Dear Parishioners and Friends,
This afternoon the Red Mass will
be celebrated in the Cathedral. We are privileged to have as our guest homilist
Archbishop William Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore and chairman of the ad hoc
Committee for Religious Liberty of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. All
are welcome to attend.
The first Red Mass for the Bench
and Bar took place in 1245. In England the Mass was celebrated at the opening
of each term of Court, a custom which continues in the United States. In
England the celebrant of the Mass wore red
vestments, and the judges of the High Court at the time of King Edward I, who
were all doctors of the law, wore red robes, thus giving rise to the name “Red
Mass.” Liturgically, the celebration is a votive Mass of the Holy Spirit.
It
seems ever more important these days to celebrate the Red Mass. Those in the
legal profession gather in prayer and worship so as to be a living sign of the
importance of not just the freedom of worship but for the much wider and more
fundamental right of the freedom of religion.
Each
of us has the right and duty to live our faith in the world around us. Also,
all Americans and the Church need advocates in the legal profession to defend
and promote religious freedom and freedom of conscience precisely at a time in
which these fundamental human rights are being questioned.
In Christ,
Msgr. Baker
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