sleeper

Yeah, to be honest, there is very little that is secret. The only true secrets we keep are modes of recognition (passwords, handshakes, etc.) and some parts of the third degree.

Worshipful Brother Hodapp explains it better in his book "Freemasons for Dummies": "Freemasonry is a society of gentlemen concerned with moral and spiritual values, and (is) one of the world's oldest and most popular fraternal organizations."

Masonry is worldwide, but there is no "central office". There are grand lodges that govern over a specific juisdiction. In Indiana, the grand lodge is downtown on Illinois st. I believe. I don't believe they give tours only because its mostly an office building, but they do give tours of the Scottish Rite, which I would highly recommend. The Grand Master is sort of the president of the grand lodge, but he has no more power than what is granted to him. The local lodges (for example Tippecanoe lodge) follow the rules set by the grand lodge, but then have rules specific to that particular lodge (how to set up the trustee board, etc.) The "president" is the worshipful master of that lodge and he governs over things at that particular lodge.

Blue lodge, or your neighborhood lodge, confers the first three degrees of masonry, the entered apprentice, the fellowcraft, and the master mason. W.Bro. Hodapp again: "It (freemasonry) is a philosophy and a system of morality and ethics - and a pretty basic one at that..." Freemasonry uses ancient masonic craft guilds as a basis for its philosophy, hence the three levels of membership.

While masonry is religious, but it forces no particular doctrine on its members. To be a mason, you must believe in a Supreme Being, but that Supreme Being is conceived in your own mind and for the individual to decide. I've met masons from just about every kind of faith. Masonry is not a religion, but a philosophy.

Those are the parts of masonry, bringing in new members, conferring degrees on them (rituals) that teach moral lessons. It is also about the fellowship, getting to know the people in a surrounding area. Once you are a mason, you can "travel" to other lodges. If you don't have someone to vouch for you, the members of the lodge will ask certain things of you, just so they know you are a mason. That is one of the more fun parts of the fraternity, meeting men (some of them even bring their wives/children to dinner before the meetings) and getting to meet new people.

There is some charity work involved. A portion of the dues that Freemasons pay (in Indiana) goes toward the Indiana Masonic Home Foundation, a retirement home and former orphanariem (sp?) in Franklin, IN. Tippecanoe lodge does things on a local level. We have donated money to local non profit organizations and during our fish fry every summer we provide the C.H.I.P. program. Chip is a child identification program. If a child is ever found missing, the parents have a little packet of a DNA sample (a finger nail clipping) and a short video of the child to show the child's mannerisms. The parents keep all of this information and we retain nothing.

The majority of the time, Tippecanoe lodge meets on thursday nights, we have dinner, play a couple games of euchre, then we will either have a degree ceremony or if its the first thursday of every month, we have our business meeting where we pay bills, etc.

And that is a small sampling of the broad spectrum of what masonry is, "taking good men and making them better".

Here's a good starting point for more information:
http://tryfreemasonry.com/
http://www.indianafreemasons.com/
list of masonic lodges in Indiana:
http://www.indianafreemasons.com/links.html