Lawyers, judges and other legal professionals belonging to the St. Thomas More Society gathered for a special celebration on Sunday, Oct. 6 at St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Greenville to pray that the Holy Spirit would guide their work.
Called the Red Mass, the tradition dates to 13th century Europe, where it was first celebrated at the Cathedral of Paris. The tradition spread and now Red Masses—so-called because of the color of the vestments symbolizing the tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit—are celebrated in many nations at the start of the judicial year. In the United States, the celebration of the Red Mass coincides with the opening of the Supreme Court session each fall.
The Diocese of Wilmington celebrated its first Red Mass on Oct. 4, 1988 at St. Peter’s Cathedral. It has been held annually ever since, including during the pandemic.
This year’s celebrant was Bishop William Koenig. Concelebrating were Bishop Francis Malooly, bishop emeritus of Wilmington, Father Joseph McQuaide IV, judicial vicar and chancellor of the diocese, Father Glenn Evers. St. Thomas More Society chaplain, and Msgr. John Hopkins, pastor, St. Joseph on the Brandywine Church.
Archbishop Borys Gudziak, metropolitan-archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, served as homilist.
Gudziak said the Red Mass is an important opportunity for the legal community to reflect on living out their faith in their work.
Jurists, he said, must balance what is legal with what is just—answering God’s call to serve the “common good, to build community through peaceful dialogue and right relationships.”
Citing the second reading, Hebrews 2:9-11, Gudziak noted Jesus’ descent to earth and suffering allowed him to “taste death” for everyone, creating a relationship between God and humanity that allows us to be called brothers and sisters.
How do we learn to construct a just society? The day’s Gospel reading from Mark 10: 2-26 gives an answer: by receiving the kingdom of God like a child, he said. “Living as children, with a willingness to love and be vulnerable” is one of the most important precepts we can follow, Gudziak said.
Gudziak expressed concern over the rise of physical and verbal violence permeating American discourse. Violence, he said, robs humanity of its God-given dignity and corrupts the rule of law. He noted that half of all Americans expect that violence will follow the November election.
In June, Gudziak who leads the U.S. Bishops’ Conference Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, wrote a letter urging that political discourse reflect Christian values. He sent the letter to members of Congress imploring them to tone down their rhetoric.
“Two weeks after I sent the letter, there was an assassination attempt and another after that,” he said.
Gudziak was born in Syracuse, New York to Ukrainian immigrants and earned degrees form Syracuse University, the Pontifical Urban University, and a doctorate from Harvard in Byzantine and Slavic history. After completing his education, he moved to Lviv, where he established the Institute for Church History and served as rector and president of the Ukrainian Catholic University.
In September he returned to Ukraine, touring 1,500 miles of the war-torn country from Lviv to Odessa. The two-year war had taken its toll: 200,000 killed, three times that number injured, 100,000 documented war crimes. Schools, hospitals, infrastructure destroyed, families and communities broken. This, he said, is not God’s plan.
“It is not good for man to be alone,” he said, drawing on the day’s reading from Genesis that describes the celebration of the relationship between man and the newly created woman. “In fact, God wanted a relationship as well. With us. That’s why he made us in his image and likeness.”
Gudziak urged the jurists to pray to the Holy Spirit, asking for the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel and fear of the Lord.
He concluded by citing Galatians 5:22-27: “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against such things.”
