The Three Links Odd Cast

Our recent episode on inclusion of the Lord's Prayer in the lodge opening generated some of the greatest volume of feedback from listeners we've ever received. We went through dozens and dozens of listener emails, Facebook posts, Instagram messages, and other communications and read them all and then came up with our responses. This is a long episode but we think it's worth hearing all the way to the end because of the careful, detailed discussion. The Shoutout goes to a new...

The Grand Jurisdiction of Texas is on an upswing. Its membership is growing and getting younger and they are chartering new lodges. Grand Master Charlie Stephenson and Brother William Plotts join us to talk about the chartering of Brazos Valley Lodge #76. They share how the Grand Lodge supported their efforts, how what they learned from the failure of the new lodge in El Paso helped their efforts and how the experience of re-chartering Plano Lodge #114 provided a helpful tem...

Odd Fellowship is non-political and non-sectarian. But why, then, do we recite the Lord's Prayer as part of the opening of the lodge? Ainslie and Toby dig into some of the history around this observance and discuss whether it makes us truly non-sectarian or if that was just a thin veneer applied to the top of Odd Fellowship to make it appeal to more people. Hint: there are no right answers and a lot of different opinions. The Shoutout goes to Nampa Lodge #40 of Idaho f...

Like many lodges, True Fellowship No. 52 in San Jose, CA had seen better days. As members got older, the focus of the lodge became more insular and they were less interested in connecting to the outside community. That all began to change when a new member with an interest in building community joined. Since that time, the lodge has become a dynamo in San Jose and has not only become a thriving place itself, it is beginning to share its success with other lodges in the area....

A remarkable convergence of events led to the revival of Friendship Lodge No. 50 in Northfield, Minnesota. A Mason in Red Wing, Minnesota started an educational program for his Masonic lodge and then reached out to the Odd Fellows to request them give a presentation about Odd Fellowship. Four of the Masons present decided to check out Odd Fellowship. One person turned to Reddit and podcasts (like ours and Modern Goat Rider) to do some research before joining a group. T...

Billy and Tara from Modern Goat Rider joined us for a thorough and in-depth discussion about leadership in the Odd Fellows. The first half of the episode is available on their feed on your favorite podcatcher or directly from their podcast host. In this episode we discuss the leadership at the Grand Lodge and Sovereign Grand Lodge levels and specifically ponder the question of whether we need to have an organizational structure with a stronger central executive and what the possib...

A recent email from a listener prompted this episode's discussion about what happens when a lodge sells its building. A lot can happen, but only a very few things should happen. We dig into the question and examine the process and what knowledge members should have when dealing with major lodge property. The Shoutout goes to Prestonsburg Lodge #293 in Kentucky for their impressive growth and revival in the past couple of years. For the Odd Podge, Toby talks about ...

This year, for our Christmas episode, we present this adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Listen along as an all-star cast of Odd Fellows presents this unique Odd Fellows take on the classic story.Ebeneezer Scrooge: Gil T. RodelloThomas Wildey: Steven CrossBob Cratchitt: Joseph BentonTim Cratchitt: Ainslie HeilichGhost of Odd Fellowship Past: Michael GreenzeigerGhost of Odd Fellowship Present: Mason WolfGhost of Odd Fellowship Future: Mike DuminiakWritten, directed, reco...

Our Sovereign Grand Master, John Cupp, is a very busy man. We were very fortunate when he made some time at the West Virginia Grand Sessions to sit down and talk with co-host Mike Duminiak about his time as Sovereign Grand Master and some of his experiences in Odd Fellowship. He was joined partway through the interview by his wife Emilie who also shared some experiences and observations. Both are very intelligent and articulate leaders in our Order and we feel very fortunate...

Pueblo Lodge #8 was down to just four members after the passing of one of the five who was maintaining the quorum that kept their charter. John Jones had recently moved to Colorado from another state and was looking to join a lodge. One day, a man with a letter from the Grand Secretary showed up on his doorstep to meet him and possibly bring him into the lodge. That man was Vernon Wolf, Past Grand Master of Colorado. Brother Vernon did show up on John's doorstep and br...

