Obligations Card Policy

Obligations Card Policy


Today, we are adopting the following obligations card policy:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xQwFlAfic2F92p-u96mad0UArX4aeTcs/view?usp=sharing


This policy outlines how DeMolays earn their obligatory cards and is explicit that by June 1, 2020 all Councilors of chapters that are not new or reforming must have their obligations card.


This policy was thanks to the work of our Director of Ritual, “Dad” Craig Riha, and his team with “Dad” Tom Perry and “Dad”  Phillip Hurkala. At LeadCon you may have heard about the draft policy. It took a little longer to get this policy out so we could talk to a number of people including the SAC and SEC about it and get their feedback on it and to make some tweaks.

There have been a few questions and I want to address those:


Why are we adopting a statewide policy?
The bylaws of DeMolay International provide that each state shall adopt a policy.  It is important to me that we set a standard and we abide by that across our state.  A young man assuming the east in St. Andrew’s Chapter should meet the same minimum requirements as a young man assuming the east in Richmond, or Trinity.

Can chapters create other requirements to be Master Councilor?100%! Some chapters may require that a Master Councilor have earned a certain number of LCCs or brought in so many members to assume the East. These policies must be in the Chapter bylaws and have been voted on by the young men and approved by New York DeMolay in writing.

Why are obligations important?
Regardless if you joined in Kansas City in 1919, or a snowy day in Utica, NY in 1997 or took your obligations in an officers’ club in Taiwan in the 1960s, or you joined last month at Ridge Council, the obligations link all of us as DeMolays. These paragraphs unite us all as brothers and are at the core of what we do. How can we live as DeMolays if we cannot recall what we promised to do?  Learning your part is one of many ways that we show informal leadership in DeMolay.

Why are you not requiring obligations to vote for chapter officers or hold appointed office?
This is the question I have gotten from people who think the policy is too soft. Member involvement is critically important to us as an organization.  As soon as you join DeMolay you should be able to be involved and engaged with the activities of your chapter.

Why June 1st?
My goal is to be fair.  This policy originally said that by May 1, 2020 all councilors had to be proficient. Because it took us a little longer to finalize this policy, I am pushing the effective date from May 1 to June 1. This provides each chapter plenty of time to become complaint.   I know several chapters have not been requiring this and young men have made plans to serve as Master Councilor. By giving the better part of six months this provides time to get proficient and make things work.

Is this policy set in stone?
This is our policy. We are always welcome to feedback and evaluation.

How will you help us teach our young men ritual?We have a core team of ritual advisors at the state and region level who can help teach and will travel and do seminars. We can also work with the advisory councils to help through this process. At state events we will have opportunities to earn obligation cards.

What is a “re-forming” chapter?Some of our Chapters have long been established and therefore are chartered, but they only have a handful of young men showing up. In many ways they are just like a “new chapter.” This status may be given by the Executive Officer to a chapter upon their request.

What level of expectation of privacy is there for IEPs and 504s?This policy outlines an accommodation process.  As part of this advisors may become aware of personal information related to a DeMolay. This information should be kept confidential and on a need to know basis. Adult volunteers who violate the privacy provisions may be disciplined up to and including removal as an advisor or revocation of honors.

We do not know how to provide appropriate accommodations, what do we do?We have a number of educators in New York DeMolay and other professionals who know how to develop an accommodation plan and process. Please contact New York DeMolay and we will work to get you that help.