Cross & Crescent

It’s late October, the bite of winter has set in and another flight to see our brothers is underway. My travels take me to the Denver Regional Centennial Celebration. I am especially excited about catching up with a brother who joined the fraternity with me, Vince Colletti (Truman State 2007) who was with me through thick and thin during my undergraduate years.

Fellow brother and Associate Director of Development Josh Lodolo (Cal State Northridge 2004) is also on his way to Denver to assist with the reception. Other staff members including Executive Vice President Bill Farkas (Butler 1988), Director of Chapter Services Biff Holloway (High Point 1993), Director of Communications Tad Lichtenauer (Denison 1987), Director of Education Tim Reuter (Simpson 2004), and Director of Risk Management Aaron Parker (Hanover 2006) are already in Denver working towards the advancement of our Fraternity.

30,000 Feet View

This month’s article comes from a Boeing 737 flying 30,000 feet above the Great Plains. The view up here is fabulous and there couldn’t be a better place for this article about perspectives.

As other staff members and I have held receptions across the country and witnessed the attendance increase from last years’ receptions by an average of 12 brothers/guests, a lot of thoughts have been running through our minds.

The average age range from the oldest participants to youngest at every Regional Centennial Celebration we have had thus far is greater than 50 years! I find it inspiring those brothers who attended schools and were a part of chapters 1,000 miles from their current place of residency, yet are compelled to come out to our various regional celebrations because the fraternity played such an important role in their lives as young men.

Jim Stubner, Illinois

One example that I am replaying clearly in my head was talking to Jim Stubner (Illinois 1942) at our first reception in Seattle and realizing that Jim lived in the same fraternity house that I visited while a consultant in the northern midwest. Jim’s experiences on the Illinois campus and in the Lambda Chi house differ from the current undergraduates’ who live in a world with different societal norms and fashions.

However, that leads me to my next question. Was Lambda Chi Alpha the fraternity of Honest Friendship back in the days of pledgeship? After seeing Jim and talking with him briefly about his passion for the fraternity, a fraternity that he experienced 2,200 miles from his current home in Seattle, I have no doubt that the men who came first were the brothers that led by example and thus we have held honesty at the top of the list when it comes to Lambda Chi Alpha.

Grand High Alpha Ed Leonard

Another interesting perspective that I have recently been considering is the growth of our fraternity. Grand High Alpha Ed Leonard (William Jewell 1979) said it best at our reception at the Union League of Philadelphia earlier this month when he declared, “we are the only fraternity to initiate more than 250,000 brothers in our first 100 years!”

I believe that Brother Leonard’s statement has much more depth than applause of agreement and satisfaction. Stepping back and putting things into perspective, it is obvious that our fraternity, being amongst the top of total initiated members in relation to other men’s fraternities and being the youngest in that group by quite a few years, has brought to the table a brotherhood and experience second to none.

Brothers before us and brothers currently active have taken the oaths and obligations of Lambda Chi Alpha to depths not even Jack Mason and Warren Cole could have imagined. Did John Mason truly know what he would leave in his wake after spending countless hours revising, revisiting, and drafting our final Initiation Ritual (which happens to be the 3rd version in Lambda Chi Alpha)?

Initiation Ritual

This question leads me to my final point. Our Initiation Ritual says it all! For all the 260,000 + brothers who witnessed its grandeur in the first century of our existence and the next quarter of a million brothers who will experience the ritual in our next hundred years, everyone can agree that its message cannot be bound by time.

The modern takeaways for brothers are not that much different from the takeaways our first brothers had, those nearly a hundred years ago. And the best part is that every brother in our bond is invested. We have all gone through, participated, managed, and played a key role in the ritual experiences for the younger brothers on our campuses. And henceforth, they will be the guides throughout the next century of Lambda Chi Alpha.

As the sun streams through the window of the airplane, I am reminded of a flame that burns on altars late at night and into the early morning on cold November days. That flame is growing stronger as more brothers kindle its awe-inspiring power through secret ceremonies that are truly the catalyst for our fraternity’s advancement.

In the fraternity of honest friendship where a pure heart is the only way to understand the greater good of Lambda Chi Alpha, we must be thankful for those who have led the way and those that continue on, lighting the way for brothers everywhere. From a young alumni director who learned at his chapter to ask the question, “what have you done for Lambda Chi Alpha today?” so do I ask my fellow brothers reading this article.

It’s going to be a very bright second century of Lambda Chi Alpha!