The annual Red Mass derives its name from the color of the vestments worn by priests during the celebration. Red is the color prescribed because the service is a Mass of the Holy Spirit — a reminder of the fire that is a symbol of God’s Holy Spirit.
Posted on 12/22/2004 8:30:02 AM PST by NYer
DENVER, December 21, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This November, the controversy over pro-abortion Catholic politicians has ended the association of the Catholic Lawyer's Guild with the Denver Archdiocese. Every year, various branches of a Catholic lawyer's association around the world gather to celebrate their profession with the Red Mass, a tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages. In most dioceses, the bishop or his delegate celebrates the Red Mass and the Guild gives an award to a Catholic politician.
This year, the Denver group has invited pro-abortion Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, who won a Senate seat in the in the past election, to receive an award named for St. Thomas More, the group's patron. During his election campaign Salazar said that he would "defend the constitutional right" to abortion and that he did not support "mandatory waiting periods, spousal consent, biased counseling requirements or other extreme limits on abortion rights."
The Guild, in deciding to honor a pro-abortion politician, has raised the ire of the Archbishop of Denver, Charles Chaput who led the charge in the US episcopacy against John Kerry and other Catholic politicians' support of abortion. In response to the Guild's action, the diocese has pulled auxiliary bishop Jose Gomez from saying Mass at the Guild's annual dinner next month and has told them to find other accommodations for the dinner than the diocese's John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization.
The Guild has voted to carry on in defiance of the Archbishop. "Our group felt we wanted independence," said Laura Tighe, the guild's incoming president. "We are obviously very distinctively Catholic, but there's a great difference on how we exercise our Catholicism. We understand the ramifications of our decision, and we will go on."
In June the US bishops, meeting in Denver, made a statement on the role of Catholic Church in politics which said that no Catholic group may give "awards, honors or platforms" to Catholics "who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."
"It's reasonable to expect a Catholic organization to be consistent with Catholic teaching," Sergio Gutierrez, the archdiocese spokesman, said. Gutierrez said that the Archbishop is interested in finding appropriate Catholic lawyers who may be held up as "true examples and authentic examples of exemplary Catholic lawyers."
Chaput has not let up his attention to this issue with the election of George W. Bush as President. His latest article appeared in the November issue of Crisis Magazine, in which he wrote, "The abortion issue cannot be avoided. It's the central moral conflict of this moment in our nation's history. Every abortion kills an unborn child. Every abortion leaves a woman emotionally scarred. Every abortion is a grave act of violence. All of these things fundamentally damage the common good."
Previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Denver Archbishop says those who Support Abortion "Rights" Cannot be Catholic
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jul/04071402.html
The annual Red Mass derives its name from the color of the vestments worn by priests during the celebration. Red is the color prescribed because the service is a Mass of the Holy Spirit — a reminder of the fire that is a symbol of God’s Holy Spirit.
Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Bump!
Bump.
"We are obviously very distinctively Catholic, but there's a great difference on how we exercise our Catholicism."
They are not the Thomas More kind of Catholic, obviously. He gave his life because he refused to go along with the politicians.
The groups patron St. Thomas More is being made a mockery of...Imagine these dog lawyers who say they are Catholic awarding this low life Senator an award in Thomas More's name...This shows me that so called good Catholic lawyers do not understand what Christianity is all about..They blaspheme the very essence of what they stand for..... They just don't "get" it!!!!
Shameless. Mind-alteringly shameless.
Poor St. Thomas! I'll bet he wishes he'd been made patron saint of typists, exterminators, or pizza cooks ... anything but lawyers!
Methinks some lawyers misunderstood the meaning of "Red Mass."
I think that all practicing, believing Catholics should insist on being called "Senator" since all these guys like Kerry, Leahy, Daschle and others insist on calling themselves "Catholics". You could throw Pelosi into the mix, but then you'd only get to call yourself "Congressman" and that's not nearly as rewarding as being a Senator.
A person cannot be both "pro-choice" and Catholic. I suggest they exercise their "choice" by choosing another church. I think the Unitarians are hiring and any and all beliefs are optional there.
Oh, well said!
Extreme?????
What's the significance of thee hat on the clergyman on the left?
"Extreme".... yeah, I caught that too.
One can only imagine how they characterize parental notification. Extremely extreme?
Obviously so. I think that's how much 'reform' was allowed by the laity. They were already uncatechized, at least too many in influential parish positions. But in their own way, with the 'new order' liturgy, all the nonsense presently allowed in that and otherwise, the bishops are not THAT different in turning their back on More and Fisher, as it were. They would not allow the world to dictate to the Faith. These bishops, generally, do. But they should be given credit at least for this. At the minimum, they should take this stand - at the very minimum. And they did.
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