In a ceremony with roots tracing back hundreds of years, Freemasons from the Grand Lodge of Nebraska dedicated a cornerstone at the new home of the Munroe-Meyer Institute.
On its surface, the dedication, which was held Sept. 24, marked the building’s establishment as MMI’s new home. But with deeply symbolic measures, it also intertwined the strength and durability of a physical cornerstone with the Munroe-Meyer Institute’s future and the moral traits of integrity and character.
Jeff Buhrman, Grand Orator for the Grand Lodge of Nebraska, said the ceremony marked a renewal of Omaha’s commitment to strengthen the future of health care.
“Remember,” Buhrman said in addressing MMI leadership and staff, “you’re henceforth the custodians not only of this magnificent facility, but a foundational integrity of health care services in Omaha.
“You are its cornerstone.”
The Masons have a nearly 40-year partnership with the Munroe-Meyer Institute through its RiteCare Clinics that offer speech and language therapy. The Scottish Rite Foundation of Nebraska, which has dedicated its philanthropy to those services, raises funds annually to support RiteCare.
Upon a request, the Freemasons will dedicate a cornerstone at a civic building. As part of the ceremony, Karoly Mirnics, MD, PhD, director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute, made that request for the cornerstone to be dedicated “in accordance with Masonic custom and usage.”
Across Omaha’s history, the Freemasons have dedicated cornerstones at dozens of civic buildings, dating to the downtown Freemason’s Hall in 1876 up to the Central High School addition in 2019.
The ceremony traces to the founding of the United States, echoing the cornerstone ceremony led by George Washington in 1793 for the U.S. Capitol.
In the current day version, a cornerstone with the inscription “LAID BY THE FREEMASONS OF NEBRASKA” hung suspended at the front of a conference room at the Munroe-Meyer Institute. The Freemasons recalled their own history and provided mementos of the current day, including face masks, in a case that will be sealed in a pillar in front of the MMI building.
Dr. Mirnics was among those who spread fresh cement upon the stone. The Masons checked the cornerstone with a builder’s square, level and a plumb to signify virtue, equality and moral conduct, and Melonie Welsh, MMI’s director of community engagement, accepted the tools as a gift to the institute.
Dr. Mirnics thanked the masons for being amazing partners with the Munroe-Meyer Institute.
“What an event. I’m speechless. It is moving. It is meaningful, and it has a depth to it that we don’t even recognize,” he said. “It builds on history — it builds on thousands of people trying to do the right thing.”
He said the two organizations share not only a history, but a future “working together and changing lives and transforming futures.”
“We are not doing something incremental,” Dr. Mirnics said. “What we are doing together is groundbreaking, transforming and showing the world how it is done.”