Agde: the French National Grand Lodge met at the Palais des Congrès

Jean-Pierre Rollet, Grand Maître de la Grande loge nationale française, au Cap d’Agde samedi. MIDI LIBRE – OLIVIER RAYNAUD

La deuxième obédience maçonnique française célébrait ce week-end les trente ans d'existence de la province de Septimanie. L'occasion de faire un point avec le Grand Maître de la GLNF,  Jean-Pierre Rollet. 

With its 33,000 members – only men – and nearly 1,400 lodges in France, including one in Agde, the French National Grand Lodge, 111 years old, is the second Masonic obedience in the country. Some of the brothers gathered last weekend at the Palais des Congrès in Cap d’Agde, to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the province of Septimania, which brings together the departments of the former Languedoc-Roussillon ( Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Hérault, Gard and Lozère).

An only male obedience

An assembly chaired by Grand Master Jean-Pierre Rollet, who received us in the lounges of the Mercure hotel to discuss Freemasonry, its different currents, and the specificities of the French National Grand Lodge. Among them, the need to believe in a God, whoever he may be, in any case in the idea "of a great architect of the ;univers", and that of remaining a masculine, purely spiritual obedience. "There are many Masonic currents in France and c’ is a chance", believes Jean-Pierre Rollet.

The Masonic ideal

For the French National Grand Lodge, this assembly organized in Cap d’Agde is also an opportunity to make itself better known, including to the general public. Because if discretion of course remains the norm for most brothers, obedience also opens outwards. "In any case, we we’have nothing to hide", specifies the Grand Master, who obviously knows the part of mystery that surrounds the Freemason universe. He defends himself, for example, from "any business dealings. There is an ideal that guides us and when someone transgresses it, they are ostracized. We hate it! We have also rewritten an ethics charter because belonging to the GLNF is an attitude, a way of being. "

"Freemasonry is the future of youth"

Centered on spirituality, as we said, mutual aid too, like the schools in Madagascar supported by an ad hoc foundation, or the humanitarian convoys set up towards Ukraine. "The mason does good", he continues. Claimed values ​​which, for Jean-Pierre Rollet, mean that Freemasonry "is the future of youth. At the French National Grand Lodge, we do not enter into political or societal debates. The more difficult the world is, the more Masons have a role to play in non-violence, positive attitudes."

Co-optation between brothers remains the rule. "We receive spontaneous applications, but 90% of our members are co-opted. And what we look for in a man is his spirituality."