John Salza

John was born into a Catholic family on 30 November 1967 and reborn in the waters of baptism on 7 January 1968, Anno Domini. John attended Catholic grade school and high school, and served the Church as an altar boy. He prayed regularly, faithfully received the sacraments, and grew up having a strong relationship with God.

During his college years, John began to pursue secular interests and grew lukewarm in his faith. While he always believed the Roman Catholic Church was Christ’s true Church, John fell away from the regular practice of the Faith. Like so many in his generation, John was the product of poor catechetical formation during the years following the close of the Second Vatican Council.

After he graduated from law school, a family member introduced John to Freemasonry. The Masonic Lodge was presented to John as a means of establishing special contacts in the business world. As a young attorney, such an idea appealed to John. John also had no idea that the Catholic Church opposed his membership in the Lodge.

Because John was a professing Catholic, the Masons who recruited John told him that the Church had once opposed Freemasonry for political reasons, but had since changed its position. Seeking to resolve this potential controversy, John contacted his parish priest about joining the Masons. The priest told John that the Church had no objection to Catholic membership in Freemasonry. Given the priest’s advice and John’s perception of Masonry as a harmless, fraternal order, John believed that there was no need to further investigate the question.

For the next three years, Freemasonry became a significant part of John’s life. John became a member of two Masonic lodges and served one of them as a lodge officer. John also became a 32nd degree Freemason in the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry and a member of the Shriners. The Grand Lodge of Wisconsin also conferred upon John the “Proficiency Card.” This is a rare credential that designated John as an expert in Masonic ritual and authorized him to teach the rituals to Masons and Masonic lodges. John received this credential faster than anyone in the history of his State of Wisconsin.

Admittedly, John had some lingering concerns about his Masonic membership while he was a Mason. The Lodge’s rituals would use strange names for God, require its members to pray aloud around a common altar, swear secret oaths with blood-curdling penalties, and make repeated references to resurrection and eternal life without any mention of Jesus Christ. These were all troubling to John. In fact, John specifically prayed before every Lodge meeting that his participation would not be offensive to God. Nevertheless, the friendships and camaraderie John enjoyed in the Lodge temporarily dulled his spiritual misgivings, and John was able to suppress his concerns for a period of time.

During this time, John began to fervently pray the Rosary on a daily basis. Being troubled in his soul about Freemasonry, John asked the Blessed Mother to intercede for him and show him the way of truth. Illumined with the desire for truth, John began to research the Catholic Church’s teachings on Freemasonry. John soon discovered nearly 300 years of papal condemnations of Masonry. He also discovered that the Church’s most recent condemnation of Masonry was issued during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II.

In this declaration, the Church stated that Catholic membership in Freemasonry is a mortal sin. Further, John learned that the Church’s opposition was based on theological (not political) reasons to which John could immediately relate. (The fruits of John’s research are in his best-selling books, Masonry Unmasked and Why Catholics Cannot Be Masons, which are the leading resources on the question of Catholic membership in Freemasonry.)

During his research, John would also encounter Protestant objections to Freemasonry. As he studied the Protestant position, he also discovered much opposition to Catholicism as well. This troubled John as he continued his research. Finally, John realized that he needed to expand his search for truth. He was no longer trying to uncover only the truth about Freemasonry; John was seeking to understand the truth about his Catholic faith as well.

John began to study both Catholic and Protestant theology in depth. This included extensive study of Scripture, the early Church Fathers, and the medieval theologians (John has included much of the fruits of this research on his website). John also studied both Catholic and Protestant apologetics dealing with the major areas of disagreement (the Church, the papacy, sola Scriptura, the sacraments, Mary and the saints, justification, salvation, purgatory, etc.). Through friendships he had gained at a major seminary, John was given liberal access to the seminary library to which he spent countless hours. John read book after book (with a particular attraction to St. Thomas Aquinas).

The more John studied both the Catholic and Protestant sides with an open mind, the more he began to see the truth of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith and rejoice in the gift his parents had given him in baptism. Consequently, John renounced his membership in Freemasonry. Further, in thanksgiving to God for the grace he had received, John devoted himself to Catholic apologetics so that he could share with others what he had discovered.

Since 1999, John has been regarded as a premier Catholic apologist and one of the leading defenders of the Faith. He is the author of the following books by Our Sunday Visitor and TAN Books and Publishers:

• Masonry Unmasked: An Insider Reveals the Secrets of the Lodge
• Why Catholics Cannot Be Masons
• The Biblical Basis for the Catholic Faith
• The Biblical Basis for the Papacy
• The Biblical Basis for the Eucharist
• The Biblical Basis for Tradition
• The Biblical Basis for Purgatory

John has also published a booklet on the Blessed Virgin Mary called “Honor Your Mother, Defend Your Queen – A Marian Treasury.” For information on John’s books, go to http://www.scripturecatholic.com/johns_books.html

John is a frequent guest and host on Catholic radio, appearing on such shows as Searching the Word, The Drew Mariani Show, Kresta in the Afternoon, Sacred Heart Radio and Catholic Answers Live. John is the creator of “Relevant Answers,” a daily apologetics feature on Relevant Radio which explains and defends the Catholic faith using the Bible (the show runs six times a day, seven days a week). John has been a guest on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and also has a daily program on EWTN Radio called “Catholic Q&A.” John is the creator of www.ScriptureCatholic.com, one of the most popular Catholic apologetics sites on the Internet. John is a strong proponent of restoring the ecclesiastical traditions of the Church, including the Traditional Latin Mass which he and his family attend regularly.

John holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and a Doctor of Law degree (Cum Laude) from the University of Wisconsin Law School. John is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the American Catholic Lawyers Association, the National Italian-American Bar Association, the Justinian Society of Lawyers and the Saint Joseph’s Society.

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Copyright 2001 - 2007 © by John Salza. All Rights Reserved.
johnsalza@scripturecatholic.com