Each Masonic organization has its own unique and characteristic strength.

.....Most articles being published in Masonic newsletters or on Masonic websites around the United States seem to be focused on membership and the response to recent changes in Shrine law. It seems timely to point out that membership issues within all branches of the Masonic Fraternity, while important, have little to do with the Shrine.
.....Masonic organizations exist for different reasons. While it may be easy to assume, for instance, that, because the Scottish Rite has been a conduit to membership in the Shrine for the past century, it, therefore, has only existed as a vehicle for Shrine membership. But nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, truth is what the Scottish Rite is all about. A Mason should never drop out of the Scottish Rite simply because he no longer needs it to be a Shriner. If he is a man who supports the search for truth in all things, his Scottish Rite membership remains central to his Masonic journey.
.....The fact is that each Masonic organization has its own unique and characteristic strength. And each contributes significantly to the basic Masonic tenets of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth.
.....There is no question that the Blue Lodge provides the Mason with the first of these three fundamental charges. The instant a man joins Freemasonry, he becomes a member of the largest and most prestigious fraternity in the world. All the benefits of fraternal membership are immediately conveyed to him. When he takes his obligations as a Master Mason and signs the bylaws of his Lodge, he becomes the recipient of Brotherly Love whenever he is in a position to receive it. And Brotherly love is best administered at the Craft Lodge level. It is there one finds the fraternal bond of his immediate family of Brothers. It is there he receives the fellowship and fraternal feeling of belonging. It is there he can apply for, or provide for, assistance and attention to his Masonic Brothers. Brotherly Love begins in Lodge.
.....The Shrine has an advantage over all of the other Masonic Bodies in that it has the Children’s Hospitals and Burn Centers. It provides the general public’s awareness of charity as a central work of the Masonic Fraternity. It serves a high-minded purpose in that no one could argue that crippled children and burn victims should not get the help they deserve.
.....Therefore, the Shrine can appeal to men with charitable hearts because of the great philanthropy it provides nationally. This great charity sells itself. In many ways, then, the Shrine provides the Relief portion of our basic Masonic trinity of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth.
.....And that leaves Truth, which is the domain of the Scottish Rite. It is only through the progressive education provided by the four Bodies of the Rite that the Mason can best explore the Masonic tenet of Truth. It is only in the Scottish Rite that the question, “What is Truth?” is asked. It is only in the Rite where a Free-mason can explore the complex arena of morals and ethics. It is only in the Rite that a Mason can learn for himself about the different ideas of philosophy and religion. And it is in this vast realm that Truth can be approached and discovered.
.....So, taken together, the Blue Lodge, Shrine, and Scottish Rite all exist to give meaning to the fundamental charge found in the prayer to the Entered Apprentice that, by the “secrets” of our art, he may be better enabled to display the beauties of “Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth.”