Masonry Unmasked

There is something about a secret.  Tell me you know one, and I want to know it, even if it involves something in which I have no interest.  What is in that book pledges have to carry?  What happens on hell night?  What do the Masons do in their lodge?  Well, I don't have the answers about pledge books and hell night, but Masonry Unmasked by John Salza does tell us what happens in our local Masonic Lodge.  Salza was raised Catholic and has always considered himself to be Catholic.  He was initiated into a Masonic lodge in 1996 and quickly became very involved in it, moving up through the ranks and performing and teaching Masonic rituals.  It was his understanding, confirmed by his parish priest, that Catholics could now be Masons, and at first he did not see any conflict between Catholicism and Freemasonry.  He started researching Masonry so he could defend it against Christians who claimed it conflicted with Christianity and ended up believing that Masonry was not only incompatible with Catholicism, it was incompatible with Christianity.  

Salza takes a look at the beliefs of Masonry as expressed in their rituals and writings and compares them to Catholicism (and he footnotes his sources regarding Masonry and quotes the Catechism of the Catholic Church) and concludes that Masonry sees all world religions as equal, denies the need for Christ and teaches that Masons earn their salvation totally by their own efforts. Further, he points out that initiates are not given the tenets of Masonry prior to the initiation ceremony so that they are able to review and reflect upon them; rather those beliefs are revealed at the ceremony, while the initiate is in a vulnerable situation, and he is asked to swear an oath to accept the beliefs and keep the secrets. 

In addressing the topic of why many Christians are Masons, Salza points out that many join for the fellowship, social and business opportunities. The only ceremonies they observe are the few in which they participate; hence they have only a rudimentary idea of the beliefs of the lodge, which I'd sum up as "American civil religion", namely believe in God (as you understand Him) and do good and let me do the same. Though they swore an oath by God, they don't really consider the ramifications.

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While some of the review of Masonic beliefs and Salza's comparisons of them to Catholicism got a little tedious, this was an interesting book about a group that plays an important part in many American communities (and it was kind of fun learning about their "secret" handshakes).