As we enter the 1990s the relevance and purpose of the Knights
Templar needs to be re-evaluated. Changes in our allegiances
and attitudes forces us to challenge our concepts of the
Templars and to judge if this ancient and historic Order has
any place in today's society.
To have any effect on decisions made by people, our Order must
reflect the fears, hopes and ambitions of this new decade.
Failure to achieve this objective will result in us being left
sitting on the sidelines as irrelevant, historical eccentrics.
Change for the sake of change or the 'modernising' of the
Order is not what we are recommending. Our proposals have been
made to take into consideration the historic legacy and
attitudes which we have inherited since 1972.
History proves that the Knights Templar have always been
capable of adopting, adapting and improving their situation as
politics and society has dictated. Today's society requires us
to adapt to the problems which it has created and within this
context to re-define our aims and how these aims should be
achieved.
We suggest that to start too far back in history is a mistake
as it muddies the water and confuses the issues. We therefore
propose that we go back to December 1986 when the Grand
Priorate authorised the production of a document which was
produced by the Stirling Commandery.
The paper was printed under "Templar Notes". Unfortunately
they did not give it any title and therefore for the purpose
of this paper we will call this document the '1986
Proclamation of the Scottish Knights Templar". The contents of
the document were:
Proclamation (Issued by the Grand Magistracy for the guidance
of the Chivalry of the Order,
20th September 1978)
The Code of the Templars
Title descent of the Order
Short history of the Order
The Oath of Fealty
Chivalry
Insignia and Dress
The Rule
Daily prayers of a Knight
The Cross and the Templar Shrine
The foreword to this document states that it is only "A brief
insight into some aspects; the aims, history, traditions,
insignia and ritual.' Unfortunately although the notes give
clear guidance on the history, traditions insignia and
rituals, it creates a considerable amount of controversy on
how we should achieve the stated aims.
The 1986 Proclamation states that we should be ready to take
"A militant line of action to support its objectives." The
term 'militant' has connotations in today's society which
requires us to define how we would become 'militant' to
achieve the educational aims of the proclamation.
There is a further stated objective which requires
clarification relating to the instruction that our "viewpoint
should be maintained and promoted." The word 'promoted' infers
active participation and our present low public profile in
relation to the fundamental nature and spirit of the Order
from the historical, spiritual and ideological viewpoint"
shows that we are neither promoting our beliefs nor are we
'militant' in our actions.
Providing that we wish to comply with the 1986 Proclamation
then we must place before ourselves certain questions and
criteria: Is the Scottish Knights Templar a social non-active
organisation or is it to be the catalyst through which we
"give strength where there is weakness; voice where there is
silence and help where there is poverty"?
If we are honour this Proclamation then it is time for us to
put our own house in order so that the existing Knights and
our prospective Squires should know and understand what is
expected of them.
We believe that our success depends on our ability to adopt,
adapt and improve and therefore it is essential that we start
any metamorphosis from within. The question we should ask
ourselves is: what do we actually do that is so different from
the Round Table, Scouts or Masons? Do we just join and
stagnate or are the Templars a working Order?
We have discussed between ourselves the possibility of
instigating a five-year plan broken into short, medium and
long-term objectives. After much discussion with members we
suggest that such a long target time would be wrong as it is
imperative to concentrate our minds on the issues and to make
definite commitments which cannot be put off into some far
distant date.
Personal commitment is what we would and the short, medium and
longer-term objectives as detailed herein are only an initial
guideline.
We must all no contribute to the debate and define what our
objectives are and how we are going to achieve them.
Short-term objectives for existing Knights and Dames.
S1 Knights to be instructed in the international
context of the Knights Templar and its implications to
ourselves and the Scottish Order. For example, it is important
that we can morally believe in our vows in relation to a
changing international society. It is also important that we
clarity the meaning of being a Sovereign Military Order and
whether this terminology has any social or legal relevance.
S2 Clarification of our political, non-party political
role in promoting our aims. No matter what objectives we place
upon ourselves it will have political connotations but if we
want to achieve our stated Aims then we cannot ignore the need
to be political. It is important that the Scottish Knights
Templar must not become embroiled in petty party politics
otherwise we will lose credibility and potential support.
