Pomp, Piety, MIAs Mark Annual DC Red Mass On Justice

Prominent members of the scandal-stricken Roman Catholic legal leadership in the District of Columbia convened on Sunday for the annual Red Mass that provides a spiritual kick-off to the new Supreme Court term and the legal community’s ongoing aspirations for justice.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, left, was absent from the mass, which he has normally led for most of his 12-year tenure in Washington. Instead, he has recently been awaiting possible sanction from the Vatican for his alleged role in covering-up sexual offenses by priests in Pittsburgh, one of the cardinal’s previous postings.

As usual, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts led a delegation from the court to the ceremonies at the historic Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle and a subsequent brunch.

But Roberts was accompanied by only two of the associate judges, Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer. The ceremony was majestic as usual but unfolded before as slightly smaller audience than normal and under the shadow of unfolding scandal involving the locally Catholic-reared Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

This editor has attended the Red Mass and brunch a number of times previously and is thus in a position to comment on its history, inspiring ceremonial and spiritual aspects, as well as some of the embarassing but largely unspoken under-currents.

The event first launched in 1928 at the St. Andrews Church in New York City, in 1953 at St. Matthews in the District of Columbia and in a number of other metro areas around the United States.

The event in the nation’s capital has sometimes includeed the U.S. president and in recent years has included a majority of the Supreme Court Justices, including at least three non-Catholics.

The Court in recent years has included six justices reared as Roman Catholics and three Jewish members. Kavanaugh, schooled at the Jesuit school Georgetown Prep, would be another Catholic if confirmed.

But his status is in peril following numerous claims of sexual assault and lying under oath that are surfacing. Kavanaugh has denied wrongdoing (as we and others have reported extensively elswhere, including here) and was not reported as present at the mass on Sunday.

Publically, the mass unfolded as a spiritual and civic occasion framed by the magnificant cathedral and stirring Biblical readings, sacred music and other religious trappings.