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 Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ. 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 Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ 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 Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ. 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, Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ 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 Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ 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 Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ, 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 Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ. 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
Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ 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 Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ.)
 
During his research, John would also encounter Protestant objections
to Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ. 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 Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ; 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 Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ.
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
https://www.chantcd.com/catholic.php?keyword=masons&submit=Search&page=shop%2Fsearch
.
 
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 cuм Laude) from the
University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee, and a Doctor of Law degree (cuм
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.

He spoke at Fr. Gruner's Fatima Challenge a few months ago, available for free online.

A very handsome man.

I talked to him a few times via phone and email, we initially considered a website and etc, about the K of C's americanism, a quasi Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ and the fact that he knows many high up in K of C that are freemasons....

you was too busy to get that started...

I noted that many act and speak similar to masonry and that there is within K of C a secret group, known only to a few and cannot as of yet find out much mroe about it.....called the Alhambra or something like it...

Mike enjoyed killing a man every Friday.  Mike knew something was wrong, because each time he killed someone he heard a voice in his head saying "Now you are mine," followed by demonic laughter and the screams of the dead.  But since his priest said it was okay, he ignored his conscience and kept doing it.

But then Mike really began to investigate what the Church has to say about murder, and to his surprise, it was against it!  Then he began to study what the Protestants have to say about murder, and he saw that they were against it too, yippee skippee!  NOW HE GOES AROUND SPEAKING ON TV SAYING REALLY OBVIOUS STUFF AND MAKING LOTS OF MONEY, AND LOTS OF GULLIBLE PEOPLE JUST EAT IT UP!!!


Sorry for my morbid humor, Alexandria, I know you don't quite get it.

These go-getter materialistic American-pie VII Catholics make my skin crawl.

Here is Salza on sedevacantism:

"Sedevacantists” should change their name to “capitavacantists” (empty heads) because their heads must be empty to argue that we have no pope. I don’t mean to denigrate these people, and I acknowledge that many of them are very intelligent. But I completely reject their position. They have overreacted to the crisis in the Church in a way that is Protestant, not Catholic. This is how I approach the subject."

So many of us are intelligent but we have empty heads?  Let's move on to more nonsense from the 80% truth, 20% error, drop of poison trad-VII crowd --

"Second, the First Vatican Council infallibly teaches that the Church endures always because Peter has “perpetual successors.” The Council makes it clear that the Church’s perpetuity exists, not because of the office of Peter, but because of the person of Peter, for the office would mean little without the person. Anyone who denies this teaching is anathema. Again, if the Sedevacantists argue that there is no person in Peter’s office, then the Church no longer exists because her perpetuity depends upon Peter’s successors. Such a position is anathema."

It is the exact opposite of what he says.  Why would Paul IV have promulgated cuм Ex Apostolatus if it were impossible for there to be a falsely elected Pope, and thus no Pope?  The perpetuity of the papacy refers to the office, not the man, you... nice person who I will pray for.  

But this guy has all the marks of being a plant trying to use his slick politician/lawyer patter to scare the EWTN crowd into remaining blind to the truth.  These guys are legion.

To give credit, though, where it is due, your 11:46 comment was the best of the bunch.   :wink: :wink:  (Only teasing you, R76 )

I edited it.

You said elsewhere that your sense of humor is somewhat lacking, that it takes you two months to get certain jokes.  And mine is pretty baroque.  That's my generation, lots of irony and sarcasm.  I should probably tone it down.

I do have a sense of humor (I thought that was obvious, no?).  What I don't get are run of the mill jokes.   I usually have no trouble with irony and sarcastic humor (possessing a great deal of it myself [maybe it's too subtle and I'm the only one that knows I'm doing it?  :sad:]).

Alexandria said:

I do have a sense of humor (I thought that was obvious, no?).  What I don't get are run of the mill jokes.  I usually have no trouble with irony and sarcastic humor (possessing a great deal of it myself [maybe it's too subtle and I'm the only one that knows I'm doing it?  :sad:]).

I picked up on it.  It's a bit dour and dark.  Just as mine can sometimes be sick.  I think my post up there about Mike murdering people is a little bit sick.  

Let us become more sunshiney and warm together, what say you?  It's just that it is much easier and more effective to shred certain VII and SSPX types with irony.  And at this point, the kid gloves really do need to come off.