Alternatively we must recognise that to ignore the Politics of
our society is naive and condemns us to failure.
S3 All communications within our own organisation and
to those outwith to be done on a professional marketing basis.
At present the Templars do not utilise the individual
expertise of our members and unfortunately this results in
some pretty tatty second-rate documentation being produced for
internal and public consumption.
It is vitally important that we do not under-estimate the
political and public image of our organisation as it grows and
develops. To ignore the potential clash of image which will
occur may cause us problems. On the one hand there will be a
public perception of a group of eccentrics dressed up in white
cloaks while the other we could be trying to portray an
organisation committed to an ideological crusade.
S4 All Knights to pursue a project which can involve
others in the same project. The aims and objectives of these
projects to be reviewed annually or new projects to be
instigated. The projects to be noted and communicated to all
other Knights in Scotland. Where projects have similar aims
then the combining of these individuals or groups should be
encouraged.
S5 Clarification of duties of a Knight Instructor. At
present Squires do not receive adequate or comprehensive
instruction therefore it is impossible to accurately ascertain
their suitability.
The declaration on behalf of all Knights to actively pursue
the beliefs as agreed in 1-5 above. Knights who do not comply
with the Declaration within three years should cease to be
Knights Templars.
The short term objective are required to motivate Knights to
become active and if this activity can be perceived as being
militant then we will have complied with the International
Declaration. Alternatively Knights who fail will then be seen
as being neither militant nor active in promoting the aims of
the Templars and therefore they should be requested to explain
their reasons to belong to this Sovereign Military Order.
Short-term objectives: Squires
S6 To supply the Templars with sufficient evidence of
their qualifications, abilities and membership of other
organisations to allow us to assess their potential
contribution to the Knights Templar
S7 Complete a project to prove their suitability to
become a Knight. The project should
a) support the local Templars activities;
b) find a local project to which they can actively contribute
and propose It for acceptance;
c) make a suggestion for their project.
Medium term objectives: Knights.
M1 To define the duties of a Knight and to encourage
them to uphold these duties. To teach all Knights to meditate,
learn and contribute to the New Crusade.
M2 To develop a library for the use of the Templars
which is based on historical, spiritual and religious
readings. This will help us to understand what it means to
support natural justice, the fundamental rights of man and
encourage the decentralisation of political and state power.
The library should also contain information which will educate
us in understanding the recognition of the rights of peoples
and nation to govern themselves within their natural economic
environment.
M3 To develop closer links with the educating
authorities who instruct our future civilisation. Our
responsibility is to 'ensure that the educational requirements
of the technological age should also have respect for the
human person and his right and duty to make a responsible
choice, and which does not compromise the individuals capacity
to reflect and decide."
M4 The raising of funds and resources for spending
within Scotland on our aims and assisting the charities of our
choice.
Long-term aims
L1 To honour the International Proclamation in every
clause or to change that Proclamation to make it relevant to
the 1990's
L2 To develop the international connections between
Knights for the spiritual and mutual benefit of our nations,
societies and cultures.
L3 To publicly declare the position of the Templars so that
"Where there is weakness, there must the Templar give his
strength. Where there is no voice, there must the Templar be
the voice. Where there are the poorest, there must the Templar
distribute his largesse."
L4 Spend the rest of your life in the pursuit of knowledge and
understanding of you God and to help others pursue and find
these same objectives. As the poor Knights of Christ, it is
our duty and obligation to find out in our own minds who
Christ was and what he stood for. It is insufficient to glibly
accept the teachings of the present day Bible and it is
important to look back into the history of who Christ was,
what He stood for and what He was attempting to achieve. Only
then will we be able to fulfil and understand our vows.
The historical books to help us find our road to God may be
difficult to find and acquire and therefore the library which
we have set up should contain these books for the teaching of
those who come after us.
May 1990
Chevalier Brendan J Burns KT
Dame Pamela Demetriades DT
Chevalier Graham Grant KT
Dame Jennifer Porter DT