We always like to do an episode about cemeteries around Halloween and this year is no exception. Given our command to "Bury The Dead" as Odd Fellows, and how many lodges have administered cemeteries throughout our history, it's no surprise to find a lodge engaged in activities related to a final resting place. For this episode we are joined with Past Grand Master Carol Woltjer and Brother Matt Rock of Sioux Falls Lodge #9 in South Dakota to talk about their "Remember Me" project.&...

A life of academic wandering and creation has brought Dr. Heather Calloway to her present position as Executive Director of University Collections and Director of the Center for Fraternal Collections and Research at Indiana University. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and having grown up in a fraternal family, Dr. Calloway was destined from an early age to make her way to the hallowed halls of academia and bring her fraternal knowledge and experience with her. She wa...

In a secluded corner of the wilderness around Mount Shasta in Northern California, a secret rite has been taking place for generations. No, it's not something from the latest thriller novel, it's the Cave Degree! In a natural cave that faces east toward Mount Shasta, Odd Fellows (and before them, Knights of Pythias) have been performing degree work. The Odd Fellows of Yreka Lodge No. 19 bought the cave from the Pythians in 1962 for $10 but had been using the cave for the Sec...

Tucked away in a secluded corner of Oregon's rolling farmland northwest of Portland sits the Hahn Farm. Owned by Gary Hahn, a third-generation Odd Fellow and fourth-generation owner of the farm, it has become a beacon for Odd Fellowship in the jurisdiction of Oregon. Every year since the early 1990s, on the third weekend of September, the farm hosts a Degree Weekend unlike most others in Odd Fellowship. Candidates take the Initiatory and Three Degrees on Saturday and then the Enca...

Civic life in America has been in decline for decades. A prescient few, including noted author Robert Putnam, have chronicled that decline. In his book "Bowling Alone," Putnam explored the link between civic engagement and the function of government and described the nature of the decline in participation in clubs, churches, and other groups. Pete and Rebecca Davis, a brother and sister team, made a film based on Putnam's book: "Join Or Die!" Their film opens with a vi...

Odd Fellowship has found many spaces in which to adapt its Degree work. Our beginnings were in pubs and taverns so Degrees were originally performed there. Eventually we built lodge halls but we still looked for more interesting and unusual places to perform Degrees. Caves became a popular choice in the 20th Century. California's Cave Degree near Yreka is the most well-known, but other locations have done outdoor and underground Degrees, including Dead Horse Cave in Id...

Hard to believe, but it's been three years since the launch of the Three Links Odd Cast. Way back when, Sergio, Ainslie, and Toby could hardly imagine the cultural touchstone this podcast would become. Here we are at the beginning of Season Four and we're just as excited to make new episodes as we were when we started in 2020. We take a look back at the episodes that made Season 3 special, including talking with the Historian from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library...

Insurance can be a touchy subject that's all too easy to avoid. There are multiple different reasons to avoid it including cost, complication, and just a general desire to not think about bad things that might happen. Those bad things are a fact of life, however, and lodges need to be prepared for whatever kind of bad things may occur. Fortunately, Sister Malia Murchison of Morning Star Lodge #20 in Placerville, California is a Past Grand and a professional insurance agent.&...

Take one seventy-year Odd Fellow, his great grandson, a twenty-year Odd Fellow from Indiana, a guy from the neighborhood looking for a "thirty-year project" and a few other new folks and put them together and you have the recipe for reviving a lodge that had become profoundly inactive as they retreated from the community and membership had shrunk. They had become a "kitchen-table lodge," content to meet casually around the kitchen table. With the involvement of the new members and...

Like many western jurisdictions, Nevada is small. The bigger cities—Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City—have lodges and there are a few scattered around the rest of the state as well. Recently, though, activity and interest has been building in the Silver State as younger members have joined and been appointed to various jobs to help build Odd Fellowship. Our guest, Brother Jonathan Wettig, is an enthusiastic young Odd Fellow who just took the job of promoting Odd Fellowship on soc...