was intentionally withheld until Saturday evening, unless the Brother knew he could not attend. Was this all worth it? Is trying to save the greatest Order on the face of the earth worth it? Crescens #33, Brotherhood #3-5-7, Satterfield #578, Wm. McKinley #1, all of the Grand Domain of Indiana. God Bless the Knights of Pythias