The Masonic family is a loosely defined grouping of those organizations with practices and beliefs complementary to Freemasonry that also either restrict their membership to regular Freemasons in good standing or to relatives of regular Freemasons in good standing. Those restricted to Freemasons are generally termed concordant while those restricted to relatives are generally termed appendant.
In the York Rite of Freemasonry, there are many wonderful organizations which predicate their membership on a Master Mason’s affiliation with a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, a Council of Royal and Select Masters and/or a Commandery of Knights Templar.
Members may petition some of these organizations for membership, while others retain the exclusive right to select their potential membership by invitation.