REGULAR GRAND LODGE OF...

After 2005 a coordinated parallel network emerged around the Masonic High Council (MHC) and its brand, the Regular Grand Lodge of England (RGLE). The MHC traces its launch to a Grand Assembly on January 25, 2005, that envisioned constituting Masonic High Councils and “Regular Grand Lodges” worldwide. RGLE publications identify Rui A. Gabirro as a principal organizer of that framework. Mainstream recognition bodies reject RGLE’s claims of regularity: in 2005 the Commission on Information for Recognition recorded United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE)’s notice that a breakaway styling itself the “Regular Grand Lodge of England” was irregular and had no standing in English Masonry, and UGLE’s public roster does not list RGLE or its U.S. affiliates.

Secondary sources report that Rui A. Gabirro, then a member of Amity Lodge No. 8650 under UGLE, was expelled on December 14, 2005. Although no public UGLE circular naming him is readily available, the timing aligns with the Commission’s August 2005 note about the RGLE breakaway and helps explain the organizational split that followed.

In the United States, affiliates formed “Regular Grand Lodge of [State]” jurisdictions in two ways: by warrants from an existing RGLE/MHC body, or by convening “Grand Assemblies of Master Masons” that voted to constitute a new grand lodge under the MHC/RGLE umbrella. RGLE newsletters document both methods. The result was an interlinked set of state bodies aligned with MHC/RGLE rather than with mainstream state grand lodges. The Commission warned North American jurisdictions about lodges chartered by foreign or irregular bodies and cited a case tying a U.S. “Regular Grand Lodge” directly to RGLE.

California developed through Nevada. Early 2008 materials describe California lodges operating under dispensation from the Regular Grand Lodge of Nevada with plans to petition for a state grand lodge; the Commission’s 2009 report records that the Regular Grand Lodge of California received its charter in June 2008 from Nevada and, by its own account, was linked to RGLE. Florida followed the assembly model. Notices describe Grand Assembly meetings on March 6 and April 3, 2010, at which participants adopted the name and formation of the Regular Grand Lodge of Florida, illustrating the MHC/RGLE assembly pathway.

Nevada served as an early U.S. hub. A February 2007 RGLE newsletter notes its warrant and incorporation among “Regular Grand Lodges of the world,” a June 2008 program shows the Nevada grand master presiding at a U.S. convention, and 2007 lists place Nevada within the Masonic High Council of the United States of America, indicating it functioned both as affiliate and chartering source. Texas appears in 2007 materials as an affiliated jurisdiction with officers listed under the MHC USA structure; New York is shown in 2010 as both a Regular Grand Lodge and a Masonic High Council for the state; New Jersey and North Carolina are reported as products of March–April 2006 assemblies with warrants issued thereafter; Virginia features in 2006–2007 newsletters that congratulate its formation and lodge activity. Together these notices place each state inside the same MHC/RGLE framework.

At the national level, an MHC USA roster aggregates multiple U.S. “Regular Grand Lodge” jurisdictions, including California, Nevada, Virginia, Illinois, Texas, New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina. These compilations, along with RGLE newsletters, outline an expansion strategy using federations, conventions, and cross-charters, with RGLE positioned as the symbolic center.

Recognition is decisive across the board. UGLE’s does not list RGLE or its U.S. affiliates. The Commission’s 2005 record captures UGLE’s judgment that RGLE is a breakaway and irregular, and its 2009 report documents a U.S. instance of a state “Regular Grand Lodge” chartered by another affiliate and linked to RGLE. Taken together, the sources describe a coordinated post-2005 system: MHC and RGLE supplied ideology, brand, and process; U.S. affiliates formed by charter or assembly; Nevada functioned early as an organizer; California and Florida illustrate the two principal formation methods; Texas, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia appear across the same rosters and newsletters; and the constellation sits outside mainstream recognition. Gabirro’s role at the MHC’s inception ties the network’s architecture to identifiable organizers, while UGLE and Commission records fix its status as irregular in the United States.