Politicians, Judges, Professors, and Students Attend The Red Mass at St. Matthew’s

On Sunday, October 3rd, hundreds of people attended the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew. This Cathedral is the one in which the funerals of President John F. Kennedy and Chief Justice William Rehnquist were held. A Red Mass is a mass celebrated in the Catholic Church for government officials, judges, attorneys, students, and professors of law. Among the attendees were Vice President Joseph Biden and five Supreme Court Justices: Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer and Clarence Thomas. The service is in its 57th year and is hosted by the John Carroll Society, a spiritual organization that aims to “help Catholic professionals deepen their knowledge of the faith in service to the Archbishop of Washington.”

In recent years, the mass has drawn criticism for its mixing of church and state. For example, a recital of the star-spangled banner accompanied the opening of the mass. A small crowd, standing across the street, protested the event.

The Archbishop of Washington, Donald W. Wuerl, presided over the mass. Among the speakers were Carol G. Bates, Member of the Board of Governors of the John Carroll Society, John Garvey, President of The Catholic University of America, Deacon Michael Paris, Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia, and William Treanor, Dean of the Georgetown University Law Center.