« I’m not budging !! »
On Saturday, January 29th in his blog, La Lumière, L’Express journalist, François Koch, publishes the latest communiqué from our spiritual guide to the Provincial Grand Masters, a communiqué sent early in the afternoon of Friday January 28th.
Contrary to what his detractors (as he calls them) have stated after analysing the January 24th Paris Supreme Court order Stifani is not finished.
In a communiqué to his Provincial Grand Masters the self-proclaimed guide, Honorary Consul for Djibouti in Marseilles, Air Bongo frequent flyer and recipient of unsolicited correspondence from the Elysée Palace states, “I carry out the function of Grand Master in its fullness. There is no doubt about this point, including in the mind of Madame the judiciary administrator whom I’ve met.” (I would have loved to be a fly on the wall !! – translator’s observation)
François Stifani’s argument is simple : the Grand Master of the GLNF is ex-officio President of the GLNF Association… and he has only resigned as President of the GLNF Association. That presents a nice conundrum for jurists : how can one resign from the function of President which does not appear to have an autonomous mode of designation ? How can the grand Master resign from a function that the Statutes of the GLNF give him in his right as Grand Master ? All the more so, since logically the December 7th 2010 decision of the Paris Supreme Court made no distinction between the functions of Grand Master and President.
Has François Stifani rightly interpreted what Maître Monique Legrand (judiciary administrator) said ? Will she be meeting the representatives of FMR – Myosotis and their lawyers and, if so, what will she say to them ?
Translation of François Stifani’s January 28th communiqué to his Provincial Grand Masters
“In the current context where any proposition can be misinterpreted or the irrational can often override wisdom and reason, we have a duty to explain the current situation. Consequently I ask you to take the initiative to bring clarifications to the brethren of your province who are in expectation of this. What is obvious to us in far less so for the brethren who know little of our constitutional by-laws or others who wish to give a deformed or erroneous sense to my decisions and those of the courts.
Therefore, it seems necessary to make them aware of the following fact.
- The Grand Mastership is not vacant. I carry out the function of Grand Master in its fullness. There is no doubt about this point, including in the mind of Madame the judiciary administrator whom I’ve met.
- The Presidency of the Association is a contractually non-elective function, given in full right to the Grand Master of the GLNF. It is because of the exceptional circumstances arising from the December 7th 2010 court decision that I decided to resign my position as president of the association, supported in my decision by the ex-officio and designated members of the administration board. This while awaiting the court’s decision on our appeal.
- This purely civil resignation was taken so that, on the one hand, the GLNF would not find itself in contradiction with the bases of regularity concerning the system of designating the Grand Master of a regular and recognised obedience and, on the other, to be able to calmly organise the Annual general Assembly without contestation from our detractors. It does not prejudice the decisions of a Masonic nature that I am likely to take before the appropriate bodies.
- The ad hoc administrator designated by the court does not interfere with the Masonic functions of the Obedience. Her mandate is limited to the civil functioning of the association and constitutes a guarantee of impartiality destined to calm the tempers. But her mission is above all to protect the interests of the association and its members, notably in the financial area. It is particularly within this domain that she took an initial safeguard measure yesterday (Henry Sidery informed you of this last night) with complementary information concerning the movement of GLNF funds, both at head office and Lodge level. The administrator had been alerted by a number of banks that certain Lodges had emptied their account by transfers. This is a grave act, with heavy consequences, including judicial consequences for those who put themselves in contradiction with the law.
Thanking you for your involvement, affectionately,
François Stifani
Grand Master